Here's an opportunity to take a vacation with a difference. Scott and Carol Kellerman are missionaries running a clinic serving the Batwa people - a displaced Pygmy tribe in Uganda. The Batwa lived in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest through their entire tribal history, until the Ugandan government declared it a national park in 1991 and relocated them. No longer able to follow their hunter/gatherer traditions, the pygmies are struggling to survive.

The Kellermans put volunteers to work at their weekly clinic held under a tree, providing hands-on medical training for the diagnosis and treatment of common illnesses and tropical diseases like malaria. Every volunteer who comes leaves knowing they have played a vital role in saving many lives. When not at the clinic, volunteers work on school and supply projects.

Visiting this region of Uganda offers other amazing opportunities, too: gorilla trekking in the Bwindi National Forest will cost about $275; only 12 visitors a day are allowed into the forest. There's also a waterfall hike locally, and in Kampala, the capitol, Nile rafting can be had for $120.

The Kellermans provide food and accomodation to their volunteers, and ask for a contribution of $25 a week in return. Travelers will be very comfortable on a budget of around $125 a week. Information about travel and visas can be found here.

Pygmy Protection in Uganda originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 19 Nov 2004 09:18:45 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Chris Duff has logged over 14,000 kayak paddling miles in was the first man to circumnavigate Ireland in a sea kayak. The story of this journey, On Celtic Tides, recounts his three-month, 3,000-mile adventure through the seas, culture, people and history of Ireland.  "A tender and terrifying story. No one has written better of huge, cold seas in a very small boat, of self discovery in the face of fear, and of gentle moments with Irish people."

The book can be bought online, and is also out as a Palm Reader Ebook, in case you'd like to take it on the go - like on a kayaking trip!

[via Paddle Log]

On Celtic Tides originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 18 Nov 2004 13:43:36 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This site provides a quick chart with emergency numbers in countries around the globe so you can look them up before you go. It's a good idea to write down critical numbers like this, plus the number for the US consulate and the international dialing code needed to reach the US from wherever you're calling. Jot them on a post-it note and stick it to the inside of your passport, where they should always be in easy and safe reach.

Safety in Numbers originally appeared on Gadling on Mon, 15 Nov 2004 09:58:57 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If we all travelled with everything we're "supposed" to take along when away from home, I doubt anyone would have any room in their lugguage for extras like shoes and clothing. So I like travel gadgets that do double duty: one critical job, and one secondary job. And I like this travel alarm clock that doubles as a flashlight from Hammacher Schlemmer.

The alarm clock has a back-lit LCD display, a solid beep to wake you, and a compact size that makes it easy to chuck in your bag. Twist one end, and the flashlight comes on. While you're not going to be able to navigate your way out of a cave in the Urals with this light, it's more than ample for a hotel blackout or late-night mission to find the door to the bathroom in an unfamiliar room.

Alarm Clock Flashlight originally appeared on Gadling on Sat, 13 Nov 2004 10:01:17 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Whether you're backpacking through Europe or hiking in Honduras, sometimes you want a break from carrying all your worldly posessions on your back. But since they are all your worldly posessions in a far-off world, it can be unsafe to leave them in hotel rooms or campsites when you're out and about for the day. It can also be unsafe to take them with you; many backpackers have had their packs slit and their stuff stolen while they were totally unaware. And if you're the victim of theft in a remote or distant location, it can be a disaster.

Enter the Pac Safe, a web of light-weight stainless steel mesh you wrap and lock around your backpack with a polycarbonate locking system. You can use the Pac Safe to secure your backpack to anything from a tree trunk to a hotel bed, or you can make your posessions more secure when you're walking through city streets. Starting at $55, the Pac Safe is a good investment worth thinking about.

Pack Safe! originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 12 Nov 2004 03:07:35 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Fans of the West Wing will be familiar with the Peters Projection Map, the geographically accurate view of our world that "freaked out" fictional White House Press Secretary CJ Craig. And to those who have never before seen the map, which is more commonly used outside the US, it is pretty freaky.

But the traditional Mercator Map most North Americans are used to badly distorts the relative size and shape of countries, and the further from the equator you look, the more distorted the depictions. Greenland, for example, probably appears on your home maps to be more or less half the size as Africa. In reality, Africa is 14 times larger.

What difference does it make? Well, first of all, if you're travelling the world, it's nice to know what that world actually looks like. Second, how we are visually taught to see a country or region has a deep effect on how we precieve that region. Organisations raising money for work in Africa, for example, prefer the Peters map because the sheer, overwhelming size of Africa on the globe - it dwarfs any other continent - helps donors to understand how vast the need is. Because it appears (accurately) to be larger, donors feel it is more important.

Fans of the world (or just of the West Wing) can order a Peters Map online from New Internationalist. And if you really want to change your world view, you can always hang it upside down.

It's the world, Jim, but not as we know it originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 10 Nov 2004 20:09:58 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There have been many, many times in my adult travel career when I've wished I was 22 again, and happy to stay in a youth hostel. The money you can save on hotel bills is sometimes the difference between going and not going, and even if it isn't, its money you can spend on other things during a trip. While I had great experiences in hostels across Europe, at this point in my life, privacy and a refuge from other tourists and travellers is something I look for in accomodation when I'm on the road.

But Laura Meckler and her partner did indeed travel through Australia and New Zealand for five weeks, staying in more than a dozen hostels. This article gives a short run-down on all the hostels in which they stayed - from the sublime ( ) to the rediculous (a $4 deposit to get a breakfast plate and fork?) All in all, she concludes, it was a good experience for the traveler with a few more miles on the clock than your average college-aged student.

Her top tips: book in advance to get private double rooms, some with private bath; and join Hostelling International for discounts and the ability to book some members-only hostels. Oh, and bring a padlock.

Youth Hostels for Adults Down Under originally appeared on Gadling on Wed, 10 Nov 2004 14:42:32 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Luke Smallman is the writer over at Snowgo, a regularly updated and well written snowboading blog. The site is more than just a journal of Luke's boarding adventures (which would be a bit of a challenge, given that the UK isn't exactly bursting at the seams with brilliant slopes, parks, or snow.) He also reports on other websites, shows and exhibitions, online articles, gear and parks. There are also sections on individual riders, resorts, and loads of other interest categories for boarders. All in all, an excellent site and a great resource - check it out!

Snowgo: Reading, Writing and Riding originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 09 Nov 2004 16:09:34 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Gould family is fond of putting their adventures online, from hiking to snorkling. Their biggest adventure to date is 16-day rafting trip through the Grand Canyon with plenty of hiking and camping as a bonus. Along the way, the get a a uninque and personal view of the canyon, very different from that of the legions of tourists who peer over its rim each year. "Seeing it from the rim is like viewing the painting of a great master. Rafting it is like painting it yourself."

There are also hundreds of photos taken from the river, along the banks, and from hikes and campsites. With a page for every day, including prep, the Goulds also share information about preparing food for the trip, gear, as well as what they packed and how they used it. The river action gets started with this entry, and they all make good reading.

Rafting the Grand Canyon originally appeared on Gadling on Tue, 09 Nov 2004 14:49:45 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Boston Globe has a small gallery of photos from the recent Women On High expedition. The expedition by a team of five women was planned to honor and recreate the historic ascents of Mont Blanc, Europe's highest peak, by it's first female conquorers: Maria Paradis in 1808 and Henriette d'Angeville in 1838. The climb coincided with the publication of  "Women on High: Pioneers of Mountaineering," by Rebecca A. Brown, also a member of the team.

The entire team suceessfully summitted during a one-day weather window.  "We were exhilarated. We toasted the women who came before us. The level of respect I had for them grew enormously."

Women on High originally appeared on Gadling on Sun, 07 Nov 2004 22:36:24 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jan Wong at the Toronto Globe and Mail has compiled a list of ten things the Chinese do better than North Americans. Ranging from cell phone service (which works at the Great Wall of China, while I can't even get reception in my mother's NJ living room) to WiFi service bells in restaurants, it's an interesting snapshot of modern Chinese culture.

It's also interesting to see ideas that have popped up in other countries, too; in the UK, I routinely book movie tickets and seats online, using an interactive seating map showing me which seats are availiable at which show times. Anti-theft handbag hooks under tables have also made their way to bars and pubs in city centers. But I've never been anywhere that had 9-5 banking, 365 days a year.

[Hat tip: knick-knack.com]

It's Better in China originally appeared on Gadling on Sun, 07 Nov 2004 22:25:55 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

While some may try to tell you that haggis is the national food of Scotland, don't be fooled. Haggis is indeed a deeply tradtional an uniquely Scottish food; it's contructed a bit like sausage and made from small amounts of ground sheep liver, hearts - and yes - lungs, combined with much more oatmeal and onions, and then boiled in sheep stomach casing. Traditionally, it's eaten on Burn's Night, the 25th of January, to celebrate Scotland's most famous poet.

But much more frequent fare, and every bit as unique, is the fried pizza. Order one at a local fish and chips shop, and they'll roll up an unooked pizza and chuck it into the deep fryer for you. And about 100 people in the queue behind you, so popular is this dish. To properly end your meal, you'll want an order of batter-dunked, deep fried Mars Bars as well, otherwise known as a Milky Way in North America.

With a fish and chips shop (known as a chippy) on ever corner in Scotland, it's one culinary adventure every tourist can afford, even if their arteries can't. When in Rome, eat like the Romans, as they say.

Scottish National Cuisine originally appeared on Gadling on Sat, 06 Nov 2004 23:01:44 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tourism in Burma is a subject of much debate these days, with a grassroots tourism boycott gaining mainstream support as many tourism companies and multi-nationals pull out of the country, also know as Myanmar since a military coup put a brutal regime in power in 1988.

The Burmese democracy movement, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, has asked that tourists not visit Burma because it helps fund the regime and because forced labor and child labor is used to develop tourist sites and infrastructure for tourism. Human-rights watchdog The Burma Campaign UK has published a Dirty List of companies they claim support the military regime in Burma by encouraging tourism. And there are some pretty familiar names on the list: Lonely Planet, Let's Go, Fodor's, Frommer's and Trailblazer all publish guides to Burma. The Campaign also maintain a Clean List of companies with a positive ethical position on Burma; it seems Rough Guides is the only popular publisher to make the grade, with a pretty smart statement on their reasoning.

Happily, according to the clean list, we can all still shop at IKEA.

Travel Guides and the Burma Debate originally appeared on Gadling on Sat, 06 Nov 2004 19:19:54 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The Combo Course will run you $1,295 and takes place at Laguna or Daytona. They have multi-day courses on the schedule, too.

Life in the Fast Lane originally appeared on Gadling on Sat, 06 Nov 2004 07:26:21 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Like a lot of people interested in adventure, I have a taste for the unconventional. This extends to an interest in unconventional housing: shipping containers, house boats, and yurts, for example.

Yes, yurts. Yurts are the portable round houses used by Central Asia nomads for centures. Traditionally covered by animal skins, they're now a manufactured form of permanent housing using weather-proof fabrics on a traditional round wood pole structure. They provide a natural, ecological, spacious and inexpensive kind of all-weather housing, and they're beautiful to live inside as well.

Sadly, I don't have anywhere to place a yurt at the moment, and since they are permanent structures, I can't exactly drag one off on a camping trip, either. Happily, though, manufacturer Pacific Yurts maintains a list of campsites, parks and vacation destinations where visitors can rent a yurt for a yurt vacation. From Alaska to New Jersey, Hawaii to Georgia, there's probably a yurt near your next vacation destination.

Go yurt, young man, go yurt! originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 05 Nov 2004 23:59:09 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

You have plenty of time to pull together your team and start training for the 11th Annual Urban Iditarod in San Francisco, taking place on March 6th, 2005. (The course runs over three miles up and down the hills of San Francisco, so training is actually recommended.) It's the same weekend as the famous Alaska Idiarod, except there are no dogs and no snow. Instead, teams race across the city streets in absurd costumes, competing for fame and glory and the amazement of tourists.

A typical team consists of a rider, six pullers (the mush team) and a shopping cart (the sled) although everything from actual sleds on wheels to Radio Flyer wagons have been used. It's usual for the mush team to costume or make themselves up as dogs for the event, but obviously this is San Francisco and angels, disco divas and priests are fine, too. [Some photos NSFW]

Who let the dogs out? originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 05 Nov 2004 22:29:40 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If the idea of a 120 mph freefall appeals to you, than Eloy, AZ just may be your Mecca. Fifty miles from Pheonix, it's the home of Skydive Arizona, the country's most established skydiving school - a skydiving resort, even - and a destination for skydiving students, licensed divers, and the tourists who come to watch the colourful skies.

On of the advantages Skydive Arizona offers is a year-round facility, allowing students to enroll in skydiving school whenever they can. A tandem jump doesn't require special training, though due to flight and wind conditions, it can take up to four hours. Training to jump out of a plane all on your own, however, takes six to eight hours, usually with a same-day jump. If you want an entire skydiving vacation, you can have that, too: Skydive Arizona's Accelerated Student Program lasts five days, includes all equiptment, instruction and 12 jumps, and costs from $1315.

Freefall: Skydiving School originally appeared on Gadling on Fri, 05 Nov 2004 00:23:24 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Urban golf, also known as crossgolf, is the new cool. There's no country club, no plaid, no caddies, and no carts, either, although vehicles can be used as tees - as can pretty much anything else from cocktail tables to a local bridge.  There are no holes, either: these golfers are playing the fairways and hazards of the urban environment, aiming for whatever is next in line. Tee off from a beach, an oil rig, a rooftop or an abandoned lot. Play through a mall, a street, a bridge or a amusement park.

The only rule is: don't hit the bystanders.

Golf Goes Grunge originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 04 Nov 2004 21:44:29 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Welcome to the world of Extreme Fishing. (I am totally not making this up.) Apparently, a bunch of river fishing fans were frustrated by their inability to reach certain prime fishing spots like caves and holes, no matter how far they waded or how many rocks they precariously perched upon. And so, a new board was born: the Xtreme Fishing Board. Shaped like a manta ray, has a wide base for sitting, a pop-up hatch for a belly full of storage, and a ton of stability and roll recovery.

But you don't have to just sit around and fish with it: the Xtreme Board can also be used for shooting the rapids - anything up to and including Class 3 white water. Plus, if you're so inclined, you can put a motor on it. At $500 including delivery, it isn't cheap, but it is pretty cool.

Extreme (Fishing) Board originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 04 Nov 2004 01:50:28 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

World Wide Ecolodges, an environmentally-friendly tour company, has a page on their website defining ecolodges and ecotels, and while they're at it, providing a very compelling explanation of what eco-tourism is all about.

In ecologically sensitive areas like rainforests or coral reefs, eco-tourism preserves habitats or land that would otherwise be used for forestry, fishing, mining or other destructive development. Eco-tourists help make it economically viable for tour companies to buy and build on these lands. Good eco-tourism also contributes to the native economy, employing locals to contribute traditional skills like guiding, cooking, and crafting.

"Ecotravel is mindful travel-environmentally sensitive, culturally aware, and personally fulfilling." It isn't, however, always luxurious. Eco-tourism can be basic; in the Amazon, for example, you're likely to stay in pretty basic, though new, dwellings. While you may have your own bathroom, it's likely to be cold-water only. In Costa Rica, World Wide Ecolodges runs a remote tent camp. In more touristed destinations like Mexico, though, it can be downright plush.

Because eco-tourism is environmentally based, it tends to be be centered around some pretty amazing territories, offering some of the world's best hiking, mountain biking, climbing camping, and scuba diving, depending on location. From volcanos to rainforests to beaches, ecotravel can take you to some of the most amazing places on earth, and help keep them that way.

The Argument for Eco-tourism originally appeared on Gadling on Thu, 04 Nov 2004 00:53:15 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.