The Weekly Recap
Hello and welcome back to the weekly recap!
The first trip report published this week was by Nick Buys of Nature Travel Africa, from a trip he led to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa with highlights like great Lion and Leopard sightings, Yellow Mongoose and African Wild Cat.
Next was this report from a Royle Safaris tour of Qinghai, China last summer: an impressive 26 mammal species including Snow Leopard, Eurasian Lynx, Tibetan Dwarf Hamster and Pallas’ Cats.
This “Madagascar Special”, an Ornis Birding Expeditions trip led by Joshua Bergmark, includes Falanouc, the gorgeous Blue-eyed Black Lemur and perhaps less gorgeous Hairy-eared Dwarf Lemur.
Next is John Pilgrim’s recent trip to Taiwan, where he saw 23 great species with highlights like Formosan Serow, Siberian Weasel and Hairy-footed Flying Squirrel.
Anna Bauerová has shared a short report from Uzbekistan, with 6 mammal species including Long-eared Hedgehog, Red Fox and Long-clawed Ground Squirrel.
And finally is first time trip-report-poster Frank Fundel with his trip to Thailand and North Sulawesi! Full of interesting Gibbon facts, great photos and species like Sulawesi Bear Cuscus, Kitti’s Hog-nosed Bat, and Gursky’s Spectral Tarsier, you’d never know it was a first report.
After being abandoned by my brother and I for a trip to Madeira at the end of July, my dad has turned to his true family (mammalwatching.com) to ask if anyone would like to accompany him there to look for Blainville’s Beaked Whales.
If you’ve ever been to Uzbekistan, Tina Greenawalt is heading there next May for a birding trip but is amending this by hoping to find some mammals first. She’s looking for any advice or guide recommendations out of Samarkand.
And another first time poster, Raphaël, has shared a brief introduction as well as a request for South Africa advice – mainly where to go, what the best timings would be and whether anyone else will be there in October!
Duncan W. has posted a picture of some cat tracks found in SE Turkey and would like some ID opinions.
My dad has shared this Youtube playlist put together by George Vlad of 54 mammal vocalisations. I haven’t actually had a listen yet, as I imagine half of them will sound rather like my dad startling himself awake with his own snores and this is not a memory I like to be reminded of. Especially not when he does it all night before dragging us out of bed at 5am to check mammal traps…
Our final, and most unpleasant, order of business is the news that Royle Safaris have yet again attempted a coup to usurp me as recap writer… Well, perhaps that wasn’t their exact intention. But I’ll be watching them. If you have no issue engaging in traitorous behaviour (and, I suppose, browsing the exciting upcoming trips they’re running and what cool species they’ve seen so far this year), then check out their 2026/2027 newsletter here.
If you would like to subscribe only to weekly updates like these from mammalwatching.com, you can visit this page.
Thanks for reading:)
Katy
Cover photo: Gursky’s Spectral Tarsier – Frank Fundel
P.S: The newest way that my attempts to torment my father have backfired on me this week is when he sent me this photo (taken by Daniel Dahan in Brazil), and I made the mistake of saying he looked like the Mammal God. He has now taken this title in his stride and I fear what he will do with it. If mammalwatching becomes a cult, let it be known it had nothing to do with me. Or perhaps it already is?
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