I have been lucky (some would say unlucky!) to have had some close encounters with animals in the wild. The majority of these occurred when I had specifically gone travelling with the hope of seeing wildlife. For me there is something fantastic about driving down a road in a remote place knowing that there are many animals in the bushes but with no idea what will appear or when it might do so. I am in this section going to talk about some of the encounters I have experienced and where I was at the time.
- Encountering an elephant while on footThe big 5 is a tool that safari operators continue to use. It does not make much sense as this term is a hunting term. The big 5 are the five most dangerous animals to hunt on foot.It is not impossible to encounter the big 5 on a single drive in the bush. I have …
- Workers strike as Indonesia increases fee to visit Komodo dragons is increase by more than 18 times to £205The concern by those who work in tourism with the Komodo dragons seems quite justified. They fear that this enormous increase in price will put off people from visiting, and therefore completely destroy the tourism industry. It should be noted that this is merely the fee to visit the islands, anything the guides charge is …
- Rare sightings, where even a wildlife guide gets excited Aardvarks and Pangolins – and seeing them in the zooWhen you go on safari, as with other places there are animals that while fascinating you can be almost certain you will not see. I am not talking about Black leopards, or white lions – rare genetic mutations which are therefore not always present, and when they are, there might be one or two in …
- Wild travel can resume!With the improving covid situation worldwide finally we can return to visiting wild areas of the planet. Not only has the tourist industry missed this basil so it has had a terrible impact on conservation efforts in many parts of the world. This is because in many cases there is not enough money to protect …
- Man accidently grabbed by a whaleA lobster diver suddenly found himself in the mouth of a humpback whale. Large whales on earth feed exclusively on small sea creatures, and have baleen sheets that stop larger creatures being swallowed. As such after diving a distance, the whale surfaced and violently shook it’s head to empty it’s mouth, and the man was …
- Bears do have close encounters with people, however sensible behaviour makes this interesting for bothThe bears in France are often talked about like a problem child. However in actual fact that is not what they are like at all. Bears are omnivores, and as such while they spend much of their time eating berries or roots they are capable of scary bursts of speed. Bears have been filmed running …
- Black Mamba (South Africa)Image by John Blythe We spent a month volunteering at Umhloti Lodge about 20 miles from Kruger. This is a nature reserve, and although none of the big five live here permanently, there are certainly visiting Leopards. However at the centre of the reserve is a Chimpanzee sanctuary (the location of the Animal Planet series …
- Lion (Tanzania)The majority of my safari experience has been had within the Kruger national park in South Africa. While wild, generally the facilities there are far greater than in Tanzania. As such the campsite in the Selous national park in Tanzania consisted of a flat piece of land with a sign saying ‘Lake Tagalala camp’ and …
- Bear (Croatia)To put this sighting in context, we had spent 3 lovely days hiking in the Northern Velebit National Park national park in Croatia, it had been beautiful, but apart from a brief sighting of two deer from a large distance away we hadn’t seen any wildlife. We were moving on and so had left the park. …