ZECO TRAVEL TALK

We’re honored to receive two high commendations in the past few months from National Geographic Adventure.

• For the second consecutive year, Zegrahm and Eco Expeditions has been named one of the Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth. The survey evaluated categories such as environmental awareness, service, local knowledge, and quality of guides and leaders. With high scores in all categories, including “top guides with a unique take on travel,” we are most proud to have received 100% for Client Satisfaction.

• Wild Edge of the Pacific: One of the “Best New Trips in the World” The unique aspects of our Wild Edge of the Pacific voyages were recognized by National Geographic Adventure magazine as one of the 25 Best New Trips in the World for 2009. “An inaugural voyage for Zegrahm Expeditions, the inspiration for this unique expedition are the remote Kermadec and Chatham Islands—among the most isolated island groups in the world. These tiny, but vital, specs on the Pacific Ocean map are not easily accessible and offer a mind-boggling array of species that will thrill nature lovers.” Four Zegrahm cofounders join this expedition in November/December 2009.

Longtime Zegrahm Expeditions lecturer and ornithologist, Greg Homel, has been on a long road trip from California to the Yucatan, photographing and filming birds he finds along the way for several field guides. His drive took him along the Gulf Coast of Texas where seabird highlights included whooping cranes, canvasbacks, redheads, American coots, and white pelicans. Among the field species Greg stunningly captured on film were green jays, northern cardinals, golden-fronted woodpeckers, and orange-crowned warblers.

Follow along on Greg’s avian odyssey which will evolve daily, and Greg will be posting photos as Internet access permits. Click here to view photos.

In addition, Audubon Magazine’s online edition features an article about the making of Greg’s newly-released DVD, Introducing the Wonderful Birds of Pico Bonito, an adventure through the wilds of Honduras in search of the lovely cotinga—his prize, after two decades of searching of this elusive Central American rarity. Click here to read about the film.

Amy Campbell, a loyal Zegrahm traveler and avid wildlife photographer, first traveled to Antarctica in 1994. Like so many of us, the penguins and the great white continent captured her imagination and Amy has continued to return on an extraordinary menu of expeditions.

Amy introduced her husband and three children to Antarctica in late 1999, ringing in the Millennium on the Antarctic Peninsula. Since then, she and her husband Bob have taken an Icebreaker expedition to Snow Hill Island to see the emperor penguin colony—or as Zegrahm cofounder Peter Harrison prefers to call them “the impossible penguin.” Amy and Bob have also taken our Circumnavigation of South Georgia expedition, experiencing the wildlife wonderland of South Georgia in the company of our expert leader & lecture team. In late 2009, Amy and Bob will be traveling south once again, on our Wild Edge of the Pacific voyages. During their explorations of the New Zealand, the Chatham Islands, and New Zealand’s Sub-Antarctic Islands they hope to see erect-crested, fiordland, blue, Snares, yellow-eyed, and royal penguins. It’s no coincidence that Peter Harrison, ornithologist and sea bird expert, will be on hand throughout the journey to help achieve these goals.

Amy’s travels and photography were recently featured in the Arts & Entertainment section of VillageSoup.com. Sadly the article is no longer available online.

Our Eco-Expedition, Back to Africa with Lex Hes ended on March 9th and we are excited to share some highlights of the trip.

One of the greatest things about this trip was the enormous diversity we encountered as we moved from the low rainfall areas of the desert through to the high rainfall areas in the east. Starting off with Rhino Camp, our sights and sounds included: oryx, springbok, Ruppell’s korhaan, Namaqua sandgrouse, the long drawn-out whistle of the Benguella longbilled lark, Hartmann’s mountain zebra, the milk bush (Euphorbia damarana) and the rare and interesting Welwitschia. One of the big highlights for me was the awesome afternoon thunderstorm that interrupted our sundowner stop.

At Serra Cafema the stunning landscapes always blow me away and the Namaqua chameleon was only the second one I have ever seen. Ongava introduced some of you to the white rhino and gave us our first sighting of lions, as well as our only sightings of the blackfaced impala.

From Vumbura to Mombo a few major highlights stand out for me: the herd of elephants playing in the lake with the backdrop of the late afternoon storm clouds, the pride of lions attempting to hunt to small herd of buffalo in the gathering gloom of the upcoming night, and the early morning silhouettes of zebra and buffalo in the morning mists as we left camp.

And then it was off to our last destination in Zambia where we had a wonderful mix of culture and wildlife. Seeing the wild dogs again was a real bonus and the leopard on the last night was a fitting wildlife farewell. One of the real highlights for me on any visit to Mfuwe is our time in the village where we always come away with a better understanding of what it is like living in these places. The show put on by the theatre group was something really special.

Excerpts from the Welcome Home Letter written by Expedition Leader Lex Hes for our February/March 2009 Back to Africa expedition.

Zegrahm Director and Naturalist, Kevin Clement also exhibits his artistic side when traveling. Pencil and notebook are his constant companions and Kevin turns his quick field sketches into more polished works on a variety of subjects—birds, landscapes, people, markets, animals, or scenes of daily life. During an expedition his latest opus usually appears onboard the ship on a wall or bulletin board near reception.

Many of our travelers have expressed an interest in viewing more of Kevin’s work, which inspired us to create an online gallery after each of his trips. His latest art work, from our January 2009 Rain Forests & Reefs expedition, can be viewed by clicking on this link: Sketches by Kevin

We can always count on Aldabra providing us with wonderful surprises… We left Le Ponant before sunrise with the high tide to search for nesting sea turtles with Jonathan and Gemma. Almost as soon as we landed, Gemma and the Aldabra Research scientist, Naomi, found a female green turtle in the process of covering her eggs. We watched her for forty-five minutes as she took her time, carefully covering the eggs before she headed back toward the open sea. The sunrise was magnificent and we all returned to the ship for breakfast excited with our great photos of “our turtle.”

Many of us snorkeled outside the reef amidst swirling schools of fusiliers and blue finned Jacks while the divers found themselves in a virtual aquarium of clear water teeming with fish. When the tide rose again, we boarded Zodiacs and headed over the reef to shore to visit the research station and talk with the rangers and scientists before setting off for various nature walks. We waded in the shallow water with lemon sharks and black-tipped reef sharks swimming around us, then fortuitously spotted the endemic Aldabra drongo, Aldbara fody and the Aldabra flightless rail, all very close to the station. The giant tortoises were a hit; a few of them were quite friendly and posed for pictures. The huge coconut crabs, named for their powerful claws, were scuttling across the paths both in their red and purple morphs.

Later in the afternoon we rode Zodiac inside the lagoon to the West Channel, just off the Picard Station. When we dropped into the water outside Passé Dubois we found the current rushing in at about three knots and we literally flew over the coral wall and into the lagoon, immediately spotting a school of more than 500 petal tail snappers, hawksbill and green turtles returning to the lagoon, and had great sighting of African angel fish!

The first round was swift and we climbed back into the Zodiacs quickly to be ferried up to the mouth of the Passé to do it again, watching the schools of rainbow-colored fish below and following the turtles as they scooted well ahead of us into the lagoon! With each turn, the waters slowed as the high tide crested and the currents fell slack. We headed back to Le Ponant where the bartenders waited with cocktails and our cabins with hot showers. On the top deck, in the brilliant after-light from the setting sun, we waved good-bye to Naomi, Philippe, and the Rangers of Aldabra. We were tired but thrilled with the memories of this exhilarating day.