Madagascar continues to facinate!

A 29mm miniture chameleon, Brookesia micra, has been discovered on a remote islet off the northern coast of Madagascar.  A juvenile can stand on the head of a match.  What's more, this is just one of four new species of tiny lizard discovered by German scientists from Zoologische Staatssammlung in Munich.

It is speculated that these tiny Brookesia micra may be a result of a double-island effect of island dwarfism - where a species becomes smaller over time to adapt to a restricted habitat.  In this case each habitat (mostly in the leaf litter) was restricted to a very small area of as little as a single square kilometer.  Obviously this tiny habitat means that a species could be wiped-out very easily. B. tristis, named after the French word "triste" meaning sad, was found in an isolated patch of forest close to an expanding city.

I wonder how many species have been wiped out in recent years without our knowledge by encrouchement on habitats?

A brand new electric Land Rover arrived at Londolozi over Christmas. Courtesy of Barkers Performance Products and Land Rover, the electric vehicle was sent here to be put through a rigorous and rough field test owing to the success and pioneering development of Londolozi’s first three prototype electric Land Rovers. Having unveiled this new product at South Africa’s Tourism Indaba in May, Land Rover and Barkers Performance product have created a hugely impressive vehicle and when it arrived on our doorstep just before Christmas, we simply had to put it to the test!

The Electric Landrover runs off an Air cooled AC Induction Motor with 330Nm of Torque and 59kW of Motor Power.  The batter is comprised of Air cooled Lithium Phosphate and has a voltage of 300V.  Ranging from 80km per battery on the open road and +20km through a game reserve, the vehicle is able to offer a game drive of approximately 8 hours.  The gear stick features Drive, Neutral and Reverse with 4WD and Low Range.

Although we are testing the vehicle over a number of weeks, we decided to examine the performance through a few different disciplines: Acceleration & Speed; Gradient; Silence and Sand.

Londolozi has been at the forefront of pioneering the first ever Zero Emissions Safari Vehicle. The vision for this vehicle is to run purely on batter power which in turn is charged by solar panels. The carbon output would thus be zero, except for that used during the manufacturing of the vehicle.  Since 2009, when we unveiled our first prototype electric Landrover, the journey has been extremely fun yet also challenging. Our second prototype burnt down soon after completion, owing to an electric failure.  Yet with the help of Anton Komar and Sid from Green Rover we managed to achieve a reasonable level of success with our prototype number 3.

Our intention at Londolozi is to continue to be a leader towards a truly Zero Emissions Safari Vehicle and change our entire fleet to electric vehicles as soon as the opportunity presents itself.  This initiative, in particular, forms part of our broader goal to dramatically minimize our carbon footprint on the environment.

"National Geographic Weekend" radio show host, Boyd Matson, recently traveled to South Africa and Zimbabwe with ROAR AFRICA. He was exposed to many breathtaking experiences on his trip and has shared this very informative video of a pack of endangered Wild Dogs with us.


"There’s a reason they’re called wild dogs. Just watch them in action jumping, biting, play fighting with each other and the first thing you think is,”These guys are wild dogs.” Then when they go on the hunt their relentless full on pursuit of their prey further cements that reputation. But those same characteristics that some call wild, have made these dogs one of the most successful predators in Africa. When they go after an animal, it’s estimated they come home with a meal about 80% of the time.

I was in Sabi Sabi Game Reserve in South Africa where I spent a couple of days with a large pack of wild dogs and filmed the pups as they put on quite a show with their exuberant play. The adults would go off hunting every day and then return to regurgitate a hot meal for the kids. It’s not a recipe you’ll find in the Martha Stewart cookbook.

More recently i was in Zimbabwe at the Singita Pamushana Lodge in the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve where I filmed a much smaller pack of wild dogs. Kim Wolhuter, an old friend and filmmaker who’s made several films for National Geographic, has been living on the property for several years and following the wild dogs. We hooked up with Kim who drove us to where the dogs were eating an impala  they had killed a few minutes earlier.

Kim, whose father and grandfather were both game rangers in South Africa, has spent most of his life in the bush, so it should have been no surprise to learn he often gets out of his vehicle and runs with the dogs, crashing through the trees and bushes with them when they go on the hunt. Still it’s pretty amazing when you think about it, and it does allow him to capture the kind of footage you won’t see elsewhere.

I interviewed Kim for my radio show National Geographic Weekend while we were together with the wild dogs.  That interview is now up online at national geographic weekend, or as a free podcast on itunes.  Wild dogs are now endangered and Kim’s films are helping draw attention to the crisis they face.  In this video you can hear part of the interview and see the dogs Kim has been following as well as the ones I filmed playing and jumping around at Sabi Sabi in South Africa."

See more of Boyd Matson's African Adventures from his recent trip with ROAR AFRICA at http://boydmatson.com/

Now in its third month of trading, Pink coffee boutique is attracting attention both in its own neighborhood and from further afield. Set in a period house conversion in the Kenilworth village are and featuring signature decor created by the owner, Pink opened its doors with the promise of changing its customers' views of suburban coffee shops.

Pink is owned by ROAR AFRICA's shopping expert, Sandra Fairfax. Sandra has introduced a special mix of mismatched interior and exterior decor accents and quirky details. Good coffee and homemade treats have already established Pink as an exciting alternative daytime venue for breakfast, lunch and everything in between.

Pink has just launched a Christmas menu which is offered by reservation at lunchtime through December, as well as out of hours by arrangement. Already described by customers as "amazing" and "five star", the two or three-course menu features some old favorites treated with the Pink style of contemporary approach and a few festive hints.

In addition to the Christmas menu, Pink will also be offering a gift wrapping workshop in conjunction with its sister business, the Faxpack packaging shop. Faxpack stocks a huge variety of packaging and gift wrapping solutions and will be on hand with creative suggestions on how to set your gifts apart from the ordinary this Christmas.

If you are in the Kenilworth area this festive season, be sure to stop by and enjoy a taste of Pink.

We're supporting The Culture Project with a trip to southern Africa.  The Producers' Weekend will kick off this Friday with dinner at the spectacular homes of our hosts Sting and Trudie Styler, Gregory Colbert, Izhar Patkin, and Julian Schnabel.  It promises to be a fun evening with impromptu entertainment- we're looking forward to it!

Since 1996, through brilliantly conceived, expertly staged dramas, which blend prize-winning theater with urgent moral dilemmas, Culture Project has told stories as timely as the morning's newspaper and sparked conversation and political action. For more see their website here.

We have put together a fabulous trip that includes Cape Town, the Winelands, two safaris (the Karoo and Madikwe) and Victoria Falls.  Thank you to our partners The Cape Grace, River Manor Boutique Hotel, Samara Game Reserve, Tuningi Safari Lodge and The Victoria Falls Hotel.

Thankfully it seems to be all about rescues this past week: rhino, elephant and now a lion cub.
This just in from Mugie Conservacy in Kenya:

"This little 3 week old cub was first seen 3 days ago marooned on a small island in the river bed below the Mugie dam (been flooding for over a week now), but was described a being 3 months old or more, we waited to see if the floods would subside and if mum would appear. Today, I sent Papa 1 & Frank to wade into the river to get close enough to throw pieces of meat on to the Island and hopefully it could survive for while longer whilst we would be monitoring what might happen. But when they got close they could see how much younger it is and went on to the island and picked him up & brought him in. Ol Jogi have all necessary to rear such a little creature so they sent a plane over and he is now receiving rehrydrents over there."

There is of course debate about interference with wildlife - man should not meddle. However, many people are of the opinion that where man has created a survival problem interference is warranted (especially snares, fences etc..). Since Mugie is one of the core study areas of the ‘Laikipia Predator Project, a research study aimed at improving the conservation of large carnivores throughout Africa (desperately needed we might add), a lion rescue is perhaps appropriate and they are also uniquely qualified to act.
Hopefully this little one can be reintroduced to the wild in time.

Congratulations to The South Luangwa Conservation Society (SLCS), Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) and Norman Carr Safaris (NCS) who rescued a mother elephant and calf.  We were hosted by NCS just last month when we took National Geographic's Boyd Matson to visit South Luangwa.  We were touched by this rescue story so we put the photos and text into a slideshow to share.

More on the NCS blog post here.

And you can support SLCS's excellent work here.

ROAR AFRICA

Wildebeest seem to be appearing in many colors lately.  Two weeks ago we posted a guest's sighting of a rare 'white wildebeest' spotted in Kenya (more about that here).  This week Geoff Calmeyer from Roar Africa shared his sandy-colored Wildebeest spotted in the Luangwa Valley, Zambia.  Impossible?  Not at all.

Wildebeest (from Afrikaans "wild cattle") or Gnu (from the Khoikhoi "Gnou"), come in two species: Black and Blue.  They differ in a number of ways but primarily in horn curvature and, not surprisingly, color.   Colors can vary quite significantly.  Blue Wildebeest tend to be a dark grey color with stripes, but may have a shiny blue color. There are five Blue Wildebeest sub species.  The Black Wildebeest has brown colored fur with a mane that ranges in color from cream to black, and a tail that is cream colored at the end.  There are no sub species.

The white Wildebeest our guest spotted was in fact a genetic anomaly.  It was actually a Blue Wildebeest.  Geoff's sandy-colored Wildebeest is also a Blue Wildebeest.  It's one of five subspecies of the Blue - the Cookson's Wildebeest.  This sub-species is restricted to the Luangwa Valley in Zambia and as you can see it's coloring is very light.

Making things a little more complicated the Black and Blue Wildebeest (which diverged into these northern and southern species about 1 million years ago) have now, due to proximity in South Africa, interbred and with fertile offspring.

It's enough to confuse Gnu.

Top pic: White Wildebeest spotted in Masai Mara, Kenya


Bottom Pic: Cooksons Wildebeest spotted in Luangwa, Zambia

One morning in early August, two honeymooners on safari were surprised to spot a young, white wildebeest in the Masai Mara, Kenya.  No less surprised was their guide who had not seen one before.

"The herd was part of the migration passing near Naibor Camp. We were just about to drive off when I saw something white among them." said Melissa. "We could hardly believe our luck."

Melissa was honing her spotting skills on her second safari with us.  Thanks for sharing your photos with Roar Afrcia!

So was this a white wildebeest or an albino wildebeest and what's the difference?
There are three braod categories of white animals:

1. White: genetically white due to a recessive gene.  Usually a true white; dark stripes, rings or masks usually appear the same color (or diluted) as found in the normal phenotype. The eyes are the normal color.
2. Albino: The coat color will be a creamy white to pale yellow – the color isn't a true white. Dark markings will be expressed as gray or pale tan. Also genetic, pure albinism is due to a lack of melanin and identified by striking red eyes.
3. Leucistic: Leucism is a genetic mutation resulting in defective pigment producing cells.  Partially leucistic breeds are common in dogs, cats and horses.  

Melissa's wildebeest is definitely not pure white but it's eyes are not red either.  Now let the zoologists debate....

You can see White Lions in South Africa.  Read more here...

The southern white rhino was considered extinct in the late 19th century. That was until a small population was found in 1895 in Umfolozi-Hluhluwe region in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. By 2008 they numbered over 19,000 and had become a conservation success story.

According to government figures, 265 rhinos have been poached so far this year in South Africa. This puts 2011 on course to surpass last year's record death toll of 333. In 2007, it was just 13.

It seems that the consequences of poaching are not shared evenly. A poacher, arguably "just trying to feed his family", may be shot dead by rangers. The couriers and kingpins might receive a jail term (earlier this month two Vietnamese men received 10 and 8 years). The consumer driving this demand seems to pay no consequences.

How can we change this? Un-ban trade in horns? Remove rhino horns? flood the market with fake horn? Put poison in the horns? What is the answer?

Rhinos threatened by bogus cancer cure:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/20/rhinos-threatened-extinction-cancer-cure

We're proud to see 6 of the overall top 10 Travel+Leisure hotels in the world are in Africa! All 6 are safari lodges - some of our favorites. In fact 15 of the top 100 hotels are in our destination areas of southern and East Africa. They are all in South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania or Kenya.

Congratulations to:

1. Singita Grumeti (Sasakwa, Sabora and Faru Faru)

2. Singita Sabi Sands (Boulders, Ebony and Castleton)

3. Royal Malewane

4. Ol Donyo Lodge

9. Kirawira Luxury Tented Camp

10. Serengeti Migration Camp

12. Fairmont Mount Kenya Safari Club

18. Ngorongoro Crater Lodge

20. Mombo and Little Mombo Camps

33. Le Quatier Francais

39. Singita Kruger National Park (Sweni and Lebombo)

45. Londolozi Game Reserve

67. Fairmont Mara Safari Club

74. Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp

79. Cape Grace

And cheers to all our most excellent partners under the T+L media radar.

ROAR AFRICA

Fact or fiction? The email was forwarded to me. Either way it's a great fireside tale.

I had an email from a friend in Zimbabwe yesterday and she sent me this picture and story that I thought was delightful. They had been away at a game park and on the first evening while sitting in front of the fire in the bar, in walked a fully grown wart hog. He walked over to the bar and without a word the bar man handed him a pillow. He took the pillow, put it next to the fire and promptly lay down with his head on the pillow and went to sleep where, apparently he spends the cold nights there. Then in the morning he’s off into the bush again! My friend, Cynie, says that if the barman isn’t there he’ll grab a pillow off one of the couches! Here he is :

The pillow certainly has a used, grubby warthog look about it. I suspect he's just a not-so-wild warthog that grew up around the lodge. Certainly a happy hog.

This is a time for you abandon any zeal you may have for complete and utter truth and enjoy a good story (which may have a grain or ten of truth in it). I do hope so. After all, strange things do happen.....

Wilbur Smith and the Rhino.
A factual account by Wilbur Smith.

The plight of the Black Rhinoceros is, of course, due mostly to the value of its horn and the ferocious poaching that this engenders. However, a contributory factor to the declining rhino population is the animals disorganized mating habits. It seems that the female rhino only becomes receptive to the male's attentions every three years or so, while the male only becomes interested in her at the same intervals. A condition known quite appropriately as "Must".
The problem is one of synchronization, for their amorous inclinations do not always coincide.
In the early Sixties, I was invited, along with a host of journalists and other luminaries, to be present at an attempt by the Rhodesian Game and Tsetse Department to solve this problem of poor timing. The idea was to capture a male rhino and induce him to deliver up that which could be stored until that day in the distant future when his mate's fancy turned lightly to thoughts of love. We departed from the Zambezi Valley in an impressive convoy of trucks and Land Rovers, counting in our midst none other than the Director of the game department in person, together with his minions, a veterinary surgeon, an electrician and sundry other technicians, all deemed necessary to make the harvest.
The local game scouts had been sent out to scout the bush for the largest, most virile rhino they could find. They had done their job to perfection and led us to a beast at least the size of a small granite koppie with a horn on his nose considerably longer than my arm. The trick was to get this monster into a robust mobile pen, which had been constructed to accommodate him.
With the Director of the Game Department shouting frantic orders from the safety of the largest truck, the pursuit was on. The tumult and the shouting were apocalyptic. Clouds of dust flew in all directions, trees, and vegetation were destroyed, game scouts scattered like chaff, but finally the Rhino had about a litre of narcotics shot into his rump and his mood became dreamy and benign. With forty black game guards heaving and shoving, and the Director still shouting orders from the truck, the rhino was wedged into his cage, and stood there with a happy grin on his face.
At this stage, the Director deemed it safe to emerge from the cab of his truck and he came amongst us resplendent in starched and immaculately ironed bush jacket with a colourful silk scarf at this throat. With an imperial gesture, he ordered the portable electric generator to be brought forward and positioned behind the captured animal. This was a machine, which was capable of lighting up a small city, and it was equipped with two wheels that made it resemble a roman chariot.
The Director climbed up on the generator to better address us. We gathered around attentively while he explained what was to happen next.
It seemed that the only way to get what we had come for was to introduce an electrode into the rhino's rear end, and to deliver a mild electric shock, no more than a few volts, which would be enough to pull his trigger for him.
The Director gave another order and the veterinary surgeon greased something that looked like an acoustic torpedo and which was attached to the generator with sturdy insulated wires. He then went up behind the somnolent beast and thrust it up him to a full arms length, at which the Rhino opened his eyes very wide indeed.
The veterinary and his two black assistants now moved into position with a large bucket and assumed expectant expressions. We, the audience, crowded closer so as not to miss a single detail of the drama. The Director still mounted on the generator trailer, nodded to the electrician who threw the switch and chaos reigned. In the subsequent departmental enquiry the blame was placed squarely on the shoulders of the electrician. It seems that in the heat of the moment his wits had deserted him and instead of connecting up his apparatus to deliver a gentle 5 volts, he had crossed his wires and the Rhino received a full 500 volts up his rear end.
His reaction was spectacular. Four tons of rhinoceros shot six feet straight up in the air. The cage, made of great timber baulks, exploded into its separate pieces and the rhinoceros now very much awake, took off at a gallop.
We, the audience, were no less spritely. We took to the trees with alacrity.
This was the only occasion on which I have ever been passed by two journalists half way up a Mopane tree.
From the top branches we beheld an amazing sight, for the chariot was still connected to the Rhinoceros per rectum, and the director of the game department was still mounted upon it, very much like Ben Hur, the charioteer.
As they disappeared from view, the rhinoceros was snorting and blowing like a steam locomotive and the Director was clinging to the front rail of his chariot and howling like the north wind, which only encouraged the beast to greater speed.
The story has a happy ending for the following day after the director had returned hurriedly to his office in Salisbury , another male Rhinoceros was captured and caged and this time the electrician got his wiring right.
I can still see the Rhinoceros's expression of surprised gratification as the switch was thrown. You could almost hear him think to himself. "Oh Boy!
I didn't think this was going to happen to me for at least another three years".

I wrote about my visit to Zimababwe's Singita Pamushana back in November, so it is with great pride that I am able to share the news that Singita Pamushana has been awarded "Global Winner" at the World Travel & Tourism Council's Tourism for Tomorrow Awards.

One of Singita Game Reserve's nine low-impact/high-end game lodges in southern and East Africa, Singita Pamushana is often referred to as 'one of southern Africa's best kept secrets'. It was selected as winner in this prestigious global competition amongst two other outstanding finalists in the Conservation category: Frégate Island in the Seychelles; and The Jane Goodall Institute/Budongo Ecotourism Development Project in Uganda.

Singita Pamushana was established with the core purpose of making a meaningful contribution towards the cost of conserving the extraordinary 130,000 acres Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve in south-eastern Zimbabwe. This confident venture into a world-class tourism product for Zimbabwe impressed the panel of international judges as a model for private tourism practice that uniquely subsists solely to generate income via high value tourism. The goal is to make a major contribution to the national goal of rehabilitating the country's wildlife and tourism industries.

The natural habitat in the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve has now been rehabilitated to its original state, and today Singita Pamushana has the finest quality wildlife in Zimbabwe. These range from endangered Black Rhino to Roan Antelope and Lichtenstein's Hartebeest. Under Singita Pamushana's sensitive management, the wildlife populations have shown exhilarating growth after the carefully managed reintroduction.

Luke Bailes, CEO of Singita Game Reserves says:

"It is a great honor to be recognized by an organization such as the World Travel & Tourism Council for our approach to conservation, and for the conservation-related programs that are in place at Singita Pamushana. These create the context within which our guests can experience African wildlife at its very best. Singita Pamushana exemplifies our approach to sustainable tourism and is a paradigm of how we can contribute meaningfully to conserving vast ecological zones, in so doing preserving these areas and their wildlife for future generations."

One day in 1998, in South Africa, I followed a yellow-billed kite into a thermal on my paraglider. We soared together close enough that I could see the individual feathers on its wingtips making adjustments. I still get goosebumps more than a decade later.

Watch this beautiful footage of Kerri Wolter doing it for the joy AND for a cause: the protection of the Cape Vulture. Less than 2,900 breeding pairs remain. Conservationist Kerri Wolter and paraglider pilot Walter Nesser fly with them. The footage is sublime.


Kerri founded the Vulture Conservation Program in Magaliesberg, South Africa. A beautiful place to fly! Support the program here.

This was also part of the filming of the documentary series Path into the Future.