Charles and Jon don't have a guest this month. Instead we talk to each about our recent trips to southern Tanzania (Charles) and Tierra del Fuego (Jon).

Charles's adventure coincided with the Tanzanian elections and an outbreak of protests. These may have shut down the country but did not deter its mammalwatchers! In between negotiating their way through road blocks and buying diesel from trucks stuck on the road, they managed to see a ridiculous number of mammal species (almost 80) including the Kipunji, a primate only discovered by scientists a few years ago.

Jon's trip through Patagonia went more smoothly. The highlight was a day looking for Leopard Seals in a remote area of Chilean Tierra del Fuego. He had crippling views of the seal amongst jaw dropping scenery. One of his best days ever.

You can stream the episode here or listen on your favourite podcast platform.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Notes: Charles's report is here https://www.mammalwatching.com/community-post/rare-mammals-and-riots-in-southern-tanzania/ . He organized his tour through African Pangolin Safaris. The owner, guide, and all round troubleshooter, Mansoor Mohamed can be reached at i[email protected]. Learn more about the discovery of the Kipunji in Season 1 Episode 4 of this podcast when we talk to Tim Davenport.

Jon's Patagonia report is at https://www.mammalwatching.com/community-post/patagonia-buenos-aires-province-december-2025/. He organized his trip with Marcelo Gavensky from Birds Argentina, also a former podcast guest.

If you interested in joining Jon's trips to Brazil or Antarctica the details are here

NE Brazil for primates and porcupines with Jon Hall & Regina Ribeiro, May 27 – June 8 2026

Antarctica with Jon Hall & Naturetrek, January 2027

And if you want to support mammalwatching and buy us a coffee please do! https://buymeacoffee.com/mammalwatching

Finally did you know you can sign up to receive a weekly mammalwatching newsletter here? https://www.mammalwatching.com/subscribe-to-updates/

Cover art: Leopard Seal, Jon Hall.

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in almost 120 countries.

In the first podcast of 2026 we talk with professional bird and mammal guide János Oláh from his home in Hungary. János set up Sakertours in 1994. Initially focussing on birding tours in Eastern Europe they expanded to run hide-based photography tours and now mammal tours.

János explains how he was drawn to birding as a child, and the formative role an aversion to summer camp chores played in the process. He describes how and why he set up his Romania Mammal Tour, on which participants can expect to see over 50 mammal species in 9 days! And he shares a very important life lesson he learned as a boy while looking for a 'Dawn Bird': preferred habitat is far more useful to a successful search than a species' common name!

The podcast begins with a 'live from the field' account of our heroically unsuccessful search for a Sumatran Striped Rabbit, which János was lucky enough to be a part of.

You can stream the episode here or listen on your favourite podcast platform.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Notes: Here is the most recent Romania Mammal Tour report from Sakertours. Details of the 2026 tour and how to join are here. Other Sakertours reports are on mammalwatching's Romania page including the 2025 Mole-rat safari we talked about.

A report of our ill-fated trip in search of Sumatran Striped Rabbits is here.

Cover art: János in Ladakh.

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in almost 120 countries.

The Season 4 opener to the mammalwatching podcast has Charles and Jon talking about their September 2025 expedition to Sulawesi.  

This is a blow by blow - and mammal by mammal - account of a remarkable two week trip that recorded over 80 mammal species. Our story is interspersed with interviews from the field with Carlos Bocos, the trip leader; bat guru Prof Juliana Senawi; and the other participants (Stuart Chapman, Nick Cox, János Oláh, Martin Royle and Ian Thompson). We also include a conversation witth Ating Solihin from Sulawesi's Malenge Island about his role in bringing the Togean Babirusa back from the brink of extinction.

Highlights include:

• Explaining why the initial excitement of seeing species that were likely new to science quickly turned to frustration.
• Hearing why giving a seven year old a mammal book might just dictate the rest of their life.
• Advice for others planning to visit Sulawesi, including the importance of bringing your own sleeping mats and never wearing flip flops into a bat cave!

You can stream the episode here or listen on your favourite podcast platform.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Notes: The trip report from our expedition to Sulawesi should be available here by the end of 2025.

Cover art: Togean Babirusa, Carlos Bocos

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in almost 120 countries.

Charles and Jon speak to conservation power couple Nachiket Kelkar and Kadambari Deshpande from their home in Bangalore. for the finale to Season 3 of the podcast.

Kadambari and Nachiket both work to better understand how wildlife and people can co-exist in India, with Kadambari focussing on bats and Nachiket looking at riverine ecosystems and wildlife including the Ganges River Dolphin.

In a fascinating interview they discuss some of the threats facing the species they are working to protect as well as some of the facets of Indian society - and its sometimes striking tolerance for living alongside wildlife - that help to allow  wildlife and people to co-exist.

They describe a recent trip in search with Bob Pitman (a 2022 podcast guest) in search of India's remaining two Indus River Dolphins and also explain how Indian Flying Foxes are a cashew-farmer's best friend!

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Notes: Jon's recent Borneo trip report - during which a few seconds birding almost cost him his binoculars - is here:

Details of the IUCN-approved splitting of the Giraffe into four species is here.

Cover art: Kadambari & Nachiket

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in almost 120 countries.

Charles and Jon talk with carnivore conservation expert Laila Bahaa-el-din.

Laila studied the near mythical African Golden Cat for her PhD in Gabon from 2010 - 2015 and was the first to study the species for a PhD.

She explains how her grandfather inspired her to follow a career in conservation and how a chance encounter with a mislabeled photo of an African Golden Cat saved her from studying raptors and took her to Gabon.

Laila describes how she studied the cats using camera traps and how a bird flying into a tent led to her one and only sighting during four years in the field. 

She also recounts some of her very many adventures in Gabon that range from pleading with a female gorilla to keep quiet so as not to alert the silverback, to fleeing from an elephant while trying to get out of a poncho.  No wonder she turned to poetry for solace!

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Notes: Here is an African Geographic artlce from Laila about her work with the Golden Cat. And here is the video she mentioned of an African Golden Cat hunting Red Colobus in Uganda.

Jon's report of his recent trip to Japan in search of Sato's Beaked Whales is here. And hs report of a weekend in China is here.

Cover art: African Golden Cat, Laila Bahaa-el-din

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 110 countries.

Charles and Jon talk with wildlife filmmaker and presenter Nigel Marven from his home in the UK.

Nigel describes how a childhood fascination with wildlife led to his first job in TV, 'wrangling worms', and from there to working with Sir David Attenborough and ultimately presenting and making his own shows and films.

He explains why his films have often put the spotlight onto smaller, less well-known but fascinating mammals including Russian Desmans, Chinese Mole-shrews and Star-nosed Moles. 

And he describes some of his most memorable mammal encounters from Bactrian Camels in China to swimming with Belugas in the Canadian Arctic.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Notes: Details of Nigel's forthcoming wildlife tours are on his website. You can read more about his trip to Madagascar here.

This is the article about the discovery of Leadbeater's Possum in New South Wales that Charles talked about.

Jon encouraged listeners to visit mammalwatching.com's Join a Trip page. More details on the two trips he is helping to convene are here:

Primates and Porcupines in Northeast Brazil, May 2026

Mammalwatching Cruise to Antarctica, January 2027

Cover art: Nigel Marven

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 110 countries.

Charles and Jon talk with Rachel Ashegbofe Ikemeh, founder of the SW/Niger Delta Conservation Project. Rachel, a Nigerian conservationist and visionary, has built a team of almost 100 people working at the grassroots community level to save the wildlife of the Niger Delta. The delta, densely populated and home to oil and gas reserves, is one of the most degraded environments on the planet. It contains over half of the swamp forest in West and Central Africa and is the world's largest mangrove forest. But 95% of that forest has been lost in the past 15 years.

Rachel describes her career and how she stumbled into conservation work despite the many obstacles she faced from a society where young women are expected to get married and have children and definitely not become biologists!

She talks about some of the delta's many special mammals including critically endangered primates like the the Niger Delta Red Colobus that Rachel's team is bringing back from the brink of extinction with the help of local communities.

And Rachel talks about some of the very many dangers she has faced working in this difficult area. She has run the gauntlet of everything from death threats to drowning and also had a very close encounter with an angry Elephant.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Notes: You can follow Rachel's team on Instagram here. And here is a short video, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, celebrating Rachel as a winner of the 2020 Whitley Awards for her work with Chimpanzees. This is the opinion piece Rachel wrote on the Western media's role in the decline of West Africa's Wildlife.

Jon's Texas report is here.

Cover art: Rachel at work.

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 110 countries.

Charles and Jon talk to Shavez Cheema, founder of Borneo1Stop Wildlife, from his home in Sabah.

Shavez talks about a childhood in Brunei surrounded by wildlife and how, at the age of nine, he was inspired to work in conservation after seeing a neighbour's senseless killing of a monitor lizard. 

We discuss the massive potential for growth in conservation tourism across Borneo, and both the benefits and problems it might create. And Shavez explains why Borneo1Stop Wildlife is committed to opening up new mammalwatching areas and what visitors can expect from them. 

Any conversation about Borneo will feature some premier league mammals. Shavez's favorite moments include an unexpected encounter with a Tufted Ground Squirrel and walk away views of a Clouded Leopard.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Notes: More details of Borneo1Stop Wildlife's destinations in Tawau Hills, Beluran and INIKEA are here. And this is a report of a 2024 bat photography workshop. 

There are many many Borneo trip reports on mammalwatching.

The jaw-dropping photographs from the migration in South Sudan that Charles mentioned were part of the media pack accompanying this African Parks press release. Check out this extraordinary image!

Jon's Romania mole-rat safari report is here.

Cover art: Walk away views of a Clouded Leopard, Shavez Cheema.

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 110 countries.

Charles and Jon talk with mammalwatching power couple Venkat Sankar & Nicole Haseley from their base at Stanford University in California. 

Nicole and Venkat 'accidentally' turned 2024 into a Big California (Mammal) Year and ended up seeing a record breaking 150 species in the state by December 31.

They talk about some of their big year's highs and lows as well as their favourite places in California to mammalwatch, and offer advice on how to identify small mammals in the field. 

Plus Nicole explains why browsing iNaturalist pictures in public can be a fast track to romance.

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Notes: a Big Year - a concept well known among birders - sees participants look for as many different species as possible within a geographic boundary (in this case California). Venkat and Nicole's Big Year report is here (there are many more California reports here). Meanwhile Charles's epic 2019 Big Mammal Day report from Tanzania is well worth a read!

A report from Charles's Royle Safaris' trip to Ghana will eventually arrive here. 

The ethical mammalwatching cartoons Jon mentioned are here.

Cover art: Venkat & Nicole

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 110 countries.

Charles and Jon talk to legendary mammal guide Sid Francis from his home in Sichuan.

Sid runs through a career as geographically diverse as it is professionally. After studying agriculture in the UK he worked as - among other things - a shepherd in the Falkland Islands shepherd and a school teacher in Denmark before moving to China and becoming a wildlife guide. 

We talk about how much China - and the public's interest in wildlife there - has changed over the past few years. 

Sid describes the current mammalwatching scene in Sichuan and Qinghai Provinces, both packed with a set of mouthwatering mammals. 

And in a world exclusive we learn that mammalwatchers are almost 'normal' ... at least compared to some birders!

For more information visit www.mammalwatching.com/podcast

Notes: You can contact Sid at [email protected] or through his website https://sichuanbirding.cloudaccess.net/. 

There are dozens or reports from Sichuan and Qinghai on mammalwatching's China page https://www.mammalwatching.com/gd_place/china/

Charles and Jon spoke about their trip to Sax-Zim Bog: a report is here.

There are several reviews of thermal scopes at the bottom of the mammalwatching gear page.

Cover art: Sid Francis.

Dr Charles Foley is a mammalwatcher and biologist who, together with his wife Lara, spent 30 years studying elephants in Tanzania. They now run the Tanzania Conservation Research Program at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

Jon Hall set up mammalwatching.com in 2005. Genetically Welsh, spiritually Australian, currently in New York City. He has looked for mammals in over 110 countries.