Scottish island reaps financial reward protecting birds

The Isle of Mull in the Scottish Inner Hebrides is making millions by protecting the white-tailed eagle and other birds.

This small island, home to about 2,700 people and 250 bird species, gets 6,000 visitors a year who spend £2 million ($3.3 million). That’s 2.2 tourists and £741 ($1,211) per person.

Well, the people of Mull only get half that; the other half goes to the Mull Eagle Watch, the organization that monitors and helps the birds. I doubt the locals begrudge this ecological sugar daddy a bit of support.

The local community uses the money for education, youth groups, and other initiatives. The folks at Treehugger say this environmental/tourist model works so well in Mull because the community is small and relatively autonomous, so the money doesn’t get lost in some vast, corrupt bureaucracy.

While most visitors come to Mull for its rugged scenery and abundant wildlife, there are also castles, prehistoric ruins, a stone circle, and a local whiskey distillery. As residents celebrate ten years of the eagle project, they can look forward to a strong tourist industry to showcase all of their island’s natural and historic heritage.

Remote African nation saves rare giraffes from extinction

Niger doesn’t get in the news much. This landlocked Saharan nation doesn’t have much in the way of national resources, is listed by the UN as one of the world’s least developed countries, and yet it has a serious attitude towards conservation.

Niger is home to a unique subspecies of giraffe, pictured here. Poaching and desertification had reduced its numbers to only fifty individuals a decade ago, but then the people of Niger realized what they were about to lose, banned hunting, and launched a conservation program. Now thanks to these efforts the giraffes’ numbers have risen to two hundred. The Giraffe Conservation Foundation has been working with the Niger government and people to keep this positive trend going.

Strangely, the giraffes are congregating around the capital Niamey, where they can be seen wandering across farmers’ fields and drinking from troughs set out for cattle.

The government hopes the giraffes will promote tourism. While Niger is beneath most travelers’ radar, its very remoteness could be a draw for people interested in visiting traditional societies and seeing the Sahara’s harsh beauty. A night camping under the full moon in the Sahara is one of my favorite travel memories. A few giraffes walking across the silvered landscape would have made it even better.

Gadlinks for Friday 9.18.09


I’m both happy and sad that it’s Friday: happy because this begins my final weekend on the mainland before I head home after two months of travel; sad because I have to say goodbye to my adorable nephew. Every Friday brings something new and exciting, so does the world and so do these interesting reads for this Friday installment of Gadlinks. Enjoy!

  • I love traveling to remote places in the world. Here’s just a sneak peek at a few of Earth’s final frontiers. [via Open Travel]
  • Even grown adults (such as myself) can’t get enough of Harry Potter, so to quench that thirst a bit Universal Studios in Orlando is opening a Harry Potter Theme Park next spring complete with a Hogwarts School, Hog’s Head Pub, and more. Hooray! [via Faster Times]
  • Maybe it’s because my cousins are on a safari of their own that I happened upon this. Check out these 6 ways to see endangered species without endangering them anymore. [via Treehugger]
  • And finally, if you’re brave enough and have the stomach enough, then give these weird foods from around the world a try. [via BootsNAll]

‘Til Monday, have a great weekend!

More Gadlinks HERE.

Fancy breakfast with the giraffes?

When I was 6 years old, I was taken to Longleat National Park in the UK, where our car got attacked by monkeys, chased by lions, and gazed at by giraffes. I recall desperately wanting to pat and feed the giraffes; those tall, magnificent, doe-eyed, beautiful monsters. I also remember feeling like a Lilliputian in front of them, but they are so adorable that their sheer largeness didn’t scare me. I was smaller than the leg of an adult giraffe, and fed them however I could, sitting on the shoulders of my uncle. Pretty awesome.

So when I read that you can go to Giraffe Manor in Nairobi, where you might get woken up by a giraffe tongue in your ear, I was strangely excited about the concept.

Located in the Langata suburb, the Manor spans an area of 140 acres, and has 6 bedrooms for rent. The area is inundated with dozens of giraffes and the Manor’s windows are made so that the giraffe can let his neck in for breakfast. After the first jolt you’ll get facing a giraffe for breakfast, getting used to the idea will certainly make it the most pleasurable and unique part of the day. Giraffes are harmless herbivores, so you really have nothing to worry about.

The history of the place is interesting as the Manor used to be the house of people who spent a large part of their lives working for the cause of endangered wildlife in Africa. The family started the African Fund for Endangered Wildlife and the Giraffe Center, and now run the Giraffe Manor. Each room costs $275-360, but that includes all meals with wine, alcoholic beverages, a sight-seeing vehicle, entrance to the Giraffe Center, and taxes, so it’s not a bad deal for doing once. The Manor’s website has a cool picture gallery, check it out here.

Oh, and happy Boxing day!

Wolves: Oscar winning material and no longer endangered

At the end of this year’s Oscar winner for Short Film–Animated, “Peter and the Wolf,” the wolf goes free even after he made Peter not too happy. (Sorry if that ruins it for anyone.) The tolerance for the wolf is one that has been hard won.

Tolerance hasn’t been totally won, although, through the Endangered Species Act, government regulations have helped the gray wolf population grow in the Northern Rocky States. The population has grown so much that Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett said the gray wolf is a “conservation success story.” For this reason, the wolf is being dropped from the list of endangered species, perhaps never to return.

When we went to Yellowstone National Park a few years ago, we did catch site of a gray wolf, one of the animals we were looking for. Unfortunately, wolves like to eat livestock, so farmers and ranchers in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming aren’t thrilled with wolves who encroach on what they rely on for a living.

The wolf saga is an example of the push and pull between environmentalism and business. The tourist industry doesn’t have much pull in this battle, but maybe the wolves will get a hint that hanging around Old Faithful isn’t a bad idea.