Latest / Wander the World with Pippa Hudson / Wander the World: Giraffe Conservation Safari in Namibia
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Now in today's episode of Wonder the World, we are
- 0:02Speaker 1: dreaming very, very big, because we are talking about the
- 0:05Speaker 1: kind of travel bucket list experience that most of us.
- 0:09Speaker 2: Will never be able to afford.
- 0:10Speaker 1: I have to concede that upfront, but wow, what an
- 0:14Speaker 1: adventure it would be to go on. And I just
- 0:16Speaker 1: wanted to let you know that this exists as an
- 0:19Speaker 1: option for you if you are lucky enough to be
- 0:21Speaker 1: in the bracket that can afford this level of travel.
- 0:24Speaker 1: And also I want to talk about it even for
- 0:26Speaker 1: those who won't ever experience it in person, because it
- 0:28Speaker 1: does so much to highlight a conservation issue that is
- 0:31Speaker 1: not talked about as much as the rhinos and the
- 0:34Speaker 1: pangolins and the like, and that is the conservation status
- 0:38Speaker 1: of giraffes. I was very interested to receive a press
- 0:41Speaker 1: release just yesterday coming out of the latest Sighties gathering,
- 0:46Speaker 1: voicing relief at the fact that they had successively fought
- 0:49Speaker 1: off an attempt to remove some of the protections in
- 0:52Speaker 1: place around giraffes, namely relaxing some of the trade restrictions
- 0:57Speaker 1: around giraffe body parts.
- 0:59Speaker 2: And I read that and I thought, there's a trade
- 1:01Speaker 2: in giraffe body parts who knew.
- 1:03Speaker 1: I have never thought of a giraffe as being an
- 1:05Speaker 1: animal that was under threat in any particular way. But
- 1:08Speaker 1: this kind of travel experience is going to tell us
- 1:11Speaker 1: more about that background and also tell you in a
- 1:14Speaker 1: most extraordinary way to be able to engage with this
- 1:17Speaker 1: upfront and in person. We are talking about a nine
- 1:20Speaker 1: day immersive safari experience in Namibia. It is a luxury
- 1:24Speaker 1: trip worth a purpose. Guests get to take part in
- 1:28Speaker 1: hands on giraffe conservation at the same time as enjoying
- 1:31Speaker 1: the most gorgeous, rugged beautiful landscapes of northern Namibia. Now
- 1:36Speaker 1: you are going to be led on that journey by
- 1:38Speaker 1: two extraordinary guides, Kate al and Emma Wells, who are
- 1:41Speaker 1: both giraffe experts who have spent years working in the field,
- 1:44Speaker 1: and they accompany travelers every step of the way, working
- 1:48Speaker 1: alongside the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, which is a world leading
- 1:52Speaker 1: organization dedicated to protecting giraffes all around the world. From
- 1:56Speaker 1: tracking the Angolan giraffe and we'll explain what that is shortly,
- 2:00Speaker 1: to learning about desert adapted wildlife, to staying in some
- 2:03Speaker 1: of the most incredible lodges. As I said, this is
- 2:06Speaker 1: a real bucketless, once in a lifetime experience, particularly for
- 2:10Speaker 1: anyone who loves wildlife and who loves wide open spaces.
- 2:13Speaker 1: And it's a huge pleasure to have one of those
- 2:15Speaker 1: extraordinary guides joining us via zoom this afternoon to tell
- 2:17Speaker 1: us more. Kate, I'll welcome to Kate Talk and welcome
- 2:20Speaker 1: to Wonder the World.
- 2:21Speaker 3: Hi Peppa, thanks for having me.
- 2:23Speaker 1: It's a great pleasure. Thank you so much for giving
- 2:25Speaker 1: us your time this afternoon, Kate. As I've just said,
- 2:28Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm not alone in being the only person
- 2:30Speaker 1: who went. I didn't even know that giraffe conservation was
- 2:33Speaker 1: something we had to be particularly mindful of before we
- 2:36Speaker 1: talk about this journey. Can we start there with the context?
- 2:39Speaker 1: Why do giraffes need protecting?
- 2:42Speaker 3: Absolutely? I think it goes back a long way. We
- 2:47Speaker 3: come on safari and we look at animals, and I
- 2:50Speaker 3: think everyone wants to see the lions and the elephants,
- 2:53Speaker 3: and we know that those animals need protection. And if
- 2:56Speaker 3: you went home from your safario, it would be sad
- 2:59Speaker 3: if you didn't the draft and what people are learning,
- 3:02Speaker 3: we're learning and finding out, is that their numbers are
- 3:06Speaker 3: in decline in some places and they need our help.
- 3:09Speaker 3: So the Draft Conservation Foundation has done a lot of
- 3:11Speaker 3: work over the last fifteen plus years to bring awareness
- 3:15Speaker 3: to that. It would call it a silent extinction. We
- 3:17Speaker 3: expected the Draft to be there for us the whole time,
- 3:20Speaker 3: but no, they actually need some focus and attention.
- 3:23Speaker 2: And where are the major strates coming from?
- 3:26Speaker 3: I mean it always boils down to people, right, It
- 3:30Speaker 3: depends on country by countries. Some countries struggle with war
- 3:35Speaker 3: and infrastructure. Other countries it's land space and migration corridors.
- 3:41Speaker 3: And you know, we have to take it country by
- 3:44Speaker 3: country when we go for those solutions.
- 3:46Speaker 1: Right, Okay, a little bit about your own background yourself
- 3:49Speaker 1: and Emma, how did you become involved in giraffe conservation?
- 3:53Speaker 3: Well, how much time do we have.
- 3:55Speaker 1: We've got twelve minutes in total, so tell me perhaps
- 3:58Speaker 1: the abbreviated.
- 3:59Speaker 3: Version one hundred percent. And so we both came from
- 4:03Speaker 3: a zoo keeping background. I used to work in the
- 4:05Speaker 3: States and I worked in New Zealand and Ireland, and
- 4:10Speaker 3: through both of our zews we got involved in conservation
- 4:12Speaker 3: and interested in Drafte Conservation Foundation as an organization. We
- 4:16Speaker 3: both came to Namibia years ago and fell in love
- 4:19Speaker 3: with it, and for me, it was a job that
- 4:23Speaker 3: other people did. Research conservation was something that some other
- 4:26Speaker 3: person did in the world, and it wasn't for me.
- 4:28Speaker 3: But going there and witnessing it and partaking in it
- 4:32Speaker 3: it opened up a whole new field of work for me,
- 4:35Speaker 3: and I dropped my other job and came back to
- 4:37Speaker 3: Africa one year later.
- 4:39Speaker 1: Okay, now you joined the Natural Selection Team in twenty
- 4:42Speaker 1: twenty one, and anybody who does their fair share of travel,
- 4:44Speaker 1: particularly in Africa, will know that that name is synonymous
- 4:47Speaker 1: with very curated, very luxurious, very impactful, and just the
- 4:52Speaker 1: most incredible travel experiences. And this one certainly is going
- 4:56Speaker 1: to be no different from what we've come to expect
- 4:59Speaker 1: from that brand. Tell us a little bit more about
- 5:02Speaker 1: the Giraffe Conservation Safari and what a visitor who is
- 5:05Speaker 1: lucky enough to go on what of these trips will experience.
- 5:08Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, as you said, it's nine days of
- 5:11Speaker 3: fun in September. We're gonna start out in vin Hook.
- 5:15Speaker 3: We'll meet up with the GCF team for a nice dinner.
- 5:18Speaker 3: Then the next day we head up to Atasha Heights,
- 5:20Speaker 3: which is a reserve bordering Atasha National Park. We'll spend
- 5:25Speaker 3: two days there sort of getting our our giraffe eyes in.
- 5:29Speaker 3: We'll learn how to identify individual giraffe. We'll learn some
- 5:33Speaker 3: information about their tags and how we monitor them. We
- 5:39Speaker 3: can look into the camera traps. We'll just take a
- 5:41Speaker 3: deep dive into what they're about and start to open
- 5:44Speaker 3: up the book. After that we'll go for the real
- 5:48Speaker 3: fun stuff. We'll move. We'll drive over to Quantum Valley Camp,
- 5:51Speaker 3: which is in the beautiful Hauntum Valley up in the
- 5:54Speaker 3: Community region. Have you ever been.
- 5:56Speaker 2: I haven't. No, I've never been to Namabia.
- 5:59Speaker 3: It's a stunning landscape. It's an amazing place that very
- 6:02Speaker 3: few people get to go to. Uh. It feels very remote,
- 6:05Speaker 3: very special. Every time I go there. It's it's just
- 6:09Speaker 3: a special feeling that you get when you're there. It's
- 6:12Speaker 3: not to be to skip. But once we get there,
- 6:15Speaker 3: that's when we'll be doing more of the hands on stuff.
- 6:18Speaker 3: The GCF team will be joining us up there, and
- 6:20Speaker 3: they have a they have a long term monitoring program
- 6:24Speaker 3: up there that's started in the late nineties, so they've
- 6:26Speaker 3: been monitoring the draft population in this very area of
- 6:29Speaker 3: desert for twenty five plus years now. And we're going
- 6:36Speaker 3: to replace some tags. So a satellite tracking tag will
- 6:40Speaker 3: be replaced on a few giraffe and maybe a couple
- 6:44Speaker 3: new ones. We'll see how many we find. Of course
- 6:46Speaker 3: that's always the trick, right, They don't just line up.
- 6:49Speaker 4: Yeah, but you know the goal is over those two
- 6:54Speaker 4: days to apply a few tags to draft and that's
- 6:58Speaker 4: when you really get to see.
- 6:59Speaker 3: The servation in accident, you get to be a part
- 7:01Speaker 3: of it. Now obviously you don't get to do any
- 7:05Speaker 3: of the veterinary work, but you get to be there
- 7:07Speaker 3: on the ground while it's happening, see the experts doing
- 7:10Speaker 3: their work, and really feel like you're helping.
- 7:15Speaker 1: I mean, we're talking about incredibly close up conservation experiences
- 7:19Speaker 1: in some of the most extraordinary landscapes, and that includes
- 7:23Speaker 1: both inland and coastal experiences as well, is my understanding.
- 7:26Speaker 1: So a real sense of a part of Namibia that
- 7:29Speaker 1: is remote, that is that sense of space around you, Kate,
- 7:33Speaker 1: Can you try and explain that because that perspective. I've
- 7:36Speaker 1: had that feeling in when visiting the Okavango in Botswana
- 7:39Speaker 1: of looking around and realizing that in every direction, as
- 7:42Speaker 1: far as I could see, I could not see another
- 7:44Speaker 1: human being. All I saw was wild landscape and it
- 7:47Speaker 1: was the most extraordinary feeling of my life.
- 7:50Speaker 2: Very similar sort of location here, not so absolutely.
- 7:54Speaker 3: The Horna Valley is beautiful. That that river, the Horna River,
- 7:58Speaker 3: runs all the way to the And after we're finished
- 8:02Speaker 3: with all that tagging, we're going to take a two
- 8:04Speaker 3: day sort of relaxation and head out to the Shipwreck
- 8:08Speaker 3: Lodge and that's right on the coast there, right in
- 8:10Speaker 3: the dunes. You're gonna, you know, hopefully see some of
- 8:13Speaker 3: those desert adapted lions. We might even see a giraffe
- 8:17Speaker 3: traversing across the dunes if we're very lucky. But it's
- 8:20Speaker 3: just a it's just a magical place, and you're absolutely right.
- 8:24Speaker 3: Any anywhere direction you look, you won't see of another person,
- 8:27Speaker 3: and you'll just hear wildlife and that's the silence of
- 8:32Speaker 3: the world.
- 8:32Speaker 1: It's beautiful and I can only imagine what you will
- 8:34Speaker 1: see when you look up above you at night into
- 8:36Speaker 1: the night skies.
- 8:37Speaker 2: The star landscape must be incredible.
- 8:40Speaker 3: The stars are amazing. Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
- 8:44Speaker 2: Lovely massage, It'll be a new moon.
- 8:46Speaker 1: Okay, lovely message in from Fran on our WhatsApp line,
- 8:49Speaker 1: who says, I am not affiliated in any way but
- 8:51Speaker 1: can only speak in the highest respectful terms of the
- 8:54Speaker 1: Giraffe Conservation Fund and their work. This would be a
- 8:57Speaker 1: fantastic safari for a cause. And as you says, I'm
- 9:00Speaker 1: not affiliated, just a safari guide who has also seen
- 9:03Speaker 1: their work in Mound in Botswana. Franz, thank you so
- 9:06Speaker 1: much for that endorsement of the organization that is at
- 9:08Speaker 1: the heart of this trip. For anybody who is coming
- 9:10Speaker 1: in midway. We are talking to Kate al who is
- 9:13Speaker 1: one of the extraordinary guides who will be your shepherd
- 9:17Speaker 1: on this amazing nine day immersive experience in northern Namibia
- 9:21Speaker 1: next September, getting you up close and personal with giraffe conservation,
- 9:26Speaker 1: letting you observe giraffe conservation efforts as they happen, and
- 9:29Speaker 1: also exposing you to some of the most extraordinary wilderness
- 9:32Speaker 1: landscapes and a real sense of isolation and being in
- 9:36Speaker 1: the wild. Having said that, Kate, you're not going to
- 9:39Speaker 1: feel like you are living in the wild and bush
- 9:41Speaker 1: camping in the accommodation. Tell us a little bit about
- 9:45Speaker 1: what sort of accommodation is included in this trip.
- 9:48Speaker 3: So each of our camps are very well fitted out. Yeah,
- 9:53Speaker 3: you won't be missing your Gin and tonic. You won't
- 9:55Speaker 3: be missing your high tee. The Safari vehicles are quite comfortable.
- 10:00Speaker 3: You'll have your own tent and it'll be you won't
- 10:05Speaker 3: have to go walking out for the loo. No bushwees.
- 10:07Speaker 2: Okay, good to know.
- 10:09Speaker 1: Kate one of our listeners asking a question saying, I
- 10:11Speaker 1: didn't know that there were different types of giraffe. Are
- 10:15Speaker 1: there lots of different alternatives and can you tell us
- 10:17Speaker 1: a little bit more about them?
- 10:19Speaker 3: Sure? Do you know how many species of giraffe there
- 10:22Speaker 3: are in Africa?
- 10:23Speaker 2: I have no idea. I wouldn't even be able to
- 10:25Speaker 2: have a guest, to be honest.
- 10:27Speaker 3: So I heard you talking about Syd's earlier about that,
- 10:30Speaker 3: and thankfully over the thanks to the research that the
- 10:34Speaker 3: Giraffe Conservation Foundation has been doing over the last years,
- 10:37Speaker 3: they've actually helped highlight and discovered that there are four
- 10:41Speaker 3: species of giraffe in Africa. So those are the northern species,
- 10:46Speaker 3: and there are three subspecies. Under the northern there's the reticulated,
- 10:50Speaker 3: the Messai, which you probably have heard of, and there's
- 10:53Speaker 3: two subspecies there, and then we come to the southern species,
- 10:56Speaker 3: which is what we see in South Africa and Namibia Botswana,
- 10:59Speaker 3: and they two subspecies that mean the angle In and
- 11:02Speaker 3: the South African.
- 11:04Speaker 1: Okay, so obviously we know the South African version from
- 11:06Speaker 1: our own trips to local bush lodges and the like.
- 11:09Speaker 1: But thanks for the explanation there. You mentioned that one
- 11:13Speaker 1: of the things that will be discussed in the sort
- 11:15Speaker 1: of early part of this trip is identification of giraffes.
- 11:18Speaker 1: Somebody else is asking whether they have unique patterns? Is
- 11:21Speaker 1: that how you identify them or is there more to
- 11:23Speaker 1: it than that?
- 11:24Speaker 3: I know with the draft, it's very simple. Their pattern
- 11:27Speaker 3: is unique to them, just like a fingerprint. So we
- 11:30Speaker 3: don't have to tag to track a giraffe. We can
- 11:34Speaker 3: monitor them from birth until death through their spots. So
- 11:37Speaker 3: the spots they're born with is the pattern that they have.
- 11:40Speaker 3: And it's a very easy way. And thanks to AI
- 11:42Speaker 3: and so a few other smart people out there in
- 11:44Speaker 3: the world, there's lots of systems in place that we
- 11:46Speaker 3: can use to filter through photographs and sort individuals quite quickly.
- 11:50Speaker 2: Amazing, amazing.
- 11:51Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about the not so easy part
- 11:54Speaker 1: of this, Kate. This is not a budget safari experience.
- 11:58Speaker 1: What is the cost of taking part in this nine
- 12:00Speaker 1: day excursion.
- 12:02Speaker 3: Well, there's two parts to it. There's the trip and
- 12:04Speaker 3: the accommodation, and that is I believe I just heard
- 12:08Speaker 3: today sitting at just over two hundred and twenty thousand
- 12:11Speaker 3: rand Okay, but that's nine days of amazing time with
- 12:14Speaker 3: me and Emma, just so you know. But the most
- 12:17Speaker 3: important part that we need to touch on is there'll
- 12:19Speaker 3: be a donation to the Draft Conservation Foundation, and that
- 12:23Speaker 3: is three thy five hundred US dollars per person. But
- 12:26Speaker 3: that goes to pay for not only this excursion that
- 12:30Speaker 3: we're going on, but it goes to support the staff
- 12:34Speaker 3: and the veterinarians and the people that are doing the
- 12:36Speaker 3: work day in and day out for the organization. So
- 12:40Speaker 3: it pays for those tracking units, those little callers that
- 12:42Speaker 3: we're putting on. It pays for the veterinary fees and
- 12:46Speaker 3: on and on. So it is a worthy cause. It's
- 12:48Speaker 3: an amazing organization. They work in twenty one different African
- 12:52Speaker 3: countries on all four species of draft. They're the only
- 12:55Speaker 3: NGO in the world that is dedicated to draft conservation.
- 13:00Speaker 1: Thanks for for highlighting that, Kate to somebody else emailing
- 13:02Speaker 1: me who's a very keen photographer asking is this a
- 13:05Speaker 1: suitable trip for someone to practice their photography skills, because
- 13:08Speaker 1: it sounds like the ideal sort of location and the
- 13:11Speaker 1: opportunity to get sort of up close shots that are
- 13:13Speaker 1: very rare and unique. Are photographers welcome or would the
- 13:18Speaker 1: clicking of lenses be a distraction?
- 13:21Speaker 3: No? Absolutely, photographers are one hundred dcent welcome. I'm sure
- 13:25Speaker 3: I'll be bringing my camera and sneaking a few shots
- 13:27Speaker 3: here and there as well. The landscape is stunning, the
- 13:30Speaker 3: animals are stunning. You're going to use that macro lens
- 13:33Speaker 3: get right in on the nose of that giraffe. It's
- 13:35Speaker 3: going to be amazing. If photographers are welcome.
- 13:37Speaker 1: Okay, thanks for that, and then perhaps one thing we
- 13:40Speaker 1: should mention is is the sort of the physical requirements
- 13:42Speaker 1: of the trip other than being able to get in
- 13:44Speaker 1: and out of a game viewing vehicle?
- 13:47Speaker 2: Is there? You said there's not much on footwork.
- 13:49Speaker 1: Does one need to be in any sort of particular
- 13:51Speaker 1: physical shape to sign up for a trip like.
- 13:53Speaker 3: This, No, there's no requirement of physical shape. Yeah, it'd
- 13:56Speaker 3: be great if you can get in and out of
- 13:58Speaker 3: the game. You're on your own.
- 13:59Speaker 2: That's that's help you.
- 14:01Speaker 3: But but no, there'll be minimal walking. We'll be in
- 14:04Speaker 3: wild spaces and there'll be lions around, so we won't
- 14:06Speaker 3: be out tall wandering around the bush too much.
- 14:11Speaker 1: Okay, thanks for that. Before we say goodbye, Kate, let
- 14:13Speaker 1: me let me ask you, just for fun, can you
- 14:15Speaker 1: share with us an interesting or particularly eye opening fact
- 14:19Speaker 1: about giraffes that the average person listening to this interview
- 14:22Speaker 1: wouldn't have known before. Maybe your favorite fun fact to
- 14:25Speaker 1: roll out at pub quizzers.
- 14:26Speaker 3: Well, I will tell you a fun fact that comes
- 14:28Speaker 3: up a pub quiz a lot, and I fight with
- 14:31Speaker 3: the pub quiz people every time. So the question, the
- 14:35Speaker 3: question often comes is do giraffe make a do giraft
- 14:38Speaker 3: make a noise? Or what is the mammal that makes
- 14:41Speaker 3: a noise that doesn't make a noise? And everyone says
- 14:43Speaker 3: giraffe And the reality is giraffe do actually make lots
- 14:46Speaker 3: of vocalizations. Okay, so yeah, so I liken it to
- 14:52Speaker 3: a mooing type roar. So it's kind of like cow
- 14:55Speaker 3: cow like noises that they use often when they're in distress,
- 14:59Speaker 3: but not always. So they do sound, they do project
- 15:04Speaker 3: as a very silent and distinguished animal, but they do
- 15:08Speaker 3: make noise, and so I think a lot of people
- 15:10Speaker 3: get that fact wrong all the time.
- 15:12Speaker 1: I'm so glad you said us straight on that because
- 15:14Speaker 1: I have also heard that myth many many times that
- 15:16Speaker 1: they are the one animal that doesn't make any sound.
- 15:18Speaker 1: And I mean the sound I have heard from them
- 15:21Speaker 1: is the cracking of next when two males are fighting
- 15:24Speaker 1: in the bush, But of course that's the sort of
- 15:26Speaker 1: a side effect of the fight. I've never heard the
- 15:28Speaker 1: moving raw. But that's one to add to the travel
- 15:30Speaker 1: travel bucket list for the future. Kate, it's been wonderful
- 15:33Speaker 1: having you chat to us today. Thank you so so
- 15:36Speaker 1: much for your time. The last thing to leave our
- 15:37Speaker 1: listeners with is if they want to sign up for
- 15:39Speaker 1: this trip, who do they need to reach out to?
- 15:41Speaker 1: What website do they need to visit?
- 15:43Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you so much for your time. If there's
- 15:46Speaker 3: any interest or just if you want to learn about
- 15:48Speaker 3: more of our projects that we support at Natural Selection,
- 15:50Speaker 3: you can hand over to natural Selection dot travel and
- 15:54Speaker 3: that will link to our foundation page, which highlights all
- 15:58Speaker 3: of our programs that we support, including the Conservation Foundation.
- 16:01Speaker 3: If you want to go directly to gcif you can
- 16:04Speaker 3: go to draftconservation dot org and learn more about all
- 16:06Speaker 3: of their research there.
- 16:08Speaker 1: Thank you so much for doing such a wonderful job
- 16:09Speaker 1: of painting the picture for us, not only of their
- 16:11Speaker 1: brilliant work, but of what sounds like a once in
- 16:14Speaker 1: a lifetime trip, and we wish you well for that
- 16:17Speaker 1: trip and your subsequent work. Katel, Thank you so much
- 16:20Speaker 1: for joining us one of the guides who will lead
- 16:22Speaker 1: this extraordinary journey in September, organized by Natural Selection and
- 16:26Speaker 1: the website again natural selection dot Travel