What Sir David Taught Us — 100 Years of Falling in Love with the Wild

The right place and time for wildlife encounters that may not exist in a decade

On the 8th of May this year, Sir David Attenborough turned 100. The BBC marked the moment at the Royal Albert Hall, joined by the Prince of Wales, Judi Dench, Olivia Colman and Sigur Rós. And around the world, countless people felt a quiet gratitude for the man who showed us the world we live in and made us fall in love with it.

At Travellers’ Tales, we’ve been thinking about what that means for how we travel.

The animals he made us love

When Life on Earth aired in 1979, it redefined natural history television. A generation grew up knowing that a mountain gorilla has a personality, that humpback whales sing, that the deep ocean is stranger than science fiction, and that all of it is worth protecting.

A gorilla named Pablo, whom Attenborough first encountered when the animal was three years old was one of the most important moments of his filmed life. Pablo went on to lead his own group, and the story of their decades-long relationship is the subject of one of Netflix's recent documentaries.

There is the moment in Planet Earth II when a marine iguana hatchling, sprints across the rocks of the Galápagos while racer snakes pursue it in a sequence watched, and rewatched, by millions. There were blue whales, elephants, snow leopards and countless other wonders both beautiful and baffling.

Attenborough’s work and the best wildlife journeys share the same underlying logic: you cannot care deeply about something you’ve never encountered.

Travellers’ Tales will arrange encounters with wildlife and landscapes from polar bears in the Arctic to Golden Eagles in Mongolia.

Ladakh, India — Snow Leopard Country 

Best time to go: December-February

In the depths of winter, snow leopards descend to lower altitudes following their prey, making sightings possible. Fewer than 8,000 remain in the wild. With expert local trackers, we can arrange a private trek into one of the most remote and beautiful landscapes on Earth. This is the terrain that inspired Peter Matthiessen’s The Snow Leopard, one of the most celebrated travel‑nature books ever written. In 1973, Matthiessen trekked into Nepal in search of the animal. He never saw one. And yet the book, is a profound meditation on quest, impermanence and the wilderness itself.

Andasibe, Madagascar — Island Lemurs

Best time to go: April-October

More than 90% of the wildlife in Madagascar is endemic, existing nowhere else. To travel here is genuinely unlike anywhere else, a country that broke away from the supercontinent over 100 million years ago and evolved entirely on its own. Explore the rainforests of Andasibe where the Indri lemur, the largest of the species, sings at dawn. The dry season brings the clearest skies and the best visibility in the forests. Over a hundred species of lemur call Madagascar home. Most are endangered. All of them are extraordinary.

Samburu, Kenya — With Elephant Watch Safari and Saba Douglas-Hamilton 

Best time to go: June to October

In the rugged semi-arid landscape of Samburu the Ewaso Nyiro River is the lifeline that wildlife crowd to in the dry season. Herds of elephants. Lions. Leopards, and the Samburu Special Five.

We are delighted to partner with Elephant Watch Safari, the camp founded by legendary elephant conservationist Iain Douglas-Hamilton and now run by his daughter Saba Douglas-Hamilton. Saba is a wildlife filmmaker, conservationist, and presenter of the BBC's Big Cat Diaries. With Saba as your host, as stay here is not just a safari, but conservation in action.

Kenya also holds one of the rarest wildlife stories of recent years. In Laikipia, photographer Will Burrard‑Lucas captured the first high‑quality images of a wild black leopard in Africa after months of camera trapping. His book The Black Leopard is the account of that patient quest and a reminder that the extraordinary still exists for those who know where to look.

Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve, South Africa – Big Five Country

Best time to go: May to September

Few people have shaped our understanding of the natural world like Sir David Attenborough. At Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve, in the Greater Kruger, that same sense of wonder is everywhere. This is Big Five country. Lion prides move through the grasslands, leopard sightings are among the most exceptional in Africa, elephant herds gather at waterholes, buffalo graze in powerful numbers and rhino conservation remains central to the reserve’s story. With expert rangers and trackers, every drive becomes a lesson in behaviour, patience and the quiet drama of the wild.

Across Sabi Sabi’s four distinct lodges, the safari experience is rooted in conservation and connection. Here, the extraordinary is not staged. It is heard in the dawn chorus, traced in fresh leopard tracks, and seen in unforgettable moments when Africa’s greatest wildlife reveals itself.

The Window

When you go matters as much as where you go. June in Samburu, winter in Ladakh, the dry season in Madagascar - these are the moments when you can still witness wildlife that may not be here in a decade. But the window is also larger than a travel calendar. It’s the chance to care, before it’s too late, through journeys that support nature and the communities protecting it.

Attenborough has spent a century revealing a world that is astonishing and under threat. Seeing it firsthand changes people in a way no documentary can. Travellers who care become part of the solution: supporting camps that fund conservation, guides whose livelihoods depend on wildlife, and communities that choose protection because visitors make it worthwhile. Ultimately, we protect what we love and love what we know. Travel, at its best, helps us fall in love.

He spent 100 years pointing. We’d like to help you look while there is still time.

Read alongside: 

The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen

A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough

The Black Leopard by Will Burrard-Lucas

The Last of Earth by Deepa Anappara