Karen Smart's wedding - congratulations! Karen is currently on MSc ISR distance learning.

Lots of new people

We've got lots of new people on the course now - in total there are about 55 of you currently studying and about 20 people who have already graduated. So this is great and it's good to see that more people have joined the blog. One of these days I will do something about setting some kind of communal wiki up so that we can share subject interest things more easily.

Wasiq's wedding

Here are some more photos of the wedding and of their honeymoon in Malaysia.

Wasiq Ashfaq's wedding

Wasiq was part of the first cohort of students doing the MSc CIR. He sent me these photos of his recent wedding.

Jersey's Durrell Wildlife Conservation Centre

At the beginning of July a trip to Jersey brought me to the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, a place I visited for the first time some twenty years ago. My first visit was prompted by my knowledge of Gerald Durrell through his many books. The first trip abroad we took was to Corfu nearly 50 years ago. The island only had 7 hotels and further building was very strictly controlled. The people were wonderfully friendly. At that time the inhabitants of Corfu were not at ease with German tourists. There were two prices for everything – price for the Germans and the price for the British which was much lower. When as a British tourist you entered a taverna the owner always bought the first drink whereas as a German you would be lucky to be served within an hour. War memories still rankled in a place where time had stood still.

This is hard to believe but at that time tourists were warned not to go into the hills because bandits were operating there. We ignored these warnings and went off into the hills on our hired scooter. Needless to say when in the midst of the hills we got a puncture. Remember this was in the days before mobile phones and for most people on Corfu before even telephones. We had no spare tyre so took to pushing the scooter in the hope of finding help and before we had gone twenty-five yards we were surrounded by about 25 people. This was really scary – were they bandits? At first we thought they were because they took the scooter from us and insisted in a language we could not understand that we make our way to this wooden hut in the middle of no-where which we thought might be where we might be imprisoned until a ransom was paid.

We entered the hut in trepidation to find it contained one of those large American refrigerators and some home made table and chairs which the locals insisted we sat at. Suddenly everyone was smiling at us. A wind-up gramophone was produced and a record placed upon it. Imagine our surprise when from this instrument the words “Well, its one for the money, Two for the show, Three to get ready, Now go, cat, go. But don’t you step on my blue suede shoes” crackled out. Everybody in the room was now beaming at us. They then indicated it was time to eat and a somewhat moth-eaten old piece of leg of lamb (or more probably goat) was produced and passed round the assembled company with each person tapping the bone on the table and pulling meat off it with their fingers. We were quick learners and when it came to our turn we tapped and pulled as little meat away as we could manage (fear of being shot had rapidly been overtaken by fear of dying from botulism at this point). Some diversionary tactic was called for so I shouted my second word of Greek (the first being kalemera) – krassi. My intention being to buy a round of drinks for all those present (krassi meant wine) but it was interpreted by these so generous people that I needed wine which was promptly provided.

I will never forget these wonderful people who despite their obvious poverty were willing to share their food with strangers and give us such a wonderful welcome. The scooter was returned with puncture repaired, my wife was given a beautiful bunch of flowers and we were on our way.

Why you might ask is he going on about Corfu. Gerald Durrell was brought up in Corfu and he wrote about his days in Corfu in a trilogy the most well known of which is “My family and other animals”. All those years ago he was warning about the damage that a rapid increase in tourism would do to the island and its wildlife. I had to go to Corfu a few years ago and I was devastated by the way in which the island has deteriorated into a destination for low grade tourists. On my first visit someone told me that he had been all over the world and I was fortunate to come to one of the most beautiful places in the world on my first trip abroad. He was so right.Back to Jersey. The trust only cares for endangered species and has so far re-established populations of more 30 animals by carefully reintroducing them into the wild and is one of the more successful organisations in its field. It is a charity. If you want to know more about its work go to

http://www.durrell.org/About-Durrell/Vision/ . I began by saying I first went there twenty years ago when it was really struggling. Doubtless people working there today would say that that they are still struggling. However they are struggling in an environment in which the facilities for the animals have much improved and the varieties catered for has increased. This is a testament to the Trust and the way it has managed to raise money and develop commercial activities to support its work. A really good article on the Trust work and how it moved from being a conventional zoo can be found at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/conservation/5130889/Gerald-Durrells-Jersey-wildlife-conservation-trust-celebrates-50th-anniversary.html .

Here is a meerkat on look-out duty at the trust. They have this Easter been housed in a new enclosure which replicates their natural habitat. Read more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/jersey/content/articles/2009/03/04/meerkats_durrell_feature.shtml

Here’s another meerkat foraging for its food. Staff at the trust make sure that the meerkats have to work hard to find their food often hiding it or disguising it.

An example is its work with three types of primates – Gorillas and Orang-utans and Lemurs.
My understanding is the work with these primates is aimed at establishing breeding populations outside their natural habitat so that if as is likely their natural habitat disappears these wonderful animals will not be lost to the world.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Durrell’s Gorillas can be found at http://www.durrell.org/Animals/Mammals/Gorilla/ . There is a great gorilla video and a fact sheet which explains what has caused them to become an endangered species. Together with loss of habitat to farmland, the illegal capture of gorillas for bush meat (any wild-caught animal eaten by people), the pet trade, hunting trophies and souvenirs (gruesome novelties such as gorilla hand ashtrays), threatens the extinction of all 5 races of gorilla. Here are my photos of gorillas.
The dominant male

Ice lolly time

It's that man again!

and again!

Durrell announced a £47m improvement scheme for the park including new facilities for gorillas which it describes as follows.

"‘African Bai’ is the new facility for our gorillas, and a planned larger group. We shall have two large outside areas, one imitating the clearings in the West African forests to which gorillas and other animal such as elephants, bongo and red river hog, are attracted. There will be a large unheated area for inclement weather, with natural vegetation, plus an indoor heated facility (the ‘day gym’) and off-show sleeping and handling facilities. Either with or adjacent to the gorillas will be guenon monkeys, red river hogs and African clawless otters "

The orang-utans are the most endangered great ape and close to extinction. It is probable in the next few years that these magnificent animals will no longer be able to live in the wild and without conservation work like that at Durrell will be lost forever. Deforestation is the main problem. All you want to know about orang-utans at Durrell can be found at http://www.durrell.org/Animals/Mammals/Sumatran-orangutan/ which includes a great video and a fact sheet.

Here are my pictures

Here is a camera shy orang-utan with carrot

Gone fishin'

The carrot goes everywhere!

Three of a kind.

Lemurs are not classed as great apes but are primates and are related to the earliest ones. They are only found on Madagascar. Durrell is working with red ruffed lemurs, the ring tailed lemur, gentle lemurs and a closely related species the Aye-Aye.
Details of red ruffed lemurs can be found at http://www.durrell.org/Animals/Mammals/Redruffed-lemur/ . Their chances of survival are bleak. Here’s my photo of a pair at Durrell.

Red ruffed lemurs feeding at Durrell.


Details about the gentle lemur can be found at http://www.durrell.org/Animals/Mammals/Alaotran-gentle-lemur/ . This is a critically endangered species which is being hunted to extinction for cheap meat. There are about 5000 left and in the last 5 years 30% of the population has been lost. Here are my pictures from Durrell.



A gentle lemur from Madagascar and here is another one

Ring tailed lemurs are popular with tourists visiting Madagascar and although vulnerable could well survive in the wild. Read more at http://www.durrell.org/Animals/Mammals/Ringtailed-lemur/ .
Here’s my picture.

Ring tailed lemurs at Durrell

That’s all for now

Ken

Thanks Ken!

Hi Ken - thanks for putting these photos on, they're fantastic.

In case the rest of you are wondering, these are from Ken Boddington's (MSc IS) safari holiday in January 2009. Beats Leicester.

Hipp Hipp o ray at Madikwe

Through the middle of Madikwe runs the Limpopo river and in the Limpopo there are Hippos. You can hear them several hundred yards before reaching the river. These animals are not fish eaters but herbivores leaving the river to feed at night. More people are killed by hippos than any other animal in Africa.

Some of the best Pictures are in the older posts

Some of the best photos are in the older posts section - Meer cats, wild dogs and elephants

Leopards at Phinda Kwazulu Natal South Africa

I was treated to a very special viewing of a leopard whilst at Phinda. The Phinda game reserve until fairly recently was farmland in private ownership. Farmers saw leopards as animals which attacked their stock and would kill them given the opportunity. Indeed outside the reserve that is still the case. Kwazulu natal is has been divided into 5 areas and the government issues one permit for each area to allow leopards to be shot by big game hunters so the leopards are still much under threat. I was told last year one farmer killed to 1 year old cubs and their mother because he thought they were a threat to his live stock. All this has taught leopards to be very wary of man. They are very nervous creatures and are very rarely sighted and when they are the sightings are of a fleeting nature – certainly not long enough to get a photograph.

I was very privileged to go out with a ranger who knew his leopards and he found a leopard in a tree for me which was very unusual. I watched it from the 4 X 4 for about 45 minutes. Since all the Phinda leopards are tagged for the research program here and this leopard was not, it must have broken into the reserve. The ranger believed it was a young female about 18 months old who was about to be allowed to lead a separate life to its mother.

The ranger told me it was the best leopard sighting of his life. I was so fortunate to be there. Whilst at Phinda we saw a leopard every single day which we were told was exceptional.

Lions at Madikwe

Here are some pictures of lions from the largest pride on Madikwe. Madikwe is South Africa’s second largest game reserve and is constantly growing because of the government’s policy of buying up the land of private game reserves and incorporating it into the Madikwe reserve. The lodge operators continue to own and operate the lodges but free from the responsibility of vthe upkeep of animals and the environment they live in. Madikwe is totally malaria free and when I go there I stay at http://madikwe.safari.co.za/mateya-safari-lodge.html which is one of the best in South Africa with a maximum of 10 guests at any one time. The best time to go is either in January when there are plenty of new born animals or September after the rainy season when there are few leaves on the trees and the animals can be seen easily. A visit in September can be combined with a visit to Hermanus to watch the whales.

Back to the lions – Up until the end of 2008 Madikwe had two prides of lions living 40 miles apart. Both prides had cubs and the females of the larger pride saw the cubs of the smaller pride as a threat to their own cubs, The females of the larger pride attacked the smaller pride with the intention of killing the cubs. The female of the smaller pride fiercely defended her cubs and ended up being killed herself. A few weeks later the two young motherless cubs were killed by the females. Here are some photos of the larger pride. The pictures were taken from a 4 x 4 less than 10 m from the animals

Cheetahs at Phinda Game Reserve Kwazulu Natal South Africa

Some more pictures, this time of cheetahs. These show a mother and two cubs.
I watched them attempt to kill a Ngala but they failed. The mother does all the work and cubs stroll around getting into the spirit of the thing but contributing nothing to the kill. Unlike lions cheetahs do not park the kids when hunting. Cheetahs are the fastest of the predators, they do not retract their claws when but use them for walking or running to gain extra leverage on the ground hence their speed. The claws get worn down and so cheetahs cannot climb trees.

Only one in five cubs survive to adulthood. Cheetahs are preyed upon by other predators especially at the time of a kill. The alarm calls of prey being hunted and killed attract them particularly lions and leopards. As a result when a kill is made the cheetah has to eat quickly to avoid becoming a target. That means they only eat the hind quarters, liver and heart.

They are truly beautiful animals.

I took these pictures at a game reserve in Kwazulu Natal called Phinda from a 4 x 4 from about 25 m away.

A Dung beetle's dream come true!

White Rhinos at Tswalu

White rhinos can run many times faster than humans. We thought we might find out if this was the case by attempting to photograph them on foot from behind a tree at a distance of 12m. The results are sown above. We did have a ranger with a rather large gun hiding behind another tree but whether he could have successfully killed all three rhinos is open to doubt.

Lions feasting in the Kalahari

We spotted a lone male lion who had been rejected by a much larger pride and followed him for some time. The ranger informed us a single lion would find it very difficult to survive alone by killing prey and this one had been turned into a scavenger relying on eating from the kills of the main pride when he could. Sure enough the lion knew the pride had made a recent kill and all we had to do was to follow him to find it.

The last photo shows the ejected lion and the one above it him scavenging. Shortly after this the main pride arrived and you can see them feasting on what looks to be an eland. The fourth photo up shows the male of the pride on his way to confront the scavenger. The last photo is one of two cubs playing.

Tswalu Kalahari Cheetahs

The photo above is of a real live cheetah which I photographed from about 4 metres away standing on the ground. It was a really scary experience which required complete trust in the game ranger who said we would probably be OK!