LATEST NEWS FROM THE NATURE CONNECTION

THE WILD NEIGHBOURS INITIATIVE

The Wild Neighbours booklet, sponsored by The Humane Society US and featured as an insert in the Dec/Jan 2011 issue of Africa Geographic magazine, has been a great success and we are down to our last hundred or so copies. I am greatly encouraged by the response to the booklet as it reaffirms my belief that many people have an affinity for urban wildlife, and never more so than in our increasingly fragmented modern world.

The Wild Neighbours website, also supported by The Humane Society US, is now up - http://www.wildneighbours.co.za

WILD NEIGHBOURS URBAN WILDLIFE HANDBOOK

In December 2011 I began work on my urban wildlife handbook, with my initial research and writing time generously sponsored by the Kathleen Hastie Charitable Trust. More on this project later!

WATCHING WHALES AND DOLPHINS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

Noel and I are busy writing a new cetacean field guide for Random House Struik, due for publication in mid-2012. __

THE RECONNECTING WITH NATURE TRAIL BOARDS FOR SANBI

The ‘Reconnecting with Nature’ signboard displays are in the process of being installed in the nine national botanical gardens around South Africa. They will all be up and ready by 20th January 2012.

HR/ARTE German TV have just finished filming Noel and his whale work. To-camera shots in the studio, in front of Sacred Ocean in the Two Oceans Aquarium and a trip to Hermanus involved me being filmed walking along the coast, which I actually quite enjoyed (for a change, as I usually don’t enjoy publicity!)