Tag Archives: Gambia

The Gambia: RootsFest cancelled

Plans for the biennial festival honoring those caught up in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and honoring their descendants in the African Diaspora have unraveled. Why? Who knows?

It seems there will be no International Roots Festival this year in the Gambia.

Held every two years to commemorate the trans-Atlantic slave, the festival is based on the writings of Alex Haley’s book “Roots: The Saga of an American Family,” which began in the Gambia. It was held in early February, during the dry season.

Organizers made a special point of inviting visitors from across the African Diaspora — especially from the United Kingdom, the Caribbean and the United States — to attend.

IBIT was there in 2011 and made some wonderful new friends. Among them was Aadam Muhammad from London, who had bought a travel package to return to the Gambia for this year’s festival.

It was from Aadam that I learned that the festival had been cancelled. He had confirmed it first through the London travel company through which he had bought his Gambia package, then through the national tourism board in the Gambia itself.

Disappointing as this cancellation is, the circumstances surrounding it are, in their own way, even more disturbing. Why? Because no one knows what those circumstances are.

Well, someone knows what they are. They just aren’t sharing that information with the public.

To date, the only public word on the cancellation I’ve been able to find is this terse announcement on the festival’s Web site:

“The Ministry of Tourism and Culture regrets to announce that the International ROOTS festival slated for May 2013 has been postponed till further notice. Any inconvience(sp) caused is deeply regreted.(sp)”

BIG MYSTERY
The announcement uses the word “postponed” instead of “cancelled,” but with the less tourist-friendly wet season fast approaching, the likelihood of this event being held any time in 2013 would seem pretty slim.

So what happened? So far, it’s all a big mystery. Not a word about it anywhere in Gambian news media. Nothing from the tourism ministry’s own site. Nothing from the home pages of the Gambian embassies in the US or the UK.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Aadam wasn’t having any more luck than I was, even after personally contacting the GTA’s marketing director in the Gambia:

“I asked why it was cancelled and he seemed as if he didn’t want to fully disclose the reason. When I asked him if this cancellation has been officially stated on the primary Roots homecoming festival website, he once again chose not to respond clearly. For all we know, people may still be planning to attend; purchase tickets make other arrangements.”

I sent an email to the Gambian Tourism Authority, asking what happened, using the email link the GTA provides on its Web site. The email bounced back to me moments later, almost certainly unseen by anyone.

WARNING SIGNS
In hindsight, perhaps I should’ve seen this coming.

You know how certain things, when they happen, cause the little hairs on the back of your neck to stand up? I had that sensation when I first heard that the festival, initially scheduled for February per usual, had been reset for March. March then became May, which then became June, then back to May.

When a festival date becomes a moving target, for whatever reason, that will make you nervous.

The next clue came when friends who work in Gambian hotels told me they had been furloughed, right around the time that the festival was due to take place. As red flags go, that’s a big one.

When Aadam told me of hearing of the festival’s cancellation, it confirmed my worst fears.

I don’t know what happened in the Gambia to bring this about. So far, that information seems to be a big, tightly held secret. But winning back the trust of prospective visitors to “the smiling coast of Africa” will be a daunting task, indeed.

What a letdown.

It also points to the need to cover yourself with some form of travel insurance that offers you a chance to recover all your expenses when things go wrong.

ALSO CHECK OUT
the GAMBIA: Homecoming
An African Christmas lesson
AFRICA

Your ticket to the Gambia

Leave a reply

Slave fort, the former James Island, Gambia River |©IBIT/Greg Gross

An Africa travel expert is offering to take you to the Gambia for eleven unforgettable days, May 1-11.

Two years ago, a group of us, black American travel professionals, photographers and expats, journeyed to the Gambia for the International Roots Festival.

Among them was Gaynelle Henderson-Bailey of Washington DC.

Ahead were eight days of unique scenery, introductions into West African culture and the unbelievable warmth and friendliness of the Gambian people, who have a special place in their hearts for black Americans who visit their country.

Young men in Albreda, Gambia | ©Greg Gross

The two words you may hear most often while you’re there are “welcome home.”

The Gambia was made famous in America by author Alex Haley, who traced his own ancestry back to a small Gambian village in his book “Roots: The Saga of an American Family.” The village where Haley’s ancestor, Kunta Kinteh, grew up is still there, and we met some of his descendants.

We also ferried across the river to the ruins of James Island, the slave fort where Kunta and other African captives were warehoused before being loaded onto slave ships for the gruesome journey across the Atlantic Ocean to America.

And we were on hand the day that James Island was renamed Kunta Kinteh Island by the Gambian government.

The most life-changing moments came during the futampaf, the day-long rite of passage in which participants are adopted into Gambian families and given their family name.

“I’ve been traveling to Africa since I was 18,” she said. “But when I came back, my family couldn’t believe how excited I was.”

Mosque, Kaolack, Senegal | ©Greg Gross

Two years later, Gaynelle is going back. And she’s inviting you to go with her.

Her agency, Henderson Travel Service, is offering an eight-day tour package to coincide with this year’s International Roots Festival. And those who go will experience even more than we did two years ago.

Travelers will fly on South African Airways from Washington-Dulles airport to Dakar, the capital of Senegal.

“We’ve allowed a day and a half in Senegal,” she said. “There will be a tour of Dakar, which is a thriving metropolis, and Goree Island.”

After that, it’s off by road and river ferry to the Gambia. Your stay there will include:

Dinner and a welcome reception.
The official opening of the International Roots Festival, including a colorful parade of masks, drummers, dancers and musicians.
A cruise up the Gambia River to the twin villages of Albreda and Juffureh, the home of the Kinteh clan, as well as to Kunta Kinteh Island.
A two-day stay in Kanilai for the futampaf.
A boat ride through the Makasutu Cultural Forest.
A gala dinner and awards ceremony.

The cost: $2,999 per person. You could pay that for airfare alone.

When it comes to African travel, Gaynelle Henderson-Bailey has quite the heritage of her own. Henderson Travel Service has been around since 1955, the first fully appointed, African-American travel agency in the United States.

Back in 1957, its founders chartered a plane to take American travelers to Ghana to celebrate that country’s independence — the first black African colony to gain its independence from Europe. The agency has been promoting African travel ever since. So these folks definitely know their way around the Mother Continent.

If this sounds like a great trip — and believe me, it is — Gaynelle tells me she has a few spaces available, but you need to act fast. If you’ve ever dreamed of an African homecoming, you won’t get a better chance.

CONTACT:
Henderson Travel Service

And if they ask you how you heard about their Gambia tour package, tell them you heard about it from Yaya Colley on IBIT.

Row of kora players, International Roots Festival, Banjul, Gambia | ©Greg Gross

ALSO CHECK OUT:
West Africa Journal

AIRLINES: A new African bird

Leave a reply

Airbus A319 of Gambia Bird

The Gambia has a new national airline linking together West Africa, just in time for this year’s International Roots Festival. But its implications for West African travel extend far beyond that.

There’s a new bird in the skies over West Africa — a Gambia Bird.

From its hub in the Gambian capital city of Banjul, the airline first took to the skies last November with a paired of leased Airbus A319s.

Gambia Bird’s primarily flies to West African countries belonging to ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States. However, it also connects the Gambia to Europe via London Gatwick and Barcelona, Spain.

One small airline for West Africa. One big step for West African tourism.

The airline’s name itself is a clever play on Gambian tourism. Birdwatching is huge in the Gambia, and people come from all over to get a glimpse of some of the nearly 600 species of birds — some of which are flirting with extinction.

Its startup comes just in time for the 2013 International Roots Festival. But its importance to the Gambia and the rest of West Africa extends far beyond that one event.

Prior to this, few African airlines and even fewer non-African carriers served the Gambia, Africa’s smallest country. That left most travelers either having to reach the Gambia via Senegal Airlines from Dakar or traveling overland from one of the Gambia’s neighbors.

Road travel is seldom a comfortable option in Africa. If anything, driving for hours or days over beat-up, overtaxed and under-maintained African roads should be reserved for those who find value in suffering.

Gambia Bird not only gives West Africa a fresh set of airline connections, but also makes it easier for Europeans to fly directly to “the smiling coast of Africa,” as the Gambia is known. It’s also another option for Americans wishing to visit the Gambia, since there are no direct flights as yet to the Gambia from the United States.

Gambia Bird represents another European venture into the African airline market. It was founded by the German low-fare airline Germania, which offers some seriously cheap airfares within the European continent.

At reported in the IBIT Travel Digest, Britain’s low-fare easyJet already has set up shop in East Africa and is looking to expand.

Little by litte, with a push from European airlines exploiting an open market, Africa’s frayed web of airline travel is slowly being stitched together.

If Gambia Bird succeeds, don’t be surprised to see new hotels follow on the heels — or the wingtips — of this new airline.

the GAMBIA: Homecoming

1 Reply

The 2013 International Roots Festival is returning this spring to the Gambia. It’s a biennial event in which the West African nation reaches out to Africans in the Diaspora with a simple two-worded message:

“Welcome home.”

The festival itself is built around the work of American author Alex Haley, who traced his familial heritage to the Gambia in his book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The fishing village where Kunta Kinteh was born (and where his descendants remain) is still where, as is the island fort where he and other African captives were held before being shipped to America as slaves.

It’s also where a select number of festivalgoers will symbolically embrace their own African roots in a symbolic initiation ceremony called the futampaf.

I attended the festival in 2011, my first time on African soil. Those will forever be ten special days in my life. The YouTube slideshow above is the product of those ten days.

For more about my Gambian experience, look on the AFRICA page under West Africa, where you’ll find a series of articles titled WEST AFRICA JOURNAL.

And check IBIT in the days to come for more detailed information on this year’s RootsFest, and how you can be there yourself.

An African Christmas lesson

3 Replies

The true meaning of Christmas can reveal itself anywhere — including a pair of predominantly Muslim countries in West Africa.

At some point before the end of this Christmas Day, after you’ve opened all the presents, stolen your mistletoe kisses and polished off Christmas dinner, take a moment to read a little something from the Associated Press.

The dateline is Dakar, the capital of French-speaking Senegal, on the coast of West Africa.

It tells how the country’s 95 percent Muslim population also celebrates Christmas, which the country treats as a secular national holiday.

To prove the point, the article includes a pic of Dakar’s Independence Square, decorated with a fine set of Christmas lights.

Americans who have grown comfortable with their blind fear and loathing of Islam may look at this in stunned disbelief. The Senegalese people might well look back at those same Americans and ask, “Where have YOU been?”

Not to Senegal, obviously.

To read the entire AP story, click here.

Click your way through the pics accompanying the article and you’ll see a cheerfully lit Christmas sign reading “Bienvenue à Dakar” — Welcome to Dakar — right in front of a mosque.

While the world in general and America especially focus on the conflicts created by Muslim extremists trying to force sharia law on portions of African countries like Nigeria and Mali, both Senegal and its tiny Muslim neighbor, the Gambia, quietly go about life as they always have, with Christians and Muslims getting along just fine.

In the Gambia, official ceremonies and big public events open with two prayers, the first from a Muslim imam, the second from a Christian minister. This extends to meetings held by the president of the country.

This is not a show put on for the tourists. This is the norm.

Christians join with their Muslim friends and neighbors to celebrate Eid al Fitr, the feast marking the end of the month-long Ramadan fast. And their Muslim friends and neighbors share Christmas with them.

It’s not Iran, where Iranian Jews are free to practice their faith, so long as they do it “on the down low.” Christians build their small local churches and worship in the open. No one hassles them. No one bothers them.

And when you talk to Senegalese and Gambian people, you get the sense that they wouldn’t like it if anyone did.

It’s been this way in Senegal and the Gambia as long as anyone can remember. But since it doesn’t involve starving babies, vicious civil wars or terrorist bombings, there’s a good chance you may not have heard about it from mainstream media.

Peace and harmony seldom “lead” the evening news anywhere — but that’s a different conversation. This one’s about the meaning, or the point, of Christmas, a point perhaps best summed up in Luke 2:13-14 of the Bible:

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ‘
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace,
good will toward men.’”

Not goodwill toward Christian men. Goodwill toward everyone, everywhere. Starting with one’s own neighbors.

In places like Senegal and the Gambia, they don’t go around quoting this. They’re living it. Not just one reverent day out of the year, but every day.

Some of us Christians could learn a lot from these West African Muslims.

From all of us at IBIT to all of you: Peace on Earth, goodwill…to everyone, everywhere.

the IBIT Travel Digest 12.23.12

Leave a reply

The good, the bad and the bizarre in the world of travel

Tongli, China’s ancient Venice | ©IBIT/G. Gross

UP A LAZY ASIAN RIVER
River cruising has long been a travel staple in Europe and shows little sign of slowing down. But cruise lines and tour companies increasingly are looking to Asia as the Next Big Thing in cruising.

According to USA Today, Viking River Cruises, one of the biggest names in European river cruising, has already announced plans to offer river cruises in Myanmar and Thailand, starting in 2014.

Others aren’t waiting that long. Travel Daily News.Asia is reporting that Travel Indochina is already adding Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) and Laos to a river cruise itinerary that already includes Vietnam, Cambodia and Yangtze River cruises in China.

With increasing world interest in Asia and growing middle classes in Asian countries with money to spend and a desire to see more of their own homelands, Asian river cruising could be a hot market for years to come.

-0-

PUTTING A STOP TO MOTION SICKNESS
So far, this is one of life’s ailments that has mercifully passed me by. But there are plenty of people who suffer with this — and “suffer” is the operative term.

At the least, it can seriously interfere with your ability to enjoy travel. At its worst, it may prevent you from traveling altogether.

We’ve all had our share of laughs about motion sickness. Even Hollywood films and cartoons have gotten in on the levity. But every time I see the airsickness bag on the airplane or see folks on cruise ships with that little scopolamine patch on their necks, I’m reminded that motion sickness is no joke.

It’s a physical misunderstanding. Your inner ear tells your brain, “We’re moving!” Your eyes are saying, “No, we’re not!” Your stomach wishes they’d both shut the hell up.

There’s no real cure for motion sickness, but there are ways you can deal with this, and the New York Times breaks it all down at length in this article.

Their suggestions may not rid you of this curse, but they might make life a little easier for you, or your kids.

-0-

CHARGED UP
A lot of us travel with a lot of electronic gear — smartphones, iPods, tablets. They make us productive during those long flights, or at least keep us from dying of boredom.

But even if they’re fully charged when we leave for the airport, their batteries may be no match for that 10-hour or 12-hour transcontinental flight. And finding an available electrical outlet in a crowded terminal during an unexpected delay can be…well…challenging.

Which is why the Summit 3000 battery pack caught my attention. As Smarter Travel points out, it’s neither very light or really cheap, but if you need to keep your devices running in places where a plug isn’t handy, you may be glad you have this.

One especially cool feature is that it’s dual-voltage, which means you can use it overseas with no hassle; all you need is a plug adaptor for the country you’re in. And if you travel with electronic gear, odds are you already have some of those.

Still, it isn’t powerful enough to charge a laptop, which leaves my black MacBook feeling neglected and resentful.

-0-

FLYING YOUR FELINE
Traveling with pets is always tricky, especially if the pet is a cat. It’s tough enough on the sensitive little critters, even without having to deal with the TSA — which actually lost one traveler’s cat in New York JFK airport.

There’s nothing we can do about the TSA, but there are things cat owners can do to make travel easier on their beloved felines, and the folks at Smarter Traveler lay out their suggestions in this slideshow.

-0-

AND FINALLY…
If your Boeing and you want to test how well in-flight wifi works aboard your aircraft, what sort of exotic, sophisticated, state-of-the-art testing equipment do you use?

Why, potatoes, of course — 20,000 pounds of potatoes, right on the passenger seats.

And as proof that I’m neither crazy nor making this stuff up, check out this CNN story on Boeing’s wifi tests.

And please, no mashup jokes.

And now, here’s The Digest:

AIR
from Travel Weekly
Don’t look now, but your already miserable experience getting through airport security could get a lot worse two weeks into 2013. It’s all about your driver’s license and an eight-year-old federal law that gone unenforced — until now. IBIT will be exploring this in depth shortly.

from the Washington Post
Spas. Yoga. Luxury food. Fine dining. An international resort? You’ll increasingly find these high-end amenities in the last place you’d look for them — American airports.

from Christopher Elliot
Is the TSA doomed? A respected consumer writer says the powers that be have heard the traveling public’s gripes — and they’re paying attention.

from Smarter Travel
Seven ways to avoid airline baggage fees. SLIDESHOW

LAND
from the New York Times
Have you ever longed to explore ancient historic sites, without having to contend with mobs of tourists? Here are five spots around the world where your wish may come true…for now, anyway.

SEA
from Gadling
Cruise travel is rebounding from a rough year.

from Travel Weekly
Are the Viking River Cruises people building a navy or what? Already with ten new cruise ships on order for next year, they’ve already committed to eight more in 2014. That makes 24 new river cruisers in three years. But given Viking’s interest in Asia (see above), it makes perfect sense.

-0-

AFRICA
from The New Times (Kenya) via allAfrica.com
The national airlines of Kenya and Rwanda hook up in a strategic partnership that eventually could stremaline regional air travel between eastern and central Africa.

from The Point (Gambia) via allAfrica.com
A village on a pristine coastal stretch of the Gambia becomes the anchor point of an ambitious experiment in ecotourism.

from Vanguard (Nigeria) via allAfrica.com
A state government in Nigeria wants to turn the site of the country’s first recorded plane crash into a tourist attraction. Uhhh…

AMERICAS
from The Guardian (London UK)
We think of New Orleans mostly as a grown-ups’ playground, but come Christmastime, it becomes a magical place for kids.

from SFGate.com
Good news from Mexico: There’s a hotel building boom underway in Cancun.

from the Washington Post
A foodie’s tour of Peru. SLIDESHOW

from the Sacramento Bee
Hollywood has its stars, but in California’s Anza-Borrego Desert, you’ll get an unrestricted view of the real ones.

ASIA/PACIFIC
from CNNgo
Riding waves of modernization, gentrification and newly made Chinese money, there’s never been a better time to visit Hong Kong. An insider’s look at one of the world’s perpetually energized destinations.

from CCTV (China)
China and Nepal sign a commitment to promote tourism between the two countries.

from the Jakarta Post (Indonesia)
Have you ever poured Thousand Island dressing on your salad and wondered if such a place actually exists? It does. It’s in Indonesia, and the governor of the nation’s capital, Jakarta, would love to see the Thousand Islands region become a tourist attraction.

EUROPE
from the New York Times
Walk through history in the ancient city of Toledo, a city holy to Catholics in Spain. Its religious importance saw it escape multiple wars almost untouched.

from The Guardian (London UK)
How Vienna waltzes through Christmas.

from The Guardian (London UK)
The world’s oldest monument was discovered only about a decade ago. It’s 11,000 years old. And it’s in Turkey.

from the Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette (IL)
For most travelers interested in Europe, Slovenia doesn’t register as a worthwhile destination. And that’s kind of a shame.

the IBIT TRAVEL DIGEST 11.18.12

1 Reply

The Sahara Desert. Think you could survive here? | ©Simone Matteo Giuseppe Manzoni — Dreamstime.com

The good, the bad and the bizarre from the world’s best travel media

THE WORLD’S DRY PLACES
This edition of the IBIT Travel Digest is dedicated to my editor, P.A. Rice, whose name you’ll often see at the bottom of my blog posts. In addition to being a fine writer in her own right and a good friend of many years, she loves — I mean LOVES! — the desert.

Having been born in Louisiana and spent most of my life in coastal California, I’ve never been a desert person. Too much sand, too little shade, too many things that stick or bite you.

Oh, and did I mention that it’s usually hotter than all Hell? Unless, of course, it’s freezing cold.

But when she’s in the desert, she sees — or more accurately, feels — something different. Something profound. Something wondrous. And if you try looking at it through her eyes, you may start to see the desert in the same way.

It’s a land that makes you accept it on its own terms. But if you can do that, it will treat you to breathtaking sunrises and sunsets, night skies overflowing with stars and enough solitude to let you have meaningful conversations with your own soul.

I’ve seen sunlight and clouds combine over the Imperial Valley of California in ways that that I’ve seen nowhere else on Earth.

And as evidenced by this story in the London newspaper, The Guardian, she’s not alone in her appreciation of the world’s driest places.

The article lists incredible deserts all over the world — and tours to let you explore them. Deserts in Arizona, North Africa, Mongolia, and countries you may not even think of in terms of deserts.

Like Spain.

Don’t worry…it’s a DRY heat.

-0-

LOW-FARE AIR TO AFRICA
easyJet is Britain’s largest airline and one of the principal low-fare airlines in Europe. It’s orange-and-white Airbus A319s and A320s are a common slight all over the continent.

Now, according to The Guardian, easyJet’s Greek founder is bringing the low-fare airline concept to the Mother Continent.

Fastjet has taken off, literally, in Tanzania.

The implications of this are huge. Africa is one of the largest and most populous of all the world’s continents — and also by far the one most under-served by the world’s airlines.

If Fastjet succeeds, spreads and inspires the rise of competitors, it could revolutionize African air travel.

Stay tuned.

-0-

HIGH-STYLE HIGHWAY STOPS
If it’s been awhile since you took a cross-country road trip — and at today’s gasoline prices, who could blame you? — you will be forgiven if you go slack-jawed when you see what’s happening to highway rest stops these days.

I got my own inkling of that a couple of weeks ago on Interstate 5 in Southern California, heading back to San Diego.

There’s long been a rest stop overlooking the coast within the boundaries of the Camp Pendleton Marine Base, but I hadn’t stopped there in years. Small, nondescript, nothing special.

My, how things have changed. Two buildings are now three. Multiple large, clean restrooms, snack and soft-drink vending machines that actually work. And I didn’t check, but it might even have wifi now.

But as you’ll see in this Washington Post travel story, that’s nothing.

America’s rest stops are going upscale, so much so that some are on the verge of becoming destinations themselves. Check it out.

-0-

AND FINALLY…
And as long as we’re toying with the idea of hitting the road again, the financial magazine Kiplinger offers up this list of its 10 cheapest American cities for a good vacation.

The first thing you’ll notice about this list is that only two of its top 10 cities are anywhere west of the Mississippi River. One of them is Phoenix, AZ.

Desert. It figures.

But that’s not as amazing as the city that appears at the top of the Kiplinger list, the Number 1 destination for a cheap American vacation.

Drum roll, please…Riverside, CA.

When I first saw this, my initial reaction was “really?” Then I recalled my several drives through Riverside with my family enroute to and from family visits in Texas and Louisiana, not to mention my stops there on the train.

After thinking it all over, my reconsidered thought was…REALLY???

If you think you can make a compelling case that the Kiplinger folks are right, drop me a comment here on the blog or send an email to greg@imblacknitravel.com. I’m willing to be persuaded.

Just be prepared to work at it.

-0-

And now, here’s the Digest:

AIR
from Travel Weekly
American Airlines adds service to Europe, Asia and Latin America from its hubs in Dallas and Chicago. The flights themselves don’t begin til next year, but you can start booking them now.

from the Huffington Post
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what about the skies of the beholder? Would you fly in airplanes as ugly as these? SLIDESHOW

from CNN
The A350-AXWB is the lightweight, long-range airline that Airbus intends to compete with Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner. Will it catch on with the world’s airlines…and more importantly, their passengers?

LAND
from The Daily Beast
Where to find some of the world’s tastiest cheap eats. No surprise, most of them are in Asia.

from AARP
Airline etiquette — how to deal with rude passengers in-flight.

from USA Today
Is a steady regimen of business travel hazardous to your health?

SEA
from USA Today
NCL joins rival Carnival in selling all-you-can-drink packages aboard its cruise ships.

-0-

AFRICA
from allAfrica.com
British travelers vote their favorite city in the world. New York? Toronto? Paris? Surprise…it’s Capetown, South Africa.

from the Daily Observer (Gambia) via allAfrica.com
For foreign tourists, visiting the Gambia often means getting bum-rushed by “bumsters.” Mostly, they’re just a nuisance, but they can be a BIG nuisance.

from allAfrica.com
An unlikely alliance of US environmentalists, herdsmen from Somalia and financiers from China is joining forces in Kenya to save the rarest antelope in Africa. The hirola is closer to extinction than giant pandas, mountain gorillas or rhinos…and cannot survive in zoos.

from CNN
How to survive in the Sahara with the world’s original desert survival experts, the Tuareg.

AMERICAS
from the New York Times
Atlantic City refuses to bow down to Superstorm Sandy.

from Travel Weekly
And speaking of Sandy, resorts in the Caribbean are still reeling from its impact, these days in the form of widespread cancellations from US travelers. Good time to swoop in and negotiate a bargain, perhaps?

from the New York Times
Seth Kugel loves São Paulo. He wants you to love it, too. WARNING: You may have to work at it.

from the Washington Post
Have a thing for ghost towns? Then check out a pair of abandoned mining towns in Chile. SLIDESHOW

from the Huffington Post
For all the gloom-and-doom talk in the mainstream media about the demise of American manufacturing, there are a lot of local factories still making their own products — and making money doing it. Some of them will let you come in and watch. SLIDESHOW

ASIA/PACIFIC
from The Guardian (London UK)
Want to see where The Hobbit lives…at least on film? Head for New Zealand. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” hits theaters next month. Check out the incredibly beautiful land where it was shot.

from CNN
The Hello Kitty restaurant in Beijing. The pink ambiance will make you smile. The food will not.

EUROPE
from Travel Weekly
Greece is pining for more US tourists.

from The Guardian (London UK)
Some of the lesser known but no less worthy attractions of St. Petersburg, Russia.

from the New York Times
The Prague that hides in plain sight.

from the Washington Post
Here in the States, writers joke about tree-hugging hippies who think they can sing their way to revolution and freeom. In the scenic Baltic republic of Estonia, the people there actually did.

INTRODUCING: Travel Tech Thursday

1 Reply

©IBIT/G. Gross

Today, IBIT debuts a new feature to regularly explore the world of gear and gadgetry for you globe-sprinting travelers out there. Why “globe-sprinting?” Because who has time to just trot anymore!

The Canon G15 — Raising the bar or gilding the lily?
If you’re at all into photography, you already know two important things about Canon. The first is that the company has a reputation for making great cameras. The second is that it doesn’t let the grass grow under that rep.

And facing an array of competitors from Sony to Fuji to Nikon and Panasonic, it really can’t afford to.

So scarcely two years after buying and falling madly in love with the compact Canon G12, it comes as no surprise that the boys from Tokyo are already coming at me with its successor, the G15.

If you’re one of those folks who simply must have the “latest and greatest” of everything, an outfit like this will drive you crazy — or bankrupt, whichever comes first.

But first, a little background.

My infatuation with the G12 began with a quest for a travel camera to replace my beloved but aging and bulky Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30. I wanted something versatile, reliable and durable like the FZ30, but small enough to fit in a pocket — which the FZ30 clearly was not.

Enter Canon and its G units.

The PowerShot G series of compact “prosumer” Canon cameras has 12 models (and yes, I know they’re listed G1 through G15. Just take it up with Canon, okay? I’m math-challenged enough already.)

Back in my newspaper days, I worked with photographers who had access to the highest end of Canon’s high-end photo gear. But they also had their own G9s and G10s — and raved over them.

When the pros recommend a prosumer camera, you pay attention.

But by the time I was ready to pull the trigger on a G10 of my own, Canon had already mothballed the G11 and was cranking out the G12.

Not long after buying it, I took it to West Africa, Senegal and the Gambia. It was a tough test…and it passed beautifully.

The G12 is now my only camera. Most every image of mine that appears on this blog was shot with it. The FZ30? Thanks for the memories. Next stop: eBay.

A year or two passes. I hardly have time to look up from the G12 viewfinder or its articulated LCD screen when Canon brings out the G15.

So for those of us who love our little G12s, the question is:

Does the G15 represent a quantum leap in the PowerShot G series, or just an incremental step?

I’ve yet to get my hands on a G15, but there are reviewers who have. Here’s a quick-and-dirty summary of what they found so far:

The G15 lens is faster than the G12′s. That could come in handy in low-light situations in which travelers nearly always find themselves.
The G15 is smaller and lighter than the G12, which means it now fits in smaller pockets.
The G15 now shoots a higher standard of video — 1080p versus 720p for the G12 — and has a separate video button.
The G15 has an ISO rating up to 12800, making it four times “faster,” i.e., more light-sensitive, than the G12′s fastest ISO rating of 3200. Another low-light advantage.

Those are the goodies. But with every new camera, there are tradeoffs:

To make the G15 smaller and lighter, Canon sacrificed the G12′s articulated LCD screen.
Lighter means easier to carry, but also more fragile.
Radically higher ISO carry with them the prospect of grainy-looking or “noisy” images.

In conclusion, does the G15 represent an advance over the G12? I would say probably. Does it represent that quantum leap in photo technology that would justify dumping my trusty G12 for the new G15 — and its $500 list price tag?

In my case, probably not.

Okay, here’s the rest of what’s fresh in the travel tech world:

from TNOOZ
ioSafe…when you really, REALLY need to back up your data. A backup hard drive that can take it. Or so its makers claim. Just don’t leave it out overnight on a glacier.

from the New York Times
Just hit town without a reservation? Need a room for the night at the last minute? There’s an app for that. Several, in fact.

from TNOOZ
Do we perpetually late Americans have too many travel apps based on location…and not enough focused on time? This guy thinks so. Then again, us old-school types have always had a low-tech gadget that was perfect for that. It’s called a watch…

from Budget Travel
With 2012 drawing to a close, the BT crew found these ten gadgets at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to be hot stuff for travelers. Check out their selections and see if any of these would make a suitable Chritmas gift for your favorite traveler — including maybe yourself. SLIDESHOW

Edited by P.A.Rice

GAMBIA: The sound of West Africa’s soul

Leave a reply

The 21-string harp that forms the core of traditional West African music takes center stage for two weeks this spring in the Gambia.

Of all the instruments that have helped define traditional African music, none may be more iconic than the signature musical instrument of West Africa, the kora.

And this year, the Gambia — the nation where the kora was invented — will pay tribute to that fact with the first annual International Kora Festival, April 16-29.

Kora artists from all over the world will converge on Brikama for this two-week musical event. There will be seminars, symposiums, workshops, and an almost steady stream of kora music.

Outside of its West African homeland, the instrument is generically described as a 21-string harp. But like a lot of things that originate on the Mother Continent, the kora defies simple, glib descriptions — and so does its music.

To me, kora music is a spry, agile, feathery thing. The notes almost sound as if they’re dancing across a pool of still water. And yet in the hands of a master, a kora can take you across the full range of human emotion.

You could, with some justification, call kora music the sound of West Africa’s soul.

And that’s important, because the kora was one of the tools of the griot, the traditional West African storyteller whose songs and stories formed the oral histories handed down through the ages.

Long before England had its bards, Africa had its griots.

You can read more about the International Kora Festival in this story from the Gambian newspaper The Daily Observer, courtesy of allAfrica.com.

The festival is being put on by Oko Drammeh.

What the late Bill Graham was to rock music, Drammeh is to African music. He has put on concerts all over the world, starting with the African Music Festival, which has been drawing audiences of 10,000 in Amsterdam annually since the 1980s.

You get the feeling that Brikama was a very deliberate choice for this event. According to Wikipedia, the city is known both for its woodworking and its musicians. Brikama also is close to the Makasuta Culture Forest, a major eco-lodge and retreat in Serekunda.

The goal is for Brikama to become the focal point of kora music, in much the same way as New Orleans is the focal point for jazz and Memphis is the world’s blues mecca.

While in the Gambia last year for the International Roots Festival, I met kora masters trying to salvage an audio record of traditional Gambian kora music. These songs had been broadcast over Gambian radio and recorded on tape but had been warehoused and largely forgotten for years.

They are trying to locate and rescue these tapes before they’re lost forever. Creating a major annual festival dedicated to the kora could give an impetus to that effort. I hope it does.

For Americans especially, traveling to the Gambia may not be as simple and straightforward as going to Cairo or Lagos or Capetown. Then again, how many chances in life do you get to hear great music and become part of a nation’s history at the same time?

IF YOU GO
In both physical size and population, the Gambia is the smallest country in Africa. Its people are among the warmest and most welcoming anywhere.

Getting There:
International flights to the Gambia arrive in the capital city of Banjul.

No US-based airline — in fact, no airline, period — flies directly from the United States to the Gambia. This means you’ll have to fly into Europe or North Africa and catch a connecting flight into Banjul.

Your best bets probably would be from Belgium on Brussels Airlines or from Germany via Lufthansa.

You also could fly on Delta out of JFK or from Washington-Dulles via South African Airways into Dakar, the capital of neighboring Senegal, and from there catch a connecting flight on Senegal Airlines, Air Ethiopia or Arik Air to Banjul.

You could drive the roughly 140 miles from Dakar south to Brikama, but only if you’re comfortable dealing with cattle crossing unfenced roads, frequent police checkpoints and miles of potholes that look more like moon craters.

Once in Banjul, you should have little trouble getting one of the many taxis in the capital to Brikama.

Visas:
Unless you’re a citizen of West Africa or a handful of European states, you’ll need a Gambian visa. You can apply to the Gambian Embassy in Washington DC — or you can fly into Senegal, which doesn’t require a tourist visa for Americans staying 90 days or less, or get one from the Gambian High Commissioner’s office in Dakar.

Lodging:
Have yet to receive any information on lodging for festival goers. I’ll post more on this as the info becomes available.

ALSO CHECK OUT:
West Africa Journal

Edited by P.A.Rice

Tales of the Big Lizard — October, Part 1

Leave a reply

The ups and downs of Greg and his trusty Giant Iguana mountain bike, aka Big Lizard, as together we embrace the grind. No excuses. Do the work. Because “you can’t bullshit your way up a mountain.”

What’s up, fellow grinders! Been awhile since Big Lizard and I checked in. It’s been a turbulent month or so. Did make a few discoveries, though.

One was that it’s better to hit the Miramar Reservoir loop in the mornings, because it’s Amateur Hour out there in the afternoons. By that, I mean riders instead of cyclists — no helmet, no road discipline, no safety, no clue.

And those are the grownups. Women wobbling all over the road while trying to pedal a bike in three-inch wedge heels, or carrying a Chihuahua in a basket between the handlebars. All riding as if they’re the only ones out there on a narrow winding road with one lane each way. Get me outta here!

The other thing I discovered was that inspiration can come from unexpected sources — like the club of amputee cyclists, single- and double-amputees, rolling hand-crank bikes around the res, each with one or two non-amputee cyclists flying escort for them on conventional bikes.

INSPIRATION
My arms hurt just watching those guys, but never for very long, because those boys were puttin’ in work! Climbs, ascents, switchbacks, it didn’t matter. Hand cranks and all, those gys can straight up hammer.

I wanted to give each of them a thumbs-up, but they were going by too fast in the opposite direction.

Turns out they’re a club of military veterans, amputees who lost limbs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Favor or oppose the politics as you will, the fact is that these folks put their lives on the line for their country, and left parts of their bodies a long way from home.

And now, they’re pushing forward with life. That’s courage. Something to think about with Veterans Day approaching.

As for me and the Lizard, October has been eventful, in both good and bad ways.

When I first started training in earnest at Miramar Reservoir, I was braking a lot on the switchbacks and had to drop into lower gears on the relatively shallow rises around the lake, then shift back to the higher gears on the equally mild downhills.

Now, I’m in the same mid-range gear for five, ten, 20 miles. Not a single downshift. When the climbs come, I just work a little harder and power on through them. No need for an easier gear around the res. In fact, actually thinking about going to a higher gear here and there, a sure sign that I’m getting stronger on the bike.

The goal, of course, is Big Daddy, the big chainwheel up front, the really high gears, to push Big Lizard even faster. Maybe by the end of December.

RIDING ANGRY
That’s good.

I was reveling in all this when I learned that the infant daughter of a friend of mine in the Gambia had died from a congenital heart ailment. Her name was Khadijatou. She was seven months old.

Went out to Miramar that afternoon and tried to do a normal training ride. It didn’t happen.

There’s no getting your head around the staggering unfairness of something like this, no point in even trying. But I couldn’t let it go.

That day, I rode with no plan, no clue. I was angry, and for the first time in my life, I rode angry. Spent most of the ride with tears in my eyes.

Traffic on the loop? Didn’t care. Headwinds? Barely noticed. When I finished, I’d ridden the fastest five miles I’d ridden in 20 years — 22 minutes, five seconds. For me, that was blazing. And I couldn’t have cared less.

But I do believe the spirit of little Khadijatou kept me safe that afternoon, because I barely saw where I was going.

It would’ve been a positive note on which to end, but unfortunately for Big Lizard and me, there was some more drama .

I'm Black and I Travel!

"Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer." — Unknown

Tag Archives: Gambia

The Gambia: RootsFest cancelled

Your ticket to the Gambia

AIRLINES: A new African bird

the GAMBIA: Homecoming

An African Christmas lesson

the IBIT Travel Digest 12.23.12

the IBIT TRAVEL DIGEST 11.18.12

INTRODUCING: Travel Tech Thursday

GAMBIA: The sound of West Africa’s soul

Tales of the Big Lizard — October, Part 1

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: