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ADVENTURE VACATIONS FOR
ANIMAL LOVERS:
If we were all Dr. Doolittle, would we
understand
what animals have to say? Deepen
your
understanding; take a trip and get closer
to
the animals you love.
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"Tjololo," a leopard
at the Sabi Sabi Game Reserve, Kruger
National Park, South Africa. (Photo © Wolfgang Steiner.) For more on leopard conservation, see : awf.org/content/action/detail/4113/ |
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A Green
Turtle (Chelonia mydas) flies through the ocean. (Photo © rontography)
GREEN SEA TURTLES
They're big and they're everywhere, feeding mostly on algae in sea grasses and on coral reefs. The IUCN put them on the Endangered
list, largely because they were a big market item a few decades ago, when cooks made them into soup, and artisans made their
hard shells into everything from eyeglass frames to boxes.
Now fewer and farther between on their global circumnavigations in tropical waters, green sea turtles have several nesting
areas on "high energy" coastal beaches around the world. No matter where they swim, females return to the nesting
places where they were born.
One of the largest and most successful nests for green sea turtles to lay their eggs is on the island of Tortuguero, Costa
Rica. Every 2 to 4 years these large females crawl onto the beaches, dig deep holes, and deposit 100 to 115 eggs. The temperature
of the pits determine the gender: cooler temperatures produce more males. The hatchlings find their way back to the ocean,
and with deep instincts, renew the pelagic lifestyle before the females return at maturity to lay their eggs. Green
sea turtles live for about 80 to 100 years. For more links on green
sea turtles, see: The bad old days:
fishermen pose with their green turtle catch on a dock in Key West, Florida, around 1923.
(Photo:
Wikimedia Commons, "The New Student's Reference Work," 1923)
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WHERE IT ALL
BEGAN... The Caribbean
Conservation Corporation was the "original" sea turtle conservancy, begun in Costa Rica by Archie Carr from the
University of Florida in 1959.
Today known as Sea Turtle Conservancy,
researchers in Green Turtle projects are
still engaging eco-volunteers who contribute money and work, both valuable in labor-intensive projects that collect a lot
of data. If you want the excitement of strolling "high energy" beaches in the wee hours of
the morning before dawn, listening for the brush of the 3+-foot long turtle as it pulls itself away from the breaking waves
up the beach, this is for you. Without lights, the team waits until the mother turtle has dug the hole, then is depositing
her eggs when she is in a kind of trance. Team members reach into the hole and with a clicker, count the eggs as they are
laid. Then they measure and tag the turtle before she returns to the sea. Many volunteers return to these projects every year because there
is something timeless and amazing about green sea turtles doing what their species have done for millennia.
Sea Turtle Conservancy teams meet in a hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica, then travel by boat to the island of Tortuguero when
turtles are nesting after dark. Hotel, meals, boat, plus a tour of the island are included: 1 week, from $1,600 to $2,000;
2 weeks, from $2,150 to $3,000; 3 weeks, from $2,600 to $4,000. Projects run from July to October.
Projects concentrate on
Leatherback turtles from March to June.
Green sea turtles are named for deposits of
green fat under their flippers,
probably the result of their herbaceous diet. (Photo © bitbeerdealer)
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COME TO SOUTH AMERICA CLIMATE CHANGE, CANOPIES,
AND WILDLIFE This science trip to the Santa
Lucia Reserve in the lush Ecuadorean Andes takes you to one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Here, among 320 species of tropical birds and plants and 45 species of mammals, including the rare Spectacle
Bear, you set camera traps, collect aerial images from the treetops with a remote-controlled helicopter, conduct bird surveys,
and set up a camera in the tree canopy. The purpose is to find out how many members of a species are there and exactly where
they are. This fascinating Earthwatch trip takes place in the cool cloud
forest 1,400 to 2,600 meters high, through which you will hike to a different research assignment every day (it's classified
as "strenuous"). Photograph tracks of some of the mammals around the camera trap, including 4 species of cat:
ocelot, jaguarundi, the elusive Andean cat, and puma. Share a room in
the Santa Lucia Lodge with hot showers but no electricity; food is fresh from the garden.
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The Spectacle
Bear is currently endangered; seeing one is rare treat. (Photo © stevegeer)
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Old Bruin, suitable for framing. You can find him
in Yellowstone.
(Photo © JudiLen)
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COME TO YELLOWSTONE
All the babies are
born in the spring, so in the summer, you'll see mothers herding young cubs, elk, antelope, bison, maybe even wolves. For
more information on animals in the Park, see www.nps.gov/yell/naturescience/animals.htm
Bring the kids for a 7-day immersion
in Yellowstone with Natural Habitat Adventures. On this trip, you catch songbirds in a mistnet and carefully band them to
see where they turn up next, and help identify their range. You will also make plaster casts of mammal tracks, and you will
see a lot of them at stops as you take a float trip on the Snake River. Trip is classified as "Moderate." Guides
accompany you along the way, help you get up before sunrise. Seven days in July, includes Yellowstone and Grand Teton: adults,
about $3,200; children, $2,850. Please see: www.nathab.com/family/family-yellowstone
 Ah, the Grand Canyon! (Photo © Jim Kruger) VOLUNTEER WITH ANIMALS AND EXPLORE NATIONAL PARKS This keen idea from Green Travel LLC invites animal lovers to spend two days with orphaned
and recovering animals at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in southern Utah, then hike and camp on the North Rim of the Grand
Canyon on five-day trips in June and August. Or, in October, after helping out at Best Friends, take the Adventure Bus
to Zion National Park for a few days of hiking, yoga, and meditation. Five days, cottages, cabins, tents, or inn: about $1350.
Please see: www.vegtravel.com/768800_4263.htm or call 301-2229-5666. For Best Friends, see www.bestfriends.org. |
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