Outside's Best Adventures For 2009

We're a few months into 2009, but that doesn't mean it's too late to select the best travel destinations for the year ahead. That is exactly what Outside Magazine did with their Best Adventures for 2009 list. The list is broken down by region, with the United States, Canada, Central America, South America, New Zealand and Australia, Asia, and Africa all represented. Sorry Europe, there aren't any adventures left on your boring continent. ;)

As you would expect, the list is filled with some really great trips, provided you have the time and money. Staying close to home, here in the States, Outside suggests paddling the Upper Owyhee in Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada, or heading to Alaska for a couple of unique adventures. Canadians can stay in country, and go paddling on Hudson Bay or biking in the Rockies, for plenty of outdoor, active adventure.

And if staying in North America isn't exciting enough, there are some great suggestions on the other continents as well. For instance, head to Guyana for unspoiled wilderness like no where else on Earth, or trek the Larapinta Trail in Australia. Want something a bit more demanding? How about climbing volcanoes in Indonesia? Or taking any number of amazing safaris across Africa.

2009 is going to be the best year for travel deals that we've seen in some time. With the economy still in the doldrums, and many people watching their pennies, the opportunities to save on adventure travel are about is good as they'll ever get. If you have the money and the urge to travel, then I suggest taking advantage of it while you can.

Today Show Interviews World Record Kayak Drop Guy!

Remember Pedro Olivia? He's the guy I blogged about a few weeks back who set a new world's record for a kayak drop by going over a 127 foot waterfall in Brazil. He set the record back on March 4th by going over the Belo Salto waterfall, and besting the previous record by nearly 20 feet in the process. The fall took nearly 3 seconds to complete, and it is estimated that he was traveling in excess of 70 mph when he hit the water.

This morning the Today show interviewed Pedro and showed video of the falls, and his epic drop, while also doing a good job of discussing extreme kayaking in general. The piece is more than 7 minutes in length, and is a solid piece from the mainstream media. Check it out below. The falls look crazy!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Long Chu Festival in VietNam

Visiting Vietnam is dependably a well known decision, and right timing can make for a significantly more essential experience: in July, explorers can witness arrangements for the Long Chu Festival in

the town of Hoi A through Buffalo Tours.

The 11-day excursion takes visitors from Hanoi to Hoi An and on to the Mekong Delta to watch the aged festivals in which wickedness spirits are avoided from towns.

Beginning in Hanoi, voyagers investigate the city's social hotspots, going to The Temple of Literature, Ethnology Museum, Hoan Kiem Lake before setting out on an overnight journey.

Related post: Vietnam travel deals

Hoi An is the place the vast majority of the move makes place, with villagers racing to complete lights and adornments. Upon the arrival of the celebration, explorers watch neighborhood clerics and shamans banishing fiendishness spirits into the stream before brilliant parades pass through the town. When a mythical beast formed vessel is thrown into the ocean at the end of the day, the festivals are over for an alternate year.

Explorers likewise tune in a cooking class at the Culinary Art Center emulated by a voyage through Cu Chi Tunnels.

Amazing Climbing Videos From Patagonia

This site was sent my way be regular reader Carl Hancock, who always has great things to share when he sends me a note. The page is titled Vertical Carnival Dispatches and it's full of videos, 14 of them to be exact, from a recent climbing expedition to Patagonia.

This first video has the team preparing for their climb in South America by warming up in Eldorado Canyon State Park in Colorado. The story is also revealed that one of the climbers tragically lost his wife, and it was her wishes to have her ashes spread out across her home in Brazil. She was a climber and adventurer herself who dreamed of going to Patagonia too, so to honor her, that is exactly what the team did. The results are these stunning videos that have a ton of great climbing footage. Really great stuff and a great story.


Vertical Carnival Video #1 from renan ozturk on Vimeo.

POV: Size (And Content) Matters

It's been quite a while since I've posted about photojournalism-related matters. I'm not a photojournalist but I haven't come across really seminal photographic work for at least a year; work that could have encouraged me to shake off the blahs.

But the recent feature Life In The Valley of Death published by The New York Times did just that. It's about the aftermath of the Bosnian war, and the ongoing efforts to find the mass graves containing thousands who disappeared during that conflict, and how the remains of those killed in the genocide keep turning up, unsettling the reconciliation between Muslims and Serbs.

The photographs are by Paolo Pellegrin, and the well written article is by Scott Anderson.

While both the photographs and the story are certainly powerful, I was initially drawn to the feature by its 'packaging'. The large sized photographs, the article's layout and the haunting title all pulled me in, and pushed me into delving more deeply into the feature.

On reflection, I would've added audio clips of the main protagonists such as Amor Masovic, Fazila Efendic, and Robert Zomer. These would've added an aural texture to the feature, making it more tactile and palpable, bringing home the nuances of their voices, accents and expressions. Alternatively, short video clips of interviews with these people would've worked very well.

I believe that this format is one of the future directions for photojournalism, travel, documentary, human interest stories, weddings....any and all photo narratives. It's one of the formats that photographers would be foolish not to use...either via some of the already existing platforms (see below), or via their own blogs and websites structured to look like these photo narratives.

I have used a number of platforms that provide a similar format such as my own travel-documentary essays in Exposure, Storehouse, Maptia and to some extent Cowbird. I have enjoyed creating these photo narratives, it's easy, effective and well worth your time.

North Pole 2009: Cold Temps Return and Positive Drift?!?

Clear skies are both a welcome sight and a scary one in the Arctic, where the Catlin Arctic Team are reporting that the have nothing but blue skies overhead, but that means the temperatures have plummeted back to the -40º range. Those cold temps were especially troublesome for Martin Hartley, who had to have a needle removed from his bum. Apparently the needle was left behind following some mending done to clothing, and it became embedded in his backside, requiring a pliers to remove it. (Ouch!) The team continues to be happy with their progress otherwise, and their mission to gauge the health of the Arctic ice seems to be going quite well. Team members Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels, and Martin are using a special ground penetrating radar to examine the age and thickness of the ice to determine the effects of global warming on the region. These readings take time, so they are not expecting to reach the North Pole for more than two months yet.

The Victorinox North Pole Team are reporting that they got some "free mileage" thanks to positive drift while they slept. When they checked their position this morning using their GPS, they found that over night they had drifted both north and west, although mostly north. The boys picked up half a nautical mile while resting, which is certainly good for the moral. They also report clear conditions and very low winds, making for great skiing conditions and an over all great day out on the ice. Progress is slow, but solid. The team members, John Huston and Tyler Fish, are hoping to become the first American team to go unsupported to the Pole.

Finally, the Peary Centennial Expedition continues their journey to the Pole as well, and also had a bit of positive drift, gaining 3/4 of mile while they slept a few days back. They're also happy to see the clear skies and low winds, but say the temperatures have dropped for them as well. In the latest audio update, released a few days back, Lonnie Dupre calls in to give an update and discuss the Arctic Treaty situation, discussing the challenges of establishing and maintaining a treaty that really only covers a patch of water that just so happens to have a large platform of ice over it. Quite an interesting discussion.

Stay warm up there everyone, and keep your eyes peeled for the polar bears. :)

Vacation for Mango Tree - A Short Story

Yagyesh lazed his hands to the photo frame that glazed off the bright 'Indian Summer' afternoon.

The glass, the frame, the room was part of his abode, where he breathes and lives everyday, yet today the Sun was avenging its challenge, he rued thoughtfully.

Some 10 years back, his friend Maruti had visited and then how mischievously they had planted the seed of the mango 'fruit' that they had eaten or rather didn't eat and gleefully pasted the king's kingdom all over their faces.

Yagyesh thought whether many miles away, would Maruti still remember the fruit and its offspring, and imagine the shade and the silhouette of the tree that is created of its mammoth, today challenges the mighty and allows the odd ray in, suggestively to let the Sun be or not be.

The mango seed that they both had savoured and quenched privately, was now abode to several birds and men alike on their routine migratory vacations, every year, year after year, after the year they both spent their only vacations together.

Image Courtsey: http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/7c/fd/43/7cfd43dbe2c1c402cf316b62bbdbd8a3.jpg

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This post has been written and shared for the series 'Five Sentence Fiction'.

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Looking forward to your comments and feedback.

The Last Anchorite | Egypt

An anchorite is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely ascetic and prayer-oriented life. In other words, a religious hermit with a "fixed address'.

This 19 minutes-long documentary features the story of Father Anthony El Lazarus, a Coptic monk who lives in seclusion in the Red Sea mountains, in a 4th-century monastery about 200 miles southeast of Cairo, Egypt. He's former university lecturer in literature and philosophy, and spent 40 years as an atheist.

This is an ancient tradition since early Christians flocked to the Egyptian deserts where Copts had already embraced the idea of a solitary, devout Christian life. It's accepted that he early Christians were inspired by the eremitic (reclusive) traditions of the Hebrews.

The Coptic Church is based on the teachings of Saint Mark who brought Christianity to Egypt during the reign of the Roman emperor Nero in the first century. He was one of the four evangelists and wrote the oldest canonical gospel. Christianity was the religion of the vast majority of Egyptians from 400–800 A.D. and of the majority after the Muslim conquest until the mid-10th century and remains the faith of a significant minority population. 

With wonderful cinematic skills, filmmaker Remigiusz Sowa captures the essence of the reclusive monastic life led by Father Anthony and those like him in the isolated monastery in the Red Sea Mountains.