Gadlinks for Friday 7.24.09

by Brenda Yun on


Happy Friday, Gadling! There are all kinds of great travel reads (and a contest!) out there on the world wide web today. Here are a few…

‘Til Monday, have a great weekend!

More Gadlinks HERE.

Headed to Africa? Emailing home just got easier

by Sean McLachlan on

Cyberjunkies face a serious problem when going to Africa–most countries have slow and unreliable Internet service. I’ve been encountering this problem myself as I try to set up my upcoming trip to The Gambia. Luckily for some countries, a new high-speed fiber optic cable will provide quick access to the rest of the world.

The BBC reports that the first undersea cable serving East Africa has just come online. Now South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Mozambique have a dedicated connection to Europe and Asia. Email can then be routed through one of the nodes there to continue on to places like North America. The cable is owned by African company Seacom and was supposed to go online in June but was delayed because of pirates off the Somali coast.

The faster connection is good news not only for homesick tourists, but also African businesspeople and students, like the Tanzanian schoolkids pictured here, and will help lower the “information debt” of several developing countries.

Anyone willing to fund a certain Gadling blogger to check out the connections for himself? I’ll be happy to report back on my findings.

Win a volunteer vacation to South Africa from Keen

by Kraig Becker on

Outdoor gear manufacturer Keen is joining forces with U.K. based travel company i-to-i to send one lucky winner on a trip to South Africa, where they’ll have the opportunity to take part in a week-long volunteer vacation at an animal rescue society in Cape Town. To enter to win, simply go to the contest website and fill out the online form. All entires must be received before August 21st, and the winner must travel before Sept. 30, 2010.

The trip, which is valued at $4000, includes airfare to South Africa, and accommodations in the volunteer hostel at the TEARS animal rescue shelter, where the winner will have the opportunity to help educate locals on care of their pets, provide veterinary care, and distribute food parcels for pets of underprivileged families. TEARS also works with children, teaching them the responsibilities of pet ownership and instilling a nurturing attitude.

Voluntourism has been a growing trend in travel over the past few years and i-to-i has been on the forefront of that trend. Since its founding in 1996, the company has sent more than 20,000 people on volunteer vacations in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Latin America. It seems only natural that they would team up with Keen, who has also been very forward thinking in their approach to sustainable gear and environmentally friendly practices.

This is certainly an interesting contest. I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone give away a volunteer vacation before. But it is an interesting way to explore South Africa, especially Cape Town, and give a little something back while you are there.

On the trail of the Kalahari bushmen

by Kraig Becker on

A few days back we posted about 18 unique travel experiences that even the seasoned traveler would find interesting. One of the suggestions on that list was to travel to the Kalahari Desert to stay with bushmen and partake in an initiation hunt with the tribes that still wander the remote regions of southern Africa.

Recently, travel writer Sally Emerson journeyed to Botswana to go in search of the bushmen herself. She wrote about her adventures for the Times Online, as she explored the Okavango Delta and the Kalahari, following in the footsteps of author Laurens Van der Post, who published The Lost World of the Kalahari back in 1956. The book has become one of the seminal works on the bushmen and their culture.

Both Emerson, and Van der Post before her, were searching for the San Bushmen, one of five distinct tribes that are spread out across South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, and Botswana. Today, it is believed that less than 100,000 of the bushmen remain, but those that do, maintain close ties to their culture, and the land on which they live.

Emerson says that the bushmen that she met were able to teach her about the plants and animals of the Kalahari while showing her how to set traps and hunt as well. They displayed a deep understanding of what their surroundings could provide for them, allowing them to survive for extended periods of time in the desert. Many of the tribesmen are now guides, and are eager to share their history and culture with visitors from the rest of the world. Traveling to the Kalahari to spend some time with these guides would indeed makre for a unique and amazing travel experience.

Seven Endangered Species You Can Still See in the Wild

by Kraig Becker on

There is no doubt that we are fascinated with wildlife. We love to watch diverse and interesting animals, preferably in their natural habitats, and we’re often willing to travel to remote places, sometimes at great expense, to see them. If you enjoy the kind of travel that allows for these kinds of animal encounters, they you’ll want to check out BootsnAll’s list of the Seven Endangered Species You Can Find Outside a Zoo.

The article not only lists the creatures, it also gives us the best locations to go and see them for ourselves, including some brief insights into what to expect out of the journey. For instance, if you want to see polar bears in the wild, you can expect a long flight, or 40-hour train ride, to Churchill, Canada, on the famed Hudson Bay, where every October and November, the bears gather, waiting for the bay to freeze so they can continue on northward. The other creatures, and locations that can be found, include: sea turtles in Barbados, tigers in India, rhinos in Tanzania, elephants in South Africa, pandas in China, and gray whales in Mexico.

As the article points out, in the era of ecotourism, these trips to see these rare animals can be a force for good. Conservation efforts can receive funding from our visits and an increased awareness about the plight of the animals helps to prevent poaching and protect natural habitats as well. Just be sure to travel with a reputable guide service and make sure you pack out everything you pack in.

So did they leave anything off the list? I was a bit surprised to not see the mountain gorillas that we wrote about last week, on there. They’d certainly make my top list. What’s on yours?