Global Travel Writers: Articles http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/ Global Travel Writers en Global Travel Writers: Articles http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/EXT:tt_news/ext_icon.gif http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/ Global Travel Writers TYPO3 - get.content.right http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Tue, 14 Jun 2011 05:50:00 -0400 Chitwan - Watch out for Crocodiles! http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/nature-and-wildlife/article/chitwan-watch-out-for-crocodiles/ Nepal’s Chitwan National Park preserves a tract of lowland forest – tiger, rhinoceros and elephant... Gliding through the mists in a dugout canoe… the monsoonal jungle fringing the riverbank stands motionless. The only sounds are bird calls and the rhythmic slopping of the water beneath us. Then a dull thump – and Hari, the guide standing in the prow, gestures urgently to the fellow poling from the back. Get back! We have slid right over a mugger crocodile, which, fortunately for us, hasn’t reacted to the intrusion.

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]]> Philip Game Nepal Eco-tourism Adventure Travel Nature and Wildlife By: Philip Game Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:00:00 -0400 The Asiatic Lion - saved http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/nature-and-wildlife/article/the-asiatic-lion-saved/ India's Sasan Gir National Park 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

]]> Graham Simmons India Gujarat Eco-tourism Destination Travel Nature and Wildlife Safaris By: Graham Simmons Tue, 08 Feb 2011 05:51:00 -0500 Belem - city on the equator http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/nature-and-wildlife/article/belem-city-on-the-equator/ The surprising city of Belém, gateway to the lower Amazon At daybreak, thousands of parrots take to the skies over the murky waters of the Amazon near Belém, the capital of Pará state, in northern Brazil. Just as the ink washes out of the night sky and an eerie dawn tinges it yellow, the parrots leave their favourite roosting trees en masse, blotting out the sky as they go and squawking to find their mates. 

Belém is not on everyone’s wish list when visiting the Amazon region.  Most head straight for the jugular city of Manaus, 1400kms northwest on the junction of the Amazon and Rio Negro, but for those who do make the detour, the rewards can be surprising. The city’s beautiful buildings include the famous Opera House modeled on La Scala in Milan, the Basilica of Nazaré built after the style of St Peter’s in Rome, and the fresh fruit and produce market, Ver-O-Peso, with its decorative wrought-iron turret that was transported in sections from Britain and is now an icon of the city.

]]> Brazil Cities Cruising Cultural Travel Destination Travel Nature and Wildlife Tricia Welsh By: Tricia Welsh Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:25:00 -0500 A taste of Taveuni http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/nature-and-wildlife/article/a-taste-of-taveuni/ Taveuni Island, straddling the International Date Line, is a lush getaway http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/uploads/pics/67988-082.jpg  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.

]]> Graham Simmons Fiji Beach Holidays Boats and Yachting Cultural Travel Eco-tourism Family Holidays Islands Nature and Wildlife Resorts & Retreats By: Graham Simmons Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:22:00 -0500 Dingo: Have passport, can travel http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/nature-and-wildlife/article/dingo-have-passport-can-travel/ Cunning dingoes roam Fraser Island, in southern Queensland, often getting just a little too close... Flopping into the gin clear water of Lake Mackenzie, the cool fresh water eased the swelling in my overheated feet. Midway through a 25km walk on Fraser Island, I wondered if we had underestimated the challenge of this trek, as we’re now weary, hot, hungry and somewhat reluctant to carry on. We lolled in the turquoise shallows beneath a cloudless blue sky. Watching a dingo trot casually out of the forest and onto the sand I was relieved that we had hung our backpacks containing lunch in a tree before we collapsed into the water.

Fraser Island has one of eastern Australia’s purest populations of wild dingoes, which, with the influx of tourists, are losing their natural fear of humans. Scavenging for food scraps has become increasingly troublesome behaviour for these cunning carnivores. Nearby, others had also noticed the dingo, amused as it idly sniffed through piles of belongings on the beach. Abruptly the dingo snatched a string bag in its teeth, bounded up the beach and disappeared into the bush with it.

“Hey that’s my bag,” one of the girls further out in the lake cried out in a German accent, while others in the group  laughingly captured the dingo’s fleeing rear end on their cameras. “It’s got my passport in it!” she shrieked, as she bolted up the beach, waving her arms in pursuit of the fleet footed dingo.

Retreating to the comfort of Kingfisher Bay Lodge many hours later, my feet resemble bleeding stumps inside my inadequate shoes. Though these wounds will heal in time, I can’t help thinking of the troubles in store for a German tourist trying to explain to disbelieving authorities that a dingo stole her passport. Sounds suspiciously like the old ‘dog ate my homework’ line. Guileful as they are, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if I saw one crafty dingo at the airport trying to board a plane to Berlin.

Looking for a humourous piece with a little tongue in cheek? Commission this piece by Fiona Harper which can run to around 600 - 800 words. Images are available.  www.pbase.com/fionaharper/fraserisland

]]> Fiona Harper Australia Queensland Beach Holidays Eco-tourism Family Holidays Islands Adventure Travel Nature and Wildlife Short Fillers By: Fiona Harper Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:55:00 -0500 Tales from a Tall Ship http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/nature-and-wildlife/article/tales-from-a-tall-ship/ Enormous, square white sails billow against an impossibly blue sky. Her elegant bow plunges upwards... Admiring the graceful elegance of this grand old lady of the sea, guests onboard Star Clipper watch languidly from their sunlounges as the crew scrabble up the rigging, unfurling yards and yards of billowing sail cloth. As the sheets that control the sails tighten, it feels as though Star Clipper lifts slightly higher in the water, picking up her skirts as she scoots across the deep blue Indian Ocean.

Star Clipper is a 115m Tall Ship, carrying just 170 guests in pampered comfort. She cruises out of Phuket during the southern summer, relocating to the Med in March to cruise the Med during the northern summer.


Onboard for an Indian Ocean crossing, Fiona Harper will join Star Clipper in March 2010 on her repositioning cruise. Contact Fiona (fiona@fionaharper.com.au) to confirm in principle support in commissioning an article based on this voyage.

Images will be available from Fiona Harper and Star Clipper.

]]> Fiona Harper India Egypt Sri Lanka Thailand Greece Adventure Travel Boats and Yachting Cruising Luxury Travel By: Fiona Harper Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:35:00 -0400 Aground off the Pilbara coast http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/nature-and-wildlife/article/aground-off-the-pilbara-coast/ Long distance cruising onboard a yacht can be a leisurely, personally satisfying lifestyle. Until... Living onboard a cruising yacht is a remarkably satisfying experience, offering the rare opportunity to be totally self-supporting. Daily life revolves around keeping the ship safe, the complex essential systems operating and the yacht moving towards its destination. Oh, and there’s plenty of sundowners on arrival, usually beneath an unashamedly scarlet sky as the sun disappears over the horizon. Arriving at an anchorage late afternoon, its not unusual to run into cruising buddies who we may not have seen for months, but who immediately invite us to join them on the beach to share a cold beer or two as soon as our anchor is down and secure.

But there is a frustratingly accurate saying amongst these same yachties: there are those who have run aground and those who soon will. As I found out just a few months into our Australian circumnavigation.....

Please contact Fiona Harper to commission this article or others along a yachting theme. Images are available.

]]> Fiona Harper Australia Western Australia Adventure Travel Cruising Eco-tourism Islands Nature and Wildlife Photo Essays Safaris By: Fiona Harper Mon, 14 Sep 2009 02:07:00 -0400 Mahouts' Course http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/nature-and-wildlife/article/mahouts-course/ There is no elegant way to climb up onto an elephant. Tricia Welsh learns this at a mahout’s course... There is no elegant way to climb up onto an elephant. Tricia Welsh learns this very quickly after many unladylike attempts and several hours of instruction at a mahout’s course in Northern Thailand.

The course is run by the elephant camp at Anantara Resort and Spa in the Golden Triangle near Chiang Rai. It is home to 34 elephants and is set up like a traditional mahouts’ village that used to exist in the hills of Northern Thailand when most of Thailand’s elephants were employed in the logging industry. The Thai Government set up the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre (TECC) to ensure the well-being of elephants; the camp at Anantara is the northern extension of the TECC and offers guests a great chance to get to know these massive pachyderms

]]> Tricia Welsh Thailand Adventure Travel Cultural Travel Destination Travel Eco-tourism Family Holidays Nature and Wildlife Photo Essays Resorts & Retreats By: Tricia Welsh Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:50:00 -0400 Kuril Conundrum http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/nature-and-wildlife/article/kuril-conundrum/ Russia's remote Kuril Islands are not a people place The Kuril Islands are not a people place, a haven, rather, for sea birds and marine mammals. Largely treeless, often cold and fog-bound, these volatile volcanic outliers form a link in the Pacific 'Ring of Fire' which stretches between Kamchatka and Sakhalin in the Russian Far East.

Fought over by Japan and Russia, the northern and central islands are now largely uninhabited. Yet lingering traces remain of now-vanished Ainu inhabitants, of Japanese garrisons and of Russian fishermen, prisoners of the Gulag, even Soviet navy submariners.Mural at the Soviet submarine base, Simushir

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]]> Philip Game Russia Adventure Travel Islands Nature and Wildlife By: Philip Game Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:24:00 -0400 AN ELEPHANT SANCTUARY http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/articles/category/nature-and-wildlife/article/an-elephant-sanctuary/ Karen Halabi reports from an elephant sanctuary in the remote hills north of Chiang Mai, Thailand,... This peaceful sanctuary for rescued elephants allows people to get up close with these majestic creatures. The Elephant Nature Park in the Mae Taeng Valley, 60 kms out of Chiang Mai, is home to 34 Asian elephants, many of them rescued from dire circumstances by park founder, Sangduen Chaillert. Known as “Lek” (Tiny), this diminuitive Thai woman from a remote Northern hill tribe, has done more to help the predicament of elephants, than almost anyone, earning her Time Magazine’s Asia Hero of the Year in 2005 for her work with elephants.

Further north in the hills of Thailand’s Golden Triangle, Briton John Clarke runs an Elephant Camp project at the Anantara and Four Season Tented Camp resorts. Under his charge a number of elephants have been rescued from logging and from use in street begging and brought here to the forests of Chiang Rai.

The program and the Asian Elephant Foundation are supported by resort guests who pay around US$285 a night for a deluxe suite at this luxury resort overlooking the Golden Triangle. These days many are paying an additional fee, on top of their hotel accommodation, to undergo “mahout” training, a one day to one week intensive program where they learn how to bond with, look after and wash the elephants, a project that enables the resort to keep them off the streets.

There are no chains or saddles at either elephant sanctuary – the elephants roam free at night in the nearby jungle and the only time they’re ridden is down to the river for their daily bath….. continues  

 

©Karen Halabi  August 2009

 

For a story and images on The Elephant Nature Park or The Elephant Camp project or both in one story contact the author. OR you may prefer a story on all attempts/projects to save the Asian elephant. Story can run from 1,000 to 2,000 wds.

 

 

 

]]> Karen Halabi Thailand Adventure Travel Eco-tourism Nature and Wildlife Personalities By: karen Halabi Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:57:00 -0400