We saw a lot of hyenas in Kenya and whilst they are part of the ‘Ugly 5’, I don’t always think that they are ugly. We actually heard one ‘laughing’ and it’s a great sound. Top right is the head of a wildebeest, and bottom right are two hyenas hanging onto a baby impala. One of them won and ran […]
I was lucky enough to see and hear many lions on this trip to Kenya. There were some huge paw prints very close to camp one morning so it was good that we’d been warned about the need to shine a powerful torch around before making any nocturnal trips to the toilet block! Lions are magnificent beasts and I always […]
“A Maasai warrior is a fine sight. Those young men have, to the utmost extent, that particular form of intelligence which we call chic; daring and wildly fantastical as they seem, they are still unswervingly true to their own nature, and to an immanent ideal. Their style is not an assumed manner, nor an imitation of a foreign perfection; it […]
In November I celebrated a ‘milestone’ birthday, and the very next day I escaped the dreary UK weather and flew out to the continent that I have come to love and that has well and truly got ‘under my skin’. I spent nearly 5 weeks in Kenya and Zanzibar, volunteering with African Impact who I have volunteered and worked for […]
For a while I’d thought about going to Finland to photograph brown bears, so a decision to finally book it found me spending 5 nights in a tiny hide out in the swamps, forests and lakes. In late summer, the bears feast in preparation for the fast approaching winter, and it’s then that bear activity reaches its peak. Bear sightings of course […]
My holidays and trips are planned months in advance, and I even have a trip in the diary now for October 2020. However, one Sunday evening a few weeks ago I decided to join my husband who would be spending a few days in Venice. He was leaving the next day…. Unfortunately there were no available flights for that day, […]
Imire is approximately 90 minutes away from Harare and below is the lodge where all volunteers stay. It’s shabbier inside than it looks on the outside but that’s par for the course with volunteer accommodation and was perfectly adequate. However, I hadn’t expected it to be in such a beautiful setting – it’s right on the edge of a dam […]
Sad fact: A rhino horn can be worth over £400,000 on the black market! I will never understand why something that is the same substance as our fingernails is so sought after in Asian countries, particularly Vietnam. Rhino horn is used in traditional Chinese medicine, but increasingly common is its use as a status symbol to display success and wealth. It makes […]
Imire Rhino & Wildlife Conservancy is a 10,000 acre reserve in Zimbabwe, and is dedicated to protecting wildlife with a specific focus on the protection and breeding of the critically endangered Black and White Rhino. I’d heard really good things from several people who had previously volunteered there, and so myself, my son, and daughter in law booked up and spent two weeks there […]
My Botswana camping trip finished in the town of Victoria Falls, just over the border in Zimbabwe. I had most of the day to myself before meeting my son (Aaron) and daughter in law (Rachel) who were joining me there before flying on to Harare to volunteer for two weeks. At lunchtime I met up with Mulenga, who was the […]