Shootouts kill five rhino poachers in South Africa

by Sean McLachlan on


Five rhino poachers were killed in two shootouts with South African police this week, the BBC reports. Three were killed in Kruger National Park, one of the most popular game reserves for safaris in South Africa. Two others were killed near the border with Mozambique. Poachers often cross borders in an attempt to evade the law.

Two rhino horns were found among the poachers’ belongings.

Poaching is a serious problem in Africa, with South African rhinos, especially white rhinos, a favored target. Last year 333 rhinos were killed in South Africa. Police have been clamping down on poachers but their activities continue and the heavily armed criminals often get into gunfights with police and park wardens. African nations are having mixed results fighting poachers. Some countries have managed to reduce illegal hunting, but other nations are still struggling with the problem.

[This beautiful shot of two white rhinos is courtesy JasonBechtel via Gadling’s flickr pool. It was taken in Ohio, of all places! At least these beautiful animals are safe there.]

Man arrested in Mexico smuggling 18 monkeys in his pants

by Meg Nesterov on

Are those monkeys in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

A Mexican man was arrested upon arrival in Mexico City after flying from Lima, Peru with 18 titi monkeys strapped around his waist. While the monkeys traveled in his luggage, Roberto Sol Cabrera placed the endangered monkeys into socks that fit into a waist girdle “to protect them from X-rays,” though two of the monkeys did not survive the journey, sadly.

Police said Mr. Sol Cabrera behaved “nervously” when questioned at customs, not surprising given the amount of squirming primates near his privates. He reportedly paid around $30 per monkey in Peru that could fetch up to $1,550 each as exotic pets on the Mexican market. He is being investigated on charges of trafficking an endangered species. After similar arrests of smuggling via hat and shirt, I look forward to a monkey-smuggling episode of Locked Up Abroad.

[Via BBC News.]

[Photo credit: Brian Gratwicke]

Finding the expat community and what travelers can learn from them

by Meg Nesterov on

No matter how well-traveled you are, moving to a foreign country and living as an expat is a whole new ballgame. Your priorities and standards change, and hours that you may have spent as a traveler in a museum or wandering a beach are now spent in as an expat search of an alarm clock or trying to distinguish between eight types of yogurt. You become like a child again: unable to speak in complete sentences, easily confused and lost, and constantly asking questions.

Enter the experienced expats who can help navigate visa issues, teach you dirty words in foreign languages, and tell you where to buy pork in a Muslim country. Finding the local expat community is not about refusing to integrate or assimilate in your new country, but rather meeting a group of like-minded people who understand what you are going through and can provide a bridge to the local community and culture.

So what can the traveler learn from an expat? How about where to buy souvenirs that are actually made nearby and well priced, restaurants not mentioned in any guidebooks, bizarre-but-true stories behind local places and rituals, and inside perspectives on community news and events? And those are just the Istanbul bloggers.

Read on for tips on finding the blogs and a few of the must-reads for travelers.Where to find the expats:

  • Expat forums such as ExpatFocus, InterNations, and Expat Blog are good starting points for finding and connecting with expats, though some forums may be more active than others.
  • Local English-language publications: Many big cities have a Time Out magazine in English and local language, often with frequently-updated blogs or links to other sites. In Istanbul, the newspaper Today’s Zaman has an “expat zone” full of useful articles.
  • Guidebook writers are often current or former expats, so if you read a helpful guide or travel article, it’s worth a Google search to find if they have a blog or Twitter account.

Some stellar expat bloggers around the globe:

  • Carpetblogger: sarcastic, insightful blogger based in Istanbul but with lots of coverage on Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Indonesia. Stand-out post: expat guide to duty free shopping.
  • Miss Expatria: prolific writer and instantly-loveable American in Rome, a joy to read even if you have no plans to visit Italy, but you might find yourself buying tickets after reading about her life. Stand-out post: Italian idioms.
  • CNNGo: great round-up of finds in Asia from Bangkok to Tokyo with everything from restaurant reviews to a look at Tokyo’s elevator ladies. Stand-out post: Japan’s oddest vending machines, a favorite topic of Mike Barish, who has chronicled some of the vending machine beverages for your reading pleasure..
  • Bermuda Shorts: Enviable (and crushworthy, too) travel writer David LaHuta covers all the goings-on in Bermuda and all things Dark n Stormy-related. Stand-out post: name suggestions for new Indiana Jones movie set in Bermuda Triangle.
  • Fly Brother: Series of funny and poignant misadventures in Brazil and around the world from the African American perspective. Stand-out post: how an afternoon of seemingly simple errands can take up to seven hours.

The next time you plan a trip abroad, consider reaching out to a fellow American (or Canadian, Brit, etc.) for some advice or even a coffee meeting (assuming you aren’t a total psycho). I, for one, am happy to offer Istanbul tips and tricks, and I’d be even more amenable to helping a traveler who comes bearing Boar’s Head bacon.

Any expat blogs you follow or travel tips you’ve learned from them? Expat bloggers want to share your websites and your insights for travelers? Leave a note in the comments below.

New US embassy in London to be bigger, sexier, stronger

by Grant Martin on

With today’s modern threats all around us, US embassies have become a bit of an eyesore of late, many circumferentially heaped with piles of concrete, checkpoints, armor, guards and other, nefarious security. One would never imagine that those sorts of security facets could tastefully be integrated into a structure, but lo and behold, the folks at Philadelphia-based KieranTimberlake have pulled it off.

London’s new US Embassy, an update to the current, less-secure digs, looks less like an iron and concrete government building (J. Edgar Hoover building what?) and more like an architectural masterpiece from the 21st century.

As KieranTimberlake describes it:

The expressive challenge is to give form to the core beliefs of our democracy – transparency, openness, and equality – and do so in a way that is both secure and welcoming. At the same time, the building must confront the environmental challenges all nations face with leading edge sustainable design.

And so the building will rise, a glass cube on the south shore of the Thames with an integrated urban park, photovoltaic (solar cell) roof panels and energy efficient design throughout.

That said, the new building will also still have plenty of security features, from a giant moat to (shrubbery infused!) barriers to blast resistant glazing.

Check out the full details over at KieranTimberlake. The new building should open up in 2013

[Via PRI’s The World]

Stress gets to Susan Boyle at Heathrow

by Annie Scott on

With all the regulation shifts, evacuations and the recent terror attempt on Christmas Day, it’s a stressful time to fly.

Stress affects all of us; passengers, airport staff, pilots and yes, even superstars. Perhaps it was stress that got to Britain’s Got Talent prodigy Susan Boyle at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday.

According to HolyMoly, Boyle suffered a complete mental breakdown in the British Airways lounge. She grabbed a mop from a cleaner and began using it as a microphone, then polished other lounge guests’ shoes with it. BA employees reportedly tried to stop her, and she took off running, eventually bursting through the doors of the usually-peaceful lounge screaming “I’ve escaped! I’ve escaped!”

“A BA official had to sit with the singer until she regained composure and boarded the flight to Chicago,” reports HolyMoly, adding that the singer is heading to the US to appear on Oprah. Chelsea Handler mentioned this week on Chelsea Lately that the star is also working on a line of Susan Boyle products like t-shirts and mugs. While the TV circuit and souvenir development are normal celebrity activities, stress may be piling up on Boyle, who has a history of mental illness and has become very famous very fast.

If this were any other celebrity, we’d assume it was drugs — and we’d probably be fed a bogus story about a bad reaction to a sleeping medication. We wonder how the Boyle PR camp will spin this.