Speaking this month:

• James Willcox — Impressions of Afghanistan After a varied career including selling rugby programs at Twickenham, putting in the stoppers in a hot water bottle factory, being a postboy for Channel 4 and even a stint as aHealth and Safety Manager he set off from Istanbul a few years back heading for an Indian beach. He got delayed however in Pakistan and Afghanistan. After a chance meeting with Hussain and a mutual love of an area that they both want the rest of the world to come and see they set up Untamed Borders.When James is not guiding people around Central Asia he can be found either in Peshawar drinking tea, in Amsterdam with his girlfriend or in London where he is slowly coming to terms with owning a flat with negative equity
• Chris Weston  â€” Animals on the edge Wildlife Photographer Chris Weston will be giving a digital audio-visual presentation of images and background stories from the Animals on the Edge photo-documentary project. Animals on the Edge is the most up-to-date visual survey of our worlds rare and endangered mammals, combining spectacular imagery with a wealth of factual information, For more information see  http://www.chrisweston.uk.com

London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.

Speaking this month:

• Andrea Orban and Laurence West — An Independent Travellers Guide to Libya
  Libya is a country about which everyone knows one or two things but very few people know much. So we are fortunate to have two speakers who between them spent over five-years living and working there and left Tripoli on one of the last scheduled flights in February this year.  Many of the things they thought they knew about Libya turned out to be less clear-cut on the ground than they seemed from afar and they also discovered many new things that came as wonderful surprises.In their talk, an Independent Travellers Guide to Libya‚ they will discuss their experiences of five UNESCO World Heritage sites, some of the best-preserved and least-visited Greco-Roman settlements anywhere in the world, and also touch on their trips to the Great Sea of Sand and the Acacus desert.
• Jacqui Trotter — Summer in Southern Scotland

London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.

This month our two speakers are:

• Russell Maddicks — Exploring Venezuela: A Land of Natural Wonders

  Russell Maddicks, the author of the Bradt Guide to Venezuela will highlight some of the most fascinating areas of Venezuela to visit and what you can expect to see and do. Drawing on his experience of adventuring in Venezuela for more than 20 years, the Russell will take you to:

  • The “Lost World” mountain of Roraima and the unique ecosystem of its summit
  • The unique thunderless lightning phenomenon in the south of Lake Maracaibo known as Catatumbo Lightning
  • The magical mountain of Sorte where devotees of Maria Lionza practice a syncretic religion unique to the country
  • The record-breaking and awe-inspiring waterfall of Angel Falls, known as Kerepacupai-meru to the local Pemon people.

  One of the 17 most megadiverse countries in the world, Venezuela is home to Caribbean beaches, dense rainforests, high Andean valleys, mysterious table-top tepui mountains, and seasonally-flooded plains that are literally teeming with birds, beasts and creepy-crawlies.

  Venezuela is also alive with the sound of folk music, from the Afro-Venezuelan tambores of the coast, to the harp-driven Joropo songs of Los Llanos and during his talk Russell will present several examples of the music to be found in the regions he discusses.

  For more information see:

  • http://venezuelanodyssey.blogspot.com/
  • http://www.bradtguides.com/Book/225/Venezuela.html

   

• Rona Cant — Just do it – become the best you can be!

  Once an unexceptional, single parent she took part in the BT Global Challenge Round the World Yacht Race (the toughest yacht race in the world); two days later she embarked on the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island (one of the world’s toughest), encountering bears and cougars. Rona helped organise and was on The Nordkapp Expedition, dogsledding in the Arctic Circle to the northernmost tip of Europe, a trail thought to be impossible.

  Rona tells how she has achieved her goals using stories from her childhood, her marriage, how she entered into a life of adventure, her diverse adventures and what she has accomplished.

  For more information see: http://www.ronacant.com

London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.

• Mary Kinipple ‘Tapestry & Tibet’
  Mary had travelled 3 times to Tibet in the past but always in a group and the trip mainly focused on schools and monasteries. As  a practising weaver Mary wanted to find out about domestic weaving in Tibet and travelling with just a guide and driver sought out weaving in the domestic scene.
• Jonny Bealby – Pakistan as a travel destination. Over the last 18 months Pakistan as really picked up as a tourist destination. Despite the on-going political problems of the country, and despite the killing of Osama Bin Laden, the mountains of the north continue to be a popular pull for the adventure tourist. So what is it that makes the place so special and what do tourists and traveller do once there. Jonny Bealby, who has written a book about the region and set up his travel company Wild Frontiers on trips to region, will explain why www.wildfrontiers.co.uk

London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

Admission: Members £3.00 Non-members £6.00

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.

Members Slides : Around the world in eighty minutes.

8 presentations of 12 slides

This month we have a fast paced journey around the Globe..

1. Dan Bachmann Troms (Norway)
2. Agata Zborowska Peru & Brasil
3. David Shamash Israel
4. Doug Allen India
5. Kevin Brackley KGB Museum, Tallinn, Estonia
6. Brian Lawrence Morocco
7. Roger Turner Lebanon
8. Philip Ferguson New Zealand
9. Dick Curtis My Big Fat Cretan Wedding
10. Jacqui Trotter Venice or South of France

Probably the best meeting of the year and your last chance to meet up before the summer.

London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.

• Justine Hardy: Paradise Lost? The Kashmir Valleys

  Justine Hardy has been reporting from Kashmir for much of the past twenty years. She is the author of six books about India, three of these being about Kashmir. The latest one, In the Valley of Mist, was a winner of the 2010 Dayton Peace Prize, and it was her third book to be broadcast on Radio 4’s Book of the Week. In addition to writing and reporting, Justine is also a conflict trauma therapist. She is running a suicide helpline and mental trauma centre in Kashmir.

• Tim Hannigan: Murder in the Hindu Kush

  Tim Hannigan is a freelance writer and photographer, originally from Cornwall. He has travelled widely in India and Pakistan, and is usually based in Indonesia where he writes on travel, history and culture for a variety of newspapers and magazines.

  His first book, Murder in the Hindu Kush, tells the story of the mysterious 19th Century explorer George Hayward.As part of his research for the book Tim travelled for four months through Kashmir, Ladakh, Xinjiang and Pakistan to discover how the political decisions of Hayward’s era still reverberate in this troubled region today. For more information see http://tahannigan.blogspot.com

London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.