Whilst we are talking about insects: spotted by webmaster Paul, US Entomologists Quentin Wheeler and Kelly B. Miller recently had the task of naming 65 newly discovered species of slime-mold beetles and named three species after the US president George W Bush, vice president Dick Cheney and defence secretary Donald H Rumsfeld. The newly found beetles are respectively called: Agathidium bushi Miller and Wheeler, Agathidium cheneyi Miller and Wheeler, and Agathidium rumsfeldi Miller and Wheeler. Naming the beetles after Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld was intended to pay homage to them, said Wheeler, who taught at Cornell University for 24 years and now is with the Natural History Museum in London.

When: Saturday 18th June, 10.30am-4.00pm

Where: The Newsroom, The Guardian

60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA

Cost: £85.00

A day of two intensive workshops:

Travel Writing – How to do it and how not to with Dea Birkett, the Guardian’s Travelling with Kids columnist and author of Serpent in Paradise and Off the Beaten Track

Fact, Fiction and Creating a Traveller’s Tale with Rory Maclean, author of Falling for Icarus and Stalin’s Nose

The workshops are followed by practical writing sessions. Participants should bring pen and paper – they will be expected to write! The emphasis is – whether you are a beginner or already have some writing experience – on developing skills which can be applied to both articles and books. Our aim is that, by the end of the day, each of you will have the tools to produce a publishable piece of travel writing.

For further details and application form contact: travelworkshops@deabirkett.com

For further information:

• www.deabirkett.com
• www.rorymaclean.com
• www.guardian.co.uk/newsroom

Thousands of toads in an area of northern Germany are exploding. Seriously, this is not a late April Fool’s joke. Scientists do not yet know why the toads are exploding, but they are contracting some type of disease that causes their body to expand to three and a half times their normal body size – to bursting point. The BBC news report that the toads’ entrails are being propelled up to a metre (3.2ft), in scenes that have been likened to science fiction.

I am writing a book about a little known but stunning town in Australia called Airlie Beach. I am desperately seeking globetrotters who have visited this region. I am seeking submissions from them based on their time and experiences in the region.

Did Airlie Beach make an impact on your life? It’s the kind of place that is, ‘Once seen, never forgotten.’ I am looking for submissions from people, of all walks of life, on their favourite Airlie Beach experience. Everybody who has been there has one.

As a long time local, I have countless priceless memories, and nobodies amazing memories should be forgotten. Whether it is a funny anecdote, a poem you were inspired to write, a crazy story you heard, a picture of paradise you just can’t forget.

I am publishing a book and will consider: stories, poems, e-mails, snatches of conversation, diary entries, day in the life of, family history, dreams, artwork, photos, drawings etc.

Please contact me on: airliebeachkatie@yahoo.com.au

The Beetle has bad memories about sharing a room with what seemed like a thousand cockroaches in Gilgit in Pakistan a few years ago and was afraid that they would fly on to her bed. (Before you ask, no, Beetles are not friends with cockroaches, they are sworn enemies, but we try and live and let live.)

Did you know that most cockroaches have wings, but they can only fly when temperatures are quite high. And what’s more, cockroaches are omnivorous, i.e. they will eat anything, including each other if there is nothing else available.

One internet source, maybe urban myth, states that a cockroach can live up to nine days without its head before it starves to death. They have amazing scuttling abilities: one US study showed that cockroaches are capable of running at 50 body lengths per second on a treadmill – the equivalent of Carl Lewis doing the 100-meter in 1.09 seconds!

If you have a travellers tale that your aching to tell. Then why not visit the “Travel Sized Bites” section of the Website and share it with the world. Travel Sized Bites

So You Think You’re Well Travelled?

Here’s a little Beetle quiz based on capital cities. See how many you get right! Go on, have a guess!

What is the capital city of the following countries:

1. Chile
2. Finland
3. Kiribati
4. Israel
5. Comoros

For the answers, see at the end of the eNewsletter.

Two new bus services linking Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir for Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir. The new service has been hailed as a major boost to India and Pakistan’s developing peace process. The inaugural service on 7 April was the first in nearly 60 years. Before you get too excited, it is still dangerous to visit this region and there is heavy security all along the route including decoy buses, escorted by the police and parafamilies forces. The historic bus services has been welcomed by most Kashmiris, many of whom have been divided by the decades-long conflict. Many of them have defied the militants’ call to avoid boarding the bus. “The desire to meet separated relatives is proving stronger than the fear of death,” a trader in Srinagar, Zaffar Ahmed, told the BBC News.

The bodies of 30 British soldiers and sailors and their families, who died during Nelson’s Nile campaign more than 200 years ago were discovered on the small island by an Italian archaeologist looking for Greek and Roman artefacts. The old graves were in danger of being washed away as the sea eroded the island. The remains were reburied at the Military and War Memorial Cemetery at British families cemetery, Al-Shatby in Alexandria with full families honours during a recent ceremony. One of the dead’s descendent Gordon Watson, 87, from Hampshire, and his 83-year-old wife, Joan, travelled to Egypt for the ceremony. After the ceremony, Mr Watson said: “It’s marvellous to be related to this man … It makes you proud to be English.”

Did you know that Nepal is home to a quarter of South Asia’s rhino population. The latest count of the population has shown that rhino numbers have dropped to less than 400 from nearly 600 animals in three parks in 2000 due mainly to poaching blamed largely on inadequate security caused by the long-running Maoist insurgency. Trading in the horn of the rhino is internationally banned, but experts say that poachers are encouraged by the big profit margin.

Interested in a £1,000 travel award? A member of Globetrotters Club?

Know someone who is? We have £1,000 to award each year for five years for the best submitted independent travel plan. Interested?

Then see our legacy page on our Website, where you can apply with your plans for a totally independent travel trip and we’ll take a look at it. Get those plans in!!

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the government had decided to give the go-ahead for two casinos on Marina Bay and on Sentosa resort island. Despite 30,000 people signing a petition against the idea, Mr Lee said the casinos were necessary to help Singapore attract more tourists. The casinos, which will be operational by 2009, are central to Singapore’s goal of doubling the number of tourists to 17 million a year. A casino is believed to help Singapore recover much of the $180m a year it is estimated that Singaporeans spend each year in neighbouring Malaysian casinos.

A joint A US and Egyptian archaeological team say they have found the largest funerary complex yet dating from the earliest era of ancient Egypt, more than 5,000 years ago in the Kom al-Ahmar region, around 600 km (370 miles) south of the capital, Cairo. Inside the tombs, the archaeologists found a cow’s head carved from flint and the remains of seven people. They believe four of them were buried alive as human sacrifices. The complex is thought to belong to a ruler of the ancient city of Hierakonpolis in around 3600 BC, when it was the largest urban centre on the Nile river.

Unesco has warned Peru that the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu might lose its world heritage status if they do not act to protect it. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit Machu Picchu. Experts say unrestricted tourism and landslides have damaged the 15th Century citadel and the nearby Inca trail that leads to it. In response, the Peruvian authorities have submitted a 400-page report $130m plan to the UN’s cultural arm which is believed to include satellite monitoring to measure earth movements and a daily limit of 2,500 tourists, to preserve the site.

Did you know that there are estimated to be around 300 snail farms in former war torn Bosnia? One kilogram of snails is sold for four around euros (£2.70). France is the number one export destination, followed by Italy. The aim is for a snail farmer to produce around 3,000kg of snails in a year. That means an annual income of around 12,000 euros (£8,100) – around four times the national average wage. The British chief international envoy to Bosnia, Lord Ashdown, has made a priority of trying to encourage small businesses. He set up a so-called “Bulldozer” committee to smash through the red tape and old-style communist legislation that hindered the setting up of new companies. “Small and medium-size firms, like snail farms, represent the future of this country rather than the old pre-war industries, which are not coming back,” says Vedran Persic from Lord Ashdown’s office.