‘The natural world has carried on as normal’

Lynx in Spain, lemurs in Madagascar, snow leopards in Ladakh… they’re still there, and in some cases have gone forth and multiplied. Andrew Purvis introduces eight pages of inspiration for your next wildlife holiday

As we humans sat largely grounded and gripped by the global emergency of 2020, the natural world carried on as normal. Seasons came and went, epic migrations still happened, the dramas of life and death played out much as they had for millennia on the plains of the Serengeti and in the teeming waters of the Indian Ocean.

For some animals, the lower human footfall of Covid times brought benefits. Some became bolder, encroaching on towns and cities, others bred more successfully or returned to historic haunts, as our news items overleaf reveal. There were, of course, casualties too as poachers took advantage of closed safari lodges and reduced policing by rangers.

But there has been plenty of good news – and that is what this wildlife special is about. Beavers are now at large in parts of the UK – and lynx could be next. Record numbers of grey seal pups were born in Norfolk last year and 58 blue whales were seen in the South Atlantic compared to one in the previous decade.

Opportunities for wildlife watchers are more varied than ever as rewilding projects take root close to home and “citizen science” further afield gives holidaymakers the chance to contribute data at the press of a smartphone button. As our travel dreams have grown in a year of going nowhere, the world has shrunk as operators push further into the wildest corners of Patagonia, Papua New

Guinea and Sumatra, all featured in our round-up of 30 great wildlife holidays.

We cannot travel at the moment, but as the world opens up again, make 2021 the year to book a wildlife trip to remember. Your presence – and cash – will let animals continue to carry on as normal.