Our first meeting of the new year was as always 4 mini talks given by club members. Tony Annis was first with his talk about Saudi Arabia – Filming. Tony was involved in making a film about King Abdullah’s life, this included charging camels and the logistics of getting equipment and props into the country. Tony also showed us Riyadh’s “Chop chop square”.
Sylvia Pullen took us to North West Pakistan to the valley of the Kalasha people near Afghanistan. Sylvia explained the Kalasha are Pagan and not Muslim, and may be descendents of Alexander the Great’s army with their light skin tone. We also saw the Khyber Pass and an Afghan village that was less than welcoming when Sylvia and her party tried to visit.
After the break John and Roz Williams transported us to Transylvania, very rural Romania, only reachable down roads that became tracks that became impassable. They stayed at a guest house that uses some of it profits to support the Carpathian Large Carnivore Project, involved in helping the country’s bear, wolf and Lynx populations to survive. We saw close up pictures of bears which are fed small amounts by the project.
David Boyd was our last speaker, taking us to Kruger National Park in South Africa. David had some great photos of Lions, Elephants and some hard to get Leopard shots. David also showed us the camps in the Kruger which range from basic to fairly upmarket.
Many thanks to all our speakers for getting the 2007 talks off to a wonderful start. That was not the end of proceedings as all present then enjoyed Globetrotters traditional New Years party, thanks to all those who brought along food and drink.
By Padmassana
3rd February 2007: Dave Atkinson – Bradt Guide author – will be talking about Bolivia, to coincide with launching their new edition. After the break, Juliet Coombe will be talking about Galle Fort – the lives of the 800 people in Galle fort, Sri Lanka.
London 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. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk