Above picture: “Laysan Albatross in Flight”, linocut by Caren Loebel-Fried, donated for the Mouse-Free Marion Project’s auctions aboard the Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025 voyage
The Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025 voyage to Marion and Prince Edward Islands will take place between 24-31 January 2025 aboard the 2550-passenger cruise ship MSC Musica. It will be a seven-night cruise, departing from and returning to Durban, South Africa. The Mouse-Free Marion (MFM) Project team will be aboard in force, undertaking several activities and events in order to increase awareness for the project and to raise much-needed funds.
Information on some of the planned activities and events aboard follow.
Accepting pledges for the MFM Project’s Sponsor a Hectare scheme
By the end of the voyage the MFM Project team expects this Marion Island map will be covered with albatross stickers, each marking a pledged hectare (or more); so far 8450 hectares have been sponsored
The MFM Project team will staff an information desk throughout the voyage from where team members will answer questions and accept pledges for the Sponsor a Hectare scheme. Those making pledges will be asked to place an albatross sticker onto a large map of the island to mark their sponsorship. They will also be entered into an exciting raffle for a one-of-a-kind limited edition pair of CL 10×30 Swarovski binoculars with the coordinates of Marion Island engraved on them, kindly donated by Andrew Whysall of Whylo Distributers.
How many more 100-ha blocks will be exposed by the end of the voyage?
Get up close and personal with Marion Island
Flock to Marion AGAIN! 2025 presents an incredible opportunity to witness the awe-inspiring seabirds of the Southern Ocean. Although regulations prevent direct access to both Marion and Prince Edward Islands, on the voyage the MFM Project team will be bringing the island directly to the passengers aboard through an immersive Virtual Reality experience. Thanks to the kind support of Habitat XR, we will have several Virtual Reality headsets available on the voyage showcasing footage captured at iconic locations around the island. Passengers are encouraged to visit the MFM Project’s information desk onboard the MSC Musica to experience the island’s incredible seabirds.
Kitty Harvill, MFM Project’s Artist-in-residence aboard, will give a lecture
Kitty Harvill with her poster for the first World Albatross Day with its theme of “Eradicating Island Pests” on 20 June 2020. “I divided the paper into 22 segments and painted each of the 22 species of albatrosses”
Kitty Harvill, the MFM Project’s award-winning Artist-in-residence, who will be painting near the MFM information desk, will also give a lecture entitled “Painting with Purpose. Art in the Service of Conservation”. She writes: “A picture is worth a thousand words. If this is correct, then what better way than to use artwork to raise awareness for conservation issues? As in all times of turmoil and chaos, humans have turned to artists to raise awareness and touch the hearts and minds in ways that go beyond words. The ability and passion to work for environmental change through the medium of artistic expression will be the subject of my lecture. Sharing artworks created by the collective Artists & Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN; which I co-founded) in the last five years in support of World Albatross Day, including posters and videos as well as other Projects, I will explore visual works as a call to action”.
Members of the MFM Project team will be lecturing on the ecology and conservation of Marion Island and on the MFM Project during the voyage; and some will also be on deck guiding.
Silent and live auctions will have close to 50 items up for bidding
A signed print of an Antipodean Albatross entitled “Subantarctic Soaring”, donated by New Zealand artist Hannah Shand, is just one of the many items to be auctioned aboard
The MFM Project will hold two auctions during the voyage. Bids will be accepted for items displayed at the project’s information desk during daylight hours in a silent auction. On the last night a live auction will be held in the ship’s theatre with well-known author and birder Peter Harrison MBE as the auctioneer, assisted by Mark Anderson, the CEO of BirdLife South Africa. Peter is a Patron of the MFM Project; he will be auctioning a signed copy of his latest book SEABIRDS: The New Identification Guide. Other items to be auctioned include original artworks and signed prints donated by Kitty Harvill, Caren Loebel-Fried, Holly Parsons (who will be aboard) and by many other artists, and books on seabirds (including the now rare two-volume “Oceanic Birds of South America”, published in 1936 and signed by the author, Robert Cushman Murphy). Several wildlife experiences in Africa will also be auctioned, and a special edition, Marion Island Wandering Albatross-inspired piece of jewellery will also be available. A catalogue of the auction items, with photographs and descriptions, will be available for viewing during the voyage.
Showing the Mouse-Free Marion Project colours: team members will be exercising early in the morning on deck
Ready to run in the early light: John Cooper, MFM Project News Correspondent (left) with Brazilian biologist, Eduardo Bicudo on Table Mountain, in their Mouse-Free Marion active shirts
Led by the MFM Project’s News Correspondent, team members plan to run, jog or walk as a group every morning around dawn in their MFM active shirts (which have a flying Wandering Albatross on the back), completing laps on a suitable deck – if the weather allows! Keeping fit by participating in healthy activities is important for the team, as its members need stamina for the long hours they all put in to the project. Anyone aboard who feels the need to stretch their legs will be most welcome to join us for a lap or two (and order their own MFM Project shirt). Mouse-Free Marion cycling shirts can also be ordered at the MFM information desk.
A limited number of cabins aboard the MSC Musica remain available. So, if anyone wants to join the voyage there is still time to book!
John Cooper, News Correspondent, Mouse-Free Marion Project, 17 December 2024
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“Seabird Sunset”. A White-chinned Petrel in flight painted for World Albatross Day by Kitty Harvill; after a photograph by Dimas Gianuca
The Mouse-Free Marion Project is a registered non-profit company (No. 2020/922433/08) in South Africa, established to eradicate the invasive albatross-killing mice on Marion Island in the Southern Ocean. The project was initiated by BirdLife South Africa and the South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. Upon successful completion, the project will restore the critical breeding habitat of over two million seabirds, many globally threatened, and improve the island’s resilience to a warming climate. For more information or to support the project please visit mousefreemarion.org.
