A Cornucopia of Color: An Interview with Jack Grove
September 28, 2011Zegrahm Expeditions cofounder and marine biologist Jack Grove, recently took time to answer some questions about the Seychelles. Learn about his most memorable journeys to the exceptional archipelago, below.
How many times have you been to the Seychelles?
My first trips to the Seychelles were prior to the formation of Zegrahm Expeditions. I have not counted but I think it’s safe to say I’ve been at least 12 times since 1984. It is one of my favorite destinations.
What is the most memorable experience you’ve had while visiting the area?
Aldabra and Astove Atoll are my two favorite destinations, though the most beautiful beach in the world is on La Digue. Snorkeling at the World Heritage Site of Aldabra is unsurpassed. Leading a group of snorkelers on, what I refer to as, a high adrenaline drift snorkel, surrounded by large fish that have no fear of you, through a channel adorned with healthy corals and sponges—is amazing.
Astove Atoll has a special place in my heart; it is uninhabited by humans and home to one of the largest nesting areas for green sea turtles in the Indian Ocean. The seas surrounding the atoll are crystal clear and few people get to visit this natural wonderland, because it is so remote. I have been involved in trying to get it accepted as a new World Heritage Site, which has included meeting with the World Conservation Union and the World Wildlife Fund, discussing the value of this isolated marine habitat.
What is your favorite activity to do there and why?
There is no doubt that I have a bias toward marine life and given a choice, I'll use a mask and snorkel rather than a pair of binoculars. One of my favorite fish in the Seychelles is the radiant blue surgeonfish—it will knock your socks off. It’s called a powder blue tang; to swim among a school of such brilliantly colored fish is to be enveloped in the beauty of nature. A cornucopia of color!
Can you explain the difference between the northern islands of the Seychelles versus the outlying southwesterly islands and atolls?
The archipelago is dramatically different from north to south. The islands were spread out like pearls across the western Indian Ocean as Pangaea split up, and the Indian subcontinent drifted to the northeast, eventually colliding with the Asian continent giving rise to the Himalayas. The granite rocks that comprise the northern islands have been sculpted by millions of years of weathering, and the Salvador Dali-like sculptures afford the most incredible seascapes in the world. In the central area of the island group, the islets are low-lying and surrounded by lush sea grasses where sea turtles abound. But for a guy like me, the real gems are in the south where submerged granite has been encrusted by luxuriant coral reefs, growing in concentric forms called atolls. There are no more beautiful, serene isles in the oceans of the world. I can hardly wait to return.
What’s unique about the Seychelles that can’t be replicated any place else?
White sand beaches embroidered by surreal pink…granite boulders and palm trees with the world’s largest coconut…the giant tortoise…and several World Heritage Sites including the fabled Valle de Mai, home to the coco de mer. It is one of those places you have to experience firsthand in order to believe it is real…Come join us and you will know that the Seychelles are more than unique—these islands are out of this world.
Join Jack on our Ultimate Seychelles with Aldabra Atoll expedition departing January 13, or join Zegrahm cofounders Peter Harrison and Shirley Metz on our Classic Seychelles with the Comoros & Zanzibar expedition departing January 24. Plus, check out our exclusive conversation with Peter regarding his love for the Seychelles on our Facebook page.
Mozambique Odyssey: Did You Know?
September 28, 2011In March of 2012, we’ll be celebrating a Zegrahm first as we visit the coast of East Africa on our inaugural tour! You already know our Mozambique Odyssey visits Tanzania and South Africa, and you already know that we’ll be cruising comfortably aboard the spacious 110-passenger Clipper Odyssey, but did you know…
- Not only is Africa's premier naturalist and wildlife photographer Lex Hes part of our leader team, but did you know that this is his first-ever Zegrahm ship trip? Welcome him aboard and experience his vast knowledge like Bill did on our Back to Africa expedition earlier this year, "Lex Hes...offers a very unique and wonderful balance of naturalist, guide, leader, and teacher that makes traveling with him a real pleasure," or Jim on the same expedition in 2010, "We were overwhelmed by the Lex Hes experience. The ease with which he shared his vast knowledge of Africa was infectious."
- The World Wildlife Fund is partnering with Zegrahm Expeditions on this exceptional journey to southeastern Africa; but did you know that WWF co-created and expanded Quirimbas National Park, now the largest marine protected area in the Indian Ocean and Africa? Quirimbas was once the poorest province in Mozambique but now has the country's highest growth rate thanks to the park. WWF's involvement ensures that local communities and park authorities alike share both the benefits and the responsibilities of managing the park on land and at sea. Join our expedition and you'll see just how much support is needed—the park protects over 750,000 hectares of coastal forest, mangroves, and rich coral reefs including the abundant marine life, sea turtles, and hundreds of fish species.
- In the middle of our journey, we will be cruising to the beautiful beaches of Punta da Barra, where we'll have the opportunity to see whale sharks; but did you know that this location is one of the best whale shark viewing places in the world? They are present year-round in this area, and there's a good chance you will also see manta and devil rays, loggerhead and green sea turtles, and even bottlenose dolphins. Snorkel and swim with this incredible marine life sharing the water with you.
To learn more about our Mozambique Odyssey, visit our trip page.
Jonathan Rossouw's South Africa
September 28, 2011Perhaps I'm slightly biased, growing up as I did in the wild parts of South Africa, but it seems to me that no country lays greater claim to this oft-quoted title of ‘the World in One Country.’ Without even taking into consideration the fascinating, multifaceted complexity of its human history, from Australopithecus to Zuma, South Africa is unique.
To understand this uniqueness, you need to start with its geographical location, a lop-sided triangle of land straddling the Tropic of Capricorn at the southern tip of the "Mother Continent.” The central part of the supercontinent of Gondwana, Africa maintained its position when the Indian Subcontinent, South America and Madagascar took off for new destinations. Creaking along its edges, it pushed up the ancient seabed into ranges of wildly contorted geology, today famous as the Drakensberg, or “Dragon’s Mountains,” and the scenic Cape Fold Ranges of South Africa. At the foot of this escarpment, in the east, lie the endless thorn country of Zululand and the fertile upland grasslands of Natal, merging gently southwards through the cool forests of the eastern Cape to the wondrous Cape Floral Kingdom. Here, evolution reaches its apogee with a botanical diversity unprecedented in the history of life on our planet: the fabulous fynbos, or fine bush, of the Cape Floral Kingdom, home to over 12,000 plant species in an area smaller than Connecticut, with some surveyed plots of one square mile hosting more diversity than the whole of Britain!
To these terrestrial riches, add a marine component. Fan the east coast with a tropical, southward-flowing oceanic stream (the Agulhas Current), supporting the world’s southernmost coral reefs and providing the humid air that keeps the hinterland lush and green year-round. Add a frigid, plankton-rich stream from Antarctica (the Benguela Current) up the west coast, creating a Mediterranean climate of hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters that foster all that botanical diversity… and some of the world's finest wines!
This is the geographical tableau against which our South Africa ship voyage unfolds. Beginning in the northeast, we follow the Agulhas Current southwards from Durban, along the dramatic and little-visited Wild Coast. Arriving in the Eastern Cape, we’re treated to a wealth of wildlife in the form of visits to the world-famous Addo Elephant Park, where we’ll experience primordial pachyderms in their most southerly refuge, and the Gondwana Game Reserve, with its populations of the “Big Five,” along with such lesser known, but no less interesting mammals, as Cape Mountain Zebra and Cape Grysbok. We’ll also marvel at the moss-encrusted forests of the famous Garden Route, and enjoy our first taste of the immense botanical diversity of the Cape Floral Kingdom. Continuing our pilgrimage, we round Africa’s southernmost point at Cape Agulhas, before passing the infamous Cape of Good Hope to Cape Town. Here, mountains, beaches, flora, vineyards, and a rich tapestry of human history collide in a magical juxtaposition that has rightly earned South Africa’s Mother City the title of “One of the World’s Most Beautiful Cities.” (Forbes 2010.)
The cool oceans along the Cape’s west coast are home to rookeries of charismatic Cape Fur Seals, often alongside equally raucous colonies of Jackass Penguins, Africa’s only representative of the penguin tribe. For those with a particular interest in things marine, we’ll venture out to a Cape Fur Seal rookery in search of one of the world’s most notorious marine predators, the Great White Shark. We’ll also watch for the scarce and localized Heaviside’s Dolphin, a handsome endemic entirely restricted to the cold Benguela Current.
On land, our explorations will offer ample opportunities for appreciating some of the botanical wonders for which the region is famous, along with a rich assemblage of endemic birds, such as the dapper Cape Rockjumper, jewel-like Orange-breasted Sunbird, and extravagant Cape Sugarbird.
Interested in the history of this fascinating country? Read David Conrad's thoughts, here.
To learn more about our incredible South Africa & Namibia by Sea expedition, visit our trip page.
Mozambique Odyssey: Did You Know?
September 28, 2011 | Tags: Lex HesIn March of 2012, we’ll be celebrating a Zegrahm first as we visit the coast of East Africa on our inaugural tour! You already know our Mozambique Odyssey visits Tanzania and South Africa, and you already know that we’ll be cruising comfortably aboard the spacious 110-passenger Clipper Odyssey, but did you know…
- Not only is Africa's premier naturalist and wildlife photographer Lex Hes part of our leader team, but did you know that this is his first-ever Zegrahm ship trip? Welcome him aboard and experience his vast knowledge like Bill did on our Back to Africa expedition earlier this year, "Lex Hes...offers a very unique and wonderful balance of naturalist, guide, leader, and teacher that makes traveling with him a real pleasure," or Jim on the same expedition in 2010, "We were overwhelmed by the Lex Hes experience. The ease with which he shared his vast knowledge of Africa was infectious."
- The World Wildlife Fund is partnering with Zegrahm Expeditions on this exceptional journey to southeastern Africa; but did you know that WWF co-created and expanded Quirimbas National Park, now the largest marine protected area in the Indian Ocean and Africa? Quirimbas was once the poorest province in Mozambique but now has the country's highest growth rate thanks to the park. WWF's involvement ensures that local communities and park authorities alike share both the benefits and the responsibilities of managing the park on land and at sea. Join our expedition and you'll see just how much support is needed—the park protects over 750,000 hectares of coastal forest, mangroves, and rich coral reefs including the abundant marine life, sea turtles, and hundreds of fish species.
- In the middle of our journey, we will be cruising to the beautiful beaches of Punta da Barra, where we'll have the opportunity to see whale sharks; but did you know that this location is one of the best whale shark viewing places in the world? They are present year-round in this area, and there's a good chance you will also see manta and devil rays, loggerhead and green sea turtles, and even bottlenose dolphins. Snorkel and swim with this incredible marine life sharing the water with you.
To learn more about our Mozambique Odyssey, visit our trip page.
Welcome Home from Wild India!
September 28, 2011 | Tags: Mark BrazilI trust you all had safe journeys home and as you review and edit your photographs that you are enjoying happy memories of our fantastic experiences in India. Our busy wildlife-watching itinerary took us to three national parks: Bandhavgarh and Kanha in Madhya Pradesh and Kaziranga in Assam, allowing us to experience some of the great wildlife diversity that northern India has to offer.
On reviewing our wildlife sightings, it is amazing to think that between us we saw 30 species of mammals and nearly 250 species of birds. It was the supporting cast of so many birds that kept us focused in the field, and with our senses tuned hour after hour to make so many of those mammal sightings possible. Of course, those birds also provided us with some stunningly beautiful scenes, sounds, and encounters in their own right, too; after all who can forget the gorgeous colors of the white-throated kingfishers; the green-blue-tailed and chestnut-headed bee-eaters; or the Indian rollers that we all admired so many times.
From Delhi’s new air terminal, we flew to the site of Khajuraho. On arrival the temperature was a sizzling 98°F, so we checked in at our hotel and allowed the temperature to fall a little before setting off to explore. The extraordinary carvings of the Khajuraho were not merely Kama Sutric as they are so often depicted, but also encompassed a wide range of scenes of daily life in all its forms, and were the cause of entertainment, amusement, bewilderment, and even amazement at some of the gymnastic poses! Our local guide, Sahu, had an astonishingly encyclopedic knowledge of the site and could have led us around for several days before running out of stories to tell us. By the time we reached our hotel, cooling drinks were in order and we concluded the day with dinner.
After an early breakfast, we continued southwards into Madhya Pradesh, to Bandhavgarh National Park. As we drove we witnessed the unreeling of daily life along the roadsides for the five and a half hours of our journey, making stops along the way to admire a giant fruit bat roost/colony through the telescope and for tea and coffee. We settled quickly into our comfortable Bandhavgarh Jungle Lodge, and set off into the park on the first of our many game drives. The forest was ablaze with the deep orange trumpets of the flame of the forest trees and vines. During the following days, in addition to many other birds and mammals, we were extremely fortunate to have multiple sightings of the Bengal tiger. For me, the most powerful encounter was at night, when some of us heard the alarm barks of a Sambar, followed by a tigress roaring deeply over and over again “aum….aum…aum,” from the forest edge not far from our lodge. The disconcertingly sad fate of this fabulous creature was brought home to us during Amit Sankhala’s presentation on the park and the pressures on its most charismatic creature, and made each of our views feel even more precious. The rarity of this wonderful creature means that sightings are no longer guaranteed, and it was tremendously fortunate that all of us had such good views. While in Bandhavgarh we were also able to participate in a village visit and a local birding walk, adding to the diversity of our experiences.
Leaving the lodge after an early morning birding walk would have been a sad affair, were it not for the fact that we were headed for another four-night stay at an even more delightful spot—Kanha. Our journey took us through varied and interesting rural countryside, through farmland and villages on a road that has greatly improved in recent years. The agricultural and village sights seemed somehow medieval—albeit with cell phones and motorcycles! We paused along the way to view another giant fruit bat roost, to wander through a colorful local market at Shapura, for observations of waterfowl at Niwas Pond, including bronze-winged jacana, pheasant-tailed jacana, garganey, and cotton pygmy goose, for a picnic lunch at the Niwas Circuit House, and a final comfort stop at the holy Narmada River and Temple. Despite the long journey we were settled in at the splendid Kanha Jungle Lodge, on the edge of Kanha National Park, with our hosts Tarun and Dimple Bhati and their son Jai, in time for dinner. We even managed a first glimpse of the eye-shine of an Indian giant flying squirrel.
The following morning we began the first of our many relaxed safaris into Kanha. This fabulous area, inspiration for Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, did not disappoint, with mist rising from the meadows in the mornings creating beautiful scenes. Our wildlife sightings here included excellent viewing of the magnificent gaur, the giant wild cattle of India, the diminutive barking deer, the rare barasingha or swamp deer, repeated views of the Indian giant flying squirrel as it emerged from its day time roost and glided off into the forest, and yet more tiger sightings. In fact, by the time we were ready to leave Kanha, some of us had accumulated no fewer than ten sightings. With views of tiger pug marks in the sand, claw scrapes on trees, scenes of scent-marking, and views from elephant rides and our jeeps, as a group we had seen more signs of tigers than any other group I have led in the last five years—alas, not an indication of increasing overall tiger numbers, merely of our tremendous good fortune. Our very last safari into Kanha was a great example of that extraordinary good fortune, with many of us enjoying either a tremendous sighting of a tiger feeding on a sambar kill, or of a female and cubs. What memories to carry away from a trip!
After a very long travel day, from Kanha to Raipur by road and then on to Kolkata by air, it was a relief to arrive in the comfortable ITC Sonar Hotel, Kolkata, less than an hour from the airport. The following morning we set off after a leisurely breakfast for our flight from Kolkata to Jorhat in Assam. Soon after we left the airport we realized what a different part of India we had arrived in: it was slightly cooler, more humid, the people have very different facial features and language, and the roads are better than further south. Eating a late picnic lunch on the way, we drove through the lush countryside of Assam on our way to the lovely Diphlu River Lodge.
The following morning we were off early once more, but this time so that we could experience a misty morning ride on elephant back in search of rhino; we were lucky and encountered 14 including several females with young calves.
Kaziranga’s three separate ranges (Western, Central, and Eastern) gave us more than enough to do; not only did we visit all three areas, but we also enjoyed three excellent elephant rides through the damp grasslands to photograph rhino at very close range. Combining our sightings from all three ranges, we counted an amazing 94 Indian rhino—a fantastic total. On our early morning visit to the Eastern range we saw several capped langur and heard hoolock gibbon greeting the morning sun, while on another day we visited Burra Pahar and the south bank of the mighty Brahmaputra River to see the immense, sandy ‘moonscape’ that this huge river runs through. There we encountered several elegant river lapwings and yet more capped langurs. Each evening before dinner, we met up with Vijay to discuss aspects of this fascinating country and to consider modern Indian society: the world’s largest English-speaking nation, the largest democracy, the largest country driving on the left, an economic and IT powerhouse, yet a country with huge swathes of its population still seemingly living in centuries past, bound by what seem to many of us as out-dated social conventions, yet that for most Indians merely represent normality.
Assam and Kaziranga provided a fitting finale for our wildlife explorations of northern India. During our trip we were exposed to the richness of ancient and modern Indian culture, to ancient architecture and carving, to the diversity and color of modern Indian roadside life and to a great wealth of insects, reptiles, birds, and mammals.
All too soon our trip came to a close; perhaps it felt all the sooner because we were such a relaxed and enthusiastic convivial group, almost like an extended family sharing our common interests in culture and wildlife. Some of us left straight from Delhi Airport and some were to stay on in India for several more days or to travel on to other holiday destinations, but those of us who remained said our farewells over dinner at the Radisson Hotel near Delhi’s international airport, and left for the delightful distractions of home with memories of India fresh in our minds.
As you all know by now, I love traveling in India, and it was a great pleasure for me to be able to travel with you and to share the many and varied aspects of India with you. Thank you so much for being such wonderful travel companions and for taking such a great interest in the many facets of our trip. It was a joy to share everything with you.
With my warmest regards to you all,
Mark Brazil
Interested in visiting this vibrant country? Learn more.