A Blue Wildebeest photographed in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
One of two species of wildebeest, the Blue Wildebeest is the more common species and is larger than the Black Wildebeest more commonly seen in South Africa.
To most people who go on safari in Africa, the wildebeest is considered an ugly animal, often overlooked after you see thousands upon thousands of them in places like the Serengeti or Maasai Mara.
Indeed, they’re not known for their good looks, but what they are famous for is the Great Migration in Africa. More than two million animals make up the migration, which also includes hundreds of thousands of zebras and gazelles,making it the largest land mammal migration in the world.
Even if you’re not there during the peak of migration time, wildebeest seem to be everywhere when you travel through Kenya and Tanzania, playing an important role in the food chain for predators such as lions, hyenas, leopards and crocodiles.
After some frantic voting during the month of January, it is finally time to reveal the winner of #TravelMatch, the Twitter travel competition that ran for nearly three years!
The grande finale, Match #111, had Bhutan facing off against the Faroe Islands in a battle to win it all.
To get to the finale, each of these contenders did what all other countries and travel destinations on Earth couldn’t do – they won all of their previous matches.
The road, or river, to the Travel Match Finale has finally come to an end…
The Travel Match Finalists:
One one side, the Faroe Islands had the most passionate, loyal following of people voting for them for each of their matches. Throughout the course of Travel Match (which started in Spring 2010) the leader of the Faroe Islands charge was @FaroePodcast who took it upon themselves to spread the #TravelMatch word to as many Faroese lovers as possible.
It helped them beat out big players such as France and the Galapagos Islands, among others.
On the other side was the Happiest Nation on Earth. Bhutan actually measures happiness and has become a somewhat hot destination in recent years for travellers and backpackers who can get to this somewhat secluded country. It was a legion of world travellers and support from Bhutan tour companies and @TourismBhutan that got them to the finals. Diverse landscapes and friendly Buddhist culture lured people to vote and beat out powerful destinations such as Antarctica and Tibet.
These Langur Monkeys can hardly contain their excitement to hear who won…
A Travel Match Twist in the Finale
An interesting thing happened during the Travel Match finale. Half way through voting, with the Faroe Islands in the lead, Bhutan started to make a charge. Votes began to pour in for the quiet nation. However they were, for the most part, votes to stop the Faroe Islands from winning, instead of personal votes with a desire to visit Bhutan.
It seems the animal rights activists took up the cause to stop the Faroes from winning because the small nation still participates in a traditional whale hunt.
Such is the way on Twitter though and it wasn’t the first controversial competition to happen during #TravelMatch! Instant access to unlimited knowledge creates interesting conversations on Twitter. So, without further delay…it’s time to say:
Bhutan won the #TravelMatch Finale!
While the Faroe Islands definitely win the prize for most passionate, enthusiastic travellers, it is Bhutan who walked away with the most votes and claims the #TravelMatch title as Most Desired Travel Destination on Twitter. In the end Bhutan garnered more than 65% of the votes in the finale.
Congratulations to both destinations for making it to the final. After 30+ months, 10,000+ votes and 111 total matches it was no small feat making it to the finals! Big thanks to everyone who voted and shared in the fun of the #TravelMatch series.
Two Common Bottlenose Dolphins, photographed in the Galapagos Islands
Dolphins are a special creature. We seem to have a connection to them unlike any other animal in the sea. They’re smart, seemingly playful and downright cute.
In reality though, they are fierce and ferocious hunters, with few enemies in the sea! Despite seeing dolphins in Brazil, the Maldives, Russia, Honduras and other places, I’ve always found photographing dolphins to be a futile effort.
They follow boats or may bow ride, dipping above and below the surface at great speed. Never still, getting a good shot has always seemed impossible! But, on my last trip to the Galapagos Islands I was lucky enough to have a number of dolphins hang out with our boat for around 30 minutes. They were porpoising and bow-riding and having all sorts of fun. So, with a bit of luck and guesswork as to where they’d jump out of the water next, I was about t capture this image of two Common Bottlenose Dolphins jumping out of the water at the same time.
They’re not really the scariest looking bugs though, in fact many of them are kind of cool looking, practically cute even. Well, except for the leeches, they’re pretty far from cute or cool…perhaps why I never bothered to get a picture of one.
I sense you’re doubting that some of the bugs of Borneo can be cute. Well, I already posted about visiting the Sepilok Orangutan Rehab Centre, which included an encounter with a very cute, but highly poisonous caterpillar. Then there was that strange, tree canopy bug that I posted about from my Treetop Skywalk post. Maybe that one isn’t so cute, but it’s definitely cool looking.
A red and black bug seen on the Silau Trail in Kanbalu Park in Bornoe
My favourite bug from Borneo has to be this red and black thing. The way it moved it had a friendly almost hypnotic motion to it, but you often hear that bright colours in nature mean danger, so I dared not touch this little guy, as cool as he looked.
Then there was the bad ass beetle that decided to hang out with us while we slept on the floor in a Iban Longhouse in Borneo. That so-close-to-bugs kind of creeped out a few people, but really, how much harm could a beetle do to you in your sleep? Just because it’s huge and has crazy looking pincher things…
A badass beetle hanging out in my Iban Longhouse
I actually didn’t realize how many different bugs I came across in Borneo until after I came home. It wasn’t like they were everywhere, you did actually have to look for most of them, or when you did see them it was for a short time before they would fly away. So, don’t start thinking that Borneo is a buggy horror movie or something. It’s not like that, but it is a tropical island with plenty of forest, so – ya, there are bugs.
Some bugs in Borneo were similar to ones from home too. Like stick bugs! I saw so many stick bugs in Borneo, especially at Mulu National Park. Now I think it’s almost impossible to be scared of these, I mean they just look like sticks. It’s great camouflage and was a fun game to play walking along in the forest – try to spot the stick bug.
This one was one of the few I came across that was a bit out in the open instead of hiding under a tree leaf or blending into it’s stick and branch surroundings.
A stick bug in Gunung Mulu National Park
As for unknown, odd bugs, you see them in Borneo, often fleeting experiences as they fly by or zip away when you get too close. This odd red bug stood still long enough for a picture though. I’m not sure why so many bugs in Borneo seemed to have some kind of red colour to them, but it definitely makes them look cool…and this one has a bit of cuteness to it, right?
A little red bug in Borneo, seen in Mulu National Park
Now there was also a giant flying locust or something in our dorm room at the Mulu Park headquarters. For some time it was living on the wall near my bed and was about the size of a gecko, but with wings. You could hear it’s wings flap when it took off and landed -bzzzzzt. It was a bit on the creepy side, but still cool as I’d never seen a grasshopper-y, locust-y thing that big before even in the Caribbean or Africa.
Speaking of creepy, any bug post wouldn’t be complete without at least one kind of creepy bug photo right?
So, how about a millipede? But not a big black one or ugly brown one. No, how about a cool, skinny, long millipede that comes with awesome orange legs and a red/black stripey body? Oh ya, this one looks cool for sure, but I didn’t touch it either. Although, you do have to watch where you put your hands when walking around in the forests as the bugs and insects of Borneo do like to hang out on railings and board walks!
I can’t think of any traveller I’ve met that doesn’t love hammocks. Aside from the trickery of getting into some of them gracefully, hammocks are pure relaxation!
Questions like ‘what are the most important travel inventions’ or ‘what essentials items do you need when travelling’ always seem to have people listing a long series of heavy, noisy, digitized, ‘disconnected’ items. Nobody can travel without their smartphone or tablet/laptop these days and cameras and wifi connections are must-haves it seems.
Beach hammocks overlooking Lake Malawi in Africa
I’m totally guilty of being a digital traveller too. If you ask me what is most important to me when travelling, then my camera gear comes up tops. But, I don’t think it should be that way, I think the questions we’re always asked are skewed…we need to pay more attention to what we enjoy most about travelling and why we travel…not what we travel with. I think if you eliminate the wants and focus on your surroundings – whether on a beach, on a boat, or in a forest, then simple things like staring up at the stars and swinging in a hammock creep into that ‘must-have’ list.
At least they do for me.
Off the coast of Brazil – Have you ever slept in a hammock on a boat? So relaxing…
Enjoying downtime on the road is something I only recently started to appreciate. I normally would pack in every minute of extra time with more activities, hikes, adventures and sight seeing. Now, I try to find a few days of relaxation time here and there. I’m letting the hammock lifestyle creep back into my travel plans and I’ve been less stressed on recent travels than I have before.
Hanging out in a hammock in the Pantanal Wetlands.
So the question I send out to you is: What things are a must for you to be relaxed and happy when you travel?
