25th January 2010 Mark O’Shea, Blood, Sweat & Snakebites, The making of  ‘O’Shea’s Big Adventure’.  Mark, veteran field herpetologist of over 60 expeditions and filming trips to the tropics, is your guide as he explains the film making process, the problems of seeking out and filming wild animals in remote locations, the excitement when the elusive quest species is found, the disappointment when things go wrong.   Illustrated with vivid Power Point images and amusing anecdotes.

Evening sponsored by Tendring Reuse & Employment Enterprise

The Royal Geographical Society was once synonymous with exploration and expeditions. During the 1970s and 1980s the RGS mounted a series of large-scale, multidisiplinary expeditions to some of the remotest parts of the world. Since then the Society seems to have turned its back on conducting its own expeditions. A significant number of Fellows wish to see a return to the heydays of the Society, they want the Society to once again mount large expeditions. However, the current RGS Council is against this return to large-scale expeditions. A Special General Meeting has been called for 18th May. If you are a Fellow or a Post-graduate Fellow of the RGS you can vote for the Resolution. If you are an interested member of the public you can voice your opinions and offer your support on The Beagle Campaign website.

Mark O'Shea has been FRGS for over 20 years and was the herpetologist on one the the RGS's most successful expeditions, the Maracá Rainforest Project in northern Roraima, Brazil, during 1987-1988.

Read his open letter of support by clicking on this link.
Up the Resolutionist

Visit the The Beagle Campaign website

Bound for New Britain (May 2008)
Snakebusters PNG 2008 pt.4

Dave was due to fly to Jakarta to present our paper on Snakebite in the Asia-Pacific Region, at a WHO conference, and I had been invited to visit the Dami oil-palm estates in West New Britain Province. I was very keen to go, there might not be any dangerous venomous snakes over there but there was a python I was particularly keen to see in the wild. This would be my first ever opportunity to search for the Bismarck ringed python, Bothrochilus boa, probably the least python-like of all New Guinea pythons, and although my visit was short, only a few days, I was thoroughly looking forward to it.

Read Mark's Complete Blog from 'Bound for New Britain' trip...

The Search for Papa Graun Moran (May 2008)
Snakebusters PNG 2008 pt.3

There are five highlands provinces in Papua New Guinea, the largest being Southern Highlands Province. I first visited in 2000 whilst filming part of an episode of O’Shea’s Big Adventure in Tari. In 2008 David Williams and I were traveling up to Moro on the northern shore of Lake Kutubu to conduct an herpetological survey for Oil Search Limited and the World Wildlife Fund. Our aim was to initiate a survey of the only fully protected snake in Papua New Guinea, the Boelen's python, Morelia boeleni, known locally as papa graun moran (father ground python).

Read Mark's Complete Blog from 'The Search for Papa Graun Moran' trip...

Island of the White Snake (April-May 2008)
Snakebusters PNG 2008 pt.2

Madang Province is one of the northern coastal provinces of PNG, and one of the more attractive and verdant parts of the country. I first came here in 1990 when I was based at the, now closed, Christensen Research Institute (CRI) on the northern coast road about 14mls north of Madang town. I was working with Oxford University’s Department of Clinical Medicine, as the herpetologist with the otherwise medical team and had come to Madang to capture the elusive but highly venomous New Guinea small-eyed snake, Micropechis ihaheka, for venom and snakebite research. Locals call this much feared snake, which can achieve lengths of over 2.0m, the wait snek (white snake) because of its light coloured body colour which contrasts with its dark head and the red-brown body rings.

Read Mark's Complete Blog from his 'Island of the White Snake' trip...