wildlife posts
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (14 days ago)
May 4th, 2013 at 1:00PM: Jumbo Elephants may disappear from Tanzania within seven years if current poaching trends continue, Sabahi news service reports.
The Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute counted 109,000 elephants in 2009. In 2012, the number had sunk below 70,000. This is due to a surge in poaching. Elephant ivory commands high prices on the international black market. If current trends continue, the elephants ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (14 days ago)
May 4th, 2013 at 9:00AM: Sanctuary Retreats, a company that deftly mixes both adventure and luxury travel, has announced that it is adding two new lodges to its already impressive portfolio. Starting June 1, the company will offer guests the chance to stay at either the Sanctuary Saadani River Lodge or the Sanctuary Saadani Safari Lodge, both located in Tanzania. These two new destinations will offer guests a wonderful ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (17 days ago)
May 1st, 2013 at 8:00AM: An official from the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique made a sobering announcement this week when it was revealed that rhinos are now extinct inside the park. António Abacar, the park's director, indicated that no rhinos have been spotted in Limpopo since January, which leads him to believe that poachers have killed the few animals that had remained. With rhinos now gone, he believes ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (20 days ago)
Apr 28th, 2013 at 8:00AM: For many travelers an African safari represents the ultimate escape – and for good reason. Visiting Africa can be a life altering experience, not to mention a once in a lifetime opportunity to see amazing wildlife in their natural environments. But for disabled travelers such a journey can seem like an impossible dream, after all the African bush isn't exactly wheelchair friendly. But one ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (27 days ago)
Apr 21st, 2013 at 8:00AM: South African Tourism is about to launch their next big promotional initiative here in the U.S. and they've enlisted Donald Trump himself to help get it started. The new "What's Your Big 5?" campaign kicks off during tonight's episode of "All-Star Celebrity Apprentice" when the seven remaining contestants compete with one another while also bringing the rich travel experience of South Africa home ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (29 days ago)
Apr 19th, 2013 at 1:00PM: A gang of masked men broke into the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin on Wednesday night and made off with four rhino heads.
Museum officials said in a press release that the thieves overpowered a security guard and tied him up. They then entered a storeroom and removed the heads. The heads had previously been on display but had been put into storage a year ago for fear of their being ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (1 month ago)
Apr 18th, 2013 at 2:00PM:
The government of Tanzania is urging fishermen to stop hunting dolphins, a report in the Daily News says.
The report says dolphin hunting has become common practice in the Dar es Salaam and Tanga regions. It's often done by "dynamite fishing," in which explosives are chucked into the water to kill all marine life in a large area. Dolphin meat is used to bait sharks, which is what the ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (1 month ago)
Apr 17th, 2013 at 8:00AM: Most visitors to South Africa's Kruger National Park hope that they'll have a memorable wildlife encounter while exploring the popular game reserve. Earlier this week one couple certainly got their encounter when they were attacked by an elephant, leaving their vehicle completely demolished and landing both of them in the hospital.
The unnamed travelers were said to be of "Chinese origin" with ...
by Libby Zay (RSS feed) (1 month ago)
Apr 10th, 2013 at 3:00PM:
You'd think someone whose sport of choice is flying through the air would have respect for birds, but one paramotorist is catching heat after a video of him chasing and kicking an owl mid-air was uploaded to YouTube.
The man in the video doggedly pursued a Barn Owl in flight for more than seven minutes, kicking it several times as it flew over the landscape near Utah Lake. He then proceeded ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (1 month ago)
Apr 10th, 2013 at 8:00AM: Most people visit Nepal for the opportunity to go climbing and trekking in the High Himalaya, but the country isn't comprised solely of snow-capped peaks. In fact, Nepal actually has a region of subtropical lowlands that feel like they are a world away from the mountains that have made the country so famous. One of the main attractions for travelers in these lowlands is the Chitwan National Park, ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (2 months ago)
Mar 17th, 2013 at 8:00AM: Tomorrow marks the start of National Wildlife Week, an annual event sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) with a goal of teaching young people about the extraordinary animals that live around us. This celebration of all the diverse life that we share our planet with will run from March 18-24.
The theme of this year's National Wildlife Week is "Branching Out," which puts a ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (2 months ago)
Mar 16th, 2013 at 8:00AM: The thought of going on safari generally conjures up mental images of driving across the African savannah dressed in khaki and wearing a pith helmet while spotting elephants and lions. But did you know that it is possible to get a true safari experience in North America, without having to endure a very long trans-Atlantic flight?
Luxury travel company The Clear Creek Group is now offering the ...
by Dave Seminara (RSS feed) (2 months ago)
Feb 28th, 2013 at 9:00AM: A good guide can help a traveler interpret the local culture. But sometimes a guide can sanitize and filter your experience by telling and showing you only what they think you want to hear and see. Pabrö Sanchez, a guide I hired through the Florblanca Resort in Costa Rica to take me to the Curu Wildlife Refuge on the Nicoya Peninsula, is not such a person.
Before we'd even arrived at Curu, ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (2 months ago)
Feb 27th, 2013 at 1:00PM:
February is a special time on the Serengeti. Right now its population of some 1.5 million wildebeests are giving birth to an estimated 8,000 calves a day, the Tanzania Daily News reports.
The East African nation has seen some 16,500 tourists come to watch the event in Serengeti National Park, including 5,800 domestic visitors who are part of a growing African middle class that's boosting ...
by Reena Ganga (RSS feed) (2 months ago)
Feb 27th, 2013 at 12:00PM:
Earlier this year, I told you about several destinations you should see before they disappear. Climate change, environmental destruction and a number of other issues were all threatening to ruin these travel sites, and in some cases (such as The Maldives) wipe them right off the map.
A lot of you responded with feelings of sadness and helplessness about the travel treasures we face losing. ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (3 months ago)
Feb 9th, 2013 at 8:00AM: As one of the best adventure travel companies on the planet, GeoEx (formerly Geographic Expeditions) is always looking for opportunities to visit new and unique destinations. For 2013, they've added five such places to their line-up, giving travelers a chance to explore the cultures and landscapes of some of the most fascinating countries on the planet.
The five new itineraries include a 10-day ...
by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) (3 months ago)
Feb 7th, 2013 at 3:00PM: The West African nation of Gabon has one of the largest populations of elephants in the world, yet now they're in danger of being wiped out for their ivory.
The World Wildlife Fund reports that a study done by itself in cooperation with the Gabonese National Parks Agency and the Wildlife Conservation Society found that up to 11,000 elephants were killed by poachers in Gabon since 2004. That may ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (3 months ago)
Feb 6th, 2013 at 8:00AM: The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is hailing the creation of a new national park in the Republic of Congo as a major step towards protecting western lowland gorillas. The park, which was officially created on December 28 of last year, is believed to be the home of more than 15,000 of the creatures, which have been on the "critically endangered" list for many years.
Located in the northern ...
by Kraig Becker (RSS feed) (3 months ago)
Jan 20th, 2013 at 8:00AM: In December, a massive new colony of emperor penguins was discovered in Antarctica when humans visited a remote location on the eastern coast of the continent for the very first time. Scientists estimate that the colony is home to more than 9000 individual birds, which is forcing them to reconsider their previous estimates of overall population numbers found elsewhere in the Antarctic.
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by Jonathan Kramer (RSS feed) (4 months ago)
Jan 17th, 2013 at 11:00AM:
"Rwanda, our beautiful and dear country / Adorned of hills, lakes and volcanoes / Motherland, would be always filled of happiness..."
These first three lines of the Rwandan national anthem are epitomized in this video created by Missouri based video production company Mammoth Media. This past summer, they were invited by the Rwandan tourist department to spend two weeks capturing ...
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