2019
A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT Dear Holbrook friends, This year’s 2019 calendar marks Holbrook’s 45th anniversary! I am incredibly thankful to all of our clients spanning over four decades who have made this anniversary possible. I am also grateful to the team at Holbrook that works with passion and dedication. We call ourselves our “work family” and truly we are a community. And finally, I thank the teams of people in our destinations who make the logistics flow—most especially the group leaders, local guides, drivers, and the people who are there when the magic happens. Your evaluations and comments reflect how much they are the stars of the show. It is rare for a company, especially a family business, to reach four decades and to span two generations. I would like to acknowledge Holbrook’s founder, my mother Giovanna Holbrook, and my father Juan Holbrook who supported her and the company throughout. They continue to be a source of inspiration and encouragement for me and the team. Oftentimes, I am reminded of Jonathan Weiner’s book, "The Beak of the Finch," about evolution and the Galápagos Islands. In it, Weiner talks extensively about how we all “stand on the shoulders” of people who have come before us and give us the view we have today. For those of you who know “Mrs. Holbrook,” as she is referred to in the company, her passion for seeing the world and sharing it are still the driving force behind Holbrook today. As it happens, 2019 is also the 250th anniversary of the birth of Alexander von
THE YEAR IN REVIEW
2018 NEW DISCOVERIES | SELVA VERDE Furipterus horrens, the "Thumbless Bat," was last spotted in Costa Rica in 1977 – that is, until October 2017, when a staff member at Selva Verde spotted a roosting colony of the bats beneath one of the bungalows at the lodge. The discovery, only the fourth on record for this species in the entire Central American region, was announced in March 2018, after initial research and monitoring. Ultimately, the goal is to conduct further studies that will promote the conservation of the species on a larger scale. "We hope to forge a relationship with the research and conservation experts to do our best to protect this colony – and others, hopefully — in the future," said Andrea Holbrook.
PHOTO COURTESY OF HENRY LARA, DAVID VILLALOBOS-CHAVES, JOSÉ I. CASTILLO GÓMEZ, AND WILLY PINEDA-LIZANO
NEW DESTINATIONS | NORTHERN PERU In March, Holbrook’s VP of Program Development Pelin Karaca and Reservations Manager Kim Nyquist traveled to a still-hidden gem in Peru: the Chachapoyas province, where they explored off-the-beatenpath landmarks like Kuélap and Revash archaeological sites, Gocta waterfall, museums, pre-Columbian temples, and more. "I think Kuélap is definitely a must-see in that region," Kim reported. "It was my favorite part of the trip, because it was really, really impressive.”
MAKING CONNECTIONS | CONFERENCES Throughout the year, our dedicated specialty travel consultants journeyed over 20,000 miles to attend 18 conferences across the U.S. "It's a great way to get to know people," said Holbrook Ambassador Debbie Jordan. Depending on the conference, Holbrook sponsors talks, hosts field trips, donates auction items, and/or holds a drawing for a free trip.
Humboldt, one of the most important scientists of the modern era. During my travels, I have been fortunate to visit so many areas of Latin America where Humboldt’s enormous impact left its trace, in the names of currents and National Parks, and these experiences fueled my desire to learn more about him. In Andrea Wulf’s book, "The Invention of Nature," I learned how Humboldt was a revolutionary thinker who recognized the interconnectedness of the natural world and was among the first to understand, even as early as the late 18th century, the fragility of these connections. Now I have an entirely new appreciation for the countries that he explored—modern day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Cuba. So for 2019, we wish you and your families and communities a wonderful year filled with adventures and explorations of all kinds—perhaps to explore (or revisit) one of the areas that Humboldt loved so much and even stand on Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador where he had one of his greatest epiphanies. We hope you enjoy this photo album of 2018! With every good wish,
ANDREA HOLBROOK
P.S. In 2020 we will be celebrating our 45th birthday with a video. Help us celebrate the Holbrook experience by sending us video clips and photographs with your own amazing moments in the field!
NEW PROGRAMS | STEM EDUCATION Over the summer, Holbrook and Selva Verde Lodge hosted two inaugural programs aimed at engaging younger students with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics! In June, eight first graders from Orlando Science Elementary School experienced STEM concepts in real life, with hands-on activities in the rainforest around Selva Verde and at the geothermal springs of Arenal. In July, Holbrook partnered with the Florida Museum of Natural History to host the first Rainforest Family Camp at Selva Verde. Campers took part in workshops and a BioBlitz, then used technology to share their experiences with museum campers back in Florida.
RENEWED COMMITMENTS | CENTER FOR RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL With Andrea Holbrook serving as a board member for the Center for Responsible Travel (CREST), 2018 brought exciting new initiatives in the mission to make tourism a force for good. CREST has been at the forefront of the dialogue between the travel industry and the State Department regarding Cuba, and is bringing industry experts together to develop solutions to the growing issue of overtourism, like at the World Tourism Day Forum in September. "It is so important to ask what we can do to make our industry better for the communities and environments our travelers are enjoying," Andrea said.
FAMILIAR & NEW FACES | STAFF As we neared the end of another year, Holbrook's office staff gathered together for a professional photo on the back deck. With the 45th anniversary of Holbrook on the horizon, it's natural to reflect on the growth the company has undergone since its inception, year over year. 2018 brought new staff members, exciting partnerships, a growing network, and expanded goals and successes. But as each year passes, one constant remains at the heart of Holbrook: the commitment to our family, starting with our staff, extending to our partner organizations and in-country communities, and encompassing you, our travelers.
SEE YOU IN 2019!
ABOUT THE IMAGE I must admit that the one bird I was most eager to see in the Galápagos was the Bluefooted Booby (Sula nebouxii). Luckily, we saw our first glimpse of those bright blue feet on our first full day. That was the only Blue-footed Booby for the next few days, as we were treated to many Nazca boobies, Red-footed Boobies and frigatebirds. They can be found on most of the islands, but their numbers are declining, though, and they have the lowest population of the three booby species found in the Galápagos Islands. It was on the beach of Cerro Brujo, San Cristobal Island, that the Blue-footed Booby really gained my respect. When diving for fish, they are transformed into streamlined diving machines, plunging from 80-100 feet above at speeds up to 60 miles per hour. I changed my mind about swimming at the beach and concentrated all of my time on capturing their high-speed acrobatics with my camera. I took many photos of splashes and near-misses, but after careful observation I was eventually able to anticipate and track the dives with a fast shutter speed. This image was one of my favorites.
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CINDY CONE CINDY CONE PHOTOGRAPHY
Galápagos | Photography with Cindy Cone
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ABOUT THE IMAGE I admit, before seeing the monarch migration, I was a little skeptical. I've heard it explained so many times, by so many people, that I thought I knew what to expect: millions of butterflies, magical experience, truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Surely I was prepared for this. It turns out, however, it's impossible to expect these things, and more impossible still to articulate just how true they turned out to be. There are no words to accurately describe what it's like to stand huddled with other travelers in the morning chill, when all of a sudden, the sun warms your skin, and you hear the roaring flutter of millions of delicate wings as the monarchs burst into flight and hush the crowd into complete silence. All anyone can do in that moment is look skyward in reverence, vibrating with the knowledge that you, and the people surrounding you, are suspended in one surreal moment of nature's immense beauty that can never truly be expressed through any words, pictures, or video. PELIN KARACA VICE PRESIDENT OF PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT, HOLBROOK TRAVEL
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Mexico | Mystical Migration of the Monarchs
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ABOUT THE IMAGE I traveled to the Casanare Department in Colombia’s central-eastern region to visit some of the large cattle-ranching “hatos” (haciendas) that are at the forefront of biodiversity conservation in this part of the country. These working haciendas are turning away from intensive farming and establishing private trusts to protect the land from oil exploitation. Along the way, they combine traditional ranching with biodiversity conservation and tourism. While the main objective of my visit was to learn about these efforts and experience the wildlife that these floodplains allow during the dry season, I was deeply moved by the rich cultural traditions of this area. “Los Llaneros,” as locals call themselves, maintain distinct cultural traditions that set them apart from Colombia’s other regions. An example of this is their “joropo” dance, where colorfully clad partners twirl and swirl at the music of the harp, maracas, and cuatro guitar. This picture was taken during a traditional dance demonstration by local school kids in the town of San Luis de Palenque.
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CARLOS CARDONA ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, HOLBROOK TRAVEL
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ABOUT THE IMAGE Full of energy and in constant motion, the squirrel monkeys at Sacha Lodge in the Ecuadorian rain forest are a delight to watch. For photography groups like ours, their daredevil leaps through the vines make it a challenge to capture their image but the troops move frequently through the areas over the boardwalks and patience often pays off with great photos. Since our first visit to Sacha in 2001, the lodge has undergone many additions and added modern conveniences but the abundant wildlife here has remained some of the most easily accessible along the Rio Napo. On our most recent trip here, our group got great photos of giant river otters, poison dart frogs, toucans and hoatzins, and even anacondas. We climbed into the canopy on a tower overlooking the rainforest, fished for piranha with cane poles, and visited an indigenous community. Experiencing the wonders of the rainforest firsthand creates memories that will last a lifetime. ANN AND ROB SIMPSON
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Ecuador | Lord Fairfax Community College
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ABOUT THE IMAGE El Salvador is a country that is both raw and provocative. Considering what is going on in the news with stories of immigration and the flight from crime, it can seem like a strange choice to visit El Salvador. But it is an amazing experience; it is a country that works very hard for the relatively little tourism it receives. Your visit here is special, and as a visitor, you feel that. I took this picture on the Road Scholar program for which Holbrook is the program provider to El Salvador. We stopped at a roadside sugarcane processing stand near the town of Suchitoto. Locals stopped to buy molasses in different forms. Everything about this process was incredibly labor intensive. So many things that other countries have moved offshore or automated, in El Salvador are still done manually. Economically, this may not be a boon for El Salvadorians, but seeing the tremendous skill and labor of the people left a deep impression on me.
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ABOUT THE IMAGE Leading a group of students to Tanzania as part of our field biology class, Steve Kaye and I were slightly apprehensive as to whether or not this trip would be as wonderful as the previous two. This trip did not disappoint and ended up being familiar yet different, comfortable yet exciting. After visiting a part of the Serengeti ecosystem that we had not been to before, we explored the kopjes in the southern part Serengeti National Park. Coming over a slight hill, we found this female standing atop her very own ‘pride rock.’ We watched her descend the rocks and our eyes were drawn to movement at the base where we noticed 3 young cubs! We observed this family of four for a long time, valuing the opportunity to witness their behaviors and interactions. On this trip, we also visited Mto wa Mbu village where we were immersed in an amazing cultural experience that included everything from the biology of bananas to the proper way to make (and eat!) traditional foods. These two pictures capture the diversity of observations and experiences we were able to provide our students. Visiting Tanzania is a trip of a lifetime – over and over and over again.
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KELLY WORDEN, PH.D.
Field Biology of Tanzania | Red Rocks Community College
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ABOUT THE IMAGE We had an amazing 5 days of birding and photography in Mindo and the Tandayapa Valley, Ecuador. Located in a transitional area, it is one of the most biologically diverse regions of the planet. It is part of the Choco biogeographic region that starts in Panama and continues into Colombia and then into northern Ecuador. The area is home to approximately 70 Choco endemic species and in our short time here we had seen about 2 dozen of them. One of the targeted birds that had eluded us was the Pale-mandibled Aracari. Our final stop was for lunch at the Restaurante Mirador Los Bancos before our drive back to Quito. To our surprise and delight, nine of these aracaris flew in to dine just outside our table window! We were very happy to add this beauty to our life lists. I was able to get quite a few photos with various groups at the banana feeders, but I liked this portrait of one solitary aracari best. CINDY CONE CINDY CONE PHOTOGRAPHY
Ecuador | Photography with Cindy Cone
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ABOUT THE IMAGE One of the most untouched and beautiful areas of the world, Patagonia includes parts of Chile and Argentina at the southernmost tip of South America. Our group traveled here aboard the Australis expedition cruise ship enjoying spectacular glaciers, endemic seabirds, penguins, and even leopard seals known locally as the wolves of the sea. After many decades, these icy wonderlands developed when compacted layers of snow accumulated under great pressure to form glacial ice. When ice chunks break off a glacier into the water, it is called calving. Watching calving is surreal as you first see the massive building-sized chunk of ice fall off into the water, then seconds later you hear the loud booming thunder as you watch the ripples reach your cruise ship a safe distance away. Scientific measurements have shown that these ice fields of southern Patagonia are melting at an alarming rate as the effects of global warming due to pollutants and carbon emissions reach the ends of the earth. The expiration date on these glaciers may soon be up and those who have witnessed their majesty may have only stories to tell their grandchildren.
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Patagonia | Lord Fairfax Community College
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ABOUT THE IMAGE Santa Cruz was the fifth and final island that we visited in the Galápagos archipelago. Each island had its own unique geography, flora, and fauna, presenting our group with vistas that we had never seen before (and, indeed, didn’t know existed!) day after day. The island of Santa Cruz is most famous for its large population of tortoises. My students and I were fascinated to watch these lumbering, elegant creatures as they foraged ever so slowly. We capped our Galápagos tour with a visit to the Charles Darwin Research Station. There we viewed many of the species that are unique to these islands and learned about the research (historical and ongoing) that laid the groundwork for modern evolutionary theory. Just outside the Station, I noticed an iguana relaxing on the road, as casual as could be, yet strikingly otherworldly to me and my students. “Remember the Galápagos,” it seemed to say, “Where the iguanas freely roam the streets!” It was an appropriate reminder of how the unexpected is the norm on these unique and beautiful islands. None in our group will every forget this unique educational experience. ERIC J. SIMON, PH.D. PROFESSOR, NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE
Galápagos Islands | New England College
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Deadline to submit photos for 2020 calendar
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ABOUT THE IMAGE Our entire group was eating dinner when we spotted the swarming action occurring on this spectacular, 20-foot-high century plant on the grounds of our hotel in Paracas, Peru. For nearly an hour, we got “spaghetti arms” while our cameras and flashes got heavier as we held them overhead, taking multiple shots of these creatures of the night diving in and out of the beautifully structured blooms to get their fill. With their tongues fully extended and pollen covering their noses and faces, the bats would dive head-first into the flower for quick seconds, emerge, take a few laps around the plant, and repeat. Their speed made it extremely difficult to get the shot. I was pleased to get this photo featuring four of the bats in one frame. Our guide, Eliacin, hung out with us the entire time as we all joked and laughed about our sore arms trying to get the perfect picture. One of the great things about these trips is the camaraderie— you start as strangers and end as family. It warmed my heart as Eliacin (below) took a precious moment with these local children in Pachar, Peru to let them see up close with his binoculars.
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TRACEY ROBERTSON
Peru | Birding, Photography, Natural History
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ABOUT THE IMAGE Every day we are surprised by a new dawn but it is worth waiting to see how the night falls in the bay of Havana. Beautiful colors that make you sigh and wish that this part of the day was eternal. Havana, beautiful Havana, is a part of its great colors that everyone should know. JESUS GONZALEZ
Cuba
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Image by Todd Gustafson
ABOUT THE IMAGE Would Costa Rica be the same after twenty years? I saw similar fauna and flora on both Holbrook trips (1997 Elderhostel Naturalist Study; 2017 Road Scholar Photography), but in different locations. Instead of hiking jungle trails in 1997 to spot birds and animals, abundant wildlife in 2017 were in ecological parks, breeding farms, butterfly observatories, and similar places. The Hummingbird trio picture was taken at a lunch stop that had bird feeders. My favorite place on both trips was the Selva Verde Rainforest Reserve and Lodge.
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BRUCE C. STRAITS
Costa Rica | Digital Photography in Nature, Road Scholar
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JANUARY — GALÁPAGOS
FEBRUARY — MEXICO
MARCH — COLOMBIA
APRIL — ECUADOR
MAY — EL SALVADOR
JUNE — TANZANIA
JULY — ECUADOR
AUGUST — PATAGONIA
SEPTEMBER — GALÁPAGOS
OCTOBER — PERU
NOVEMBER — CUBA
DECEMBER — COSTA RICA
ABOUT THE COVER IMAGE It's the great Namib Desert at Sossusvlei where a road winds through the massive orange dunes revealing a herd of gemsbok. The size of the dunes, the absolute flat ground and the crystal clear air fooled us into thinking we could just walk a few meters and get a shot of a lifetime. Three kilometers later four intrepid photographers were at last in position as the gemsbok grazed on delicate grass shoots that had sprouted after an unexpected rain shower. The best shots were when they put their heads up and regarded us between bites. COVER — NAMIBIA
TODD GUSTAFSON
Namibia | with Gustafson Photo Safari
3540 NW 13th St. . Gainesville, FL . 32609 Toll-free: 800-451-7111 | Local: 352-377-7111 holbrooktravel.com | travel@holbrooktravel.com | holbrooktravel.com/blog PLEASE RECYCLE