Getting off the beaten path in the Falkland Islands
Posted September 30, 2009 , comments closed- Falkland Islands anticipates biggest ever cruise season
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By
eTN Staff Writer |
Sep 30, 2009
With autumn fast approaching, it’s the perfect time to start planning your adventure to the Falkland Islands, located 400 miles off the southeastern tip of South America. The latest edition of Footprint’s, the infamous South American Handbook, is hot off the press, providing an essential resource for anyone heading to the Falklands - packed full of advice on how to get off the beaten track.
The Falkland Islands are a must for intrepid travelers passionate about wildlife, wilderness, and discovery. Whether you’re interested in walking, wildlife, photography, or history, you’ll find everything you need in this new handbook: comprehensive listings for hotels, B&Bs and restaurants, activities, events listings, plus photography and handy maps. Author, Ben Box, parts with his wisdom and first-hand experience of the destination with suggestions of where to go and what to do.
One thing’s for sure, the Falkland Islands are full of surprises, and here are the top five experiences not to miss off any Falklands itinerary - the “must-sees,” as well as some of the more unusual experiences:
See the Penguins at Volunteer Point
Home to the world’s most accessible colony of nesting king penguins, join a guided 4WD excursion to the turquoise waters and white sandy beaches of Volunteer Point. At just over a 2.5 hours’ drive from the capital, Stanley, visitors are guaranteed to see gentoo and Magellanic penguins, while sea lions and dolphins can often be seen in this wildlife sanctuary.
Island Hopping, Falklands-style
Traveling in a Falkland Islands Government Air Service 9-seater Britten Norman Islander aircraft is the way to take in this stunning archipelago. Where else would your pilot also be the postman and your lodge host doubled up as your airport baggage handler?! Flights operate to major settlements and islands including Sea Lion, Bleaker, Saunders, Pebble, and Carcass Islands; each has a diversity of flora, fauna, and natural beauty to discover.
Revisit Falklands History
Take a guided or self-guided historic walk around the capital, Stanley, to unveil a maritime history that spans back to the seventeenth century. The Falkland Islands Museum in Stanley shows a fascinating insight into the islands’ past. A battlefield tour of Goose Green or Mount Tumbledown, led by local people with expert knowledge, will evoke memories of the 1982 conflict.
Boat Trip to West Point Island
Experience vast numbers of black-browed albatross, rockhopper penguins, and superb cliff scenery on an excursion to this island off the most north-westerly point of West Falkland. During the hour-long boat journey, dolphins will keep you entertained and on arrival you can explore the picturesque settlement.
Explore Camp
Camp is the local term for everything outside Stanley, derived from the Spanish for countryside, el campo. A camp visit is a must for anyone wanting to experience the real Falklands – from working sheep farms to spectacular beaches bursting with plant life and wildlife, including elephant seals, sea lions, and penguins.
For further information on the Falklands Islands plus a downloadable taster guide, please visit www.falklandislands.com.
Seoul: Nukes are nukes, tourism is tourism
Posted , comments closed- North Korea to restart tourism by South Korean citizens
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Sep 30, 2009
A senior government official said Tuesday that North Korea’s nuclear programs and tours to Mt. Geumgang in the North ― the latter of which have been halted since last July ― are separate matters, indicating that South Korea has no intent to link the two.
His remark was construed as Seoul’s intention to soften its stance toward Pyongyang.
In a breakfast meeting with journalists at a restaurant in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, Vice Unification Minister Hong Yang-ho said that resumption of tours to Mt. Geumgang was not something to be discussed together with security issues.
Hundreds of South Koreans have gathered at the Mt. Geumgang resort for the second round of reunions of displaced families between the two Koreas.
“If we link the tourism to the nuclear program, there will be no areas that South and North Korea can work together on,” Hong said.
Previously, Seoul made it clear that it would be willing to move inter-Korean cooperation forward only when Pyongyang took steps toward denuclearization.
Hong reiterated that prerequisites for the resumption of the joint Mt. Geumgang tourism project include an apology for the killing of a South Korean tourist by a North Korean soldier, laying out tighter safety measures for tourists and guaranteeing that there will be no such incident again in the future.
“South Korea has consistently expressed its willingness to resume the tourism when the above conditions are met. Therefore, I think now is the time for the North to respond to our call,” he said.
Seoul banned tours to the scenic mountain on the North’s East Coast after a female South Korean tourist was shot dead at Mt. Geumgang.
Text2Fly - African Mobiles "speak English" to Check Flight Schedules
Posted September 29, 2009 , comments closed) Text2Fly is a new way of searching for flight schedules by sending a text message that appears to be an English language sentence. The airline schedules arrive in a few seconds.
Leading commentators have predicted that Africa will be a hot bed of mobile innovation. A new mobile service that lets you check Nigerian flight schedules using plain old Sms proves just that.
Sms is a difficult medium for an application that would normally require lists of cities and other prompts to guide the user. But Text2Fly makes it easy by letting users enter what appears to be an English language sentence for example, “From lagos to abuja on thurdsay at 3pm”.
It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
Timi Agama, the founder and CEO says “Text2Fly is so simple even your mother can use it. And your flight schedules arrive on your phone in seconds.”
This approach to delivering an application by Sms is patented and brand new. In theory it can be applied to searching for train times in London or bus schedules in New York.
Nigeria is the largest economy in West Africa and, with over 5 million domestic seats sold annually, has the most vibrant aviation sector.
However the “simple” task of finding flight schedules in Nigeria is much more difficult than it needs to be. Some people send their driver to get flight schedules from the airline ticketing office, but in a busy city like Lagos a short trip can take an hour in each direction. Others look in newspapers, but the papers only show the current day’s flights while Text2Fly lets you search a week ahead. Besides, not all papers carry the Nigerian flight schedules. A further option is to search online, but then you have to go to the web site of every single airline in a country where Internet access is very slow.
Text2Fly is like having a travel agent in your pocket. So to have a little less hassle when you travel, visit text2fly.com.ng to find out more.
Text2Fly is a product of Anthill Digital Limited, a Nigerian provider of innovative web-based solutions.
Life on (Australian) Mars
Posted September 24, 2009 , comments closedEditor’s Note: Yesterday there was a freak dust storm in Sydney. Viator’s Jeff Lewis ponders the meaning of it all.
It’s 6:05am in Sydney and I slowly open my eyes to see a bright orange glow around the window blinds. It’s eerie – like a scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I open the blind and am greeted by a magical orange world. It’s like a Fanta fog has descended on the neighbourhood.
The dust storm in Sydney. End of the world? Likely.
I grab my camera and super-wide lens assuming it’s a sunrise phenomena and run outside in my undies and T-shirt to try and capture the moment. Snap, snap around the yard, catch the trees, the porch, the cars. I figure that it will be gone in a couple minutes or less.
This ain’t no sunrise
Sydney dust storm - this ain’t no sunrise
As I get showered and dressed I realise from the continued orange glow this ain’t no sunrise. It just seems to be consistent, no lighter, no darker just orange…
Cool! Maybe it will last until I get to the Harbour bridge – let’s pack the camera on the passenger seat and see what happens. As I’m driving along snapping shots out the window of this weird new world, I can’t believe it doesn’t fade away.
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
Over the bridge (can’t even see the city from there), into town, grab some more surreal shots. At the office it’s real weird with the lights off and this Mars glow in every window. A couple snaps to highlight the difference between the cold white indoor lights and the sickly warm tones outside.
The orange buildings and streets viewed from the window are deadly quiet, only interrupted by the sirens as fire trucks rush to false alarms set off by the dust storm.
Apparently half of NSW was engulfed in dust this morning. Never seen in living memory. Now it’s 2pm with the sun shining and blue skies once again in this land of endless wonder.
-Jeff Lewis
More photos:
Driving over the Sydney Harbour bridge
The view from inside Viator’s Sydney office:
Viator’s Sydney office inside. Apocalypse outside.
An Inspirational Tour of Brazil
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Brazil is a sprawling and varied country. With an area of just over 3 million square miles, Brazil occupies nearly half of the South American continent. Brazil tours allow you to see more of what the country has to offer by taking you to see several of its sights and landmarks during your holidays in Brazil. Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro is the first city that springs to mind when you think of Brazil. A city of carnival and sunshine, Rio is an essential first stop on Brazil holidays for getting a sense of Brazilian city life. Overlooking the city is Rio’s foremost landmark, the iconic statue of Christ the Redeemer, with his arms stretched wide in a benevolent welcoming gesture. A day trip up Corcovado Mountain, at 700 metres, will allow you to see the city from the statue’s vantage point. The statue itself is thirty eight metres tall and not only offers Rio’s citizens its obvious Christian symbolism but is also is a figure of inspiration for all. On the way up to Corcovado’s peak, your Brazil tour will take you through the Tijuca Forest, a National Park that is home to many threatened species of South American flora and fauna. What is unusual about the forest is that it was replanted by hand in the 1800’s to repair the damage done by clearances for coffee plantations. Another remarkable mountain in Rio is Sugarloaf Mountain, so named because of its unusual conical shape. There is a cable car to take you to the top where you’ll be able to take some stunning photos on your Brazil holidays. Rio overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and you can enjoy the water at the famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches. You might also want to see the Sambadrome, an immense and impressive stadium designed specifically to host the colourful parades of lavishly costumed dancers during carnival time. As well as Rio’s markets, botanical gardens and historical streets, there’s also the saltwater lake called Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas. However, the next stop on many Brazil tours will take you to see a watery landmark on a different scale. Iguacu Falls Almost a thousand miles to the west of Rio, beyond Sao Paulo, are the Iguacu Falls on the border with Paraguay and Argentina. The falls stretch beyond Brazil across Argentina’s north east border and you have the opportunity to explore the falls from both the Brazilian and the Argentine sides of the border on most Brazil tours. This location also provides the opportunity to stand on the point where the three countries meet. The falls are comprised of a series of 275 smaller falls cascading over a stretch of almost two miles. This is a beautiful spot to see during your Brazil holidays, with established viewpoints and walkways for exploring the canyon cut by the water of the Iguacu River. In the forests of the National Park around the falls, a protected UNESCO world heritage site, there are a hundred and sixty species of birds to be found. There are also boat tours of the falls, and white water rafting for the brave. Buzios After Iguacu Falls, and depending on your interests, many Brazil tours will return to Rio, from where you will travel a further few hours to the pretty coastal resort of Buzios. This has been voted one of the most beautiful areas in the world. With its stylish boutiques and restaurants, and scores of stunning beaches, you can conclude your Brazil holidays by enjoying the country’s famous beach culture, sunning yourself on its golden sands.