A few years ago I had the wonderful experience of going on a Safari in Kenya; staying at excellent lodges throughout the trip. One of them being an the shores of Lake Naivasha, but wow, if I’d come across the privately owned Hippo Point Wildlife Sanctuary this would have been the icing on the cake!
Hippo Point Tower
Hippo Point House is an Elizabethan style house belonged to a magistrate and was built in the 1933. The house has recently been restored to the higest standards with just seven double bedrooms, a swimming pool, open gazebo and lush gardens where you can indulge in yoga courses and body treatments. However the nearby Hippo Point Tower is really where its at! This nine storey Tower is rated as one of the top retreats in the world, and one of Kenya’s less known, but most luxurious hideaways. It is for exclusive use only and had a lounge and deck on the first floor and three double bedrooms - one on each floor above.
With magnificent views over Oloidien Bay it’s designed for romantics (by Dodo Cunningham-Reid) and guests are able to watch the hippo’s grazing at the foot of the Tower.
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I soon as I heard about Tiger Temple in Thailand I felt compelled to write an article. Of course we should do what we can to ensure Tiger survival as a species, but I am not convinced that this place is the answer.
It’s potentially a great concept – but unfortunately one that I am not sure is working. Called the ‘Tiger Temple’ and run by Buddhist monks with the intention of creating an island sanctuary where tigers can roam free and visitors can interact with them…..hum, how is that meant to work with the strongest and most ferocious of cats if they haven’t been sedated? Well, rumour has it they are.
The place started as a forest sanctuary for numerous different types of animals in 1994, and they received their first tiger (found and passed on by villagers) in 1999, and more have been handed over since - the sanctuary claim generally from poaching situations where the parents of young tigers have been killed. Critics claim that many of the tigers have been illegally imported from Laos and that they have an illegal breeding program.The tiger population there has grown to an astonishing 38 tigers (as at December 2008), and it is believed that since 2007 some 21 cubs have been born there, so they know of no other existence and would no doubt have trouble if released into the wild.
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When I first visited this park I was a little disappointed as I though it would be my favourite and wasn’t. However, on my return visit in October 2008 I enjoyed the park more. This park closes pretty early (6pm) so to make the most of the park its one you want to get to fairly early.
My ‘must do’s for this park are – ‘It’s Tough to be a Bug’ 4D show, the 4pm parade, the new Finding Nemo’ musical, ‘Kilamanjaro Safari’s’. We aren’t into thrill seeking rides so Expedition Everest isn’t for us – but by all accounts it’s a good ride and if you like that sort of thing you should add it to your list.
Check out my ‘ears’!
It’s Tough to be a Bug – this is one of the best 4D shows around. When we went 2 years ago we went to see it first, and the queue was torturous. This time we left it until nearly the end of the day and walked straight in with no queues – so I’d recommend you do that too. If you do have to queue it winds around the beautifully carved artificial tree.
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OK, so we’ve ‘done’ snow igloos (great for freezing your bits off!), glass igloos (great for viewing Northern Lights) but how about metal ones?
The speciality of this place is possibly the best view of icebergs from a hotel room that you can get!
Situated on the west coast of Greenland on Disko Bay and 250 miles within the arctic circle, you will get views of the harbour, the town of Ilulissat (about a mile away which is good as you don’t hear barking dogs!) and of course the ‘bergs’.
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Posted by Jackie Hewett on Tue 7th October 2008 at 03:23 AM, Filed in Wildlife, December
December through to February is the peak season for Manta watching in this region, and this is one of the best places in the world to see them. Yap is actually four islands sharing a coral reef and all islands are covered with pretty dense vegetation and are situated just 9 degrees north of the equator.
Manta Rays have wing spans up to 5 meters (16 ft) and visit the ‘cleaning stations’ in the channels between the shallow lagoon surrounding Yap where cleaner wrasse do the grooming. Whilst 100 or so of these great fish seem to have made Yap their year round home the numbers swell during the winter mating season.
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