A friend of mine sent me this link to the impressive motorcyle ride of Frank
Surgener who cycled his way from Australia to Cambodia to raise money for Cambodian poverty. The opening flash goes on
forever, but once inside the pictures and the story is pretty nice. I salute folks who do this kind of thing. A nice
mix of travel and activism.
In Search of the Tasmanian Tiger
The Tasmanian Tiger is an
elusive beast. The last one in
captivity died in the Hobart zoo in 1936, and the tiger is officially extinct. But in Australia, ranchers, hunters
and hikers claim every so often that they see one of the near-mythical beasts skulking in the tall grass. SF
Chronicle Editor John Flinn went in search of the Tasmanian Tiger and lived to tell about it. Read his story here.
Rebuilding After the Tsunami
South Asians are committed to rebuild one of their top industries
following the horrible tsunamis: tourism. From Malaysia to Indonesia to Thailand the countries are coming together to
rebuld the broken infrastructure and get out the word that the region is still a safe and sane destination.
Places like Thailand have suffered miserably. They expect losses in tourism revenue of almost a billion dollars. The
key for us, I think, is not just to give money to aid orgaznizations, but to put places like Thailand on our travel
itineraries. Go there and spend some money.
Volunteer Vacations
No, this does not mean you are volunteering TO GO on vacation. It means you volunteer WHEN YOU GO on vacation. The
difference is fairly huge.
We’ve blogged about these trips before, even the
Earthwatch trips specifically. But
this peice that ran on CNN
was a nice summary of what you can expect when you head out on a “volunteer vacation”…that is, head out to work for
some scientific or NGO enterprise…for example digging up bones in the Gobi Desert. Or fixing water filtration systems
in India. It may seem strange that you would pay to go on vacation and work, but it’s big biz as people slough away
from their desk jobs to release their inner Indiana Jones.
Sadly, these tris aren’t cheap. Costs for one- to three-week Global Volunteers projects range from $650 to $2,595. In
2004, the average price for a one-to-three week Earthwatch project was $1,850, with projects ranging in price from $800
to $3,500. Travel expenses to the group meeting point are not included for either organization.
Explorer’s Club Doc Fest: The Last Wild Horse: The Return Of Takhito Mongolia
Still here at the
Explorer’s Club in
New York City. It’s blizzarding outside, which is actually pretty damn cool. What a great place to be when there is a
blizzard. The fire is going in the reading room, and a stuffed seven-foot polar bear is watching over the event with a
hungry glint in his eye. I’ve had a great time so far. I’ve been chatting up all sorts of filmmakers and adventurers. I
talked earlier with the Executive Producer of The One Degree Factor and the whole Strange Days On Planet Earth series,
Mark Shelley. Cool dude. He lives in Monterey and gets to do these amazing nature documentaries serving as
cinematographer too. I told him I was very impressed by the
camera work and editing of these films, and we had a nice
chat about how far nature films have come.
Anyway. Just watched the film that won for the Best Short Film, The Last
Wild Horse: The Return Of Takhito Mongolia, a really wonderful story about wild horses, a species known as
Przewalski’s horse, that is being reintroduced into the Mongolian wilderness. Shot in HD, it was amazingly colorful and
the cinematography was excellent. The film really revealed the desolate wonder of Mongolia, but also the depth of
culture and the incredble friendliness of the Mongolian people. A pretty good film. Not my favorite, but I liked
it.