Q&A with Lonely Planet’s Tony Wheeler
Posted October 17, 2009 , comments closedEditor’s Note: A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of catching up with Tony Wheeler, co-founder of Lonely Planet (along with his wife Maureen), at the Viator San Francisco office. Catch up on previous Viator blog posts about the sale of Lonely Planet to the BBC and the Travel Writer’s Dilemma.
If Tony Wheeler didn’t exist, we’d need to invent him. You’ll know Tony if you’ve ever hauled a backpack around the globe with only a fuzzy itinerary (Asia?? why not!) and a money belt stuffed full with everything except money. Along with shoes and toothbrush, the only other required piece of gear was the guidebook.
Inevitably it was a Lonely Planet guidebook.
Tony Wheeler is the co-founder of Lonely Planet (along with his wife, Maureen). Which makes Tony the godfather, granddaddy and don of travel. This is a man who’s set foot in nearly every country on the planet (Iraq? Check. North Korea? Check. East Timor? Check.) This is a man who knows travel.
Tony Wheeler in Afghanistan, at Christ-e-Sharif
His story is legendary. After arriving in Sydney in 1972, after a six month Asia overland trip from Europe, he had 27 cents left in his pockets. After numerous friends asked him for advice on making the same journey, he decided to publish a book. In 1973 Lonely Planet’s first title was published, Across Asia on the Cheap, documenting their trip from London to Australia. In 1975 they published their second title, South-East Asia on a Shoestring.
From those early guidebooks Lonely Planet grew into the world’s largest independent guidebook publisher - more than 500 titles in print, an award-winning website, a respected image library, television programming and video, more than 400 staff in Melbourne, London and Oakland (California). In 2007 the Wheelers sold a majority interest in Lonely Planet to BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the venerable BBC. Tony is still closely involved with the company. In 2009 he hit the road to film segments in Laos and Alaska with a crew from Lonely Planet TV.
Death of the guidebook? Premature
Viator: Is the guidebook dead? Or are reports of its death premature?
Tony Wheeler: The death of print is the wrong way to think of it. Print is everywhere. There are more words being published on paper than ever before. What’s changing is the guidebook - it’s not going to stay on paper for ever. It’s migrating to mobile phones, downloads (have a look at Lonely Planet’s pick-and-mix PDF downloads) and, of course, the internet. So the guidebook is definitely not dead.
Viator: So if the guidebook isn’t quite dead, what is the role of a printed guidebook in 2009?
Tony Wheeler: Think about a destination like Congo and Zaire and - the guidebook itself may be a little outdated - but the maps are helpful. And overall, there are not many guidebooks to Congo, so in that case a guidebook is invaluable.
Another example: Our Cycling in Italy title, it went out of print a few years ago. Now it’s being sold on ebay for $150 a copy. The reason? It’s the perfect format for cycling. You’re not going to duck into an internet cafe while you’re on a long-haul cycling trip. And it’s the same thing when you’re traveling off the grid. Guidebooks are wonderful back-ups. People have been predicting the death of guidebooks for many years, they’re wrong. People love books.
Tony in Iraq
Viator: Travel experts versus group wisdom - is the role of an official “author” still crucial? Or has user-generated content taken over?
Tony Wheeler: Even Zagat’s (which relies on user-submitted reviews) requires experts to pull everything together. Lonely Planet’s own Thorn Tree is another good example. There’s great depth of content on the Thorn Tree - right now a traveler is on the spot in Congo, in Libya, in Tibet, posting to the Thorn Tree - but still there are gaps.
Even if 500 people on TripAdvisor endorse something, it doesn’t mean that the quality hasn’t suffered recently. And that’s where guidebook authors come in. And then there’s Iraq and Afghanistan - only Lonely Planet is sending people there right now.
Viator: What surprises you nowadays about travel, in the way that people travel?
Tony Wheeler: Frankly I’m surprised that people show up in the oddest of places. I took a 4×4 to the most remote corner of Africa, and yet there was a couple traveling the same route by bicycle. Amazing. It’s hard to push the edges of travel now, especially in Europe. I’m also surprised how easy it is to travel now. People in the UK heading to Prague for the weekend, that sort of thing. Travel has maybe become too easy.
Viator:What’s on your travel agenda this year?
Tony Wheeler: I wrote a book called Badlands, about traveling to the so-called Axis of Evil (Iraq, North Korea, Iran). I credit the book to George W. Bush. I’ve always been interested in edgy countries and I’d been kicking around the idea of writing something about ‘pariah’ countries. When Mr. Bush produced his ‘Axis of Evil’ list, my first thought was “I’ve got to go there.” So the Evil Axis trio formed the core of my ‘Bad Lands’ and it was no trouble to come up with a half dozen other contenders.
Perhaps surprisingly, I had a great time in all my ‘Bad Lands’ and – apart from a little uneasiness in Afghanistan and Iraq – I was never particularly concerned for my safety. North Korea was easily the weirdest: a place alternating between horror and comedy, a Stalinist theme park, a gulag run by Monty Python.
I’d like to follow that up with a book about “Weird Lands”, countries that have fallen off the rails somehow. Think about Congo - it’s gone steadily backwards since 1958. Or Colombia, which has been ruined by America’s fight against drugs. Somalia, Haiti, there are many off-the-rail countries to choose from.
Viator: Would you share a few of your favorite travel experiences with us?
Tony Wheeler: Last year I visited the cosmonaut training center at Star City outside Moscow, then flew down to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. I had a close-up look at the Soyuz FG launcher the evening before the launch, met with Richard Garriott (game entrepreneur who paid USD $30 million for the ride) and his back up Nik Halick (they were behind glass, in quarantine) and stood at dawn to see the Soyuz crew (followed by an assortment of support crew which even included an orthodox priest). As interesting as the rocket launch was my fellow passengers – our little group of Richard Garriott supporters included Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google, Peter Diamandis of the X Prize, Charles Simonyi, formerly of Microsoft and a 2007 space tourist, and assorted other space tourism followers.
Walking to the Soyuz bus, just before launch
I also have the Planet Wheeler Foundation to keep me busy. Our 2008 projects ranged from building a children’s clinic in Cambodia to funding medical training in Afghanistan. My favorite project in 2008 was the Melbourne Solar System. It’s a 1:1 billion scale model of our Solar System, starting with the Sun – a 1.4 metre diameter bronze orb that weighs 350kg (over 700 lbs). It’s on the waterfront bicycle path that runs along Melbourne’s bayside, starting at the St Kilda Marina. Jump on your bicycle and pedal west, you’ll come to Mercury in just 58 metres, Venus in 108 metres, the Earth (and our moon) in just 150 metres.
Cycling past Jupiter in Melbourne
The reality of course is that Earth is 150 million km from the Sun. After Mars the distances start to stretch. You’ll have pedaled 2.9 km from the Sun before you come to Uranus, at that one to one billion scale the reality is 2,900 million km. Keep going and you’ll have ridden out of St Kilda, past Middle Park and Albert Park and finally, the other side of Port Melbourne, you’ll come to tiny Pluto, 5.9 km from your solar starting point.
-Scott McNeely
Boston, USA Vacation Rentals
Posted September 30, 2009 , comments closed
The American city of Boston is a great place to spend an enjoyable vacation. As the capital of the state of Massachusetts, this exciting city offers a wealth of museums, parks, shops, restaurants, sports, entertainment and more! What’s more, Boston has a great selection of holiday rentals, so it’s an ideal destination for a self catering vacation for all the family. If you want to learn some culture during your vacation, be sure to check out at least some of the interesting museums in the city. There’s Boston Fire Museum, The Commonwealth Museum, Museum of African American History, Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of Science and so much more! If you have got kids with you, then be sure to head to the Boston Children’s Museum, which has plenty to keep the youngsters occupied during their visit here. There’s also a walking tour called The Freedom Trail, which gives visitors the opportunity to see 16 historic sites on a 2.5 mile trail. It’s definitely worth doing during your stay in Boston and you can choose whether you want to do a self-guided tour or you can take advantage of one of the guided tours available. Make sure that you wear a comfortable pair of shoes if you do this walking tour. Other things you can do during your stay in Boston include having a ride on a Swan Boat in the lagoon at Boston Public Garden. It’s a relaxing way to spend your holiday. Boston Public Garden itself is also a great place to unwind from the hustle and bustle of the city. If you like boats, it’s also worth taking a sightseeing cruise while on holiday in Boston. This will give you the chance to see the city from a different view and there are a variety of cruises that you can join, depending on what you want to see. Or if you prefer to see Boston from a great height, you should pay a visit to the Bunker Hill Monument, which is 221 feet in height. There are 294 steps that you can climb to the top of this monument – if you are feeling fit! But if you do make the effort to climb the monument, you will be glad that you did, as there is an amazing view from the top. Boston is also a great place for shopping and wining and dining. There are many areas that you can go shopping, as well as eating out. While you are in the area, be sure to visit of one Boston’s markets. For example, there’s the SoWa Open Market and Haymarket, which are ideal locations to buy and stock up on some provisions for your self catering holiday. You will never go hungry in Boston, as there is a great range of restaurants where you can eat, when you don’t want to dine indoors at your holiday rental. Boston is a great holiday destination for everyone. This American city is ideal for a family vacation, a sightseeing trip or a relaxing break – and it’s perfect for holiday rentals.
Get a Guaranteed Price For American Express Around the World Cruises
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You can be assured of getting the best of everything at the lowest price when you book one of the American Express around the world cruises. American Express deals with only the top cruise lines in the cruising industries and negotiates with them to have extra amenities included in the price quoted for each cruise. There is even a club called World Cruisers with American Express that is specially designed for those who want to take world cruises and see the world from the comfort and luxury of a cruise ship. The travel agent you deal with will work to get you the most competitive deal available and will make the reservations for you based on the itinerary you choose. You may have a ship preference in your American Express around the world cruises (http://www.amttravel.com/cruise-lines/world-cruises.html). However, there is still a choice in itineraries and cruise lengths. The Holland America line offers world cruises on the Rotterdam on various dates throughout the year. For example, you may want to choose a 36-day cruise that departs from Singapore and sails to Cape Town, South Africa visiting such exciting destinations as Phuket, Mumbai, Dubai, the Seychelles and Richard’s Bay. There are also cruises of shorter and longer durations on this ship for you to choose from depending on the amount of time you have for enjoying the experience. Princess Cruise Lines offers American Express around the world cruises on the Dawn Princess, the Pacific Princess, the Tahitian Princess and the Royal Princess. If you don’t have a preference in the cruise ship, you can search the American Express Travel site to find the information you need about the itineraries and departure dates and cities, as well as find information about the cruise ships. This information is helpful in helping you decide whether you want traditional seating for your meals or open seating. You also gain the information you need about events aboard the around the world cruise ship (http://www.amttravel.com/cruise-lines/around-the-world-cruises.html) that may require more formal attire and the types of shore excursions you can expect when you stop in the various ports of call. Silverseas is yet another of the many cruise lines that carry passengers on American Express Around the World Cruises. Choose an exciting itinerary aboard the Serenity for 1 106-day cruise that departs from and returns to Los Angeles. Such a cruise circumnavigates the world and takes you to exotic locales that will enable you to make memories that will last forever. An American Express world cruise will be a dream come true as you see the sites of Cabo San Lucas as one of the stops in Mexico and explore several of the Caribbean Islands before making your way across the Atlantic. The sights of the Far East will thrill you to the core and you can walk in the footsteps of the ancient cultures in the destinations in the Middle East and Africa. Each of the ships that offer American Express Around the World cruises are somewhat smaller than the typical cruise ships, though no less luxurious. Every detail of the cruise is planned, right down to the luxurious bed linens and towels in your bathroom. The smaller size means that the number of passengers is also smaller so that you have more opportunity to make new friends and to spend time with them engaging in the numerous activities offered on board.
How To Treat Your Family To An Overseas Vacation On A Budget
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Is it the perfect time to pack your family up and explore untamed Africa, or the melting pot of different cultures in Europe, or perhaps marvel at the spectacular Rocky Mountains of Canada? As the seasons of time, of work and of school pass, so may opportunities of vacationing as a family unit. Therefore, you may need to ensure that you put forth earnest effort so that you can make an easy transition from not just talking about the trip to actually affording the trip and taking it. We all know that vacations are not cheap. Not only is the cost of airfare but also the money required at your destination. You’ll need to keep the tickets for your plane flight to a minimum thus ensuring you have ample funds remaining for accommodation, entertainment and meals. Another possibility is to go during the week. Weekend getaways tend to be popular and therefore cost more money. Take into account traveling midweek to acquire savings when it comes to accommodation bookings and entertainment tickets. Additionally airline tickets generally tend to be costly. There are various options that you may be able to take and have a pleasant flight and save money on the price. Keep in mind that you are going to have to do your research to become educated in what precisely a good deal is and what a bad deal is. You’ll soon discover that there are more than a hundred websites that may give you a good airline deal, but you’ll find that each and every one of the offers is unique. There are numerous ways to secure cheaper airline tickets, but it’s imperative that you do your research and planning. Firstly, allow yourself some time to plan. You may want to start at the beginning of the year to track down the best deals and packages and then to coordinate your bookings. In this way you will be able to beat the vacation rush and get your tickets before they disappear. For instance, during the summer months it can be tricky to get a good flight in and out of a destination area. Certain things will affect your price and your flight. The time of your departure is one of the prerequisites that will ascertain some of your discounts. Basically, an early morning flight will be cheaper than a flight that is near to being sold out. Keep in mind that there are some sites that search for your flights according to time. So you may not be able to obtain the desired price for the desired time that you wish to leave. When it comes to finding the deals, you’ll also want to check with travel agents, because they will be able to hook you up with some great deals that you may not find online. Travel agents offer many advantages that websites may not have. Due to their business longevity, travel agents have established relationships with many airlines and tourism operators so thus they can offer you discount rates that you just wouldn’t secure online. Personalized service is one of the greatest advantages of dealing through an agency. So, by being flexible in your travel dates and departure time, by booking your reservations early and dealing through a travel agent you may increase your chances of getting the lowest fares possible and finally treating your family to that overseas vacation.
You’ll want to make sure that you think about the date before you pick it. Check there are no major events in the area during that time. If it is a busy period of the year, there is no ways that you’ll be able to find anything cheap.
Mt. Elgon National Park land troubles far from over
Posted , comments closed- Mount Elgon security stepped up
- Wolfgang’s East Africa report
- Kenya eyes cruise tourism spill-over from South Africa
- Congo Brazzaville in the “dock” over gorilla poaching
- International Tourism Day marked in Eritrea
- United Nations honor gorillas, Uganda celebrates them
- Foreign investor interest in Zimbabwe has picked up
- Ghana cleaning it's beaches to attract visitors
By
Wolfgang H. Thome, eTN Africa |
Sep 30, 2009
As reported recently, the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) rangers and staff live dangerously when deployed at Mt. Elgon National Park, as attacks by illegal encroachers, poachers, and timber thieves have caused them numerous injuries and even several deaths while executing their duties in defense of conservation, wildlife protection, and maintaining a crucial water catchment area.
However, as in many cases, there are two sides to each story and the Uganda Human Rights Network last week tried to spoil UWA’s celebrations of the UN Year of the Gorilla 2009 and their much-publicized launch of “Friend a Gorilla” campaign when they released a carefully-timed and targeted broad side of allegations against the national wildlife management body. Those familiar with the circumstances of Mt. Elgon since the park’s status was changed from a less-protected forest reserve to a fully-fledged national park in 1993, looked at the material, including some graphic pictures of alleged torture victims at the hand of UWA staff.
According to eTN own research, in recent days the original size of the former forest reserve – incidentally also a national park across the border in Kenya and part of a trans-boundary cooperation between UWA and the Kenya Wildlife Service – was gradually reduced between 1923, and the time of Uganda’s independence in 1962, reflecting growing populations and their requests for more agricultural land before eventually a position was taken by government that the existing boundaries would now have to stand if conservation was to retain any meaning at all. The widened protection of the mountainous forest as a national park was, in fact, aimed to sustain the livelihood of neighboring communities and Ugandans as a whole, as even then the function of the mountain as a water catchment area was recognized, permitting the constant flow of water in streams and small rivers emerging from Mt. Elgon and being used for a variety of purposes by homesteads and villages downstream.
Yet, since independence, the population around the park has more than tripled, and while there is undoubtedly ongoing and constant demand for opening up the park for people to live in, the need to protect the water sources for all those added numbers has become even more important today than it was 15 or 20 years ago. Hence, it is argued by UWA and the conservation fraternity that letting go of the park, or even parts of it, would in coming years make the life of communities around the mountain much worse, instead of better as suggested by political opportunists and inciters promising “heaven on earth” to those willing to listen and ready to do their bidding by launching regular attacks on ranger camps and wardens on patrol.
UWA claims to have cleared about 2,000 hectares of illegally-occupied and cultivated land already, which is said to be crucial to the protection of water sources and to prevent landslides and soil erosion, especially with the onset of the unusually heavy el Nino-induced rains. Reforestation and related repair measures are underway in such areas, too, as it was pointed out.
In a discussion with UWA’s executive director Moses Mapesa, he categorically rejected any suggestion and allegations that UWA would habitually or deliberately engage in torture or extrajudicial activities and denied that this was ever the organization’s method of working or indeed a matter of policy as has been suggested by its opponents. Having been the organization’s director of field operations before being appointed to the position of CEO, and being widely respected as an honorable and honest person, not just in Uganda but the wider eastern African region, gives even further credence to his denials.
While Mapesa did not rule out collusion by individual rangers in permitting people into the park to create shambas [small farms] in a corrupt fashion, he vowed to bring those errant staff to book, while he also vowed to pursue through police and other legal channels those who injured or killed his staff in past weeks and months.
Mapesa went on to state that some of the pictures published by human rights activists last week are in fact of UWA staff injured during attacks and NOT of innocent villagers beaten up by UWA personnel and that these pictures were provided to the media by UWA as proof of those attacks on rangers and wardens.
In closing our conversation, Mapesa laid substantial blame on the doorsteps of aspiring politicians and political charlatans, who incited crowds repeatedly in 2000, 2001, 2005, and again of late, and who were ultimately responsible for the resulting bloodshed during clashes of riotous encroachers, poachers, illegal farmers, and timber thieves on one side and the law enforcement personnel of UWA and other security agencies on the other side.
This is, incidentally, the same pattern experienced by the National Forest Authority, which has also seen their field staff under regular attack when trying to enforce the law governing the management of central forest reserves. Earlier this week, NFA released yet more details about fresh forest invasions affecting nearly 6,000 hectares of gazetted forests while government is pondering what to do and sitting on its hands instead of strongly supporting the national guardian body of forests.
The good news now is that UWA, in conjunction with community leaders of integrity, has worked out a draft agreement with nearby villages, which will permit the tightly-controlled sustainable use of the boundary sections of the forest park, which includes bee keeping, collection of medicinal herbs and plants, and limited use of timber by designated beneficiaries in quantities ensuring the long-term sustainability of such an economic partnership.
The emerging dangers, in particular with an eye on the 2011 elections in Uganda, have, however, been underscored when the organization’s PRO, during a session with journalists in Bwindi on her own within the context of answering a question, introduced it into one of her answers but would then not be drawn further into the subject. Playing with conservation for short-term political gains can have disastrous consequences as the severe impact of the Mau deforestation and destruction across the border in Kenya amply demonstrates. There, for the sake of votes, politicians have turned a blind-eye for decades on the emerging problems and only now that the fallout from the crippled key water catchment area can no longer be hidden and is causing more problems than potentially widespread evictions, is a half-hearted reaction beginning to emerge from the government in Nairobi.
Recent pictures showing Mt. Kilimanjaro’s top literally bare of snow and ice, the ongoing shrinkage of the Rwenzori icecaps, and the more frequent drought and flooding cycles are all a final wake-up call – mankind’s long-term survival is at stake, and the forthcoming Copenhagen Climate Conference will be the clearest indication yet of how serious the governments of developed nations, threshold nations, and very much our own African governments really are to save the planet from destruction.
That destruction always begins on a small scale somewhere, which is why UWA needs all the support and political backing to prevent further encroachment and parceling off at the Mt. Elgon National Park.
Seeking cheap publicity stunts like the ones by self-proclaimed human right activists are certainly not the way forward. No rangers have been taken to court for causing bodily harm, for torture, assault, or murder up to this point, and most likely for lack of evidence as otherwise those now making these allegations once again would have equally reported prosecutions and convictions – none of which happened.
In conclusion, these exact sentiments were also overwhelmingly voiced by those sections of the local print and electronic media considered responsible, while a distinct group of other media was trying to make cheap political capital out of the sad events when they highlighted in a one-sided manner the allegations against the Uganda Wildlife Authority and used it as a platform to attack government in general about all and sundry.