THE TALKING DRUM 2017 – Volume 1 African Wildlife Safaris & Natural Focus Safaris
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THE TALKING DRUM 2017 – Volume 1 African Wildlife Safaris & Natural Focus Safaris. Wilderness your way. AFRICA ANTARCTICA & THE ARCTIC AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND CANADA & ALASKA INDIA, BHUTAN, NEPAL & SRI LANKA SOUTH & CENTRAL AMERICA Reservations & Enquiries Tel: (03) 9249 3777 or 1300 363 302 email: [email protected] www.africanwildlifesafaris.com.au www.naturalfocussafaris.com.au FEATURES 5 DIAN FOSSEY GORILLA FUND 50 Years On 6 BREAKING THE BRAND Stopping Demand for Rhino Horn 8 SOUTH AFRICA Sabi Sabi’s Southern Pride 9 WILD TANZANIA Insight from a Specialist 10 ANGAMA MARA - KENYA A Guide Called Alice 12 THE SAFARI COLLECTION Four of Kenya’s Finest 14 GREAT PLAINS CONSERVATION A Kenyan Safari with a Difference INSPIRATIONAL 16 BOTSWANA Wild Addiction JOURNEYS 18 SPOTLIGHT ON TIERRA HOTELS appy New Year and welcome to our first Explore Chile Hnewsletter for 2017! The past year has seen Africa make a comeback, with some of 19 SKORPIOS CRUISES the continent’s best accommodations now Navigating Chilean Patagonia heavily booked. So if you haven’t already 20 DARWIN’S GALAPAGOS planned your safari, act soon. You’ll find plenty Small Ship Expeditions of ideas here, from evocative tented camps in Kenya and Tanzania with wildebeest herds 21 ALTO ATACAMA - CHILE at your door, to luxury lodges deep in South A Destination Unto Itself Africa’s lion country. We’ve also shared a 22 ISLAND GETAWAYS - AUSTRALIA heartwarming personal story from Alice, a Maasai guide at a chic clifftop lodge called Luxury Australian Coastal Experiences Angama Mara. 23 HOMEGROWN GOURMET ESCAPES With conservation a hot topic across the globe, we’ve featured two remarkable Some of our Best Local Culinary Getaways women in this issue: one who dedicated her life to Rwanda’s gorillas, and the other who is taking a unique approach to saving the world’s rhinos - by attempting to change 24 INDIA consumer behaviour. A Feast for the Senses As our South America brochure has just gone to press, we’ve showcased a number of 25 TAJ, TEMPLES & TIGERS fine experiential hotels in Chile as well as a small-ship exploration of Patagonia’s glaciers. India Escorted Small Group Tour Additionally, there’s a piece on cruising the Galapagos - a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. 26 ANTARCTICA AIR-CRUISES Up north, discover our favourite Alaskan grizzly-viewing lodges and the best way to Adventure Within Reach navigate the Inside Passage. Home to the stupendous Rocky Mountains and bear-rich rainforests, Canada is a great place to beat the summer heat, and we’ll let you in on 28 UNCRUISE ADVENTURES where to find front row seats for nature’s most captivating light show. The Alaskan Insider Short on time? You can now fly to Antarctica (see p26). Alternatively, choose a 30 BEAR VIEWING ALASKA destination close to home - Australia has so much to offer, from enchanting islands to Three of Alaska’s Best Bear-Viewing Lodges world-class wineries. 31 CANADA FEATURE Showcasing Rocky Mountaineer, Farewell Harbour Lodge, Rocky Mountain Winter Tours, Stephen and Sara Cameron - Founders Arctic Kingdom and Northern Lights Resorts OUR 2017 BROCHURES ARE NOW AVAILABLE Please call us on 1300 363 302 to order your copy or visit africanwildlifesafaris.com.au to download them. Photographs courtesy of: Alto Atacama, andBeyond, Angama Mara, Antarctica XII, Arctic Kingdom, Baillie Lodges, Breaking the Brand, David Briggs, Stephen Cameron, Chem Chem, CTC, Great Plains Conservation, Beverly Joubert, Brooks Lodge, Klein Tours, Katmai Wilderness Lodge, David Kneale, Latin Trails, Muchenje Safari Lodge, Paul Nicklen, One&Only, One Ocean Expeditions, Pretty Beach House, Redoubt Bay Lodge, Chris Renshaw, Ride Zimbabwe, Rocky Mountaineer, Sabi Sabi, Saffire Freycinet, Sanctuary Retreats, Shutterstock, Tirath Singh, Skorpios Cruises, The Louise, The Safari Collection, Tierra Hotels, Travel Alberta, UnCruise Adventures, Pia Vergara, Wilderness Safaris, Anne-Marie Zambelli. www.africanwildlifesafaris.com.au | www.naturalfocussafaris.com.au 3 DRUMBEAT CONSERVATION UPDATE Every client who books with us has the opportunity to donate $8 (or more) to a selection of non-profit conservation or community organisations based in destinations we travel to. We then match these donations dollar for dollar. As we don’t charge administration fees, every cent contributed goes straight to the projects we support. In the last half of 2016, the Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit (VFAPU) received USD4,121.84 to continue protecting wildlife in vicinity of the world-renowned waterfall. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust secured USD2,135 to raise orphaned elephant and rhino, while Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International obtained USD2,418.08 to advance their research on Central African great apes. A further AUD2,573.97 went to One Horizon, an organisation committed to improving the lives of impoverished African women and children through education and infrastructure. COMICAL COLLECTIVE At some point in their lives, all animals gather in groups and humans have felt compelled to name these get-togethers, often imaginatively. Here are some of our all-time favourite collective nouns for African wildlife: • Leap of leopards • Dazzle of zebra • Journey of giraffe (if moving) • Tower of giraffe (if standing still) • Prickle of porcupine • Sisterhood of hyena • Crash of rhino • Bask of crocodile • Business of mongoose • Bloat of hippos REMEMBER TO BOOK EARLY We specialise in small, boutique lodges and wild destinations - as such, space is often limited. Please ensure you book early to avoid disappointment. TELL US WHAT YOU THINK We love to know how your trip went and we warmly welcome your feedback. Send us an email, photos or even videos of the places you saw and the animals you encountered. Alternatively, leave us a Google review. We may publish this information on our websites, in our RIDE ZIMBABWE brochures or on our social media channels Our great friends at Varden Safaris have moved their stables to Bulawayo, providing with your permission. intermediate and advanced horse riders the opportunity to explore the most remote wilderness of Zimbabwe’s game-rich Cawston Wildlife Conservancy Area and the Matobo Hills, a World Heritage Site. Call our Africa specialists for details. 4 Contact Us to Start Planning Your Tailor-Made Journey on 1300 363 302 50 YEARS ON: DIAN FOSSEY’S LEGACY his year marks half a century since Dr Dian Fossey founded An encounter with a wild mountain gorilla is amongst the most Tthe Karisoke Research Centre in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National intense wildlife experiences found on earth. To see these gentle Park. When Fossey first arrived in Rwanda in 1967, highland giants, whose survival into the 21st century can be attributed to the mountain gorillas were on the brink of extinction. An estimated dedication of one woman, contact our Rwanda specialists today. 250 gorillas lived in the Virunga massif, with many hunted for You can also contribute or learn more about the achievements of trophies or entrapped in snares intended for other species. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, which supports The Their habitat also faced destruction, as the country’s burgeoning Karisoke Research Centre, at www.gorillafund.org population indiscriminately felled trees inside the national park for firewood. Despite these challenges and with nothing but a simple tent in the rainforest, Fossey established Karisoke’s first anti-poaching patrols, and began her groundbreaking study of gorilla troops that inhabited the area around her campsite. Today, Fossey’s programs continue at Karisoke, and even as many of the original issues that Fossey faced remain, the gorilla population has increased to 480. This is the only instance of a great ape population growing in recent decades - a fact Fossey would undoubtedly have been proud of. www.africanwildlifesafaris.com.au | www.naturalfocussafaris.com.au 5 BREAKING THE BRAND Stopping Demand for Rhino Horn AWS interviewed the inspirational Dr Lynn Johnson, founder of Breaking The Brand (breakingthebrand.org) about her efforts to save wild rhinos from extinction. Lynn, tell us what motivated you to launch this project? For over a decade, I‘ve run my own business helping organisations adapt to market conditions and expectations. I’ve also long been passionate about wildlife, and I wanted to use my professional skills to address an aspect of the rhino poaching crisis that I felt current conservation programs simply weren’t: changing the behaviour of the people who buy rhino horn. Who are the main buyers of rhino horn and what do they want it for? Popular belief is that the Chinese purchase rhino horn and use it for medicinal purposes. However, extensive research I undertook in 2013 tells me that Vietnam is actually the biggest market for rhino horn by far. More specifically, it is newly wealthy middle-aged men who live and work in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City who are its primary consumers. These men mix ground horn in water or rice wine to create an expensive “detox” beverage drunk in business or social settings. It is their belief that the horn’s astronomical cost denotes high social status. That’s surprising! So how will Breaking The Brand help to stop the rhino horn trade? Most conservation bodies target poachers, provide security for live rhinos or aim to raise awareness amongst the general public. Armed with the knowledge of exactly who rhino horn consumers are and why they use it, Breaking The Brand creates hard-hitting advertising campaigns designed to change the behaviour of this particular user group, similar to the anti-fur campaigns of the 1980s. Our ads are published in traditional mainstream media popular with Vietnamese businessmen namely, business and lifestyle magazines such as the Viet Nam Investment Review and Viet Nam Airlines Heritage in-flight magazine. What messages do your ads convey? Basically, we want to reduce demand by changing consumer attitudes and behaviours.