Information for nature traveling

[albatross02]

Hallo,

how You get information about nature, if You travel abroad.
Books like lonely planet are more general, good for backpackers which looks for country and people. But for nature it is not useful.
In Germany we have only one person You launched good trekking guides for traveleing outside Europe ( only few countries ). He was a mountain climber. So he is able to create his on maps very detailed and reliable. The description contained the landscape like bush, grassland, primeray forest and so on. So is interesting for nature people which also like to see plants and different animals.
In Australia is very common the ranger system. The ranger are responsible for national parcs. They make information meetings and give very detailed informations about the areas.
Are there good reliable english books for nature travelers ?
Where is possible to get reliable informations ?

[Bill Atwood]

Well for starters you could try some investigative googling work.

For parts of Central and South America, Les Beletsky has done various ecotravel guides.

[jurek]

I will tell you an example about my trip to India.

- google for general idea what is to see.
- read birding trip reports (eg. eurobirding).
- worldtwitch site is the best for odd places.
- Buy revelant birding guidebook which usually have title "Where to watch birds in.. or "A birdwatchers guide to...". They often mention other wildlife, too. Also, Lonely Planet often mentions wildlife and details of major national parks.
- subscribe birding mailing list for the area and listen to what people report to see. You can also ask questions there and with luck and asking a very specific question, some people will even answer :>.
- Try to contact local enthusiasts or NGOs.

- and when abroad TALK to other birders, guides and local naturalists! This is very important. You learn what animals just appeared there. You learn about great places apparently unknown outside the country. If you can change your plans, you will win.

[StuartReeves]

There are also some specific Lonely Planet Wildlife guides. I planned much of my Australia trip using the Lonely Planet Guide to wildlife watching in Australia.

Stuart

[albatross02]

Hallo Stuart,

with lonely planet I had bad expirience.
I had one in Vietnam, the newest. This book said around Dien Bien Phu is deep forest.
We arrived there and there was nothing, since a couple of years.
Rough Guide described this clearly.
But with Rough guide I have no expirience.

For Australia I head "Trekking Guide" from Bruckmann, launched by Bruno Baumann. This book only in german, does not printed anymore.
Bruno Baumann is an alpinist and know how created very exact detailed maps.
This book give an good overview about trek, how to come there, surface, plants and forest and important advices. This "Trekking Guide" exists only for a few countries.
In Australia I been 4 times. Maybe after Afrika, Australia is the best place for animal watching ? The national parc ranger give You very detailed information. But this style is very unusual.
In lot of countries the tourist industrie is not very old and have not so much expirience. The way description is not so clear and so sometimes is very hard to find the way.


Best regards
Dieter

[Bill Atwood]

About the most complete online nature book stores I have found are in the UK. They both have a travel section, but it can take some work to find what you want.

They are: www.nhbs.com

and: http://www.wildlifebooks.com/data.php

[jurek]

I had good experience in India. Here people are tuned towards naturalists and best of all was talking to NP guides, naturalists etc.

We got incredible things by local knowledge. We saw koklass pheasant one metre from our car, leopard in torchlight 50 m outside village, seven indian bustards, hypocolius, 100 steppe eagles around giant rodent colony etc.

We felt sorry for those which go only to places described in books and on tour circuits!

[jurek]

Maybe after Afrika, Australia is the best place for animal watching ?

Nai - nai - nai. :)

[pemburung]

Not exactly sure what nai-nai-nai means, but sounds a lot like not (eg Danish nej). Apologies if wrong. So, assuming nai is no, I disagree that Australia is not maybe the second best place to see wildlife. I used to run day trips there, out of Cairns, and it was usual to see 12-18 species of identified mammals, 70-90 species of birds, 7 or 8 species of reptiles, and several dozen butteflies in one day. This is with relatively normal people, you know, who eat lunch and dinner at a table, not the dedicated non-stop birder type whose idea of a deluxe meal is driving while eating a cold can of beans. Now, this may not be Africa, but it's still not bad for a general natural history day trip where you can return to your comfy bed at night. And no, not thousands of each, but the quality was certainly there. Working hard I could get maybe 10 species of mammals in the Amazon, 4 or 5 in central America, not sure about India, and half a dozen in most parts of Southeast Asia. But where else can you get the range of mammals - monotremes, marsupials, placentals, gliders and flyers, runners, hoppers and swimmers, terrestrial and arboreal. Reptiles from geckos and skinks through turtles, varanids, pythons, elapids, back-fanged and front-fanged, and no-fanged, to crocodiles. Birds from ratites through shorebirds, ducks, 4 or 5 kingfishers, doves and pigeons, a bunch of passerines to crows. Add another one day and get a few hundred species of fish, sea turtles, half a dozen pelagics, and more. And you're staying in the same hotel, ten minutes from the international airport.


cheers,

Pemburung
www.naturetravelspecialists.com (http://www.naturetravelspecialists.com/)

[albatross02]

Hallo Pemburung,

I also do not know what it means.
Australia has the ranger system, I already recommended it.
They ranger have very detailed knowledge.
In Australia I made a lot of animal photos. But in the Barrier reef not, because I had no underwater camera. But also in the south are lot of sealife like Mantarays ( e.g. Hawks nest ) and big fish groups ( e.g. Sleepy bay in Tasmania ).
There is also very interesting plants in Australia. The different rainforest, was a big suprise for me. Also penguins in Australia is a suprise, because the general thinking about Australia is hot and dry, but the east is not so.
Australia is easy to travel, because is english mother tongue country ( but speak slower than people in Britain ). And finally I had an excellent trekking book.
www.nhbs.com
www.wildlifebooks.com
seems very interesting.
Thank You very much for all informations.

Best regards
Dieter

[jurek]

Did I almost start a flame war? ;)

All continents are nice, but in my opinion India would be hard to beat. Mammals are huge, you have five big cats, wildlife is improbably close to people - you can walk 10m to asiatic lion and not get eaten. And there is lots of endemics and rare species. And you know the places and can realistically see all this lot.

I know that marsupials are diverse and important... but in India you just see some huge wild beast and know the same without anybody telling you...

[albatross02]

Hallo Jurek,

maybe there is a new topic born, the best nature watching places.
Do You have information what and how much endemic in India.
I know only, almost 80 % of plants in New Caledonia endemic ( more 2600 ), 23 birds, all snails ( 200 - 300 ), lots of lizzards ( there are 6 big geckos, Rhacydactyles ).
How much in Australia is endemic I do not know.
I suppose most of kanguruh and related are endemic, lots of varanus, bluetongs, lots of snakes, turtles and also birds ( e.g. Emu ).


Best regards
Dieter