The amazing red crab migration of Christmas Island

by Gadling Staff on

Experiencing the annual red crab migration on Christmas Island is an amazing sight. This remote landmass, named for the day it was discovered in 1643, is an Australian territory that’s considered “the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean.” Sparsely populated, Christmas Island is ringed by the most hauntingly beautiful limestone cliffs, and shaped something like a tiered wedding cake. Each year, Christmas Island’s beaches are filled with an annual migration of millions of the local red crabs.

While there are fourteen species of land crabs living on the island, the sheer numbers of the animals during migration season (estimated to be as many 100-120 million crabs) is something visitors will never forget. In addition, each adult female crab gives birth to an estimated 100,000 babies!

From October through December, adult crabs make their way from the interior forests to the beaches to spawn. It is a slow-moving stampede. While the crabs are not aggressive, seeing a moving wave like a gigantic seafood smorgasbord is a little terrifying. Some of the animals are 50 or 60 years old, and they are very large (nearly 5 inches long). The males are larger, and the females have daintier claws. The colors of the crabs vary: some are orange and coral-red, with a rare purple animal now and then. They eat almost anything, including grass, fresh or rotting leaves, and even dung!

The annual crab migration has a significant effect on the activities of Christmas Island residents. Signs that announce “Crabs cross here” are posted across the island. Crabs on the golf course create special rules during the migration, and shouts of “holy crab!” are heard often. They surround houses, get into the laundry and enter schools. Residents have even developed special crab-related expressions in honor of this strange event. Saying that someone “has a face like a smashed crab” is not a compliment, and “He’s off like a bucket of red crabs in the hot sea” is something better understood after experiencing the event.

While some locals do eat the red crabs, (they are edible and delicious) crab dinners are frowned upon by local government. Each year up to two million of the red crabs fail to complete their marathon journey because of hungry residents, squashing by cars, dehydration (it’s a long walk from the forest) and even cannibalism (watching them eat each other is terrifying!). The smell of dead crabs creates a pungent and unappetizing.

Jimmy Buffett once penned a song about this peculiar island: “How’d you like to spend Christmas on Christmas Island? How’d you like to spend the holiday away across the sea? How’d you like to spend Christmas on Christmas Island? How’d you like to hang a stocking on a great big coconut tree?” Buffett neglected to mention one very important detail: this Christmas “paradise” is swarming with millions of red crustaceans. Talk about false advertising!

** Images courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons Project **

Win a deluxe Japanese HighTECH toilet from Miyako Hybrid Hotel

by Laurel Miller on

L.A.’s outpost of the stylish Miyako Hybrid Hotel has a gift for you this tax season. Become a Facebook Fan by 8:00 p.m. (PST) on April 15, and you’re in the running (ha ha, get it?) to win the most superfluous of home appliances: a Japanese HomeTECH bidet and TOTO toilet system (the HI-3001 WT “Feel Fresh” Bidet n’ Wash Hygiene System, to be exact). For the uninitiated, this is the ultimate in ass luxury. Think push button control panel with memory, warm water wash, twin spray nozzles, and cozy heated seat; retail value just under $600.

The hotel features one of these thrones in each of their 208 rooms and 12 suites, but the extravagance is tempered by the LEED-certified chain’s commitment to high-tech sustainability. As the word “hybrid” suggests, the property boasts a solar-powered electrical system and environmentally-friendly and recycled construction materials, along with contemporized Japanese art and artifacts appointed throughout the hotel. So get your butt in gear, and sign up now.

Travel trends: 2010 to be the best year ever for America’s parks? [update]

by Gadling Staff on

More than 285.6 million people visited America’s national parks in 2009, making it the fifth busiest year in the 94-year history of the national park system. About 10 million fewer people visited the parks in 2008. The all-time visitation record was in 1987 with 287.2 million visitors.

Weak Economy Was Good for Park Visitors
During a phone interview with David Barna, the chief of public affairs for the park service, he talked about several factors that contributed to the increase in visitation, including:
1.) publicity generated last year by President Obama’s family visit to Yellowstone and Grand Canyon;
2.) buzz created by the Ken Burns PBS documentary that aired in September;
3.) three highly publicized weekends in 2009 when entrance fees to the parks were waived.However, the weak U.S. economy was probably the most significant factor in the increase in visitors in 2009. The Euro remained strong against the dollar, which is why more than 40 million travelers came from outside the U.S. That’s a 50 percent increase in international visitors since 2001.

Low gasoline prices in the U.S., and the overall value of a national park vacation in any economy, also factored into the increase in visitors, according to park service officials.

Assuming all things remain constant, 2010 should be a very good year for the parks — maybe the best ever. By looking at the trendline in the chart above, it’s easy to see that 2010 could see as many as 290 million visitors — a new record for the parks.

The other top five attendance years in descending order were:
* 1999 with 287.1MM visitors;
* 1998 with 286.8MM visitors;
* 2000 with 285.9MM visitors;
* 2009 with 285.6MM visitors.

The Great Smokies and the Grand Canyon Pull Their Weight
The most visited national park was the Great Smoky Mountain National Park with 9.4 million visitors. Located on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina, the Smokies celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2009 and is one of the parks that always offers free admission. The Grand Canyon pulled in nearly 4.5MM visitors in 2009.

The Blue Ridge Parkway, which is not a designated park (and is therefore not included in the chart above) but is a unit of the national park system, received nearly 16 million visitors in 2009. It’s celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2010.

2010 also marks the 30th anniversary of President Jimmy Carter’s signature on the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act, which added 47 million acres and doubled the size of the national park system. Depending on how successful promotions around these events are, 2010 could be a banner year for the parks system as a whole.

UPDATE: The National Park Service has announced that during National Park Week (April 17-24), the entrance fee to all of its 392 parks will be waived.

Data source: Travel Industry Association and AAA

Circling the globe with zero emissions

by Kraig Becker on

Sustainable travel has been a focus for many over the past decade, with travelers searching for ways to reduce their carbon footprint while still feeding their wanderlust. 23-year old Brit Kevin Shannon seems to have discovered a way to see the world, while still protecting the planet’s environments. On Wednesday of this past week, the adventurous traveler set out to circumnavigate the globe, using only human and natural power.

Kevin has dubbed his zero emissions journey as the Because It Is There Expedition in honor of his his hero George Mallory, who was once asked why he would want to climb Mt. Everest. The mountain was unclimbed at that time, and Mallory famously responded by giving the most well known quote in mountaineering history, “because it is there”.

Over the course of the next three years, Kevin will be peddling his bike across six continents, covering 40,000 miles in the process, and sailing across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, adding another 10,000 aquatic miles to the trip. The journey began in the U.K., and will extend across Europe and Asia, before turning south to Australia. After hugging the Australian coastline, Shannon will board a ship and sail to South America, where he’ll return to the bike and turn north. The Route will take him through Central America, Mexico, and eventually into the United States, where he’ll ride coast-to-coast, before he boards a ship once again, to sail to North Africa, where he’ll get on his bike one last time, and make the return trip back to the U.K.

While the journey will be its own reward of course, Kevin isn’t making the trip for the adventure alone. He’s also hoping to raise £1 million for the Combat Stress organization, a U.K. based charity group that is working with veterans who have suffered severe traumatic experiences while in the service of their country. A noble effort, and one that is necessary now more than ever it seems.

To follow Kevin’s environmentally responsible journey, check out his Twitter feed at @Kev_Shannon. He’s just getting underway, and the adventure is just beginning.

Genetically-engineered mosquitoes may help end malaria

by Laurel Miller on

Tropical travelers rejoice: researchers are getting closer to finding a possible vaccine for malaria, using genetically-engineered mosquitoes.

The Anopheles stephensi species is one of the main spreaders of human malaria. By altering its salivary glands, the mosquito acts as a “flying vaccinator,” carrying the Leishmania vaccine within its saliva. About 60 species of the Anopheles are vectors of the malaria parasite, which are transmitted to humans when the female feeds on blood.

Tests showed that when an altered mosquito bit its host — in this case laboratory mice — it became a transmitter of the vaccine. The bites succeeded in raising antibodies in the mice, indicating successful immunization with the vaccine.

It’s hoped that continuous exposure to bites will maintain high levels of protective immunity, through natural boosting, for a lifetime.

Researchers hope the vaccinator mosquitoes could be used to formulate a new strategy in the global fight against malaria. Every year about 250 million people are infected with malaria, and nearly one million die, according to the World Health Organization. In Africa, one in every five childhood deaths is caused by malaria.

There are, however, barriers to using this form of vaccination in the wild, including issues of controlling dosage, “medical safety issues” and the “issues of public acceptance to [the] release of transgenic mosquitoes.” It may not be as romantic as sundowners of gin and tonic (quinine is an old school anti-malarial), but it sure beats the potential side effects of Lariam.