Intelligent Travel

Global Eye: Bandiagara, Mali

Bandiagara, Mali

Photographer: Romel Jacinto, San Francisco, California

Getting the Shot: I used a basic, but very capable point-and-shoot camera, the Canon PowerShot A460. Although I had another SLR-like camera on this trip, the smaller point-and-shot camera was far less intimidating to people and was easier to use to capture candid shots.

The Details: I was in Bandiagara on a bicycle tour with a small group. Bandiagara is a sleepy town and most travelers only stay in briefly to arrange trekking into Dogon country, but our small group stayed an extra day since someone got sick. That extra day gave a chance to meander and soak up the rhythm of local life. I walked around town slowly, just observing and taking photos when I could.

Most people did not want to be photographed. The others cherished it, particularly young children, and they hammed it up for the camera. This girl fell into neither of those categories and seemed completely at ease with the camera. She just seemed so content, strong and serene all at once, so I took the shot quickly and continued my slow stroll through town.

We love the vibrant colors and the way Romel captured the girl's expression. Think you've got a photo that is worthy of Global Eye? Add them to our Flickr pool.

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Voluntour of Duty

National Geographic Traveler's new intern, Catherine Pearson, writes about her own experiences as a voluntourist and is hard at work contacting other voluntour organizations to learn more about them. We'd love to hear from you about your own experiences and recommendations. Please email us with suggestions or leave them in the comments below.

Work hard, play hard. Or, in this case, do both simultaneously. Roof a house, dig a well, nurse a wounded animal … and see the sights in São Paulo.

Voluntourism, a combination of volunteering and travel, is becoming increasingly popular. But this vogue practice is not exactly new. It’s been on the radar for the last fifty years, since the beginning of the Peace Corps and Volunteer Service Overseas.

But unprecedented access to international travel has swung wide the gates to a world of opportunities. Captivity in cubicles and finite vacation time exacerbate the urge to get away and do something great. And now, there's a wave of support for these helping-inclined: Entire websites are now devoted to voluntour possibilities, and travel websites, such as Travelocity.com, have tucked in special sections for the service-savvy jet-setters.

Even more impressive, but harder to come by, are scholarships and funding for these volunteer vacations. Travelocity's Change Ambassadors program offers quarterly grants for those who earnestly desire make a difference but can’t pay their own way. Perhaps sponsoring the voluntourist has become a trend in itself.

An Inconvenient Risk to Great Apes

Here at National Geographic HQ, we have no qualms about broadcasting our love for all things monkey. After all, we work in the hallowed building frequented by the likes of Jane Goodall and Gorillas in the Mist heroine Dian Fossey.

And as it turns out, quite a few of our fellow wanderlusters have also gone ape-crazy: The Guardian says ape tourism has never been more popular. So to say we’re distressed about the recent findings on newfound, fatal respiratory threats to great apes in Africa would be to put it lightly—especially considering the germ-spreading culprits are none other than well-meaning eco-tourists.

The Guardian explains:

[The scientists’] concern follows the first evidence that chimpanzees in Ivory Coast, west Africa, died from HRSV (human respiratory syncytial virus) and HMPV (human metapneumovirus) during outbreaks at the Taï chimpanzee research station. The findings pose a major problem for those protecting the declining populations of gorillas in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, now numbering less than 650, as well as orangutans in Borneo, thought to number around 15,000. The tourist dollar is essential. It protects the endangered apes from poachers and funds vital work aimed at halting their decline. But this positive aspect of eco-tourism must now be balanced against the negative side-effects if apes, and ape tourism, are to survive.

To eradicate the risks, scientists are calling on ape tourists to wear masks, keep their distance (with at least a 23-foot buffer zone), provide proof of vaccinations, and to disinfect all clothing and footwear.

Trip Lit: In Arabian Nights

Our book critic Don George is back this month with an alluring new travel title: In Arabian Nights by Tahir Shah. As Shah explores his adopted home of Casablanca and wanders through Morocco, he also seeks to find a Berber tradition - the story in his heart. George writes:

Simply as a work of art and imagination, In Arabian Nights is an enthralling triumph, but in our lamentably divided modern world, it assumes an even greater importance, for Shah's account poignantly humanizes Arab culture, penetrating deep into usually unseen social and psychic layers. Like the bearer of a precious key, Shah leads us along meandering alleyways to an ancient door, which he unlocks and throws open onto the rich courtyard of traditional Arab custom and belief.

Visit Traveler's website to read the rest of the review, as well as George's take on two new India-inspired novels and a selection of photo books that offer glimpses into the "enigmatic colussus." And check out George's Trip Lit archive and our Ultimate Travel Library for more place-inspired reading suggestions.

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Tour Guide: Saving Animals in Africa

When traveling to environmentally fragile places, one can't help but feel a bit conflicted. But here are some Africa tours that will give you a lot to see, without leaving a big footprint (or giving you a headache).

Terra Incognita Ecotours provides direct financial benefits for conservation and empowerment for local people. For every participant traveling on the “Gorillas in the Mist” tour in Rwanda, Terra Incognita donates to the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project. They are also partners with the African Conservation Foundation and the Jane Goodall Institute. Other Terra Incognita tours include Costa Rica (in partnership with the Costa Rican Conservation Foundation), Nicaragua, and Borneo (with Red Ape Encounters and Adventures).

The 61,800-acre (25,000 hectare) Shamwari Game Reserve has its own wildlife department, breeding center, and anti-poaching unit, and its wildlife director (Johan Joubert) was voted one of South Africa’s Top Ten Conservationists by the Endangered Wildlife Trust. Since 1991, Shamwari has bred more than 5,000 head of game, rehabilitated and reseeded overgrazed land, and created 14 separate farms. Check out Ker & Downey for information about tours to Shamwari.

Image: Terra Incognita Ecotours

Travel to Kenya, Despite Unrest

Those who have safaris to Kenya booked in the near future are no doubt watching with dismay at the recent violence that broke out there in the aftermath of the disputed elections. So, what’s a traveler to do? Resident tour expert and senior editor Norie Quintos offers some advice.

Don’t cancel just yet. At this writing, the unrest has been focused mostly in the outskirts of Nairobi and tourist venues and tourists have not been targeted. According to the Kenya Tourism Board, “scheduled international carriers continue to operate daily services,” and regional airlines have had few changes in schedule. Tour operators in the country have reported little disruption in their itineraries and only minor changes. Last week, Micato Safaris provided additional security and reduced travelers’ time in Nairobi as a precaution, though interestingly, "several travelers felt Nairobi was safe and insisted on continuing with their city tour," noted spokeswoman Emily Baldwin. Some travelers with East Africa itineraries are choosing to extend their time in Tanzania and reduce or eliminate time in Kenya.

Contact your outfitter, if it hasn’t already contacted you. Most operators, including African Travel, Inc., will happily work with any clients who decide to cancel or reschedule bookings this month. Ask detailed questions such as: At what point will you cancel a trip? Are you providing additional security? Do you have contingency plans if I am in the bush and the situation worsens in Nairobi? Will you waive change fees?

Keep abreast of the situation. Log on to the State Department website. Check also the travel advisories of other countries such as the U.K. and Australia for a more complete perspective on the situation.

Check into the fine print of your trip insurance regarding cancellation, rescheduling, and other unexpected events. Some policies may restrict payouts in places with civil unrest. If you don’t have travel insurance, consider getting a policy and make sure it offers the kind of coverage you need. A good place to start is www.insuremytrip.com.

And finally, don't worry too much, particularly if your trip is scheduled for a month or more from now. As unfortunate as the bloodshed has been, Kenya has been considered one of the more stable countries in the region and its tourism infrastructure solid. Experts predict the current unrest will be short-lived.

Image: Micato Safaris

Tour Guide: UN Guide to Guides

Here's a useful tool: Friends of World Heritage has a list of community tour operators in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America that have been approved by the UN World Heritage Foundation.

Tour operators include the Shampole Community Trust in Kenya (offering eco-friendly, luxury accommodations which we wrote about here), the Talamanca Initiative in Costa Rica (a biodiversity conservation group that focuses on reducing poverty) and the Bunaken National Marine Park Management Advisory Board in Indonesia (which offers homestays and eco-friendly lodging on Bunaken Island).

One hundred percent of funds raised through the Friends of the World Heritage Fund will go to World Heritage projects. Likewise, Expedia and the UN Foundation frequently match and triple the amount already raised.

Mountain Gorilla Massacre

Last Sunday night on 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper took us to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to cover the sad story of a family of highly endangered mountain gorillas that were executed in July in Virunga National Park. There was no sense in the killings: the gorillas weren't threatening anyone, they weren't killed for meat, and the babies were not kidnapped to be sold on the black market, as has happened before. 

WildlifeDirect, one of the nongovernmental organizations monitoring the situation, suspects the gorillas were killed by people involved in the multi-million-dollar charcoal trade who are operating illegally in the national park. Since July, the situation has grown worse, as rebel militia groups have moved into the park and kicked out the park rangers who were tracking and protecting the gorillas there. For the past several months, all contact with the remaining gorilla families has been cut off (there are only about 700 of them in the wild, and half of these live in Virunga National Park). Before the July massacre, Virunga National Park operated a successful gorilla tourism program, where very small groups of travelers were permitted to view the gorillas in their natural habitat under strictly controlled conditions for a limited amount of time.  Revenue from tourism helped pay the rangers' salaries and gave them a way to support their families, who lived with them in the park.  The rangers got to know the gorillas personally, and were devastated by the murders.

Virunga National Park is a World Heritage Site, and UNESCO is monitoring the situation closely. In their news report, they stress that the killing of gorillas also has an impact on the local population:

The current fighting has also added to the human suffering of local communities around the World Heritage site and the humanitarian crisis is starting to take on catastrophic proportions. Already an estimated 425,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, including 70 park ranger staff. As a result of the conflict, a number of makeshift camps of displaced people has sprung up right next to the park, adding further pressure on its natural resources due to people desperately looking for food, firewood and building materials for temporary shelter.

 

National Geographic magazine scooped this story two weeks ago on their website, posting a video about the gorilla massacre and a page on How To Help, which lists the websites of non-profit organizations that are helping to equip and protect the rangers as well as the gorillas. Please visit their site to learn more about how you can help.

Global Eye: Togo, Africa

The Fire Dance, by Grete Howard

Photographer: Grete Howard, England.

Getting the Shot: The shot was taken on Christmas day, 2006. The Fire Dance was held in a clearing in the small village of Tinadou, just outside Kparatoa, some miles from Sokode in Togo. There was a large sign at the roadside advertising the dance. Villagers from many nearby settlements came to witness the show, as well as us. The dance takes place round about a month after the festival of cutlasses. The dancers will attempt to prove their prowess by various daring stunts. We were sitting on little wooden benches around a small clearing in the village, so the dancers were about a metre or two away from us. It was quite an intense experience. 

Maasai Inc.

African safari trips are one of the fastest-growing trends in tourism, so IT was interested to hear about an award-winning model in Kenya's Great Rift Valley, where the lodge owners partnered with the Maasai community to repopulate the dwindling wildlife and help stimulate the local economy.

When Anthony Russell, a Kenyan architect and safari tour operator, reached out to local Maasai leader John Lengio about building an eco-lodge in the Shompole region, he proposed a plan that would allow for the community to become partners in the lodge (they now own 11 percent, with the option of buying up to 80 percent of the project at any time). In return for their partnership, Russell asked that the community of over 2,000 locals be responsible for conserving the wildlife. ABC News reports:

They set aside one area just for conservation and used local Maasai men as the rangers. In seven years, the area has seen a huge increase in wildlife; the lion population, in particular, has gone from five to more than 50. The increase in wildlife means more tourists, which means more money for all.

...Last month the U.N. Development Program awarded Shompole Lodge with the   Equator Prize, one of the highest honors in eco-tourism. While there are many eco-friendly luxury lodges in Kenya, the program singled out Shompole for being unique in combining grassroots conservation with business.

Chocolate to Power Trans-Saharan Journey

On November 23, a team of Brits began the "first ever carbon-negative driving expedition." Andy Pag of London and John Grimshaw of Poole will drive their recycled BioTruck some 4,500 miles from the U.K. across the Sahara to Timbuktu in Mali, West Africa.

The catch? Their truck runs on chocolate fuel.

UK-based Ecotec has "developed a process for converting waste chocolate from a nearby factory into bio-ethanol on an industrial scale," says the BioTruck site. "Previously this waste product was thrown away in landfill sites but now the bio-ethanol can be used to make fuel for petrol cars and in the production of Biodiesel."

We thought "waste chocolate" was an oxymoron, but for now, we'll give them the benefit of the doubt:

Dino-in-Residence

In case you wondered, National Geographic is a bit like a college campus. We have a cafeteria, a whole lot of knowledgeable folks milling around, and an ongoing series of events and lectures to keep us learning. And now, for a little while at least, we also have a mascot.

This past week National Geographic unveiled a 110-million-year-old dinosaur, which is currently in residence in our lobby. The 30-foot skeleton of the Nigersaurus taqueti, (which we at IT have dubbed Nigel) is the cause celébre of the new "Extreme Dinosaur: Africa's Long-Necked Fern Mower" exhibit, which will be on display through March 18. It's also an extension of the Extreme Dinosaur story in the December issue of National Geographic Magazine, which features an introductory essay by John Updike (you can read and hear a Q&A with Updike online).

"Nigel" was discovered by Explorer-in-Residence Paul Sereno in 1997. Most of its bones were collected from the Sahara region in Niger, and it's known for having a distinctively different mouth (which reminds us a bit of a stapler). NG's Insider reports:

"It had a broad, straight-edged muzzle with more than 50 columns of tiny teeth—500 altogether—lining the jaw. The construction of its mouth enabled the Nigersaurus to work close to the ground, mowing down mouthfuls of greenery."

In his presentation at the unveiling, Sereno called Nigel and its peers the "cows of the Mesozoic."

Another cool element in Nigel's backstory is that Sereno teamed up with a group of Chicago-area high school students to help pull the exhibit together. Through an organization called Project Exploration, the students did fieldwork, visited fossil labs, and read through research studies to help supplement Sereno's excavation. The students were on hand yesterday for the unveiling, and you can learn more about the project, and the delegates here.

To learn more about Nigel's anatomy and lifestyle visit the research report published by PLoS One, the online journal from the Public Library of Science. Or come down to the lobby and check out Nigel for yourself.

Photos: Above, Kate Baylor; Below, Mike Hettwer, Project Exploration

Tour Guide: Scuba and Voluntourism in East Africa

Can't decide whether you want to safari in Africa or scuba dive in a coral reef? Well, one tour company offers a unique scuba sea safari that should satisfy your craving for both land and sea adventures.

One Earth Safaris offers "scuba sea safaris" between Zanzibar, Pemba Island, and Kenya, (where sharks and humpback whales are plentiful) with visits to places like the Samburu National Reserve and Masai Mara National Reserve for sightings of the Big Five (elephant, white rhino, buffalo, lion, and leopard). Company founder Ranjit Sondhi says that seeing the Annual Wildebeest Migration is a must when visiting East Africa. One Earth guests can also track gorillas in Rwanda and Uganda in groups from 4 to 35 people. The company is currently developing plans for an underwater hotel off of Pemba Island.

The One Earth team (comprised of ecologists, ethnologists, and naturalists) has also developed One Earth Sukuma Voluntourism, a volunteer program on a wildlife conservancy that acts as a buffer to Tsavo National Park (the largest in Kenya) and as a safe haven for buffalo, elephants, antelope, giraffes, and zebras. One Earth Safaris supports sustainable tourism, which gets a huge plus in our books.

Photo: Russell Hunkin, One Earth Safaris

Introducing: Tour Guide

Introducing "Tour Guide": IT's picks for great ways to get away. Check back in every Tuesday for new posts!

We here at Traveler love to go off the beaten track to obtain a true sense of place, but we also know that traveling can take its toll on the environment. So of course we're thrilled to find that more and more tour companies are offsetting their carbon footprints, donating to conservations efforts, and overall, becoming more eco-conscious. From Madagascar to Mexico, here are some eco-adventures that make us travel happy.

The Mesoamerican Ecotourism Alliance (MEA), which offers trekking tours into Mexico’s 300,000-acre El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve, recently joined with Trees, Water & People (TWP) to offset all of its itineraries. MEA calculates the carbon footprint for each itinerary and then makes a corresponding financial contribution to TWP, who then re-invests the money into reforestation projects, solar heaters, or fuel-efficient stoves.

CC Africa provides refuge to nearly 90 black rhinos near five of its lodges. The conservation group has raised over 5.5 million dollars in the past 15 years to fund animal conservation projects, as well as to community development projects (they have built more than 120 schools and trained 250 teachers and 4,500 students in environmental awareness) in six African countries.

Eco-Libya?

Last month, officials in Cyrene, Libya, unveiled a surprise PR blitz riddled with buzzwords like “sustainable” and “eco-tourism,” declaring the dawn of a new age for the formerly reclusive Mediterranean nation—one that’s apparently swathed in green.

The $3 billion project, dubbed the Green Mountain Sustainable Development Area, is an effort to “show the world that Libya has turned a corner—that they can fit into the modern world,” Cambridge University Professor George Joffe told the International Herald Tribune. The carbon-netural development zone would become the world’s first eco-region, and the ambitious plans include a national park, eco-friendly hotels, bio-fueled public transportation, organic farms, and the restoration of ancient ruins—currently in danger of dilapidation—on the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Rwandan Rebound

After being devastated by its countrywide genocide in 1994 (documented in the subsequent film ten years later), Rwanda has since made a significant comeback. It has pushed aside its war-torn stereotypes (as best it can) and created a tourism industry that is steadily growing, thanks to the country’s first democratically elected president, Paul Kagame, and Rosette Chantal Rugamba, the director general of the Rwanda Office of Tourism and National Parks (ORTPN).

The New York Times reported that Rugamba has several plans to keep Rwanda afloat. One of the main initiatives reserves a portion of tourism-generated proceeds for local villagers. This allows them “tangible incentives to stop poaching wildlife, cutting trees and drawing water from the national parks,” according to the Times. Her plan is to allocate five percent of all tourism revenue to a variety of community projects, including the cultivation of bamboo, construction of water tanks, and a multitude of beekeeping and handicraft programs to encourage villagers to sell their handmade items to tourists.

Bulldozing Paradise

IT prefers praising good practices. But sometimes, it's necessary to bemoan the bad. As National Geographic Traveler's ecotourism editor Jonathan Tourtellot notes in October's Destination Watch column, the Portuguese hotel chain Pestana has begun building a large hotel with a casino on the island of São Tomé and Príncipe, off the central African coast.

The hotel will be built literally on top of a historic fort from the 17th century, says Bruce Potter of the Island Resources Foundation.

WWOOF-ing ’Round the World

We here at IT know it all too well, but let's face it - traveling is an expensive hobby. From plane tickets and lodging to food and extracurriculars, wanting to see the world can put a big hole in your pocket.  But in 1971, organic farm supporter Sue Coppard got sick of not being able to afford to see the countryside, so she started a work-exchange program that has been going strong - and saving travelers money - ever since.

Originally called "Working Weekends on Organic Farms," WWOOF began as a weekend-long program in the U.K., allowing WWOOF members to work on organic farms for a couple of days in exchange for free room and board. After WWOOFers (as these volunteers are officially called) decided a weekend was not nearly long enough to suit their travel needs, the organization became "Willing Workers on Organic Farms" and eventually, expanding beyond the U.K., "World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms."

Frightening Facts

Stonehenge's proximity to highways is revealed in a Google Earch screen capture.

It takes a certain kind of über-nerd to be a researcher at National Geographic Traveler—one who takes disproportionate pleasure in determining which of the world's volcanoes are currently the most active, figuring out the Assamese name for the elephant-apple tree, and speaking in stilted Spanish with Andalusian monks. As we've already shared with you, Marilyn Terrell is one such person. Jessie Johnston is another.

In addition to her blogging duties, Jessie is responsible for fact-checking articles that get published in Traveler magazine. In the current issue, she had the daunting task of checking the World Heritage Destination Scorecard, which included not-always-favorable descriptions of 94 separate destinations. In the process of tracking down some of the more cantankerous facts, she had some geeked-out fun. (Be sure to click the hyperlinks to see what she's talking about):