Innholdsfortegnelse for Edition 94 i Travel Africa

Two faces “What does Africa mean to me? It’s summed up in the word serendipity, which has been defined as ‘finding pleasing things that one had not been looking for’. Africa in 1976 was challenging for us backpackers, and George and I developed a wariness of borders as we travelled north from Cape Town. None caused us more anxiety than crossing from the then Zaire to Uganda, our unease increasing with every step through the three kilometres of no-man’s-land; we had been told that the border was ‘closed to whites’ after a recent attempt on Idi Amin’s life. A Ugandan border guard walked towards us, an imposing figure of authority: starched khaki shorts, crisply ironed white shirt, shined boots. ‘Welcome to Uganda!’ he said. Because it was Sunday there would…

African food is both diverse and delicious, and introducing yourself to new dishes not only expands the palette but creates memories just as much as visiting historic landmarks or ticking off wildlife on safari. Eating the everyday meals that locals enjoy is a great way to experience fantastic hospitality, sample traditional recipes and get a real flavour for what it’s like to live in a place… Here are six that always remind me of my African travels. 01 Tagine The ubiquitous Moroccan tagine is a flavourful Berber dish of meat or vegetables with spices, garlic, onion, olives and preserved lemons, braised in a conical clay pot. I sampled my first at a rooftop café in Marrakech’s old medina and enjoyed Morocco’s aromatic and delicious national dish while mopping up the…

One of the unheralded pleasures of an African road trip is chatting to the lads, ladies and sometimes old folk who operate the petrol pumps. It’s always fun, and on occasion thoughtprovoking. For instance, in 2015 my wife Jas and I undertook a month-long 6500km self-drive expedition through southern Africa in a rented Nissan truck, visiting South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. At our final fuel stop in Maun, I proudly outlined our journey to the attendant, Benedict. His reaction? “Why?” I have to say, I was stumped. It was not a question I had really considered. But on reflection I saw there was more than one answer. There was the lure of adventure; perhaps escape and freedom; curiosity, and a sort of hunger for new experiences. There was…

1 WALK WITHIN WING DISTANCE OF NATIVE BIRDS ON ARIDE An avian Arcadia and conservation success story, this tiny island close to Praslin can be visited on a half-day trip. In the absence of any predators, birds nest comfortably on the ground and in low canopies, making it a joy to walk along trails where feathers flutter never more than a few metres from your face. Find fluff-ball white-tailed tropicbird chicks sheltering in hollowed tree stumps, watch noddy birds dive into the surf to fetch seaweed for their nests, and gaze at balletic fairy terns flitting from one branch to the next. The Seychelles magpie robin, one of the rarest species in the world, also thrives here, thanks to a reintroduction programme by the Island Conservation Society who manage Aride.…

On 27 March 2020, as the entire world was facing the advancing pandemic, and before we knew to what degree these changes would impact us, David Cartwright, CEO of ATI Holidays, was checking in passengers for a flight out of Windhoek that he wasn’t sure would take off. International borders were closing and the airport was shut. But, working with the then British High Commissioner Kate Airey, her deputy Charlotte Fenton and Westair Aviation, David helped to get over 50 British citizens out of Namibia and back home to the UK. Since the dust settled on the long dirt roads leading to the country’s rural areas, Namibia’s tourism sector and its partners have worked hard to ensure that the community and conservation efforts that have been built over the last…

Pfffff! The first hippo breaks the surface with a hydraulic hiss. Suddenly that familiar face is staring at you from alarmingly close, all bristling muzzle, rosy jowls and goggle eyes. Another pops up beside it. Their expressions are hard to read: cross or simply curious? Your guide doesn’t wait to find out but digs in a paddle and pulls briskly towards the bank, motioning you to do the same. No worries. By now, you’ve learnt the hippo protocol. It’s their river, not yours, so you allow them the deeper water and slip past along the bank in discreet single file. In your wake, the hippos reassert their claim with resonant grunting whinnies – almost a laugh, but not quite. Others further away pick up the chorus, their calls repeated from…

Duration A popular option is to take a half-or full-day canoe trip, offered as an activity by many of the camps and lodges on both sides of the river. A multi-day expedition offers a more immersive experience, paddling with lengthy breaks by day and overnighting in the wild along the way. Overnighting You can choose to do this simply – camping with pop-up tents on an island or sandbank of your finding – or by spending each night in a fully-supported mobile camp erected in a set location in advance of your arrival. Alternatively, you can overnight at permanent safari camps or lodges along the way. Canoes On the Upper Zambezi, above the Victoria Falls, where water levels are subject to seasonal variation, operators mostly prefer to use inflatable kayak-type…

1 Dzanga Bai The ‘Ngorongoro of the rainforest’ provides the most exceptional elephant experience you can ever have. Up to 150 elephants gather in this forest clearing on any given day. Other animals also frequent the bai, such as bongo (a difficult animal to see anywhere), buffalo, and giant forest and red river hogs. 2 Night walks With a guide carrying a thermal imaging camera, you can find anomalures, the African equivalent of flying squirrels; the ‘scaly tail’ is the only mammal besides the pangolin that has scales. You are also likely to encounter nocturnal primates, including the potto and the galago (bush baby). 3 Primates Track Western lowland gorillas at Bai Hokou. Along with neighbouring Nouabalé-Ndoku National Park and Odzala, this is the only place in the world where…

Outsiders in a foreign land, two brothers strut brazenly across the plains, eagerly trying their luck. Narrowing their gaze on a lone waterbuck, the cheetahs move purposefully, scattering nervous oribi like bolts of lightning in the electrifying morning light. For centuries, nomadic travellers have passed through this crossroads in East Africa, where mountains meet grasslands and arid soils rise into fertile slopes. Tucked into the northeastern region of Uganda, on the border with Ethiopia and South Sudan, the Kidepo Valley National Park has long been an important resting place for pastoralist tribes and transiting wildlife – yet it still feels like a far-off, forgotten corner of the earth. Guarded by the ghosts of ever-receding ridgelines and the stooped shadows of contorted shea trees, a gaping savannah sweeps into palm forests…

musa Juma smiled knowingly when I told him I’d got hopelessly lost walking around Stone Town’s labyrinth of alleyways, where centuries-old mildewed houses meld effortlessly with the mayhem of modern life. “I came here to Zanzibar from Pemba Island 25 years ago, and I still get lost!” my driver replied. “These narrow streets often look the same.” Stone Town’s former prosperity was borne of the tyranny of the Arab slave trade and the lucrative spices which gave the Zanzibar archipelago its moniker of The Spice Islands. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, some parts of town have been carefully restored; others are slowly crumbling, eroding through neglect, humidity and the inexorable passage of time. Wandering along these backstreets steeped in history, I became captivated by the tall houses with elegant, latticed…

South Africa: Kruger National Park, Madikwe Game Reserve, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi and Tswalu Game Reserves Zimbabwe: Mana Pools and Hwange National Parks, Save Conservancy/Gonarezhou National Park Zambia: Lower Zambezi, South Luangwa and Kafue National Parks Kenya: Laikipia private conservancies Tanzania: Nyerere National Park (Selous Game Reserve), Ruaha National Park Botswana: Moremi Game Reserve / Okavango Delta, Kwando, Linyanti, Selinda (all northern Botswana) Mozambique: Niassa National Reserve, Gorongosa National Park “To get to a world where locals are excited, rather than irritated or scared, by the presence of African wild dogs on their land is a dream but one which is, I believe, achievable”MARGOT RAGGETT, REMEMBERING WIDLLFE “With its striking coat, exceptional cooperation skill and outstanding hunting prowess, the African wild dog is a truly astonishing species”DEDAN NGATIA, MPALA RESEARCH CENTRE / UNIVERSITY…

It can be easy to get despondent when we look at the threats to the survival of endangered species. But there are many examples of conservation projects making a big impact. There were around only 50 Southern white rhinos just a few decades ago and now there are around 20,000. Mountain gorillas were down to just a few hundred and now number over 1000. Our recent donation to support the reintroduction of African wild dogs to Malawi is another example of how it is possible to bring animals back from the brink. The Covid-19 pandemic has devastated tourism in many places that rely on this revenue to fund conservation. We’re determined to keep supporting people on the ground who are doing this vital work. With nearly 200 photographers involved in…

Prints for Wildlife The second edition of Prints for Wildlife saw 9600 prints of original photographs donated by 175 photographers raise US$1m. Since launching last year, Prints for Wildlife has raised US$1.75m, with the proceeds going directly to African Parks. WWW.PRINTSFORWILDLIFE.ORG Tusk Lion Trail 12 lion sculptures have raised US$1m at auction for conservation projects in Africa. A further 35 (which have been displayed in the UK, Kenya, New Zealand and Australia) are going under the hammer on 9 November. Each lion has been decorated by acclaimed artists and celebrities, including Ronnie Wood and John Cleese. WWW.TUSKLIONTRAIL.COM Sketch for Survival Funds from Explorers Against Extinction’s annual sale of artworks (donated by professional and celebrity artists) are raised at an online auction in November, and from sales at its pop-up gallery.…

HOW COULD YOU TIRE OF THIS? NANCY MCDANIEL, USA Some people wonder why I go back to the African bush ever year. “Don’t you see the same things,” they ask? “No.” Having been on safari over 30 times, it wasn’t until July 2019 in Amboseli, Kenya, that I kept up with a cheetah chasing a gazelle, arriving just after she caught it. My guide and I were the only ones there. That same afternoon, a bull elephant charged me. I never tire of travelling there, and I hope to never stop going. I miss the uncountable stars, the smell of wild sage, sweet baby animals, a lion being bothered by a fly, sundowners (the only time I drink gin and tonic) and odd things like lunch bread in the shape…

To acquire a PhD, the old joke goes, you must learn more and more about less and less. To me, this says as much about academia’s obsession with specificity as it does about the humility that comes from learning. I believe this attitude can just as easily be applied to travel. I relocated to Nairobi with my husband in 2017. Since we both enjoy spending time outdoors, we found a home near Karura Forest, an old-growth forest in the north of the city that covers about 1000 hectares (2500 acres). In a way, the forest sold me on the move. Before visiting, I had imagined Nairobi to be like any bustling developing city, filled with nightmarish traffic, endless construction and brash street markets. While those stereotypes contain some truth, I…

Plantigrade, digitigrade, unguligrade. It was a dismal Monday in an Irish winter, and yet I was happy, contemplating the evolution of African mammalian feet, with visions of scampering monkeys, sprinting cheetah and stealthy elephant. For a couple of hours, a window had opened and filled the room with exotic sounds and the luminescence of the natural world. The exotic sounds came via the accents of a dozen countries – because I was not alone. In fact it came as a bit of a surprise to find 37 students in my online Field Guide class. Surely we’d need to be in the veld to really learn the difference between odd-toed and eventoed ungulates? But somehow it worked, thanks to the live format favoured by the operator, South Africa’s EcoTraining. Suffering fernweh…

STAR-BATHING IN THE CEDERBERG WESTERN CAPE Photographs don’t do justice to this 66,000ha mountainous wilderness, north of Cape Town. There are dramatic sandstone rock formations burnt orange by iron oxide, caves with rock art dating as far back as 8000 years, and springfed pools, clear as glass. The Cederberg is also one of the best places to soak in and learn about the southern night sky. For full immersion, try a three-night star-bathing retreat at Bliss & Stars, hosted by mindfulness teacher Daria and her astrophotographer partner Heine. PIPPA DE BRUYN ALSO: Sutherland, in the Karoo, is the home of the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT). Book a private night tour, which is two-hours long and fascinating. ABSORB YOURSELF IN SAN CULTURE WESTERN CAPE Yzerfontein is an unlikely place to…

The first step was tentative, the fear of the unknown written across the youngster’s wrinkled face. Shielded behind a lavish curtain of feathery lashes, his sunken eyes flashed wide with worry as he sought reassurance from his mother. The distance between their mismatched bodies was no more than a few centimetres, but he edged even closer until his wiry, bristly hairs brushed her textured skin. Water splashed at the baby’s swollen feet, the murky liquid steadily creeping up his legs with every reluctant stride. Soon, his whole body was submerged, and as the lapping waves threatened to cover his head, the young elephant instinctively stretched out his trunk towards his mother’s tail just ahead of him. Apparently oblivious of her charge’s fears, the matriarch continued to wade ever deeper, leaving…

The first lion starts up just after dinner. We’re packing our plates, with the last streaks of sunset draining from the west, when I register that familiar rhythmic moan from somewhere on the horizon. “A lion? Really?” queries one of my companions, unimpressed. “A long way away,” our guide explains. “It sounds different up close.” We’ve been on the river all day. A strong breeze made for hard afternoon paddling, despite the current, so as dusk approached we were pleased to haul out our canoes and stop for the night. Camp, if you can call it that, is a wide sandbar with the river in front and a steep bank behind – too steep, our guide reassures us, for elephants and other large nocturnal visitors. Our bags, cool boxes and…

What training is required to become a canoe guide? It took me one year of study to become a Learner Guide, then four years of apprenticeship with a very experienced senior canoe guide. To become fully qualified you need a minimum of 1000 hours experience operating a canoe on the river, you need to pass a firearms proficiency test and you need to have Advanced First Aid training. What are the safety challenges that you face on the river? Hippos are our greatest challenge. We have to be very careful when we pass them, taking the shallow water and allowing them space to move into deeper water. Crocodiles are always present, but guests are safe if they never dangle their hands or legs in the water. Canoeists need to keep…

Bafflingly diverse and exhilaratingly unspoilt, coastal West Africa boasts some of the continent’s most memorable cultural and historic sites. This patchwork of countries was once home to several great empires – Oyo, Benin, Ashanti – while outside influences have also left indelible traces. Trans-Saharan trade routes brought Islam to the region, while later European adventurers came prospecting for ivory, gold and slaves, trailing Christianity and colonial beaurocracy in their wake. Monuments to these myriad influences can still be seen in the region’s array of timewarped colonial towns, haunting slave castles and a varied string of religious attractions ranging from traditional voodoo markets to majestic mosques. Much of West Africa’s enormous cultural tourist potential remains untapped, although things are gradually changing. The following selection are well worth including on your bucket…

I’m lying on a blow-up mattress. Humidity exaggerates the smell of elephant dung and brackish water. It is nearly dawn and hyena have been hunting near our tent since midnight. As their guttural barks become fainter, the darkness settles over me and I ease back to sleep. Without warning, something brushes against my tent. My heart pounds. The material that separates me from whatever lurks outside feels impossibly thin. I ponder the wisdom of bringing three young children deep into the bush on a camping safari. We rise at dawn to a honey-hued sunrise and immediately work out who our overnight visitors were. A family of elephants stand peacefully next to the river. The children eat bowls of Weetabix watching the matriarch and her young family and I am filled…

Beaches Think Zanzibar, think beach. Turquoise waters lap at palm tree-lined white-sand beaches, with the main island of Unguja’s east and northern coasts offering the proverbial ‘tropical island paradise’. With several coral reefs, abundant sea life and the odd wreck or two, divers and snorkellers are well rewarded. Here are a few examples… Bwejuu: considered one of Zanzibar’s best, in the quieter southeast. Ideal for those seeking total relaxation and privacy. Nungwi: with a renowned reef, Nungwi is perfect for divers and snorkellers. It’s known for its stunning sunsets and night-time entertainment. Matamwe: the pristine sands of Zanzibar’s longest beach give way to traditional fishing villages and, offshore, you’ll find the renowned diving spot of Mnemba Atoll. Paje: Known for its watersports, in particular kitesurfing. A lively party spot in…

HOW IT WORKS The capital required to produce each volume is raised on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, and 100 per cent of the profit from book sales is donated to projects supporting the featured species. Every £1 raised through Kickstarter has translated into donations worth £1.30. Almost 200 of the world’s best wildlife photographers have now donated images for use in the six books, and more than 32,000 copies have been sold to date, with most volumes being reprinted at least once. In addition to the UK distribution, in the last year South Africa, USA and Canada have been added. As the project raises money by selling a product, rather than asking for donations, Remembering Wildlife is not registered as a charity, but joins an ever-growing band of socially-responsible businesses committed…

ONE STEP UP Zambia’s Luangwa Community Forest Project (LCFP) has been ranked Best Individual Off setting Project in the World in the Environmental Finance Annual Global Voluntary Carbon Market Rankings. As well as reducing carbon emissions by 1.4 million tons per year, the LCFP benefits some 217,000 people in the region. The initiative protects nearly 1 million hectares of forest, the largest REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) project in Africa. Large parts of the Luangwa Valley are in a province with one of the highest rates of deforestation in the country. “We are tackling this threat by working with communities to address drivers of deforestation, by reducing poverty, creating sustainable ways to earn an income, improving livelihoods through improved social services and infrastructure, and encouraging conservation,” said…

Insects are often regarded as pests or insignificant, yet without them life on Earth would not exist. They drive our ecosystems, ensuring the production of seeds for many plants through pollination. Predatory and parasitic insects control the numbers of other invertebrate and insect species. Herbivorous species reduce the reproductive fitness of many plants, while pollination and seed burial by others increases it. These opposing activities help regulate plant communities. Plant growth depends on good soil, and insects are crucial for this. Many aerate it through tunnelling, permitting good drainage and turn-over of the soil. Some species remove dung produced by larger animals, returning nutrients to the soil through feeding while reducing the number of flies and parasites which breed in it. Others break down dead plant material – making it…

HIGH HOPES The Star Deck at Mkulumadzi Lodge commands a far-reaching view over Majete Wildlife Reserve in southwest Malawi. The deck is located about 1.5km from the main lodge – at the confluence of the Shire and Mkulumadzi rivers – which this year celebrates its tenth anniversary. Robin Pope Safaris recognised the potential of this reserve to be part of a wider circuit encompassing Liwonde National Park and Lake Malawi, knowing that tourism was important to the sustained conservation effort. Since 2003 African Parks has transformed Majete from a neglected wasteland to a flourishing wildlife reserve, having reintroduced 5000 animals from 16 species, including rhinos, elephants, lions, giraffes, cheetahs and others. Poaching has virtually been eradicated, and it now provides hundreds of jobs and supports thousands of community members. Perhaps…

A FIRE IS LIT Born in a small town near Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, Beks Ndlovu’s first memories of wildlife were of crop-raiding elephants destroying his mother’s garden. “We banged on pots and pans hoping the noise would chase them away,” he recalled. His love of nature later developed on trips away from boarding school, spending time with friends in safari camps, camping and fishing. “I loved being outdoors and learning not just about wildlife but also about safari operations,” he recalled. “When I left school, I started training as a learner guide.” He qualified just three years later – most guides take five. For the next decade he guided clients, managed camps and took marketing and operations roles to learn the business, before starting his own guiding operation,…

Covid is everywhere and you can catch it anywhere. But we feel that you have more chance of doing so in the UK, for example, than in Africa – with its wide-open spaces and limited contact. Still, practise social distancing, sanitise frequently and wear face masks in public areas. Respect each others’ safety. Many tourism companies are encouraging their staff to get vaccinated, test them regularly and give daily temperature checks. DEBBIE AND JOHN ADDISON, WILD FRONTIERS If you can travel now, rather than postpone, do – not only to support local communities but to avoid the crowds, as many people have rescheduled their trips for 2022 so it will be busy next year. CANDICE MORTIMER, ALEX WALKER’S SERIAN Responsible travel to Africa can save and restore habitats that help…

When the pandemic struck I had been tourism manager on a conservancy in Naivasha for five years, but when the owners sold one of their properties to boost the coffers, many of the staff had to be retrenched. I realised we were losing some excellent people, passionate about the bush and who had put a lot of energy into their careers. Within six weeks I was off to Tsavo National Park to a private campsite I had never seen, with a team had never run a mobile camp So, I decided to go with them and try my own thing. A handshake agreement with a friend to lease his tented camp, now folded up and in storage, and within six weeks I was off to Tsavo National Park to a…

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the influences in my life. There are the obvious ones: grandparents, parents, siblings, wife, children, aunts and uncles, cousins (they each deserve more individual recognition than being lumped in as ‘family’). Some inspiring teachers and the lessons that still help me today (thank you, Miss Eddington!). Friends, writers, photographers and colleagues who have added their voices to the story. Music that has been the soundtrack to my journey. And of course, we are all influenced by the experiences we collect along the way. Unexpected conversations that still linger in the memory twenty years later. Observations of mothers in faraway lands that shape the way we parent our own children. Insights from different cultures that challenge our perspective of our own community or…

In Legacy of Love, a new 328-page coffee table book that hopes to raise awareness and funds for conservation, more than 50 leading animal charity founders, artists, photographers and actors share their passion for their craft and wildlife. Their stories are delightful reminders of our shared appreciation for nature and of the merits of taking time to really notice the detail in the animals we admire. Here are a few abridged excerpts. Painting a future KAREN LAURENCE-ROWE, PAINTER “I think someone is trying to cut the house down” whispered my brother in my ear one night. A statement such as this is a disconcerting one to a four-year-old, but there was indeed a very strange sawing sound coming from underneath our bedroom floor… [My mother] picked up a torch, bravely…

If you’re enjoying reading Travel Africa, and you like to explore Africa in depth, in your own time, why not subscribe and we’ll deliver a lot more of the world’s most exciting continent directly to you, four times a year. There are 2 easy ways to receive Travel Africa. Which format is best for you? PRINT + DIGITAL ★ Have each issues posted through your door in high quality print; great to flick through and explore! ★ Flipbook version emailed to you to read online DIGITAL ONLY ★ Instant access to the magazine as soon as it’s published. ★ Read the magazine on your tablet, desktop or smartphone. ★ App is free to download. In-app purchase of individual issues, or take out a subscription. ★ Page view replicates of the…

i’d been following her shadowy form for more than half an hour. By keeping a comfortable distance, she allowed me to trail her slow, delicate movements as we glided into the Wedgewood-blue void. When she eventually ascended for air, we were eye-level for a few precious moments; two fragile fragments floating in the Indian Ocean’s vast, unfathomable abyss. Sea turtles are one of the many charismatic creatures inhabiting the waters in the Seychelles archipelago. With a population below 100,000, this is one of the smallest nations in the world. But although its 115 islands cover just 455 square kilometres, the marine area is more than 800 times that size. Flying from international gateway Mahé to Denis, a privately-owned island in the north, inky blots of jade and indigo swirled below…

Craning my neck, sweat streaming down my back, I spotted him in the gloom – the first pangolin I’d ever seen – scuffling along the tree branches, thick, scaled tail curled around the trunk as he foraged for ants to scoop up with his long tongue Back in 2019 – which feels more like 10 years ago than two – I travelled with Congo Conservation Company (CCC) on a new circuit connecting the Republic of Congo and Central African Republic, designed to make the Congo Basin more accessible for tourists. Far from being a whistle-stop tour, the emphasis was on slowing down, moving on foot and by river, carving out time to appreciate this vital, threatened region. TOUCH DOWN: BRAZZAVILLE I don’t feel I know a thing about a country…

Rwanda’s magnificent green hills are one of this petite central African nation’s most defining characteristics. Even the fast-expanding capital is built into the slopes. Walking up and down these inclines, marvelling at views over the city, where modern buildings, redroofed homes and hues of green converge with tangerine sunsets, is one of my favorite ways to experience Kigali. When I first landed here in the spring of 2015 – a stopover on route to northwestern Tanzania – I never imagined that this small, lush and completely foreign city would eventually become my adopted hometown. But the relaxed pace of life, close-knit community and abundant nature provided an ideal base in which to explore projects in writing, conservation, gender equality, entrepreneurship and refugee rights. Over the past six years I’ve borne…

An impala ram blocks the track, body rigid with tension. Before I can make out where he’s staring, more impala erupt from the thicket, leaping across our path in breakneck confusion. “Dogs!” calls our guide. Sure enough, the first pursuer bounds into view, then another to the right, running in parallel. We rumble off after them. But by the time we catch up, the impala are gone and the dogs – nine altogether – have regrouped under a tree. The youngsters are chittering excitedly, in a frenzy of greetings. The alpha female stands apart, staring off into the bush. This experience, in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, was typical of my encounters with the African wild dog. Few animals are more compelling – or intriguing. It is hard to believe that this…

REMEMBERING ELEPHANTS • A donation of £2,350 paid for ‘bee fences’ – bee hives hung on fences to deter elephants from trampling through crop fields – in South Rift Valley in Kenya. Farmers also sell the honey, adding to their income. • A £17,000 donation went to the Wildlife Emergency Response Unit in Malawi, which provides in-field veterinary support for wildlife and conservation projects. REMEMBERING RHINOS • Saving the Survivors, in South Africa, received £35,000 to assist with the treatment of a white rhino bull and a white rhino female, both of which had suffered horrific facial wounds as a result of poaching. Both went on to successfully reproduce. REMEMBERING GREAT APES • A donation of £16,842 to the Jane Goodall Institute in the Republic of Congo paid for boat…

Much of what we know of elephants today – behaviours that suggest a rich emotional life, tight bonds among family members, sophisticated communications, high intelligence and more – is due to the groundbreaking field research of Cynthia Moss and the Amboseli Elephant Research Project she founded. AWF supported Moss’s Amboseli project from its beginning in the 1970s. The New York-raised Moss had about a year’s worth of experience studying elephants, but wanted to do her own research focusing on the elephants of Kenya’s Amboseli National Park. She and Harvey Croze began a parttime study in 1972. A former Newsweek reporter, Moss worked as editor of AWF’s newsletter Wildlife News, and in 1975 published a well-received survey of East African mammals, Portraits in the Wild. With her credentials bolstered, in 1975…

Young cheetah cubs look adorable, and far from dangerous. Of course, the same might be said of most baby mammals, but the long, silvery mane sported by a cheetah cub in its first three months of life turns it into a puffy fluffball – it could almost be a different species to its sleek-furred, elite athlete of a mother. The mane just adds to their appeal in our eyes, but we might wonder why they have this striking ornamentation, when we know how vulnerable they are to predation already. The obvious go-to explanation is camouflage – maybe those long silver hairs resemble silvery grasses? Possibly they do, but in this case the main evolutionary reason is thought to be something a bit stranger. That mane provides a disguise – but…

If you are looking to avoid crowds, there is nowhere better to go than on safari, in the bush with all that open space. And if you want even more privacy, plumping for an exclusive-use lodge may be a great option. Perhaps you don’t fancy the thought of communal dining and want some quality alone-time. Maybe you’re concerned about mixing with other travellers in the wake of the pandemic. You could be celebrating a significant milestone or want special time with the family after many months apart. Whatever the reason, remote safari destinations are now more accessible to multi-generational families and groups than ever. And it needn’t break the bank either. Exclusive-use properties, if filled, often offer better value than booking individual villas or tents. While they are common in…