Blog
In March this year, twenty years after the first genetic studies identified that central and west Africa's forest elephants were genetically distinct from savannah elephants, the IUCN finally recognised forest elephants as a separate species.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. —Albert Einstein
Last week the Australian government released news that from 1st April the cost of flights from Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin to Cairns will be discounted by 50% up til the end of July. If you've been thinking of taking that nature holiday somewhere within a couple of hours flight-time here s your chance to grab a cheap flight and experience the restorative benefits of North Queensland's ancient rainforests, stunning reef and outback savannahs. Matson & Ridley Safaris now offers a booking service for our favourite operators in North Queensland to offer you our choice of explorations and adventures with the best guides and accommodation options available. Travel operators in Cairns are really doing it tough due to their heavy reliance on international tourism, so your travel dollars will really make a difference up here. If you are thinking of heading up this way, please drop us a line and we'd love to help you plan your escape back to nature.
You'd be forgiven for growing a little despondent when it comes to the rollercoaster ride of travelling at the moment, with the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to wreak havoc across the planet and many people still in lockdown. Here in Far North Queensland, our tourism industry has taken an enormous hit from the border closures, and across the safari countries in Africa, there is huge unemployment as a result of the lack of international travel upon which they rely. But with Queensland opening its borders to most of the rest of Australia now, and the vaccine starting to roll out across the world, there is good reason for optimism as we enter 2021.
It's that time of year again - and yet, it s a very different kind of Christmas this year for so many of us. As Covid-19 continues to rise up across the world, we are thinking of our friends who are being forced to spend the festive season away from loved ones and in lockdown. It's certainly been a year full of upsets in our travel plans, but with the vaccine making good progress we've come a long way from where we were at the start of the year as the virus began to roll out across the planet.
As we near the end of the crazy year that was 2020, a lot of us will be glad to see the end of it. There s heartening news from Africa with a number of our favourite countries for safaris having re-opened to international visitors under strict conditions. It's not business as usual, but the door is open and Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda are just a few countries that are welcoming international arrivals on safari.