WIN ATRIP FOR 2 TO TREK THE INCA TRAIL IN SOUTH AMERICA! FROM INTREPID TRAVEL
WORLDWIDE 2007
INCLUDED ISSUE #14 $6.95 >GST
TRAVEL CULTURE
! N I W
ND UILD A B E R P HEL
TE ULTIMA E H T O T A TRIP S
UT H H C A BE IL R DETA SIDE FO SEE IN
ISSN 1449-3543
text: mark rasmussen images: scott gilbertson
With one last prayer and the memory of an instructional safety video completely forgotten – save for the funky porn-style soundtrack – Mark Rasmussen slowly steps off the platform. All that is between him and the jungle floor below is a harness, a cable and a 60-metre drop.
#34 get lost! ISSUE #14
get in the know! When gibbons swing by their arms from branch to branch (apparently up to 15 metres apart) it is called brachiating.
laos
This is ecotourism the Lao way. The success to date of the Gibbon Experience in far north-western Laos suggests that it is doing more than merely providing a good time for adventurous travellers. This eco-friendly project was also established to allow local villagers to take greater responsibility for protecting the endangered black gibbon. With poaching, logging and slash-and-burn farming destroying much of the primary forest and its inhabitants in South-East Asia, something had to be done. Fortunately, a concept evolved that entailed treehouses constructed by local mountain villagers and an extensive network of zip lines that weave their way through the canopy of the Bokeo Nature Reserve.
get in the know! To stamp out poaching, guards at Bokeo Nature Reserve can confiscate weapons, fine offenders and take them to the police.
’’
T
HE SUSPENSION CABLE DANGLES FROM ONE gargantuan tree to another. As I zip along, I recall the last piece of advice from the video: make sure the safety line is secure! I barely have time to check as I bear down on a tree with nothing more than a plank of wood attached. This is my landing platform. One by one, the members of our small group make their way into the main treehouse. We catch our breath and marvel at our exploits. And to think this is only the first flying fox. With three treehouses interconnected by hundreds of metres of cable running through and over the tree-top canopy, there will be plenty to keep the mind and body on edge for the next few days.
With long cable lines and huge drops, the Gibbon Experience is not for the faint-hearted or people prone to vertigo.
’’
ISSUE #14 get lost! #35
When the last of our local guides zips across to join us in the treehouse, we sit down and eat the first of many meals to come. With just enough time to digest our delicious rice and vegetable dishes, we’re hooked back up to the flying fox and jump into thin air again. With long cable lines and huge drops, the Gibbon Experience is not for the fainthearted or people prone to vertigo. Yet despite the speed at which we travel, we’re able to take in incredible views of the absolutely breathtaking scenery. Not all of our time is spent dangling high above the canopy. There are plenty of forest walking tracks to explore.
’’
We can make out the cries of an animal about to become another’s meal. With no lighting or sense of how close the action and animals actually are, our imagination runs wild.
’’
The three treehouses that we visit are well-constructed dwellings, comfortably housing two, four and six people respectively. We stay two nights in total and it is possible to switch between the houses.
#36 get lost! ISSUE #14
get in the know! Bokeo Province is Laos’ smallest province yet has around 34 different ethnicities.
laos
’’
The local mountain villagers not only act as guides but also cook and clean. They ensure that the treehouses have all you could need: fresh water, showers with a view unlike any other, a drop toilet with the longest drop you’ll ever squat over, comfy beds and pillows, mosquito netting and plenty of nutritious food. As daylight gives way to darkness and our guides leave for the night, we bed down. Sleeping in the jungle canopy is a surreal experience. Birdcalls, monkey howls, animal growls and the sounds of tree branches snapping make for an interesting night of sleep. It is hard to drift off, partly because of the unusual sounds but also due to the adrenaline that accompanies being in such a remarkable environment. Morning arrives with Ting, our guide, taking us on a jungle trek in the hope of spying a few black gibbons. We bash and crash our way through the jungle undergrowth and with each snap of a stepped-on branch and thwack of bamboo the prospect of sighting a gibbon diminishes. The tranquil surrounds and the morning views are more than adequate compensation, however. A few quick zips before breakfast and we return to the treehouse to tuck into a well-earned morning meal. The Gibbon Experience has transformed the local economy to one based on conservation-focused activity. At present, the forest guards in the Bokeo Nature Reserve receive a salary. This is fully funded through the Gibbon Experience and they work 24 hours a day in rotating shifts and monitor 25 per cent of the 123,000-hectare reserve. The reserve is rich in biodiversity, with a huge array of birds, insects and mammals (including groups of black gibbons, bears, tigers and migrating populations of wild buffalo and elephants).
Sleeping in the jungle canopy is a surreal experience. Birdcalls, monkey howls, animal growls and the sounds of tree branches snapping make for an interesting night of sleep.
’’
The funds raised from travellers’ stays are reinvested to protect the forest for future generations. The next day provides an opportunity to change treehouses and for a more ‘romantic’ setting, my girlfriend and I move into the smallest of the three treehouses. It sleeps two comfortably and with the whole jungle to ourselves it is time to spice things up. What better way than a spot of ‘skinny-zipping’? After removing my clothes, I zip out and back on our private flying fox. The night proves more dramatic than our first evening amongst the trees. We can make out the cries of an animal about to become another’s meal. With no lighting or sense of how close the action and animals actually are, our imaginations run wild. In the morning, a mist rolls its way through the mountains like a slow-moving river. A morning hike marks our last few hours in the beautiful reserve. We are still not able to spot a black gibbon but we savour the experience of such a worthy and inspiring project.
get in the know! Gibbons’ loud voices cause them to be sometimes called the songbirds of the primate family – they even sing duets.
Flights You can get return flights to Bangkok from major capital cities in Australia with Jetstar from A$862 tax inclusive. Check out www.jetstar.com for more information. Thai Airways flies from Bangkok to Vientiane for around A$230 one way. From there, Laos Air can take you to Huay Xai, (also spelt Houayxay and Houayxai), which will take around 45 minutes and cost around A$100.
Visas + Vaccinations Australians need a visa to visit Laos. Check out www.smartraveller.gov.au for health advice. For more information check out the Gibbon Experience website at www.gibbonx.org To book, email experience@gibbonx.org or call +856 84 21 20 21.
ISSUE #14 get lost! #37
egypt
#38 get lost! ISSUE #14
get in the know! The native papyrus plant that once thrived along the Nile was used by the ancient Egyptians to make paper.
Penny Watson gives up basic creature comforts for some time-out on a slow boat down the Nile.
text: penny watson images: penny watson
I
’M NOT SURE WHO WAS SNORING BUT THE orchestra of nasal instruments that woke me has subsided. I am left to ponder the sounds of my first night adrift on the Nile. Above me, sails ping as they brush against the mast, a rhythmic percussion that competes with the slow slapping of tiny waves against a wooden rudder. A lonely dog that I imagine to be sitting resolutely beneath a date palm ululates into the blackness from the shore. The haunting sounds of the call to prayer carry across the water from a nearby village. I lie there, listening. The sights and sounds of the Nile have captured the attention of western travellers since the nineteenth century. In 1869, Thomas Cook, an English publisher, packed two steamboats full of Brits and took them on an Egyptian river cruise unlike anything they’d experienced along the River Thames: vast sand dunes rising only metres from the river’s edge, date palms and camels silhouetted against the setting sun and open-air history lessons told in the tombs and temples that punctuated the river banks. Westerners are still travelling to Egypt in vast numbers and a visit would be incomplete without an adventure on its famous river, the lifeblood of the country. There is a variety of ways and means of travelling the Nile. The key variables are time, money and inclination. One option is to board a four-level cruise boat: a ‘floating hotel’ complete with swimming pool, bar, restaurant and all the mod cons. However, this mode of transport may guarantee you estrangement from the heartbeat of this enigmatic land.
’’
Queen Cleopatra once sailed these waters in the same style of craft and little has changed.
’’
Another option, the one my new-found friends and I have chosen, is far more rudimentary: a 30foot felucca. Queen Cleopatra once sailed these waters in the same style of craft and little has changed. Our little sailboat has no motor and – wait for it – no toilet. We are at the beck and call of the wind to propel our craft downstream and at the mercy of the Nubian sailors to deliver us to shore when nature calls. Our trip began in the Egyptian town of Aswan, a sleepy place on the riverbanks of the Nile. It’s worth wearing yourself out seeing the sights in and around Aswan because a three-night felucca cruise is ultimately a chance to chill. From Aswan downstream to Luxor there are a handful of get in the know! Feature films The English Patient and Raiders of the Lost Ark were set in Egypt but were actually shot in Tunisia.
ISSUE #14 get lost! #39
egypt
’’
The roomy deck... is the place to lay back, read a book, play cards or trail fingers in the coffee-colouredwater.
#40 get lost! ISSUE #14
’’
attractions on shore but most of the time is spent on board as the felucca quietly edges its way north, tacking from one side of the river to the other, sometimes getting nowhere. Spread across the wooden deck, a flat expanse that fits two men lying end to end, are brightly coloured mattresses and scattered cushions. By night this is our communal bed: five Americans and five Australians side by side, swaddled in sleeping bags and beanies. By day, there is no other choice. The roomy deck, shaded by a tarpaulin, is the place to lay back, read a book, play cards or trail fingers in the coffee-coloured water. For the amateur photographers among us, it’s also an opportune time to get behind the lens. The day-to-day life of the Egyptian people is played out along the banks like an intimate movie. A fisherman in a wooden canoe sits patiently among the reeds, net in hand, waiting for a bite. Grubby children kick a soccer ball on the muddy water’s edge. A man drags his donkey along a precarious dirt ridge while another, in long traditional dress, jumps up and down on shore, waving his arms around to get our attention for no identifiable reason. The African landscape is beguiling. Camels, with their doe eyes, stare at us languidly from the banks, chewing their cud like gum. Date palms spread their spiky branches over flatroofed concrete villas and every so often the elegant minaret of a mosque appears against the brilliant blue sky, reminding me of the fragile hand-blown perfume bottles for sale in Aswan’s street market. The gentle putt-putt-putt of a pump gets louder as we approach the water stations that help irrigate the emerald green crops flanking the river and extending toward the desert. A few days later, high up in a hot-air
get in the know! The word nile comes from the Greek word neilos, meaning “river valley”.
The temple of Kom Ombo.
balloon over Luxor’s Valley of the Kings, I begin to comprehend just how much Egypt and its people rely upon the Nile. Its water courses the length of the country like a major artery and its banks provide the sustenance for existence. A defined line, like a jagged scar, separates the irrigated crops from the parched desert, the starving earth from the drenched. Slow bends in the river often expose the darkened doorways of tombs and small temples burrowed into the riverbank. We don’t stop at these, waiting instead for the major archeological sights between Aswan and Luxor. The first of these is Kom Ombo, a magnificent structure that sits high on a hill towering above the cruise ships docked on the edge of the Nile. The temple is divided into halves, mirror images of each other. One side is dedicated to the hawk-headed god Haroeris and the other to Sobek, a god in the form of a crocodile. Mummified crocodiles can be found in a small dusty room to the right of the temple, evidence that these reptilian
beasts once sunned themselves on the reedy banks of the river. Such dangers no longer lurk in the murky waters. On the afternoon of the second day we don board shorts and bikinis for a swim. Taking a dip may be a particularly Australian predilection as only one of the Americans braves the water and he doesn’t dare sink below the surface. Despite scaremongering about water-borne bacteria, I can report that all five that took the plunge are still alive and healthy. As the sun sets we keep sailing to make up for time that was lost when the wind died. The landscape is bathed in brushstrokes of brilliant pink, red and yellow, turning the foreground trees into a series of two-dimensional paper cut-outs. The stars start to wink at us from above. One night while we bathe in the stillness of this serene time of day, our felucca, devoid of any warning lights, drifts into the path of an oncoming cruise ship. The crew are swift into action, shedding
get in the know! Aswan Dam was completed in 1970 and is one of the earth’s largest structures.
ISSUE #14 get lost! #41
#56 get lost! ISSUE #14
get in the know! Rwanda is sometimes called Africa’s Switzerland.
rwanda
text: justin jamieson images: justin jamieson
I
In the jungles of the land of a thousand hills, Justin Jamieson eyeballs a mountain gorilla.
LOOK UP WITH A START AS THE OTHER SEVEN tourists gasp. The lush green foliage parts and standing not more than two metres away is Ubumwe. He’s tall, dark and looks a little bit pissed off. Given that he is almost two hundred kilograms of muscle I’m not going to argue with him. Remembering what I had been told in the morning briefing, I look down quickly as he looks at us – “don’t make eye contact, and if the silverback charges, crouch over and show submission”. Is whimpering with fear submissive enough? But Ubumwe does not charge, instead he reaches to his left and snaps off a thick piece
of bamboo and turns his silver back on us. Staring out over one of the thousand hills for which Rwanda is renowned, Ubumwe chomps on his morning tea. Behind him, his family begin to appear, almost nonchalantly unaware of the gaggle of gobsmacked tourists. Everyone is silent with mouths open in disbelief and awe. If I reached out I could shake Ubumwe’s hand. If I could reach out, that is. Instead, I am stuck to the spot staring at a creature with 97 per cent of my own DNA. Mountain gorillas are drawing increasing numbers of intrepid travellers to Ruhengeri
in the Virunga Mountains, part of the Republic of Rwanda. An understandable sense of caution hovers over the central African country. Only thirteen years ago, nearly a million people were butchered in one bloody month. A day spent at the Kigali Memorial Centre, built to highlight the atrocities that occurred, is a worthy introduction to Rwanda and offers real insight to its people and their troubled history. We had been in Rwanda for almost a week before venturing up into the Virunga Mountains. Amongst the hills is the capital city of Kigali, a bustling, dusty town that hasn’t succumbed to
get in the know! Gorillas are critically endangered, their survival is threatened by poaching, destruction of their habitat and their susceptibility to human diseases.
ISSUE #14 get lost! #57
the tourist dollar. Its lack of pretension is part of its charm. Tourists are given a curious glance and generally greeted with a smile. Evenings in Kigali buzz with local street stalls and vendors. Small bars welcome the thirsty and music lures the drunks to dance. With the genocide being so relatively recent, the desire of the Rwandans to move on and celebrate life seems to come alive in the music of the evenings. We spend three days in Kigali, enjoying the atmosphere and seeing groups return from their treks to Ruhengeri, wildeyed with stories of chest-beating silverbacks, curious baby gorillas climbing onto tourists’ shoulders and even the tale of a young American girl being wrestled to the ground (gorillas are very intelligent). Each night we’d sit around one of the local bars with a cold beer, growing more envious with every story. On the morning of our tour, the gorilla briefing from our guide Francois was strict. Given the dwindling numbers of these amazing creatures, his stern
#58 get lost! ISSUE #14
warnings were not unexpected. Anyone with flu-like symptoms cannot make the trip and we are told several times that we must keep a distance of two metres at all times as the gorillas are susceptible to human diseases. Francois is a tough old character (the other guides call him “silverback”) with sorrow in his eyes. While his passion for the primates is obvious and he tells us with pride of the honour in his job, Francois has also seen the dark side of the work. This included the death of his friend Dian Fossey, the pioneer of this incredible opportunity. We are split up into groups of eight. Each group is allocated one hour per day with their designated gorilla family. No more, no less and accompanied at all times by a soldier that is armed and ready to kill any suspected poachers. Depending on which group you find yourself in and where your family has wandered to, the treks into the mountains can take from two to six hours. With trackers out in the mountains radioing back to headquarters, we are aware of the gorillas’ general
’’
rwanda
The first sighting is exhilarating...Here in front of us is one of only 700 mountain gorillas left on the planet, so close and in its natural habitat.
’’
vicinity before trudging off into the mountain jungle. The foliage has nettles the size of my head, a sting from which can render the area stung numb for up to a week. The first sighting is exhilarating. Francois points to an infant sitting in a tree about fifteen metres away. Having just unloaded all of our carry bags and water (which cannot be taken close to the family), the excitement amongst our group is almost boiling over. Here in front of us is one of only 700 mountain gorillas left on the planet, so close and in its natural habitat.
get in the know! The first recorded gorilla sighting (by western civilization) was in the 5th century BC by a Roman explorer.
ISSUE #14 get lost! #59
confessions
SOMETIMES YOU JUST KNOW WHEN IT’S
TIMETOMOVEON text: karina white
images: magda bytnerowicz
Trips never work out exactly as planned. On a trip of a lifetime in Africa, Karina White found that out firsthand.
I
T WAS 20 MARCH 1998. FOUR MONTHS AND five days has passed since 19 of us had left London for one of the most incredible adventures of our lives: an overland trip from London to South Africa. Over these months, we had come to know each other well. But things got more intense in the heart of Africa. We’d travelled from London to Congo, a country that had not featured on our original itinerary. Our plans had altered dramatically when a group ahead of us was held up just over the border of the Central African Republic. Horrifically, two female travellers had been raped and the rest of the group were beaten senseless. The border was closed and our path changed. We headed south to Gabon and on to Congo, bribing our way through borders and police checks on our new route south through Zaire. One night, as we turned off the road into a scrubby area to camp, we noticed a roadblock 20 metres away. Assuming we were fleeing, 30-odd military-clad men cocked their guns and prepared to fire. We stopped as soon as we saw them and awaited their approach. Most were drunk and all were armed with AK-47s, M16s and the like. One came to the back of the truck and threatened us with a hand grenade. We were ordered off the truck and were split into groups: boys to one side, girls to the other. I honestly thought my life was over. They looted our gear while drunken soldiers, half of them still teenagers, kept us in our lines. I held back tears of fear and anger while trying to keep a passive face. If I make it through this I’m outta here, I thought. This was not the Africa I had come to see. The mood changed considerably when a military vehicle approached. The boy soldiers suddenly attempted to appear sober and authoritative. The vehicle contained a senior official who, to our delight, could speak French and took our letter of safe passage from the border officials very seriously. Two nights in the nearby base later, a heap of diesel, medicine and t-shirts had bought our freedom and we were on our way again: shocked, relieved but all intact. Ten days later I farewelled my mates for London. It took me only 26 days to recover and return to Africa and two months before I rejoined the group. After all, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. #96 get lost! ISSUE #14
get in the know! Bottles of Kalashnikov vodka feature a picture of General Kalashnikov, who designed the AK-47 automatic rifle, also known as Kalashnikov.