Angkor Wat Bike Race attracts cyclists for charity

by Jessica Marati on


This past weekend, more than 600 cyclists turned out at dawn for the annual Angkor Wat Bike Race and Ride at the temple complex outside Siem Reap, Cambodia. As the sun rose behind the main temple, cyclists shot off to tackle a 100 kilometer course, a 30 kilometer course, and a breezier 17 kilometer course.

I’m hard pressed to think of a more magical way to experience the temples of Angkor Wat than on a bicycle at sunrise. Throw in a group of passionate cycling companions and a great cause, and you’ve got the makings of a life-changing experience.<

Now in its sixth year, the Angkor Wat Bike Race is organized and hosted by Village Focus International, a non-profit organization that empowers local leaders to serve vulnerable communities in Cambodia and Laos. This year, the event raised more than $50,000 to support four Cambodian slum schools and a shelter for survivors of sex trafficking.

Participants included a mix of Cambodian cycling clubs, local ex-pats, and a small group of international regulars who return to Siem Reap each year just to participate in the race. From the photos in our gallery, it’s not difficult to see why they keep coming back.

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Zimbabwe has mixed success stopping rhino poaching

by Sean McLachlan on


Zimbabwe has seen an increase in rhino poaching this year, the government newspaper The Herald reports.

At least 23 of the 700 or so black and white rhinos in the country were poached this year, but authorities managed to arrest 37 poachers and horn dealers. Rhino horns are popular for folk medicine, especially in Asia where they fetch high prices. One tactic of the poachers is to poison water holes, which kills not just the rhinos but any animal that drinks there.

More than $4 million is being spent to protect the animals, the government says, including implanting radio transmitters into the horns of 100 rhinos this year.

Zimbabwe isn’t the only country facing this problem. The Huffington Post reports that South Africa is doing more to train park workers on how to investigate incidents of poaching. Several poachers were killed in shootouts with authorities earlier this year, but that didn’t stop 341 South African rhinos from being poached in the first 10 months of the year, more than in all of 2010.

Photo of rhino in Matopos National Park, Zimbabwe, courtesy Susan Adams.

Lonely Planet launches Wenzani travel app for iPhone and iPod touch

by McLean Robbins on

Travel guide favorite Lonely Planet has joined the app game with the launch today of Wenzani, a free app for for the iPhone and iPod touch. Wenzani – a Zulu greeting which means “what are you doing?”- brings together recommendations from Lonely Planet and other top travel publishers along with local experts, and users’ social networks.

“It’s creating a personalized guide on-the-go,” said Jenny Fielding, Wenzani’s CEO. “Wenzani is designed for the social generation, allowing users to tap into leading content from multiple expert sources with socially curated recommendations.”

The app contains three main features. The first? Recommendations drawn from Lonely Planet, Frommer’s Travel and DK Eyewitness, along with other expert sources including BBC Travel, Time Out, and Hearst. It’s the first time we’ve seen competitors come together to form one broad-based app, something we’re excited to explore. Wenzani also promises “content according to context and relevancy, taking into consideration the user’s location and their social network, so that the information is constantly updated while on the go.” Soon, Wenzani will filter by other factors such as weather, time of day, and whether the user is a local or visitor, so it becomes even more tailored and relevant to the users’ needs in real time.

This is something we’ve always wanted to see- I don’t want to go on a walking tour by the lake if it’s 30 degrees and rainy! The third portion is the social media integration which allows users to connect with their friends and other travelers in order to share their own personal experiences and recommendations. Users can browse their friends’ entries and recommendations, create their own listing to add into the guide, or ask a question to the community (e.g. “Where should I get sushi in midtown Manhattan?”) to get immediate answers pushed onto their mobile device. Wenzani also has a Facebook web app to allow users to integrate recommendations from Facebook into the guide.This seems like it will be the most or least useful portion of the tool, depending on how connected and active your social network is in the area where you’re traveling.

From what we can tell, this app promises to be a powerful addition to the suite of travel tools we already have handy on our iPhones. Apps for Android and other platforms will launch in early 2012.

Introducing Wenzani from Wenzani on Vimeo.

Worlds largest insect discovered in New Zealand?

by Kraig Becker on

New Zealand’s Little Barrier Island holds the unique distinction of being the home of the world’s largest insect species – the giant weta. This endangered bug, which resembles a very large cricket, can weigh as much as a small bird and has a wingspan that can exceed seven inches across. The creepy-critters were once common throughout New Zealand, but the introduction of rats, and other pests, by Europeans have all but eradicated the insects there.

The giant weta made headlines across the globe recently, when a former American park ranger by the name of Mark Moffett claimed to have found the largest weta ever documented. The story was accompanied by a picture of the creature happily nibbling away on a carrot while sitting in the palm of Moffett’s hand. But New Zealander’s who have seen the photo say the bug is actually average in size and probably not anywhere close to the biggest ever.

Moffett says that he, and two companions, searched the Little Barrier Island for two days before discovering the female weta that is in the photograph. When they did find her, they offered the carrot up as food, and she eagerly accepted the meal, despite the fact she was being held by a human. They let her eat long enough to get her fill and for them to snap the photos, before releasing her back into the wild. The images later turned up in the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper, which proclaimed it the “world’s biggest insect.”

But the kiwi’s aren’t sure what all the fuss is about. They say that the bug shown in Moffett’s photo is not exceptional in any way and that even feeding them carrots is not out of the norm. And while the creatures are indeed listed as endangered, they are said to number in the thousands both on Little Barrier and Motuora Islands. In fact, New Zealander Ruud Kleinpaste, who is a trustee of Little Barrier Island, says that it is not unusual to find them while hiking there. He does acknowledge that the publicity is good for the species however, making more people aware of their existence and the efforts made to prevent their extinction.

I’m not sure what part of this story is more unnerving. The fact that a giant carrot eating bug was found in New Zealand or that it is so common there that the locals aren’t even impressed. Still, the story is another reminder of all the amazing lifeforms that we share this planet with. That is, unless you can’t stand bugs, in which case you’re probably in favor of letting the giant weta disappear.

[Photo courtesy of The Telegraph]

Video of the Day: Traffic in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietman

by Mike Barish on

Everyone I know who has spent any time in Vietnam has bemoaned how challenging it is to cross the streets there. It’s like a game of Frogger, but the stakes are much higher. This time lapse shows just how chaotic and frenetic the streets of Ho Chi Minh City actually are. The number of motorbikes along is staggering. Add to that roundabouts, limited traffic signage and pedestrians and you have yourself some organized chaos. We recommend that you look both ways (heck, look up and down while you’re at it) before crossing the street.