Shhhhh, it’s a secret. Fred Olsen – Wildlife cruises

Everyone knows different cruise lines offer different themed cruises for different tastes. They range from the mundane, (crossword cruises), to the truly bizarre, (Dr. Who themed cruises – I’m not joking!) One of the best kept secrets in the world of themed cruises though is Fred Olsen’s Wildlife cruises. And when I say it’s a well kept secret I really mean it. There isn’t any information in their brochures and after extensive searches I couldn’t find any information on line, I had to contact their marketing department direct for this info. This is a pity because although they only offer two cruises a year there not you’re normal run of the mill seven days in the Med. They really are once in a life time cruises, with a price that’s affordable.

The Braemar will be sailing from Bridgetown, Barbados on the 3rd Feb 2011, up the Amazon to spend two days in Manaus, (more on the weirdest city on the planet later), before sailing back to Bridgetown. It’s a 15 night cruise that really will blow you away.
I don’t really need to extol the benefits of sailing down the Amazon, with its wealth of flora and fauna, although as I’m writing this blog I’ve decided to scatter lots of  pictures of just a few of the animals you will see throughout it just to show you what you’re missing.
You get to spend an over night, in Manus, again more later, so rather than staying on the ship you get the opportunity to trek into the Amazon and stay in a jungle lodge. The ship also calls in at Parintins, one of the Amazons bigger river islands, where there’s a festival being held to “Boi Bumba”, a traditional type of local music.

For those with plenty of time on there hands you can also cruise on the Boudicca for 35nights from Southampton, down to the Amazon via Madeira and then back to the U.K via the Caribbean and the Azores. Departing 30th Jan 2011 there are some amazing deals to be had on this cruise, although you’re going to have to call me for some prices.
Two of the unique selling points of this cruise are that you get to go swimming with stingrays off Antigua and go snorkelling with sea turtles off Barbados. Show me any other ex – U.K cruises that can boast excursions like that!

Sailing up the Amazon you’ll have plenty of opportunities to play David Attenborough, spotting the famous river dolphins, or pointing out the crocodiles lazing on the banks. Indeed, I’ve even heard back from past passengers where certain guest lecturers have gone out the night before and brought aboard juvenile crocodiles for use in the talks and lectures, but don’t worry no animals or passengers where harmed in the writing of this blog.

Fred Olsens, unfortunately, haven’t released their guest speakers for next year yet, but below is a short bio of two of last years guest speakers so that you can get an idea of the level of expertise you will be getting.

DR. HORACE DOBBS
Horace Dobbs is a pioneer undersea explorer. He founded The Oxford Underwater Research Group and has won numerous international awards for his books and films. He served for many years on the Council of the British Sub Aqua Club and was elected its first Conservation officer and Films and Photographic Officer. He is a multidiscipline scientist who has published papers on atomic physics, pharmacology and medicine. He has studied powerful drugs that affect the brain and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine.
The direction of his life changed when he saw his son given a ride by a wild dolphin. In 1976 he founded International Dolphin Watch, a charity dedicated to protecting dolphins and understanding their relationship with humans. In his search to unravel what makes dolphins so special Horace discovered that they had healing powers. Having shown that swimming with dolphins could help those afflicted with clinical depression he set about finding ways in which the healing essence of dolphins could be captured and reproduced artificially.
Around this time Horace was also developing the concept of using the latest technology to create an interactive sensory environment that would artificially reproduce the life enhancing experience of encounters with live dolphins. The outcome was a large dome that could accommodate entire families. A prototype was successfully demonstrated at an International Conference at the Open University in Milton Keynes in December 2003.
Talks repertoire:
Dolphins – man’s cousin under the sea
Dolphins – their magic and mystery
Snorkelling and Scuba Diving – exploring the undersea world
Cameras underwater – capturing the undersea world on film
Galapagos – nature on a knife edge
The Red Sea – wonderland in the wilderness
Shipwrecks – the sunken tombs of Truk Lagoon

And

PAM KEMP
Marine Biologist/Underwater Photographer
Pam Kemp has had a very varied career. From school she started work in a laboratory, firstly for a company involved in the manufacture of medicinal drugs, progressing to the Ministry of Defence. On getting married to a commercial diver - life took a dramatic turn which saw her living in Saudi Arabia and learning to dive. It was during her time here and later living in Cyprus, Spain and the Seychelles that she began her interest in photography; firstly through her diving and underwater photography. For the past 13 years she has worked in eco-tourism, primarily on a variety of expedition cruise ships. These took her initially around the British Isles and throughout European waters. Later her world expanded to embrace both the Indian and Pacific Oceans as well as both the Arctic and Antarctica. She counts herself very fortunate to have spent 3 years travelling in South East Asia - Indonesia, Kamchatka and Japan. More recently her travels have been both world-wide and more land based; India, Nepal, Sikkim, Tibet, Bhutan, China as well as Australia and New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, and South America.
Initially she worked as a marine tour specialist, teaching passengers to snorkel and managing both snorkel and zodiac (boat) operations. Gradually her job evolved to include lecturing on both marine life, seabirds and destinations. This has given her a wider perspective on geography and cultural matters and she takes a particular interest in local religions.
She has won several international photography competitions, including the section ‘The World in Our Hands’ in BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year and her work regularly appears in books and magazines. In 2004 she held a photographic exhibition at Pitlochry Festival Theatre; this exhibition transferred to Benmore Botanic Gardens in 2005 and will now be transferring to The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh in 2006. In addition in 2005 she has another photographic exhibition, accompanied by a talk, at RHS Garden Rosemoor. She now lectures regularly for The Royal Scottish Geographical Society.
Underwater:
The Beautiful World of Shells – follows history and impact of shell collecting through the ages and the natural history/life cycle of shells.
The Wonders of the Coral Reef – looking at the varied life to be found on the reef, both fish and coral.
Whales, Dolphins and Sharks; friend or foe – looks at the life of these wonderful creatures.
A Journey Through the Ocean – combines the above three talks.

This really is an animal lovers dreams come true, you’ll end up taking thousands of pictures and get to see creatures that you would otherwise only ever see on TV or is zoos, these aren’t holidays, they really are once in a life time experiences, (let me know if I sound like a bad brochure writer yet!).
I also mentioned you get too spend two days, on both cruises, in Manaus, one of what has to be, the strangest cities on Earth.

 The capital state of Amazonas, it is the furthest point on the Amazon that you can cruise up in a cruise ship, it’s a case of getting out and rowing your canoe after this. It was originally founded in 1669, but grew massive during Brazils ‘rubber rush’ during the 19th century. For a time, it was "one of the gaudiest cities of the world", one historian has written, "No extravagance, however absurd, deterred" the rubber barons. "If one rubber baron bought a vast yacht, another would install a tame lion in his villa, and a third would water his horse on champagne." The decadence even extended to a grand opera house, based on a Parisian model with vast domes, gilded balconies, and marble, glass, and crystal, from around Europe, this smack bang in the middle of the Amazon, really needs to be seen to be believed. The opera house cost ten million (public-funded) dollars, but its foolhardiness was demonstrated by the death by yellow fever of half the members of one visiting opera troupe, surprisingly leading to most other troops refusing to visit!

The opera house, called the Teatro Amazonas, still exists today; it has been restored and after an interlude lasting almost 90 years, presents operas once again.
When the seeds of the rubber tree were smuggled out of the Amazon region, Brazil lost its monopoly on the product and Manaus fell into poverty. The rubber boom had brought electricity to the city before it arrived even in many European cities, but the end of the rubber boom made the generators too expensive to run, and the city lost artificial lighting for years. Today's city of 2 million inhabitants has been generated, no pun intended, to a large extent by the duty-free policy that began in the 1950s and the tourism this ideal locale brings in.
I hope I haven’t bored you too much with this, I know this blog has gone on a bit longer than most of mine tend to, but I really can’t recommend you experiencing this for yourselves enough. I’d love to hear back from anyone that’s ever done either this, or a similar itinerary. As always let me know your thoughts about this here, and

Happy Cruising