Festival of Wildlife Join a group of expert naturalists in Borneo’s Danum Valley that include television wildlife presenters Nick Baker and Nigel Marven, acclaimed wildlife photographers Nick Garbutt and Alex Hyde, and award-winning sculptor Nick Mackman – plus the Wildlife Worldwide team – for this unique wildlife event! The concept Since its inception in 2004, the Festival of Wildlife concept has evolved to become a week-long event packed with a rich variety of activities. The original concept was devised by Wildlife Worldwide founder Chris Breen, whose vision was to “celebrate all aspects of an area’s flora and fauna”. Such was the success of the first Festival in Kenya’s Masai Mara, that the Festival concept grew and developed. Subsequent Festivals took place in the Galapagos Islands in 2005, Ranthambhore National Park in India in 2006, the Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia in 2007, Madagascar in 2008, the legendary Serengeti in Tanzania in 2009, and Brazil’s Pantanal in 2010. Mexico’s Baja California has been home to the Festival of Whales since 2014, and we are returning to the Great Bear Rainforest in 2015 for the first Festival of Bears. Many participants have returned regularly to enjoy the celebrations. And the wildlife focus has turned on iconic species such as lions, tigers, jaguars, lemurs, grey whales, grizzly bears, as well as those which led the young Charles Darwin to formulate his ground-breaking theory of evolution. To celebrate 25 years of Wildlife Worldwide, the Festival of Wildlife returns – this time to Borneo’s Danum Valley. The location The 2017 Festival of Wildlife visits Borneo, the third-largest island in the world and Asia’s largest. Lying north of Java, west of Sulawesi, east of Sumatra and close to the northernmost islands of the Philippines, it stands at the geographical heart of the widely-scattered archipelago of Southeast Asia. Borneo is divided between three countries: Malaysia and the tiny, oil-rich, sovereign state of Brunei in the north, while to the south Indonesia occupies roughly 73% of the island’s territory. The Malaysian portion consists of the states of Sabah and Sarawak, plus the federal territory of Labuan on a small island just off the northern coast. The highest point is Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, which rises to an elevation of 4,095 metres overlooking the South China Sea. Home to the world’s oldest rainforests – more than 130 million years old! – Borneo possesses around 15,000 species of flowering plants and 3,000 tree species. This exceptional biodiversity is yet further enriched by the presence of more than 200 species of terrestrial mammal and 420 species of resident bird, making the island an evolutionary hotspot and a centre for distribution of endemic plant and animal species. Borneo’s rainforests are one of the few remaining natural habitats for the endangered orangutan, and a vital refuge for other endemic forest dwellers such as the Asian elephant, the Sumatran rhinoceros, the Bornean clouded leopard, Hose's civet and the Dayak fruit bat. Since the "Heart of Borneo" agreement was signed in 2007, to safeguard the island’s rainforest, some 123 new species have been discovered here – a testament to the importance of conservation for future generations. The venue In 2017 the Festival of Wildlife will take place at the remarkable Borneo Rainforest Lodge in Danum Valley Conservation Area. Located some two hours drive inland from the town of Lahad Datu in eastern Sabah, this lodge lies in pristine jungle at the heart of a major conservation area, and the drive in along the well-maintained but unsurfaced access road offers unparalleled views of virtually untouched rainforest. Considering the remoteness of its location, this unique, award-winning property offers an extremely high standard of accommodation in a wonderful setting beside the Danum River, and blends in discreetly with the surrounding rainforest. Wildlife abounds in the surrounding pristine 43,800-hectare conservation area – more than 340 bird species have been recorded here, along with 124 species of mammals, 72 species of reptiles, 56 species of amphibians, and there is a staggering biodiversity of 200 plant species per hectare! Much of the fauna is nocturnal, however, and is most likely to be seen during a night safari or jungle trek, however individual wild orangutans frequently nest in the vicinity of the lodge. The nearby canopy walkway provides unimpeded and safe viewing of the 130-million-year-old forest from a maximum height of 26 metres i.e. at eye level with the tree-tops. With a total length of some 300 metres, the walkway has five sturdy platforms that are perfect for watching canopy-dwelling birds at dawn or dusk, or simply experiencing the splendour of the forest. An extensive network of marked trails allows you to encounter the area’s birdlife and mammals in small break-out groups in the company of the lodge’s experienced and knowledgeable naturalist guides and our very own team of expert. The activities As well as opportunities to explore the Danum Valley’s pristine rainforest accompanied by naturalist guides, there will be workshops, master- classes, lectures, presentations and wildlife-related discussions delivered throughout the week by our guest speakers and wildlife experts. Our final evening’s gala dinner will feature an auction in aid of wildlife charities. Past auctions have made a major contribution towards the development of local conservation programmes. As a Festival of Wildlife participant you can expect to meet like-minded fellow enthusiasts, while gaining and sharing valuable insights into the fragility of the natural world, and helping with the conservation of local wildlife. I sincerely hope that you can join us for this inspirational stay in Borneo’s magical rainforest. We will issue a full daily programme of events closer to the time. The Experts Nick Baker – naturalist and television presenter Naturalist and television wildlife presenter Nick Baker is known to many as host of BBC Autumnwatch Unsprung and Springwatch Unsprung, as well as presenting the highly popular long- running Weird Creatures series (C5 / Animal Planet). Nick is an edgy, exciting broadcaster with incredible drive and passion, whose experience includes expeditions to the wildest parts of the planet - including Borneo - in search of weird, bizarre and incredible creatures. His career encompasses the wild in its broadest sense: serious natural history and science, explorations of land and ocean, conservation, and extinction. He appears regularly in a variety of TV programmes in both the UK and the USA that range from Harry Hill’s TV Burp and Loose Women to Tomorrow’s World. In the US Nick was one of National Geographic’s Ultimate Explorers (National Geographic US / MSNBC), covering topics such as anti-poaching patrols in Cambodia, natural areas from Yellowstone to Yukon, the ebola outbreak in the Congo, and emergent zoonotic viruses. Nigel Marven – naturalist and television presenter Nigel Marven is widely known as the presenter of Ten Deadliest Snakes. On finishing school, Nigel spent a year travelling throughout America before returning to read Botany and Zoology at university in Bristol - the world capital of wildlife filmmaking. While researching for an MSc, Nigel got his first break in television on a BBC wildlife programme, where he learned about film-making. His first full-time television job was as a researcher on his hero David Attenborough's First Eden series about the Mediterranean. Because of his experience with Mediterranean wildlife, the BBC Drama Department asked Nigel to be an Assistant Producer on a ten- part serialisation based on Gerald Durrell's book My Family and Other Animals, filming for over five months on the Greek island of Corfu. Nigel remained at the BBC for well over a decade, producing many primetime wildlife films including Incredible Journeys and Life of Birds. He eventually left to join Granada Television, where he continued to produce cutting-edge wildlife films but also found a new role in front of the camera. Five years later, Nigel now runs his own production company and makes films that are screened all over the world. He too has previously worked and filmed in Malaysian Borneo. Nick Garbutt – photographer An award-winning photographer and author, with a background in zoology, Nick has forged a career by combining these skills with leading tours and lecturing. His travels have taken him all over the world, but he has worked extensively in Malaysian Borneo. Nick has written and photographed several critically acclaimed books, including: ‘100 Animals to See Before They Die’, ‘Mammals of Madagascar: A Complete Guide’, ‘Wild Borneo’, and ‘Chameleons’. He is a regular contributor to a wide range of international magazines such as National Geographic, Terra Mater, BBC Wildlife, Africa Geographic and Geographical. Nick has twice been a winner in the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. In 2000, he won the prestigious Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife, and in 1996 won the Urban & Garden Wildlife category in the same competition. Over the years, several of his images have been awarded Specially Commended or Highly Commended status. His photographs also appear widely in books, calendars, promotional material and other publications worldwide. He is a Special Lecturer on the MSc course in the Wildlife Photography and Imaging at Nottingham University, where he studied. Nick leads the Wildlife Worldwide Photography trip series that covers the world and has been on our expert panel for six Festivals of Wildlife. Nick Mackman - artist and sculptor Nick is an award-winning ceramic sculptor, who gains inspiration from the full breadth of the animal kingdom. The majority of her pieces are based on observations of animals in the field. Most of Nick’s sculptures are Raku-fired, giving a rich but natural looking crackle glaze.