Staying Healthy While Traveling

This article on avoiding Traveler's Diarrhea comes from Dr. Michael Kirsch, who writes the Travelogue Blog and co-founded www.travelclinicsofamerica.com. Traveler’s diarrhea (TD) is the most common infectious disease affecting international travelers. The vast majority of these cases are caused by bacteria, with viruses and parasites accounting for about 20% of cases. This disease can be effectively prevented and treated, if it strikes. Are You Prepared? Boil it, Cook it, Peel it or Forget it has been standard advice to travelers to reduce risk of TD. While we endorse this common sense strategy, surprisingly, there is little evidence supporting it in medical journals. ...

Not All Who Wander Are Lost, But Be Careful Where you Wander – Travel Safety Tips

This article on crime avoidance comes from Dr. Michael Kirsch, who writes the Travelogue Blog and co-founded www.travelclinicsofamerica.com Crime is a reality of life even on your trip abroad.  Many travelers who are caught up in the moment of an overseas adventure or vacation, let down their guard.  Savvy travelers know that, from the moment the plane touches down, they need to be more vigilant about their personal safety and belongings.  You may be far away from your familiar safety zone.  You need to have both eyes open. It’s easy for natives to spot tourists as they wander through ...

Revisiting Tales of Community Conservation – Milking The Rhino

Back in 2007, Off the Radar covered a documentary still in the early stages of screening. Three years later, Milking the Rhino has won countless awards, including Best Nature Film at the Yosemite Film Festival and Best Documentary at both the Pan African and San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. The film documents the Massai people in Kenya and their struggle with conservation laws who have now become spokespeople for community-based conservation and the benefits they are able to reap in effect.  According to a recent update in April 2009, the establishment of Il ...

Happy New Year! From Deepali in Mongolia

This is the fourth in a series of posts from Deepali Patel, a native of Washington D.C. and Fulbright Fellow working in Mongolia.  This week, her suggestions for adventure activities in Mongolia. Read more on her blog: Land of Blue Skies Happy New Year! I have two weeks to go in the Land of Blue Skies, and my research on agricultural policy and food security is done. Mongolia has an uncertain future that I'm afraid will not be all pleasant, but growing pains are probably unavoidable. I think the Western-educated younger leaders of the ...

Do I need vaccinations for Travel to China?

This article on China comes from Dr. Michael Kirsch, who writes the Travelogue Blog and co-founded www.travelclinicsofamerica.com. China is a magnet for tourists, students and businessmen.  The Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 showed the world that China is prominently on the world stage.  Millions from all over the world visit China every year.  It offers an unparallelled adventure in the eastern hemisphere. In China, ancient treasures are juxtaposed against modern skylines and architecture.  There are world class hotels and cuisine in the same country where ancient Chinese ...

Traveling in Mongolia

This is the third in a series of posts from Deepali Patel, a native of Washington D.C. and Fulbright Fellow working in Mongolia.  This week, her suggestions for adventure activities in Mongolia. Read more on her blog Being landlocked and difficult to reach has made Mongolia an attractive destination for the adventure traveler. The thrill is part the novelty of visiting a place that few will ever see, and part the motivation and guts it takes to ...

Touring Gabon – Keeping Disease Off Your Itinerary

Planning a trip to Gabon?  Tourism to this western African nation if on the rise in recent years, as the government works hard to cultivate the travel & tourism market.  This coastal country offers tourists white sandy beaches, fishing and ocean attractions, tropical rainforests and 13 national parks.  Like other African countries there are safari adventures, which display big game and wildlife.  Tourists to the city of Lambaréné can visit the hospital founded by Nobel laureate, Dr. Albert Schweitzer in 1913.  Today it is a fully functioning hospital and medical research center. Planning a weekend getaway to Gabon?  Tourism ...

Traveling to the West Bank – Safety and Security First

Travelers to the West Bank need to exercise much more caution than they would to other destinations.  While the territory is generally calm, there is underlying tension which can suddenly ignite. While security is a traveler's paramount priority during a West Bank visit, preserving health is an important concern also.  Travelers to the Middle East may need the following travel vaccinations: Hepatitis A Hepatitis B Routine vaccinations West Bank travelers are not at risk for yellow fever or malaria. See your travel doctor several weeks before departure.  Disease patterns can change and your travel physician will be current on evolving health issues in ...

Status Update on Guyana Forests

In November 2007, Guyana's President, Bharrat Jagdeo, offered to place most of Guyana's standing tropical rainforest under the control of a British-led international body in exchange for development and technical assistance towards becoming a green economy. This is no meager offer: Guyana retains nearly 80 percent of its original forest cover, roughly 16 million hectares. Details of the President's initiative have been developing since he initially announced it, but the core of his offer still stands. Compared to the alternative of offering the forests up to extractive industries for quick monetary gains, the impact for the world could be huge. According ...

Banff and Yoho, $700 off

OTR favorite Boundless Journeys is offering a $700 discount on their best-loved hiking trips in the Canadian Rockies - hike lesser known paths through Banff and Yoho National Parks August 30 - September 2 at a signficant discount if you book by June 15. Learn more about the hiking tour here or call Boundless Journeys at 800-941-8010.

Himalayan High Treks Staffer Summits Everest

Himalayan High Treks (featured in Off the Radar's May, 2007 newsletter) reports that staff member K. B. Tamang (younger brother of HHT's regional manager Amber Tamang) just made it to the top of Mount Everest! Only 25 years old, K. B. did this without the financial and logistics support western climbers take for granted (things like like satellite phones, high-tech clothing and a support crew). He did suffer mild snow blindness on the descent and also had a delay at Lukla airport (like many trekkers) due to mountain weather. ...

Forbes and National Geographic Coverage for OTR Features

It's always a thrill to see mainstream press start to notice the trips and operators we cover in Off the Radar. Check out Forbes Traveler - they're featuring PEPY in a list of only 10 recommended Voluntourism Trips.  PEPY, a regular on Off the Radar, offers guests the chance to cycle through rural Cambodia and support volunteer projects at local schools.  Learn more about their upcoming August 2009 Rural Experiential Tour. And another great mention for one of our past featured trips comes from National Geographic Traveler's 50 Tours of a Lifetime May/June 2009 issue.  The article recommends an International ...

Why is the World’s Biggest Landfill in the Pacific Ocean?

In t he broad expanse of the northern Pacific Ocean, there exists the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a slowly moving, clockwise spiral of currents created by a high-pressure system of air currents. The area is an oceanic desert, READ MORE

Kenya and Mexico Tips from The Adventure Doc

Off the Radar has teamed up with the  Adventure Doc to provide you with health tips for the destinations we feature.  Read on for vaccines and other concerns for Kenya and Mexico Kenya  Ensure all childhood/routine immunizations are current Yellow Fever vaccine is advised and required for all travelers entering Kenya from an endemic area, be prepared to show proof of vaccine Hepatitis A and B series, Typhoid, Meningitis vaccines are advised Adults who have completed a primary series against polio should have a one-time booster of polio vaccine prior to travel Rabies vaccine is advised for travel to remote areas and ...

Elephant Tramples Tourist in Assam

From Radio Netherlands Worldwide came this awful news: a Dutch tourist was trampled to death by an elephant in a nature reserve in India. The Indian press agency IANS reports that the man set out early on Tuesday morning with eight other tourists to explore the 430-square-kilometre Kaziranga National Park in the eastern state of Assam. Although they were accompanied by an armed guide, they were surprised by the elephant, which went on the attack. The other tourists had what IANS describes as a "miraculous escape", but the 60-year-old Dutchman was unable to get away quickly enough.  The Xola and ...

New Attraction: Walruses in the Canadian High Artic

BOARD THE AKADEMIK IOFFE IN THE CANADIAN HIGH ARCTIC - He was a cooperative walrus, but a strange one, lolling in the September sunshine on an ice floe in Croker Bay, somewhere around the 75th parallel ... more

News from El Tribuno – Newspaper of Salta, Argentina

Read El Tribuno, one of Argentina's local newspapers.

News from the Itgel Foundation

Tsaatan Community & Visitors Center (TCVC) Project Updates Itgel’s much talked-about TCVC project continues to hit new milestones and set incredible records, transforming the future of Mongolia’s Tsaatan reindeer-herding community. In May 2008, Itgel handed over 100% ownership and operational control of this dynamic Center to the Tsaatan community! Through sustainable community-based tourism activities, the Tsaatan have generated more than $4,000 in the past twelve months through the TCVC. This is an unprecedented sum for a community ranked as Mongolia’s poorest, whose household incomes hovered at just $100 per year in 2006. continue reading...