Jun 12th, 2013 at 3:30PM: Emilio Labrador
A team from UNESCO has visited Timbuktu in Mali to make its first on-the-ground assessment of the damage caused by last year's occupation by the Islamist group Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith).
The group took over Timbuktu in April 2012 and imposed a harsh form of Shariah law. Believing the city's famous shrines and medieval manuscripts to be against Islam, even though they ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Sahara posts
UNESCO Reports Damage To Timbuktu Worse Than Previously Reported
Jun 12th, 2013 at 3:30PM: Emilio Labrador
A team from UNESCO has visited Timbuktu in Mali to make its first on-the-ground assessment of the damage caused by last year's occupation by the Islamist group Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith).
The group took over Timbuktu in April 2012 and imposed a harsh form of Shariah law. Believing the city's famous shrines and medieval manuscripts to be against Islam, even though they ...Plane Crash Memorialized In The Deep Sahara
May 18th, 2013 at 3:01PM: Google Earth
In a lonely corner the Sahara Desert, Google Earth shows what looks like a tattoo on the sun-parched sands: a dark graphic blot amid the vast remoteness of Niger's Tenere region. The negative space in the center of the dot forms the shape of a DC-10 jet plane. Four arrows outside the circle point in each direction, like a compass.
The dark mass large enough to register on a ...Did Islamists Destroy The Priceless Medieval Manuscripts Of Timbuktu?
Jan 29th, 2013 at 5:00PM: Timbuktu is now safe from the ravages of the Islamists of northern Mali, thanks to a French-led offensive that has been kicking some fundamentalist derrière for the past couple of weeks.
Since April 2012, the city had been under the control of Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) who imposed a harsh version of Sharia law, cutting the hands off thieves, flogging men for talking to women in ...Islamists Renew Attack On Timbuktu's Heritage
Dec 24th, 2012 at 4:00PM:
The ancient treasures of Timbuktu have come under renewed attack by Islamists, the BBC reports.
The Islamist group Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) has vowed to destroy all the city's medieval shrines of Muslim saints, which they say are contrary to Islam. The city in northern Mali has been under the control of a coalition of Tuareg and Islamist rebels since April. They declared the ...12 Stunning Desert Landscapes Around The World
Jul 3rd, 2012 at 11:00AM: There are many beautiful landscapes to be seen all over the world. Sparkling oceans, lush flora, tall mountains, barren tundra and unique rock formations cover the Earth, giving contrast to its many destinations. One of the most interesting types of scenery to take in, however, is the desert.
While many automatically think of sandy, infertile, colorless areas of land, there are actually many ...Azawad: Africa's Newest Nation?
Apr 12th, 2012 at 9:00AM: A Tuareg rebel group in Mali has declared the northern two-thirds of the country as a separate state.
The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) has kicked out government troops and declared the independent nation of Azawad. The region is marked out in green in this map courtesy Wikimedia Commons. The remaining part of Mali is in dark gray just below it.
The Tuaregs are a ...The Marathon des Sables begins today
Apr 4th, 2010 at 9:00AM: One of the longest running and most challenge endurance races on the planet gets underway today when the 24th annual Marathon des Sables, or Marathon of the Sands, begins in Morocco. Over the course of the next week, competitors from around the globe will challenge themselves, and each other, in a race through one of the harshest environments on the planet.
This year's race is approximately 243 ...Al-Qaeda suspected of kidnapping aid workers in Mauritania
Dec 1st, 2009 at 1:30PM: The Spanish government fears that three Spanish aid workers kidnapped this week in Mauritania were taken by Al-Qaeda's North African group. The three were taken by masked gunmen from their vehicle as it was driving in a caravan to deliver aid for the group Barcelona-Acciò Solidaria en Mauritania. They were riding in the last vehicle and were apparently stopped when the gunmen fired some ...Racing on foot through the Sahara
Oct 29th, 2009 at 8:00AM: Last Sunday, an incredible endurance event got underway in Cairo Egypt, when the 2009 Sahara Race began. The 155 mile event pits 130 runners from more than 30 countries against one another in a six-stage race through the heart of the Western Desert, a part of the Sahara that covers more than 1.7 million square miles along Egypt's borders with Libya and the Sudan. Over the past few days, the ...Ship graveyards from around the world
Oct 28th, 2009 at 1:00PM: Eco-friendly website Environmental Graffiti has an interesting story on their site today that details some of the top cargo ship graveyards from around the world. The article also includes some amazing photos of the rusted out shells of former cargo and cruise ships that have been left to rot in a variety of sun baked locations. All told, there are five graveyards on the list, including the ...Norway world's best place to live
Oct 6th, 2009 at 1:00PM: I'm not sure if everybody wants to live in Norway, but it's certainly at the top of the global list. The United Nations Development Program determined this based on data GDP, education and life expectancy – among other metrics – to find the best of the best, as well as the other end of the spectrum. The data's from 2007, though, so it doesn't reflect a post-financial crisis world. ...Taking the "Mad Way" South
Jul 31st, 2009 at 8:01AM: There are many interesting and different ways to travel and see the world. For instance, some love to take a cruise through the Caribbean or a slow train through the Alps. Others prefer to zip through the streets of Bangkok in a tuk tuk, and some enjoy rafting the Grand Canyon. But what is the best way to see the Sahara? Some would argue that it would be from the back of a camel, but they haven't ...Mixing Business with Adventure
Feb 25th, 2009 at 8:00AM: The New York Times had an excellent article a couple of days back offering up some great tips on how to mix business and adventure for travelers who are frequently heading over seas for their jobs. Often times those travelers are short on free time, and may only be visiting a country for a few days, but that doesn't mean they can't take advantage of that time to still take in the local sights and ...From London to Timbuktu in a Flying Car
Jan 13th, 2009 at 12:00PM: British adventurer Neil Laughton will begin a unique odyssey tomorrow. The former special forces officer will depart from London on his way to Timbuktu, located in the African country of Mali, and while a journey like this one is interesting in and of itself, it is Laughton's mode of transportation that really sets it apart. Laughton will be traveling in a specially designed dune buggy dubbed the ...Find Carnival Costumes Online!
Oct 15th, 2006 at 9:24AM: Last year around this same time I was busy scouring the web for all Trinidad & Tobago Carnival sites and band sites. I was mainly on the lookout for costumes and without the help of a friend of mine I would have been utterly lost. For an event an entire country spends the entire year preparing for I would have expected more information on the tourism site or in one central location on the web, ...
