If there's a place on earth that shows that it's possible to recover from even the most extremely desperate situations and that proves the phenomenal resilience both of people and nature, it has to be Rwanda.  This December I spent a full month there and it reminded me how valuable it is to be able to spend significant time in one place really getting to know it better. 

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.

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....

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. 

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?

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! 

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.

Decades ago when I was dreaming of a future life in Africa after my first safari in Zimbabwe, books about Africa were my saving grace.  Classics like Jane Goodall's "In the Shadow of Man" and Dian Fossey's "Gorillas in the Mist", Iain Douglas-Hamilton's "Among the Elephants" and Mark and Delia Owens' "Cry of the Kalahari" all made what seemed like an impossible dream within my reach - and I have these authors to thank for helping on the path to becoming a zoologist working in Africa and a published author of my own books on Africa (signed copies of 'Dry Water', 'Elephant Dance' and 'Planet Elephant' are all available on my website).  Their stories made me see what was possible and swept me away into the magic and raw beauty of Africa's wild landscapes.