The November meeting took place back at The Church of Scotland,
now that most of the building work has been completed.
Our first speaker was Tom Fremantle who endeavoured to follow in
the footsteps of Scottish explorer Mungo Park down the Niger
river. Tom's excellent talk took in some of the sights of
Senegal, Mali, Niger and Nigeria including amazing African
markets complete with Fetish stalls selling monkey skulls. We
also saw the mud mosque at Djenne, which unfortunately non
muslims are no longer allowed to visit the inside of. Tom was
there while the African Nations cup was taking place, in small
villages he would find hundreds of people crowded around a TV
set, often cheering not for a particular team, but just because a
goal had been scored! From Niger he showed us the Arbredu Tenere,
a tree in the middle of nowhere that was once shown on the
Michelin map, it has been replaced by a metal one after a driver
managed to hit it. Tom crossed into Nigeria with some trepidation
as the country has a reputation for lawlessness, bribery and
corruption. Few tourists visit Nigeria, when Tom had collected
his visa from the Embassy, he was told he would be the only
tourist in Nigeria! He probably was, despite having to give the
odd “present” he had a great trip.
After the break it was Amar Grover who gave an interesting talk
with great photos of the Minorities in China. Amar explained that
there are around 60 recognised minority groups in China and he
began with the one known best in the west, the Tibetans. We saw
Lhasa with the wonderful Jokang Temple, to which Tibetans travel
for hundreds of miles to visit. We also saw the Stupas and Potala
Palace. Amar explained that the Chinese are trying to change the
make up of the populations in minority areas with more chinese,
giving them tax breaks and other incentives to move to these
regions. We saw Kazakhs and Uigars who are certainly more central
asian than chinese, not only in looks, dress and customs but also
in religion. Many still live a nomadic existence using Yurts.
Amar showed us Uigar markets at places like Kashgar where old
customs prevail. China now recognises many of its minority
peoples, but cynics will say it has more to do with the income
they generate from western visitors.
By Padmassana
3rd December, Terry Richardson will be talking about “The
St.Paul's Trail, following St.Paul's footsteps through
Turkey's Taurus Mountains. Visit peaks, canyons, lakes and
ancient sites linked by a newly way-marked 500km trail.
co-author of Lycian Way and St. Paul Trail guides and Rough Guide
to Turkey. See : http://www.stpaultrail.com/StPaulContent/aboutthewalk.html
After the break, Jonny Bealby will be giving a talk about
Northern Pakistan. See: http://www.wildfrontiers.co.uk
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