WELCOME!! Thankyou for visiting our website. Here is our aims
To interest educate and entertain people about wildlife and conservation issues.
To simplify wildlife travel by providing information and ability to book reserves, accommodation and travel.
To encourage people to travel and visit wild places that have few visitors to encourage their continued protection.
Through the above, and if the website is successful also by direct financial spending, See Animals Wild will support the continued protection of the Natural World (and make sure those living around it benefit).
For me, and many people, there is nothing more exciting than a close encounter with a wild animal. Modern day life is so far removed from the natural world, but almost anywhere in the world we can without any warning suddenly have an encounter with one of the animals we share the world with. If you live in the UK as I do, or many of the built up regions of the world, generally the animal in question is unlikely to cause you physical harm (unless for instance it is a deer and you hit it with your car!). Indeed it is sad that for most people of the UK you are more likely to see road kill than the live animal. However, in the world we live in it is relatively easy to travel and so many of us have been to places where encounters with large or dangerous animals is possible. If like me this concept (however remote a chance) is appealing then the places I will be reviewing will be of interest.
Comment on website setup
For mobile users, the sidebar items end up slightly muddled at the bottom – this is set by the width of the screen you are looking at. This is why there is a sidebar dropdown menu which offers the important items in the sidebar.
Also please note: the maps at the top of the page – future places will be added rather ad-hoc. Furthermore, many countries will have future destinations placed at the bottom of its main page – future destination pages only exist where I have not merged them with their main page (or there was no main page).
The sightings maps – I have attempted to give you the ability to record sightings of as many things as possible. This, not surprisingly, can mean that a number of markers are similar. The aims with the sightings map, is for you to choose a set number of species to look at. While these sightings maps have not yet got lots of people using them, if they ever reach their potential, the maps will be quickly overwhelmed. Instead, the aim is for you to play with the settings, and look for patterns in where and when species are spotted. At the current time, all historical data will be available, however, if this section of the website starts to take off, historical data may well go behind a paywall (this will also happen in reserves which are suffering significant poaching, or indeed, we can stop a species from being pickable to view (so you can record sightings, but know that they wont be available to poachers)). My hope is that this data might eventually be useful in scientific study, but for the time being it is simply useful for those looking for wildlife (it should allow, with a few hours of interrogation of the data, for a first time visitor to be able to become an expert on where to look for specific species (if they follow a regular pattern for their lives).
Mobile users who wish to search the site should go down to the bottom of the blog, where the search bar is shown (choice between computer and mobile is done on width, so if something shows wrong, or you want to see how it would appear on a computer, turn your phone sideways and reload) – on a computer this is at the top of the sidebar menu.
Our species watch is a growing list of species which have many articles written about them on this site. Our hope over time is for this list to extend to include as many species as possible. If you wish to reach this page, click on the eye in a computer screen – the fifth icon on the top menu. We are also intending to link to places where you can see them. Should you have an interest in a particular species, do consider writing its page, I will never get around to every species on earth.
I have had many questions from people about the set up of the website. I am afraid that I have no advanced knowledge on this. I use wordpress, and have worked on finding a template that looks good. However I have not done anything clever to get this setup.
I have had many positive comments from people, and have no issue with the website being linked by other people, however I would have a problem with my content being republished elsewhere without my permission.
Comments posted on the website may not contain web addresses. I am afraid I was getting endless adverts for products that neither I nor you would look for on a site like this, as such I have blocked all comments containing a web address from appearing. I have given what advice I am willing to, on this page. I would love to be able to change this, but until we either find a way to automatically filter out the rubbish that is added, particularly to add the junk added by bots. As such for the time being, they need checking by hand.
This site is certainly intended to be a collaborative project, do become a member if you are interested in doing so. It was born out of a frustration at how hard it often was to find accurate information on the natural world and to compare prices and book, it is very much a work in progress, but it will only get to its potential with many people adding places of interest. Please do join me! I set up the website to fill a hole that I felt was missing -in terms of many of the articles that are written, but more importantly as a marketplace for wild travel. Should you wish to write an article either simply because you are interested, or because it is an area that you are working in, I would be very interested to read and publish it – I am particularly keen to become a means for researchers to publicize ideas (though as you will have seen, the website is not an academic paper – so aim for intelligent interested uninformed readers). If you fall into this category, do get in touch.
Please note: All articles are written in English. I use a plugin to translate the articles, however this is entirely computer generated. At the current time, the website does not have the resources for anything more.
For your information, this website has all the web designing that it needs so all the messages I get offering these services are not needed As you can imagine if we ever need help we will do our own research and reach out to the people we choose. Please do not reach out to offer your services, I will not employ you you.
This website is intended to grow into a community for both those who live with wildlife on their doorstep, and those people who travel to put the wildlife on their doorstep – we aim to create a place for those who love wildlife, and those who live with wildlife. Do join us.
A note on images: I have a blanket block on downloading images. This is in case an image has been wrongly listed as being in the public domain. I have included the specific Attribution CC by SA (then a number). I have also (where possible) kept the name identical to how it was listed on the internet. I do not have the ability to make some images downloadable and others not. Some of the images are on a share alike license, so with everything I have listed, it should take you no time to find the image yourself and download it from its source. Where possible, I have included my own images. We have not yet got it set up, but I am going to make it possible for you to buy prints of images that I have taken (look out for that in the shop) – any proceeds will go towards the general goals of this website (protecting the natural world, and helping make sure that it pays its way, so it is financially valued)