Zoo Welcomes 25 Baby Dragons

MSNBC.com reports that an Indonesian zoo is delighted to see the hatching of 25 Komodo dragons eggs.

Veterinarian Rahmat Suharta says the eggs, from three giant female lizards, hatched at the Surabaya Zoo in East Java over the past week.

He said Thursday that the babies, weighing between 2.8 ounces and 4.2 ounces.

MSNBC Video: Northern White Rhino Relocation

Just seen this 5 minute video on the MSNBC.com homepage about the recent relocation of the Northern White Rhinos to Kenya from the Czech Republic.

There's some great additional footage here.

Awards for Kakapo Film

Many congratulations to Scott Mouat for winning numerous awards at the Documentary Edge Festival 2010. Scott's film "The Unnatural History of the Kakapo", will be available for purchase on DVD later this year. Scott kindly sent me an advance copy earlier in the year, and I can promise you it will be worth the wait.

Scoop reports that the film won four awards: "Best NZ Feature Documentary", "Best NZ Sound", "Best NZ Cinematography" and "Best NZ Director".

Here is the trailer for the film, and my review can be found here.

Keep up with developments at the film's Facebook group.

Mark Carwardine: My Life In Travel

The Independent featured this fairly fluffy interview with Mark Carwardine last week. I'd guess the interview is actually a few months old because the trip to Nairobi to film a Last Chance To See special has already happened I believe.

Greatest travel luxury?

Music can transform an experience. I remember flying over Fiordland National Park in New Zealand with Stephen Fry last year, while filming Last Chance To See. We were in a little helicopter and the pilot played Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon loudly into our headsets. Suddenly, we were in an imaginary spacecraft, wheeling and turning over a fantasy, make-believe world.

Stephen Fry on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

On February 23rd, Stephen Fry appeared with Craig Ferguson on a special edition of the Late Late Show, one-on-one, with no studio audience. Towards the end of the interview he discusses his participation in the recent trans-location of the Northern White Rhinos from a Czech Zoo back to Africa. It was a very enjoyable show I thought.