Dear Friends,

Welcome to the March edition of the Naturetrek e-news.

This Month's Newsletter Features

THE DESTINATIONS SHOW 2005 AT LONDON’S EARL’S COURT

The Naturetrek team had a very successful few days up at the Destinations Show at London’s Earl’s Court at the beginning of February.

We would like to thank all our clients and tour leaders who visited our stand, (R-01) which was located within the Responsible Tourism section of the exhibition. It was lovely to see so many familiar faces and also for us to meet properly people we have only ever communicated with by phone or email. Many of you had just returned from recent Naturetrek trips and brought us invaluable feedback and stories of exciting sightings, together with some excellent photographs. A great number of you were about to depart on tours and we look forward to hearing about them on your return! We also enjoyed meeting all those of you who have never travelled with us before and hope to be able to help you with your future travel plans.

For those of you who were unable to attend the show this year, we hope that you might be able to join us next year but in the meantime will enjoy having a look at the photograph of the Naturetrek stand and some of the team who attended. It is a great day out with hundreds of stands where you can buy an array of holiday related items including guide books, magazines, optical equipment and clothing. Added to all this, there are a number of guest speakers, cultural dancers and also a chance to see all of the finalists’ photos from Wanderlust magazine’s Travel Photo of the Year Competition.

The dates for next year are:

Thursday, 2nd February – Sunday, 5th February 2006

RWANDA’S FORESTS AND MOUNTAINS

In June 2004 Naturetrek tour leader, Marcus Kohler, travelled to Rwanda to recce a new trip for us to this fascinating country. We are now thrilled to introduce this exciting tour, which will focus on both primates and birds. The dates of the tour are Saturday, 10th September – Sunday, 25th September 2005 and it will be escorted by Marcus.

This 16-day itinerary begins and ends in Rwanda’s lively capital Kigali and includes visits to both Akagera and Nyungwe National Parks before arriving at the Parc National des Volcans. Here the group will spend four days exploring the lush cloudforests and during one of the days we will search for, and then hopefully spend time with, one of the habituated Mountain Gorilla groups.

For the duration of the tour the group participants will stay in a combination of comfortable, but simple hotels and lodges.

TOUR REPORTS

Just Polar Bears
In October an intrepid group of travellers set out to brave the icy conditions of Churchill in northern Canada, escorted by Tom McJannet. Snow was on the ground and the frozen scenery made a spectacular backdrop for an extremely varied and action-packed programme. The highlights were undoubtedly the 15 Polar Bears we saw on our Tundra Buggy outings, some giving us wonderful close up views. However, the back-up cast of Arctic Fox, Arctic Hare, Snowy Owl, Gyrfalcon and a good number of other bird species just added to our high spirits. Churchill is a fascinating place and we took full advantage of the chance to learn more about the Inuit culture and way of life. We visited the Eskimo Museum, spent time with the local ‘Metis’, heard a talk at the Parks Canada Interpretation Centre, saw an excellent slide show and attended a lecture on all aspects of the life of Polar Bears given by a zoologist. In our spare time some members of the group took a helicopter ride over the tundra and later a number of us had a wonderful Husky sleigh ride. We returned to Winnipeg and managed to fit in some excellent birding locally before setting off for home, our minds full of those superb Polar Bears!

Madagascar
In October 2004 Naturetrek sent two groups to this spectacular island located off the coast of east Africa. Our 23-day wildlife tour began in Tana, the capital, and visited many of the island’s hotspots including Berenty, Andasibe and Ampijoroa.

The 20th October group had some phenomenal sightings of not only the unusual birds, plants and mammals of Madagascar, but also of the island’s endearing endemic mammal, the lemur.

Venezuela
Client Andy Lees has provided us with some excellent tour reports in the past and his latest piece covers our inaugural Bargain Birding tour to Venezuela (Henri Pittier National Park and the Llanos) last November. Click here to read his full tour report.

JOIN OUR 20TH ANNIVERSARY CRUISE TO SPITSBERGEN

Friday, 14th July – Tuesday, 25th July 2006

In July 2006, we will be celebrating our 20th Anniversary with a 12-day cruise to Spitsbergen. The island of Spitsbergen is a dramatic land of huge glaciers, snow-covered mountains and steep sided fjords, separated from the North Pole by a mere 600 miles of frozen ocean. Our tour will be during the brief Arctic summer, when Spitsbergen is transformed into a land of perpetual daylight, covered by flower-filled tundra, edged by huge glaciers and towering sea-cliffs and surrounded by a crazy paving of pack-ice upon which Polar Bears hunt and Walruses laze.

For this ‘Arctic Adventure’ we will live aboard the m/v Grigory Mikheev, an ice-strengthened vessel built in Finland in 1983 for Arctic research. Since then, the ship has undergone extensive renovation and now provides comfortable cabin accommodation for up to 46 guests. With a full complement of zodiac craft and a team of full time naturalists on board the ‘Mikheev' provides the ideal floating platform for polar wildlife watching.

BROWN BEAR WATCHING – MINI BREAK TO FINLAND

This thrilling tour gives you the chance of watching Brown Bears often at close range, in the glorious unspoilt wild taiga forest close to the Russian border. The Brown Bears thrive in this sparsely populated area of Finland, crossing the border from Russia during the summer months. Some trips enjoy 24-hour daylight, providing more opportunities to watch from the comfortable log cabin ‘Bear hide’ during the 4-day tour.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Naturetrek Open Days
Following the success of the Open Days that we ran in the latter part of 2004, we are pleased to announce some more dates for your diary for you to come and visit our stunning Hampshire office.

Friday, 18th March 2005 Friday, 22nd April 2005 Friday, 20th May 2005  Friday, 24th June 2005

Our Open Days provide the perfect opportunity for our clients to join our tour leaders and staff for tea, coffee, cakes and expert advice on planning your wildlife holiday.

The British Birdwatching Fair

Friday, 19th August – Sunday, 21st August 2005

Another date for your diary is of course the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water Nature Reserve. The Naturetrek team will be attending once again and very much hope that you will be able to join us.

The Fair seems to get bigger and better each year and 2005 looks set to be no different. This year will be the 17th held at Rutland Water. It is undoubtedly the Birdwatching Event of the year combining local and national support for international bird conservation.

Last year, in order to celebrate the launch of our 2005 brochure, we invited our clients to join us for drinks on the Friday and Saturday at the Naturetrek stand, which was great fun!

A PHOTOGRAPHY SPECIAL TO INDIA!

Wednesday, 16th March – Sunday, 27th March 2005
Wednesday, 30th March – Sunday, 10th April 2005

We have got a few spaces* left on our two 12-day wildlife photography holidays to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in northern India departing in March. Both groups will be accompanied by a professional wildlife photographer, who will be on hand to provide expert hints and tips on wildlife photography. This is an opportunity any keen photographer simply cannot afford to miss…

Click here to view the trip dossier and the full itinerary.

For further details, please contact Rajan Jolly on 01962 733051 or rajan@naturetrek.co.uk

*subject to flight availability

LATE AVAILABILITY

To view a list of the late availability for Naturetrek tours departing over the next few months, as of 01/03/2005, please click here.

However, as things are constantly changing, we advise you to call our Cheriton Mill office on 01962 733051 to check for any amendments.

Finally, we hope you have enjoyed reading this edition of the Naturetrek e-news. If you have any comments regarding our e-newsletter or experience any technical problems please email victoria@naturetrek.co.uk.

We look forward to being able to assist you with your future travel plans.

If you would prefer not to hear from us in this way, please email remove@naturetrek.co.uk

For more information on any of our holidays please call us on 01962 733051