Michael’s Blog
Wildlife Conservation – The New Normal
As with everything else following the Covid pandemic, travel is changing. People who will travel now and in the foreseeable future will tend to be experienced travelers who are used to adapting to the usual challenges of international travel. While their safety will...
Incredible Kopjes: Islands of Biodiversity
During my many trips to East Africa, one of the things I enjoy most is spending time around the amazing geological features know as kopjes, an Afrikaans term referring to relatively small, isolated rock hills that rise abruptly from the surrounding, flat savannah or...
Cheetahs at Play
During my last trip to the Serengeti in January, 2014, our group was fortunate enough to happen upon a female cheetah with a young cub in a remote area of the park. We had special permits to drive into this isolated region, where few other vehicles go. We had only...
Monkeying Around
I’m not really sure how many species of non-human primates I’ve seen on my world travels, but I still find our closest relatives among the most fascinating of the many wild animals I’ve had an opportunity to observe. On my 2014 trip to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro...
Tasmanian Devils: Fiction and Reality
A trip to Tasmania is like stepping into another world. The largest island off the southeastern coast of Australia is a temperate wonderland of nature. Giant tree ferns litter the wet, temperate forests and wildlife abounds. Among the island state’s most interesting...
Innocent Killers
Large cats, like leopards, cheetahs and lions, are among the world’s most popular animals, but people seem to hate the fact that they kill. In fact, preying on herbivores such as Thomson’s gazelles, wildebeest, Cape buffalo, zebra and warthogs, is how they make their...
Color on the Wing
When people think of Australian wildlife, they usually picture the island continent’s unusual mammals--the kangaroos, wallabies, and egg-laying platypus. But, the bird life in Australia is among the world’s most interesting and colorful. Australia has a plethora of...
Where Dragons Roam!
Dragons are animals of myth, but their modern and real equivalents—lizards—are truly fascinating animals. One of the best places to see unique examples of these fascinating creatures is in Australia. There are a wide variety of lizards inhabiting the island continent,...
Imprisoned for “Love”
Many have heard about the famous “Birdman of Alcatraz”, the prisoner who kept birds in his cell and became an expert on all things avian. But have you heard about the bird that “imprisons” its mate? Hornbills are one of my favorite birds and much of their appeal has...
Animals in Disguise
There are many things in nature that literally take my breath away and one of these is the phenomenon of mimicry. Mimicry is when one animal species comes to resemble another animal, plant or even non-living object through the process of natural selection. There are...
Recent Comments