The Axumite kingdom in northern Ethiopia was established between 200 and 100 BC and was once one of the four kingdoms of the world. The legendary Queen of Sheba reigned in the region eight or nine centuries later. The region is home to some of the world's obelisks carved with 'doors' and 'windows' and are thought, like Stonehenge, to have some solar or astronomical measuring role. One of the obelisks was looted from Axum by Mussolini in 1937 and in 1947, Italy signed a pledge to the UN to give back the obelisk – but has not followed through until now. The obelisk – the only one on two continents weighing over 100 tonnes – was situated in a square in Rome in front of what was once the 'Ministry for Italian Africa' (now the FAO building). The obelisk has been cut into three sections, and has been awaiting its return in a warehouse near Rome airport. The top piece of the obelisk is now scheduled to leave Rome on a cargo plane in April but this has been postponed because the Italian culture ministry says Axum airport does not have radar, so the pilots must wait for good weather.
Category Archives: archive
Flag Quiz
Which countries are represented by these flags? For the answers, see at the end of the eNews.
UK Tax Free Goods
For UK travellers returning to the UK after a shopping spree could be in for good news. In the recent Budget speech, the Chancellor Gordon Brown announced the amount travellers can bring into the UK tax-free is likely to rise from £145 to £1,000.
Hiking the Appalachian Trail from New York City By Susan Velasquez
Luckily there are many ways to go hiking over the weekend and most of them are accessible by train or bus from New York City. Possibly the most famous trail of all is the Appalachian Trail, which starts in Georgia and goes all the way up to Maine. But for day trips or a hike of a few hours, you can take a bus or train from the city.
The most popular way to get there is by train from Grand Central Station. There are two early morning trains that run on weekends only. The train will drop you off at a tiny station (Appalachian Trail station) that runs right through the trail. The walks North or South along the trail are both picturesque, but the South walk is possibly less strenuous and better for beginners. You first walk along planks through a swampy area. Then you enter a lovely forest area. Suddenly the forest ends and you are out in the open, in the middle of fields and farms. Walk along the sides of farms and you can wave hello to the cows and horses that inhabit them. The backdrop to these fields and farms are gorgeous mountains, which are especially picturesque in the autumn months when the colours of leaves change. Bring a camera as there are some lovely photo opportunities. Then cross the road and enter another forest area; but this one feels different to the last. You will see new types of plants and trees in this area. So the walk is a real feast for the senses and the trail keeps taking you through different terrain and landscapes. You can hike for either 3 hours or 5 hours before you have to get back to the tiny station for your return train to the city.
It is also possible to take the Metro North train to Cold Spring train station. There are many trails within walking distance of the train station but for the Appalachian Trail you have to go into the sports store near the station. It is one of the first stores you will see along Main Street when you leave the end of the platform. For a small fee, they provide shuttle service to the trail. It would be wise to book ahead but on weekends they have regular service for the many hikers that enjoy the area, especially in the warmer months. You are dropped off at the trail head and they pick you up at a specified time later in the day. The trains back to New York City run every hour.
Another route would be to take the bus to the Appalachian trail from Port Authority Bus Terminal (there is a bus that goes to Bear Mountain as well as to the Military Academy across the Hudson River). It is a 2-3 hour ride, but the bus leaves you right at the trail and then you have a few hours to hike before getting the bus back to New York. There are toilet facilities in Bear Mountain State Park, and also places to buy drinks or snacks. The Appalachian Trail runs directly through the park and there are also several other enjoyable trails in the area, including one around a large lake that is very picturesque.
Still another possibility is to take a bus from Port Authority to the Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania. The Gap is right on the border of Pennsylvania and New Jersey and the Appalachian Trail runs right through the town there too. It is a 2-3 hour ride and a short walk from the bus station through the middle of town to the trail itself. The town has a few shops and places to eat, and even trolley tours of the area (during the warm months only). Again, you can spend several hours exploring the area and hiking the trail before returning to New York City.
There is little excuse not to hike the famous trail and enjoy all the benefits of a walk in the woods. A tranquil break from the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple is always welcome.
Round the World Trip in 67 hours
On March 3, 2005 after covering 23,000 miles in 67 hours, Steve Fossett became the first person to fly around the world alone in a plane without stopping or refuelling. Fossett, 60, holds many other records as a balloonist, pilot and sailor.
“I’m a really lucky guy now, I got to achieve my ambition,” the 60-year-old millionaire said after stepping out of the cramped capsule in which he had spent nearly three days. “It was a difficult trip … one of the hardest things I've ever done, to be on duty for three days, day and night, with virtually no sleep. It was an endurance test,” Fossett said.
While Fossett is the first to make the flight alone, it will not enter the record books since the Paris-based Federation Aeronautique Internationale has said it does not have a separate category for solo pilots.
Fossett's team however had said they hoped to qualify for distance and speed records, which remain to be certified.
Sun at Midnight
Sun at Midnight is a book by Rosie Thomas, due to be published in July 2005 by Harper Collins. The book is based around her stay on a research station in Antarctica. We wanted to include a brief account of Rosie and her forthcoming book to give inspiration to other aspiring authors. It is only in recent years following a divorce and her children finding their own way in the world has Rosie had her life to herself. Travelling across deserts, partaking in international car rallies and scaling high mountains are so much easier without the family baggage. Once she was established as a successful writer and her children were grown, she discovered a love of travelling and mountaineering. She has climbed in the Alps and the Himalayas, competed in the Peking to Paris car rally, and spent time on a tiny Bulgarian research station in Antarctica to research this novel. Woman and Home magazine said this of Praise for SUN AT MIDNIGHT: 'This is an epic love story set against breathtaking descriptions of Antarctic waste.' Look out for it!
Link: http://www.harpercollins.com/
New Travel Magazine Launched
Readers of the Globetrotter e-newsletter may be interested in a new English language bi-monthly magazine aimed at the enquiring traveller. hidden Europe was launched on 1 March 2005. The first issue sets the tone for a magazine which we think fills a distinct niche in the market. We take our readers beyond the usual tourist trails. Our brief is Europe wide, and we criss-cross the continent to publish the very best of what's new, what's old, what's odd and what's fun. We promise a zany look at the quirkier aspects of European people and places. A good read, always authoritative and packed with useful information. hidden Europe evokes the spirit of Europe's diverse landscapes, conjures up a sense of place and probes the curiosities of our continent's varied cultures.
Launching a new travel magazine may seem like folly at a time when we all suffer from information overload. But we think there's still a place for the quieter, more reflective, style of writing which we hope will become our hallmark. So in our first issue, you will find articles on slow food and slow trains – plus one that extols the merits of the slow boat. Join us on a journey that in this first number will lead us from rural Russia to the Scottish Hebrides, from Poland to Piedmont, and from Lithuania to Albania. Look for articles on Spanish Galicia, the Faeroe Islands and northern Portugal in hidden Europe 2 (in May 2005).
hidden Europe appears in A4 format and each issue is 48 pages. Single copies are £4.50 and an annual subscription, including postage anywhere in Europe, is £27.00. hidden Europe is produced by Gardner & Kries GbR, a small Berlin based publisher, run by Susanne Kries and Nicky Gardner, two women who have travelled more miles than most, and both experts on aspects of European cultures, languages, peoples and places. Visiting every inhabited Harridan island and crossing 33 borders in a couple of days are just two of the mad things we've done in the spirit of hidden Europe. Check out full details of the magazine, and register for our free electronic newsletter, at our website on www.hiddeneurope.co.uk
Where and When to see Whale Sharks Picture by Hondonius Aurelius
The Whale shark (Rhincodon Typus) is the largest fish in the world, growing up to 12m (40 feet) in length. Though massive in size, whale sharks are completely harmless and feed on plankton and small fish which are filtered from the water as they cruise the world's oceans. Despite their size, whale sharks are remarkably gentle and curious. They have a slow growth rate, only reaching maturity at around 30 years old and living as long as 60 – 100 years. Their reproduction rate is also very slow – long intervals between pregnancies and producing around a few hundred pups at one time.
Whale Sharks are located near the Equator around coast lines and open seas. They swim mostly along the top of the surface. Whale sharks can be found in the following areas:
- Western Atlantic: New York to central Brazil and including Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.
- Eastern Atlantic: Senegal, Mauritania, Cape Verde Islands, Gulf of Guinea.
- Indo-West and Central Pacific: South Africa and Red Sea to Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia (Kalimantan, Java, Irian Jaya), Papua New Guinea, Australia (Queensland, Northern Territory), New Caledonia, Hawaiian Islands.
- Eastern Pacific: Southern California to northern Chile.
- Indian Ocean: the Seychelles, Mauritius, Zanzibar, Madagascar, Mozambique and northernmost Natal.
Unfortunately, in some countries such as India and the Philippines, the whale shark is often hunted for meat which is sold to feed the rich in SE Asia, where whale shark meat is an expensive delicacy. Numbers have certainly been reduced, but with the migratory habits of the sharks, it is very difficult to track and count them.
February to May: The time of year to see a whale shark in Thailand is between February and May.
April to June: Whale shark sightings are extremely common on the Ningaloo Reef in the months of mid April-June. A spotter plane communicates with boats as it spots the large shadow of a whale shark near the surface. Interactions are regulated by CALM (Conservation and Land Management), which limits the number of snorkellers in the water with a shark to a maximum of 10 and does not allow the use of flash photography. There are also strictly regulated guidelines including the distance a snorkeller should stay from the animal and how long a single interaction with a whale shark may last. These measures are mainly to reduce stress to the sharks, another unknown factor for scientists, even though people have been interacting with whale sharks on the Ningaloo for many years.
April to June: southern Belize offers whale shark spotting opportunities. The best time to do so during these months are three days before the full moon to three days after the last quarter moon. It's during these times that the Cubera Snappers spawn, attracting the Whale Sharks.
July to September: Rarely seen in shallow coastal waters, whale sharks have been regular visitors to the Sea of Cortez near Bahia de Los Angeles, Baja California, Mexico are closest to the US and are a good place to encounter whale sharks at this time of year.
November to April: whale sharks can be seen around Richelieu Rock in the North Andaman Sea.
If you have had a whale shark encounter, the Beetle would love to hear from you!
TV Appeal for People Moved Overseas
Marc writes from a TV production company called Ricochet. He says: we are currently producing the fifth series of No Going Back and I am looking for people who are selling up in the UK and moving abroad to start a new business venture. I would love to hear from anyone who is doing something along these lines. Please contact him on marc.lewis@ricochet.co.uk
Meeting News from Texas
Globetrotter meetings have temporarily ceased until further notice due to a bereavement in Christina’s family. If you can help Christina resurrect the Texas meetings, as she would really appreciate some help, please contact Christina on texas@globetrotters.co.uk'
For more information about the Texas Branch: please contact texas@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates at our website (click here) or call Christina at 830-620-5482
If anybody would like to enquire about meetings or help Christina, please contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk
Being Careful: Sri Lanka
This is what the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office say about travel to Sri Lanka: Information for families affected by the tsunami can be found at Sri Lanka: Information for Families.
We advise against all but essential travel to the north or east (other than Trincomalee, Nilaveli and Arugam Bay, but travellers should be aware that most hotels in these areas are closed because of damage from the tsunami). Much of the north and east of Sri Lanka remains heavily mined, particularly around the A9 road to Jaffna.
The recent tsunami resulted in extensive damage and large numbers of casualties on the south-western, southern and eastern coasts of Sri Lanka. A number of hotels and resorts on the southern and south-western coasts have now reopened. Anyone planning to travel to these areas should check with their tour operators and/or hotel before departing to ensure their hotel is operating normally. Most hotels in the eastern towns of Trincomalee, Nilaveli and Arugam Bay have yet to reopen. (For further details please refer to the Natural Disasters section of this Travel Advice).
There is a threat from domestic terrorism in Sri Lanka.
Know Your Riyals from Your Kwatcha
Need to convert currency?
Take a look at The Globetrotters Currency Converter — get the exchange rates for 164 currencies The Globetrotters Currency Cheat Sheet — create and print a currency converter table for your next trip.
Copenhagen by Kevin Brackley
A few days holiday to use and the hunt was on for a cheap flight to a not too far distant city that I had yet to explore. The Internet came up with a £50 flight to Copenhagen, so I hit the buttons on the PC and the next morning that nice little ticket came through the letterbox.
Despite being a cheapie, the Maersk flight departed Gatwick on time and actually landed early. After collecting my bag, it was quite a walk from the gate to the baggage area. I bought a train ticket to Copenhagen Central Station, 25 Kroner, yep the Danes still use proper money, not silly Euro Roubles! The efficient train takes around 15 minutes to the city.
Next to find my hotel, the first thing to say about accommodation in Copenhagen is it ain’t cheap. My hotel The Cabinn was located a 10 minute walk south of the station and cost around £50 night including a good quality buffet breakfast. The rooms were small, but excellently designed, though the beds are a bit narrow, I did role out one night!
Well off to explore, first stop obviously the Tourist office. They are extremely helpful, lots of information and maps. The walking tours which leave from the Tourist Information at 10 am each day in the summer are excellent. They cost 75 Kroner and take around 2 and a half hours. They are in English explaining the city via its most famous son Hans Christian Anderson. One tip is that you are better off doing the tour on a week day as you can get into courtyards and see parts of buildings not open at the weekend. You also learn gems such as why the knee of the statue of Hans Christian Anderson is so shiny, its because tour buses full of oriental visitors pull up, and they sit on his knee to have their photo taken!
Nyhaven is what you see in all the postcards, a lovely area full of sailing boats and little waterside cafes.
Another tour worth doing is the 50 minute boat trip that leaves from Nyhaven (50 Kroner), you get a close up view of the new Opera house and you get to see the Little Mermaid statue from a different angle, you also get a riverside view of the new “Black Diamond”, this love it or hate it building is the National Library. The boat then heads into the canals of the Christianhavns area. Christiania as the area is known is home to an alternative community, which did have a reputation for drugs, but has cleaned up its act to some degree, though you can still walk down Pusher Street.
For a great view over the city it is hard to beat the climb up the tower of the Trinity Church (20 Kroner), some great views, but the protective fencing at the top does get in the way of photos.
If you want to explore further afield as I did you cant beat making the train trip to Helsingor up the coast to see Elsinor castle, famous in Shakespear’s Hamlet, it is expensive to enter, but the views around it are great. It was during a wander here that the lovely sunshine disappeared and a deluge of rain began, so I headed into Helsingor city and visited the town's museum, which is quite interesting, though there is little in English.
Another trip I made was west to Roskilde, this town is home to a spectacular cathedral, but of far more interest to me was the Viking Ship Museum (75 Kroner), there are Viking ships, well bits of them in the museum and out on the water are new ones built in the old way. You can walk around and see the ships being crafted, there are areas where children and the young at heart can try their hand at crafts from the Viking era.
Back in Copenhagen if you want to chill out after all that sightseeing The Rose Garden in Copenhagen’s second biggest park, Valby Parken is the place. There are quite a few themed gardens to wander round, number 3 has a maze and another has a Japanese theme.
Copenhagen is perfect for a long weekend and if any of you Globies are into Geocaching, there are around 20 to do in the cities environs.
The Beetle had told me Copenhagen was a bit boring when she had visited!
This is a picture of me in the Rose garden, Valby Park Copenhagen. Beetle: where are the roses, Kev?
Pass the Sickbag
In December 2004 Virgin Atlantic introduced 20 limited edition sickbags designed by artists from around the globe on its first flight from Hong Kong to Sydney. The sickbags will be in the seatbacks of all Virgin Atlantic flights for up to six months with a potential audience of over two million people. Co-collaborator Oz Dean started the 'Design for Chunks' project four years ago inviting talented designers to produce artwork for sick bags and submit them to the 'Design for Chunks' annual competition. The competition has been running for the past four years online at www.designforchunks.com
Lysette Gauna, Head of Media for Virgin Atlantic, commented, 'We felt that the ubiquitous sickbag was long overdue a makeover and when we came across 'Design for Chunks' it was the perfect opportunity. Sickbags are a mandatory requirement but rarely get used – so we thought we would brighten them up and turn them into a talking point. We're really excited about bringing art from around the world to such a huge number of people via our sickbags. It's a first in the industry and we're sure these bags will soon become a collectors' item.'
Mutual Aid
Carole from San Diego would like some help planning a trip to new Zealand. I am travelling to the south island of New Zealand in March and would love some suggestions from other members. We have our itinerary set-landing in Dunedin and going south and back up-crossing at Arthur's Pass to and leaving from Christchurch.
We are also planning to take a cruise into Milford Sound and from what we’ve read, the only company that has a cruise without a naturalist aboard is Fiordland Travel.
Are there others and if so, which is the best. Also, we are interested in doing some hiking in the area-but nothing strenuous.
The Kepler Track was recommended, but in reading about it, it appears that to go in for a few hours would only take us along the lake. Is there a walk w/more interesting/spectacular scenery?
Thank you in advance for your response.
Need help? Want a travelling buddy or advice about a place or country – want to share something with us – why not visit our Mutual Aid section of the Website: Mutual Aid
Flag Quiz
Which countries are represented by these flags? For the answers, see at the end of the eNews.
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Kashmir to Welcome Tourists
India has decided to open Srinagar airport in disputed Kashmir to international flights to entice more tourists to the Himalayan region. Kashmir has been involved in a 15 year dispute involving soldiers and Muslim militants who don’t want Indian rule in the region. Estimates say that around 360,000 people visited Kashmir last year, most of the them Indians, up from 191,000 in the previous year, although the figure was small compared with the millions who travelled to the region before the revolt in 1989. Israelis topped the list of foreign tourists visiting the Muslim-majority region last year followed by Chinese.
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:
- Congo
- Madagascar
- Oman
- Azerbaijan
- Bangladesh
For the answers, see at the end of the e-newsletter.
Palma, Northern Mozambique by Tim Crouch
As part of Trade Aid’s work in Tanzania, we aim to promote a sustainable tourism industry in Mikindani area. The following is the impressions of a trip to investigate the tourism and tourism opportunities in Palma, Northern Mozambique.
Palma is a small, fishing town set inside a large bay along the northern coast of Mozambique. It is home to some 10,000 people, most of whom are supported by industries linked to the sea. Like Mikindani, the place is quiet and peaceful and its people and culture are dominated by the influence of the Indian Ocean that surrounds it. In this way, what we expected was something more akin to Mikindani but the reality was quite different.
We arrived in Palma via two pick-up trucks and a boat across the Ruvuma to be greeted by the dusty, sandy sight all so familiar to us after our five months near Mtwara. However, what struck us was the complete absence of the historic buildings and NGO vehicles that dominate the landscape of Mikindani and Mtwara. The vehicle on which we arrived was virtually the only thing to pass through Palma during our stay while the old colonial buildings that dominate the visage of Mikindani were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps this was why Palma almost had a more earthy sense of untampered-with Swahili Coast. The charm of Mikindani lies in the huge mixture of different colonial, native and trade influences that have shaped its past and continues to shape its future. With Palma, it’s great appeal lies in the idea that it never was a settlement of great importance and so you feel, when walking around that this is the natural development of this part of the world.
There was no electricity or running water in the guest house, no Boma to retire to for a cold beer and certainly no hint of mobile phone signal and internet access but Palma itself was all the better for this. These things, along with the presence of brand names such as coca-cola and Pepsi are right for the formerly upwardly mobile Mikindani, a place now beginning to see a revival thanks to enterprises such as the Boma, the brand new ECO2 dive school and the newly revamped Ten Degrees South lodge. However, in a place such as Palma, where people are living on less than a dollar a day and where there has never been a glorious past to compare to that of Mikindani, these things would simply be out of place. We saw no other tourists during our time in Palma, which only served to enhance the feeling of being part of a totally different society. When following a regular tourist route, however sensitive a tour company or hotel may be, you never get to feel as cut off as this.
As part of our
time there we went to see a local group of women rehearsing
traditional Mozambique song (see picture, left). We were
merely walking by when we were invited to sit in on the group
during practice. Listening to the women and drums as the sun
set and the tide came in really will be a lasting memory of
my time spent in East Africa. Later that day we caught a dhow
(traditional African/Arabic sail boat) from Palma all the way
back to Mikindani. This again will stay with me for the rest
of my life as one of the most authentic experiences of the
lives people lead in this part of the world. These sorts of
experiences, however overused the cliché may be,
really are priceless. Money cannot buy memories and certainly
looking at the people of Palma or Mikindani, plays no part in
happiness or generosity. This sort of journey, away from the
beaten track and reach of the guidebooks is highly
recommended and, although not to everyone’s taste, will
provide lasting memories to anyone willing to embark on
them.
On-Line Travel Scam
Be careful of a new online travel scam that involves bargain flights advertised on internet auction sites. The con-men advertise an amazing deal on an auction site, telling potential bidders that they do not need to pay until they have received their tickets. The winning bidder – and, usually, all the other bidders, are contacted under the pretence that the winner has dropped out for their names. The fraudster then buys the tickets from the airline in the names of each ‘winner’, but uses someone else's stolen credit card details. According to an internet fraud agency, these details are readily available and sold for as little as 30p a time. The winner also pays up once they’ve received the tickets. Most airlines are ok about issuing tickets to someone other than the cardholder, so the ‘winners’ receive their tickets, pay the fraudster and look forward to their holiday, sometimes even flying out and enjoying it. When the airline's bank tries to claim the money from the credit cardholder, however, the fraud is uncovered – and the airline will not let the ticket-holder travel.