Last minute special offer on a one week dive liveaboard in indonesia’s famed Komodo National Marine Park. World class diving plus a chance to encounter the giant Komodo Dragon, the world’s largest lizard, found nowhere else.

Location: Komodo National marine Park, indonesia
Dates: 25 Feb to 03 Mar, 2012 (7 nights)
Boat: MV Tarata
Offer: one day free, equivalent to a saving of $240 per person, twin share

Book now with Symbiosis Custom Travel

Conservation agencies have released one of the most endangered turtles — a Southern River Terrapin — back into the wild, with officials, conservationists, and local residents attending the release ceremony on January 16.

The release was first announced Monday by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the Cambodian Fisheries Administration and Wildlife Reserves Singapore. The 75-pound female turtle was released into the Sre Ambel River in Cambodia, outfitted with a satellite tracking tag, to allow researchers to monitor the turtle’s movements in the wild, according to a WCS press release.

The released turtle is one of only 200 Southern River Terrapins remaining in Cambodia, Indonesia and Malaysia, and only one of fewer than ten nesting females in the Sre Ambel River, according to estimates from PhysOrg.

Read the full story from RedOrbit.

Image Caption: This photo shows the release of the Southern River terrapin at a ceremony on the Sre Ambel River in Cambodia attended by representatives of WCS, Cambodia’s Fisheries Administration’s Conservation Department, the Singapore Embassy, and local officials. The turtle has been equipped with a satellite tag, which will allow WCS conservationists to track it. Credit: Eleanor Briggs

A wildly-coloured gecko, a fish that looks like a gherkin, and a monkey with an Elvis-like hairstyle are among the more than 200 new species discovered in the Greater Mekong region last year.

The area’s diversity is so astonishing that a new species is found every two days, but regional cooperation and decision-making must take centre stage to preserve its richness, the group added.

Read the full story from Reuters.

If you haven’t had anything planned for 2012, mark your calendar if you are a kayak enthusiast.

Join this 11-days expedition to explore Palau’s hidden network of marine lakes, mangrove channels, marine tunnels, tropical beaches, and marine caverns, all in the serenity of nature.

This expedition is designed to be safe and fun, however, it does require an intermediate level of fitness and paddle experience. You will carry your own camping equipment on your kayak (provided at briefing), while guides and assistants paddle double kayaks with coolers, food, drinks, and supplies.

Sample Itinerary as follow:
13 March: Arrival
14 March: Koror: Briefing & Packing.
15 March: Nikko Bay
16 March: Risong Bay
17 March: German Lighthouse
18 March: Milky Way to Long Lake
19 March: Patch Reefs to Giant Clam Beach
20 March: Jellyfish Lake to Long Beach
21 March: German Channel to Ngemelis
22 March: Peleliu Historical Land Tour stay at Dolphin Bay Resort
23 March: Peleliu to Koror : Departure

Price: USD $250/per person/per day.
There are already 2 pax signed up for this trip (13-23 March 2012).

Includes: Kayaks, Paddles, & Life Jackets; Pelican Dry Boxes & Dry Bags; All Food, All Drinks, & Copious Snacks; Tents & Air Mattresses; Sheets & Camping Pillow; First Aid Kit; Crews: Guide Chef, Boat Captain, & Assistant; Solar Showers

For more information on kayaking Palau, click here. Or, contact Symbiosis for more details.

Javan Rhino caught on trap camera in Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam. Photo: WWF

Genetic analysis of 22 dung samples collected by a Cat Tien National Park – WWF survey team from 2009 – 2010 affirm that the samples all belonged to a rhinoceros that was found dead in the park in April 2010, shortly after the survey was completed. The findings, presented in a new WWF report, also point to poaching as the likely cause of the death, as the rhino was found with a bullet in its leg and had its horn removed.

The tragic discovery comes after a 2004 survey conducted by Queen’s University, Canada, that found at least two rhinos living in the park at the time.

Full story from the WWF here

Hotel surrenders “back yard” bear – Safe rescue for “Sonny”

On Tuesday 6 September, Animals Asia Vietnam Director, Tuan, External Affairs Officer, Dr The and Bear Worker Tuan from the Vietnam Moon Bear Rescue Centre travelled to the central highlands of Vietnam to rescue a lone sun bear.

This young male had been kept by a hotel/resort complex in Pleiku City in Gia Lai Province, for the past six to eight years. The hotel owners received the bear when he was just a cub and believe he may originally have been smuggled from Cambodia.

The hotel decided to give up the bear – now nicknamed “Sonny” – because they felt they could no longer look after him as they had been and they were not prepared to improve his living conditions. Sonny was being kept in a barren, rusting cage placed on a heap of rough ground with little shelter from the elements.

Quite a calm bear, Sonny appeared to be in good health at the time of rescue.

Full story from AnimalsAsia

Three new bat species, one resembling the Lord of the Underworld, have been discovered in the tropical forests of southern Indochina.

The tiny ‘demon,’ named Beelzebub’s tube-nosed bat, has been seen only in Vietnam.

Full story by Daniette Venton here.

Support the Shark Sanctuary in Moalboal, the first in the Visayan area of the Philippines.

Sign the petition to the local government of Moalboal by clicking the link below. The target is to get 5000 people to sign this petition to save the sharks of Moalboal, Cebu – an environmental issue of the highest degree.

Support the Shark Sanctuary in Moalboal, the first in the Visayan area of the Philippines.

Please share this post with friends, family and colleagues. Click “Like”.

Nine dive spots in Malaysia that were closed in June last year are expected to be re-opened soon. The dive spots were closed after coral reefs in the vicinity were bleached. The exact reason for the bleaching is not known but speculation is that the change in sea temperature and also human impact could be responsible.

The re-opening of the sites welcome news for Malaysia;s tourism industry as they are popular amongst dive tourists. The Marine Parks Department said the sites included the islands of Perhentian, Redang and Tenggol in Terengganu State, and other islands in Pahang and Kedah

WWF camera traps have captured a record number of images of critically endangered Sumatran tigers recently – 12 tigers in just two months in central Sumatra. The great footage includes two mothers with cubs and three young tiger siblings playfully chasing a leaf. But the forest they’re in is under imminent threat of being cleared by the pulp and paper industry, despite being a “global priority Tiger Conservation Landscape”.

Full story and video footage on the WWF website here

A late minute intervention by Prime minister, Hun Sen, has saved a thriving community-based tourism project in Cambodia’s Koh Kong Province from a planned, highly destructive, Titanium mine.

The mine project, by the United Khmer Group, was rumoured to have been just a cover to gain access to the rich forests in the Cardamom mountains… UKG has other logging operations around Cambodia.

See the full story in the Phnom Penh Post today.

Nice appraisal from this French family from Japan who undertook a Mekong River Explorer trip, finishing this week:

From: Marie-Cécile Conilh de Beysac
Subject: thank you
Date: 6 March 2011 20:02:48 GMT+07:00
To: Christopher Gow
We have only have one word : wonderful ! One of our best trip.
Thank you for having allowed us to make this trip. You really deserve your ad : off the beaten tracks !!!
It was exactly corresponding to our expectations!
Our kid did every thing without any problem. He learned so much !!!
Your organization is excellent and very reliable, we will recommend it to our friends…
We are back in Tokyo with more than 1500 photos and the head full of images, emotions, flavors…
Thank you

Bernard, Cecile and Jean

And…. no!… I did not write this myself! However I am not surprised as that part of the Mekong River from Southern Laos into northern Cambodia is exceptional for anyone looking for a real, off the beaten track adventure. Time has left this part of Indochina behind. The bird life is fantastic, and village life is much as it has been since before the Khmer Rouge destroyed so much of the rest of the country. However development is threatening, with new roads being built between Stung Treng and T’beng Meanchey to the west, and the road from the Laos border to Phnom Penh is already complete. News today talks about rubber plantations encroaching into the biodiversely important Virachey National Park on the Cambodia/Lao border.

This New York Times story highlights some interesting eco-tourism developments in Cambodia.

See some of my pics from Chi Phat here on the Symbiosis Facebook page

The Cambodian Government yesterday approved a land concession in the heart of dense forest in Koh Kong Province for a titanium mine that environmentalists say will devastate dozens of endangered species and clear thousands of hectares of trees in Cambodia’s Cardamom mountains.

I visited Chi Phat, the area that will be affected, a couple of years ago and have posted an (unedited!) photo album from that visit on the Symbiosis Facebook page today.

This area of the southern Cardamoms is home to about 24 natural water sources and more than a quarter of Cambodia’s remaining wild elephants, as well as numerous other endangered species.

Hornbills at Chi Phat, Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia

There is also a thriving community-based tourism programme in Chi Phat, driven by wildlife protection NGO, The Wildlife Alliance, that has successfully turned former loggers and illegal wildlife traders into protectors of the forest, earning them and their families $66,000 in the past 2 years – a small fortune for remote villagers in Cambodia. Much needed evidence that community-based eco tourism can turn poachers into gamekeepers and help to protect the natural environment.

I would urge you to visit Chi Phat soon to show support for the local community’s efforts to halt the mine project… and, of course, to experience this stunning natural area before it is too late!. Have a look at the Symbiosis web page for Chi Phat to get some ideas.

Could this be the real reason that Sea Turtles are being driven to extinction? These pictures are taken in Costa Rica of sea turtle egg “harvesting” by locals for sale in the local markets for food.