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Ever dreamed of getting up close to endangered Mountain Gorillas? This has always been on my 'wish list' to do one day, ever since I read Dian Fossey's 'Gorillas In The Mist'. Such close relatives to us, I really can't imagine what it will be like to be eye to eye with wild gorillas, but I imagine it will feel a lot like meeting a long lost family member!
- Comment Thread:
- Comments: Maggie Knewstub | Damn you TAMMIE MATSON! Seems I am destined to hang out with you every year.You are reading my mind, AND my Bucket List, I am sure. Sounds amazing, looks amazing, and WILL be amazing. xxxx
- Comments: Tammie | Great minds think alike Mags! Now what will we conspire to do in 2018...?!
I'm getting very excited about my upcoming safaris in 2016, which are set to be in some of Africa's most spectacular wilderness areas! As always when you book with Matson & Ridley Safaris, the whole experience are specially hand-designed by me every step of the way to ensure that your hard earned dollars are spent as ethically as possible, to maximise benefits flowing back to African people and their wildlife. And of course, I choose the areas and camps I want to go to based on the best I can find in terms of wildlife experience, exclusivity, camp feeling and local culture - so you get a mind-blowing African journey that will change your life. Most groups I take are between 8 and 12 people, so you get to know people really well. Imagine yourself spending time with like minds on the savannah while watching elephants and then spinning a few yarns under the starry night sky by the campfire later - life doesn't get much better really!
One of the most enjoyable things I get to do as a zoologist is talk to kids about elephants. Kids give you instant feedback. There are no inhibitions, just a whole lot of questions, and when it comes to elephants, frankly, kids just get it. You don't have to convince children to appreciate and want to conserve animals.
In the world of elephants, it's not often that you see conservationists celebrating. President Xi Jinping of China's announcement on Friday last week that China will join the USA in enacting near total bans on domestic ivory trade is... I think... worth cracking the bubbly over. We don't entirely know the detail yet, and there is no timeline, other than what was in the White House's statement, which includes agreement between China and the USA to work together in "joint training, technical exchanges, information sharing and public education". But this could be a winning combination.
It had been a few years since I'd been back to Namibia, the desert land where I studied black-faced impalas for my PhD, later planning a reintroduction for the subspecies to their historic range in the far north west.