Africa Travel: Algeria

by Adrienne Wilson on

In celebration of Black History month I want to do some posts on all of Africa (from A-Z) and other regions of the world including the U.S. With this first and all posts throughout the month I welcome anyone with useful information on some of the more difficult destinations to share their knowledge. To begin we’ll focus on Algeria.

Algeria, as attractive as the name rings in the ears is still plagued with conflict and crime from years of wars, but don’t rule the country out for sightseeing yet. The country is located in Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, and situated between Morocco and Tunisia. Staying away from the northwest and southeast should keep any potential visitor from harm’s way, still it is highly advisable to seek out a travel agent before departing out on your own. Something about the country’s landscape defined by beautiful mountains, green coasts, and Saharan desert oasis and remaining Berber culture has always sparked my own curiosity, but finding good travel info on the web can be tough. While I didn’t find one great source of travel information I did find a few links to help you plan if you’ve ever consider travel to Algeria.

  • Algeria dot com is a good source of culture and historical info. While it’s not detailed they do offer some general notes on hotels and flights into the capital city of Algiers.
  • Algeria Daily is an online newspaper which should be used in organizing safe travels. Surely one of the best ways to keep track of any current strife in the country.
  • Maciej Monka wrote a piece highlighting all the major sites to see for Odyssei.
  • For a list of World Heritage sites which include the ancient Punic trading post of Tipasa and the Kasbah of Algiers, click here.
  • Online Algerian recipes and facts about popular dishes in the country by Farid Zadi can be found in this blog.
  • Lonely Planet has an online guide with three excellent photos of the country’s landscape like the one above.

Travel Experts Discuss Next Great Places

by Erik Olsen on

Article at the Sydney Morning Herald lists the favorite up
and coming places in the world favored by travel experts. Well-known travel gurus from Lonely Planet’s Tony Wheeler
(who favors Croatia) to other travel writers and travel photographers give the nod to places like Laos and Cambodia, San
Sebastian, Spain, Thailand and Sri Lanka, as
the key destinations for adventuresome travelers in search of the new
and exotic. Most of these places have been chosen for offering an authentic travel experience without being disgusted by
rampant tourism.

Last Explorer?

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s so very rare these days to consider anyone a true “explorer.”  I mean really, what is there left to explore in this Starbucks infested world?  Hasn’t everything been discovered already?

Tell this to Ian Baker and he would vehemently disagree. 

While in Katmandu, Baker heard stories about a mystic waterfall hidden deep in a Tibetan valley that was virtually unknown to the outside world.  In true explorer fashion, he spent the next 15 years researching its possible location and mounting various expeditions to locate the hidden falls.  In the time honored tradition of all great explorers, Baker has written a book detailing this search. 

The Heart of the World: A Journey to the Last Secret Place, has all the ingredients necessary for any grand adventure: blood-sucking leeches, impenetrable jungles, Chinese bureaucrats, fraternizing with the natives, and the eventual discovery of what is being searched for. 

Pick up a copy today and read it down at your local Starbucks. 

 

Red Corner: Go to Cuba, Go to Jail?

by Neil Woodburn on

The Bush Administration has just revoked the license of a Florida-based travel agency for arranging American tourists to visit Cuba.

Stop and think about this for a moment.

The democratically elected government of what is supposed to be the freest country on this planet is actually prosecuting people for traveling to a place they don’t want you to go. But that’s not all. In addition to suspending travel agency licenses, the government is also fining individuals up to $7500 for merely stepping foot in Cuba. In 2004 alone, when the Bush Administration stepped up efforts to curtail this “illegal” travel (and in the process, support Brother Jeb, governor of Florida), they fined 894 people a total of $1.5 million dollars for the heinous crime of vacationing on the Caribbean island.

The law that prevents Americans from traveling to Cuba is the Trading with the Enemy Act. Technically, one can still go to Cuba, but if more than $100 is spent while there, the person is financially supporting the enemy government of Cuba.

Oh come on!

Americans could travel to the Soviet Union and every other Warsaw Pact country during the height of the Cold War, they could travel to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya before we bombed them, and today can even travel to Iran, North Korea and every Middle Eastern country with whom America currently has problems. But, Americans can’t travel 50 miles off the coast of Florida to visit a harmless country of salsa-dancing, baseball-loving North Americans? Am I the only one that finds this crazy?

There certainly was a time when Cuba was a danger to the United States, but the Soviet Union is now dead and no longer supports Cuba with nukes, arms, fuel, and basic necessities. Today, Cuba is nothing but a destitute country desperately trying to survive on its own. Sure, there are horrible human rights violations occurring under the Castro regime, but the same abuses happened (and are still happening today in some cases), in every one of the countries listed above that Americans are free to visit and spend their dollars.

Preventing tourists from visiting Cuba isn’t going to bring down the Castro regime, nor is the economic blockade imposed by the United States (but virtually ignored by every other country in the world). No, the Castro regime will only fall when the locals get so fed-up they rebel. And what is the best way to sow such strong seeds of discontent? Look no further than East Germany. Overexposure to the West through relatives, tourists, and television broadcasts is what really taught East Germans how bad things really were. Otherwise, ignorance was bliss.

An invasion of Chatty American tourists is simply the best thing that can happen to Cuba. But in the meantime, don’t tread on my civil liberties and try to tell me where I can’t go.

Hiking to the North Pole – Audio

by Erik Olsen on

A week or two ago, I mentioned the epic trip by two
adventurer named Børge Ousland and Mike Horn, who embarked shortly thereafter in a an effort to walk to the
North Pole, yes, in the dead of winter. That is, yes, in the dark. The team, according to this piece over at National Geographic, is on the
move. But it looks like they did an audio
interview before they left. It’s damn cold. Forty below according to the dispatch, and the team has been dealing
with several problems like logistical ones and, well,. polar bears.