ZOO EXPERTS LEAD AMAZON AND AFRICA ADVENTURES
For Immediate Release OREGON ZOO NEWS April 10, 2006
Contacts: Bill LaMarche 503-220-2448 (office) or 503-497-5812 (pager) Linda D'Ae-Smith 503-220-5716 (office) or 503-441-7573 (pager)
ZOO EXPERTS LEAD AMAZON AND AFRICA ADVENTURES Zoo previews Botswana, Amazon and Kenya tours, April 30
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Those looking for a South American adventure on the Amazon or an "Out of Africa" experience can explore travel opportunities at the Oregon Zoo's Wild World Tours preview, Sunday, April 30. The event takes place in the zoo's Skyline Room at 4 p.m.
Oregon Zoo Deputy Director Mike Keele, an elephant expert who has traveled extensively in Africa, will lead an 11-day excursion to Botswana. The tour takes place Nov. 7-18, 2006, and is timed to take advantage of the annual flooding of the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana. Each year, after the rainy season, the delta floods, and animals from across the savanna flock there to mate and raise their young alongside its plentiful banks. Antelope, zebra, lion, hyena, buffalo, leopard, cheetah, giraffe and elephant are just some of the species that may be seen.
From April 25 to May 4, 2007, Oregon Zoo Conservation Manager Anne Warner leads an adventure up the largest river in the world, the Amazon. Travelers board a ship handcrafted to match the style of an early 19th-century vessel, but outfitted with 21st-century amenities. Discover the diverse wildlife teeming along the river while visiting a riverbank village or hiking through the jungle. Look for gray and pink Amazon River dolphins swimming alongside the ship, monkeys frolicking in the trees or sloths hanging from jungle branches. And, of course, the Amazon is a bird-watcher's paradise: One-fifth of the world's bird species are located in and around this historic passage.
From Oct. 5 to Oct. 17, 2007, return with the zoo to Africa -- this time to Kenya. Oregon Zoo Director Tony Vecchio leads travelers past the equator to the Samburu Reserve, home to wildlife rarely found anywhere else in Kenya. See the toothy yawn of a hippo on Lake Naivasha and the dazzling number of flamingos lining the shores of Lake Nakuru. Explore the rolling grasslands of the Maasai Mara in the Serengeti, home to lion, cheetah, elephant, leopard, black rhino, zebra and hippo. As with the Amazon, Kenya is bird-watcher's paradise, with more than 500 resident bird species. Travelers get the chance to meet with conservation researchers from Save the Elephants and the Cheetah Conservation Fund.
To R.S.V.P. for the complimentary informative presentation, call 503-220-5770 or e-mail lamoras@metro.dst.or.us by Monday, April 24.
Information about the preview and tours are available on the zoo's Web site at http://www.oregonzoo.org/Involved/travel.htm.
The zoo is a service of Metro and is dedicated to its mission to inspire the community to create a better future for wildlife. Committed to conservation, the zoo is currently working to save endangered California condors, Oregon silverspot butterflies, western pond turtles and Kincaid's lupine. Other projects include studies on black rhinos, Asian elephants, polar bears and bats.
The zoo opens at 9 a.m. daily and is located five minutes from downtown Portland, just off Highway 26. The zoo is also accessible by MAX light rail line. Zoo visitors are encouraged to ride MAX or take TriMet bus #63 to the Oregon Zoo. Visitors who take the bus or MAX receive 50 cents off zoo admission. Call TriMet Customer Service, 503-238-RIDE (7433), or visit www.trimet.org for fare and route information.
General admission is $9.50 (12-64), seniors $8 (65+), children $6.50 (3-11), and infants two and under are free. A parking fee of $1 per car is also required. Additional information is available at www.oregonzoo.org or by calling 503-226-1561.
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Oregon Zoo " 4001 SW Canyon Rd. " Portland, Oregon 97221 " 503-226-1561 " www.oregonzoo.org
