ZECO TRAVEL TALK

We are delighted to welcome Simon Bellingham to the expedition leader team! Simon developed a passion for wildlife as a young child growing up in rural Zimbabwe where he fostered his love of the bush during holidays in remote regions such as Mana Pools National Park. Although he went on to obtain a Master’s Degree in Chiropractic, his passion for nature could not keep him away from the lure of the wilderness and he soon resigned from the comforts of life as a doctor for a career in wildlife. Read more

When one evaluates a successful expedition to Botswana, the check list naturally includes sightings of good numbers of lions, views of two or three different leopards, and at least one sighting of wild dogs. But to experience all of the above, plus the variety of wildlife and wildlife interactions, as we did during this past September’s Botswana expedition, it dawns on me that we were exceptionally fortunate.

For example, if I had to tell some of my fellow safari guides that we saw a wild dog chase a leopard up a tree, then a pack of wild dogs feeding on a kill and then the wild dogs chasing hyenas around, all on the very first night of the safari, they would have a hard time believing it. Would they also believe that we observed a large male leopard with a new-born baby tsessebe at Chitabe? I am doubtful that they would. Read more

On our small-group Eco-Expedition through Botswana, we enjoyed many mammal highlights: hyenas feeding on a leopard’s kudu kill at Chitabe, a morning spent with a male and female leopard at Mombo and then the subsequent discovery of her little cubs, a lot of time spent with two male lions when they were separated and eventually found each other and walked off together. It is quality viewing such as this that makes a safari truly special. I would much rather spend the morning watching something like that than get glimpses of lots of different species. Read more

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.

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.

As Le Ponant approached Poivre Island the weather was sunny but the winds were kicking up and the water was quite choppy. Captain Daumesnil determined that the 25-knot winds would make our landing on the island, and snorkeling outside the reef, very tricky indeed. Plans clearly needed to change and the crew immediately went into “expedition mode.”

On the Captain’s suggestion we sailed around to the south side of nearby Desroches Island where the surrounding reef offered better protection for our landing and snorkeling inside the lagoon at Bombay Beach. Our shore walk and underwater forays went ahead as scheduled—only the island had changed!

Jack and Jonathan anchored a snorkel boat off the beach inside the reef in a lagoon-like setting and we felt as though we were in our own private aquarium. As we snorkeled in the crystal clear, 78-degree water we had an opportunity to swim with a variety of colorful reef fish as well as view a massive spiny lobster and a beautiful whiptail sting ray. We also spotted a cleaning station and watched as a school of endemic Squirrel fish was cleaned by several species of wrasse. The beautiful coral garden was surrounded by an extensive, healthy sea grass bed busy with many small fish and invertebrates.

Meanwhile, the onshore walkers, led by our local guide Gemma and our historian Larry Bowman, headed off down the trail to visit with the workers on the Copra Plantation. A tour gave us a look at the coconut husk drying rooms and an understanding of the inner workings of an operation which exports the oil and husks to mainland Africa. Desroches is not known for its birdlife but Gemma quickly spotted a few blue-cheeked bee-eaters for all to see and capture on film!

Because nobody wanted to leave this idyllic paradise, the bartenders brought the bar to the beach! After swimming and snorkeling we were all too happy to accept a cocktail from Ian and Randy and their floating bar. Our day on Desroches was unscheduled but utterly perfect. This is the beauty of traveling on an expedition with our own private yacht and a flexible Captain; you can change plans for the best experience with nary a ripple in the smooth operation!

From the capital, Antananarivo, our expedition began in earnest with a domestic flight to the remote town of Maroansetra, gateway to Madagascar’s most extensive wilderness of the Masoala Peninsula. A boat excursion along the backwaters of the Antainambalana River in the afternoon offered insights into the way of life of the rural Malagasy, along with a fine male panther chameleon, but the day’s highlight was undoubtedly our spectacularly successful quest for nocturnal creatures around the Relais de Masoala. This nocturnal foray with our intrepid local guide, Julian, is usually fairly productive but no previous Eco-Expeditions group had ever managed to see the most elusive and bizarre of all lemurs, the legendary aye aye. A short walk into a coconut plantation brought us to the spot where this strange creature was foraging, clambering around the crown of a tree. We were able to appreciate all the unusual features of this remarkable animal, from its enormous ears and peculiar face to its bushy tail and skeletal middle finger. This fortuitous sighting was to set up our record-breaking lemur tally for the trip.

Other trip highlights included fimbriated leaf-tailed geckos, brilliant green-backed mantellas, boisterous white-fronted brown lemurs, and a bonus sighting of black-and-white ruffed lemurs resting in the crown of an enormous wild fig tree. A nocturnal spotlighting excursion produced sightings of nocturnal lemurs in the form of eastern woolly lemurs and the recently described Goodman’s mouse lemurs, as well as an incredible five species of chameleons.

Our visit illustrated Madagascar’s remarkable natural diversity, with fascinating wildlife, breathtaking landscapes and cultural interactions en route—our pilgrimage to the eighth continent was an enriching experience.

Excerpts from the Welcome Home Letter written by Expedition Leader Jonathan Rossouw for our September 2008 Madagascar: The Eighth Continent expedition.

Our 2008 Ultimate Botswana expedition was a record-breaker in two ways:

First, we saw a total of 15 different leopards on the trip which more than doubles the previous record of seven. It really wasn’t that long ago that leopards were considered to be the most elusive of the large game animals to see—and to a large extent this is still true. However, there are certain special places where leopards are regularly seen now and Chitabe is one of them. In the past Chitabe was a hunting concession and when I first started visiting in the early 90s, the animals were extremely shy of the vehicles and seldom seen. Now it can be considered one of Africa’s leopard “hotspots,” thanks to the great effort on the part of conservationists and tourism operations which has resulted in the intact survival of this wildlife haven.

Also, as far as I can remember, this was the first time that we have seen the so-called “Big Seven:” lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo, elephant, wilddog and cheetah on one Ultimate Botswana trip. Usually it is one or two rhino, cheetah, or wild dogs which eludes us, but this time we saw the lot and not only saw them but had great quality viewing as well!

A total of 47 mammals were seen, with the greatest variety at Chitabe (34 species). Between myself and the rest of the group we saw over 200 bird species which isn’t too bad for a group that had no really serious birders.

As interesting as these stats are, this is not what it is really all about. The special thing about this trip is that we had sufficient time to spend quality periods of time watching the animals behaving in front of us.

Excerpts from the Welcome Home Letter written by Expedition Leader Lex Hes for our October 2008 Ultimate Botswana expedition.