Results tagged “national geographic” from Intelligent Travel Blog

Could Hawaii's idyllic beaches soon be gone forever? According to the Associated Press, "geologists say more than 70 percent of Kauai's beaches are eroding" and Oahu has lost almost a quarter of its shoreline. The devastation is occurring throughout the Hawaiian island chain and is a huge blow to a state whose largest employer is tourism--raking in $11.4 billion annually.  Even worse, if this continues it would mean the destruction of many already endangered and threatened animals' habitats.

So, what's caused this and what's being done to stop it? Chip Fletcher, a geology professor at the University of Hawaii, believes the current erosion was caused by a variety of factors, including a steady historic climb in sea levels that likely dates back to the 19th century, storms, and human actions such as the construction of seawalls, jetties, and the dredging of stream mouths. But experts also warn that a more rapid rise in sea levels caused by global warming will have an effect in the next few decades, causing shorelines in Hawaii and elsewhere to erode much more quickly.

Our intrepid writer Andrew Nelson is just five days away from his trip to Miami, where he'll be relying on the Twitterverse to show him around. So far, he's already found a great rate at the Essex House hotel, but now he's looking for restaurant recommendations and weighing his options (should he check out Red Steakhouse? El Pub? Versailles?). Be sure to follow him at @andrewnelson to help him with the planning, and then help to show him around town when he arrives.

Andrew will be in Miami from Thursday, November 26th through Monday, November 30th. Tweet him your insider tips on where to eat, play, and soak up the city's culture, using the hashtag #ngtmiami. Follow him now, and read his story about his experience in an upcoming issue of Traveler. And you can follow @NatGeoTraveler for all the latest news from our magazine staff.

I arrived in Madrid a few weeks ago with only a handful of hours on a Saturday to show my fiancé around town, so I wanted a way to pack in as much culture as we could, and if possible, do it on the cheap. Enter my colleague Meg Weaver's excellent Free City Guide to Madrid, where I found a slew of cost-efficient ways to wander the city. With her list and a few of our own discoveries along the way, we were able to make our limited stay a memorable one, and save a few euros in the process.

Our first stop was the CaixaForum Madrid gallery, a former electric power station that's now a funky art space situated along the Paseo del Prado, tucked among some of the city's best museums. We wandered the current exhibit, took a break at the thoroughly modern cafe upstairs, then marveled at the living wall of plant life that's overtaken the exterior of the building next door. The admission is always free, so it should certainly join the must-see list for those visiting the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia and Museo del Prado, which is where we were headed next.

Admission is free for visitors to the Reina Sofia after 2:30 p.m. on Saturdays and until 2:30 p.m. on Sundays, so we ducked in there first, taking the very-cool elevators up to see Picasso's Guérnica, which is always captivating. We spent awhile wandering the halls of modern art before heading over to the historic stuff at the Prado, whose immense galleries filled with works by Goya, Reubens, and Velásques constituted an entire semester's worth of study for one of my college roommates when she studied abroad in the city. But we only had two hours, as the Prado offers free admission from 6 p.m to 8 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday (and from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday). Thankfully, that was more than enough time to take in some of the museum's more famous works like Las Meninas and The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid.

We're headlong into Geography Awareness Week, and our pals over at NG Blog Central, inspired by Senator Al Franken's impressive map-drawing abilities at the Minnesota State Fair this summer, have been getting U.S. political leaders involved in the act by asking them to sketch their states. Check out their freehand maps (and comments), then we challenge you to see how well you can draw your state from memory.

The exhibit "Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China's First Emperor" opens this Thursday, November 19th, at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC. We weaseled our way into the press preview to get you a sneak peek. But before letting us loose to see Emperor Qin Shihuangdi's lifesized warriors face-to-face, Stanford Professor Emeritus Albert Dien, guest curator of the exhibit, reminisced on his first visit to Xi'an, China, in 1977 to see the warriors who'd been discovered three years before by a local farmer digging a well. In our October Places of a Lifetime issue he relates this moment:

Turning a corner, we came upon the figure of an archer that I hadn't seen in any published literature. It was such a shock to see this startlingly lifelike figure that our hosts insisted I sit and rest awhile. . . [T]his archer seemed so vibrant, almost in motion. . .I simply sat and stared in wonderment--and the wonder has never left me, no matter how often I've returned to Xi'an.

The kneeling archer is here at our headquarters, along with 14 other figures including infantrymen, a chariot driver, two musicians, a well-muscled (albeit headless) strongman, a 700-pound horse, cavalrymen, a seemingly obsequious court official, and a general. Also on display in the 12,000-square-foot, four-themed exhibit space are 100 objects--decorative jade pieces, bronze weapons, coins, a naturalistic crane sculpture, details of the warriors' armor, and roof tiles--including 20 "Level 1" artifacts, those designated as the site's rarest and most important finds.

A 2006 National Geographic-Roper Survey of Geographic Literacy found that only half of 18-24 year olds in the United States could correctly identify India or Japan on a map.  Things didn't look any better when it came to domestic locations, either--only 50 percent could correctly identify the state of New York and a mere 43 percent could pinpoint Ohio on a map. This November 15-21, National Geographic will attempt to combat young Americans' lack of geographic knowledge by sponsoring Geography Awareness Week.  Launched in 1987 by a presidential proclamation, Geography Awareness Week takes place annually during the third week of November. 

There are many ways to get involved in this year's event.  Teachers can take advantage of programs and tools from National Geographic's Geography Action! program--such as downloadable wall-sized maps to hang in their classrooms and support material geared toward specific age groups, from Kindergarteners through high school seniors.

Only a few days remain in National Geographic Magazine's International Photo Contest. Here's a standout from this week's batch of entries, taken by Nancy Dinh.

This photo reflects the communal sense of Vietnamese culture, where mother, father, and child sleep together on a mattress close to the ground, enveloped in a single large mosquito net in a room dedicated to nocturnal sleep and daytime playing. During the daytime, the child is gatekeeper.

For more images, visit the weekly galleries on National Geographic Magazine's site. The International Photo Contest ends October 31st, so submit your favorite images in the People, Places, and Nature categories now.

The November issue of National Geographic magazine features a remarkable image of chimpanzees at a rescue center in Cameroon watching the burial of one of their own. Since it was published, the photo and story have gone viral, turning up on websites, in newspapers and on TV shows around the world. National Geographic writer Jeremy Berlin interviewed the photographer, Monica Szczupider, who was working as a volunteer at the rescue center when she took this photo, and who submitted the picture to National Geographic's Your Shot:

On September 23, 2008, Dorothy, a female chimpanzee in her late 40s, died of congestive heart failure. A maternal and beloved figure, Dorothy spent eight years at Cameroon's Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue Center, which houses and rehabilitates chimps victimized by habitat loss and the illegal African bushmeat trade.

After a hunter killed her mother, Dorothy was sold as a "mascot" to an amusement park in Cameroon. For the next 25 years, she was tethered to the ground by a chain around her neck, taunted, teased, and taught to drink beer and smoke cigarettes for sport. In May 2000, Dorothy--obese from poor diet and lack of exercise--was rescued and relocated along with ten other primates. As her health improved, her deep kindness surfaced. She mothered an orphaned chimp named Bouboule and became a close friend to many others, including Jacky, the group's alpha male, and Nama, another amusement-park refugee...

For more of the story, go to NGM Blog Central here.

Photo by Monica Szczupider, National Geographic magazine

I'm setting off on a group tour to Morocco next week, and throughout my travel planning, I've been somewhat apologetic as I explain that yes, as a travel editor, I signed up for a tour. So I was heartened to read Daisann McLane's column in our current issue espousing the benefits of group travel, which she noticed on a recent bus trip through Guangzhou, China:

As I sat on a bus wearing a silly cap, eating pork buns, and being serenaded by a karaoke-singing tour guide, I had to laugh at myself. Not that many years ago I was so allergic to anything remotely "touristy" that I even refused to carry a camera when I traveled. I kept a list of "not for me" places--popular attractions, neighborhoods, even nations, that I refused to visit because I thought they'd be "too full of tourists." I considered myself a class apart, a traveler, and that meant going places nobody else did, and going, mostly, alone. Tour groups? No way.

When the United Nations Climate Change Conference meets in Copenhagen this December, the delegates won't have to look very far for environmental inspiration. An eco-pioneer before going green became stylish, Denmark's capital is seamed by parks, 186 miles of bike paths, and enough serious organic restaurants to earn some of the city's 14 Michelin stars. The once polluted waterfront is now so clean it feeds a network of popular harborside swimming pools--though it doesn't take much to draw nature-oriented Copenhageners outside.

To learn more about this green city, check out Raphael Kadushin's 48 Hours Guide to Copenhagen in the Nov./Dec. issue of Traveler, and go online for the best things to do, places to stay, and a photo gallery to get you inspired.

Photo: Sisse Brimberg & Cotton Coulson/Keenpress

Only a few weeks remain in National Geographic Magazine's International Photo Contest. Here's a standout from this week's batch of entries, taken by Cesare Naldi.

Nazroo, a mahout (elephant driver), poses for a portrait while taking his elephant, Rajan, out for a swim in front of Radha Nagar Beach in Havelock, Andaman Islands. Rajan is one of the few elephants in Havelock that can swim, so when he is not dragging timber in the forest he is used as a tourist attraction. The relationship between the mahout and his elephant usually lasts for their entire lives, creating an extremely strong tie between the animal and the human being.

For more images, visit the weekly galleries on National Geographic Magazine's site. The International Photo Contest ends October 31st, so submit your favorite images in the People, Places, and Nature categories now.

In conjunction with his upcoming book, Here Is Where: In Search of America's Great Forgotten History, we've been following historian and Legacy Project founder Andrew Carroll as he drives, flies, walks, boats, buses, bikes, and hikes to seek out little-known historic sites in all 50 states. Today he shares his last blog post, at a site that inspired him to start the project. You can find all of his past posts here.

Pittsburgh is where I officially launched this 50-state journey last July, but in many ways the first stop of my journey was in New Orleans two years ago. The Big Easy was my "test" city back in the fall of 2007, and I hired a local guide named Rob Florence, considered the best in the business, to see how many unmarked history sites we could locate. I especially wanted to pinpoint spots that were unfamiliar to local residents--perhaps even to Rob himself.

Rob is exactly what you want in a guide: genuinely passionate, friendly, and, of course, knowledgeable about almost every nook of the city. He has also been instrumental in preserving the past. Rob helped place a new marker at the gravesite of Homer Plessey (of the infamous Plessey v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision) and has been involved in countless other activities to ensure that New Orleans' rich history is not lost.

In 2007 Rob and I found numerous forgotten history sites, including a secluded burial mound miles outside the French Quarter, a decrepit building at the corner of S. Rampart and Perdido where the "father of jazz" Buddy Bolton is said to have gotten his start, and, in a parking lot behind Houston's Restaurant on St. Charles Street, the scattered remains of the factory where Andrew Higgins built amphibious landing craft used in the 1944 D-Day landings (pictured, above). At the time, General Dwight D. Eisenhower credited Higgins and his boats with helping to win the war in Europe. After this first visit to New Orleans I decided that a larger, 50-state trip was in order.

I recently went back to see Rob, and I asked him to help me track down some additional forgotten history sites, especially one that, although not nationally significant, is personally meaningful to me.

Only a few weeks remain in National Geographic magazine's International Photo Contest, so we asked our friends across the courtyard to share some of the favorite images that they've received so far. One of the standouts was this surly lemur, taken by Sandrine Vuillermoz in Madagascar. After attempting several pictures, Vuillermoz says the lemur began posing like a model, then turned and stuck out his tongue. "He tried to send me the message, it's ok, now you can go, you've had your scoop!" Vuillermoz writes in his caption.

For more images, visit the weekly galleries on National Geographic Magazine's site. The International Photo Contest ends October 31st, so submit your favorite images in the People, Places, and Nature categories now.

Photo: Sandrine Vuillermoz

National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Dereck and Beverly Joubert, who have worked on conservation efforts in Africa for over 25 years, appeared on the Today Show this morning to announce the launch of the Big Cats Initiative, a campaign to rally public support for protecting lions, leopards, and other large feline species in the wild. "In 50 years," said Beverly, "we've gone from 450,000 lions down to 20,000. That is drastic, so we have to take action."

To learn more about the effort, and how you can help, visit National Geographic's Blog Wild. And read more about the Joubert's efforts with the Maasailand Preservation Trust here. Donate to the Big Cats Initiative here. 

National Geographic Expeditions Marketing Manager Sarah Muenzenmayer shares tips on planning a Hawaii trip that's budget-friendly and full of local color.

As avid travelers in our early 30s, my husband and I like to plan trips that will challenge us--language barriers and exploring foreign cultures are the aspects of travel we find both adventurous and memorable. But with the hubby currently in grad school, we wanted a trip that was slightly easier to plan, not to mention easy on the wallet. Drawn to Hawaii's natural beauty, we decided to skip the resorts and instead to camp along the spectacular coastline. Here are a few tips on how we kept our trip to the Big Island and Kauai challenging, and kept the total cost pretty darn low.

Okay, I admit it: before a recent excursion to Russia, I could do little more than find it on a map. Having scored an embarrassing four out of ten on Traveler's Worldwise Quiz on Moscow, I was clearly starting from scratch when it came to preparing for this trip.

Now that I've been, I know that Russia is incredible and definitely worth a visit, but you ought to be in the know before you leave. Here are a few helpful tips to get you started.

• Apply for your visa early. You need a visa to visit Russia--and to get one you need someone in the country to sponsor you. Usually your hotel or a Russian travel agency will act as your sponsor. Be sure to apply for your visa at least three weeks in advance and make sure all the information on it is correct before you go.

• Keep your papers with you. By the time you leave Russia, you will probably have enough slips of paper to fill a scrapbook--there will be a form for just about everything you do, and yes, people will ask you for them. The first important document you'll receive (besides your visa) is the Migration Card you get upon arrival. You'll give half to the customs official when you enter, and keep the second sheet. Don't lose it! You need this form to exit the country. 

Food writer and Modern Spice cookbook author Monica Bhide recently returned from visiting her family in India, and we asked her to share some glimpses of contemporary life she noticed while there. You can read her first post here.

For centuries India, particularly North India, has been a country of tea drinkers, while steaming cups of coffee were loved by the folks in South India. And then something happened. Since 2000, coffeehouses like Barista and Café Coffee Day have begun to spring up in major cities by the hundreds. They offer different types of coffees, smoothies, and snacks very much like Starbucks does. The initial reaction was interesting to watch. "The affluent young Indians will love it," the media claimed, as they noted all the youngsters gathering at the coffeehouses. There was an outcry from lovers of Indian culture and tea--it was blasphemous for them to even think that coffee culture could be percolating here in India, sacrilegious that a tea-drinking nation could love drinking coffee. Culture watchers were quick to point out that people drinking in these fancy coffeehouses weren't any better than the ones who drank tea off the street stalls.  

My view is a bit different.

Silbo Gomero is a whistling language that developed on the island of La Gomera, one of Spain's Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa. The island is difficult to traverse due to its very steep hills and deep ravines. La Gomera's inhabitants, tired of yelling at each other, long ago invented a phonetic language based on whistling, and for centuries this form of communication worked very well. Then came telephones, and the whistling language fell into disuse.

Saving Silbo Gomera became the goal of busuu.com, an online community for learning languages, which produced this video as part of a worldwide campaign. Their efforts were successful. Yesterday UNESCO declared the language to be an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. 

Also making UNESCO's list was the sultry music and moves of the Tango. This is thanks to a bit of cooperation between Uruguay and Argentina, who have long bickered over who laid claim to its origins. The two countries put their arguments aside in order to petition UNESCO for the special status, and they now stand to receive funding to safeguard the cultural tradition. There were 76 designations made this year, and include the Chinese Dragon Boat festival, Aubusson tapestry-making in France, and the traditional Nigerian harvest festival know as the Ijele masquerade. The entire list is fascinating, be sure to take a look.

Thanks to French blogger Kirsten Winkler for the whistling tip!

Senior Researcher Marilyn Terrell is just back from a trip through the Yukon Territory, and she's thrilling all of us with stories from her trip. You can read her previous entries about her Yukon adventure here and here.

The ultimate destination on my Yukon River trip two weeks ago was Dawson City, just as it had been for the Klondike gold prospectors streaming down the river 112 years ago. To learn more about the Gold Rush, I picked up a wonderfully informative history by Pierre Berton, "Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush", from Mac's Fireweed Books in Whitehorse to read during the trip.

For the prospectors, the journey started with an arduous slog over the Coast Mountains along the Chilkoot Trail from the port at Skagway, Alaska. Each prospector had to make numerous trips in order to haul 1,000 pounds of equipment and supplies down to Lake Bennett, where the Yukon River begins. The North West Mounted Police were patrolling the Yukon when the Klondike gold rush began 1897, and would not permit any ill-equipped miner lacking the requisite 1,000-lb. "outfit" to start the journey, because there were no grocery stores along the Yukon River or even in Dawson City itself. You had to bring enough canned food with you to survive on for a year, until the next riverboat might bring supplies.

Some hasty prospectors raced to Dawson City in the fall of 1896, traveling light without supplies before the main rush began, and they were congratulating themselves on getting a jump on the competition when a messenger appeared in a canoe from downriver in Whitehorse. Instead of the news they were expecting, that a steamboat was on its way with food for the winter, the early birds got the grim word: no more riverboats would be forthcoming that year, and unless they wanted to starve they'd have to leave immediately, as the river was already beginning to freeze up.

Unexpected discoveries can often lead to photographs that inspire, like this view of Easter Island moai from an unusual angle. Through the end of October, National Geographic wants your photos for its 2009 International Photography Contest. Submit photos in the People, Places or Nature categories and you could win a digital camera kit and get your photograph published in the pages of National Geographic magazine.

It costs $12 to enter each photo; you can submit up to six by October 31, 2009. Editors will judge for creativity and quality. Winners will be announced in early December.

In the meantime, you could download some of the editors' picks here for your computer wallpaper, rate images on a scale from one to ten, or put together a jigsaw puzzle of a photograph as you race the clock.

Photo: Easter Island by Jerry Zelko, National Geographic International Photo Contest, Sept. Week 3, Places

Rainer Jenss, his wife Carol, and their sons Stefan and Tyler, are just back from having spent a year traveling around the world, and we were able to follow along as they blogged about their journey for Intelligent Travel and National Geographic Kids. Now that they're back and adjusting to a static existence, we asked Rainer to reflect on his trip and share some of his favorite moments.

Wellfleet was abuzz with customary summertime activities just as it was a little over a year ago. We were last here at the very start of an around the world trip that would span exactly one year and cover 28 countries. Now we are back on Cape Cod as part of an annual family summertime ritual we've honored since the children were born.  

Not much appears outwardly different. The bluffs of White Crest Beach have the usual stream of families and surfers tramping up and down its steep dunes. Swimmers bob in the Atlantic, which has warmed just enough to allow for some brief bursts of body surfing for those of us not in wetsuits. The local drive-in continues to feature the same intermission film clip; complete with dancing popcorn boxes and juggling soda cups, just as it did when it first opened in 1957.  

Yet so much has changed since last July. The global economy and American leadership have radically altered and there seems to be a prevailing sentiment of unease about what the future holds. There's also no doubt my eyes see things quite differently than they did twelve months ago. It was enlightening to learn how people from all corners of the globe are influenced and affected by what happens in America. With the possible exception of Bhutan, there seems to be an almost universal fascination with our politics (yes, the election of Obama greatly improved the perception of Americas almost overnight), celebrities, and general lifestyle. As such, I've found it hard not to walk around comparing life in the U.S. to the rest of the world, for better or worse.

Today marks the 68th anniversary of the killings at Babi Yar, an atrocity in Kiev, Ukraine in which 33,700 Jews were rounded up and executed over two days by the Nazis. The site, at the edge of a ravine, has become a sacred place for the family members who survived the killings, and as of yesterday, its sanctity will remain intact. Kiev Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky's office said yesterday that he had vetoed a decision by the city council to build the hotel on the edge of the site, which would have been called Babi Yar, after wide protests from Jewish groups.

The controversy in Babi Yar is indicative of issues facing Eastern Bloc nations struggling to get a foothold in tourism. Kiev is looking for ways to expand its accommodations, as it currently has only 125 hotels and 17,000 beds, and needs sites where it can build hotels in order to prepare for the 2012 European soccer championship. But it's also dealing with the aftermath of postwar anti-Semitic policies that failed to recognize the significance of the site for decades. For years following World War II, Babi Yar bore a plaque that only paid tribute to the "citizens of Kiev and prisoners of war" who died there. It was only in 1991, after the Soviet Union's collapse, that a memorial was erected to recognize the Jewish lives that were lost.

As cities such as Kiev attempt to develop and expand their tourism efforts, it's inevitable that they'll also have to acknowledge some of the more sordid moments in their history. The key for them will be to not only focus on developing properties that will accommodate tourists, but on creating sites that will respect the history in the cities and inform visitors about the tragedies in their past.

Photo: In this Sept. 29, 2003 file photo, a man cries as he remembers all his family killed by Nazis at Babi Yar ravine, at the monument to victims in Kiev, Ukraine. (AP Photo/ Efrem Lukatsky, File)

So I'm just back from lunch with Ken Burns. Ok, so maybe it was me, Ken Burns, and a room full of other journalists at the National Press Club, but the man is such a captivating speaker that it's as if he's sitting across the table from you, instead of across the room.

Burns was there to speak about the launch of his six-part, 12-hour documentary series, "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," which began airing on PBS last night and will continue throughout the week. It was a ten-year process to create, and Burns explained that its focus is not on the majesty of the parks themselves, but the individuals who worked incredibly hard to create the parks in order to protect these "still wild places." His aim was to celebrate both the "love of place and a love of nation" that the parks have come to stand for.

After his presentation, the room full of journalists was ready with questions, and Burns continued to be as articulate in his off-the-cuff remarks as he had been in his speech. He said he'd love to see Dinosaur National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument receive full national park designations, and that his "fervent wish" was for more families, particularly families of color, to begin to go out and experience the parks.

If you haven't yet snagged it, be sure to pick up a copy of the October issue of National Geographic Magazine for their incredible cover story about National Geographic explorer-in-residence Michael Fay's 11-month journey walking through the Redwoods, from Big Sur to just beyond the Oregon border. I read it last night, and this paragraph alone captivated me:

Fording a vein of emerald water known as the South Fork of the Eel, they climbed the far bank and entered the translucent shade of the most magnificent grove they'd seen yet. Redwoods the size of Saturn rockets sprouted from the ground like giant beanstalks, their butts blackened by fire. Some bore thick, ropy bark that spiraled sky­ward in candy-cane swirls. Others had huge cav­ities known as goose pens--after the use early pio­neers put them to--big enough to hold 20 people. Treetops the size of VW buses lay half-buried among the sorrel and sword ferns, where they'd plummeted from 30 stories up--the casualties of titanic wars with the wind, which even now coursed through the tops with panpipe-like creaks and groans. It's no wonder Steven Spielberg and George Lucas filmed scenes for the Jurassic Park sequel and Return of the Jedi among the redwood giants: It felt as if a T. rex or a furry Ewok could poke its head out at any minute.

The Redwoods also happen to be featured in the latest issue of Traveler, as one our "50 Places of a Lifetime." In his essay, author Richard Preston notes that "when I'm in the Redwoods, I always get the sense that time is slowing down, slowing almost to the point where it hardly seems to exist as an influence in one's life. If human time is a fast-running brook, redwood time is a deep, dreaming river." You can find the entire essay in our October issue, on newsstands now.

Have you experienced the Redwoods yourself? If you have, share your experiences. And if you haven't (and even if you have) click through for a glimpse at the spectacular photo collage of 84 images that Michael Nichols created of one of the tallest trees. It's an insert in the latest issue of National Geographic, and you can see more spectacular images here.

Above Photo: ©2009 Michael Nichols/National Geographic Staff

It's 1,300 feet high, towering far above the elegant city laid out by Peter the Great, and four times higher than the maximum building limit established by city planners to preserve the architectural integrity of the czarist-era city. Developers of the controversial new Gazprom office building received the green light this week from the governor of St. Petersburg to start construction on the tallest skyscraper in Europe. Not everyone's pleased about it.  The London Times reports:

UNESCO expressed "grave concern" in July about the impact of the tower and warned Russian officials that it could place St. Petersburg on the "World Heritage in Danger" list next year. It urged them to suspend work on the project, adopt a different design and submit a report by February on measures to protect the 306-year-old city centre.

A Times' reader commented:

Last night, Amy Tan helped launch our new "Journeys" series of live conversations with great writers at National Geographic headquarters here in D.C. The bestselling author of such books as The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen's God's Wife, and most recently, Saving Fish From Drowning, was gracious, funny, and inspiring. (And a fabulous dresser!) The sold-out crowd enjoyed the wide-ranging, often intimate discussion she had with Traveler contributing editor and book reviewer Don George. Some highlights:

• She wrote The Joy Luck Club in four months.

• She's working on her next novel, which was inspired by the remote Chinese village she visited and wrote about for National Geographic Magazine's May 2008 issue.

• Her mother's voice is a constant in her writings--The Kitchen God's Wife was inspired by her mother's story and the dead tour-guide narrator of Saving Fish From Drowning stemmed from a dream she had of her mother after her death: "All the things that I used to find annoying [about my mother], I now find charming."

• Her inspiration for books usually stems from a vivid image of a specific place: for The Joy Luck Club it was Guilin.

• How has her writing helped her grow and change? "I write to discover that; with each book I learn something new about myself."

This was also the first Twitter-friendly event the Society has sponsored, so to learn more about what people thought of the talk, and to get a glimpse of some of what was discussed you can search for #amytannglive. For upcoming events and more news from the Society, be sure to follow @NatGeoScoop.

The next speaker in the series is Simon Winchester, author of The Man Who Loved China and The Professor and the Madman, and editor of the 2009 edition of Best American Travel Writing. He'll be coming to National Geographic on October 15, 2009. Click here for more information and to buy tickets. For more inspiring travel reads, check in each month for Don George's Trip Lit column, or browse our Ultimate Travel Library.

Photo: Amy Tan and Don George in conversation, by Andrew Evans.

Senior Researcher Marilyn Terrell is just back from a trip through the Yukon Territory, and she's thrilling all of us with stories from her trip. You can read her previous entry about her Yukon adventure here.

The first few times someone on my trip spotted a bald eagle, we all grabbed binoculars and cameras. But after three days of seeing very little birdlife besides bald eagles, trip member Roy dubbed them the "pigeons of the Yukon."

We've seen other species along this Great River Journey from Whitehorse to Dawson. At Lake Lebarge we heard loons on the water and spied fat grouse scratching in the underbrush. Around a bend on the Thirty Mile River we surprised a pair of trumpeter swans who took off, silently, flapping enormous white wings. At Pelly River Ranch, farmer Hugh Bradley pointed out some Yukon turkeys (sandhill cranes) in one of his fields and predicted we'd soon be seeing more. Sure enough, a squadron flew over our cabins next morning, gobbling noisily, heading south.

Contributing Editor Andrew Nelson is back from a visit to his former digs in West Texas, and uncovered a slate of fun new hotspots. You can follow all of Andrew's many travels on Twitter at @andrewnelson.

True to their contrarian nature, the isolated communities of Far West Texas--Marfa, Alpine, Sanderson and Marathon--seem to march in an opposite direction than the rest of the world. With parts of Texas and the Southwest crisping with drought, sweet rains have turned the Big Bend region's arroyos and mountains a rich sage. And as other places suffer a recessionary closure of myriad restaurants and galleries, the independent towns west of the Pecos are enjoying a bumper crop of new attractions and attention.

Outside magazine recently christened Alpine, the hub of the Big Bend and its biggest town, as one of the 10 best towns for outdoor sports in the nation, describing it as Austin's "mini-me." In Sanderson, local resident Terry "Tex" Tolerworks is spearheading an effort to promote an art drive along Highway 90--the lonely stretch of road that crosses the region and is filled with spectacular vistas and the occasional pronghorn or roadrunner. In Marfa, Wool and Hoop (pictured, left), a crewel embroidery store founded by artist Katherine Shaughnessy, sells pretty stitchwork while Cochineal, a restaurant started by two ex-pat New Yorkers, packs them in for dinner. Hint: If you can't get an evening reservation, breakfast beneath the trees for a lot less dosh but equally tasty fare - eggs backed in cream with bacon, spinach and fresh mixed herbs or maybe the migas with refried pinto beans and salsa. 

In Alpine, Talgar's, a restaurant specializing in Oaxacan fare makes a delectable fish tacos. Next door, the Murphy Street Raspa Company--a sweets and gifts emporium--sells hipster T-shirts, plus backcountry Mexican finds like peasant blouses for $26 and Mexican bingo cards. Be sure to sample the Mexican ices called "raspas"--try the tamarind with fresh-squeezed lime juice. (Here, owner Vic Noriega demonstrates how to make one.) Too full to waddle anywhere else? For accommodations head for the Alpine Guest Lofts. Their hip "El Concierge" service will get you almost anything: "engine parts for your Harley, or tickets to one of our off-off-off-off-off Broadway plays, or to stable your polo ponies." Relax in their soaking tubs, or lounge under the pecan tree, which provides cool shade for all.

Photo: Wool and Hoop

National Geographic photographer Bob Krist is on assignment in Slovenia, and sends us another peek through his viewfinder (you can find his first one here). Visit his blog for more tips, or get them in person at our upcoming Traveler Photo Seminar in Denver, Colorado on September 27.

My assignment has taken me from one end of Slovenia to the other, which isn't really saying much considering the country's small size, but it has afforded me some more great sights and photo ops.

For this high angle view of the coastal town of Piran, I climbed a church tower and shot down using a 16-85mm VR lens with a polarizing filter to make the most of the incredible colors. It was the last bit of the sun I'd see for a while. Whenever I hit a new town, I look for high places to shoot from to give my pictures a sense of place.

For a glimpse at underground Slovenia and some other cool snaps, hit the jump.

I just went to Los Angeles to set up a colorful photography exhibit, India Calling! at California Plaza, a wonderful outdoor venue in the heart of the city. If you're in the area you should go check it out. The pictures will be up through Saturday Sept. 19th.

A joint presentation by the National Geographic Society and Incredible India, this photography exhibition features the pictures of National Geographic Traveler photographer Palani Mohan taken on his journeys through India. (See more of his pictures here and here.)

Our November/December issue is a special collector's edition, "50 Places of a Lifetime," and it's heading to a mailbox or newsstand near you. Here's the introduction to the package from the pages of the magazine; the complete list of all of our Places of a Lifetime can be found after the jump.

A decade ago, Traveler published a landmark issue-- "50 Places of a Lifetime"--that in subsequent years has become something of a hallmark of the magazine, spawning related books, podcasts, special issues, web content, games, mobile apps--even a round-the-world jet trip from National Geographic Expeditions to lift off in October 2010. Long before The Bucket List and 1,000 Places to See Before You Die, we sought to showcase those treasured destinations that every curious traveler should visit in a lifetime.

Now, in Traveler's 25th-anniversary year, we recognize the first 50 places and offer another 50 that speak to the transformation of travel since 1999--how we travel, where we travel, why we travel. Ten years ago, we could see the emerging signs of a new kind of journeying--one that puts a premium on sense of place, authenticity, culture, sustainability, and experience rather than mere sightseeing.

These elements became the compass we use to steer you to destinations that are more than just numbers in a hot list. Our first 50 picks were icons the world collectively recognizes as superlative. What we offer in the following pages is what sets this magazine apart. We go beyond the obvious. You'll see that we've picked locations of character--and asked those with a personal connection to them to tell us why they are important, unique, compelling. Some are places you may know but haven't seen the way we view them here. Others, we hope, are surprises that may seduce you to explore them firsthand. We address what makes a destination special, what will reward the traveler, why you should come here rather than go somewhere else. We are more sensitive than ever to the fact that many places we love most are deeply threatened--and our challenge is to preserve them for future generations. When they travel, I want my children to know the same joy I feel every time I discover somewhere new and different. We all begin that journey by finding a place that sings to us. We hope you find many destinations in these pages that do just that. --Keith Bellows, Editor in Chief

Traveler alumnus and Travel Telegraph blogger Emily Haile is spending the next several months in Taiwan, and she sent us a note from her new home.

Before I left home, I looked on Flickr for some photos of Taiwan and was immediately captivated by the photographs of John&Fish.

When I arrived in the city, I sent them a message through Flickr. A few days later, they were driving me to their home overlooking the Waishuangxi River (sometime written Waishuangsi). Fish set out a feast of sushi and sashimi that was entirely vegetarian. They are devout buddhists, and will not eat any kind of flesh. Between bites, they told me about their adventures bird watching in Taiwan.

By day, they work for a software programming company; every weekend they turn into avid birdwatchers, driving around the island and into the mountains in search of kingfishers, grebes, terns, and egrets. John shows me his camera. The lens looks about as long as an elephant's trunk.

We love our Trip Lit book critic, Don George, so we were excited to hear that we'll be seeing more of him around the office. Starting this fall, Don will be hosting a series of conversations with all-star authors whose works evoke a strong sense of place. His first event will be with best-selling author Amy Tan this September 23, at 7:30 p.m. at our headquarters in D.C. Here's a bit about her and the event itself:

Born in the U.S. to immigrant parents from China, Amy Tan rejected her mother's expectations that she become a doctor and concert pianist and chose to write fiction instead. Her acclaimed novels include The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, and The Bonesetter's Daughter; and she has adapted her work for film, television, and opera. In a wide-ranging conversation, Tan will discuss, with Traveler editor Don George, the life-changing challenges of living in two cultures, the importance of fate and family in her life and work, and the places that have most moved and inspired her.

The evening will be preceded by a reception featuring beers from around the world, presented with generous support from the Michelob Brewing Company (must be 21 or older).

Click here for more information and to order tickets. The next event, which will feature travel writer Simon Winchester, will be held October 15. We hope to see you there!

Photo: John Foley
 

National Geographic photographer Bob Krist is on assignment in Slovenia, and sends a us peek through his viewfinder. Visit his blog for more tips, or get them in person at our upcoming Traveler Photo Seminar in Denver, Colorado on September 27.

I'm only halfway through my assignment in Slovenia, and this little (New Jersey-sized) country already has me blown away at the astonishing variety of scenery there is to photograph; from Alpine lakes to quaint coastal fishing villages, to huge underground caverns.

My first stop is Lake Bled in the Julian Alps. This beautiful lake was the favorite vacation spot of Marshal Tito when Slovenia was part of his former Yugoslavia. The symbol, or iconic shot of Lake Bled is the Church of the Assumption on a tiny island in the middle of the Lake.

One reason I love to travel slowly is to get as many cracks at a photo subject as possible. I try to shoot it at different times of day, from different perspectives with different lenses. The shot above shows the Church with the beautiful Bled castle and the Julian Alps behind it. It's a medium telephoto view in the late afternoon. To see a few other perspectives, including a view of the lake from the island itself, continue reading.

IT Editor Janelle Nanos is just back from an assignment in Alaska, and is posting some of the highlights from her trip. Check out her photo gallery after the jump.


No visit to Alaska can really be called complete unless you come face-to-face with a bear. Or at least that's how I rationalized my response to coming up close and personal with Scarface, a beat-up old brown bear who came lumbering toward me during my visit to Katmai National Park. While the rest of my group stood up to make themselves appear bigger and clapped their hands to make noise, I did exactly what my guide told us not to do: I froze. Then, I instinctively grabbed my camera, right as another, smaller bear ran past me, four feet to my right. Obscured by my viewfinder, I barely saw him. My father nearly had a heart attack.

Thankfully, Dad and I were in good hands: We'd signed up for a bear-viewing trip out of Kodiak, Alaska, with Sea Hawk Air. Our pilot, Roland Ruoss, is the owner of the company and has been flying his seaplane for over 20 years; his wife Jo Murphy, a Kodiak native, was our bear-viewing guide. We left the idyllic Trident Basin, just outside of downtown Kodiak (if you can call it such a thing) and within moments we were soaring over the island in the de Havilland Beaver floatplane. I was in the co-pilot seat.

Congratulations to the winners of this year's Geotourism Challenge! The second annual competition to name outstanding efforts in sustainable tourism, sponsored by National Geographic's Center for Sustainable Destinations and Ashoka's Changemakers, unearthed a wealth of innovative efforts taking place around the globe. After an intense voting process, the panel of judges today named the three winners out of 611 original entries from 81 countries. Each of these organizations wins $5,000, which goes toward the further development of their program. And the winners are:

Nature Air, the 100 percent carbon-neutral airline in Costa Rica, offsets 100 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions to encourage reforestation of tropical forests in Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula. To date, Nature Air has compensated for nearly 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide through the protection of more than 500 acres. In addition, Nature Air recently helped develop Costa Rica's first alternative fueling station through its wholly owned fueling company, Aerotica. Nature Air fuels all ground equipment and vehicles with bio-diesel (a mix of recycled vegetable and cooking oils) collected from employees and restaurants.

PEPY ("Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself"), Cambodia's Educational Volunteer Tourism Program, providing adventure bike tours and on-site volunteer projects, like building rainwater collection units. All participants make donations to enhance education in impoverished rural Cambodia, where PEPY is based. It supports education for more than 1,700 families in 12 villages and six schools in rural Siem Reap Province, about 40 miles from the city of Siem Reap, site of the Angkor temples.
 
Wikiloc Community Maps in Girona, Spain, created by a software engineer with a passion for travel, is built on information -- including maps, photos and video -- submitted to offer honest impressions about destinations. Wikiloc is a great source of outdoor activities, from mountain biking to ballooning. The site also promotes thematic activities like gastronomic routes, sightseeing urban trails and walks in archaeological areas. Created in 2006, the site is already translated in 14 languages, and more than 65,000 trails are included.

Thanks to all those of you who submitted entries and voted in this year's contest. Visit the Geotourism Challenge website for more information on each of the winners, and to learn more about all of the finalists.

Photo: A cyclist from PEPY, Cambodia's Educational Volunteer Tourism program

The deadline for Traveler's World in Focus Photo Contest has passed, and we've received some fantastic entries and are eager to see the results.

But if you're still feeling like you're up for a photo challenge, let us point you in the direction of our friends over at Glimpse, which are hosting one of their own. Their "Cultural Explorers" contest is seeking images of people working or volunteering abroad, interacting with locals, and/or participating in a cultural practice. Winners will receive a $250 travel voucher, and all entries must be received by September 15.

[Cultural Explorers Photo Contest]

Photo: David Kelbe, Glimpse Spring 2008 Correspondent

Sziasztok, City Lovers!

The city that stole our heart today is Budapest, Hungary, shared with us by Carolyn Bánfalvi, a travel writer and award-winning culinary guidebook author (Food Wine Budapest and The Food and Wine Lover's Guide to Hungary are her titles), who writes about the city at Chew.hu, a Hungarian food blog. And remarkably, when she's not doing all that, she's giving culinary tours of the city with her husband.

Want to see your city on IT? Copy and paste our list of fill-in-the-blank questions into an e-mail, fill in your answers, and send your responses to IntelligentTravel@ngs.org. And if you're still waiting for us to feature yours, fear not! We're going to keep posting as long as we keep getting them (please include photos and links!). You can find the entire collection of city-lovers here.

Budapest is My City

When I crave Chinese food I always go Wang Mester Konyhája.

To escape the summer heat I head to Margit Island to swim or picnic in the shade.

If I want to find hidden treasure I go to the Ecseri flea market and browse the antiques/junk/kitsch.

For complete quiet, I can hide away at the beautiful Ervin Szabó Public Library in the eighth district.

If you have to order one thing off the menu from Horgásztanya it has to be Halászlé (a fisherman's soup).

Bortársaság is my one-stop shop for great wine.

Traveler and Photo District News are currently hosting our annual World in Focus Photo Contest, and this year we're letting readers preview the submissions and vote for their favorites. Each week, we're putting a new batch of images up on our website. Here's today's pic:

This photo, "The Dancer of Light," was taken by Stephanie Jantzen, in Maharashtra, India.

Think your own photo brings the world into focus? Submit your entries now for a chance to win a trip to Tanzania, camera gear, and other prizes. But hurry! The extended deadline is September 8.

Some of my colleagues (I'm talking about you, Norie) got to safari in Africa and traipse around European capitals with their kids this summer, but I only got my act together enough to accomplish two nights in Atlantic City before school started this week.  

The surprise: Despite Atlantic City's rep as a resort town for casinos and nightlife, we had a better experience there with our three-year-old than the first time my husband and I visited on a last-minute weekend whim several years ago B.K. (Before Kid).

Here are some of the top toddler-tested attractions at this Jersey Shore destination.

Rolling Chairs: Introduced in 1887, these chairs pushed by young men and women were a great way to tour Atlantic City's four-mile-long Boardwalk. Go for the vintage-looking wicker chairs. Our chair attendant turned out to be a university student from Romania, where my husband is from, so they chatted away in Romanian. A half-hour tour cost us about $25 (plus Stefan ended up tipping his fellow countryman very generously). Our daughter loved tooling along, saying "beep beep" to pedestrians who wandered into our path, while eating a messy soft-serve ice cream cone from one of the Boardwalk vendors. A magical time to do a tour is at sunset or dusk when the beach is quieter and the light softens.

Traveler and Photo District News are currently hosting our annual World in Focus Photo Contest, and this year we're letting readers preview the submissions and vote for their favorites. Each week, we're putting a new batch of images up on our website. Here's today's pic:

This photo, "Before The Dance," was taken by Gina Carnazzo. She writes, "These young dancers were preparing to perform 'Sophisticated Hula' and were using the window as a mirror. I happened to walk past and saw this shot. Sheer serendipity."

Think your own photo brings the world into focus? Submit your entries now for a chance to win a trip to Tanzania, camera gear, and other prizes. But hurry! The extended deadline is September 8.

After reading an article in this weekend's New York Times about Utah's unique Pastrami Burger, National Geographic writer Catherine L. Barker blogged about her own reporting on obscure regional foods a few years ago, when she discovered such local favorites as the Kringle, a round, flaky pastry in Racine, Wisconsin, or Livermush, a North Carolina delicacy that is exactly what it sounds like. It she also learned how passionate people are about their local tastes:

Early in my reporting I realized that people become strangely emotional when they are asked about their favorite foods. It's as if Moon Pie or a conch fritter acts as the proverbial Madeleine, sparking a rush of memories--and a growling stomach. Some of my sources became defensive, some got excited; pretty much all of them were nostalgic. I spoke to one woman in Hawaii about Spam Musubi, a sort of sushi made with Spam, for at least an hour. Did you know that there's a festival dedicated to this canned pork product every year in Waikiki? That's devotion! And a bartender from Nevada was so enthusiastic about Picon Punch, he mailed me everything I needed to mix the potent drink beloved by many of the west's Basque émigrés. Some North Carolina residents waxed poetic in emails they sent me about livermush, a culinary mishmash of pig parts and cornmeal. I thought it sounded pretty revolting, and I spoke with other Southerners who agreed. From California to Connecticut, everyone I talked to had an opinion about their local food, and where to find the best of it.

Catherine is gathering more regional dishes over at NG Blog Central. Go share your favorites with her there. And check out the entire "United Tastes" series from the Times here.

Photo: A Kringle pastry, via NG Blog Central

As an intern trying to make the most of her summer in the capital, I'm always on the lookout for cool things to see and do. The Smithsonians? Check. Free concerts at the Kennedy Center? I'm there. I'm sure you can imagine my excitement when I was invited to tour the Holy Grail of D.C. destinations, the cherry on top of the Executive sundae--the West Wing of the White House (above).

This is not an opportunity that comes along every day. Tours of the White House's East Wing can be arranged through your representatives in Congress anywhere between six months to 30 days in advance. But the West Wing takes a little something extra. You have to know a White House staffer... so when a friend asked if I'd be interested in seeing where President Obama goes to work every day, I jumped at the chance.

Having seen pretty much every episode of NBC's "The West Wing" ever made, I started out half expecting to run into Leo McGarry in the hallway or pass Mrs. Landingham's desk on my way to see the President. Brace yourself, reader: it's not how it looks on TV. Don't get me wrong, the West Wing is still incredibly cool. But everything, from the corridors to the Oval Office, is a lot smaller than any fictional version of it I've ever seen.
 
Official photos of the President and the First Family covered the walls as we made our way through the hallways, past staffers' closed office doors and at least four guard stations. Every once in a while a new batch of pictures is put up, and the old ones make their way into people's offices.
 
For all that it doesn't look the same as in the movies, once in a while we passed something instantly recognizable: the Rose Garden, the Cabinet Room, and finally, the Oval Office. I'm not going to lie: it's pretty awesome to look up and realize you're standing in front of a place you've been seeing in pictures your entire life.

Lynda Bird Johnson packs her camp trailer prior to her western trip. From the December, 1965 issue of National Geographic Magazine, by David Boyer/NGS.

This weekend President Obama and the First Family are heading to Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks, in part to promote this summer's final fee-free weekend at over 100 parks that usually charge admission. With his visit, the President hopes to continue the tradition of Presidential visits to the parks, and encourage the preservation and conservation of our natural landscapes. If this trip sparks anything like the mass crowds now flocking to the Obama-visited burger joints here in Washington, D.C., the President will have done his job.

This will be the first visit to either park for Obama's daughters Sasha and Malia, but not the first time a First Daughter has made such a trip. In 1965, Lynda Bird Johnson, daughter of LBJ, caravanned across America's interior taking National Geographic Magazine along for the ride. Here's an excerpt from the article, "I See America First: Diary of the President's Daughter," that we dug out of our archives.

Our Ancestors saw the West in a covered wagon. I saw it in the covered wagon's successor, the travel trailer.

In late June we rolled away from the Grand Canyon with the keepsake memory of a sunrise Sunday worship service beside its awesome rim. For two days we lingered in Monument Valley, an American Stonehenge sculptured by nature. We climbed amid the cliffside homes of ancient Indians at Wetherill Mesa, celebrated Fourth of July with a parade at Laramie, and in Jackson Hole floated down the Snake River on a raft.

We applauded Old Faithful at Yellowstone, parked for the night among tombstones where Custer, his men of the 7th Cavalry, and his stubborn foes--the Sioux and Cheyenne--died at the Little Bighorn River, and paused in homage at Theodore Roosevelt's crude cabin in his memorial park. We waded the Mississippi River where it trickles out of Lake Itasca, and canoed on the inviting waters of northern Minnesota.

Though our trailers covered 2,900 miles--about the distance from Paris to Jerusalem--we had hardly begun to see America. To see it all would take a lifetime.

Melissa Brandts and her husband were hiking in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada and decided to take a portrait of themselves with spectacular Lake Minnewanka in the background. Melissa set up the camera and went back to pose, and her husband held the remote shutter  release.

Meanwhile, attracted by the sounds of the autofocus, an inquisitive Columbian ground squirrel, common in the park, popped up to investigate. Click!  "Self-Portrait With Ground Squirrel" was born.

Knowing she had struck photo gold, Melissa sent the pic to National Geographic magazine's Your Shot, and photo editor Susan Welchman chose it for her Daily Dozen gallery last week. You can find it in all its furry glory by clicking here.

In the past few days, this photo has appeared on the popular blogs Nothing to Do With Arbroath, Neatorama, and that bastion of adorableness, Cute Overload. Today the photo surfaced on the Daily Mail. 

Senior editor Norie Quintos, just back from an African safari with her teenage sons, filed this report. Previous blogs in this series include taking care of paperwork, staying healthy, and packing.

Norie's teenage sons swim in the Ewaso N'giro River

Teenagers act as if they've seen it all, and in many ways they have--most have been subjected to a 24-hour, hundred-channel television loop; they have viewed every viral YouTube video that titillates, shocks, saddens, tickles, or pulls heartstrings; they've done everything from fly jets to race cars to shoot bad guys in hyper-real videogames; they've seen the wonders of nature in HD-clarity on Planet Earth DVDs.

And yet. Real life trumps virtual reality every single time. And our recent trip to Kenya blew them away like no Playstation, Xbox, Blu-Ray, Imax, surround sound, or new-tech substitute-reality invention ever could. Turns out the travel experience just can't be pixelated.

The trick to traveling with teens is to go beyond the visual and engage all their senses. (I worked with my outfitter, Micato Safaris, to plan such an itinerary.) Thus in the scrubland of Kenya's Laikipia Plateau, Sabuk Lodge was such a hit. Run by Kenyan Verity Williams (that Africans can be white was one preconception busted for the kids), the eight-room ecolodge offers every fun activity and more listed in the popular The Dangerous Book for Boys; in fact the book, as well as its counterpart volume for girls, is displayed prominently on the coffee table.

There's fishing with a stick, string, and bread-dough bait in the Ewaso N'giro River; jumping off boulders into same river; playing outdoor table-tennis with a red-robed Samburu; looking for game on foot and on camel; learning to read scat and animal tracks; and listening to Verity's fireside bush tales (she worked on movie sets, including Out of Africa and The Ghost and the Darkness). Who knows what more we could have done had we stayed for more than a night? While it's hard to say no to all the activity, the languorous lure of the lodge is strong, with its uniquely handcrafted local furniture, open-sided suites overlooking the river, hearty meals served family-style, and quiet library nook.

Tobias Nowlan had some close encounters of the natural kind during his recent visit to Vancouver Island in British Columbia.

Just as it looked like the plane would perch on a Rocky Mountain peak, it dove into the coastal metropolis of Vancouver. I had arrived in British Columbia to visit Vancouver Island, lured by whales and wolves.

Beginning in popular fishing town of Tofino, I set out with whale-watching company Remote Passages. In sheltered coves, I watched grey whales raking the sand and kelp with their baleen plates. Tofino is a pit-stop along the largest migration of these impressive creatures; this coastline provides vital nourishment en route.

Sea otters, having tied themselves in knots of kelp, floated past islands of bare rock which hummed with breeding Brandt's cormorants, auklets, tufted puffins and a posse of visiting pelicans. Once on the edge of total extinction thanks to an unending desire for their pelts, sea otters are now widespread along the BC coast. I saw ten on this trip. The boat also approached a thrush-sized seabird bobbing on the surface: the marbled murrelet. In summer plumage these micro-mariners are a mottled dark chocolate brown. Researchers were astonished to discover as late as the sixties that the murrelets breed in the canopy of old growth coastal rain forest. Widespread clear-cutting of this ancient habitat has subsequently seen drastic declines in marbled murrelet populations.

When you think of Williamsburg, Virginia, a lively culinary scene is probably not the first thing that comes to mind. Strolling down Williamsburg's Duke of Gloucester Street, with its understated colonial houses and interpreters clad in period dress, it's hard to imagine that walking just ten minutes further will bring you to the doorstep of a restaurant where you can order foie gras and pan-seared scallops. But you can--and should. Beth Lizardo recently returned from a long weekend in Virginia's Historic Triangle--composed of Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown--and is still longing for some of the food she tasted during the trip. From biscuits and grits to broiled Norwegian salmon, the chefs in Virginia's Historic Triangle know how to cook food that you will not soon forget. Here's a rundown of some of her favorite eats.

Dudley's Farmhouse Grille

When chef Jim Kennedy opened Dudley's Farmhouse Grille in 2007, he set out to create a restaurant where locals could come and enjoy the freshest fare possible. "I envisioned going back to how I was trained to cook. You bought everything fresh. You went to local farmers," Kennedy explains. And this is exactly what he does. Kennedy is a regular at the local farmer's market and keeps an herb garden right outside the restaurant. The basil in Kennedy's caprese salad appetizer--oversized, intensely fragrant basil--comes from this garden. And he won't let you leave without trying his wife's homemade crème brûlé made with local eggs. Other items, such as the Southern-style grilled alligator entrée special, have traveled a little farther to make it onto the Dudley's menu, however.  

Affectionately named after Kennedy's dog, Dudley, the restaurant is a small business set in a1905 farmhouse. "Our kitchen is tiny," admits Kennedy. "We have two cooks and one dishwasher. It's like working on a train." The quaintness of the farmhouse setting is accentuated by its out-of-the-way location, which is in the town of Toano, located just off Route 60 about 25 minutes outside of Williamsburg.

We arrive at Dudley's while it's still light enough to admire the old wooden farm tables and local art--some for sale and some on loan from Kennedy's personal collection--hanging on the walls. As the evening progresses and the sun sets, the servers light candles and the dining room assumes a soft yellow glow. Throughout our meal Kennedy makes frequent visits to our table to sit down and chat. He talks about dishes he's served in the past (lavender-rubbed lamb; scallop and red pepper soup), about the ghost that haunts the upstairs level of the farmhouse, and about his three-year-old daughter who only eats gourmet. By the end of the meal it's clear that Dudley's is armed with much more than good food--it's armed with indisputable character.

Dudley's Farmhouse Grille, 7816 Richmond Rd, Toana, VA. +1 757 566 1157; www.dudleysfarmhousegrille.com

When the news came out yesterday of the death of John Hughes, the world lost not only a popular director, but a huge proponent of the city of Chicago. Despite not being actively involved in filmmaking for the last ten years of his life, he continued to live in the city where he spent most of his career, a place which, he said, "[I]s a working city, where people go to their jobs and raise their kids and live their lives." His classic films like Sixteen Candles, Home Alone, The Breakfast Club, and of course, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, all could be considered postcards to the city. Here's one of my favorite scenes of all time. What's yours?

Read More: Cinematic Road Trip -- Illinois; 48 Hours Chicago; Free Cities Chicago.

Yesterday's release of journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling (sister of former National Geographic Explorer host Lisa Ling) from a prison sentence in North Korea has our colleagues over at National Geographic Adventure's blog asking: Is is possible for Americans get into North Korea legally? And why would they want to? The answer:

[The] U.S. State Department strongly warns Americans against visiting North Korea because of the strained relationship between the two countries and the DPRK's tendency to accuse foreign tourists of being spies. But a handful of curious American tourists can and do visit North Korea every year, with some hefty stipulations.

North Korea is one of the most isolated countries in the world, and wants to keep it that way. Journalists are not allowed inside, period. But if you are a non-notebook scribbler, you may enter the county from mid-August to the end of September, which coincides with the country's famed choreographed Mass Games. This is the only time Americans are legally allowed into the country. Prepare for all of your actions to be strictly regulated--emphasize strictly--from the pictures you take (you may not photograph soldiers, check points, poverty, scenery, and basically anything candid) to how much reverence you show the Great Leader (you are expected to bow before his statues) to what you say (phone lines are not considered private and cells are usually confiscated). And if you do get in trouble, don't expect Bill to bail you out.

For the full post, and information on the few tour organizations that do enter North Korea (via China) click here. For more information on the State Department's position on North Korea, click here. And for a hypnotic video of the Mass Games, set to odd techno music, you should definitely click here.

Photo: Alan Hay

For the past year, Rainer Jenss and his family have been traveling around the world and blogging about their experiences for us at Intelligent Travel. This post marks the last dispatch from their journey, and the end to an incredible year. You can see where they've traveled by going back through the archive of their posts, or look to the boys' Global Bros blog at National Geographic Kids. If you have questions for the Jensses, they'll be writing a few follow up posts in the coming weeks about the transition back home. Email questions here, or leave them in the comments below.

Flashback to April 2007 - I'm staring out into the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, perched on a large piece of driftwood that washed up on a desolate strip of beach off the northwestern coast of Bocas del Toro, Panama. In my meditative state, I envision the end our pending yearlong trip around the world finishing up right here on the unspoiled island of Bastimentos. I'm with my friend Greg who claimed this piece of tropical paradise for himself when he bought some property on this archipelago back in 1996.

Now I'm with my family at the last stop of our incredible 52-week adventure, and my premonition proved spot on. I really couldn't think of a more fitting place to conclude our journey and put this whole trip into perspective. Since we set out last July, we have been housed by people we'd never met before, lived in a camper van, slept in tents, overnighted on trains, and stayed in some of the nicest hotels on the planet. I figured spending our last few days in a hut with pretty much no creature comforts - not even a bathroom (au natural was the only way to go) - would be a perfect setting for us to reflect on the events of the past year and start thinking about a re-entry strategy.

In preparation for our time on the island, we had the assistance of one of the local Ngobe Indians who I had met when I was last here. Joey--his nickname--helped Greg secure his land purchase in the first place and now acts as the caretaker of his property. Without him, there's almost no way we could have pulled this off. Firstly, Joey lent us a hand in buying all the food and rations we'd need for the week. More importantly, he transported us and all our provisions to the island with his dugout canoe. Then after the 45-minute motor across the Bastimentos Marine Park, he and his wife Maria helped set up all the essentials, including four hammocks. For refrigeration, we used three big blocks of ice in an extra-large cooler which would last us about 4-5 days, while two five-gallon jugs provided us with our fresh water (showers were taken from rainwater collected by a water tower in the backyard).

Irony was not lost on Elizabeth Seward when she climbed into a Hummer to take an eco-tour through the Mexican outback. But the rugged terrain in Baja Sur, while being tough to navigate, offers hidden delights. 

Baja California Sur swells with tourism, despite the drug cartel wars intimidating those watching the news everywhere--or at least in the U.S. The state's pristine beaches draw in vacationers from around the globe. They're hooked on the teal waters, dolphin-gazing, rocky landscape, and perfect weather. But I never hear anyone talk about the Baja Sur outback.

The outback is in Australia right? Well, not if the trip I recently took, on the southern stretch of Mexico's peninsula, is any point of reference. I was invited to embark on one of the most ironic adventures I've experienced so far: a drive through the Mexican outback to the organic farm Rancho La Verdad... via Hummer. At 60 gallons of fuel wasted every 20 miles or so, I couldn't quite grasp the concept of taking a Hummer as an eco-enlightening adventure. But with my interest piqued, I slathered on my 70 proof sunblock for the day and did something I never suspected I'd do in Baja Sur--I turned away from the crystal blue waters and drove off into the desert mountains. I quickly learned that the sun beats down so abrasively on the terrain that the area's only 'river' reminds me of a dried up creek that ran, or tried to run, behind my house in Ohio growing up.

The hawks sound like pre-climatic death-whistles in a western movie in this area of Baja Sur. And as analogies would have it, the area I explored with the company, Baja Outback, was, in fact, the set for the movie, Troy.  If you've seen the film you can be assured that not much was altered from what is an everyday reality for the few daring to live in this seemingly post-apocalyptic graveyard. Coyotes hang dead from already dying trees--a kill and show tactic embraced by local farmers desperate to drive the culprits away from their prized livestock. But beneath the dried and aging shell of the Baja Sur outback, life flourishes--secretly.

Michigan needs some love. The Labor Department recently announced that it was the first state in 25 years to have unemployment top 15 percent. Though I will probably have to leave the state I've lived in for as long as I can remember in order to find a job post-graduation--and even though the winters are too long--it's hard for me not to miss Michigan this time of year. And of course, the best thing about the Great Lakes state is, well, all of the lakes. Fresh water (no salty residue), climbing up sand dunes and watching the sun set over Lake Michigan, nights that are cold enough to warrant a sweatshirt, lighthouses... these are the images the phrase "West Coast" evokes in my mitten-shaped state.

These towns are so beautiful that I was reluctant to encourage people to visit lest they become overcrowded, but my pride in my home state prevailed. I want people to know that Michigan isn't only the nexus of the diminished auto industry; it's a beautiful state full of friendly people where you don't have to clear out your wallet to have a fabulous trip. Make your way from the south end of Michigan's west coast to the northern tip of the Lower Peninsula with these personal favorite spots.

Traveler and Photo District News are currently hosting our annual World in Focus Photo Contest, and this year we're letting readers preview the submissions and vote on their favorites. Each week, we're putting a new batch of images up on our website, and here's one of our favorite picks:

My jaw literally dropped when I saw this picture. I think I'd flip out if I were swimming this close to a whale. But this image, taken by Peter G. Allinson, M.D., is called "The Best of Friends" so I imagine that the man and the whale got along swimmingly (pun intended).

Think your own image brings the world in to focus? Submit your entries now for a chance to win a trip to Tanzania, camera gear, and other prizes.

While most guidebook authors head to a destination for several months and pen some notes, writer Eliot Stein immersed himself in Sardinian culture by living there for nearly three years. His recently published guidebook to Sardinia is not only one of the most authoritative guides to the island, but it also promotes responsible travel from a true insiders' perspective. The following are his recommendations of ways tourists can help preserve Sardinia's unique culture.

RiverIndia creates cultural rafting expeditions along the Siang River.

National Geographic's Center for Sustainable Destinations and Ashoka's Changemakers are currently hosting their second annual Geotourism Challenge, and they've just announced the ten finalists in the contest. This year's challenge, "The Power of Place," seeks to identify groups and individuals who are contributing to the geotourism effort, which is defined as: tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place--its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents. These finalists have been selected from over 600 entries, and now you can help vote on the winners. Check out their profiles below and vote for your favorites at the Geotourism Challenge site.

You can't help but get swept away by today's image from National Geographic's Photo of the Day:

Dolphins are known to jump out the back of big waves as they break against the shores. This pod of bottlenose dolphins was leisurely surfing in the waves as the offshore wind blew against the incoming waves, creating an atmosphere that was most unique and magical. It was shot by Andrew Wong in a place called Waterfall Bluff in the Transkei, South Africa, and entered in the National Geographic International Photo Contest 2008.

For more images: see winners' galleries, solve puzzles, and download wallpaper from the 2008 International Photo Contest.

As an intern in D.C. for the first time, I am receptive to all suggestions for what to do in the city. So, when Daniel Pink suggested a visit to the National Building Museum to learn about design in his book A Whole New Mind, I decided to go.

After standing in the Great Hall for a while, overwhelmed by the expanse of open space so out of place in a city, I headed to the gift shop. An hour and a half went by, and I finally had to convince myself to leave the store and look at the exhibits before the museum closed. We visit museums for the exhibits, to learn and not to shop, right?

The evidence is not so clear: notice the gift shops in almost every museum, at most historical sites, and those that amusement park visitors have to walk through after they get off popular rides. In a way, it makes sense--we buy mementos to remind us of experiences that meant something to us. However, often the items sold in gift shops are chintzy little things that can be found anywhere you see people wearing fanny packs.

In order to help you avoid the schlock and zero in on something truly one-of-a-kind, Kate McCormack (Traveler web intern) and I decided to use the model of Traveler's Authentic Shopping Guide for a tiny, niche market: gift shops at Washington, D.C., museums. Continue past the jump to get our ranking of these shops and for our suggestions on what to buy at each.

When I lived in New York City, my summer weekends were commonly spent lounging on Central Park's Great Lawn. But I'd never really considered staying the night -- until now. New York City's Parks and Recreation Department opens up 13 of its public parks to family campers on weekends throughout July and August, the New York Times reports, offering the allure of communing with nature just steps from a subway. And what's rather incredible is that the family camping trips are free, and include a cook-out, nature hikes, stargazing, two-person tents, and craft activities led by the Urban Park Rangers on staff. All you need to bring is a sleeping bag.

But in order to get a spot in one of these events (they typically accommodate about 30 people) you have to be savvy. Registration begins on certain days and spots fill up fast. Click here for the list of available dates and when to register. And remember to bring marshmallows.

[New York City Parks and Recreation Family Camping]

Photo: Looking for bats during a campout at Owl's Head Park in Brooklyn. Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times

Peanut Butter Fudge. Dark Chocolate Fudge. S'mores Fudge. Mint Chocolate Fudge. Inside Out Reese's Fudge.  Decisions, decisions, decisions. A trip to Chatham, Massachusetts' Candy Manor was one of the highlights of my recent weekend trip to Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard. For this indecisive chocoholic, I have to admit, it also was a bit overwhelming. 

My friend Lizzie told me about the place when she was prepping me for our trip. Growing up, she spent most of her summers on the Cape and was a frequent visitor to the Candy Manor on Main Street. She tried to prepare me, but how could she? To the right of the entrance, a long glass counter filled with dozens of varieties of their famous handmade fudge greeted me. Farther back, there were more display cases, filled with truffles, chocolate covered nuts and pretzels, cream- and caramel-filled treats, and so much more.

(FYI: Candy Manor also accommodates those of you not as interested in chocolate, and has a whole wall with bins of jelly beans, Jordan almonds, saltwater taffy, licorice, and other treats.)

Earlier this month, Apple began to celebrate the app store's first birthday by highlighting its favorite applications and games on iTunes -- tens of thousands of which have undoubtedly changed the way people use their phones when out and about. Grist also recently compiled a list of green apps, featuring a range of green programs from one that finds the greenest tissues and paper products to one that calculates fuel efficiency. Although I've refused to buy into the iPod hype, below are some apps that have me lusting after an iPhone for hitting the streets:

• Summer fun comes hand in hand with a blistering summer sun, so some sunscreen application is in order these days. Gorgeously Green Survival Guide ($0.99) helps in selecting the right one by showing  which chemical ingredients are no-nos.
  
• For those trying to figure out where to go and what to do in Los Angeles, Greenopia (free) offers a listing of over a thousand green businesses, restaurants, and services, complete with search and mapping functions. (Don't worry, it's coming out with apps for more cities later this year.)
  
• Overwhelmed by new menus in new locations? What's Fresh ($1.99) offers a U.S. map of seasonable produce and details the local fruits and vegetables in season for fresher and greener eats.
  
• To learn more about energy used in travels, greenMeter ($5.99) measures fuel consumption, efficiency, and costs, enhanced by details on carbon footprint and consumption graphs.
  
• In the era of new media, everyone likes to be in the know whenever and where they are. Stay in tune with GreenSpot ($1.99), a topic-specific reader aggregating environmental headlines from top sources like the NYT and AP and even hosts a podcast.
  
• Alternatively, Green News Reader ($0.99) also scans our favorite National Geographic, among other sources, for news!

Got other green app suggestions? Let us know!

Rainer Jenss and his family are wrapping up the final stops of their around-the-world journey, and they're blogging about their experiences for us at Intelligent Travel. Keep up with the Jensses by bookmarking their posts, and follow the boys' Global Bros blog at National Geographic Kids.

Most travelers have probably heard the expression, "It's not the destination, it's the journey." But this doesn't always resonate with me when I'm in the throes of trying to get our family from one place to the next.  It's usually well after the fact that I realize the proverb's true wisdom.  Not knowing how we'd end up getting to our final destination of the trip - a remote hut on the island of Bastimentos off the coast of Bocas del Toro in Panama - I envisioned a journey that might just be as adventurous as the destination itself, and it was.

When I told a friend, Lynda Gerhardt that we were going to Panama, I was strongly advised to try to visit a wonderful eco-lodge she knew of in the highlands of Chiriqui Province.  The owner of the Los Quetzales Lodge & Spa on the Panamanian side of the 407,000-hectare Parque Internacional La Amistad was a good friend of hers and I was guaranteed to have a fantastic experience in what she simply called a 'magical place.' (Having arranged our extraordinary visit to the Cheetah Conservation Center in Namibia back in February, Lynda had a pretty good track record with us.) Since we would be down on the Osa Peninsula in southeastern Costa Rica, where the Panamanian border was just a short ferry and taxi ride away, we decided to take the overland route to Bocas del Toro via the Los Quetzales Lodge--it would be a much cheaper and more interesting option than flying.

The wonderful thing about the Osa Peninsula is that it's a throwback to the way life was in the country before mass tourism infiltrated many of its pristine forests and coastal towns. Similarly, I've heard that Panama's oceans, mountains and jungles are still relatively undiscovered and less frequented by the eco-tourists that Costa Rica now attracts in droves. As we would learn, this makes for a much more bona fide natural experience, just the way we wanted it. 

The world is a blur this month for the swift competitors racing in the Tour de France, and most of them have been pedaling faster than ever since with the introduction of ever-lighter carbon bikes each year. But for biking enthusiasts who crave such top-notch speed and durability, a whole new eco- and budget-friendly option will be soon available through an innovative partnership between non-profit Zambikes and elite bike builder Craig Calfee: the bamboo bike.

The story of the bamboo bike began right in the States -- Santa Cruz, to be exact -- where Calfee designed a bamboo bike for a publicity project. His audiences loved the artsy-crafty look, and requests and rave reviews soon started rolling in. Thus began a small, brand new production line.

Then Calfee remembered a trip he took in Africa, when he noticed a lot of bamboo, a shortage of bikes, and even fewer jobs. Wouldn't it be great, he thought, if developing countries could use one of the few natural resources they do have to create state-of-the-art bikes that everyone could enjoy and use? This became the inspiration for his Bamboosero project, which first took form in Ghana, where Calfee introduced the bike design to the local people and helped them set up the supply chain.

There is perhaps nothing I love more than poking through the National Geographic photo archives. Which is why I adore the two galleries we currently have on our website, featuring classic images from Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks. The shot above, which has never before been published, depicts the snowmobile vehicle tours available in Yellowstone park in 1967. The caption reads:

"Along the Lower Geyser Basin we waved at sightseers standing beside the tanklike snowmobiles that had brought them over the snowbound road from West Yellowstone. The day is perhaps not far off when large number of visitors, bundled up in snowmobiles, will see much more of the park's winter beauty. When that day comes, fleets of steel-treaded half-tracks will rumble across a land that once knew only the snowshoes of Indians and trappers."

For more on the parks, and to see other classic photo galleries, visit our National Parks guide. Want more images from the National Geographic vault? Let us know what you'd like to see and we'll dig through the archives to find them.

Photo: William Albert Allard

Today is an exciting day for Francophiles around the world: Bastille Day. Having just spent time in France, I wanted to learn more about this holiday and the history behind it.

Bastille Day became an official French holiday in 1880, but the reason for the holiday happened several years prior. On the morning of July 14, 1789, citizens of the country stormed the Bastille prison in Paris, overturning the absolute--and arbitary--power of King Louis XVI. This event marked the start of the French Revolution, forever changing the way France was governed. As the French Embassy notes on its website, by storming the Bastille, the citizens of France were stating that "the king's power was no longer absolute: power should be based on the Nation and be limited by a separation of powers."

Traveler photographer Bob Krist just paid a visit to Chicago, but he wasn't just there to check out the blues. Here, he shares some of his photos from his trip, and offers a few tips on getting great pictures of the skyline.

The Chicago skyline at twilight, as seen from the Adler Planetarium.

Chicago is more than the city of big shoulders; it's a city of great architecture. Capturing its distinct and eclectic skyline is a challenging pleasure for any shooter. Here are some top places to make knockout pictures of the Windy City.   

1. The Adler Planetarium on Museum Campus. Jutting out into Lake Michigan, the Museum Campus offers a panoramic view back towards the city. The Adler Planetarium sits at the end of the peninsula and the steps on the side of the structure give you an unfettered view of the expanse of the entire skyline. It's a morning to early afternoon shot, and it's great again at twilight (right after sunset). Many cameras, even point and shoots, allow you to stitch several pictures together for a panorama, so try shooting several overlapping sections of the view and stitching it together to form a stunning panoramic. You can also do this after fact in Photoshop or any image manipulation program that offers panoramic stitching.
   

After several thwarted attempts, Space Shuttle Endeavour flight STS-127 is set to launch tonight at 6:51 p.m. EDT (weather permitting) as the 29th mission to the International Space Station. Yet the press is quiet, cameras aren't glued to the launch pad, and it's doubtful the crew will come home to a tickertape parade. Space travel has unfortunately lost some of its luster, but if we turn back the clock to decades ago, when the Internet, cell phones, and putting a probe on Mars were imagined only found in science fiction films, we'd find a more enthusiastic audience.

Why? Because July 20 will mark the 40th anniversary of NASA's Apollo 11 mission--the first manned lunar landing. Four decades have passed since Neil Armstrong made that "giant leap for mankind," igniting a string of successful moon missions, a space shuttle program, and flights to Mars within our grasp.

Across the country, NASA is commemorating the historic event with a host of public programs. Take your family so they may relive the accomplishments of the Apollo 11 crew and spark a new excitement around space exploration in the next generation.

There are some things that are on everyone's life list. Running with the bulls in Pamplona may be on your list, but it sure ain't on mine. I'm a slow traveler, so running through any city isn't my idea of a good time, and the threat of being gored doesn't make it any more enticing. Factor in that last week saw the terrible death of a 27-year-old runner (the first such death since 2003), and the severe injury of two other participants, and it secures my status on the sideline for good.

Which is why I was glad to see this article by Lionel Beehner in the New York Times this weekend highlighting Pamplona's softer, slower side. The city gained international fame in Ernest Hemingway's classic novel, The Sun Also Rises, and according to Beehner, little has changed.

First-timers can spend hours getting happily lost in the Old Quarter's maze of narrow canyonlike alleyways, hopping from bar to bar and sampling exotic examples of the small-plate combinations of colorful finger food locally called pinchos -- like pigeons stuffed with truffles and foie gras -- and filling up on a favorite local libation, the tangy red liqueur called pacharán.

Sounds tasty. Read the full story for more tips on the city. It may be less of an adrenaline rush, but I think I prefer it that way.

[The New York Times]

Have you been to Pamplona for the running of the bulls... or otherwise? What's your take?

Photo: Lola Akinmade

Watching the Tour de France the past few days has me dreaming of pedaling along the French countryside. (We'll just ignore the prospect of taking on the Alps for the sake of this post - I'm no Lance.) Which is why I was so intrigued to hear about the latest offering from the swoon-worthy Tour d'Afrique. This tour company, which specializes in trans-continental bicycle trips that let you transverse Africa, slice through Europe, follow the Silk Road, and ride around South America, is now letting you plan your own cycling "DreamTour."  Touting "if you can dream it, you can do it," these trips incorporate a web 2.0 touch and seem pretty incredible.

Here's the deal: You log on to their site and design and name your trip, plotting the route, uploading photos and picking out the places you'd want to visit. You set the costs for the number of riders, plus hotels, food, crew, and support, and if it's a "do-able" trip, Tour d'Afrique will set you loose to convince your friends and family -- via the social web of course -- that they need to come on board. They can comment and make tweaks, and if you get enough to commit to going, Tour d'Afrique will make it happen, and better yet, you'll get to go for free.

Convinced that this was a novel way to make my dream trip happen, I immediately got the scoop from Henry Gold, the founder of Tour d'Afrique and builder of the Dream. Check out the interview after the jump.

Want to know more about something in the magazine? Have a burning travel question that needs an answer? Just Ask IT! Today's question comes from a reader wanting to replicate our columnist's African safari -- on horseback.

Q: I read the article "Africa From the Saddle" by Boyd Matson, in the July/August issue of Traveler. How do I learn more about this trip?  -- Ramona

A: Micato Safaris arranged the trip for me. They are one of the best for custom Africa trips or package tours in east and southern Africa. Their main U.S. office is in New York City, and the couple who started the company and are still very active in the operation live in Kenya. Their son, Dan Pinto, is the main guy in New York who can arrange for the trips. Happy travels! -- Boyd Matson

Want more Africa advice? Check out our Africa Travel Planner for more resources on arranging your own safari.

Photo: Demetrio Carrasco/Jon Arnold Images Ltd/Alamy

If you're thinking of heading south of the border this summer to take advantage of low fares to Mexico, consider the upcoming Whale Shark Festival on Isla Mujeres, in the state of Quintana Roo on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The festival runs this July 15th through the 19th.
           
The festival is billed as an ecotourism, family-friendly event featuring local cuisine, traditional dance, authentic artisanal goods for sale and, last but certainly not least, a chance to swim with migrating whale sharks in the Caribbean.
           
A little background before you take the plunge: The endangered whale shark is not a whale but a shark, despite its contradictory name. Its name stems from its massive size (up to 29,982 pounds and 40 feet in length) and because it eats krill, algae, plankton, and other tiny sea creatures. Whale sharks are filter feeders and have been known to be playful with human divers, though their tails can be a bit dangerous.

We checked in with Eyder Jahil Hoth Pérez, Director of Tourism, Isla Mujeres, Mexico, to learn more about the festival.

Madrid recently kicked off its 24th annual Veranos de la Villa (Summers in the City), 60 days of music, dance, theater, flamenco and much more.

The 1,166 events, held daily through August 23rd, include 65 concerts, 50 plays, myriad ballet performances, 200 films, and two circuses (!); many of which are free to attend.
 
Performers run the gamut from pop to classical, and represent Spain, America, Brazil, Germany, England. Among them are Sara Baras, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Cesária Évoria, Gilberto Gil, Carlos Saura, James Taylor, Lou Reed, Kool & the Gang, Seal, and the Opera Ballet of Munich.
   
Venues include the 16th-century Plaza Mayor, the city's gardens, and the 4th-century BC Egyptian Templo de Debod (Temple of Debod). There'll even be open-air screenings of top movie hits such as Ché, Gran Torino, Slum Dog Millionaire, and Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Looking for more free things to do in Madrid? Check out Traveler's guide to Free Things to Do year-round in Madrid.

Talk about a cause to celebrate! It's been 200 years since naturalist Charles Darwin's birth and 150 years since his pioneering publication On the Origin of Species first rocked the scientific world.  In honor of the milestone occasion, the University of Cambridge, where Darwin was a student, is hosting a festival this week through July 10 as part of a yearlong series of events marking the university's 800th anniversary.

Over 100 scientists, writers, artists and performers will commemorate Darwin's work at more than 40 events around Cambridge. Speakers and performers include Sir David Attenborough, Ian McEwan, Professor Richard Dawkins, Sir Terry Pratchett, Richard Leaky, and Harold Varmus among many others.

If you're not a scientist or your level of evolutionary expertise consists of that one high school biology course you took eons ago, don't fear. The wide range of events caters to all interests, from scientific debates to art exhibitions to stand-up comedy. Street-side performances include interpretations of the evolution of juggling, music, and voice, while the evening Fringe Festival features plays, comedy shows, and film screenings.

"Nowhere else this year will you find such breadth of expertise gathered in one place, at one time, to discuss and celebrate Darwin's work," Darwin Festival director Mirand Gomperts said. "The Festival is a key event in the University of Cambridge's 800th anniversary year. We hope that as many people as possible will enjoy this unique opportunity and discover how Darwin's ideas can help us tackle the challenges we will face in the future."

At this year's annual Jazz Fest in New Orleans, representatives from the four main industries of Louisiana's cultural economy--music, food, art, and film--gathered for a roundtable discussion on how their unique cultural heritage holds the key to economic recovery and growth in the region. With Lt. Governor Mitch Landrieu as the host, local luminaries such as Grammy-winning musician Terrance Simien, chef John Besh, folklorist and radio host Nick Spitzer, and artist James Michalopoulos shared their perspectives on how to keep local cultural traditions alive while building sustainable livelihoods.  

A couple of themes emerged, such as the necessity of collaboration among the various industries, which is critical to the success of the whole cultural economy. Richard McCarthy, who runs the Crescent City Farmers Market, spoke of his partnership with chef John Besh to build relationships between local farmers and the city's renowned restaurants. The role of local government in both creating the space for cultural activity and providing economic incentives for cultural development was another important theme, with the most notable example being the tax incentives which have fueled Louisiana's burgeoning film industry.  

I left the roundtable inspired by the creative synergy I witnessed among the panelists. As the region rebuilds from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, it seems that New Orleans will be, as Nick Spitzer noted, "even greater than it was before." This is a destination to keep an eye on. 

Video: Susanne Hackett

If you like this bargain with a cause, the package, offered through Sept. 7, comes with a few rules: the reservations cannot be refunded or canceled, and must be made 72 hours before you check in. It also requires a minimum stay of two nights.

Our pal Ford Cochran was in New York City this past weekend for the opening of the Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And even better, he got a private tour of the exhibit from its curator, National Geographic Fellow Fred Hiebert. Here's a snippet from Ford's post on BlogWild:

...He steers me to a case containing fragments of three golden bowls, looking modest compared to most of the pieces on display throughout the gallery. Why these? "These pieces," says Fred, "this is native gold, more than 4,000 years old, the native wealth of Afghanistan. One looks Mesopotamian. One has motifs from the Indus Valley. When these were made, Afghanistan was already at the center of trade."

When farmers found the bowls in 1966, says Fred, they didn't know the cultural history recorded in them, but they knew the gold's worth. They cut the bowls into equal-sized pieces so they could share the wealth. Some of the fragments were recovered, and the design of the bowls is still preserved. 

I saw the exhibit when it was at the Smithsonian last year and it was breathtaking (my colleague Amy Alipio openly admitted that it made her cry). See the rest of Ford's post for other curatorial insights, and be sure to check out the show yourself if you're in New York City; it runs through September 20th. 

Photo: Ford Cochran

Renting a villa in Umbria this summer? Perhaps you're hiking in Nepal or just lazing on a Bermuda beach. Or you may be taking the kids on their first U.S. road trip. Whatever your plans, we have a book for you, selected from Traveler's online Ultimate Travel Library of classic and new reads with a great sense of place. Each of these books will illuminate your destination, give you unexpected tips on what to see and do, and keep you turning pages during that long flight or that sunny poolside afternoon.

[50 Books of Summer]

Photo by Hans F. Meier/iStockphoto.com

One of my favorite things to do when I arrive in a new place is go to the highest point, it helps me get my bearings and lays out the landscape in front of me like a huge buffet table that I'm eager to dig into. But I do admit to the occasional bout of vertigo when it comes to actually looking down. So my stomach feels a little queasy right now just thinking about "The Ledge," the new glass-enclosed feature of the Skydeck in the Sears Tower in Chicago, which opens today to the public. These new glass balconies are suspended 1,353 feet (412 meters) in the air and extend 4 feet (1.22 meters) from the Sears Tower's 103rd-floor Skydeck. According to the Sears Tower:

The inspiration for The Ledge came from hundreds of forehead prints visitors left behind on Skydeck windows every week. From the memorable scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off to curious children going right up to the window, visitors are constantly trying to catch a glimpse below. Now they have a unique and unobstructed view of the city.

"The Ledge" is made from three layers of half-inch thick laminated glass, and each of the panels weighs 1,500 pounds. Apparently (and thankfully for the cleaning crew) the boxes are retractable, so they're able to be pulled into the building for easy maintenance. Because if this slide show from the AP is any indication, the number of forehead prints they're going to have to deal with will exponentially increase.

What do you think? Would you stand on "The Ledge"?

[Sears Tower Unveils Glass Balconies on Skydeck]

Photo: AP

What better way to explore some of the country's greatest natural treasures and historic sites than a bicycle tour through the back roads of Florida? And now, you can do it any time of the year! In an effort to help make Florida tourism greener, non-profit organization Bike Florida is bringing back year-round, long-distance bicycle touring for the first time in 25 years.

To inaugurate the new initiative, Herb Hiller and Linda Crider, co-founders of the modern-day Florida bicycling movement, will lead a week-long bicycle tour this October 10-16, starting and ending at Palatka, a rural county seat by the St. Johns River in northeastern Florida.

"For too long there's been no organized comfortable cycling way to discover backroads Florida," says Crider.  "These tours are organized for that, but also for fun."

It's less than a week until senior editor Norie Quintos's trip to Kenya with her teen sons. In this posting, the third in a series of blogs on her trip, she covers vaccinations/medicines. Find the first and second posts here.

The glossy catalogs filled with pages of majestic elephants, lions in mid-roar, or huggable baby cheetahs rarely, if ever, mention the vaccinations or medications you'll need for an African safari. The catalogs' job is to romance and seduce, and not until you have fallen hard for Africa do you receive the get-down-to-business, no-more-cute-animal-photos information packet with "optional, recommended" travel health precautions against the scary tropical diseases you could catch.

The list of vaccinations is daunting, and includes Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Meningitis, Typhoid, Rabies, and Yellow Fever. The vaccines are also eye-poppingly expensive and not generally covered by insurance. The good news is you may not need every single one; it depends on your specific itinerary, your length of stay, your planned activities, and your health. To suss this out, you'll need the help of an experienced travel clinician. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website details recommended vaccines and links to an external clearinghouse of travel clinics.

For those travelers who feel like they have done it all, a new out-of-this-world opportunity will soon be available--for a price. On June 19, New Mexico unveiled plans for the nation's first commercial spaceport, Spaceport America. The spaceport, estimated to be completed by 2010, would take travelers up 50,000 feet, break out of the Earth's atmosphere, and then fly up to 62 miles above the Earth.

The $200 million project is being fronted by the state of New Mexico in hopes of creating jobs and increasing tourism. The spaceport will work with Virgin Galactic, who will supply the space vehicles. Spaceport America is anticipating launching one Virgin Galactic flight per week, and each will hold six passengers.

If you want to be on one of the tours, you will have to add your name to the waiting list of over 45,000 other travelers, and be willing to dish out $200,000.  Passengers must also attend three days of training to prepare for the trip. The total travel time is around two hours with five minutes of weightlessness.

What do you think? Is the flight worth the price?

[Spaceport America]

Photo Courtesy of Spaceport America

The East-Coast-in-Seven-Days tours are the stuff of my nightmares: traipsing from monument to monument at the crack of dawn, shoveling in food at all-too-crowded restaurants with the entire entourage, and learning about dead people rather than meeting live people.

Enter Serena Bartlett, a seasoned traveler from Philadelphia who has lived in and visited over 25 countries and currently resides in Oakland, California. Like many other travelers, she had trouble getting the bigger picture from the regular travel books - so she decided to pen an original series of urban eco-travel guides, GrassRoutes. The first two in the series, Oakland & Berkeley and Northern California Wine Country, will be released July 7. The Grassroutes San Francisco guide will hit bookstores August 1.

For travelers looking for the real deal, these books introduce local eats, shops, and more for a dynamic experience. Barlett's creative and engaging activities are organized by states of mind, like "Up Early" and "Learn." The idea, as Serena tells Traveler, is that "there are lots of ways to be on vacation no matter where you are" without much environmental and social cost.

Here, Serena reveals the inspiration behind her guidebooks and gives Traveler readers tips on how to discover authentic culture.