Get wild about creatures great and small in their natural habitat
Ian Stalker
Dreaming of spending time with all creatures great and small these days?
Travel Courier has uncovered a couple of possibilities for those wishing to see creatures in their natural habitat and another for those wanting to bring a four-legged member of the family with them on vacation.
Here they are!
Viewing elephants… from the comfort of home
Anantara Resorts, Thailand
Anantara Resorts is enabling school children to have a grand trunk experience from afar.
The company’s Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort has introduced a complimentary service for school children in lockdown that stars elephants in a personal call, live from their natural habitat in Northern Thailand’s ancient jungle. During the video call, children around the world can virtually participate in a jungle field trip of once-in-a-lifetime elephant experiences, including the resort’s “Walking with Giants” signature experience that provides an optimum way of getting to know the elephants and developing a deeper emotional connection with them.
During the livestream, children are introduced to their three-ton video call companions and have ample time to ask the GTAEF’s elephant experts questions about the pachyderms. Then, championing the natural joy of the herd of elephants’ daily free-roaming time, accompanied by the mahouts and either a veterinarian or biologist, the livestream offers insights from scientific experts about how these intelligent creatures think and behave. Walking out to the forest unveils river and wild nature scenery and, falling in pace with the slow, steady rhythm, the children can observe the elephants’ social interaction in their native habitat. Each virtual field trip is customized to meet the needs and curriculum of the students.
John Roberts, Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas’ group director of sustainability & conservation, said that school children around the world have gathered in front of monitors with handcrafted binoculars and paper-mâché elephant ears to watch the three-ton gentle giants lumber through the jungle. “Whilst this entertaining and educational experience is a temporary virtual substitute for educational institutions’ learning through exposure to nature and nature-based activities, it is the escapism and the enthusiasm that it affords young minds – some often trapped in challenging and confusing circumstances – that make it all worthwhile. Distant learning can indeed be fun and inspiring and, who knows, we may have a few newly qualified elephant veterinarians come knocking on our jungle door in 10 to 15 years’ time,” Roberts concluded.
The Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation can coordinate complimentary virtual field trips with elephants for online school classes that take place during Thailand daylight hours. For more information or to reserve a live virtual field trip spot, contact Roberts at [email protected].
Close encounters with stingrays
West End Ecology Tours, Grand Bahama Island
Sounds good!
Grand Bahama Island’s Stingray Whisperer wants to introduce tourists to inquisitive stingrays.
Keith Cooper runs West End Ecology Tours and has been working with stingrays for 12 years, providing visitors with a chance to “appreciate the personal bond (he) has nurtured with his stingrays for more than a decade. It is an opportunity to safely interact with the misunderstood creatures in their natural element.
Cooper says there’s no magic formula to attracting area stingrays, adding it takes time to bond with them. He adds they have a remarkable ability to remember and feel comfortable with him.
He’s actually named some of the marine creatures, with such monikers as Hugger, Big Momma and Scarface.
He first encountered some of the rays over a decade ago.
Those on Cooper’s tours can feed the stingrays off a deserted island or a shallow water cay. The tour doesn’t take more than six people at a time, and before stepping out of the boat, Cooper explains the guidelines to visitors, making the tour safe, memorable and ecologically sustainable. The number of stingrays that gather may reach 16.
After establishing their presence, visitors are allowed to touch, feed and even snorkel with the stingrays toward the end of the visit. “This provides a fantastic opportunity to see the stingrays flap their wings as they glide like angels through the water. It ensures that each visitor has an up-close and intimate encounter with a misjudged ‘angel’ of the sea,” Bahamian tourism officials add.
For more on Grand Bahama and The Stingray Whisperer, check out this Travel Courier story.
Room for Fido!
Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende
Here’s a head’s (and tail’s) up from the Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende in the interior Mexican colonial city of San Miguel de Allende — guests are more than welcome to bring their canines with them.
In fact, the property has newly implemented dog-friendly accommodations for travellers and their furry friends.
“This is a project that we’ve been working on for some time now and we couldn’t be prouder to welcome all members of the family by extending our services to travelers’ four-legged friends,” explained Enrique Calderon, COO of Posadas, parent company of the property. “We know that many travellers’ seek options where they can extend their stay, especially while many continue working and schooling from home, and now this can be a reality and can bring along all their loved ones, including dogs,” he added.
Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende dog-friendly program includes a special welcome kit including food and water bowls (water bottles included) and a premium pet bed, so all owners have to do is provide food, treats and any other medical supplements. For the comfort of all guests, especially equipped rooms throughout the hotel have been categorized as dog-friendly to ensure both human and canine guests enjoy a comfortable stay. While all dogs are welcome on the resort’s premises, only small and medium dogs are able to lodge at the hotel, with a limit of two dogs per room with a total weight not exceeding 44 pounds.
Upon check-in, owners are required to sign a letter of responsibility where they agree to comply with terms that include keeping their dogs within their assigned dog-friendly rooms and ensure they are kept on leash or inside a carrier circulating across the hotel as dogs aren’t allowed in dining venues or pools. The resort will also provide a “Pet In Room” door hanger to be placed when the pet is left alone in the room, in which case hotel staff will not be allowed access until the owner is present or the hanger is removed.
Live Aqua Urban Resort San Miguel de Allende is the largest resort set in a city designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2008.
This added perk for furry travellers is available for US$100 per stay, per dog except for service dogs, which are welcome to stay free. For more information, visit https://www.lacoleccionresorts.com/our-hotels/live-aqua-urban-resort-san-miguel-de-allende.
