Bit of a different safari coming up

The Safari is leaving Safari-land this week and venturing a little further afield for a change, so there’ll be no updates of ‘nothing new’ on Patch 2 and no news of any Peregrines that may or may not be sat on their favourite ledges on the tower for a few days or so. We’re off on a real life real adventure DOWN UNDER!

The self-sufficient Maroo’s brand new sustainable education unit is now well and truly open for business and about to be tested to the full by Yours Truly! Perhaps even to the extent of setting up future green tourism ‘holidays’.

“We don't want ‘just’ holiday makers, but are marketing to conservation and wildlife enthusiasts. We will cater just for small groups.

You get your own personal experienced wildlife guide, (yes that's The Safari).

We are not offering a holiday excursion for ‘holiday makers’ with some buffoon dribbling on about wildlife he knows nothing about :-) – we’ve been on some those and are never sure whether to pipe up and tell them they are wrong or keep quiet and snigger quietly to ourselves; one ‘guide’ (and we use the term lightly) we remember told his group a lot of nonsense about swans and them horror of horrors referes to ‘seagulls’ as nothing more than flying Rats - eejit!!! Our trips will be informative and allow you to get up-close and personal with the wildlife of your interest. This is an adults only opportunity so there won’t be any children frightening off the wildlife.

We want to market Maroo in such a way that only those who are totally bonkers about hiding out in hides to photograph Cockatoos coming in to drink, laying on your stomach in a paddock just to spot that Swamp Hawk raising her babies in the sedge. This is the type of holiday anyone who works in any environmental capacity will just love. We’ve even spent hours near at the water hole taking photos of bugs. Let’s face it we are appealing to people just like ourselves – anyone with a passion for wildlife who would relish the chance to get up close and personal with some of Australia’s weirdest and wonderfulest – is that a word?

It’s a great opportunity for birders and wildlife photographers. It’s not just birds although there is a fantastic range of endemics, there are unique mammals, unusual reptiles and enough invertebrates to keep a macro-photographer entertained for years and more exotic plants than you could shake a big botanical stick at!

On offer is good old Auzzie hospitality, eat with us, sleep with us, talk wildlife, drink and be merry. We want it to have the same feel as an environmental expedition, nothing fancy but damn good holiday. There may also be the chance to go out with professional researchers on their trapping and monitoring projects.

Our Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is going from strength to strength so who knows what animals you might meet. If you want to handle, feed, go on rescue runs with us then this can also be an option.

Think Rolf Harris’s ANIMAL HOSPITAL meets STEVE IRWIN (RIP) on an EXPEDITION HOLIDAY and you’ve got it in one.

This region is our biggest selling point; you do not have to travel thousands of kilometres up north into the distant outback when you have everything you want in our beautiful SOUTH WEST of Western Australia.

We need to save our many endangered species from extinction, (some far rarer than Giant Pandas!) by the end you will know that in a small way you have contributed to their survival.”

For all the goss on how we’re getting on keep coming back but if there’s no news on here try the Maroo blog...anything could happen over course of the next month!

Some pics nicked from mein host Aussie Glen - sure he won't mind!

We're gonna get educated in here

Kookaburra being treated



The reptile re-habilitation nclosure and volunteer

Roo gate demo by Aussie Glen

Skink


OK we're off to pack now and make sure we've got plenty of SD cards and spare batteries and a rain coat apparently it's cold and pouring down - so nothing new there then!...ciao for now as they say in Italy...where Young Un AB should be having a ball on his 'working holiday'...he tells us he's already seen a shed load of goodies like flocks of Bea-Eaters, and White Admirals, Swallowtails and more - nice one; hope we can emulate him.