Footloose Forays is a small travel business begun in 1983 while I was still in graduate school at San Francisco State University. It has grown slowly and organically through the intervening years. I have taken over 10,000 people on various natural history outings ranging from 4-hour night hikes on Mt. Tam to three week adventures in Ecuador. I have enjoyed nearly every minute of this work. The Buddhists refer to the importance of right livelihood and I have been lucky enough to find that. I lead every single trip. Footloose Forays = Michael Ellis. I have no staff except when I enlist my lovely wife to help me. I have a very high repeat business and most trips fill up way in advance. One of the many blessings is the lovely relationships that I have with my fellow naturalists all over the world.
Currently I am concentrating on international travel and only offer a few of my favorite Footloose Forays trips in this country, mostly week-long camping in the mountains or deserts. If any of these trips interest you please feel free to contact me.
In addition to my own natural history forays, I often lead trips for a number of Bay Area organizations. I have a BS in Botany and Masters in Marine Biology. Though I firmly believe that formal schooling is only a small part of the educational process. I have been a regular contributor to the KQED-FM Perspective Series since 1988 and write the Ask the Naturalist column for Bay Nature Magazine.
March, 2010
Hello:
I just returned from a month in Tanzania. And I managed to climb
Mount Kilimanjaro with no problem. I took my hula hoop and hooped all the way
up 30 miles in my tennis shoes! Our guides and porters loved it – they had
never seen anything quite like it. You can go to YouTube and see the video from
the very top.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCOBWzCvrvw
The Footloose Forays brochure for 2010-2012 was mailed during
the month of February and
everyone should have one by now. If you do not let me know and I will
drop one in the mail. I am around until March 24 when I leave for two trips to
the Mojave Desert. Then I am back for just a few days and go to Bhutan.
I canceled the Madagascar trip next September because of
continuing political unrest. It is very sad that the National Parks are being
devastated in this impoverished land. I have added another trip to Rwanda and
Uganda at this time. Those countries have greatly healed from the instabilities
of the past and I want to encourage ecotourists to return and enjoy both the
people and the wild places that are protected in both countries. We have a
great opportunity to see our close relatives – chimpanzees and gorillas. The
mountain gorillas are one of the most charismatic animals left on the planet
and there are only 750 of them in the world. Not one is in captivity. The
entire population is in a very small mountainous area that includes parts of
Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is an area not
known for stability, to say the least. The trip description is now posted in
the Upcoming trips area of the website.
Here are two links. The first to John Hunters Blog about the
trip.
http://www.travelpod.com/z/jhunter319/3/1254245536 .
password: gorilla.
whoThe second is Matt MacPhee's photos of the
trip.http://picasaweb.google.com/matttfm/UgandaRwanda2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCI7Ok9XIgJmhew&feat=email#.
The following trips are now full but I suggest getting on a wait
list for them –
Bhutan April 2010; Tanzania and the
Serengeti February 2011 (The wait list for this trip is not long);
the Lakes
Basin trip. Mount Lassen in late
August has a little room. Thank you so much for your interest and support. I thoroughly enjoy introducing people to the wonders of the natural world across our planet. We are very good emissaries for the people of America. I hope everyone has a fantastic spring - the wildflowers should be glorious!
Fondly,
Michael
