ZSL and Exodus team up to launch wildlife holidays

Whales and bears of British Columbia

Wildlife holidays are a popular choice, whether it's whale watching or a tiger safari, but it can be hard to know which trips are ethically sound, and which actually cause harm to the animals you're seeing, or their environment.

Now, ZSL (the conservation charity behind London Zoo and Whipsnade Zoo) have teamed up with travel company Exodus to offer wildlife holidays. With a name like ZSL behind them, travellers can rest assured that their holiday will be as environmentally responsible as possible -- groups sizes are kept small to ensure minimum disruption while still benefiting local communities.

The trips take in all seven continents, ranging from four to 23 days, and offer a chance to see species in their native habitats while helping to fund ZSL’s global work for wildlife. Expert knowledgable guides will offer an insight into the flora and fauna, as well as local cultures,

Kathryn England, ZSL’s Head of Commercial, commented:
“By combining our wildlife knowledge with Exodus’ responsible travel expertise and 40 years of pedigree, we have created a collection of truly memorable wildlife adventures, rooted in conservation.”

Prices start from £1,209, with 27 trips to choose from, and you don't have to travel too far to enjoy the wildlife on offer -  European options include bear watching in Romania or whale and dolphin watching in the Azores. It's a tough call, but these are our top five of the trips on offer:

• In search of brown bears in Romania
• Volunteering on a game reserve on the Zambezi River
• In search of snow leopards in the Himalayas
• Tigers in focus in India
• Whales and bears of British Columbia

Take a look at the website to see the full range of trips on offer.

Why save an endangered species?

Why do we bother saving an endangered species? Why not let nature take its course? What does it matter if one or two species are allowed to peter off until they disappear completely, forever?

Aside from the fact that humans are responsible for the decline of so many species, and we should therefore buck up our ideas and take responsibility for some of the damage we've done, and the fact that ecosystems rely on each individual species to play a part, I think that this quote from Laurens de Groot's upcoming book, 'Hunting the hunters: At war with the whalers' sums it up brilliantly:

"If mankind fails to protect rare whales then that seals the fate of all endangered animal species as far as I'm concerned, from European hamster to Rwandan mountain gorilla, from badger to snow leopard, from tuna to Andean condor. They will all be doomed."

'Hunting the hunters' is released on January 2nd 2014. I am currently halfway through my copy and I'm loving it - and I'm not being paid or bribed in any way to say this!

More danger for Sumatran tigers

Jae Jae, London Zoo's male

Tigers have become the poster child for endangered species in recent years, with Sumatran tigers in particular being hailed as one of the most endangered species on the planet. Palm oil plantations, amongst other things, have seen their habitat massively reduced, and what little habitat is left is heavily at risk of poaching or conflict between these animals and local human settlements.



The ball park figure often thrown around for the number of Sumatran tigers left in the wild is around 300. The Bali tiger and Javan tiger, from the same group, are already extinct. Just as the public were becoming aware of the severity of the plight of these animals, they've been dealt another blow in the form of plans to build a road through their habitat.

There are plans to build a 50km road through the Harapan (which translates as "hope") Rainforest, to aid in the delivery of coal to power stations across South East-Asia. British conservationists from the RSPB have been working in the area due to the prevalence of bird species there. Conservationists in the area say that the construction of the new road is entirely unnecessary, as sufficient access routes to the power stations currently exist.

Melati, the female Sumatran tiger at London Zoo

If built, the road would remove 154 hectares of forest (equivalent to around 154 rugby pitches), but would cause even more damage by splitting the remaining forest into two, separating the habitat of the tigers and many other animals, as well as providing poachers easier access to central parts of the forest which were previously inaccessible to them. Currently, around 40 tigers a year are poached, so the building of this road could, literally, be the death of them.

For more information about the RSPB's work in the Harapan Rainforest, click here.