A group of US researchers at Cornell University have identified a novel approach to conservation called Pleistocene wilding.  They have developed an initiative that involves placing lions, cheetahs, elephants and camels in some parts of North America.

The plan would help endangered African animals while offer ecotourism and land-management jobs to help the struggling economies of the Great Plains and Southwest as well as helping to maintain ecosystems and boost biodiversity.

During the Pleistocene age, between 1.8 million to about 10,000 years ago, North America was home to a wide range of mega fauna.  When man arrived around 13,000 years ago he hunted the American cheetah and a type of camel to extinction.  The disappearance of these extinct creatures has left gaps in the ecosystem.  The pronghorn, for example, which exists today, an antelope-like animal for example has lost its natural predator. 

By introducing living counterparts to the extinct animals, the researchers say, these voids could be filled. So, by introducing free-ranging African cheetahs to the Southwest, strong interactions with pronghorns could be restored, while providing cheetahs with a new habitat.  Other living species that could “stand in” for Pleistocene-era animals in North America include feral horses, wild asses, Bactrian camels, Asian and African elephants and lions.

“Obviously, gaining public acceptance is going to be a huge issue, especially when you talk about reintroducing predators,” said lead author Josh Donlan, of Cornell University. “There are going to have to be some major attitude shifts. That includes realising predation is a natural role, and that people are going to have to take precautions.” Dr Donlan said that large tracts of private land are probably the most promising place to start, with each step carefully guided by the fossil record and the involvement of experts and research.

“We are not advocating backing up a van and letting elephants and cheetah out into the landscape,” he said. “All of this would be science driven.”

I can totally understand why people rave about Bali – a truly wonderful place – loved it – so serene – and very quiet. I took a flight from London to Singapore that took 12 hours, then a 2 hour wait in Changi – could be far worse places to wait! And off to Bali, on a low cost airline, Australian Airlines. It only took 2 hrs 5 mins, so only a hop and a good airline experience.

We were met at Depensar airport around 10pm by a very good natured man from the resort I'd booked and we transferred in an air con'd jeep that had seen better days to the north part of Bali, cutting through the mountains, past dark reflective lakes and rice terraces, past lush rain forest and neat houses adjoining the road and the silhouettes of Hindu temple after temple. Even in the dark, it all looked very clean and fascinating. It took two and a half hours, but we were later to realise that this was a very good time to do the transfer as during the day, the roads are unbelievably congested with men on motorbikes, men and whole families concertina-d on motorbikes, men and women riding side saddle on motorbikes, small stall holders with their wares on motorbikes, ancient lorries dripping with all manner of contents churning to get up hills and the odd short mini bus, but no tourists.

Got to the hotel about 1am, full of beans and explored the grounds, saw the sign saying do not feed the monkeys, dipped my toes in one of many hot springs and was up early the next day to sort out diving.

The place we stayed in had several natural hot spring pools: some really, really hot, some just very hot and some varying between just right to cold – total bliss. After 2 nights of staying in a very nice room, with a semi open air bathroom surrounded by tropical plants, I came back from diving and was met by a very excited friend, Marian, who told me that we had been upgraded to our own villa with its own hot spring tub kind of thing. It was very posh, and we spent hours in our own little natural spring hot tub in our own courtyard surrounded by tropical flowers and banana, mango and papaya trees – total bliss!

Very good diving, all drift diving, some strong currents, including down currents – hhhmm – oh, and dynamite fishing whilst we were in the water! This was a little scary. The previous day we'd been out diving around Menjangen Island when we unexpectedly came across several men diving along side us, breathing in compressed air from an umbilical cord leading from a boat on the surface. They had a couple of weights wrapped around their waist but no other safety equipment, like a gauge to tell them how deep they were or how long they'd been in the water.

This is extremely dangerous, as they were doing hideous dive profiles, see-sawing up and down is a great way to get air embolisms, not to mention the bends if you are in the water too long. Not only were they carrying spear guns, but they were stealing tiny baby colourful tropical fish – for sale in aquariums. The three pictures show a baby puffer fish and a clown anemone fish, both the type these pirates were trying to catch.

They had long metal rods and were poking around behind coral and in the crevices, they knew exactly what they were after – baby lion fish and butterfly fish, but very, very small ones. They coaxed or frightened them out from their hiding places, caught them in a butterfly kind of net and then put them into plastic bags and tied them to themselves. It was not a good sight.

This was not quite in the protected WWF marine reserve where I mostly dived, but they most definitely should not have been doing this. They were no more pleased to see us than me and the dive instructor I was with, were to see them. They knew they were 'in the wrong' and it was a very awkward situation under water, a little aggressive and certainly very threatening. When we got back to our dive boat, and were returning to our hotel, the Japanese instructor (a tiny little thing, with the strength of Goliath) said in Indonesian (which I picked up a fair bit of!) to the guys on the pirate boat that she was going to call the police. They were not impressed.

The next day we dived in a different part of the same marine sanctuary, when we heard this massive boom. There is only one sound, that, even under water sounds like that – explosives. I was rather scared, to put it mildly! Someone close by was dynamite fishing. It was not a good feeling, and I thought that maybe, just maybe, my time was up, and this is how it was all going to end – making enemies with Indonesians stealing tropical fish who dynamited us out of the water for revenge. But, as you can see, they did not dynamite us, but there were four explosions on that dive and they were further away than I first thought, but it was still very scary, the whole water and landscape seems to vibrate and shake, almost as if it was crying.

Apart from the dynamite fishing, I can whole heartedly recommend the unvisited northern and north east part of Bali, it's beautiful, the people serene, friendly and a privilege to have spent time there.

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