Roadmonkey Combines Adventure with Volunteer Opportunities

by Kraig Becker on

Travel company Roadmonkey has created unique travel experiences that combine the thrill of adventure travel with the satisfaction that comes with making a difference in the places we visit. The goal is to offer phsycially demanding outdoor adventures with deeply gratifyng volunteer opportunities to create what they term as “Adventure Philanthropy”.

Currently the compnay has two expeditions in the works for 2009. The first is a climb of Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa, scheduled to take place this June. Travelers will spend the first seven days of the trip climbing to the summit of Kili before venturing overland to a small village near Dar Es Salaam. Once there, they’ll spend an additional four days building a clean water system and painting classrooms in a school for children orphaned by AIDS.

If climbing a mountain doesn’t sound like much of a vacation, then perhaps Roadmonkey’s other planned expedition is more your speed. This November they’ll take their second cycling trip through Vietnam, leading a team of 11 adventurous travelers as they mountain bike through the rugged hill country to the northwest of Hanoi. In 2008, the team stopped in a village along the way to build a playground at an orphanage, and a similar volunteer opportunity is planned for the 2009 expedition as well.

Volunteer travel is a growing trend in the industry, and when combined with adventure travel, it provides the opportunity for very unique and satifiying experiences on a cultural, physical, and intellectual level. Roadmonkey is offering just those kinds of journeys.

The Return of the Classic Safari in Kenya

by Kraig Becker on

When it comes to African safaris, Kenya has always been the place to go for most travelers. The country’s abundance of wildlife, stunning scenery, and legendary hospitality have been considerable draws for adventure travelers for decades. Unfortunately, that changed in 2007 and 2008 when political unrest gripped the nation, as a disputed election caused riots and looting, causing many countries to issue a travel advisory for anyone heading to the East African country.

But stability has slowly returned to Kenya, opening the door for travelers to return, and experience the classic safari once again. That’s exactly what Glenys Roberts, writer for the U.K.’s Daily Mail, discovered when she recently made the journey, and went on safari for herself. For Glenys, it was an eye opening experiencing, as she, and her companions, encountered zebras and elephants while they were barely off the plane from Niarobi to Amboseli National Park, where their adventure began.

The author notes that British visitors to Kenya will feel right at home, no doubt because of their colonial ties. But the country’s economy has long been built on tourism, and visitors from any country will no doubt feel welcome as well. Airfares to Africa are at the lowest they’ve been in years, making 2009 the best year to visit the continent perhaps ever, and with Kenya stable and safe for the first time in months, travelers can once again experience the classic safari adventure, in the quintisential safari destination.

16 Tourists injured in Luxor hot air balloon accident

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Yesterday, a hot air balloon crashed in Luxor, the city of the pharaohs, in Egypt. Sixteen people were injured in the incident. For those of you with an axe to grind about cell phone towers, you just got some ammo. The hot air balloon hit a cell phone tower on the west bank of the Nile River, near Gourna village.

Identities of the injured haven’t been released yet, but we do know that they come from Canada, Denmark, England, France, South Korea and the United States. All were taken to a hospital in Luxor for treatment.

This event is not without precedent. A year ago, a similar situation led to the injury of seven tourists.

World’s Top Eco-Lodges

by Kraig Becker on

Outside Magazine has put together a great list of the top eco-lodges from around the world, with seven amazing escapes that not only offer plenty of luxury, but do so in an eco-friendly way. Each of the resorts is given a rating on the “Green-O-Meter” and for its accessibility, and the selection of locations spans the globe, offering a destination no matter which direction you’re headed.

For instance, if you’re traveling to Africa, Outside recommends Azura’s at Gabriel’s, on Benguerra Island, off Mozambique. The small resort has just 15 villas, but each has its own private pool, to compliment the amazing white sand beaches. World class SCUBA diving and deep-sea fishing are amongst the top activities, and Azura earns its green rating by using its gray water for irrigation and doing its own composting on site. The lodge is also moving forward with plans to buy wind credits to go completely carbon neutral and is contributing to the local economy by ensuring that 90% of the staff are Mozambican.

If Belize is more your style, then the Machaca Hill Lodge is the recommended place to stay. This lodge was once a fishing community that has been transformed into an eco-friendly resort that includes an 11,000-acre nature reserve that surrounds the 12 cabanas, and isolates them from the outside world. Machaca Hill is lauded for the fact that it generates most of its power via solar panels and has an organic farm on site that provides most of the lodge’s food.

There are five other great eco-lodges on the list as well, each with a unique setting and a unique approach to sustainable tourism. Any one of them will proved an amazing experience, and not make you feel guilty about your travels.

Dakar to Paris: Layover in Algiers or Tripoli?

by Grant Martin on

You think that you know things about airlines until you start searching for flights in and out of African. There, the old knowns of KLM and British Airways go out the window and replacements like Afriqiyah Airways and Air Algerie come into play, carriers that many never knew existed.

The current itinerary on which I’m working involves a one way flight between Dakar and Paris, a three thousand mile trip over the Sahara Desert, Mediterranean Ocean and Southern France. With a connection.

Where is that connection you ask? Depends on the airline. Of the above two airlines, one (I’m sure you can guess which) involves a four hour layover in Algeria‘s capital, Algiers, in the Houari Boumediene airport. The other offers a similar stay in Tripoli, the capital of Libya.

The most comedic part of the operation in the the fare codes. Typical local carriers have complex fare codes like QE07A0NA to dictate the rules and routes of a flight. On Afriqiyah Airways? My fare basis (copied above) would be “BLOW.”

Whatever. The real question is whether I should fly through Algiers or Tripoli. Technically it would be interesting to spend a day or two exploring the cities on my layover (if that’s possible,) but North African nations aren’t the most welcome place for Americans — and could I go to a country that bans alcohol? I would have to bring a book or something.

So where would you go?

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