A Hydropower Plant in Nepal may Destroy Potential for Adventure Tourism
A new hydropower plant in Nepal has been approved and is set to begin construction in 2013.
The area? Bhote Kosi.
Bhote Kosi which cuts through the Himalayas and is known as one of the top ten rivers for white water rafting. Megh Ale of the Nepal River Conservation Trust is quoted in the article as saying, "Bhote Kosi is a world-class river, important for the local people here and for tourism. If the power house is built at Jambu, it will significantly decrease water volume along the rafting route, and tourism will lose its most important attraction."
Read the full article as ... 
Win a Trip to Papua New Guinea, Courtesy of Eagle Creek
Papua New Guinea is said to be one of the most culturally diverse areas in the world with over 850 indigenous languages on this tiny stretch of land and also one of the least explored. If you win Eagle Creek's Grand Prize , however, you can count yourself as one who has explored all that it has to offer.
Fill out this short form and wait to hear if your name is drawn at the end of September. Eagle Creek is offering two roundtrip tickets to Papua New Guinea as ...
CultureBlog is Looking for a Blogger in Brazil
CultureBlog, is run by Model People, and acts as a connector between brand marketing teams and their consumers around the world, to help create and activate deep insight-driven strategies for brand targeting, positioning and innovation. CultureBlogs tracks their insights.
They are seeking a blogger located in Brazil who will be assigned 5 blogs per year, and additional special projects. The blogs will be assigned every couple of months, with two weeks lead time. Formats include written (250 words + 2 images) or videos. In addition, the blogger may be ...
Mexico Emphasizing Adventure Travel
On November 29th, the 16th edition of the Conference of the Parties (also known as COP16) of the United Nations Framework on Climate Change kicked off in Cancun, Mexico. Adventure travel was among the many important discussions taking place at the Conference. At the GreenSolutions@COP16 Event, President Calderon recognized the important role of adventure travel, commenting, "Adventure travel is key to the preservation of habitat and culture…Mexico has to become the champion of adventure travel." The industry will certainly be pleased to see how, at the highest levels, Mexico has a new proponent and supporter of adventure travel.
Long before ...
Innovative Ideas for Destinations on the Edge
There are only 12 days left to enter the Geotourism Challenge 2010 put together by Ashoka's Changemakers, National Geographic, and the Inter-American Development Bank. December 1, 2010 is the deadline to enter an idea or nominate an existing model. Three entries will be selected and awarded a US$5,000 top prize.
The idea behind this year's theme, Places on the Edge: Saving Coastal and Freshwater Destinations, is to identify solutions that incorporate innovation, social impact, and sustainability. Ideas and models that ...
Job Alert: Volunteer as Manager for Feynan Ecolodge, Learn about conservation
You will literally have the chance to kick up some dust as a Volunteer Ecolodge Manager in Wadi Araba, Jordan. Located in the Dana Biosphere Reserve, the Feynan Ecolodge generates all of its electricity from solar/photovoltaic (PV) panels, invests in pivotal conservation and preservation projects, provides socio-economic benefits to local Bedouin communities, recycles, and has an entirely local staff working on site.
As a Volunteer Manager, you would provide expertise in several areas of hotel operation and management to the Feynan’s Bedouin Manager and staff. In addition, the Volunteer Manager would aid in increasing the capacity of staff ...
Voluntourism Set to Grow as Planeterra Partners with STA Travel
On October 14th STA Travel announced its commitment of $1m over the next five years to a responsible tourism program to be developed by NGO, Planeterra.
STA Travel coordinates trips for over 6 million travelers every year - mainly students, teachers, and young professionals, and operate in 90 countries.
Planeterra has been addressing issues of development in small communities around the world since 2003. Planeterra itself offers Voluntours (Voluntourism is defined as the following on Voluntourism.org, "The conscious, seamlessly integrated combination of voluntary service to a destination and the best, traditional elements of travel — arts, culture, geography, history and recreation — ...
Job Alert: PEPY Tour Management Consultant
Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself (PEPY) is an international NGO by the name of PEPY Ride and an educational adventure and service-learning tour operator, PEPY Tours. (See past Off the Radar stories about them here and here) What started as a two-woman initiative to contribute funds towards a new school has grown since 2005 to include thirty-six full-time Cambodian staff members, four foreign staff, a handful of volunteers (who come on 6-month placements). They’re now looking to add a new position: Tour Management Consultant.
The Tour Management Consultant would primarily be responsible for transitioning leadership and responsibility ...
Cultivate Your Marketing Know-How: Intern with La Confluencia Lodge & Spa
Located within the Rio Azul Protected Area in southwestern Argentina is La Confluencia Lodge & Spa, the noisiest it gets is when the waters of Azul and Encanto Blanco roar as they rise with snow melt. Given its remote location, La Confluencia was built with sustainability in mind, using hay bale walls as insulation and lumber from nearby timber that had fallen naturally.
La Confluencia continues to grow and attract visitors, and in a time when folks around the world are learning to build and grow "smarter" and more sustainably, La ...
Henderson Island Seabird Conservation Effort
We recently featured Tristan de Cunha, a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 1,750 miles away from South Africa. Now move over a bit to the South Pacific Ocean and you'll come across the Pitcairn Islands and of particular interest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Henderson Island.
Henderson Island is currently encountering problems with an introduced rat population that has been killing off 25,000 petrel birds each year. On the island there are four endemic land birds: Henderson lorikeet, Henderson fruit-dove, ...
Preserving Mountains, Thriving Culture
Treks up some of the world are most dangerous yet biologically diverse landmarks provide operators and climbers with a bit of a quandary. The mountains hold sensitive species that must be protected and unique climates that provide locals with valuable resources. Concurrently, mountain tourism also provides social and economic benefits to mountain peoples. However as more and more visitors visit mountain areas, culture and resources are being altered and the landscape is slowly changing.
Soon however, mountain tour operators will be able to provide clients, potential clients, and locals a solid ...
Trail Networks Provide Economic Benefits to Communities
From June 4 to September 17, 2006, Western Canada's Mountain Bike Tourism Association conducted a study to measure the economic impact of mountain biking through their Sea to Sky trail network. Not counting spending from other users, mountain biking alone contributed $10.3 million to cities along the paths.
Communities are beginning to see and understand the positive economic impact trail networks can have on surrounding communities. The Kimberley Trails Society in British Columbia is one such area that is realizing the significance not only of mountain biking and trails but of adventure tourism altogether and has submitted a ...
Online Travel Portal AdventurUS.com Announces Partnerships, Creating Customized Online Adventure Centers
This month AdventurUS.com has released a beta version of an interactive interface that provides adventure travelers with a way to book trips, contact the tour operator directly, buy specific gear appropriate for the trip. This means easier travel prep and planning allowing travelers to focus more on the experience.
Partnering with Eastern Mountain Sports, Adventure 16, NRS allows travelers put their outdoor gear to good use on top guided adventures and ease worries by connecting directly with tour operators instead of travel agencies.
They list over 300 trips that feature trip itineraries as well as well-written articles to ...
2009 Adventure Development Index
Finally, learn about adventure travel development when you visit the George Washington University and Adventure Travel Trade Association’s website ranking adventure destinations. The Adventure Travel Development Index (ATDI) (www.adventureindex.travel) ranks 192 countries based for their adventure travel competitiveness. It’s fun, because sometimes countries that rank high in the index aren’t ones you might be thinking about yet as great places to go adventure-ing.
The methodology relies on hard data and expert surveys to asses countries in 10 pillars: Sustainable Development, Health, Safety and Security, Cultural Resources, Natural Resources, Adventure Activity Resources, Infrastructure, Entrepreneurship and Image.
The top three developing countries this ...
Surf Nonprofits to Benefit from Kickoff Charity Event for NY Surf Film Festival and Unsound Pro
Two big pieces of news from our friends at WAVES for Development (WAVES). They have hired a new Program Manager and this past September, co-hosted an event and 'unconference' with the New York Surf Film Festival (NYSFF).
Australian Naomi Godden joins WAVES as the Program Manager of the organization’s surf voluntourism program in Lobitos, Peru. In addition to an interest in surfing and volunteering, Naomi, a trained social worker, brings with her years of experience working in community development, research, and as a PADI Divemaster and Emergency First ...
Questions on Swine Flu (H1N1) Answered
This series of answers on H1N1 virus comes from Dr. Michael Kirsh, who writes the Travelogue Blog and co-founded www.travelclinicsofamerica.com.
The fear of swine flu, the H1N1 virus, has decreased. A few months ago, the swine flu pandemic was front page news all over the world. Everyone was worried that he might be struck by this dreaded H1N1 virus. Many schools were closed and many people avoided public places like the plague.
Experts, however, warn us to brace ourselves for an avalanche of H1N1 this fall. Vaccine manufacturers are working feverishly to develop an effective vaccine.
Will there be enough vaccine for everyone?
Not at first. ...
See it Before It Disappears
WorldChanging.com recently posted an article on "See it Before it Disappears," type tourism - which is becoming increasingly popular as climate change puts many must-see destinations in peril. The idea being, if we don't take advantage and visit places like the Galapagos or Easter Island now, we may never have a chance.
The author points out that there are other good reasons to visit places like Greenland, increasingly, locals are depending on your tourism dollar.
She also mentions the certification initiatives that exist to regulate tourism, including one of our own projects, ...
News from the High Atlas Foundation
The following items were taken from the High Atlas Foundation's newsletter.
The 2009-2010 planting season is fast approaching, and you can join HAF and our partners in planting a community tree nursery of 60,000 fruit tree saplings! Twenty villages neighboring Toubkal National Park, in the Rural Communes of Ourika, Oukaimden, and Asni, will participate in this project. The Regional Direction of Waters and Forests-Marrakech has contributed land to build the nursery. In four to six years the household income of 500 families will at least double through the sale of the fruit at local markets. Our current project partners - G4S, ...
Free Airfare to Bhutan…
This just popped into our inbox - Free Airfare to Bhutan from Bangkok when you book one of the following trips by Boundless Journeys by August 17th, 2009: a) Bhutan: A Journey Into the Peaceful Kingdom - October 13–24, 2009, November 17–28, 2009 b) Bhutan: Festivals of Bhutan - September 24–October 2, 2009; $3895 per person c) Bhutan: The Chomolhari Trek - October 26-November 7, 2009 Check their site for more info: Boundless Journeys. Or call them at 800-941-8010.
Adventure Travel World Summit
The 6th Adventure Travel World Summit will be held in Quebec City from October 19-22, 2009. As you might expect, the adventure community puts on a rocking summit - who else gets the CEO of Cirque du Soleil and a renown astrophyscist as keynotes? The event starts with a "day of adventure" and is followed by three days of conference. The ATWS examines all issues that affect the adventure travel industry, from climate change to marketing. Click here for more information.
