Getting The Most Out of Your African Safari

by Kraig Becker on

Mark Nolting, of the African Adventure Company, has put together a nice little article for USA Today with some good tips for anyone planning an African safari in the near future. He discusses some of the best places to go, what you should expect to pay, the best times to go, and much more.

Nolting notes that many African countries offer safari options, and each of them are a bit different from one another, but he recommends Botswana and Tanzania for the classic safari experience. Both countries offer impressive wildlife encounters, which are the hallmark of a safari, but they also have vastly different opportunities as well. For example, in Botswana, it’s possible to visit large wildlife preserves that limit the number of visitors, keeping the crowds low and limiting the impact on the environment. In contrast, Tanzania tends to have larger crowds but makes up for it with amazing scenery highlighted with the Ngorongoro Crater, Mt. Kilimanjaro and the endless expanse of the Serengeti,
Ecotourism and volunteer travel seem to be the trends for 2009 Nolting says, with travelers booking their stays in eco-lodges all over Africa, and donating some of their time to local projects or schools while they are there. Safari operators have picked up on thie ecotourism trend as well, and are now focusing on having a smaller impact on the environment, while still delivering the entire safari experience that travelers have come to expect when visiting the African bush.

Having visited Tanzania in 2007, I can personally attest to how amazing it can be. The amount of wildlife is unprecidented, and it was everything that I could have hoped for, and more. That said however, I went in April, which is traditionally the low-season, and it was still very crowded at times, especially in the Ngorongoro Crater. I can’t imagine what it would be like during the high-season. If you’re looking for more solitude on your travels, you may want to look elsewhere for your own safari. On the other hand, the Serengeti and Kilimanajaro are certainly worth the trip to Tanzania, and will provide you with many memories to last a lifetime.

Bowermaster’s Antarctica — Greetings from Antarctica!

by Jon Bowermaster on

Hello … from … Antarctica! More specifically, it’s Peninsula, which juts like a 600-mile-long finger from the seventh continent, stretching towards the southern tip of the Americas. Surrounded on either side by frozen sea ice and open ocean, this is the most dynamic, the most changing region of Antarctica and a place I have been coming to for nearly twenty years. My first experience? With dog sleds, in 1989, the last of the great sledding expeditions to explore the continent. More recently, last year I brought a small team and sea kayaks and we traveled from the tip of the Peninsula to 120 miles south of the Antarctic Circle.

What keeps me coming back are a variety of things, but particularly that the place is changing so fast. While Antarctica seems remote, an icy, impenetrable fortress – and admittedly, much of the continent, especially its high, dry, cold interior lives up to that reputation – the Peninsula is where many of the impacts of global climate change are most evidenced. Average temperatures here have climbed more than anywhere else on the planet during the past fifty years.

Ironically, the Peninsula is simultaneously witnessing another boom: Tourism! It’s hard to fathom until you’re down here and see, on occasion, several big tourists boats in one day, but Antarctica has become one of the hottest tourist destinations on the planet. Each year sets new records for visitors; last season, more than 46,000. The upside is that such visits create new ambassadors for one of the few places on the planet successfully governed by international treaty.
The downside is something we witnessed just last month, when a tourist boat, the “M/V Ushuaia,” ran aground about fifty miles from where I write. While all the passengers and crew were safely transported by Chilean Naval ship to nearby King George Island, then flown back to South America, the ship was still on the rocks for days. With a hole in it, which has leaked fuel oil into what are otherwise pristine waters. The concern was that even if the ship is pulled off the rocks, given the damage, it may not have been able to navigate or even be towed back to Argentina. Luckily, the ship made it back safely.

I also come for the sheer beauty of the place. Nowhere on the planet can match Antarctica for grandeur. It’s like Alaska piled on top of another Alaska piled on top of another Alaska and then dropped at the edge of the Himalaya. This morning I hiked 1,500 feet up a hill on Cuverville Island. Out of the wind, it was warm, just about the freezing mark. Gusting winds dropped the temps to 17, 18 degrees. The higher I got, the more the expanse grew. In the bay below a dozen icebergs bigger than small apartment buildings – blue and white, shining under a bright blue sky – were stuck in the shallows. Across a narrow channel, tongues of ancient glaciers fall to the sea. Along the way I passed a half-dozen colonies of Gentoo penguins nesting; they will have chicks to take care of within a matter of days. It was a brilliantly clear day and as far as I could see – a dozen miles — everything was deep blue and bright white, marred by the occasional exposed rocky cliff.

I like to think of Antarctica as the beating heart of Planet Earth and this morning, despite any and all concerns, it seemed to be very, very healthy.

I’m here for two months and will be reporting in every week or so, so please stay tuned.

Click HERE for more dispatches from Antarctica!

9 reasons ’09 will be the year of the “YAYcation”

by Brenda Yun on

Christopher Elliot, over at Tribune Media Services, reported how 2009 will likely be the year of the “naycation.” While Gadling’s own writer, Tom Johansmeyer, agrees to some extent that this could be the case, I hope we might be able to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

So, the optimist/devil’s advocate that I am, I present to you 9 reasons this will be the year of the “YAYcation.”

  1. Obama: If The Economist‘s Global Electoral College is any indication of how the world feels about Obama, then it is a logical assumption that Americans can feel more welcome abroad. With Clinton as the new Secretary of State, and Obama’s openness to relations to formerly cold countries such as Cuba, we should explore some uncharted territory.
  2. The economy: The world’s ailing economy appeared to be Elliot’s main argument for the “naycation,” but I beg to differ. If the economy is so bad, then why not invest in an affordable trip abroad? Your money will go farther abroad than staying home and paying for steep electric and phone bills.
  3. No job? Might as well travel: My cousin lost his job at Wachovia a few months ago, is now engaged to his long-time girlfriend, and is planning a year-long globetrot. WHY NOT? Take advantage of your lost job and get lost in the world for a while.
  4. Disappearing wonders of the world: It’s not just global warming that is causing the world’s beloved wonders to disappear. I think some places in this world are becoming too trodden and destroyed by human contact. The Pyramids, Taj Mahal, and Machu Picchu are just a few of the places I’ve seen that simply no longer hold the same luster as before. People populate and flood these places on a daily basis, and we need to go there — now — to see them before they are overridden by tourism.
  5. New, great places to explore: There are several new world wonders like the Kremlin in Moscow, Aya Sophia in Istanbul, and the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany that are awesome places. But what about exotic countries like Mongolia, Slovenia, and Morocco? I’m ready to explore, aren’t you?
  6. Independent women travelers: No longer are men the only ones gallivanting around the world. Nowadays, there are more and more females traveling around solo, and women are muchless daunted by traveling abroad and the economy shouldn’t have anything to do with it.
  7. Cheap flight deals: Gadling blogger Kraig Becker summarized some fabulous travel deals for the new year. There are tons of great, cheap flights around the world, and it’s not that hard to find them anymore either.
  8. The world is flat: Thomas Friedman called it when he explained how the world is flat, and I can’t agree with him more. Your friends around the world are easier to contact (by email, text, Skype, or otherwise), making it so much easier to organize a trip to visit them and sleep on their couches. Or, if you’re daring and trusting, you can couch surf with perfect strangers for free.
  9. Virtual travel just won’t cut it: I am a huge fan of vicarious travel, but there comes a time when this kind of thing just doesn’t produce the same effect. Instead of playing Halo 3, for instance, I would much prefer getting out there into the wide open world and seeing the real thing with my own two eyes.

Travel Read: 100 Places Every Woman Should Go

by Brenda Yun on

I never knew there could be a book so thoughtful and inspiring for women as this one. Stephanie Elizondo Griest’s second travel book, which lists far more than just 100 Places Every Woman Should Go, is truly an encyclopedia for women travelers. It’s the kind of book that could never have existed fifty years ago, but is so refreshing that free-spirited, female travelers should feel grateful that it exists now, and fully prepared for that next trip into the wide, wonderful world.

Griest’s great book is packed with helpful historical information, inspiring stories, and travel tips. It’s broken up into nine sections — my favorite being the first: “Powerful Women and Their Places in History.” There’s so much worth digesting in each locale described. For instance, I had no idea that the word “lesbian” came from the birthplace of Sappho (Lesbos, Greece). Griest fills each description with great travel tips that often include specific street addresses for particularly noteworthy sights.What I like most about the 100 places she chooses is that she shies away from identifying places that every woman obviously dreams of traveling to, like Venice, Rome, and Paris. Instead, she paves a new path for women, encouraging us to visit Japan’s 88 sacred temples or stroll through the public squares of Samarkand, one of the world’s oldest cities in Uzbekistan.

Griest does not limit her list to concrete or singular places. Sometimes, she finds a way to take us to virtual spots like the Museum of Menstruation or creates lists like “Best Bungee Jumping Locales,” “Sexiest Lingerie Shops,” or “Places to Pet Fuzzy Animals.” These 100 “places” are really all-encompassing, and Griest manages to take us on an imaginative journey around the world, packing all her feminine know-how into each description.

I did find, occasionally, that there were some places missing from some of the identified places in her list. For instance, I was baffled as to why two Russian writers were on Griest’s list of “Famous Women Writers and Their Creative Nooks,” but Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, and Jane Austen were absent. I was additionally confused that cooking classes in India and Thailand were not on the list of “Culinary Class Destinations.”

Griest’s opinions of places are somewhat biased, too. While she does a fairly good job covering the globe, a single locale in French Polynesia or the South Pacific is missing, and some places like Oaxaca, Angkor Wat, and New York are mentioned several times. Her college town of Austin landed on the list, but places like Budapest and Cairo are never acknowledged.

With every list, however, there is bound to be some bias and some personal flair and choice involved, and Griest’s original and creative sensibilities are still well-worth reading about. The great thing about this book is that you can flip to a place description, be perfectly entertained and inspired, and then tuck the book away until the next time you feel compelled to read about the places you can go. Or, you can read it in one sitting like I did and be completely blown away by the amazing places in this one world that it’s hard to imagine why we live in one city for so long and not just pack our bags and get out there and see some if not all of it.

Click here to read my review of Griest’s first travel book, “Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana.” My review of Griest’s third travel book, “Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines” is forthcoming, along with my interview with the author in early January. Feel free to jot me an email (Brenda DOT Yun AT weblogsinc DOT com) if you have a question for Stephanie.

Click the images to learn about the most unusual museums in the world — featuring everything from funeral customs, to penises, to velvet paintings, to stripping.


Green Travel: Getting There Green

by Kraig Becker on

Rising fuel costs and ubiquitous discussions on global climate change have brought the “green” movement to the forefront of our attention in recent years. The travel industry hasn’t been immune to this phenomenon either, as ecotourism and green travel have become all the rage, as travelers have looked to lessen their impact on the environment, while still visiting all the places that interest them. For the most part, the green movement in travel has been focused on the activities that we take part in once we reach our destination, with an emphasis on those activities being ecologically friendly. But what about the methods of travel we use to reach those destinations? What is their impact on the environment?

That’s exactly what the Union of Concerned Scientists have been wondering as well, and they have conducted the first in depth study on that very topic. The findings of that study can be found on their Getting Their Greener website, where you’ll find the reports on the most and least ecologically friendly methods of travel.

When conducting the study, the research scientists involved looked at three important variables, including the type of vehicle used, the distance traveled, and the number of people sharing that vehicle. The results can be found in the full report and this handy quick reference guide, which breaks down the best travel options for the travelers going solo, in pairs, or as a family of four across distances of 100 miles, 500 miles, and 1000+ miles.As you can probably guess, air travel doesn’t fare well in the study, especially at the shorter distances, although flying economy class does rank as the second best choice when traveling a thousand miles or more. On the other hand, driving a “typical car” or a “typical SUV” is rated well in the 100 and 500 mile categories, and even further for a family, but falls off dramatically for solo travelers and couples.

So what gets the nod for the best overall method of travel for the lowest impact on the environment? Taking the motor coach (or bus) ranks as the top option for all categories and distances. And the worst? While not quite a clear cut, it seems flying first class ranks at the bottom of the green travel list.

This is definitely an interesting study, and one that makes you stop and think about what method of transportation is best when traveling. Of course, you are sometimes limited in your options, as last time I checked, there were no motor coaches to Europe. Still, as responsible travelers, it’s important to weigh all are options, and make an informed choice that is both good for the environment, and right for our pocket books.