Wildlife conservation is all about people.  That's one of the most important things I've learned in my two decades of working in wildlife conservation.  If you provide benefits to the local people who live with wildlife, benefits that directly translate to an improvement in their living conditions through employment, income and projects like schools and clinics, the people become advocates for the wildlife because they recognise them as assets and wildlife conservation follows.  But what is an 'ethical' safari?  You've heard me talk about it before.  That's what we specialise in at Matson & Ridley Safaris - life changing journeys that make a difference.  But what is it that we actually look for when choosing the areas and camps that we send our guests to? 

Just when you thought African safaris couldn't get any more exciting, along came horse riding in the Okavango Delta!  I'm kicking off the new year by announcing the first of the safaris I'll be leading NEXT year (2018) and it's a real cracker!  This one already has people signed up so don't dally if you are keen. 

We are very excited to announce that our family is moving back to Australia later this year, with Andy's appointment as CEO to a ground-breaking new foundation, Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef.  We will be based in far North Queensland in Cairns, close to nature and not far from where I was born and raised a rather long time ago now.  It's a great place to raise our two young boys, Solo (now 7) and Shep (just 3 years old) and we're excited about exploring the reef and the rainforest with them after 4 years living abroad in Asia and Europe.  

When you're sitting around the campfire in Africa having a glass of wine after a day of watching the animal kingdom unfold in all its glory all around you, the conversations are never dull.  One of the things I love about Africa is that everyone's learning something new every day, no matter whether you're an investment banker or a medical student or a farmer.  So by evening, with all the buzz and excitement of what you've seen in the wild that day, the reflections by the campfire are often very insightful and bring many different perspectives to the table.  

If you read all the bad press about Zimbabwe and believed it, you'd never ever go there for a holiday.  It's really unfair, as when you get there you are reminded of what a wonderful place this still is, and how incredibly friendly Zimbabweans are, in spite of a very tough couple of decades.  People in Zim are still smiling!  And that - combined with the wildlife - make it one of my favourite safari destinations.  

It's been 40 years since the last pan-African elephant census and so we conservationists have been playing a bit of a guessing game as to how Africa's giants are really faring in terms of hard numbers.  Just how bad were the declines and where are the problems greatest?  

Names like Ngorongoro and Serengeti are world famous, and recently on a journey there with 9 lovely folks from Singapore, I got the chance to see why.  The northern part of Tanzania is part of the Greater Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, so if you've been to the Maasai Mara in Kenya, that's just over the border from where this safari took place.

Announcing my Botswana safari for 2017 is now available for you to join!  This is an exclusive safari for just 8 people with me, combining the World Heritage wetlands and wildlife fiesta of the Okavango Delta, the elephant-rich woodlands of the Khwai region and the Makgadigadi Pan among the San Bushmen.  It's 7 nights in one of the world's last great wildernesses and a safari not to be missed if you love animals and Africa at its wildest!

Today to commemorate World Elephant Day, here's a few of my favourite elephant photos in celebration of this amazing animal...  In about a week's time I'm going to be announcing my next safari in Africa - and it's in the home of the world's largest population of elephants.... Can you guess where it might be?

What have elephants got to do with football and martial arts?  Well more than you might think!

Thailand has long been a hot spot for the illegal ivory trade, which is why the Let Elephants Be Elephants team targeted this country for the next phase of our campaign.  We have seen some stronger measures in Thailand in the last year, including changes to the legislation around ivory and a public ivory stockpile destruction by the government, but there is still much to be done to raise awareness of the issue in Thailand.