National Parks Influence Sustainable Tourism Development

Across the world, national parks allow for the preservation of astounding biodiversity in countless different environments. National Parks on every continent and within every environment are responsible for the preservation of land, animals, and habitats. However, the establishment and management of national parks is not without controversy, and there are policies and actions governments can take to better ensure that our global national parks systems live up to their potential for sustainability and responsibility.

National parks are most often formed when the government identifies an area of land rich in national history, rich in biodiversity, and environmentally important. The first national parks go back 100+ years. In fact, 2016 marks the centennial anniversary of the U.S. National Parks Service — American national parks account for more than 400 distinct areas covering over 84 million acres in all 50 states. Everywhere from South Africa to Peru to Vietnam uses national parks systems. The value in these is perhaps best summed up by South Africa’s national parks website: the parks “[represent] the indigenous fauna, flora, landscapes and associated cultural heritage of the country.”

While generally beloved and regarded as a positive part of the Travel & Tourism industry — to say nothing of each nation’s distinct environmental representation — national parks are not without controversy. Before we can look closely at how T&T can use national parks for sustainability and preservation, it’s important to understand the primary arguments against national parks.

Detractors claim that national parks attract tourists who then prey on the very environments that are supposed to be protected. Tourism causes development, cities, and trash to encroach on wilderness areas. Other claims centre on the systematic nature of national parks prioritising wildlife over human beings. A good example of this is in East Africa, where the Maasai people were moved, without consultation or compensation, to ensure that Kenya and Tanzania’s national parks were “people-free”. Despite positive developments in recent years, the Maasai tribes are still pushed into areas that make it difficult for them to carry on their traditional pastoralist lifestyle.

It’s difficult to weigh the human cost against the positive impact of government protection. There is no easy answer to this pressing issue on land rights. There are, however, other areas that clearly show how a national park system can benefit the wildlife, nature, and the country as a whole. Let’s look at the impact of national park systems around the world, as well as the relationship T&T plays with these systems.

On the whole, worldwide national parks have furnished us with models for sustainable tourism development, and provided a blueprint that others can follow. One such area is destination stewardship, through which national park keepers manage nature conservation with the needs of local people and tourists alike. A great example of this balance is present in South Africa’s iSimangaliso Wetland Park, which was also the country’s first World Heritage Site. The park, which consists of 332,000 hectares, “contains three major lake systems, eight interlinking ecosystems, 700 year old fishing traditions, most of South Africa’s remaining swamp forests, Africa’s largest estuarine system, 526 bird species and 25 000 year-old vegetated coastal dunes — among the highest in the world”. Diving and snorkeling are popular pastimes at iSimangaliso, along with horseback riding and kayak trips. There are overnight accommodations within the park as well. iSimangaliso manages to strike the delicate balance between fantastic tourism and impeccable care of the environment it encompasses.

Another positive aspect of national parks exists in transboundary parks, which follow Nature’s design instead of that of human maps. These parks cross national borders, encompassing singular ecosystems or environments. There are a number of these cross-border protected areas in Europe, including Neusiedler See-Seewinkel & Fertö-Hanság, which straddles Austria and Hungary. Described as a “fascinating biological melting pot”, the park has a diversity of habitats, as well as the distinction of representing one of the most important stepping stones for birds migrating between Northern Europe and Africa. Then there’s Podyjí-Thayatal Transboundary Parks, a nature reserve made possible by the fall of the Iron Curtain between the Czech Republic and Austria. Only recently the parks have kicked off a “nature without borders” initiative that focused on the movement of wildlife within the reserve.

Where else do national parks excel? They are great at bringing together multiple stakeholders — landowners, conservationists, local governments, and so forth. This can be seen in action in Cairngorms National Park of Scotland, where the National Park is not owned by the state but brings together hundreds of independent landowners. As per the park’s website, “We work with partners, business, landowners and communities to develop long term plans for the Park, in order to achieve our collective aims.” These collective aims are established and tracked by the Cairngorms National Park Authority, which compiles the Cairngorms National Park Partnership Plan. This manages how the park will be handled in coming years. The Authority frequently consults with both local residents and the Scottish government on issues affecting the park. The Authority also holds working groups and forums based upon specialists that have specialised knowledge that helps with the planning and maintenance of the park, and which includes outdoor access, land management, economy, and other strategy groups.

National parks also show us the best of what nations can do when it comes to innovations in conservation and land management. The U.K. National Park System introduced stellar transportation management solutions at South Downs National Park. Pending projects will enable visitors to explore the park with low-impact bike trails and hiking paths — projects perfectly aligned to the Sustainable Development Goal #13 which focuses on climate change. Likewise, the U.S. National Park Service implemented INSTEP as a way for each national park to identify and address areas of transportation, design, and construction that can be undertaken with an eye toward long-term sustainability.

Both of these programs show how even small changes can lead a park much closer to a sustainable approach to both park development, and the park’s T&T infrastructure. Perhaps most remarkable, however, is what the Swiss Parks Network has accomplished within just a decade. A Destination Category Finalist in the WTTC’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, the Network has created no less than 19 new parks since 2008, “all of which have been designated to protect some of the country’s best landscapes and to promote sustainable tourism within”. These parks, notably, were not the result of government planning, but of initiatives by local residents working together on projects that would prove the viability of creating a park. The park system has evolved with the 21st century, creating an app that highlights offers, discounts, and itineraries. There is a definite emphasis on the “Swiss Parks” brand, while also maintaining a focus on what makes each park unique. The Swiss parks are a tremendous source of community pride, and a shining example of the potential in national parks.

Taken on the whole, the national parks show a wide range of the latest sustainable development practices that are recommended within the Travel and Tourism industry. Many of the national park case studies showcase the Sustainable Development Goals in action — they create a living example of how environmental conservation work can vary across countries, continents, and cultures. The best of the world’s national parks are making efforts to create a resilient system that limits impact on native populations, while protecting existing ecosystems in tandem with responsible tourism.

UNITED KINGDOM: Agent And Tour Company Fly Aid To Refugees

Crusader Travel, a travel agency in South West London, partnered with tour operator Sunvil to fly out supplies to refugees in Samos on Germania Airlines. Crusader and Sunvil collected donations, which they then flew to the Greek island on the season’s last charter flight of the season, with no passengers on board except for Sunvil’s managing director Chris Wright

Sunvil had earlier offered up empty seats on the return flight, free of charge, to the government to bring refugees to the UK.

A travel agent is calling for a united effort by the trade to get more aid to refugees as Sunvil today transports more than three tonnes of donations to Greece.

Shona Lyons, head of sales and marketing at Crusader Travel, partnered with Sunvil to fly out its latest load of supplies to refugees in Samos on Germania Airlines.

Sunvil managing director, Chris Wright, has joined today's flight - the last of the summer season - to ensure the donations reach the Red Cross and refugee support groups.

Crusader Travel, a family-run Twickenham agency, collected donations, including sleeping bags, tents, trainers, tracksuits, jackets and toys, plus £600 in cash, last weekend.

Now Lyons has issued a plea to other travel businesses, especially tour operators and airlines, to join forces so it can continue the fundraising drive.

She said: “People are frustrated they can’t do more; they are coming into the shop all the time asking if we are collecting. If we can find more operators or ways to get the donations to where they need to be we can continue to collect.

“In our industry we are good at organising travel and logistics; this is what we do, so perhaps some bright spark can work out how to use our skills and knowledge to help these refugees.”

Sunvil consulted with the Red Cross and refugee support groups about what supplies were needed.

Wright, who collected the donations from the agency, said: “Vans and cars have been arriving with donations from all over the country; it’s unbelievable. We’ve also had cash donations from other Association of Independent Tour Operators. We’ve had so much we have had to start turning it away."

The move follows Sunvil’s offer of empty seats on the flight, free of charge, to the government to bring refugees to the UK.

MALAYSIA: Give Wild Animals Peace

If you needed any more proof of the wanton disregard people worldwide have for wild animals, you got it recently when news came of a jaguar being shot dead following an Olympic ceremony in Brazil. What was the jaguar, not being a sports fan presumably, doing there? The feline was used in an Olympic torch ceremony (against its will) and when it escaped from its handlers the animal was shot dead by a soldier. So much for the Olympic spirit of nonviolence eh.

Sad, yes, but should Malaysians care? Brazil is quite a way away, after all. Yes, they should indeed care, argues Mohd Idris, president of the high-profile environmentalist group Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) in Penang. What happened to that poor jaguar in Brazil could easily happen here in Malaysia, where wild animals are likewise routinely used in a variety of promotional ways. That must stop, insists Idris. He is calling for a ban on the use of wild animals, even if they have been tamed, "in ads or any other human activity."

"An awesome and powerful animal has lost its life because humans decided that it should be kept in captivity and, later, paraded in front of spectators for the purpose of exhibition and entertainment. Human stupidity and ignorance led to the unfortunate shooting," the environmentalist writes in an op-ed. "And there are some who think that jaguars are pets that can be chained up, forgetting that the animals, like all big cats, need to live freely in the wild, roaming in areas covering hundreds of square kilometres."

He makes a perfectly good point. In Malaysia, it's tigers, the Asian brethren of jaguars, that are exploited endlessly in similarly callous manners. Even as cartoon tigers remain hugely popular as mascots and are widely used as gimmicks to sell everything from designer bags to beer, real-life tigers have fallen on very hard times in the wild across the country. It seems that many Malaysians do love these beautiful and powerful predators, but can still muster little concern over their fate in their shrinking habitats.

Idris cites the example of a hapless tiger cub used in a Malaysian commercial for a milk product for children. The commercial was supposed to be "cute" but it was anything but. "In the ad," Idris writes, "a tiger cub is surrounded by noisy children. The cub then runs away. The advertiser failed to realise that the cub experienced fear and anxiety due to the noise made by the children."

We must, he counsels, leave wild animals alone and where they belong: in the wild. Agreed.

Habitat Loss Drives Wild Animals Into Conflicts

Monkeys, foxes, squirrels, wild boars, snakes. These animals make for quite a menagerie of wildlife. You may not want to see them in your backyard, though.

Yet all these animals are showing up near the houses of people living in the Klang Valley in the larger Kuala Lumpur area. And locals tend not to like it. “Disturbances can occur anywhere, especially in residential areas," II Fakhrul Hatta Musa, deputy director-general of the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan), told the Bernama news agency apropos a recent influx of wild animals into villages, towns and suburbs.

Monkeys can especially be a nuisance, according to locals. The wildlife department has been receiving thousands of complaints about animal invasions, most of them made by monkeys. This year alone over 500 cases of disturbances caused by monkeys have already been recorded in the Federal Territory and Selangor. Last year, meanwhile, locals lodged a total of 1,297 complaints against rampaging monkeys in the Klang Valley.

What's going on? Are the animals acting out for some unfathomable reason? Hardly. Rather, what with the relentless loss of their natural habitats they are increasingly coming into contact with humans. Similar trends are playing out across much of Malaysia with wild animals being driven into ever smaller patches of relatively unspoiled natural habitats. Often, they end up with precious little space left and so can't help but start invading settled areas for food and shelter.

How do people normally respond? Predictably, we're sad to say. There have been numerous cases of vagrant wild animals being killed or harmed in a variety of ways from road accidents to outright slaying. The animals that met their ends this way have included tigers, elephants and other critically endangered species.

Meanwhile, in the Klang Valley monkeys that are considered too pesky by locals are often either relocated or put down. “All the monkeys which are exterminated are then put into the incinerator at the Paya Indah Wetlands in Dengkil,” II Fakhrul said. That does sound like a shame, does it not? We drive them out of their homes but when they invade ours in response we don't like that one bit and so may end up killing them. Now, what conclusion should we draw about ourselves?

Tourist Village Back To Life

A Greek summer resort that closed over five years ago as a result of the financial crisis has been turned into a haven for more than 300 refugees.

In a two-storey, white-painted apartment beside a picturesque beach, Tarek Al-Felou and his wife, Kinda, are making a shish barak, a Middle Eastern dish of meat dumplings.

Their neighbours are some 320 refugees, most from Syria. Since late March, they have breathed new life into LM Village, a summer resort that closed more than five years ago as a result of Greece's financial crisis.

Now, each of the 38 neatly painted bungalows houses two families. Their laundry flutters in the breeze. Mothers chat on porches framed by palm trees. Teenagers play basketball on an abandoned court as toddlers chase each other up and down a faded, blue-and-yellow water slide nearby. "Yallah, get down from there!" shouts an older boy. Five times a day, a grandfather's Islamic call to prayer echoes through the square.

The resort-turned-refugee-shelter is a village in nearly every sense, a far cry from the fighting, shelling and sieges its residents escaped just months ago. For most, it is the closest approximation to their former, pre-war lives that they have experienced in years.

"In this place we try to forget we are refugees," says Tarek, 42, who once owned a restaurant outside Damascus and fled to Greece with Kinda and their two children. "We can pretend we're on holiday."

The reopening of the resort as a refugee reception centre is the initiative of the local mayor, Nabil-Iosif Morad, a Syrian doctor from Homs who has lived in Greece for 25 years. A Greek citizen through marriage, Nabil-Iosif is also the first naturalized Greek of Syrian origin elected to office in the country.

He offered the resort after the Greek Government asked local mayors for help in taking in the 57,460 refugees still in Greece, following border closures along what is known as the 'Balkan route' to northern Europe. More than 1 million refugees and migrants arrived in Europe last year by sea, according to UNHCR figures.

Nabil-Iosif says at first he started gathering donations of clothing to send to Idomeni, the unofficial camp at the Greek border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, where 10,000 refugees lived in squalor for several months this spring. "But that wasn't enough. So I asked whether we could use this space."

LM Village is located 70 kilometres from Greece's third-largest city, Patras. Nabil-Iosif says that although some residents were hesitant about using the resort as a refugee shelter, the local council approved the idea almost unanimously.

The Greek Defence Ministry, which oversees some aspects of migration management in cooperation with the Minister for Migration Policy, renovated dilapidated buildings and restored electricity and drinking water supplies.

Within days, half a dozen buses brought in refugees who had been living for weeks in an informal camp at the Athens port of Piraeus. All are young families, some with grandparents in tow. Several are women travelling alone with their children.

The resort's youngest residents are days old: two babies have been born at a local hospital in the past two months.

Nabil-Iosif is bombarded with questions whenever he visits. The three volunteer supervisors do not speak Arabic and few of the refugees speak English.

“We have to first stop the war in Syria."

Recently, Nabil-Iosif heard complaints about dirt in the water supply and read a woman the results of medical tests that were written in Greek.

However, such problems were manageable, he says.

"It makes me happy to see them living like this after they've left from bombs and war," says Nabil-Iosif, whose three siblings fled Homs to areas along Syria's west coast. "But in order to stop these images we see from Idomeni and elsewhere in Europe, we have to first stop the war in Syria."

Lawyers from the Patras bar association have visited LM Village to give free legal consultations. Many refugees await interviews with the Greek Asylum Service so they can apply for relocation, a European Union program that aims to move 160,000 asylum-seekers from Greece and Italy to other Member States in the coming years. More than a dozen have already left LM Village for Portugal. More will be relocated in the months after 'pre-registration,' a new, nationwide joint effort by UNHCR and Greek Asylum Service to identify legal solutions for each individual asylum-seeker.

LM Village receives help from local Red Cross volunteers, who distribute donated food and have organized a library and school with English and Greek lessons taught by both refugees and volunteers. UNHCR is now establishing a prayer space and food distribution system for the holy month of Ramadan.

Despite the good living conditions, however, the sense of temporariness is hard on those anxious to reunite with family members elsewhere in Europe.

LM Village resident Fares Al-Hamdan has not seen his eldest two sons, 18-year-old Baraa and 16-year-old Muhammad, in more than six months. They live in separate refugee shelters in Germany. The 47-year-old father and former schoolteacher sent them to Europe six months ago after armed men in Syria threatened to arrest Baraa. The boy had already served three months in a government prison, where he was tortured despite committing no crime, Fares says.

As well as worrying about his sons, Fares also despairs at not being able to support his elderly mother, his wife Hanadi, and their four other children: Rama, 15, Heba, 14, Sedra, 7, and Ahmad, 5.

"When I have to take help from others, my heart is broken," Fares explains, as Sedra climbs into his lap and hugs him. "When a man has a family, he wants to provide for them with money he earns with his own hands. Here, I cannot work. Here, we are only waiting. Waiting for the last stage of our journey. Waiting to be reunited with our sons. Waiting to start a new life. Waiting is the main reason for our existence."

A few doors down, the smell of shish barak wafts through Tarek's windows. Their escape from Syria earlier this year took two months, Tarek says, during which armed groups threatened them and demanded money at checkpoints.

They now live with another Syrian couple from Idlib and their two children. The families met in the Turkish coastal city of Izmir before boarding a rubber boat together and heading for Greek shores. They spent 20 days together in Idomeni, then 15 days in Piraeus before moving to LM Village.

"Here, we are only waiting. Waiting for the last stage of our journey."

"Here, of course, is better than the other camps," Kinda says. "In Idomeni every day there were heavy rains. Still, this is temporary. We are still looking for stability."

They are waiting to apply to the relocation program. For now, however, they spend their days at the beach or cooking elaborate Syrian dishes.

"I am the boss in this kitchen," Tarek declares. He pokes at a small toaster oven. Beside him, his housemate, 26-year-old Marwa, laughs.

"Okay, put the meat in the dough, like this," she orders, pressing a spoonful of ground beef and minced onions into a folded crescent of dough.

They set the table for their meal, the shish barak served in bowls of yoghourt sauce. The walls are decorated with balloons. Asked what they are celebrating, Tarek smiles.

"Nothing," he says. Then he changes his mind: "Life."

INDONESIA: Environmental Activist Shot Dead In Sarawak

Campaigning against environmental degradation at the hands of unscrupulous land grabbers can get you killed in Sarawak. Bill Kayong, an opposition politician and vocal land rights activist, was shot dead in broad daylight at an intersection the Kuala Baram bypass in late June. His fellow activists believe Kayong was murdered because some powerful local interests wanted to silence him.

The indigenous activist was waiting in his pickup truck for the traffic lights to change when he was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting through the driver's side window of his car by an unknown assailant. Police have asked people not to jump to conclusions about the motive, yet people who were familiar with Kayong's relentless activism against land grabbers suspect he was killed in retaliation for his outspoken stance. The authorities have pledged to hunt down the assassin or assassins, but they have yet to make any arrests.

“The brutal slaying of land rights champion Bill Kayong shows the risks faced by activists in Sarawak who stand up to the powerful interests behind land grabbing and environmental devastation,” stressed Rick Jacobsen, a member of the international environmentalist group Global Witness. “This tragic killing comes the day after Global Witness released a report documenting the dramatic increase in the murder of activists like Kayong around the world. The Malaysian authorities must take swift action to identify those responsible and bring them to justice.”

A dedicated environmentalist, Kayong worked for Persatuan Dayak Sarawak (PEDAS), a local NGO which represents indigenous communities in their quest to protect their ancestral forests against encroachment from loggers, oil palm cultivators and land developers. Several outspoken environmentalists in Sarawak have faced regular threats of violence over the years. They accuse local authorities of failing to investigate the threats adequately and bring perpetrators to justice.

“Like other indigenous activists in Malaysia, he actively conducted paralegal activities to raise the rights awareness in communities facing land grabbing by big oil palm or timber companies,” Adrian Banie Lasimbang, a local activist, told the online magazine Mongabay. Kayong, he explained, assisted local communities in filing court cases against land grabbers. Kayong also helped organize protests and blockades targeting companies that were destroying villages, communal forests, and communal areas.

“He was always on the frontline, making him and maybe other activists a target of companies that employ thugs or gangsters to intimidate the communities and activists alike,” Lasimbang said.

MALAWI: World’s Largest Elephant Translocations

Malawi hosts one of the world’s largest elephant translocations


African Parks, in collaboration with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, are helping to preserve this threatened species by moving 500 elephants in one of the biggest events ever to happen to Malawi’s wildlife Tourism.

Populations of African elephants are being depleted at concerning rates, with fewer than 450,000 remaining. Poaching and habitat loss have sent numbers into serious decline. Malawi’s recent successes in anti-poaching and management of human-wildlife conflict have led to a population surplus in two of the country’s 9 protected areas, Liwonde National Park and Majete Wildlife Reserve.

This huge relocation starts this week in Liwonde National Park, home to Malawi’s largest population of 800 elephants. This delicate process involves the use of helicopters to dart the elephants, which are then lifted by crane onto trucks to start their 300 km road journey to a newly created sanctuary.

The elephants are being moved to Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve, close to Lake Malawi, which for years had been depleted of wildlife. Once home to over 1500, now as little as 100 remain. A 16,000-hectare sanctuary has been built, creating a safe and secure habitat for these animals to thrive before being released, in time, into the wider Reserve. As well as the elephant, there are plans to relocate a further 1500 animals from a variety of species to the Reserve.

This is an extremely hopeful story for conservation, elephants and particularly for Malawi. Kelly While from Malawi Tourism says “We are delighted with African Parks’ plans to relocate and reintroduce species into Malawi’s Parks. If Malawi had a perceived weakness in tourism terms, it was that some of its neighbours offered a ‘better’ safari experience. But, as well as helping to safeguard the future for these magnificent animals, these developments will result in a total transformation of Malawi’s wildlife and safaris. Malawi will become one of the most complete destinations in Africa - Lake, Landscape, Culture and now Wildlife experiences of the very highest quality. Warm, welcoming and unspoilt, Malawi really is just waiting to be discovered.”

ABOUT AFRICAN PARKS:
African Parks is a non-profit conservation organisation that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks in apartment with government and local communities. African Parks manages 10 national parks and protected areas in seven countries covering six million hectares: Malawi, Zambia, CAR, The Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Chad. To learn more, please visit www.african-parks.org

KENYA: Lufthansa To Deploy Larger Aircraft, Increase Frequencies On Nairobi-Frankfurt Route

German airline Lufthansa is set to deploy larger aircraft and increase its frequencies on the Nairobi-Frankfurt route on what it linked to ‘huge potential'.

The airline says it will deploy the wide-bodied Airbus A340-300 between Frankfurt and Nairobi four times a week beginning September this year, up from the current three weekly flights.

Lufthansa, one of Europe’s biggest airlines, resumed direct passenger flights to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from late October 2015 after an 18-year absence from the Kenyan capital.

According to International Air Transport Association (IATA), demand is holding up in Africa despite the underper formance of Nigeria and South Africa. East Africa is delivering above average economic growth when the rest of the world is struggling to grow.

On Monday, Lufthansa general manager for Kenya and Ethiopia Tobias Ernst said demand has been rising in the nearly nine month period since resumption, prompting the expansion plans.

“There is huge demand including from corporate and leisure travellers, family visitors, entrepreneurial Kenyans, missionaries, humanitarian sector personnel, diplomats, and NGOs along the route hence the need to upscale,” said Mr Ernst in Nairobi.

It is expected the larger aircraft will help the airline to make a better sales pitch to passengers keen on comfort for the eight hour plus long haul flights from Nairobi to Frankfurt. Most of the carrier’s rivals are already flying the larger aircraft on the long haul route.

Mr Ernst said the weekly flights would further increase to five times around December this year to cater for increased traffic during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

The airline previously relied on code-shared flights with partners Swiss and Brussels Airlines to connect its passengers to Nairobi.

The four weekly flights will initially be scheduled on Tuesday, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. It will offer a total capacity of 298, from the current 89.

Following the October last year re-launch, Lufthansa offered three weekly flights on the narrow-bodied Boeing 737-700 operated by Swiss based Private Air. The route expansion is also a boost to Kenya’s bid for more tourist numbers from Germany.

“Tourism to Kenya especially from German and US markets continues to increase and we are delighted to once again offer an additional frequency on the route,” said Mr Ernst.

In a bid to target American travellers, Mr Ernst said the airline had signed a code sharing agreement with America’s United Airline’s offering more connections to the latter’s expansive US network.

He said the increased capacity and frequency would boost business prospects for its subsidiary Lufthansa Cargo, which continued to offer four weekly cargo flights for from Nairobi, moving fresh flowers, horticultural produce and fish destined for Europe.

“The wide body aircraft entry also means more cargo space for our customers,” said Mr Ernst.

The Lufthansa Group operates in 316 destinations in 101 countries in four countries. The group’s total fleet comprises 600 aircraft.

SUDAN: Adventure In Sudan

I never did find out the names of my hosts for breakfast that morning. There were half a dozen of them, all solidly built, with weathered features that spoke of a lifetime of sun and wind exposure. All were wearing imamas (or ‘turbans’) and jalabiyas (‘robes’) that must once have been gleaming white, but that were now stained the colour of sand and camel. One of the men handed me a small glass of tea (with more sugar than water in it) and a bowl of what appeared to be porridge mixed with cement. We crouched in the sand to eat, while a hundred camels gurgled and grumbled around us. We were on a flat, sandy wasteland outside the small town of Ad-Dabbah.

Just visible a few kilometres to the north was a ribbon of palm trees that indicated the Nile. These desert-hardened men were following the so-called Forty Days Road. It was early winter, but ‘winter’ in Sudan is a relative term. The temperature, at this early hour, was still more than 30°C and I was desperate for some shade. “I assume you only travel this route in winter, when it’s cooler?” I asked. “No, we work all year round,” replied one of the men, “but in the winter it’s too cold. It’s better to travel in summer.”

The Forty Days Road is a generations-old trade route that leads from western Sudan to southern Egypt. In days long gone, the ‘road’ (which is actually several paths rather than one) used to bring wealth to the Egyptian bazaars: ivory, ebony, gold, ostrich feathers, slaves and camels. Lots of camels. One witness to an 18th-century caravan moving along this route described 24,000 of them crossing the Sahara in one army-like mass. Today the legal trade is limited to these beasts of burden, many of which are now transported by truck.

Until 2011, when the south became an independent nation following years of violence, Sudan had been Africa’s largest country. It was also, internationally, one of the continent’s most misunderstood countries. Even those who had ventured there tended to rush in and out as fast as they could.

For many years the thought of Sudan filled me with fascination, but also fear. It just didn’t sound like the kind of country that opened its arms to tourists. When finally, in 2009, I plucked up the courage to visit, it took only a day or so to realise that the average person couldn’t do enough to make me feel welcome. Had I been asked at the end of that first trip how much a cup of tea cost, I genuinely wouldn’t have known as every time I stopped at a stall, a stranger would insist on paying. I was in the homeland of some of the most hospitable people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Sudan is also one of the most ethnically and historically interesting places I have visited. Where else in the world do you have to brush aside apricot-gold desert sands to get a better look at the detail on a Pharaonic temple you’re certain must contain hidden treasure? Let me give you an example: I had been told by an elderly archaeologist that visiting Sai Island, a small barren mound of rock in the Nile, was like walking on history.

I couldn’t really comprehend what he meant by this until I travelled there, wandering from the leaning pillars that had once been part of a Coptic church towards the tumbledown walls of the remains of an Ottoman-era fort. The pebbly ground scrunched and cracked with every footfall, and looking more closely I suddenly realised that I was walking across shards of pottery rather than gravel. It then dawned on me that almost the entire surface of the island seemed to be made up of the detritus of thousands of clay pots and vessels spanning hundreds of years. This was what the archaeologist had meant by ‘walking on history’.

Sudan had become this man’s obsession. He had cut his teeth excavating Pharaonic tombs in Egypt, but chance had brought him here, where he had uncovered entire temples, removed the sand from buried statues and expanded the world’s knowledge of ancient Sudan. When I had met him, he had been busy excavating what he had believed to be a mere house but that he now suspected was an entire palace complex. “Working here as an archaeologist,” he told me, as we stood in the midday sun peering down into a trench containing a history we are only just beginning to understand, “is how it must have felt to have been digging in Egypt 150 years ago. Maybe this is even better. Everywhere you look, there are ancient sites; every time you put your foot down you stand on a fragment of pottery or a piece of ancient brick.”

As I finished draining the last drops of my sickly-sweet tea, I wished my camel-driver hosts well on their epic journey along the Forty Days Road and climbed back into my jeep. While they were travelling north for trade, I was moving east to sit on the throne of the ancient gods of the Nile, the summit of Jebel Barkal (meaning ‘holy mountain’ in Arabic). This peak is believed by the ancient Kushites to be the home of the god Amun, the King of the Gods.

On the sheer summit, I looked down to the collapsed columns and pillars that surround the cave-like Temple of Mut. To my right were about a dozen pointy-tipped pyramids glowing like gold in the setting sun. Straight ahead, I could see the River Nile slipping gently by, and beyond, in the desert haze, were dozens more pyramids, palaces and temples built to honour long-forgotten deities. I thought about how if you were the King of the Gods, you could, presumably, choose to make your home wherever you wanted. Amun had chosen Sudan. And if Sudan had been good enough for the immortals, it was good enough for me.

Safari Planner
• Getting there Lufthansa flies to Khartoum. You can also enter the country overland from Egypt or Ethiopia.
• Logistics Sudan is a complicated place to explore. To obtain your visa and travel permits, book through a tour operator such as The Italian Tourism Co, one of the country’s only top-quality tour companies. International sanctions mean that ATMs and banks do not accept non-Sudanese bank or credit cards, so travel with plenty of euros or US dollars. Travellers’ cheques are also of no use.
• Safety The north and much of eastern and southeast Sudan is relatively safe. Avoid Darfur and the west, the Libyan border, the Nuba Mountains and South Sudan. Check the FCO website prior to travel.
• When to go From November to March is ideal, when the days are hot but not overpowering, and the nights are cool.

RWANDA: How Did The Genocide Start?

It happened after the deaths of the Presidents of Burundi (Cyprien Ntaryamira) and Rwanda (Juvénal Habyarimana) in a plane crash caused by a rocket attack On 6 April 1994, catch fire several weeks of intense and systematic massacres.

The killings turned into over 1 million people who perished, shocked the international community and were clearly acts of genocide. Members of the presidential guard started killing Tutsi civilians in a section of Kigali near the airport because they thought they must have killed the president. Less than half an hour after the plane crash, roadblocks manned by Hutu militiamen often assisted by paramilitary police or military personnel was set up to identify Tutsis.

Over the next few days and weeks, road blocks were set up around Rwanda. Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered like northing over the next three months almost ten thousand people were murdered every day the prime minister was also killed.

The killings were seriously organized by the government, Local media print and radio also played an important role too in fuelling the violence. People were encouraged to turn in their neighbors or be killed themselves.

The Hutu’s used Rwandans’ national identity cards to systematically verify their ethnicity and kill Tutsi. The situation forced the Hutu civilians to arm themselves with machete, clubs, blunt objects and other weapons to rape, injure and kill their Tutsi neighbors and destroy or steal their property.

Thousands of Tutsis tried to escape the killing by hiding in churches, hospitals, schools, and government offices. These places, which historically have been places of refuge, were turned into places of mass murder during the Rwanda Genocide. The most worst were held on April 15-16, 1994 at the Nyarubuye Roman Catholic Church, located about 60 miles east of Kigali where over hundred thousand people were killed on the same place.

To seriously humiliate the Tutsi , there copes where unburied they were left and eaten by rats and dogs and many Tutsi bodies were thrown in lakes and rivers in order to send the Tutsis “back to Ethiopia” a reference to the myth that the Tutsi were foreigners and originally came from Ethiopia.

The Rwandan genocide has a lasting and thoughtful impact not only to Rwanda but also to its neighboring countries. Over 150,000 to 250,000 women were raped increasing cases of HIV/AIDS infections, including babies born of rape to newly infected mothers, many households were headed by orphaned children or widows, severe depopulation of the country crippled the economy.

Many Hutus were forced to flee to the neighboring countries majorly Democratic republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya among other countries. Large Rwandan Hutu and Tutsi populations continued to live as refugees throughout the region. And today, Rwanda has two public holidays honoring the genocide. The national commemoration period begins with Genocide Memorial Day on April 7 and end with Liberation Day on July 4.

The week following April 7 is designated an official week of mourning. However the Rwanda genocide has its significance it has a global impact in that it created an international criminal court to eliminate the need for ad hoc tribunals to prosecute those accused in future incidents of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The genocide comes to an end only when the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) took over the country. The RPF, were a trained military group consisting of Tutsis who had been exiled in earlier years and many where in living in Uganda. The RPF helped in stopping the genocide.

AUSTRALIA: Qantas To Try Single Entry Passes For Domestic And International lounges

Australian Business Traveller reported this week that Australian airline Qantas will introduce the ability to purchase single entry lounge passes for most of its international lounge network.

Domestic Qantas Club lounges will cost $49 (or 7,000 Qantas Points), while International Business Class lounges will be $69 (or 9,990 Qantas Points).

Their new single-class Premium International lounges in Singapore and Hong Kong will set you back $99 (or 14,500 Qantas Points).

This news will come as welcome news to travellers who don’t travel enough on the Qantas network to be eligible for Qantas Club, however others in higher statuses may be weary of the influx of people on some of the busier lounges.

Passengers can rest assured though that Qantas are taking this into account. For now, the trial will be restricted to Bronze and Silver-grade Frequent Flyers who are booked to travel during what they define as “off-peak periods”, such as the middle of the day on weekends, and “when there is capacity in the lounges”, meaning these entry passes will be strictly limited. And their up-market and exclusive First Class lounges won’t be for sale.

If you’re eligible for a pass, Qantas will send you an e-mail invitation three to five days ahead of your flight, with the passes only available online.

So you won’t be able to do it at the lounge itself. A spokesman for Qantas told Australian Business Traveller, “During the months ahead we’re going to regularly monitor take-up to determine interest from recipients and importantly, capacity in the lounges to see if we need to make any further tweaks to the offer.”

SINGAPORE: uberPOOL Grows In Singapore

Those who have travelled to places like Los Angeles and New York in recent years may have come across a service called uberPOOL, an option within the Uber app that allows you to share your journey with strangers to reduce the cost of your trip. You save around 25% on your journey, with the only downside being occasional delays as you pick up another uberPOOL rider.

It first launched in San Francisco in August 2014, before expanding to cities like LA, New York, Boston, London and Paris. Already, uberPOOL accounts for 20% of all Uber rides around the world. Just take a look at the large number of cities to get their hands on the service so far:

US & Canada: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Washington DC
Mexico: Mexico City
Brazil: Sao Paulo
France: Paris
China: Beijing, Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenzen, Suzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan
UK: London
India: Bangalore, New Delhi

This month, the service continued its international roll out, with the focus now on South East Asia, a region which has already adopted similar services like GrabHitch, launched in Singapore and Malaysia in November 2015. Earlier this month, UberPool made its debut in Manila, while Jakarta got it last month. Singapore is next on the list, with the service set to launch tomorrow – July 1st.

So what about Australia? Though no plans have been officially announced, the South East Asia expansion would suggest that Australia will be next on their list. It was reported all the way back in September 2014 that the service was eyeing Sydney, and the Daily Telegraph reported in February of this year that Sydney’s uberPOOL services weren’t far off.

While we wait for the carpooling service to launch, however, Australia has had plenty of other updates: Last week, Uber launched service to Canberra Airport, finally introduced Uber X to Adelaide in May (with unlimited free rides to roll it out) and has been rolling out the popular UberEATS around the country. Here’s hoping uberPOOL is soon added to the list. But in the meantime, our friends in South East Asia have the new service to enjoy!

UNITED KINGDOM: Brexit To Affect UK Tourism

In the long term, Britain may pay a high cost for last week's vote to quit the European Union (EU). That said, it could mean a low cost vacation for travelers.

Since the United Kingdom voted in favor of Brexit, the value of the British pound has fallen to the lowest levels in three decades.

"It's a great time to be in London, " Travel and Leisure News Director Sara Clemence told said "On the Money" in a recent interview. "If you are there now, if you were there last week, you saw things get 15 percent cheaper overnight," she said.

"Your hotel stay, your restaurants, your museum admissions everything."

A weaker pound means a stronger dollar and a cheaper trip for U.S. visitors, which according to Visit Britain, numbered 3.3 million in 2015. They spent a record $4.4 billion dollars.

Last week, Hotels.com said its site saw a 50 percent spike in searches for travel to Britain. So can a trip to England fit in your budget this year?

Even though the currency changes have an effect on the prices on the ground, she explained. for hotel and airfare prices, some of them may be changing but it's not like they're discounting them across the board, she added.

However, airfares are a lot lower than they were a couple years ago. A couple years ago you may have paid $1200 dollars, now you'll pay $500 or $600.

British Airways had a "Brexit" fare sale last week, selling economy fares from New York to London for as little as $639 round-trip.

Yet Clemence pointed out the cheaper fare trend is not due to Brexit, but instead were low-fare airlines that are going Trans-Atlantic, so they're just bringing down those costs tremendously. Wow Air and Norwegian are new low cost carriers offering flights from U.S. cities to London for about $500.

In the other direction, a record 4.9 million U.K. travelers journeyed to the U.S. last year, breaking the previous record set in 2000.

According to the Commerce Department, the U.K. was the third-largest source of international visitors to the U.S., behind only Canada and Mexico.

On the flip side, a weaker pound could mean fewer British tourists flying to multiple destinations within the U.S.

It just got much more expensive for Brits to come here," Clemence says, and we might see a dip in visits to places like New York and Miami and Chicago. That then might mean that prices will come down, which is good for domestic tourists too who want to visit those places.

If you do decide to make that trip to London, should you exchange your dollars for British pounds before you get on that plane?

Clemence said there were some strategies that you can use. If you think the pound is going to go back up, and you're planning a trip, you might think about buying your currency now. Before you go.

Clemence cautioned you need to factor in possible exchange fees. Since fees that you might pay could cancel out all the savings that you could get.

She also recommended using an ATM card or a credit card that doesn't charge you a foreign exchange fee.

That is generally the cheapest way to get cash when you're travelling overseas, she added.

AUSTRALIA: Shelby Sidecar Tours Launched In Sydney

have officially launched in Sydney to bring something a little bit different to your average city tour for both locals and visitors.

Now, you can cruise the streets of Sydney from the comfort of a vintage sidecar as the first-of-its-kind tour operator makes a big push for their program of bespoke tours designed to offer the best parts of Sydney to suit a range of timeframes and budgets.

“Sidecars tours are incredibly popular internationally, especially in Europe, so we’re very excited to be launching Shelby’s Side Car Tours in Australia”, said Marc Jaackson, who is the Managing Director of Shelby Sidecar Tours. “Sydney is one of the most spectacular cities in the world. The mix of iconic landmarks and hidden gems are perfect for exploring from the comfort of our safe fleet of vehicles”.

The company has put together an impressive fleet of top-of-the-line Ural motorcycles, all brand new but in vintage style, while the sidecars themselves are spacious and aimed for both comfort and safety; goggles, helmets, and wet weather jackets are provided along with blankets.

Over the coming months, the company will be rolling out their itineraries which reach across the best shopping, coffee, restaurant, and cultural experiences driven by drivers who have been hand-picked for their expertise. They are all adaptable as well, so anyone can build their own journey rather than go along on a pre-established route; all routes also have the option to add an additional rider at an extra cost.

There’s even a Classic Picnic Package as an optional add-on for $50 (for 2 people) where baskets are provided with 4 glasses, 4 plates, and cutlery packed in with fresh produce by request (sliced meats, cheeses, olives, fruit, baguettes and other deli food. Vegetarian and vegan options are available).

One such itinerary on launch will be the “Over and Under Sydney Harbour Tour” which takes riders around Kirribilli, McMahon’s Point, and Neutral Bay with short breaks at a cafe or harbourside park before heading back into the city. A full list of route options are listed on the company’s official website.

Tours range from one to four hours in length and start from $175.

MALAWI: Police Boosts Tourism

Chiefs in Nkhotakota say a police unit which government built in the district has helped boost tourism in the area.

The chiefs say the police unit which was built last year has maximised security hence tourists feel safe to go to the district.

Nkhotakota’s location along lakeshore, historical features, and presence of game reserve are some of the features which attract tourists to the district.

Sani Area in the district is a key location in the area where tourists get accommodated because of availability of well-built lodges.

According to Chief Saidi, one of the chiefs in Sani area, in the past tourism activities in the area were disturbed due to loose security in the area.

Chief Saidi said people were robbed while sleeping at lodges in the district hence lowering tourism activities in the area.

“When tourists came here in the past they were harassed in terms of being robbed and injured, that was a shocking development to both villagers and lodge owners,” said Chief Saidi.

“I can give you an example that a certain white man was injured by robbers at Fish Eagle Bay in this area.”

Chiefs in the area thought it wise to ask authorities for the establishment of the police unit and the government did not hesitate but to provide a police unit in Sani area.

“The coming of this police unit has really changed things, since its establishment last year no any lodge has been robbed and this is giving people in this area an opportunity to be employed in these lodges,” said Saidi.

Sani Police Unit secures Sani and Chia areas in the area of Traditional Authority Malengachanzi in Nkhotakota district.

The police unit is also positively contributing to tourism in the area by providing tight security to well-known lodges in Nkhotakota district such as Nkhotakota Pottery and Lodge, Mlambe Beach and Lodge, Nkhotakota Safari Lodge, Chichi Lodge and Fish Eagle Bay.

Tourism is an industry that helps to boost the economy of a country hence providing tight security in all tourist centres is a must if the industry is to advance.

AUSTRALIA: Woman Picks Uber Not Ambulance

GOING into labour, and desperate to get to a hospital? First call might be an ambulance, unless you’re first time mum Rati Sinuraya. You might want to Uber it.

Waking up early last Tuesday morning to severe pains around 2.30am, the first time mum was going into labour.

But instead of calling an ambulance, Rati and her partner Jip decided to book an Uber as their hospital escort,simply because it meant they could track the car’s location and arrival time.

“I was thinking it was so early in the morning and there was no traffic, I didn’t know how long the ambulance was going to be,” she told 3AW Breakfast this morning.

“When we looked at Uber it said five minutes away, so we were like let’s just Uber it.”

Going into labour one month early, Rati and Jip didn’t want to take any risks — and because she had never called an ambulance before, she opted for the ride-share service.

“I’d never called an ambulance before, so I didn’t know how far away it would be or how long it would take,” Ms Sinuraya said.

“I was in so much pain, it was 2.30am in the morning and I didn’t want to risk the ambulance taking a long time to arrive.”

Rati and Jip said because they could see the location of the car on the map, they knew exactly how long it would be until it arrived at their doorstep.

“An ambulance couldn’t give me an exact time of how long they would be, but with an Uber we could just see on the map where they were and get updated estimations,” she said.

Rati, who gave birth to her daughter just hours after being picked up, wasn’t expecting to go into labour with a month to go until the due date. For this reason, the couple had to make a snap decision while she endured horrific pains.

“If I was picked up five minutes later, I would’ve been pushing out the baby in the car,” she said.

“I wasn’t expecting to go into labour, I thought it was just me in pain. But when I got to the hospital, they said I had to start pushing straight away, and the next think I know my baby was born.”

Speaking of the driver, Daniel, Rati said he was very “relaxed like nothing was really happening”.

“He didn’t look panicked,” she said.

“My husband was having a chat with him and looking at the map and how far we had to go.

“If I didn’t know the distance to the hospital, it would be very frustrating because of the pain I was in.”

Rati’s daughter, who is still in ICU after arriving early, is “doing well” after being born at just 2.5kg.

“Because she’s so little they decided to keep her, but I was discharged two days later,” she said.

While Rati and her partner opted for Uber — which cost $22 for the journey — Ambulance Victoria said all their vehicles are tracked from their control centres — and provide “emergency pre-hospital care” for women in labour.

“Ambulance Victoria paramedics are highly trained to provide emergency pre-hospital care and this includes the management of an unplanned birth prior to arrival at hospital,” Ambulance Victoria Acting General Manager Emergency Operations Anthony Carlyon said in a statement.

“However, expectant parents are urged to carefully plan the arrival of their baby and don’t leave it until the last minute to go to hospital.

“All ambulance vehicles can be located and tracked in our control centres through GPS fitted to all our vehicles.’’

MAURITIUS: Mauritius Tourism Revenue Improves

Mauritius said on Friday that tourism revenue in 2016 will be 1.9 percent higher than it had previously forecast, after a surge in visitors during the first quarter.

Tourism is a valuable source of foreign exchange for Mauritius, an Indian Ocean country known for its luxury spas and beaches.

Tourism earnings are now expected to reach 55 billion rupees ($1.56 billion) this year, up from earlier forecast of 54 billion rupees, according to Statistics Mauritius, the government’s statistics office. Last year, tourism earnings totalled 50.2 billion rupees.

The statistics agency also raised its forecast for 2016 arrivals to 1,240,000 from 1,230,000 tourists. Visitors in 2015 numbered 1,151,723.

In the first quarter of 2016, Mauritius attracted 327,836 tourists, up 12.5 percent from a year earlier. Revenue grew 13.9 percent to 15 billion rupees in the quarter, the agency said.

SIBERIA: Russian Fire-fighting Plane Crashes In Siberia

At least eight people have died after a Russian plane on a fire-fighting mission crashed in Siberia.

Moscow confirmed the crash of the cargo plane and rescue workers found evidence that the plane came down in the early hours of Sunday morning in Russia’s Ir-kutsk region.

A photo accompanying the statement showed the plane smashed to pieces in a dense forest.

It is believed there were 10 people on board the plane, which had been missing since Friday.

But the death toll could rise.

TANZANIA: Eastern Black Rhino Transferred From Czech To Tanzanian Sanctuary

A three year-old Eastern black rhino, Eliska, has successfully been transported from its birthplace in the Czech Republic to a natural habitat in a Tanzanian sanctuary as part of conservation project by the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust.

The Trust, committed to helping endangered animal populations grow in their natural habitats teamed up with global transport experts, DHL, to achieve the successful transfer of the 900kg mammal.

According to Tony Fitzjohn OBE, Field Director, of the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust, “Having the support of an experienced team of international transport specialists allowed us to focus without any distraction on the comfort and well-being of Eliska and to ensure that she had the best possible introduction to her new life in Africa.”

As facilitators of global trade, it’s fantastic that we can use our logistics expertise for such an important conservation project, and we trust that Eliska will flourish in her new home in Africa.

“We were delighted that DHL was able to support us with this project, as we were only prepared to entrust Eliska to partners who could absolutely guarantee a safe and seamless move,” he added.

The journey of Eliska to Africa started from her birthplace in the Czech ZOO Dvur Kralove, she was sent to DHL’s main European Hub in Germany, before she was loaded on to a dedicated 28-ton Boeing 757-200 freighter, specially modified for animal transport.

She was subsequently flown over 6,500 kilometers directly to Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania, from where she was transferred by truck to her new home.

“We were delighted that DHL was able to support us with this project, as we were only prepared to entrust Eliska to partners who could absolutely guarantee a safe and seamless move,” he added.

The journey of Eliska to Africa started from her birthplace in the Czech ZOO Dvur Kralove, she was sent to DHL’s main European Hub in Germany, before she was loaded on to a dedicated 28-ton Boeing 757-200 freighter, specially modified for animal transport.

She was subsequently flown over 6,500 kilometers directly to Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania, from where she was transferred by truck to her new home.

Our next passenger weighs 900kg & is flying from #CZ to #Tanzania with DHL. Follow Eliska´s story #DHLRhino pic.twitter.com/E3Ktj5yKB8

Facts about Eastern black Rhinos

Eastern black rhinos are one of the most endangered mammal groups
Their population drastically declined with large-scale poaching in the late 20th century
The poaching led to a significant decline in black rhino populations in Africa.
Globally, there are estimated to be about 800 today.
ZOO Dvur Kralove, where Eliska was born, has a strong record of breeding Eastern black rhinos, with 43 calves of the species born to date.

Přemysl Rabas, Statutory Director of ZOO Dvur Kralove (Eliska’s former home) said they were going to miss her sourly but they also took consolation in the fact that she gets to grow in an ambience that is better for her development.

“Eliska’s departure is a bitter-sweet moment for ZOO Dvur Kralove. We are sorry to say goodbye to one of our much-loved animals, but at the same time, we are extremely gratified to have played a part in this important conservation project and excited to see how she adapts to her natural habitat,” he said

DHL and transportation of wildlife species across the world

DHL, global giants in freights and commercial transport have in the recent past upped their efforts in the area of transporting, with safety and security, endangered species across the world.

The company has supported a number of major conservation projects in recent years, among others:

- 2012: The delivery of three black rhinos from the U.K. to Tanzania
- 2012: The delivery of two rare Sumatran tigers from Australia and the U.S. to London Zoo, as part of a breeding program.
- 2013: A successful transfer of two giant pandas from China to a Belgian sanctuary
- In June 2016, the female gave birth to a panda cub.
- 2016: Successful transfer of Eastern black rhino Eliska from Czech Republic to Tanzania

As facilitators of global trade, it’s fantastic that we can use our logistics expertise for such an important conservation project, and we trust that Eliska will flourish in her new home in Africa,” the words of Hennie Heymans, CEO, DHL Express Sub Saharan Africa.

EGYPT: Private Zoo Keeper Hosting Wild Animals

On the outskirts of Egypt’s capital Cairo, Salah Tolba operates a small zoo.

The zoo is home to several wild animals ranging from monkeys to wild cats and reptiles.

Opened to the public four years ago, the Africano Tolba was born out of a family tradition of collecting wild animals.

“I created this small zoo of 1,500 metres to try to show the Egyptian people and some Arab and European people that we know how to respect animals. We raise animals, we breed them here,” Tolba said.

“We are showing people that we are the number one caretakers of animals around the world and not the third as we were voted,” he added.

At the zoo, children often have the chance to feed and handle the exotic animals.

“There are 36 types of snakes in Egypt. Seven are poisonous and 29 are non-poisonous. The poisonous snakes do not go into homes. If someone ever finds a snake in their home then they should know that it is not poisonous,” said Tolba.

Since its inception, Tolba says the zoo attracts hundreds of visitors each month.

A ticket to this private zoo costs 5 Egyptian pounds which is less than a dollar.

KENYA: Continious Smuggled Ivory

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Chairman, Richard Leakey said, “Basically there is a big market and where there is a big market that is illegal, people will find a way to supply it. So what we have to do is somehow persuade people who buy elephant ivory that doing so they are destroying the most valuable animals on our planet. Now, although we did stop the ivory trade almost completely in the early 90s it has come back again.”

The event was formed to fight the poaching crisis through leaders.

Kenya has now decided to do another demonstration of our absolute opposition to the market. We are going to burn every single piece of ivory that we can in our stocks, there will be some left because of court cases, but we will burn this ivory and it will be seen by the whole world,” said Leakey.

The stockpile destroyed is worth an estimated 30 million US dollars on the black market.

The country banned ivory trade 25 years ago. Since then , the government has set fire to tonnes of ivory to discourage poaching and ivory trade. In 1989, Kenya symbolically burnt its ivory stockpile

According to wildlife conservationist group, Save the Elephants, 100,000 elephants were killed in Africa from 2010 to 2012.

Furthermore, over 30,000 elephants are poached in Africa annually due to high demand from Asia where they are sold for around 1,000 euros per kilogram.

IVORY COAST: Ivory Coast Boosts Tourism Amid Insecurity Fears

More than a month after militants killed 19 people on Ivory Coast’s Grand Bassam beach, fun seekers are gradually returning to enjoy one of the country’s top tourist attractions.

But owner of a hotel, Ocean et Lagune close to the place where the March attack took place said hotel owners in the area are struggling.

The fifty nine-year-old hotel owner, Losseni Bora returned to Ivory Coast in 2012 to invest in a hotel after many years of travelling abroad.

His hotel, Ocean et Lagune has only eight operational rooms with four more under renovation.

Bora says they have hardly had any guests since the six shooters targeted hotels on the beach but he is determined to make the business work.

“I have returned so that I can work. As for the jihadist problem, I cannot allow these people to take over. It’s true, I’ve lost 95 percent of my customers, but I think I will make it. I will not give up, I will keep trying to work, and I will stay to show Ivorians and everyone else that jihadists cannot destroy our businesses,” Bora said.

Officials say Ivory Coast has invested 151 billion CFA (about $266,000) in hotels over the past three years as part of efforts to improve the service industry and boost tourism.

The government is targeting 1 million tourists in 2016, which is almost double the number from last year as the West African country tries to turn around an economy held back by several years of unrest.

His hotel, Ocean et Lagune has only eight operational rooms with four more under renovation.

Bora says they have hardly had any guests since the six shooters targeted hotels on the beach but he is determined to make the business work.

“I have returned so that I can work. As for the jihadist problem, I cannot allow these people to take over. It’s true, I’ve lost 95 percent of my customers, but I think I will make it. I will not give up, I will keep trying to work, and I will stay to show Ivorians and everyone else that jihadists cannot destroy our businesses,” Bora said.

Officials say Ivory Coast has invested 151 billion CFA (about $266,000) in hotels over the past three years as part of efforts to improve the service industry and boost tourism.

The government is targeting 1 million tourists in 2016, which is almost double the number from last year as the West African country tries to turn around an economy held back by several years of unrest.

TUNISIA: Tunisia Tourism In Difficulty After Terrorist Attack A Year Ago

Tunisia’s tourism sector is still struggling to recover, a year after a terrorist attack on a beach in Sousse killed 38 tourists.

Surveillance cameras and security checks have become the norm in all holiday hotspots; and hotels are anxious to show tourists, Tunisia is a safe destination.

Tourism accounts for 7 percent of Tunisia’s gross domestic product and provides thousands of jobs, making it a key source of foreign currency.

But tourist arrivals fell to 5 million last year, the lowest in decades, after mostly British tourists were gunned down in Sousse.

The attack came just months after 21 tourists were killed in a jihadist attack at the Bardo National Museum in Tunis.

As the high season kicks off, authorities and tourism firms are hoping to boost confidence and encourage bookings with increased security checks.

Mohammed Bujdaria, regional director in charge of tourism in Yasmine-Hammamet said “Ahead of the summer tourist season, we’ve focused on security. Tourist attractions, restaurants, historical sites and hotels are inspected almost daily. We ensure that the new rules imposed by the government are respected.”

Authorities are now giving their all to restore the country’s image as a top holiday destination.

Speaking on the matter, Anis Suissy, director of Yasmine-Hammamet’s Royal Resort hotel said “We used to attract tourists with sun and beaches. It was a selling point. We are spending a lot on security. And we try to put forward the efforts that our establishment and the State are doing in this regard.”

European markets has also declined by 65 percent since 2010, the year before a revolution toppled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

So Tunisia is turning to Eastern Europe to boost its struggling tourism industry.

Abdellatif Hamam, General director of the Tunisian National Tourism Board said “We hope that this year, the Russians will give us their trust. It’s a market we’ve been working on for the past decade, and we are trying to revitalize it.”

Government hopes to welcome 300,000 Russian tourists this year, six times the number in 2015.

But authorities are leaving nothing to chance by making moves to deploy additional 1,500 security agents to further boost security in the country.

NEW ZEALAND: Christchurch Taxi Drivers Protest

With those words, more than 100 taxi drivers and shareholders protested ride-sharing giant Uber in Christchurch on Monday.

Gathering outside National MP Nicky Wagner's Salisbury St offices, they chanted, held placards and called for a "safe fair and sustainable industry".

He asked the Government to crackdown on Christchurch's Uber drivers, who were operating illegally without passenger (P) endorsements, and without security cameras, commercial insurance and Certificates of Fitness (COF).

"Uber are illegally driving all over New Zealand and we just need a level playing field."

Nearly 60 Uber drivers had been identified by the NZ Transport Authority (NZTA) as operating illegally in Christchurch.

An Uber spokesperson said the company was "overwhelmed" by the positive response to its ride-sharing service since it launched in Christchurch several months ago.

"Christchurch has become our fastest growing city in New Zealand, with thousands of applications to become an Uber driver-partner, and tens of thousands of people downloading the Uber app to request a ride.

"This is an incredible reflection of the way in which Cantabrians have embraced flexible work opportunities, and a new safe, affordable and reliable way to get from A to B."

In a statement, Uber said drivers in Christchurch were required to pass a "stringent" criminal history check through the Ministry of Justice and a driving history check through the NZTA.

Singh said taxi drivers had suffered a loss since Uber arrived in Christchurch, but their concerns were not about the increased competition.

"If I drive Uber, it's cheaper, but it's not safer for the women or the girls," Singh said.

Mary Bishay had been a Blue Star taxi driver for the last two years. Her husband drove taxis.

"This is my business. This is my family. I fight for my family," she said.

Bishay called for equality in the profession.

"They either be like us or we be like them."

Nicky Wagner cancelled commitments in Wellington to address the crowd gathered outside her office.

"This is illegal and we have made this clear to the public and potential Uber drivers," Wagner said of those operating without P endorsements.

"We are reviewing the small passengers service system for all companies, not just for Uber, for everyone.

"The idea of the review is to make sure that the legislation fits the purpose," she said.

Under a new framework, rules that imposed costs on operators would be removed, and changes would "provide more scope for small passenger service businesses to make their own decisions about what their services should include, depending on their customers' needs".

A P endorsement and vehicle COF would continue to be required by all, including Uber. In-vehicle cameras would be required for those operating within New Zealand's 18 main urban areas, unless they had an exemption.

AUSTRALIA: GPS Tracking Plan, Regular Uber, GoCatch Drivers 'will pay more'

Drivers for ride-booking services such as Uber and GoCatch will have their insurance premiums calculated using their GPS data, under changes announced by the NSW Government.

Minister for Innovation Victor Dominello said the "user pays" model would result in regular drivers paying higher green slip costs, depending on how often they used the apps to pick up passengers.

"If ride-share drivers are driving more, yes they will pay more," he said.

"But if you're a ride-share driver who only drives on the weekends you won't pay as much."

Ride-booking services will be required to share their drivers' data with insurers and the insurance regulator, to determine individual premiums.

That data will include the frequency, timing and routes of trips.

Drivers will pay an initial green slip cost, followed by incremental "top-up" payments, depending on how often they drive.

"This is a very fair system for ride-share operators because it means if you're driving a lot and you're making a lot of money, you're going to be paying a premium set on that," Mr Dominello said.

Ride-booking drivers currently pay class one compulsory third party (CTP) premiums, ranging from $537 to $886.

It is expected an Uber driver who works 40 hours a week will pay about three times that amount, bringing them closer to the premiums paid by taxi owners.

Uber's General Manager David Rohrsheim said the changes seemed fair.

"This is people in their own personal car, some doing a few hours here and there and others doing 20, 30, 40 hours a week and each of them are going to be paying their fair share," he said.

However he said the company was still waiting to see the Government's pricing structure for the usage-based insurance premiums.

"Only once we know that can we start the discussion about how that's going to be recovered, whether it's going to be from the drivers or from the passengers," Mr Rohrsheim said.

GoCatch CEO David Holmes said the changes would make the CTP process simpler.

Taxi owners will also have their CTP premiums determined by their level of usage.

Sydney taxi owners pay an average of $7,800 per year, but the Government said the changes would result in premium reductions of about 40 per cent.

Taxi Council CEO Roy Wakelin-King said the changes were urgently needed to create a fairer system.

"We're paying in excess of $8,500 while Uber drivers are paying less than $800," he said.

"That's just not a level playing field.

"Ride-share drivers are doing very similar work to what a taxi driver does, often at the same time in the high-risk areas.

"The risks are the same so the pricing needs to be the same," he said.

Taxify, UBER, Little Cab Compete For Kenya Market

UBER in Kenya will feel the competion wind in its face as the first of two more App based taxi hailing services, 'Taxify' has now launched services with some 400 drivers, just days ahead before Safaricom supported 'Little Cab' will launch next week.

Taxify intends to rapidly roll out into Mombasa too, UBER's second Kenyan destination but has already announced that more towns across Kenya will be added rapidly like Kisumu, Nakuru and intends to have as many as 7.000 drives on call when fully operational.

Taxify has announced fares of 50 Kenya Shillings per kilometre and 5 Kenya Shillings per hour, the latter - given the notorious traffic jams in Kenya's capital, no doubt a form of charging reflecting the time one stands on the city's roads rather than moving on them.

This is seen as a direct challenge to UBER which, when demand outstrips supply of cabs, applies a 1.5 factor on fares.

Plenty of choices now how to move around Nairobi though hotel limousines remain another convenient option as they are charged directly on to a guest's room account eliminating the need to carry too much cash.

TURKEY: Istanbul Airport Attack

Days after the Istanbul airport massacre, reports emerged about the identities of the suicide bombers as well as the organizer a man who a U.S. official says is a top soldier in the ISIS.

Two of the three assailants in the terror attack that killed 44 people at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport have been identified as Rakim Bulgarov and Vadim Osmanov, according to Turkey's state news agency Anadolu, citing an anonymous prosecution source.

The Friday report did not identify the third attacker.The report did not reveal their nationalities.
But officials have said they believe the three attackers are from Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and entered Turkey a month ago from Syria's ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.

The report came a day after U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said the man who directed the attackers is Akhmed Chatayev, a terrorist from Russia's North Caucasus region.

Turkish media reported that a man nicknamed "Akhmed One-Arm" organized the attack.

While his whereabouts are unclear, Chatayev's ties to jihadist activities are well-documented, McCaul said.He's traveled to Syria on many occasions and became one of the top lieutenants for the minister of war for ISIS operations he said.

At least 230 others were injured when the trio stormed the airport and opened fire with rifles before detonating bombs. Two of the men targeted the international terminal building, and the third one gunned down people at the parking lot.Of the hundreds wounded, 80 are still hospitalized, Istanbul officials said.

Chatayev coordinated with the three suicide bombers in Istanbul to conduct this attack during the season of Ramadan.
Last year, the U.S. Treasury added Chatayev to its list of terrorists, saying he was planning attacks against U.S. and Turkish facilities. The United Nations said he directly commands 130 militants.

Officials believe the attackers brought suicide vests, bombs and a deadly plan from ISIS leadership.
Anadolu said Osmanov was identified through a passport photocopy that was given to a property agent in Istanbul's Fatih district, where officials said the three attackers rented an apartment.

Information on Chatayev came from Turkish intelligence. Turkish officials have not confirmed Chatayev's involvemen.
The allegation reflects a growing trend of battle-hardened fighters from Russia and former Soviet republics joining ISIS in recent years.

"Russian citizens many of whom are Chechens or Dagestanis from the largely Muslim North Caucasus region of Russia are the largest group of foot soldiers in ISIS from a non-Muslim majority country.

Chechnya produced many fighters following the 1990s wars that pitted Russian forces against Chechen separatists.
Russians deployed brutal tactics in Chechnya, which radicalized the insurgents and moved them in an Islamist and militant direction.

In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin said between 5,000 to 7,000 fighters from Russia and the former Soviet republics are in Syria.

Ask anybody inside ISIS or who's fought ISIS. People from the former Soviet Union tend to be the most willing to die.

Turkish officials have strong evidence that ISIS leadership was involved in the planning of the Istanbul terrorist attack.

And the attacks appear to have been well-organized. The three terrorists rented an apartment in the Fatih district of Istanbul after they arrived from Syria a month ago, officials said.

After the airport attack, authorities discovered one of the terrorists left behind his passport in the apartment, according to a Turkish government source.

Turkish police visited the Fatih area and showed neighbors airport surveillance video and photographs of the three men, residents said.

One man who owns a real estate agency said one of the men in the picture had lived in his apartment. He said he was shocked the man was a suspect in the attacks.

While no one has claimed responsibility for the airport assault, Weiss said the nationalities of the terrorists point to ISIS involvement.

One of the toughest battalions in ISIS is called the Uzbek battalion. These were the guys who were essentially on the front lines guarding Falluja, the city they just lost in Iraq.

The tactic used in the airport attack shooting, and then detonating explosives is called "inghimasi," and it's being used more frequently by terrorists.

The 'inghimasi,' their way of operating on the ground in Syria and Iraq, is to shoot up checkpoints and then they actually some of these guys actually run up to the enemy and hug them before detonating the bomb to take them out with themselves. So in a sense, the ultimate Kamikaze warrior.

ISIS also has a history of airport attacks. It claimed responsibility for dual suicide bombings at the main airport in Brussels in March. At least 10 people died in those blasts.

Those killed came from all over the world, but most were Turkish, including 10 airport employees, TAV Airports CEO Sani Sener said.

Other fatalities included nationals from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Tunisia, China, Iran, Ukraine, Jordan and Uzbekistan. At least two Palestinians were also killed.

One U.S. citizen suffered minor injuries, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said.

Authorities have detained 24 people in connection with the attack investigation, including 15 foreign nationals, state media reported.

TURKEY: Istanbul Airport Attack,Chechen Was Mastermind

Thirteen suspects, including 10 Turks, have been formally charged over the Istanbul airport suicide bombings, the deadliest of several attacks to strike Turkey's biggest city this year, the Dogan news agency reported.

Turkish officials have pointed blame at the Islamic State jihadist group (IS) for Tuesday's gun and bomb spree at Ataturk airport which left 45 people dead including 19 foreigners.

The suspects, who are in police custody, were charged with belonging to a terror group, homicide and endangering the unity of the state, Dogan reported, without providing the foreign suspects' nationalities.

Turkish media have identified the attack's organiser as Akhmed Chatayev, the Chechen leader of an IS cell in Istanbul who reportedly found accommodation for the bombers.

Chatayev allegedly organised two deadly bombings this year in the heart of the city's Sultanahmet tourist district and the busy Istiklal shopping street.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has provided further details on the probe, saying police had arrested a total of 29 suspects over the attacks, including more foreigners.

Officials had previously said the three bombers were a Russian, an Uzbek and a Kyrgyz national.

"Everything will be unveiled in due time," Mr Yildirim said. "We are carrying out a vast inquiry in this case."

Istanbul authorities said Sunday that 49 people injured in the attack were still being treated, with 17 in intensive care.

Turkey has been rocked by a series of attacks in the past year blamed on either IS jihadists or Kurdish rebels.

These have taken a heavy hit on tourism, and on Friday Germany warned its citizens to exercise particular caution if they travel to Turkey.

MOZAMBIQUE: Mozambique Tourism & Adventure

Welcome to Mozambique Tourism, where we specialize in this magnificent country offering you different types of Mozambique accommodation , we tailor make Mozambique holiday packages to suit your requirements and budget.

We offer a variety of Mozambique accommodation options throughout all areas of the country, including ;Maputo,Machangulo Peninsula, Ponta De Ouro, Ponta Malongane, Bilene, Xai-Xai, Inhambane, Vilanculos, Bazaruto Island, Benguerra Island, Magaruque Island , Pemba, Ibo Island , Vamizi Island and Quilalea Island.

With over 15 years of experience in providing incredible travel holidays for all who wish to bask in the Mozambican sun, at Mozambique Tourism thrive on delivering the best holiday package possible to each of our valued clients. Whether you are the adventurous type or a person who is after pure relaxation, we have your interests at heart and will endeavour to build the perfect holiday based on your wants and needs.We offer the following types of accommodation: Self-catering, Catered, Guest Houses, Bed & Breakfast, 3, 4 and 5 star hotels, Lodges and Resorts.

Guaranteed to leave you with stunning memories of the beautiful surroundings and friendly locals, your Mozambique holiday will have you enjoying mouth-watering cuisine and experiencing the lush white beaches that are characteristic of this inviting paradise.

This exotic country is the ideal holiday destination, with activities such as snorkelling, sunset cruises, horse-riding, dolphin tours and scuba diving all set to keep even the most hyper holidaymaker occupied.

Popular areas in Mozambique:

Ponta de Ouro: This location captures the very essence of Mozambican holiday luxury. Swimming with the Dolphins is a must, while scuba diving is very popular.
Maputo: The capital of Mozambique is a hub of culture, where wonderful fresh cuisine is served and retail therapy at countless shops will ensure the capture of a treasure or two.
Gaza: An ideal spot for the adventurous traveller: Sailing, canoeing, windsurfing, paragliding and kite-surfing are typical pursuits where the Xai-Xai and Limpopo River meet in Bilene.
Inhambane: When Vasco Da Gama rounded Africa in the late 15th century, he immediately fell in love with this beautiful place and named it ‘Terra de Boa Gente’ or Land of Good People. The name says it all, and the tropical reef areas will astonish you.
Vilanculos: This gateway to the Bazaruto Archipelago consists of six Islands, and is a place of incomparable beauty. Over the years, surfing has become one of the most popular watersports in Vilanculos, as the area provides a temperate climate, unpredictable waters and plentiful wind – a dream for any passionate surfer.
Benguerra Island: Home to a variety of animal, bird and plant life, the lush forests and exquisite landscape is incredible to behold. Famous for its unspoiled beaches, excellent fishing and remarkable scuba diving sites, Benguerra Island will not soon be forgotten. Whales and dolphins are often seen here, and sunset beach walks or a guided tour of the island is a must.
Bazaruto Island: An unexplored destination of great beauty, surrounded by turquoise water and fringed by idyllic beaches, the bewitching coral reefs and rare tropical fish make this the ultimate destination for the ocean-lover.
Magaruque Island: Relaxation, seclusion and natural beauty are words that describe this well-known marlin and sail fishing hotspot where ocean safaris and sunset cruises make the perfect afternoon.
Sofala: In Sofala, famous attractions include the beautiful Beira Cathedral and the Gorongosa National Park, where game drives at dusk or dawn and hikes to the pristine waterfalls will not disappoint.
Nampula: Ilha de Mozambique is well worth a visit, as it is a historic town dating back to the early 17th century. Nampula is known for its unique atmosphere and culture. Architecture buffs will love the Cathedral, and nature-lovers will appreciate the volcanic rock formation that lines Nampula’s vast horizon.
Quirimbas Arquipelago: Those looking for complete exclusivity and natural beauty will adore this completely untouched Mozambique Islands in a forgotten corner of the Quirimbas Archipelago.
Niassa: Visitors to the Niassa reserve will find the Lugenda Wilderness Camp: Africa’s largest conservation area. With luxury tented accommodation that leads out onto a private veranda overlooking breath-taking scenery.

Enjoy the perfect holiday experience in this exquisite paradise.