Snake Holiday

[arachnopus]

A two week holiday, in which you will travel to some of the worlds most breathtakingly beautiful and unique islands. The trip has been designed with the serious herpetophile in mind. Leading part of the tour will be the renowned herpetologist Romulus Whittaker, known for his award winning National Geographic documentary “King Cobra”. In Chennai we will be also be accompanied by members of the Irula tribe famed for their snake tracking expertise. Go on night time crocodile safaris, dive or snorkel amongst pristine coral reefs in some of the worlds best dive sites and observe the incredibly colourful and biodiverse array of marine life which inspired Jaqcues Cousteau to produce a film on this largely unexplored haven of biodiversity - the Andaman Islands

For further information please email pgs_22@hotmail.com

[tombraider]

I thought you was offering to take our snakes on holiday

[Elaphe]

wonder how much this will cost

[CBR1100XX]

email them and find out, I am too lazy

[Elaphe]

emailed

[basky]

lol yeah i'd like to know how much.

[Elaphe]

taking bets

[Kev132]

lol, cause tht wasnt copied from the ihs newsletter :p

[tombraider]

maybe they just want to us go to use us as free croc food

[Elaphe]

got aa reply:

Hi there,

The holiday is £2264 per person, however if you chose to arrange your own flights it would of course be cheaper. The inspiration for the trip came from my experience of going on and organising various expeditions abroad. When I went on some wildlife treks the quality of the guides and naturalists was not always of a high standard. In addition most people on the trips were not as seriously into reptiles as I was. I have been involved in the keeping of snakes and various other reptiles, arachnids, insects and amphibians for some 20 years and am therefore most keen to promote ecologically sensitive wildlife tourism which utilizes local knowledge and promotes conservation.

The company I work for specialize in luxury tailor made holidays to India, Sri Lanka and the islands of the Indian Ocean and they were aware of my passion for reptiles and as we have had an increasing number of people ask for specialist "reptile tours", my boss asked if me to devise an itinerary specifically for serious herpetophiles.

The result is my idea of a perfect snake holiday, where we will have plenty of time in which to explore and look for reptilies.

This trip is for a group of up to 10 people and we will be accompanied by specialist snake trackers & handlers in search of snakes & reptiles in south India and the Andaman Islands in April this year.

We are privileged to have many prominent herpetologists who will be accompanying us on our trip. Romulus Whitaker will be leading the Chennai part of the tour and we will also be accompanied by members of the Irula tribe who are expert snake trackers. They used to hunt snakes for their skins until the introduction of protective wildlife legislation in 1972.

Under the leadership of Romulus Whittaker, the Irula’s banded together in 1978 and formed the Irula Snake Catchers Industrial Cooperative Society, which has flourished to this day. The co-op has served not only to provide a living but also to preserve a culture that has spanned at least three generations. The cooperative started with 26 members and today has more than 300—and is the largest venom-producing center in India. Snake catchers earn several times more per live snake turned in for milking than they did for reptiles slaughtered for their skins. This is one of the few sustainable uses of a species which does not harm the snake population and actively encourages their conservation. We will also have the opportunity to visit one of India’s foremost centres for herpteofaunal research – the Crocodile Bank in Chennai.

Mr Whittaker also founded the Andaman and Nicobar Environment Trust (ANET) and the Madras Crocodile Bank which has been extremely successful in crocodile breeding and in boosting numbers in the wild. An accomplished author, Mr Whittaker also won an Emmy for his wildlife documentary, King Cobra for the National Geographic.

In the Andaman Islands Gerry Martin and Manish Chandi will be helping us whilst we are trekking in our search for reptiles. Much of Gerry’s work has featured on National Geographic and Manish is also an accomplished herpetologist who is involved in research and conservation for the Crocodile Bank and the Andaman & Nicobar Environmental team.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind Regards