Steve writes “Having been back from Australia for a week or so now it is possible to reflect on a superb trip and on some tremendouos wildlife encounters in northern Australia.” Besides the phenomenal birdlife in the Top End of Northern Territories we also encounted 5m long crocodiles, dingoes, possums and plenty of agile wallabies. Little corellas regularly came to camp in good numbers and over in Queensland we encountered many thousands of egrets coming to roost on the Daintree River of an evening. The rainforest experience here is quiet unlike anywhere else and is special for being so primeaval.

However, the highlight of the trip was the incredible encounters snorkelling with whale sharks on the beautiful Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia. The myriad of fish here is magnificent and we also snorkelled with manta rays, sharks and encountered dugongs and turtles. For April through to July when the whale sharks are on Ningaloo Reef it is a world class destination for a wildlife holiday and tourism here is helping the research on these mystical leviathans of the oceans.
This has been an excellent grounding for launching our Australia holidays and we are busy designing some very interesting trips to Australia which we hope to launch soon and which will be completely unique.

In a letter to Nature this week the ancestral origins of turtles are believed to have been identified from fossils found in southwest China. The newly named fossilised species, Odontochelys semitestacea, may have lived in river deltas and shallow seas around 220 million years ago and had teeth and a long tail. However, it is the fact that this species only has a breastplate and some dorsal neural plate extension that is of interest. Previously recorded fossils are similar to the turtles in our oceans today, showing both a breastplate and carapace or shell. In those reported now, the breastplate is a bony extension of the ribs and the back is purely skin with no large bony structure. This corresponds to the early embryonic stages of turtle development today and is indicative of the formation of the shell from bone whereas previously it was thought it may have been formed by the fusion of hardened skin. These fabulous creatures can be seen on the shores of a number our wildlife holiday destinations including Costa Rica, Oman and India, whilst on Galapagos tours and cruises it is possible to swim with a variety of species of turtles.