by Julia

One thing that has been firmly on my bucket list for a while was to go Whale watching, something have finally I managed to tick off. During a recent trip to St Lucia, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa I had the opportunity to experience the exhilaration of searching out and finding these gentle giants of the deep. The Humpback whale season in this area runs from June to the end of November. We were there in November so to see not one but three was a pretty unexpected but wonderful experience. For such large animals, Humpback Whales are very good at hiding! It took us some time to find them in the inky blue sea, finally spotting the distinctive hump the whales make as they dive under the ocean surface, in the distance. The captain pulled alongside where we had spotted the whale and when he finally re-surfaced he had brought his friends with him! The three young males then swam alongside the boat for sometime before disappearing back into the ocean.

by Mike

Getting up before sunrise is not always something I seek out on a trip overseas but my early morning encounter with the meerkats of the Klein Karoo was well worth the blurry eyes! After a strong al-fresco coffee, my group and I sat on portable chairs in a semi-circle as the first rays of sunlight hit the meerkat’s burrows. These burrows are over a century old and are located just outside the town of Oudtshoorn which is situated on the historic Route 62 in South Africa’s southern Cape. The meerkat troop is habituated to humans but viewing in a non-invasive way in the wild is a magical and educational experience. As the sun heats up so does the action and soon the troop will greet the sun and younger meerkats will begin to play! The tour last for around 2 – 3 hours in total and a further advantage of the early start is that you have the rest of the day left to enjoy the many of the other highlights of this historic and scenic region.

by Tim

I have just returned from Botswana on an educational trip and experienced a barking-mad sighting in Savute. My first morning in the Savute region of Botswana, ready and excited, we wound our way around the bush and after a short time our eagle eyed guide had spotted one of the world’s most endangered mammals, the African Wild Dog. I thought that this was impawsable, but it was true. We watched for a few minutes but then they are off, going after zebra. We gave chase but the dogs go into thick undergrowth and are out of sight which I thought was ruff. In the first hour of the first morning in Savute I had seen Wild Dog, can it get any better?