Global Travel Writers: Articles

Go with the floe in Patagonia

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 05:50:00 -0400

Go with the Floe in Patagonia: Cruzeros Australis, a wholly Chilean-owned and -run company (see www.australis.com), has just commissioned a new ship, the MV Stella Australis. Launched in December 2010, the Stella Australis combines understated elegance with top creature comforts in a way that is never �over the top�. The cruise itinerary is a pure adventure in wonderment, taking in some of the world's most awesome landscapes and nature-scapes including vast penguin colonies, glaciers that seem to stretch as far as the horizon, and an intricate pattern of islands and fjords at the very southern tip of the world�s land mass. Because of low advertising costs, these trips offer excellent value for money, with inclusions that are charged as extras on other cruise vessels.

See image preview: http://www.photographersdirect.com/simmons/search.asp?lb=13772

Ali Mills sings about respect

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 06:00:00 -0500

Ali Mills, who won the �Significant Contribution to the Indigenous Music Scene" award at the Indigenous Music Awards 2010 in Darwin, is an impressive figure. She says that Aboriginal people have managed to live in Australia for over 50,000 years due solely to their total respect for the environment. "You didn't shake the plum tree", she says. "You just tapped it lightly". She believes that this message, including respect for highways, cars and other motorists, needs to be conveyed to all Aussie schoolkids. The tracks on Ali's latest album Watjim Bat Matilda fully amplify this theme - from Song Kungarakan (about her great-grandmother, who was matriarch of the Kungarakan tribe) to the highly evocative Larrakia Tears.

The Asiatic Lion - saved

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 05:51:00 -0500

India's Sasan Gir National Park is the last remaining lair of the impressive (OK, maybe even majestic) Asiatic Lion. With the 2010 census indicating that lion numbers had risen to over 400 - up from just 177 ten years ago - the species appears to have been saved. Now, the Indian government has just announced plans to expand the already huge Sasan Gir Park. See image preview: http://www.photographersdirect.com/simmons/search.asp?lb=13356

A taste of Taveuni

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:22:00 -0500

In an attempt to get away from Fiji�s image as simply a place to vegetate, the lush-green northern island of Taveuni, straddling the International Date Line, has been working on a full-scale eco-tourism program. One of the country�s first national parks, Bouma National Heritage Park incorporates both the stunning Lavena Coastal Walk and the Waitabu Marine Reserve. On the eastern side of the island, Rainbow Reef affords some of the world�s most colourful diving.

A Day on Sisowath Quay

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:47:00 -0400

Sisowath Quay, on the riverfront in Phnom Penh, is emerging as one of the world�s great promenades. New caf�s, boardwalks and landscaping making the whole boulevard one of those rare cityscapes that immediately invite the visitor to linger and enjoy. The peninsula formed where the Tonl� Sap and BassacRivers meet is for now little more than grazing land, but things are changing fast. Phnom Penh's Municipal Governor dreams of turning this area into a �City of Tomorrow�, which will attract tourists from around the globe.

Crocodiles can raise welts

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:56:00 -0400

I was just a little unnerved at being nipped on the hand by a baby crocodile - one that I'd previously even patted. I thought it liked me! But such minor suffering is as nothing compared to the pain willingly undergone by those undergoing crocodile tattooing in the villages along the Sepik River in Papua New Guinea. The skin is scarified and the wound filled with mud, so that when healed the tattoo stands above the skin like a rampant crocodile. The tattoo subjects fortunately don't take on the demeanour of their crocs, like all their countrymen remaining polite and hospitable in the extreme.

Mount Wutai goes World Heritage

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:27:00 -0400

From Taiyuan, the capital of the Central China province of Shanxi, a spectacularly tortuous road winds north-east through the mountains, twisting and turning upon itself like a drunken snake. Farmers here still wear Mao-style caps and jackets, as though the reforms of the last twenty years havce never happened. Finally, our convoy reaches the South Peak of Wutai Shan Mount Wutai), from where a panoramic view of China�s greatest temple complex opens up in a far-off valley.

Mount Wutai, said to be home to the Bodhisattva Manjushri, is ranked the greatest of China�s Four Sacred Mountains. Stretching in a broad arc around the village of Taihuai there used to be over 200 temples, the first dating from around 630 AD. Now, some 108 still remain, of which 47 are open to visitors.

In June 2009, Mount Wutai was officially inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage register - a fitting tribute to a site of outstanding world significance, and a place that makes a huge impact on even the most blas� or blas�e of visitors.

Making a difference

Mon, 04 May 2009 07:09:00 -0400

The town of Cunnamulla, in SW Queensland (outback Australia) is one of the most disadvantaged communities in the country. But the efforts of one remarkable teacher - Neil Spencer, who has been art teacher at Cunnamulla State School for the last 17 years - have led his talented young students to produce some quite extraordinary artworks. Spencer manages to get equally good results from both his Aboriginal and other pupils, and as a result he has succeeded as few others have in bringing the different communities of Cunnamulla together.

Outback nature-feast

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:05:00 -0400

Pelicans, galahs, corellas, black ducks, Major Mitchell cockatoos, topknot pigeons and a dozen other species of birds circle around the grass-rimmed dam. Brolgas step lightly through the tree-rich scrub. Beal Bluff, some seven kilometres long, is a riotously striated series of red-shale rock folds studded with caves, secret passages and sheer cliffs that drop steeply down to the plains below � in short, an explorer�s and rock-climber�s paradise. The scene is Aldville Station, between Quilpie and Cunnamulla in southwest Queensland. Visitors to this part of the Australian outback are invariably stunned by the richness and abundance of nature-treasures to be found here. See image preview: http://www.photographersdirect.com/simmons/search.asp?lb=10204

The Buddha is alive and well in Central China

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:10:00 -0500

During China's infamous Cultural Revolution, anything smacking of religion was brutally suppressed. But now, things are very different. In Henan and Shanxi provinces, the country's rich Buddhist heritage is once more delighting and astonishing the world.

Discover the spectacular stone Buddha sculptures of the Longmen Grottoes and the Yungang Caves. Practice Kung Fu steps with the Shaolin monks. Climb the rickety steps of Sakyamuni Pagoda, the world's tallest wooden structure.

These are just a few of the delights that await on a cultural journey through central China.