Most beautiful country in the world...

What springs to mind?

Brazil with the Amazon? New Zealand and its fiords? Italy and its history?

Nope, apparently it's Latvia.

That's according to blog poll by 'Conflict of Pinterest' anyway, as voted for by internet keyboard warriors, and it's a very interesting read and result!

Obviously not the most in-depth research or reliable sample, and maybe Latvian's are voting in their hoards. And any poll which places Afghanistan higher than the Falklands (not a separate country we know, but French Guiana has its own vote too) or Fiji can't be taken too seriously.

But with the UK and New Zealand in the top 10 (5th and 7th respectively) we won't complain too much!

94 days left...

The Olympic Football draw has been made, and it threw up a very interesting NZID based point!


In the Women's tournament New Zealand and Team GB have been drawn in the same group along with Brazil  (gulp) and Cameroon. New Zealand won their qualifying match 15-0 on aggregate so will be no easy game for Team GB. The match between the Football Ferns and Great Britain will take place on the 25th of July, 2 days before the opening ceremony and the overall curtain raiser of the entire games. No pressure then!


No such NZID based rivalry for the GB men's team though, they have drawn, Senegal, UAE and possibly the toughest group, Uruguay. Not that the NZ men's team had an easier draw, drawing Brazil same as the women's team, with Belarus and Egypt making up the rest of another tough group.

Conservation is all about will

I just happened across this BBC article about the Iberian lynx from August last year.

Now I'm not suggesting that lynx be introduced to New Zealand to control rabbits, but the last line is compelling:


"If a species is doomed, it is only doomed by a lack of will to conserve it."

...and Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy (in Tauranga)

I have to be honest and say that Tauranga doesn't tend to feature heavily on my tailor-made holiday itineraries.  There is nothing wrong with the city at all but there just isn't too much in the experience that I feel is unique and special so I tend to suggest that my clients just call in on their way to Rotorua or Taupo.

That is all about to change though, especially for clients with children, and my children will insist that we visit when we are on holiday in New Zealand next year.  

Lynley Dodd's series of books about Hairy Maclary and his mates have been brilliant bedtime story material for nearly 30 years now and by this time next year there will hopefully be a number of statues dotted around Tauranga to commemorate their tireless work in getting children off to sleep.

Hairy himself, Schnitzel von Krumm, Muffin McLay, Bitzer Maloney and the rest will all be there, no doubt stalked by their nemesis Scarface Claw.  Well I'm excited anyway!

So is it really all rosy for kiwi conservation?

According to this article in Wanderlust it is.

Or you can read this article in Northland's Northern Advocate for a different perspective. Please do click on this link and look at the photograph of a pile of dead kiwi.

We need facts and hard truth here.  Too many people in the travel industry are eager to pick up on positive news and then move on, comforted by the knowledge that everything is going to be okay.  Grim, depressing reality and tourism don't usually mix and I just do not buy into the whole "take only photographs, leave only footprints" thing. Both tourists and those within tourism need to be leaving something a bit more useful than footprints. 

This story is about the Northland brown kiwi and, as The Northern Advocate tell us, "The unique Northland brown kiwi lays more eggs per year than other kiwi, and can start breeding at 3-4 years."   In addition, "Northland kiwi are phenomenal breeders, and can withstand reasonably high chick losses yet still have a growing population."

So what about the great spotted and the little spotted, the tokoeka and the rowi?

Or the fact that the little spotted kiwi can only survive on predator-free islands or behind predator-proof fences?

Or that once you would have found it almost impossible to wander through a New Zealand forest without hearing if not seeing a kiwi?

Or that since 1930 the population has seen a cataclysmic crash from 5 million birds to about 60,000?

This is the harsh reality of kiwi conservation and the danger of an article like Wanderlust's, albeit a completely inoffensive one, is that it gives false hope or encourages a misplaced belief that things are just fine and bypasses the fact that there is an environmental war raging in New Zealand.  And it is largely a guerrilla war being fought by a handful of "little" people who care such as Fergus & Mary Sutherland, Joyce Kolk & Johan Groters, Zealandia and Orokonui.

When the population is up to a good million or so, which is still less than 10% of the original population, then I think Wanderlust will be fine to go ahead and publish an article entitled "Kiwi's future could be looking up". 

Wairaurahiri stoat trap 7

And Wendy & Graham add a little bit of Macclesfield to Fiordland.

Wairaurahiri stoat trap 6

Thank you Marion & Keith, excellent work.

Close encounter with Maui's Dolphins

The critically endangered Maui's Dolphin is the smallest and rarest dolphin in the world, with a population of around 79 according to a recent estimate.

So to see four at once is a significant proportion of the population, about 5%.

Put into context, compared to the whole of the UK, that's the populations of Greater Manchester + Liverpool combined!

Responsible tourists

We already have a handful of stoat traps hiding in the forest along the Wairaurahiri River in Fiordland but the initiative is really starting to move up a gear now.

With our friends and partners in Auckland, ID New Zealand, we are arranging jet boat trips with Joyce Kolk and Johan Groters on the Wairaurahiri River on a not for profit basis with our commission being donated to their stoat trapping programme.  This will fund one new trap for every couple who take a trip down the river and over time we believe it will make a huge difference to the numbers of birds in that part of Fiordland. And maybe the idea will spread...

Stoats are the single biggest threat to New Zealand's rare and unique birds.  Introduced in the 1880s to control the plague of introduced rabbits, even way back then against expert advice, this has proven to be one of the most infamous examples of the foolhardiness of interfering with a balanced ecosystem, especially one as unique and fragile as New Zealand's.  Rather than chase rabbits, stoats find it much easier to hunt birds and chicks with no evolved mechanism for dealing with such a predator and as a bonus the stoat has no serious predators to worry about itself.

The stoat is a beautiful animal and I am always very happy to see them here in the UK but they have no place in New Zealand and they need to be controlled.  It is brutal and unpleasant and it isn't their fault, it's ours.

There are many disturbing statistics related to the stoat but this particular line from New Zealand's Department of Conservation pretty much tells the story:

"Stoats kill an average of 40 North Island brown kiwi chicks per day - this adds up to 15,000 per annum and accounts for 60 per cent of North Island brown kiwi born."

Joyce from Wairaurahiri Jet emailed the above photo overnight and it shows Wendy Houston and Carole & Ray Harris with their very own stoat trap, primed and ready to go out there to do its grim but vital work.

Brilliant blog about New Zealand's karearea falcon by Steve Attwood

...at Zealandia and the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellington, New Zealand's capital city located at the far south of the North Island.

What an engaging and compelling account of 5 months in the life of a pair of New Zealand falcons and their latest offspring, with brilliant photo illustrations....

Karearea – a season of the falcon

New Zealand falcon (Falco novaeseelandiae)

Every man should have an island....

Mr. Hellowell how lucky you are!

Show me a better advert for the visiting the Falkland Islands....

More from the Falklands' Penguin News Deputy editor John Fowler...

Falkland Islands: Why we can't accept Cristina's 'kind' gesture...

Smashing ice!

The annual breaking up of the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina has begun, sending large chunks of ice thundering into the water below.

Quite impressive to see!

Fantasy Football Update

Only 12 games left in the season for most teams in the Premier League, so just a quick update on how our own little office fantasy league is going.

Kieran and Von have stormed out in front and are vying for bragging rights at the top of the table.

Paul has a near 100 point lead over the TID team, but both are over 4oo points behind second place.

But for any major shifts in points, its looking like a 2 horse race!

Reckon you'll need a bigger rod!

Tuna aren't the smallest fish, and probably take a lot of time and effort to catch using just a rod...

But imagine when gearing yourself up for a tussle with a tuna, you accidently snare a Killer Whale!

It can happen....

Surely too many words in one head!

A 20 year old from Oxford University has been named as Britain's most multi-lingual student, and can speak ELEVEN languages!

Puts my French GCSE to shame really....

Ahead of an upcoming visit to Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana...

...I'm hoping to see some Giant otters whilst I'm out there but for my own and everyone else's immediate enjoyment of and education on these sociable and charismatic giants of the tropical South American waterways which are sadly under continued threat.....

...."Saving the world's biggest river otter"...

Continuing today's theme....

More unusual weather happening, this time in Chile.

The town of San Pedro de Atacama in the northern Chile has been put on a flood alert after severe rain in the past few days has swollen the Loa River.

Flooding must seem strange when you live in one of the driest places on the planet!

Spouting over Auckland

Yup, Auckland has a a few twisters floating around the harbour and creating water tunnels.

Nowhere near the size of the ones which rip houses from their foundations or chuck cows around, but still they still look pretty impressive!



(No-body was hurt though, don't worry!)

New Zealand's Top Ten Roads!

New Zealand is a place of such variety and wonder, there are so many roads throughout the country with fantastic scenery and views, many roads are experiences in their own right!

But which ones made the list?

The harsh truth about conservation in New Zealand...

Can't say that I'm actually happy to be helping to kill stoats as they are truly beautiful animals.  That said, they do have their place and it isn't in New Zealand - http://www.newzealand-indepth.co.uk/stoat-traps.htm.

Falkland Islands: Penguin News: Seventh article by Deputy Editor John Fowler

One can only hope for a new realistic perspective.......

Get out of the water!!

I always wanted to say that, just like Chief Brody in Jaws.

I just picked up this BBC story about a pretty scary sea beast living off the coast of New Zealand:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16834913

Sadly, as they live 7km down in the Kermadec Trench, I can't realistically use this story to frighten my children when they go paddling when we are there on hols next year.  I'll have a good try though.

TID at the Olympics

6 months today the London 2012 Olympics kicks off, and we have been having a look at how our TID destinations have been doing in their efforts to qualify.

Australia, as you would expect, have plenty of swimmers and rowers ready for an assault on the medals, as well plenty qualified for other sports such as shooting, athletics and teams such as basketball. As always we think they'll manage a good medal haul!

NZ are coming into 2012 having earnt 90 Olympic medals since their first in 1908 (which was coincidently, held in London), and are aiming for the 100 this summer. With nearly all of the Olympic sports represented by at least one Kiwi, we reckon they might just improve on their Beijing medal haul and make it to the tonne!

Chile have so far confirmed 18 participating Olympians in a wide range of sports, and will be striving to improve on Beijing, where Fernando González reached the final in the men's singles tennis and claim the silver (and Chile's only medal) after being beaten by Rafael Nadal.

99 Argentinians have so far reached the games, representing numerous disciplines in 15 sports. Argentina claimed gold in football and the Men's Madison cycling event in Beijing. As much as we are sure they will do better this time, we have to patriotic and back the GB Team to grab the football gold on home turf.

Tanzania have only ever won 2 medals at an Olympics, claiming 2 athletics silvers in 1980 in Moscow. Hopefully they can add a few more in London, where they have so far qualified for the men's marathon and the women's 5000m.

Boxing in 1980 was the single event where Guyana managed to grab themselves a medal (bronze) so we hope we can see a Guyanese athlete on a podium this time in London.

As part of the British team, a single Falkland Islander has won an Olympic medal, in hockey at the 1908 Olympic Games in London. Here's hoping for another!

The years that count and those that don't

The sixth of a series of extended political articles written exclusively for the Penguin News web site by Deputy Editor John Fowler.  John is a former Superintendent of Education and a former Manager of the Falkland Islands Tourist Board.   The years that count and those that don't...

A bit sickly I know...

I'm not a very 'aww look at the baby animal' person...

But I have to say, these little sloths in Guyana are pretty 'cute'.

... now I need to go wrestle a bear or something and man up!

Destinations Show in Manchester!

Find Paul, Von and Debbie at Stand AP40 at the Destinations Travel Show in Manchester Event City. Come along with ideas for a trip, or just to find out a little more about our destinations!

Paul hosted a 'Wild New Zealand' talk yesterday, but if you missed it don't worry, he'll be doing another on Saturday afternoon at 3.30pm talking all things Falklands called 'Falkland Islands - The New Galapagos'.

Birds-eye views across TID

I sat and watched BBC's 'Earthflight' last night, and was very impressed.

Not being a keen birder myself its not something I'd usually watch, but flicked over and was pleasantly surprised!

Last nights was about the birds of South America, and included some incredible (literally) birds-eye view shots over a few of our favourite TID places in Argentina and Chile, such as Patagonia and Iguazu Falls.

Well worth a look if you have an hour to spare.....

The British Services Antarctic Expedition 2012

A joint venture between the three British Armed Forces has begun in Antarctica, aiming to replicate the spirit of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's expedition to the South Pole, where they eventually were beaten by a group of Norwegians.

Not following Scotts route, but they are exploring three past joint Service expeditions to explore Antarctic Islands (Elephant, Brabant and Smith) and three recent British Army expeditions (2001, 2004 and 2007).

Aiming to conquer some of the Antarctic mountains which have yet to be scaled, and help with scientific research of the world's southern continent.

Similar to our 2012 Falklands Yomp, the overall expedition is also helping to raise money for Help For Heroes, which you don't need us to tell you is a wonderful cause.

Guyanas, Guianas, so good they named them more than once

An interesting read about the Guianas....

The Loneliness of the Guyanas

A feel good story for a Tuesday morning....

Forgiveness and friendship and no more dwelling on the past......

Chile & Tanzania go stateside

The NY Times have published their 45 places to go in 2012, and Tanzania and Chile have taken up 3 places between them!!

Tanzania came in 7th, and was named as the up and coming safari destination, whereas 2 areas of Chile have been named. The wilderness of Chilean Patagonia came into 8th, and Chiloé Island ran in at 37.

With NZ and the Falklands hitting other travel lists, we can add two more of our destinations to the list of places in go in 2012...

Pick a penguin.... now pick a colour....

We all knew penguins come in many shapes and sizes, but now colours???

A black penguin has been spotted by a chap from National Geographic on South Georgia Island.

A condition called melanism, it is similar to what makes Black Panther's black and apparently is common is squirrels....

Who knew?

Swallowed whole?

Or at least with very little chewing.....

A girl at Wellington Zoo was filmed 'bonding' with a lion through the glass enclosure.
But to be honest, I don't think the lion wanted to be friends....

Fair play to her for not moving, even with the glass I don't think many would not be a little scared!

The Falklands - like a duck in a basket

I'd back John's notion of a 'soundbite' public info series on worldwide news stations .... latest in the Penguin News by John Fowler: Like a duck in a basket....

How hideous that the 'game' actually started with an actual live duck in a basket. Barbarian.

Snakes on a plane...

Yes you read correctly, the film very nearly came true in Argentina.

Not a gangster trying to kill everyone, but a smuggler trying to get a large number of poisonous snakes and reptiles out of the country.

Luckily, the man was caught when security noticed the suitcase wriggling, and the surviving animals are being cared for in Buenos Aires.

*Insert famous line full of swearing*



- this is a family friendly blog.....