Gondwana Connection Wildlife Tours in Leda, Western Australia | Travel and transport

Gondwana Connection Wildlife Tours

Locality: Leda, Western Australia

Phone: +61 408 909 982

Address: 22 Riley Place 6170 Leda, WA, Australia

Website: http://www.gondconnect.com.au

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• Eco tour agency

14.01.2022 Sometimes a problem requires a simple solution. Lets hope that further research supports this finding and the world adopts it. We need to expand our Green Power Production.

14.01.2022 Life is too short to sit around waiting for things to change that are in reality out of your control. Even before the whole COVID-19 thing happened, Anita and I had planned to do a Western Australian Birding Big Year in 2020. Having this new hurdle put up in front of us initially looked like a real disaster, but as it turned out we were still able to work around the restrictions put in place. The two planned trips to the Kimberley for April and May ended up being rolled into ...one 33 day road trip to this marvellous region. Unfortunately the Mitchell Plateau was still closed, but all being well, we will return to the area at the end of October and hopefully gain access then. There are also a number of species we dipped on and numerous others that are not present in the region at this time, so a early Summer trip just has to happen. Getting back to the July trip, all up we travelled 11,896kms, picked up 241 species and of these, 112 species were added to our Big Year tally. Not being able to do any tours through the business has been hard, but on the bright side, I have been able to do a lot of reconnaissance work to areas not normally on my agenda. Maybe the situation in 2021 will greatly improve and I will have the opportunity to offer some new itineraries to clients. Stay positive guys and make the most of every day, even if it means putting in that little bit more effort.

13.01.2022 I am very much a believer in the expression "DO IT WHILE YOU CAN" and the current situation confronting would be travellers certainly drives this home. Last year I had the privilege of taking two wonderful people (Max and Margaret) to Madagascar for a private tour and we had a great little adventure. Despite their senior years, they both got out there and made the most of their tour. This even including the completion of the walk to the top of the rather challenging Grand Tsi...ngy in The Tsingy Bemahara National Park. Who knows when all these restrictions being placed on travellers will be lifted. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it is not too long, as there are many hundreds of thousands involved in the tourism industry that are going to be facing some very tough times. This including myself. It is highly unlikely that our 2020 Natural Wonders of Madagascar Tour scheduled for the end of August will be going ahead. Even if the travel bans are lifted in the next few months, it is improbable that a lot of people are going to feel confident enough to travel straight away. Instead of dwelling on the doom and gloom, start planning a little future adventure and as soon as the restrictions are lifted, hit the ground running. Make the most of every minute of every day and get out there as soon as you can. It is such a beautiful world in which we live and it beckons you all. Take care!

13.01.2022 2020 - The year I turn 65 and the year a rotten virus called COVID-19 put a stop to a whole bunch of plans. As a result of this virus effecting not only GONDWANA CONNECTION WILDLIFE Tours immediate planned trips, it has also made it very hard for Anita and I to have a real shot at our planned WA Birding Big Year. Mind you, I have not given up totally on this later undertaking. Will have to wait and see if they loosen up on travel restrictions within Western Australia over the... next couple of months. In the meantime, I have been sitting at home with those imaginary shackles around my ankles, feeling very bored. Then yesterday, I gave myself a good kick in the bum and that was no easy task, believe me. Instead of letting things get me down, I decided to stay positive and start planning for when this issue eases up. In 2009 I decided to set into motion my long dreamt idea of doing tours out into this amazing natural world of ours and by September of that year, GONDWANA CONNECTION Wildlife Tours became a reality. The first overseas tour was our Milne Bay Herp Tour which took place in April 2010. This was the first of numerous trips since undertaken to Papua New Guinea and in particular, beautiful Milne Bay Province. In addition to PNG, we have also carried out tours to West Papua and several trips to the incredible island of Madagascar. Over the next week or so, I will be putting up a series of posts outlining planned tours for 2021. Some will not be costed at this time due to unknown factors, but believe me, there will be no similar tours on offer that will compete with what we offer. Being a single person operator and working from a home office, our over-heads are very low and as a consequence our tour costs reflect this. All tours to New Guinea are restricted to 3-4 participants and Madagascan tours to 6 participants. Western Australian tours will normally be planned around a group size of up to six persons. Prices are always shown in Australian dollars. For those that have been following us over the years, we would be very keen to hear from you in regards to previously suggested tours that would be of special interest to you personally. We could then look at at making your dream trip become a reality. This whole COVID-19 thing certainly drives home the idea that we just need to get out there and make the most of every day. Stay safe, stay sane and stay positive.

12.01.2022 I wonder if this is the population that look like Forest Red-tails that occur in Dryandra. https://www.msn.com//new-species-of-cockatoo-/ar-BB14AMp4

11.01.2022 At this time of gloom. it is nice to share a GOOD NEWS story. Congratulations to all parties involved. https://vimeo.com/404911492

10.01.2022 When you have twenty minutes spare watch this. It demonstrates just a fraction of what Madagascar has to offer. Imagine what you are missing out on or what you are about to see. All depends on the way you look at life. The guide used by this group was Patrick Andriamihaja and this young fellow knows his countries wildlife well. We used Patrick in 2019 and will be definitely asking for his services again when we can once again visit this incredible country. If you are looking at going it alone to Madagascar in the future, please do contact me and I will be happy to pass on his contact details.

09.01.2022 COVID-19 and the effect it is having on us as a small business. Being self employed in a small wildlife tour business can produce so many amazing events and memories. The wildlife that really turns me on, never ceases to blow me away. Being an Aussie, I am fortunate to be living in a country with so many natural treasures. Even the comings and goings in my own backyard keep me fascinated for hours on end. Saying this, it is the little forays to other countries that I so very ...much look forward to each year. I guess it is a result of the age old saying "The grass is always greener on the other side". Obviously the event of COVID-19 has bought all ideas of adventure tours anywhere to a screaming halt. This in turn really impacts on your positive frame of mind and makes it really hard to stay positive, but this we must do. So instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I have decided to float three overseas wildlife adventures for 2021. Who knows if our borders will be open again by then, but it is better to be prepared for the best case scenario. These are very likely going to be the last international tours the I will be doing under the GONDWANA CONNECTION Wildlife Tours banner. However, I am open to the idea of leading tours on behalf of another company in the future. Our destinations have previously focused on Papua New Guinea, Madagascar and West Papua. Despite doing multiple trip to the two first mentioned destinations, there are still creatures that I have yet to experience and these upcoming planned tours are structured to allow some of these gaps to be filled. Over the next week, I will post further details on these trips and a very brief idea is as below. All are rather adventurist under-taking and will require some camping. January 2021 - "Birding the Louisiade Archipelago" will allow for the opportunity to pursue the endemic avian species of these very remote islands off the far eastern end of Papua New Guinea. July 2021 - "Waigeo Island's Seldom Seen Endemic". This trip will not only showcase the well know endemic birds of this island off West Papua like the Wilson's and Red Bird of Paradise, but will be specifically structured to go in pursuit of the rarely seen Waigeo Brush-turkey. September 2021 - "In Pursuit of some Madagascan Rarities" tour will not only be focusing on some of this countries extremely rare birdlife like the Madagascar Pochard and Sakalava Rail, but also some of the most endangered lemurs. We have factored in going after the Perrier's and Tattersall's Sifaka. Watch this space for further details.

09.01.2022 This such a great idea on so many levels.

07.01.2022 Birding the Louisiade Archipelago, PNG Proposed tour dates 10th-22nd January 2021 Can you imagine yourself travelling between some of Papua New Guinea's most beautiful island areas in search of rarely encountered birdlife. Well this could be your chance to tick off some species that very few birders have seen.... The tour details and a description of the tour can be found by hopping onto our website and go to our Upcoming Tours 2021 page. Then click on the BTLA link. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to email Des Hume and [email protected] There has already been one expression of interest, so that only leaves a further two spots for this little adventure. NOTE: Obviously, the COVID-19 issue is currently effecting travel plans all over the world and we will have to see how this develops over the next few months.

06.01.2022 Might seem a little premature given the COVID-19 issue gripping the world, but got to think forward. As I mentioned in a recent post, we are looking at putting three tours out of Australia to overseas destinations for 2021 and this is the first one on offer. "Birding the Louisiade Archipelago"... This group of island off the far eastern end of Papua New Guinea have some endemics that rarely get ticked by birders and are well worth the effort. With 10 endemics, 12 endemic sub-species and a whole lot of other avian treats, putting up with some rather basic conditions is a small price to pay. Over the years we have done multiple trips to Milne Bay Province and after several years of procrastination/planning we finally got out to the Louisiades in 2015. It takes some organizing, but this destination is possible. Obviously, only with a lot of help from the right people on the ground. There is a fairly small window of opportunity to visit this area and this falls between October and January. This being necessary due to the distances that need to be travelled in an open boat. No one wants to get wet and battered any more than necessary. Our planned tour will run between the 11th and 22nd January 2021, this giving us the best shot at the travel restrictions being lifted. Being late in the season, it will be humid, but the weather should be fairly kind to us. Most of the walking trails are not too taxing, so as long as you have a average level of fitness, you should be fine. Accommodation on Sudest and Rossel Islands is basic, but we will have to tent at one location. The basic food requirements will be taken out with us and this will be supplemented by fruit/vegetables from the villages at which we stay. Our skipper is a professional fisherman, so freshly caught fish is always on the menu. If you come along, be prepared to have the odd large Yellow-finned Tuna or the like flapping around in the boat with us. Speaking of boats, these craft can only take a maximum of seven persons and for this reason, there are only three positions available for this little adventure. The other four spots are taken by our skipper, navigator, local guide and myself. This tour will depart from Cairns in North Queensland and the all up cost excluding airfares is AU$4720 p/p twin share. Based on the current information, all required airfares will be about AU$1780. This includes the Cairns-Alotau return and Alotau-Misima return flights. We can arrange the purchase of the tickets. Should you be interested, email us on [email protected] for a full tour description and this will include our main target species list. Remember, there are only three spots available. The AU$1500 deposit is fully refundable should the travel situation not improve and the tour not go ahead.

02.01.2022 What a magnificent effort by a single community and it costs the tax payer nothing. Lets see more shires adopting these types of programs. Our wildlife can only benefit.

01.01.2022 In 2019 I developed and led a tour to the Raja Ampat Islands and Sorong area of West Papua and while developing the tour came across a website called Stay Raja Ampat. My immediate thought at the time was that this type of website would work so very well for Milne Bay Province in Papua New Guinea. Both regions have so much in common and nothing more so than that they are made up of a large number of islands. These in turn have many village stay accommodation participants and o...ther small tourism based businesses that need help to present their products to the rest of the world. With this in mind, I have started the process to develop a similar style of website. The interest is certainly there based on the reaction I have received to date and I have secured the services of a local web design company here in Perth. Just recently I started a crowd funding project through the GoFundMe platform to fund this project. I am trying to raise $10,000 to build the website and maintain it for a period of five years. Any additional funds raised will be put towards some type of training program in the area. I have had a request to carry out a Bird Guiding Training Workshop and this is something I would be very keen to do. The development of Nature Based, Eco and Cultural Tourism is the most efficient way of ensuring the natural world and the culture of the people that rely on it is protected for the future generations. Creating jobs with this type of tourism, allows for rural and isolated families to earn an income. It also enables families to stay together and not have to move away from their homes to earn a living. This might seem like a lot of money, but the long term effects of developing this site will benefit so many. Even a small donation can help make this a reality. PLEASE SHARE THIS POST WITH YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. https://www.gofundme.com/f/discover-milne-bay