Room Available This December for Rwanda at Big Discount
Matson & Ridley Safaris
Category: Safari
Due to a very last minute cancellation, as of today one room has become available on my Rwanda safari this year. I am offering this room (2 people sharing) at a hefty discount as a result! You can do either week one, week two, or both combined. I'm open to any suggestions if you think you can join us next month! I can also offer this to a single person at a big discount, however single supplement still applies for the lodges.
Rwanda
gorillas
elephant
Akagera
My 2020 and 2021 Safaris
Matson & Ridley Safaris
Category: Safari
Drum roll! It's that time of year again when I release the details of my upcoming safaris for 2020 and 2021. If you are thinking of going on safari next year or the year after, please read on....
safari
Tanzania
Botswana
Natural Selection
Asi
Simply Splendid Tanzania
Matson & Ridley Safaris
Category: Safari
It always takes me a week or so to reflect on a safari in Tanzania before I can really wrap my head around what I've just seen. So much happens in a day on safari there that it's hard to pick out just a few highlights.
Tanzania
The Lion King
Matson & Ridley Safaris
Category: Wildlife
Like many homes across Australia at the moment, our household has been caught up in the frenzy of Lion King Ooshie collectibles as part of the promotion by Woolworths to coerce us all to buy more groceries from them. My kids are nuts about them, as are most of the kids at school, it seems. Never mind they are plastic rubbish that will end up in the ocean as turtle food in the not too distant future. To the kids they are pure gold! I took our youngest, Shep, to see the new Lion King movie a week ago and it really did live up to expectations - both his and mine. The movie is in the process of making billions of dollars through The Lion King franchise, but what is Disney doing to help conserve lions in the wild?
lions
Disney
Africa
Lion Recovery Fund
Leonard
The Mysterious Afrotheria
Matson & Ridley Safaris
Category: Africa
If I asked you which of the following animals were most closely related to African elephants, which ones would you say?
Afrotheria
Africa
elephants
aardvarks
Amazing Green Season Tanzania Safari
Matson & Ridley Safaris
Category: Safari
Always wanted to go to the Serengeti but just can't afford peak season prices? Well here's an offer you don't want to miss!
Safari
Tanzania
Green season
Big cats
Cheetahs
The Report that Should Be Breaking the Internet
Matson & Ridley Safaris
Category: Wildlife
All week I've been trying to write this blog, ever since the release of the UN IPBES' report. In case you missed the story, in between the birth of Harry an Meghan's baby Archie or the Australian Prime Minister Sco-Mo getting egged, it's really quite a big deal. So big a deal in fact, that it's given me writer's block. One million species are now at risk of extinction. One. Million. Species. (Take a look at The Guardian's summary if you'd like a good run down). That's not just tigers and polar bears and rhinos. We're talking across the board. In short, two in every five amphibians are at risk of extinction, a third of corals and populations of key crop pollinators are crashing. There's been a whopping 82% decline in mammalian biomass across the planet. We've done an almighty job of destroying the health of the ecosystems on which we (as a fellow species) depend. As a conservationist and as a parent, I find this sickening.
mothers day
biodiversity
climate change
extinct
News From Across Africa
Matson & Ridley Safaris
Category: Africa
RWANDA
Being a roving zoologist is the best job in the world but it's not all bush glamour. Sometimes it's hard office grind too. 2019 kicked off with a whole lot of time spent at my desk entering the data from last year's Akagera Elephant Project, Rwanda, painstakingly analysing photos and videos, trying to work out who was who in Akagera's elephant population. We have now identified 40 of Akagera's approximately 100 elephants with clear photos showing ears, tusks etc, and the process will continue this December as another group joins me in the field. I'll be running a workshop for Akagera's community guides to enable them to fully participate in the research as part of their day jobs guiding tourists in the park, and if all goes to plan, I'll also be taking on a Rwandan student from the University of Rwanda. Guides in the park are already contributing to the project and have access to the existing elephant database. If you would like to participate in the Akagera Elephant Project this year, there is only one spot left for a single person so you need to claim it now. To register your interest in next December's field season (2020), please drop me an email.
Namibia
Botswana
Rwanda
elephants
lions
rhino