Africa
Special Report: Elephant Slaughter in Tanzania
June 17, 2013
Editor’s Note: This article was originally part of a newsletter by sustainable tourism group, Friends of The Serengeti and is published with full permission. The ATTA has continued to support this group in their efforts to stop detrimental development and other activities in and around the fragile Serengeti plains. As you read this, African elephants are being killed in unprecedented numbers. Blood ivory now involves well armed and organized gangs, terrorist groups, official corruption, and a huge demand from China and Thailand, even the US (see below). Iain Douglas-Hamilton, who has been studying and protecting elephants in Africa for 47 years, states, “There’s an enormous slaughter of elephants going on in Tanzania right now. Things are out of hand. There’s no protection in numbers for elephants any more than there was for bison in the 19th Century when they were all wiped out in America. So people shouldn’t kid themselves.” The slaughter is most... Read More →
Member Press Releases Oceania
World Expeditions Launches Dedicated Website for Its Voluntourism Division
June 17, 2013
Leading adventure travel company, World Expeditions, has launched a new website dedicated to its not-for-profit, voluntourism division, Community Project Travel. The Community Project Travel website has been built as a satellite website to the company’s main website and allows users easy access to the complete range of voluntourism itineraries which currently include community development and conservation projects in Tanzania, Kenya, Peru, Vietnam, Nepal and Australia. Although the fast growing ‘voluntourism’ sector has been the focus of some scepticism over recent years, World Expeditions is proud to say that the voluntourism offerings represented under its Community Project Travel program are well planned, considered and sustainable. “Our method for accessing sustainable and meaningful projects is based on decades of experience, well-established and trusted partnerships with our local operators as well as a tried and tested formula of what makes for a successful project –... Read More →
Member Press Releases
Wilderness Safaris Celebrates 30 Years of Changing Lives
June 9, 2013
May 2013 marks Wilderness Safaris’ 30th birthday as Africa’s leading ecotourism and conservation company. From humble beginnings in 1983, the company has grown substantially over the last 30 years – not only in size but also in its ability to positively impact Africa. Wilderness Safaris registered as a Botswana company in 1983, offering rustic mobile safaris to like-minded guests who were passionate about nature and exploring the country’s remote wildlife areas. It was also the first safari outfitter at the time to realise the need for its financial benefits to flow back to the country and its people, ultimately ensuring the sustainable protection of Botswana’s diverse wilderness. Even though this approach forms the cornerstone of ecotourism all over the world today, it was a ground-breaking philosophy in the early 1980s that set Wilderness Safaris apart and set its course for the next three decades. The company also began to offer specialist birding and photographic safaris that... Read More →
Member Press Releases
DumaTau and Damaraland Camps Selected as National Geographic Traveler’s Best Ecolodges
June 9, 2013
Wilderness Safaris’ DumaTau Camp in Botswana and Damaraland Camp in Namibia have been selected as two of National Geographic Traveler’s “25 Best Ecolodges” for 2013. The editorial team of National Geographic Traveler worked long and hard to find 2013’s best authentic and most sustainable lodges for its more than 8.5 million readers. The select lodges chosen embody the National Geographic Society’s spirit of exploration and commitment to the environment and will be featured in the magazine’s June/July 2013 issue. “We are extremely proud of this esteemed recognition for both DumaTau and Damaraland Camps and of their ongoing commitment to ecotourism and our 4Cs ethos (Commerce, Conservation, Community and Culture)”, says Dave van Smeerdijk, Wilderness Safaris Marketing and Sales Director. Comprising 10 luxury tents, DumaTau is located in the private 125 000-hectare Linyanti Wildlife Reserve in northern Botswana. The camp operates completely on solar energy, for hot water,... Read More →
Spotlight: Sustainability
A Uranium Mine in the Selous: 60 Million Tons of Radioactive Waste in Africa’s Last Great Wilderness?
May 21, 2013
Lake Manze, Selous Game Reserve. © Josef Friedhuber Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the travel industry has yet fully awakened to the massive changes that are likely to result to the environment and ecosystem in Tanzania and elsewhere in Africa due to the events described in this guest post from Friends of Serengeti. Please take a moment to read this article and pass along. Tanzania’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals has granted a license to mine uranium in the Selous Game Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site of “outstanding universal value,” to a major international mining company. According to the website AllAfrica, the move will catapult Tanzania ahead of Canada as the world’s second largest uranium producer. Read the full story here. This comes after the decision last summer by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to allow Tanzania to alter the boundaries of the reserve in order to pave the way for uranium mining. Why the Selous Matters Covering... Read More →
Member Press Releases
Jordan Campbell’s New Documentary Film Chronicles Blindness and Peace in South Sudan
May 21, 2013
World Premiere of DUK COUNTY at Telluride Mountainfilm 2013, May 23 to 27 Boulder, CO. — After 40 years of civil war, John Dau, has seen his native country, South Sudan, ravaged and his life forever changed. In 1987, mercenaries sent by the Northern Sudanese Army forced Dau—then just 12 years old—and hundreds of other young boys to flee their home in Duk County, and most of Southern Sudan. The boys’ mass exodus swelled into tens of thousands as they reached Ethiopia and later Northern Kenya on foot with many dying of thirst, starvation, disease and wild animal attacks en route. Aptly branded the “Lost Boys of Sudan,” they scratched out their existence in refugee camps for more than a decade. In 2001, Dau was one of 3,800 “Lost Boys” who were relocated to the U.S. After building a life in Syracuse, N.Y., he returned to South Sudan and founded the Duk Lost Boys Clinic near his village in the heart of Duk County. Dau built the charitable medicine clinic to restore hope... Read More →
Member Press Releases
South African Airways and Etihad Airways Forge Strategic Partnership
May 20, 2013
South African Airways to codeshare on 12 Etihad Airways flights to Abu Dhabi and beyond Etihad Airways to have access to 10 cities in South Africa and African continent Airlines to explore joint procurement, training and maintenance opportunities Provision for reciprocal ‘earn and burn’ with frequent flyer programmes Johannesburg – South African Airways (SAA) and Etihad Airways have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) allowing the two airlines to introduce a comprehensive range of codeshare and interline air services as well as explore synergy and efficiency opportunities. Initially South African Airways will place its ‘SA’ code on 12 Etihad Airways destinations flying from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) national carrier’s Abu Dhabi home-base. Additional cities in the Middle East, Asia and India will be added as the necessary approvals are secured. In return Etihad Airways will place its ‘EY’ code on flights from Johannesburg to 10 SAA destinations across South... Read More →
Member Press Releases
Uganda Wildlife Authority Offering Additional Gorilla Permits
May 20, 2013
One of the World’s Most Intimate Experiences Becomes More Accessible KAMPALA, Uganda - What was once the world’s largest family of mountain gorillas, the Nshongi, located in the southern sector of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest in Uganda, has been reconfigured into three families. At the same time, another band, the Kahungye, has split into two. “These additions bring the total family groups in this sector to five, meaning more gorilla permits and more tracking options for tourists,” says Corne Schalkwyk, general manager of Premier Safaris, a specialist in adventure/luxury safaris in East Africa Of all the groups, Schalkwyk believes the most interesting is the Busingye, led by a chest-thumping Silverback, a veritable King Kong, whose legendary forays in the wild for adult females have earned him a privileged place among gorilla Don Juans. “He mercilessly grabs females from groups that he encounters and has grown his turf (and his brood) faster than other gorillas. Visitors... Read More →
Member Press Releases
Africa Adventure Consultants’ Livingstone Safari Named Top Tour
April 30, 2013
200th anniversary safari honored by National Geographic Traveler for 2013 Denver, CO - A new safari from Africa Adventure Consultants (AAC) has been named to National Geographic Traveler’s “50 Tours of a Lifetime,” featured in the magazine’s May/June 2013 issue: “In Livingstone’s Footsteps: The Final Journey” is one of four itineraries created by AAC to honor the 200th anniversary of the birth of famed missionary explorer David Livingstone. “It’s off to Lake Tanganyika, Africa’s deepest lake, which Livingstone helped map, and Ujiji, where journalist Henry Morton Stanley encountered the ailing explorer in 1871 and famously remarked, ‘Dr. Livingstone, I presume,’” says the magazine about The Final Journey, placing it in a context of adventures that push “beyond the boundaries of mainstream tourism, exploring the planet as never before.” “We’re happy that National Geographic Traveler found our new trip as exciting as we do,” says Africa Adventure... Read More →
Member Press Releases
SAA Receives Two Major Honours: Most On-Time Airline in The World and Best Business Class Product
April 30, 2013
Johannesburg - South African Airways (SAA) has received two major endorsements from respected industry experts. In the first, SAA topped the list of the most on-time airlines in the world in a report produced by an independent entity, FlightStats, Inc., the leading provider of global flight and airport information services. According to the FlightStats report, South African Airways was one of the only two major international carriers that delivered over 90% of their flights on time in March. SAA took the number one spot with 92.26% whilst Gulf Air came in second at 92.11%. The FlightStats March 2013 On-Time Airline & Airport Performance Report further states that major international airlines had on average delivered 78.76% of their flights to the arrival gate within 15 minutes of schedule in March, up slightly from February’s 77.64%. Cancellations for the same group in March were 1.35%, down from 1.57% last month. According to SAA’s General Manager of Operations, Zuks Ramasia:... Read More →
