mega Indian Ocean pelagic cruise aboard MV Madagascar

Are you keen on improving your Southern African or World life list? Do you still need Red-tailed AND White-tailed Tropicbirds for your list or how about Greater AND Lesser Frigatebirds? Is Red-footed Booby a 'bogie bird' for you? Have you been dipping out on Audubon's Shearwater? If so, then come and join us on a mega-pelagic into the Mozambique Channel in late November 2005 where we will be visiting a series of under-seamounts and these birds' breeding island - Europa Island.
Almirante Leite Bank, Hall Tablemount and Jaguar Seamount are a number of a series of under-seamounts within the Mozambique Channel, some of which break the surface as the islands of Europa, Bassas da India and Juan de Nova. These rise more than a 1000 metres from the sea floor and act as natural bird attractants where the upwellings that are formed by currents striking these sub-seamounts bring nutrient rich waters to the surface, which attract fish to the area and these then bring the birds. Two of these seamounts (Almirante Leite and Hall Tablemount) are within Southern African birding waters and we aim to visit them to observe the bird life that is attracted to these areas. From the Hall Seamount, it is a half-days cruising via the Jaguar Seamount to the vicinity of Europa Island.
Some of the commoner birds we hope to encounter on our way to the tropical waters include Shy and Indian Yellow-nosed Albatrosses, White-chinned and Great-winged Petrels, Wilson's Storm Petrel and Sooty and Flesh-footed Shearwaters.
		Europa, a French owned island, is one of the least disturbed in the Western Indian Ocean and is as much famed for its turtle nesting beaches as its seabird colonies. The Green Turtle colony is considered by many to be the largest in the world, whilst good numbers of Hawksbill Turtles also occur. The Important Bird Areas in Africa Handbook lists the following details on the breeding seabirds of Europa. Greater Frigatebird - 700 to 1100 pairs Lesser Frigatebird - 1000 to 1200 pairs Sooty Tern - 500000 to 1000000 pairs White-tailed Tropicbird - 500 to 1000 pairs Red-tailed Tropicbird - 3000 to 4000 pairs Red-footed Booby - 2800 to 3800 pairs Audubon's (Tropical) Shearwater - 50 to 100 pairs Interestingly, the Audubon's Shearwaters on Europa Island are thought to be of the subspecies bailloni which show mostly white undertail coverts and not brown as in all other subspecies. In our time around the island, we probably also have the best chance of seeing the rare and restricted golden morph of the White-tailed Tropicbird. If we can get close enough to the island, we may be able to see some of the resident Dimorphic Egrets and Madagascar Pond Herons.
Other tropical seabirds occurring in the Mozambique Channel that we will be looking out for are Wedge-tailed Shearwater - there is a colony off the south-west coast of Madagascar where 125 pairs nest. There are also nesting colonies of Bridled and Roseate Terns. Brown Boobies and Common and Lesser Noddys nest on islands at the northern end of the Channel and so our visit to the vicinity of the Hall Tablemount will offer some of the best chances of seeing these birds in Southern African waters. Other special birds to watch for are migrating Black-bellied Storm Petrels, Black-naped and White-cheeked Terns and maybe even White-headed Petrel, Jouanin's Petrel, White-faced Storm Petrel or even a Barau's Petrel which have all been recorded in southern African waters in the areas we will be visiting!!! And then of course, there is the possibility of recording new species for the Southern African list and vague possibilities include Masked Booby, White Tern, Swinhoe's Storm Petrel, Round Island Petrel and maybe even Mascarene Petrel!! All in all, it should make for an exciting trip that you wouldn't want to miss!!
In order to further enhance your tropical pelagic experience, we have secured the services of virtually all of the top sea bird experts in the country to act as your guides on board for the duration of the trip and these will probably include Ian Sinclair, Prof. Phil Hockey, Barrie Rose, Andrew Sutherland, Athol Marchant, Dr. Peter Ryan, Alvin Cope, Dr. Rob Leslie, David Allen, Barry Watkins, John Graham and Trevor Hardaker. Between these guides, they have personally found more than 90% of the seabirds currently on the Southern African list and so, there is probably no better group available to give us the best chance of finding something really special on this trip!!
The trip will be departing from Durban on 21 November 2005 and return on 27 November 2005.  The costs for the trip are based on the various types of cabins and will be as follows:
Type of cabin	Cost per person	Number of cabins	Cabins still available!
3 bedded inside cabin	R 5 093.64	11	SOLD OUT!!
4 bedded outside cabin	R 6 528.96	17	SOLD OUT!!
2 bedded outside cabin	R 7 052.70	44	SOLD OUT!!
2 bedded deluxe cabin	R 8 685.30	16	SOLD OUT!!
Obviously, cabin bookings will be taken on a first come, first served basis, so get your bookings in early if your are after a specific type of cabin! In order to make a booking, please email us at bookings@zestforbirds.co.za to reserve your places. We really do hope that you will be able to join us on this trip as, not only will there be some absolutely awesome birding with hopefully many brilliant birds being added to all of your lists, it should be one of the best birding social events in South African birding history!! Just imagine sharing all of these mega lifers with so many other birding friends...