Do solo adventures break up relationships?

by Kraig Becker on

Outside Magazine has an interesting story on their website entitled Never, Ever Let Her Go (On a trip overseas. Alone. Especially to Africa.) The article begins with author Eric Hansen recounting a tale of a married couple who were friends of his, and seemingly had an idyllic marriage. But when the wife went off to Botswana on a volunteer trip for a month, she returned home and announced that the marriage was over, and she now longer was attracted to her husband.

When telling this story to others, Hansen discovered this wasn’t an isolated tale. He uncovered similar stories from a number of people who had their significant others go off on a big, adventurous trip, only to have their relationship end once they came home. Even more confounding was the fact that many of the travelers were women and many of them had been traveling in Africa. The article goes on to get quotes from several guide services and travel companies, who say that this is indeed a common tale that they encounter on a regular basis themselves. A marriage counselor also weighs in on the topic, saying he sees at least one marriage per month break up after an adventurous solo trip.This of course begs the question as to why this occurs. The story speculates that it is due to the person traveling expanding their horizons and having a life altering experience on their journey, something we can all relate to from our own travels I’m sure. The same counselor mentioned above says that generally the issues were there before the solo adventure, but the travels bring them more the forefront.

Outside‘s article concludes with the advice that you don’t let your significant other travel alone. Go with him or her. Experience the life changing moments together, and share the journey. If you break up when you get home, at least you got a great trip out of it, right?

So, has anyone experienced this phenomenon first hand? Have you been the dumper or the dumpee?

Escape to the world’s quietest places

by Katie Hammel on

Life in most places is loud. Planes flying overhead, traffic rushing through the streets, people yelling, talking, phones ringing – it all combines to make an endless racket that follows us throughout our days. If you need to get away for some (literal) peace and quiet, take a look at Forbes Traveler’s list of the World’s Quietest Places.

Many of these aren’t the sort of places where you’ll go crazy from the silence, in fact some of them are plenty noisy. But near and far, they provide places where you can get away from the aural assault of the world and revel in a quiet(er) existence.

Included on the list are destinations like the verdant Hoh Valley in Washington State and Muir Woods in California, both places that are easy to get to from major cities but seem a world away. Further from home, there’s the island of Yap, near Guam, where the “culture is built on adherence to social peace”. The Kalahari Desert, 350,000 square miles of sparsely populated sand and scrub, also makes the list.

Victoria Falls isn’t exactly silent, but the roar of the water as it plummets 350 feet (which can be heard over a mile away) is such a natural sound and so completely shuts out everything else, that it almost feels quiet. Central Park is another unlikely addition to the list. Though it’s located in the middle of what is arguably one of the world’s loudest cities, it provides a quiet solitude away from the noise of daily life.

Sustainble Farming Program in Uganda Offers Hope and Help

by Kendra Bailey Morris on

Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP) in Uganda is well-known throughout the world as the home for nearly half of the world’s population of critically endangered mountain gorillas. However, gorillas are no longer the only entity on Uganda’s endangered list. Bwindi’s local people have also felt the brunt of years of illegal logging and other activities which have slowly degraded the area.

Fortunately, the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park was established as a national park in 1991, and was initially designed to protect both its treasured gorillas along with its precious and deteriorating forestland, and as of today, the program has been a great success. Yet, while the park itself has benefited from a surge in tourism (thousands of visitors pass through the park every year on pricey gorilla treks), Bwindi locals have not been able to reap much financial benefit from the increased tourism, which in turn, has caused considerable conflict amongst the community.

Much of this socioeconomic dichotomy has been contributed to revenue loss due to the procurement of food products designed for local lodges and restaurants coming from outside the area (as far as a ten hour drive away). Considering the most common livelihood for locals is subsistence farming, and that the area’s soil is extremely fertile, developing a farmer’s association where locals could gain cash income by supplying fruits, vegetables and other products to a growing tourism industry seemed a natural solution.

Thus, the Bwindi Advanced Market Grower’s Association (AMAGARA, which means ‘life”, in the local language Rukiga) was born, and it has been evolving ever since.

Situated only four kilometers from the BINP gate, visitors can get a firsthand glimpse at the association’s gardens, which boasts everything from fiery red chili’s to sweet honey (harvested from their own bee hives). Guests of AMAGARA can take a personal tour led by on-site team members which offers education on how the association operates and how a wide range of growing techniques are taught to local farmers. Cooking classes featuring the traditional cuisine of Uganda are also offered daily, and are led by the institute’s professionally trained chef, Moses, who shares his personal recipes and cooking tips, including a few rather interesting twists on classic dishes.

An on-site garden shop sells a wide selection of gifts including packaged honey and tea from Bwindi. Purchases from the garden shop directly support the work of AMAGARA as well as that of the local community.

For traveler’s looking for a complete African Mountain Gorilla safari, Volcano Safaris, a company that specializes in great ape ecotourism and who is a well-known leader in its industry, has recently partnered with AMAGARA. As part of their gorilla trekking safari, which already includes tracking in the BINP and lodge accommodations, guests can also tack on a visit to AMAGARA when staying at the Volcanoes Bwindi Eco-Lodge. The lodge, which overlooks the forest, features eight bandas and utilizes only local materials and solar energy. Meals are prepared on-site and highlight produce purchased directly from AMAGARA.

–Kendra

Into Dakar: The logistics of a journey into Senegal

by Grant Martin on

It’s surprising to many that Dakar is actually closer to the United States than many points in Europe. As the crow flies, it’s under 4000 miles from New York City to the westernmost point on the continent, a 7.5 hour flight from the bustling streets of Queens.

Given the proximity, it’s not too difficult to manage a trip as short as a weekend or use DKR as a waypoint for further travel into Africa. Delta Airlines flies direct from New York’s JFK and Atlanta, while South African also connects from Washington Dulles and JFK on its way south. Tickets start at around $1000.

Unfortunately, Dakar airport charges airlines an outrageous tax for flights departing and arriving during daytime hours, so many flights transit between the miserable hours of 2AM and 5AM. Knowing this, the airport stores and restaurants also stay open during these times, providing solace from the often unbearably unconditioned terminal.

Once you reach the border, you’ll need to fill out a common immigration form and present it upon entry. There is no advance visa or fee to worry about, but you’ll need to put an address on your form, so make sure you either know where you’re going or have a fake address ready.
Dakar airport is also one of the few in the world without an ATM or money changer handy, so you’ll either need to be prepared to pay in dollars or use one of the stodgy money changers that drift around the airport. A fair exchange rate is 500 francs to 1 dollar, so you can expect to get 250 to 400. If you exchange a twenty now, you can withdraw francs from one of the numerous ATMs in the city later.

Taxis (especially from the airport) should never cost more than 5000 CFA in the city, while most fares shouldn’t be more than 3000. If you don’t find a driver that will accept your offer, try moving outside if the airport a bit. Many taxis circle and drop off passengers, and one of these will surely take a reasonable offer. You can give your driver instructions to your hotel in French or just give him a map – chances are, he won’t speak English.

Once established in Dakar (and most likely after your nap) getting around the city is fairly easy by cab. As an alternative, it’s often possible to take car rapides, a sort of minibus throughout the city, but for the casual traveler it’s probably not worth your time acclimating to the routes and payment systems.

Good restaurants can be difficult to find, so make sure that you print out the wikitravel guide or tear out a few pages of your Lonely Planet before heading out into the streets. And while the the tap water is clean and drinkable by even tourists, it’s probably a safe bet to drink bottled water wherever you are.

Finally, observe the practices and patience of a smart traveler. While Senegalese are very welcoming and supportive of toubab (literally “of European descent”) travelers, belligerence and ignorance have no place in this country. Keep your head down, quiet and your money in your front pocket and you’ll have a great time in Dakar.

Book your Africa flight today or tomorrow for up to $500 off

by Alison Brick on

We’ve mentioned other deals recently on Emirates flights, but when it comes to flights to Africa (read: typically expensive) this one is worth circling in red ink.

For today and tomorrow only, the first 500 people who book a flight from the US to Africa get $500 off Business Class airfare, or $150 off Economy Class airfare.

Emirates offers travel to 16 African cities on sale: Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Cairo, Cape Town, Casablanca, Dar es Salaam, Durban, Entebbe, Johannesburg, Khartoum, Lagos, Luanda, Nairobi, Tripoli, and Tunis.

Buy the tickets online between July 14 at 12:01 a.m. (EDT) and July 15 at 11:59 p.m. (PDT). Travel through June 13, 2010.