globe trotters

The frost on the door handle of the rental car was as hard as the crusty glaze on the doughnut I grabbed on my way out of the headquarters hotel for the annual Festival of the Cranes.



"Hurry, before the sun rises!" my companion urged me in excited whispers. Yanking the frozen door open, we piled into the car and sped out to a local bridge where about a hundred people were already quietly congregated. Two large buses and a host of other cars were parked along the roadway on either side of the bridge. It was mid-March, and on this span across Nebraska's Platte River the air was bone-chilling cold.

The bridge was lined with people, all freezing like me, holding binoculars or poised behind spotting scopes set on tripods. Below us, on sandbars in the river, and relatively safe from predators, roosted thousands of Sandhill Cranes waiting for their wake-up call.

"I just want to see a spectacle," I whispered to my friend through lips that were most likely as blue as hers. She nodded and pointed to the rising sun, which had just appeared above the horizon, right in line with the river corridor. As the red ball of dawn cast rosy streaks into the sky, the temperature warmed noticeably. One by one, the birds slowly took flight, heading toward the fallow cornfields surrounding Grand Island.

About a half-million Sandhill Cranes (80 percent of the world's population) migrate through this area every spring. Grand Island is their fueling stopover before they head farther north. The farmers welcome the cranes, not only because they clean up all the leftovers in the fields, but also because they attract thousands of people who like to watch them take off, land and dance in the fields. In the span of a few weeks, the local economy is bolstered by a few million extra dollars from these watchers during a time when, otherwise, the only spectacle might be watching some drunk get thrown out of Annie's Truck Stop Café off I-80.

Just as my sugar high from the doughnut began to dissipate, an unnerving sound echoed up from the river corridor—a sound somewhere between the honk of a goose and the caw of a crow, but multiplied by tens of thousands of voices of Sandhill Cranes taking flight. They rose in unison and formed a dark cloud silhouetted against the red sun. At this primal aural and visual moment, which nearly lifted us off our feet in rapture, there wasn't a dry eye on the bridge.

I've since been witness to many other spectacles of nature in different places of the world. And, whether in Africa for the wildebeest migration or Belize seeking the howler monkey, I usually run into somebody who has been to Grand Island, Neb.

The point is, wildlife watchers get around. And today, there is an increasing number of outfitters to help them get around in just about any manner they choose, from first-class-all-the-way to rugged camping treks.

Most tour companies limit group size to 10 or 14 people. In addition to a guide from the tour company, most also employ the services of a local naturalist. The tour operators we interviewed for this article host a wide range of clients from different economic and social backgrounds, with an average age of 40. More than half are couples, and single women outnumber single men by half. Trip costs range from $500 for a long-weekend outing to several thousand dollars for a multi-week tour.

International Trips Take Flight. The National Audubon Society caters to a more affluent and older group. This year, the society expects 750 total passengers on its program of land tours and cruises, according to Margaret Carnright, director of travel programs. Half of these participants will fall into an affluent retirement age bracket of 65 or older. The average Audubon traveler typically travels with a spouse or friend and shells out anywhere from $2,000 to $45,000 per person.

"Alaska, the Galapagos Islands and Hawaii are top-selling destinations," says Carnright. "We sponsor great natural history oriented itineraries and our travel ethic (guidelines for environmentally responsible travel) is followed on all programs."

On a smaller scale, Bill King, founder and owner of King Bird Tours out of New York City, offers about a dozen trips per year, specializing in Asian destinations. In the past 20 years, King says that he has watched the treasured spectacle of seeing lots of birds in one area slowly disappear as rainforests are cleared for timber production. Nature observers are anxious to see rare or endangered species before they, too, disappear.

"Bhutan and the Philippines are now our most popular destinations," adds King. "Bhutan is still about 70 percent forest, but the Philippines is already highly destroyed. We go there to see the monkey-eating eagle." A new trip this year will take a small group of clients into Northern Burma, near the border of Tibet, to an altitude of 10,000 feet. "It will be camping, trekking steep and muddy slopes with porters," says King. "The tigers have been wiped out of the area, but the birds are still good. The White-Bellied Heron is found only in the Eastern Himalayas." Clients willingly pay nearly $6,000 each, plus airfare, for this four-week excursion.

Victor Emmanuel Nature Tours (VENT) was founded 24 years ago by Victor Emmanuel. Today, the company offers more than 120 destinations around the globe. "We enjoy a healthy repeat client business," says TaV Garvin, "and have seen a definite increase in inquiries from new clients."

Garvin states that Belize is currently a hot destination. "About two-thirds of our trips are very popular and sell out quickly," she adds.

Each VENT tour leader prepares an itinerary and suggested gear and clothing list, and sends it to clients along with a TravelSmith catalog. "We don't specifically endorse TravelSmith products," says Garvin, "we just want to give clients an idea of a high-quality outfitter."

Along with his itineraries, King supplies names and addresses of gear and clothing suppliers, including Chinook Medical Gear, Patagonia, REI, EMS, Cabela's and L.L. Bean. King says, "I emphasize layering, as we often start out in hot and humid lowlands, then advance to cooler temperatures."

David Arcese of Northern Lights Expeditions in Bellingham, Wash., has been leading sea kayaking tours in British Columbia's Inside Passage for 17 years. Arcese provides a gear and clothing list segregated into specific dry bags for stowing in the holds of sea kayaks. "Most people still bring cotton shirts and pants," says Arcese. "Some are just beginning to understand the value of synthetic clothing in a wet environment." For this reason, Arcese provides Kokatat technical paddling jackets and pants to all clients.

Although the big attraction in the Inside Passage is the orca or "killer whale," Arcese's clients also enjoy frequent sightings of Minke whales, dolphins, porpoises, sea lions, seals, otters, numerous shorebirds and forest birds, in addition to bald eagles as plentiful as robins in California. It's not unusual to have a close encounter with an orca in your kayak, then watch a bald eagle dive from atop a tall hemlock, pluck a salmon out of the water with its great talons and deliver it to its young in the nest.

A spectacle of unquestionable value.