Lost Worlds and New Species

by Neil Woodburn on

With so many species endangered and dying off due to man’s encroachment on their natural habitat, it
was with much happiness that I ran across a story on MSN about an expedition to a remote corner of Indonesia awash with rare and new
species.

Scientists are dubbing this newly discovered region as a modern day “Lost World” where man may have
never stepped foot and a cornucopia of species has burgeoned as a result. 

Eleven scientists from Australia, Indonesia, and America helicoptered into the area last December.  Shortly
after landing, they identified the very first bird that flew by them as a new species.  Over the course of their
expedition, they would come to discover 20 new species of frogs and four new butterfly species.  They also came
across what is believed to be largest rhododendron flower ever discovered (six inches across) and a Golden-mantled Tree
Kangaroo that was believed to be extinct.  In addition, the expedition not only snapped the world’s first
photographs of a male Berlepsch’s Six-Wired Bird of Paradise, but also captured its never-before-seen mating
dance. 

Many of these fascinating creatures can be seen in a wonderful slide show on the MSN site.  Check them out now
before logging efforts encroach on their virgin lands and they disappear from this planet once again. 

 

Red Corner: Biking through Chernobyl Redux

by Neil Woodburn on

Yesterday’s post about Elena’s motorcycle tour through the ghost towns of Chernobyl has, once again, revived the controversy on whether her photo log was faked or not. I’ve received a couple of emails mentioning this, and recall that it was a big issue when the site was making news a year or so ago.

Frankly I don’t care.

I would normally be rather angry to fall for a bogus website, but I think the naysayers here are missing the point. If Elena did indeed fake her motorcycle tour through Chernobyl, she was nonetheless able to raise a tremendous amount of awareness about the dangers of nuclear energy, the agony of those who suffered and died because of the tragedy, and the plight of those still suffering as a result. Even if it all was a big pack of lies, Elena’s website has carried a very powerful message to countless people who probably haven’t thought about Chernobyl since 1984.

For those of you still on the fence regarding the legitimacy of Elena’s claims, take a moment to check out a couple of recent books whose authenticity no one has questioned. The most powerful, Zones of Exclusion: Pripyat and Chernobyl is a collection of 190 color photographs taken by Robert Polidori that are far more sobering than what appears on Elena’s website (although most are similar in vein). Described as a “coffee table book,” it’s hardly the cheerful conversation piece I’d want sitting in my living room, despite its high artistic quality.

A more recent book that is getting a lot of good press is Wormwood Forest by Mary Mycio. Mycio focuses much more on the effects of the disaster on the natural surroundings of Chernobyl. She discusses the ghost towns, the squatters, environmental damage, and how she came to the sobering statistic of the number of humans affected by the disaster: 5.85 million. Although I haven’t had the chance to read the book yet, it seems to be the most up-to-date, all-inclusive profile of the disaster and its impact on the world today.

I’ll certainly read it thoroughly, however, before hitching a ride on Elena’s Kawasaki–whether she has one or not.

Collegiate Travel Advice

by Neil Woodburn on

College
students have a rap for telling it like it is. 

There’s rarely any sugar-coating or beating around the bush.  When something sucks, they tell you it
sucks in the most truthful, succinct way possible: “This sucks!”

It was therefore, with a sense of nostalgia that I came across an amusing article of travel tips compiled solely by college
students.

Journalist Janet Eastman spent five months accompanying 700 students on a Semester-at-Sea program.  At its
conclusion, she asked the students to email her the best travel advice they learned on their journey.  The results
were refreshingly candid. 

In today’s age of worry-warts, paranoia, bird flu, kidnappings, and other travel horrors, it is so very nice
to hear from a generation who can throw caution to the wind, as the saying goes. 

The basic theme that seemed to emerge fell along the lines of, “Eat everything and diarrhea be
damned.”  This carpe diem approach included such recommendations as, “talk to strangers,”
“be prepared to squat,” “forget your puritanical inhibitions,” and “be
selfish.”

Such collegiate council, however, was also balanced with some very wise and seasoned advice.  This
shouldn’t come as a surprise.  College students are far more apt to embrace every aspect of their travels
and see things through a different pair of eyes than the typical tourist.  “Don’t deny a fellow human
being his or her humanity” was the most touching lesson absorbed by some college student on his travels and
passed on as his most learned advice.

 

Banff Mountain Film Festival

by Neil Woodburn on

Something I really, really look forward to every year around this time is the Banff Mountain Film Festival.  Of
course, the festival itself (which usually takes place in early November), is already over, but its spirit lives on
with a traveling road show that highlights the best films of the festival.

The festival is an annual event held in the beautiful town of snowy Banff.  Throughout the year, some 300
films are submitted to the festival by amateurs and professionals alike.  A jury boils the selection down to the
best fifty, which are then screened in
Banff.  At the conclusion of the festival, the best 15 or so are then spliced into a reel, put in a van, and
toured around the world.  In 2006, the tour will run through Canada in February, America in March, and then move
on internationally.  Check out the schedule here
before you miss it in your home town.

Each film has to have an outdoor theme, but that is pretty much the only rule.  As a result, the final reel is
as varied as the outdoors.  Films, which vary in length from one minute to more than an hour, capture the very best
of what the natural world has to offer; rock climbing, hang gliding, kayaking, mountain biking, exploration, ice
climbing, BASE jumping, and more.  This year’s Grand Prize winner, Sur le fil des
4000, follows two climbers as they attempt to summit all 82 Alpine peaks over 4000 feet.  Another winner,
this one for Best Film on Mountain Sports, captures the exploits of a 79-year-old paraglider in
Poland. 

Every year, the films in this festival are simply mesmerizing.  They are beautiful, inspirational, and in some
cases, even quite hilarious.  I simply can’t say enough about this festival.  Sure, it always makes me
feel like a lazy city-dweller, but sometimes that’s just the kick in the pants I need to get motivated. 
Anyone up for some paragliding?

 

A Look at Travel Guides

by Erik Olsen on

A very interesting piece in Publisher’s Weekly about the history and current business of travel guides. Read this one. The piece takes a look at how travel guides have evolved due to changes in the marketplace and a morphing of people’s travel habits. It discusses how the (now quite valuable) Baedeker guides of the late 19th and early 20th centuries set the stage for travel with basic guides about mostly large, well-known popular places. This was back when travel was more of a luxury available to the rich, and long before anyone had even heard of adventure travel, let alone before there was a guide for places like Azerbaijan or Papua New Guinea. Now, with airline travel so much easier and more affordable, and a much more itinerant middle, nee leisure class, guides have evolved to cater to very specific wants, and have become guides that both discuss the best places to go as well as educate.

The list of guides mentioned here is vast. From Fodors to Lonely Planet to Let’s go and on and on, the piece offers a really interesting look at how this industry we all know, love and depend on has changed.