Photographer Of The Week – Arthur Morris

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Tara

This is a old feature I am resurrecting. Each week, I will highlight a gallery of superb bird photography by a professional photographer. I am hoping to provide inspiration both for eco-travel and for us to improve our photography skills.

This week, I am showcasing the gallery of African Birds by Arthur Morris. Since I am planning a trip there in the near future, I am excited to see what can be achieved, even though I don’t have near the skills Mr Morris has! His work is copyrighted so I will simply link to his gallery. He has a lot of other galleries linked at the top so enjoy!

Should You Really Worry About Turbulence?

Posted on October 31, 2014 by Tara

“Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!”

Although turbulence can be uncomfortable and sometimes a bit scary, in truth, airline pilots are well trained to deal with it and modern aircraft are designed to withstand turbulence. More details can be found on the Conde Nast website. At worst, you may lose your lunch, but you are highly unlikely to lose your life!

The American Bird Conservancy Guide To The 500 Most Important Bird Areas In The United States

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Tara

Having a staycation in the USA instead of an exotic overseas trip this year? The American Bird Conservancy Guide to the 500 Most Important Bird Areas in the United States shows you where you can go birding close to home!

This is my affiliate link, if you use it to purchase this book or any other on Amazon I will get a small commission at no added cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Eco-Lite: Loro Parque, Tenerife, Spain

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Tara

OVERVIEW

Loro Parque sets the standard for zoos, especially zoos that feature walk-in aviaries! The exhibits reflect the bird/animal’s native habitat and there are detailed explanations about where they come from and if they are endangered and why. Loro Parque will appeal to all members of the family whether they are bird-crazy or not! In addition to the most diverse genetic reserve of parrots in the world (more than 4,000 specimens of 350 different species and subspecies), there are also shows featuring Orcas, Dolphins, Sea Lions & Penguins. If you bring your family with you to the International Parrot Conference, this is a great way to keep them entertained! I am not usually a fan of trained animal shows but Loro Parque does treat their birds and animals right. You will see this in the photos below.

You can’t go past the top zoo in Europe and 3rd best zoo in the world!

HOW DO YOU GET THERE?

Use your OneWorld alliance miles (Avios work well here) for an Iberia flight to Tenerife Norte from Madrid. This cost 7500 Avios in 2014 each way. It’s pretty easy to get to Madrid from anywhere in the world. I wasn’t a fan of MAD, its a huge airport and information/maps are hard to find. Make sure you fly to the northern airport TFN rather than TFS, it’s much closer to Puerto de la Cruz, the home of Loro Parque. The bus was 6 Euros from TFN to Puerto de la Cruz and stops outside several major hotels including Hotel Botanico. If you haven’t rented a car, use Loro Parque’s free train from the main plaza in town to get to the park.

HOW MUCH IS IT?

They have several ticket options depending on if you want transfers and admission to Siam Park as well on their website.

HOW LONG SHOULD YOU SPEND THERE AND WHAT SHOULD YOU SEE?

I could spend all day just hanging around Katandra Treetops and walking around where the parrots are. For normal people (not bird-crazy) you can still spend a full day here if you take in all the shows. You’ve come all the way to Tenerife so best to do this park justice and not rush through it!

If your time is limited and you want to concentrate on the parrots, I have shown the best routes to follow in red on the map below. The short walk towards the gorillas is where the Lear’s Macaws are. The other paths are where you can see rare parrots in beautifully appointed aviaries, grouped by geographical region.

Location of Parrots

VALUE TO CONSERVATION

In addition to educating the public via the signs in front of each exhibit, the Loro Parque Foundation also supports conservation projects all over the world including the Katala Foundation which I visited in 2010 (and will blog about later) and the Grey-breasted Parakeet. I have plans to visit another of their projects – the Blue-throated Macaws in Bolivia in 2016. Click on the image below to see this map on their website, then click on any white dot to learn more about that project.

WHERE TO STAY NEARBY ON POINTS

There aren’t any points hotels nearby. There is a Sheraton in the southern part of the island for 10,000 SPG points but it’s over an hour’s drive each way. Your best bet here is to pay for a hotel and EARN miles using Rocketmiles or Pointshound.

PHOTOS

Here you can see the landscaping and some of the amazing parrots at Loro Parque! Be kind, I had to focus the camera through cage wire in most cases.

Hotel Review: Hotel Botanico & The Oriental Spa Garden – Tenerife

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Tara

Hotel Botánico, one of the Leading Hotels of the World is where the welcome cocktail and the gala dinner of the Convention takes place. There is a huge advantage to staying here because they offer a welcome desk for convention attendees and free transportation to the venue of the Convention. Even without the convention, the grounds are stunning, wild feral parrots such as Quakers, Amazons and Indian Ringnecks can be seen in the trees and the views from the rooms are amazing. They offered unbeatable value for accommodation to the participants of the 2014 Convention and there was no way I was passing this up. Fortunately, since we used miles to get to Tenerife, we could splurge here. I also wanted to make sure my husband could enjoy his holiday while I was attending the convention and the pool/spa area is amazing! The breakfast buffet has a huge variety and we never needed a full lunch while we were here, just a snack around mid-day. We also stayed here for the 2010 conference and expect to be back in 2018!

DOUBLE ROOM: 128,00€* per night (3 to 6 nights)

118,00€* per night (starting from 7 nights)

DOUBLE ROOM (SINGLE USE): 98,00€* per night (3 to 6 nights)

88,00€* per night (starting from 7 nights)

This special offer includes an excellent breakfast buffet, exclusive access to “The Oriental Spa Garden” (minimum age 16) and free Wi-Fi.

*excl. 7% of taxes. These prices are only valid for the participants of the VIII International Parrot Convention and their companions.

The hotel has a free shuttle to a shopping centre downtown where you can walk 2 blocks to where the Loro Parque train picks you up. Even without the shuttle, just about anyplace in town can be reached for under 5 Euros by taxi. It was fantastic to be able to relax in the hot spa pools after the conference every day! I felt so spoiled!

HOTEL ENTRANCE – Watch the trees for wild parrots!

OUR ROOM – Love the artwork!

AMAZING VIEWS FROM THE ROOM

SHUTTLE TO SHOPPING CENTRE

SUNSET FROM THE BALCONY

SPA & POOL AREA

FLAMENCO SHOW IN THE LOBBY BAR – Wonderful dancers, don’t miss it!

VIII International Parrot Convention – La Vera Breeding Centre & Social Program

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Tara

Continuing from yesterday’s post, I will share some of the extra events that were part of the VIII International Parrot Convention.

VISIT TO LA VERA BREEDING CENTRE

This is something extra you can add on to your conference package. For an extra 90 €, you get a one year membership in Loro Parque Fundación, 1 year of free visits to Loro Parque and a visit to the La Vera Breeding Centre. It’s well worth joining just to see the stunning parrots they have and support their conservation programs! Their breeding aviaries are spacious, well-planted and offer 5 star accommodation to the birds. If only everyone who breeds parrots could follow this example! These are just a few pics as I took way too many! For some reason, I am partial to Golden Conures!

EVENING SOCIAL EVENTS

Unfortunately I didn’t get photos of this event. I did manage to catch up with a few old and new friends. There were so many people there it was hard to find people in the crowd! There was plenty of champagne though!

TUESDAY

I met some nice people from the States and we hung out together at this BBQ. I am not used to eating so late at night and I was pretty tired so left early. The food was excellent! I really wish this had been a lunch event. It would have given us more time to chat and get to know each other without worrying about getting enough sleep. The weather was perfect and it would have been nice to have an afternoon beach party! (Hint hint for 2018)!

WEDNESDAY

Somehow this one went wrong. We were bussed to the venue after walking to the shopping centre next door making me regret that I wore high heels. The venue is stunning and most of us were mesmerized by the sunset. We waited patiently (somewhat) for the dinner while enjoying some lovely wine and a few hors d’oeuvres which were brought around on trays. Remembering the lavish buffet of the day before, I only nibbled a few hors d’oeuvres because I wanted to save room for the main course. I was not the only one! We soon realized that the hors d’oeuvres were all we were getting! Many people went home hungry that evening. I got one of the first buses back so I could get some sleep.

THURSDAY

The closing Gala Dinner was spectacular and very classy with most people dressed in formal or semi-formal clothes. The food was delicious and the entertainment was interesting, sort of a multi-coloured Blue Man show!

My husband Ina & I with our friend Aviva

Sometimes it pays to have a husband who doesn’t drink as I got his champagne as well as my own, LOL! The dessert was divine!

The next day we flew off to Venice to take a Mediterranean cruise. Some people stayed on a few days to participate in the workshops and attend the grand opening of Animal Embassy at Loro Parque.

Tomorrow I will review the hotel we stayed at – the spectacular Hotel Botanico!

Photos From The VIII International Parrot Convention At Loro Parque

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Tara

Held once every 4 years, the VIII International Parrot Convention sponsored by Fundacion Loro Parque was an overwhelming success this year! Around 840 parrot enthusiasts from all over the world were in attendance. We met people in person from Facebook, saw old friends from the last conference we attended in 2010 and enjoyed 3 days of amazing lectures from top parrot conservationists around the world.

ENTRANCE AND GROUNDS OF THE CONVENTION CENTRE

Every day we were welcomed to the conference by the friendly Loro Parque staff and the Scarlet Macaw mascot. Everyone was given a headset so they could hear the lecture in their own language as some speakers spoke English, some spoke Spanish, French or German. Between presentations, snacks were served on tables scattered around the lawn.

VENDOR BOOTHS AND ARTWORK INSIDE

As you come into the building, there are several vendor stalls of people who specialize in parrot orientated products.

Aviva and David Vishnia from Israel with their Inca Incubators

Loro Parque T-shirts and other merchandise

PRESENTATION TOPICS

Here I will only post some title slides to protect the copyright of the speaker’s material. I didn’t get all of them as my SD card filled up unexpectedly. Most of them were conservation orientated which is why I love this conference so much. Topics which catered to breeders were of a more scientific nature so even if you are not a breeder (like me) you still learn something! A full list of speakers and topics can be found here.

The whole conference was amazing and everyone learned something new about parrots! Even the breeders who previously weren’t familiar with conservation efforts learned a lot. The one thing that I found a bit sad is that attendance dropped off on the third day. I think some people were so exhausted from the late nights of the social program they just couldn’t get up for the early starts of the actual conference.

I personally would have preferred a much earlier social program (luncheons or BBQs?) on the 1st & 2nd day of the conference. The 3rd day doesn’t matter as you leave the next day unless you stayed on in Tenerife for tourism or some of the Loro Parque workshops. I ended up leaving the evening events as soon as possible to try to get some sleep as I didn’t want to miss any of the lectures.

In tomorrow’s post, I will show a few shots from the evening social programs and the visit to the La Vera Breeding Facility.

New Population Of Critically Endangered Parakeets Found In Brazil

Posted on October 25, 2014 by Tara

I just love hearing fantastic news like this! I met some of the people involved with this Grey-breasted Parakeet project at Loro Parque. If only I had met them before my trip to Brazil in 2012! I hope these gorgeous little birds keep multiplying and expanding their territory, hopefully I will be back. At least I got to buy that cute little parrot replica attached to the poster, would you believe it’s made out of a plastic bottle!

Hopefully the next time I go to Brazil, I will see them!

I Bought My Own Rainforest

Posted on October 24, 2014 by Tara

Yeah, I wish! Owning a rainforest where birds and other wildlife could live freely and without fear of capture or losing their homes to loggers has long been a dream of mine. I do know a couple in India who have fulfilled their dream!

Wildlife photographer Charlie Hamilton James

And now wildlife photographer Charlie Hamilton James has just bought 100 acres of the Peruvian Amazon. Has his dream come true? Watch and see! His fascinating story has been aired in the UK and is now airing in Australia. I am not sure if and when it will air in the USA, but VPNs are your friend!

In the 2nd episode he tries to persuade a local man not to cut down a huge tree. The man is logging illegally and wants to sell the wood for his kids’ education. When the tree is cut down, it is dead inside and there is no wood that can be sold so the tree was cut down for nothing. This tree would have supported several bird’s nests, it was HUGE! Now the man has no tree and no money to educate his kids. How much better off he would be if he could work as a guide, make handicrafts to sell to tourists or work in an eco-lodge!

Watch online at BBC UK

Watch online at SBS Australia

Should You Be Worried About Ebola?

Posted on October 23, 2014 by Tara

We are going to Africa in the near future and my mother is in a panic. She is convinced that we will get Ebola and die. She is just one of many millions of people around the world who share the same fears. So just how much of a threat is Ebola to tourists planning safaris in Africa? This infographic from The Safari Company does a great job of explaining it.

.Ebola Infographic

I am not worried either of us will get Ebola. To date, no tourists have been infected and there have been no cases in any African country other than Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone & Nigeria. They’ve been doing a great job of containing it and keeping out of even the neighboring countries.

We wouldn’t be engaging in high-risk activities that involve exchange of bodily fluids. We are in business class on the planes so will be seated only with each other. We don’t plan on sticking around any city, we will be heading straight out into the bush for safaris. We’re probably more at risk of Malaria than Ebola but we are taking Doxycycline for that.

I think there has been way too much hysteria fueled by the media. Of course Ebola sells newspapers and promotes clicks on websites. What I am more worried about is the hysteria driving ridiculous reactions such as this!

MORE EBOLA INFORMATION

The Latest on Ebola and Travel

Understanding the Risks of Ebola, and What ‘Direct Contact’ Means

Ebola Facts: How Many Ebola Cases Are Outside of West Africa?

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