Tag Archives: Nigeria

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

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.

AFRICA: A different kind of Visa

Leave a reply

With a little imagination, a new Visa card being sponsored by an East African bank and Kenya’s national airline could serve as a model for promoting black American travel to Africa.

Kenya Airways Boeing 767

Kenya Airways Boeing 767

In Sunday’s IBIT Travel Digest, I mentioned the new Visa card from Kenya Airways, backed by Barclay’s Bank of Kenya.

That raises some intriguing possibilities.

On this side of the Atlantic, many black Americans would love to visit Africa if only they could afford it, and black-owned banks that could use an infusion of capital to invest in Black America.

On the other side, many of Africa’s 54 nations are eager to welcome black American visitors. There are credible African airlines that would love to bring us there. There also are some African banks that could benefit from building business relationships in North America.

What would happen if all these folks started talking to one another?

Maybe something wonderful.

Suppose those African airlines were to offer a credit card in this country, through a cooperative agreement between black-owned US banks and an African bank. The cardholder could choose between building mileage credit toward free flights on the sponsoring African airline, or a cash rebate.

But why stop there?

The airline could work with hoteliers and tour operators in the host country to put together an all-inclusive tour — lodging, meals, transport, tours, transfers to/from airports, everything.

Tours could be designed around different themes, keyed to a visitor’s interests:

  • EDUCATION — language, African history, Diaspora history and heritage, science, conservation
  • CULTURE — art, music, fashion, food, nightlife, religion
  • RECREATION — hiking, bicycling, boating, surfing, diving
  • BUSINESS — investment opportunities
  • NATURE — conservation, safaris

The possibilities are as varied as Africa itself.

But the card simply would be part of the bank’s package to its new customers. The principal feature of that package would be a savings account, to which you commit to making monthly deposits.

No minimum starting balance. Deposit as much or as little monthly as you want, as long as you deposit something. In effect, it would be a monthly bill, with one critical difference: You’re paying yourself.

Once you build up enough cash, you log onto the bank’s Web site and select your Africa tour package. Within seconds, your trip is paid for, your flights and hotels booked. Travel insurance would be included automatically as part of your credit card account &mdash just as it is with the Kenya Airways card.

The remaining money in your account becomes your spending money in Africa, cash you can withdraw from the ATM machines of the US bank’s partner in Africa.

Next stop: The Mother Continent.

Upon your trip, start saving for your next trip to Africa. Or South America. Or Europe. Or any other purpose. It’s your money.

Putting all this together definitely would be a challenge, and not just on the banking side.

Currently, only six Africa-based airlines make direct flights to the United States — Nigeria’s Arik Air, Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airways, Cape Verde Airlines, Egyptair and Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc. But all either have or are capable of making codeshare agreements with US or European airlines that fly between the US and Africa daily.

Ethiopian Airlines already is a member of Star Alliance, the world’s largest alliance of codesharing airlines.

This could work. The key to making this work is saving.

Consider the amount of money annually estimated to be floating around in Black America, — currently about $1.1 trillion. How do financial experts describe all this money we collectively have? “Black wealth?…”Black economic strength?”

No and no. It’s invariably referred to as “black purchasing power.”

And brother, do we ever purchase. We spend money as if it were about to evaporate, caught up in a society that pushes us 24/7 to BUY! BUY! BUY! The word “bling” used to represent the sound of a bicycle bell — until we got hold of it.

Now look at China. The country pays some of the world’s lowest wages, and yet Chinese tourists are fanning out across the globe. The Chinese are known as the world’s most ferocious savers.

Coincidence? I think not.

Some, like this long-winded financial wonk, say it’s a matter of government policy. The Chinese themselves say it’s a cultural thing. Either way, they put their money away.

Imagine what we could achieve if we did the same with just 1 percent — one penny on every dollar — of that $1.1 trillion. That would put $11 billion into banks that we own, money to invest on homes, on creating businesses and jobs, paying for education. Paying for travel.

You can do a lot with $11 billion.

Am I dreaming? Sure, but why not? Small dreams are a waste of sleep.

Africa’s airlines — going UP, going DOWN

Leave a reply
Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Ethiopian Airlines

Imagine courtesy of Boeing

While some African air carriers are rising in class and reaching across the oceans, others are struggling to serve their own domestic markets.

There are sad and wonderful things happening these days with African airlines.

We’ll start with the wonderful.

Ethiopian Airlines, which earlier this summer took delivery of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to serve Africa, has announced it will begin regular flights between Washington–Dulles and Addis Ababa,the Ethiopian capital, in October.

That’s one week away, folks.

As the first African airline to fly the 787, Ethiopian, as you might expect, is mightily proud of this, but the implications of this announcement extend far beyond any one airline.

With their ability to fly passengers much farther on a single load of fuel, Boeing’s state–of–the–art Dreamliner — as well as the competing Airbus A350 now in development — are going to change the game for travel to and across the Mother Continent.

Longer range means less need for intermediate refueling stops. That means shorter, more comfortable flights for long–distance passengers and lower fuel costs for the airlines.

And Ethiopian is stealing a march on the rest of the airline industry by being the first to put the 787 in trans-Atlantic service to Africa.

To fly to Africa on an African airliner crewed by Africans is a feeling every black American should experience at least once in their lifetime, and the arrival of longer-range airliners in Africa is going to make that prospect a lot easier in the years to come.

Once more African air carriers certified by our FAA start buying their own Dreamliners, Americans who dream of Africa may may more flight options — and with that competition, one hopes lower fares — to the whole of sub-Saharan Africa.

It’s once they get there that they may well start running into problems — and that’s the sad part. The kindest word with which to describe the state of Africa’s regional air travel network may be “problematic.”

The most recent examples of that have been in Nigeria.

First came the June crash of a twin-jet Dana Air MD-83 that killed 169 people — six on the ground and all 163 on board. After a brief government-ordered stand-down, the airline is being allowed to fly again — despite the fact that the cause of the crash is still unknown.

Then came word last week that Arik Air, Nigeria’s largest airline, was canceling all of its domestic flights after the government raided its operations in Lagos, the country’s largest city.

The airline blamed government corruption. The government blamed the airline for failing to pay its employees. Caught in the middle, anyone holding an Arik Air domestic ticket.

Arik Air has since announced it’s resuming domestic flights today, but that’s cold comfort to anyone who needed to fly on Friday — or for that matter, to anyone accustomed to Africa’s erratic domestic air service.

Because none of this is unique to Nigeria.

Talk to veteran African travelers, especially those on international business on the continent, and you’ll hear more than once that they simply refuse to fly directly from point to point within Africa.

It’s actually common for such travelers to fly north instead to Europe — usually on a European airline — and then south again to their African destination city.

You don’t have to be a professional industry analyst to know that when people feel more comfortable flying from Abuja to Accra by way of London or Paris, something is seriously wrong.

There’s a great deal of prestige to be won — and money to be made — flying international routes. It probably is not by chance that, for all the pulling and hauling between Arik Air the Nigerian governmebt, Arik’s international flights went on unaffected.

But for Africa’s airlines, the real market is within the Mother Continent itself, for Africa has the potential to easily become the largest and most lucrative regional air travel market in the world.

It won’t happen, however, until the continent’s 54 countries, and the airlines serving them, start to take that market seriously and treat it with the respect it deserves.

ALSO CHECK OUT
AFRICA — The air game changes
New wings over Africa, Part 2
Africa can’t wait

AFRICA — The air game changes

2 Replies
Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Ethiopian Airlines

Image courtesy of Boeing

Ethiopian Airlines is set to become the first airline to operate Boeing’s new cutting-edge 787 Dreamliner on the Mother Continent.

A week from today, about the middle of lunch hour, an Ethiopian Airlines flight will push back from its gate in the main terminal at Washington Dulles international Airport, taxi out to the runway and take off, bound for Ethiopia.

When it arrives at 9 o’clock the following morning at Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, it will have made history.

Because the aircraft making that flight will be one of Boeing’s new state-of-the-art 787 Dreamliners, the first to be operated in and from Africa.

That will be the flight that formally delivers the Dreamliner to EA. Regular service is set to begin some time in the fall.

It’s fitting that Ethiopian be the first African airline to fly the Dreamliner, since it claims the honor of being the first airline to bring jet airline service to Africa back in 1963.

The 787 may not be the biggest nor the fastest airliner coming into service, but it still figures to be a travel game changer, especially for the Mother Continent.

Where the now-retired Concorde supersonic transport was all about speed and the Airbus A380 super-jumbo jet is all about size and passenger capacity, the Dreamliner is all about range, i.e., how far you can fly without needing refueling stops, which eat up both passenger time and airline profits.

Ethiopian already is flying the extended-range versions of Boeing’s 777 jumbo jet, enabling it to reach virtually any major city in the world on one tank of gas. The Dreamliner, made super-light with the wide-scale use of composites instead of aluminum, is designed to go farther still.

Like I said, game changer.

Airbus is furiously pushing ahead with its own ultra-light long-distance jet, the A350 XWB, but it’s not due to come online for another two years. Until then, Boeing will have the long-range airline field pretty much to itself, and Ethiopian will be the first African airline in the game.

That’s important, especially when you remember this week’s African visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in which she pushed for more US-Africa trade.

Right now, the only African airline flying directly between the United States and the Mother Continent is South African Airways. On the other side of the Atlantic, only two US-based airlines are flying to Africa, Delta and United.

If the US and African nations are serious about stepping up trade between them, both business and leisure travelers need to be able to move more easily and cheaply back and forth.

As more major African airlines like Kenya Airways and Nigeria’s Arik Air acquire their own Dreamliners, African carriers will have a greater ability to connect with North America.

If America’s airlines aren’t willing to fly to the Mother Continent, Washington should encourage Ethiopian, KA and Arik to pick up the slack.

ALSO CHECK OUT:
A Dreamliner of Africa
Delta does Africa
Africa can’t wait
New wings over Africa, Part 1
New wings over Africa, Part 2

Edited by P.A.Rice

the IBIT TRAVEL DIGEST 4.22.12

2 Replies

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

©James Vallee | Dreamstime.com

​AIR
AIRPORT APP
You’re at the airport, with hours to kill before boarding, but your laptop’s battery is running low. Ever wish there were a smartphone app that could not just tell you, but show you where the electric outlets are in your particular airport terminal?

Well, according to the folks at TNOOZ, there is one — or soon will be. It’s called AirportPlugs.

It’s stil in beta test mode, and so far, it’s only set for five airports in the western United States, but you’ve got to love the concept. Can’t wait to see how it looks — and performs — once it’s ready to go.

DON’T TEXT AND FLY
It was bound to happen: An Australian airliner blew a final approach into Singapore’s Changi airport recently. The reason: Instrument interference from the pilot’s cell phone, which he later said he’d forgotten to turn off.

It forced the crew to declare a “missed approach” and go around for a second landing attempt, which is serious business at any airport and led to an official inquiry.

They’re lucky Alec Baldwin wasn’t in the cockpit; the plane might’ve crashed.

CHARGING FOR CARRY-ONS
Allegiant Airlines has become the second air carrier in the United States to charge passengers for stowing carry-on luggage in the overhead bins.

Spirit Airlines, not the most passenger-friendly carrier in the industry, started this nonsense back in 2010. Two years later, Allegiant has seen fit to follow suit. Allegiant president Andrew Levy calls this latest add-on fee part of “an ongoing effort to develop an innovative, new approach to travel.”

I have my own terms for this kind of “innovation,” but I try not to use that kind of language here on IBIT.

-0-

from the New York Times
Take advantage of the federal government’s express check-in programs to speed past security lines. You’ll have to pay for them, but the time saved — and aggravation avoided — just might be worth it.

from the Washington Post
Even as those federal express check-in programs take hold, however, one of them may already be on shaky ground. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s from the TSA. What a surprise…

from USA Today
For the airline business, rising fuel costs are becoming like Jason in all those Friday the 13th horror movies, a killer that won’t go away.

​from msnbc
A TSA inspector at Dallas-Fort Worth airport finds an envelope with $9,500 in cash inside…and not only turns it in, but tracks down its owner and returns it to him. There may be hope for this outfit yet.

from CNNgo
Is airline code-sharing dead? The head of an up-and-coming low-fare Asian airline says yes, among other things.

​LAND ​
RENT THY NEIGHBOR’S RIDE?
It was Airbnb that really launched the idea of couch-surfing, travelers saving money by renting rooms in private residences instead of more expensive hotels or even hostels. Now, there’s a new site called Getaround that’s trying to do the same with cars.

It’s still in beta, but it’s a beta worth looking at.

Basically, Getaround connects people looking to rent a set of wheels with individuals willing to rent out their own vehicles by the day or even the hour. It claims to screen the renters, and even provides insurance. The renter gets cheap local transportation. The car owner gets paid.

Couch-surfing…say hello to car-surfing.

-0-

from the New York Times
With travelers able to hunt for bargains and book their own trips online, travel agents looked to be headed for extinction, but it’s not panning out that way.

from USA Today
Five smartphone apps that literally could save your life when traveling overseas.

from CNN Travel
Climate change is gradually turning Greenland into a tourist hotspot. Why? Because so much of its ice has melted that you can actually see the place.

SEA ​
ANOTHER CRUISE FAIL
The cruise industry has taken yet another hit with reports that the cruise ship Star Princess ignored a drifting fishing boat desperately signaling for help, even after passengers pointed out the stricken boat to a member of the cruise ship’s staff.

By the time help finally reached the boat, two of the three men on board were already dead from hunger and dehydration. In its subsequent apology, Princess said word of the crippled boat never reached the captain nor the officer of the watch.

Do you buy that? Modern cruise ships have powerful radars to detect surface traffic, and bridge officers with binoculars whose job is to scan the waters around them. It shouldn’t even have been necessary for someone to tell the bridge crew about the fishing boat and its frantically waving victims.

When your passengers are more conscientious than your crew, you’ve got a problem.

-0-

​from USA Today
If you’re leaving from Seattle on a cruise and need a place to stay before you embark, these hotels come with a “cruise concierge” to help you out.

from USA Today
What do you get when you subject a 15-year-old cruise ship to a $54 million makeover? In the case of Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas, you get a virtually new ship.

from msnbc
With the cruise lines trying to shore up sales in the midst of a problematic year, this might be a good time to score some serious bargains on cruises to the Bahamas.

​AFRICA ​
CRUISING INTO THE FUTURE?
Quiet as it’s kept, the coast of West Africa has enormous potential as a cruise venue, and some folks are positioning themselves to make the most of it.

Already there’s an outfit called G Adventures offering 27-day all-inclusive cruises between Cape Town, South Africa and Dakar, Senegal.

In both time and money, the G Adventures cruises are out of reach for a lot of travelers for now, but they show what’s possible once more competition and more West African ports enter this market.

It’s not hard to envision a great circle trip from the United States — a flight to Cape Town, a cruise with stops along the West African coast, then a flight home from Cameroon, Nigeria or Ghana, perhaps.

It’s going to happen. You watch.

-0-

from IOL Travel
In South Africa, the Protea Hotel Ranch Resort will let you walk with a pride of what it calls “disciplined and well-trained” lions, including three rare white lions. The lions will even let you hold their tails while you walk with them. Am I the only one who finds this disturbing?

from Eyewitness News (South Africa)
South Africa has some of the world’s best surfing. Unfortunately, it also has some of the world’s most dangerous sharks.

from The Star (Kenya) via allAfrica.com
The government is urging Kenyans to embrace wildlife conservation as a way of boosting the country’s tourism.

from ​The New Times (Rwanda) via allAfrica.com
Another sign that tourism in Central Africa is on the rise: Expedia is expanding its presence in Rwanda.

AMERICAS/CARIBBEAN
AGRITOURISM: A GROWING ATTRACTION IN HAWAII
There’s always been more to Hawaii than pristine beaches, towering waterfalls, volcanoes and big waves. Even the most casual tourist can’t help but notice everything from pineapples to poinsettias, coconuts to coffee beans, just growing wild along the sides of the roads.

It’s as if the islands were a giant collection of farmers markets.

Now, the phenomenon known as agritourism is turning Hawaii’s agriculture into a growing tourist draw in its own right. Farmers markets. Ranch tours on horseback.

And the souvenirs are delicious.

A NEW MONUMENT
Near Monterey on the central California coast — one of the most gorgeous stretches of the Golden State — more than 14,000 acres of federal land that once belonged to the Army’s Fort Ord installation have been designated by the Obama administration as a national monument.

If hiking, mountain biking and camping on rolling hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean sound like your idea of a good time, you’re going to love this place. The fact that you can take one of the world’s most scenic highways to get there — California’s famed Highway 1 — doesn’t hurt, either.

-0-

from the New York Times
Need a reason to visit Bend, OR? If you love lots of good, locally-crafted beers, you’ve already got one.

from USA Today
For those who don’t find the Las Vegas Strip exciting enough, a zipline is being planned between the Luxor and Excalibur resorts, apparently high enough and close enough to McCarran airport that the FAA had to sign off on it first.

ASIA/PACIFIC ​
REAL LIFE, CHINESE STYLE
If you’re like me, you don’t just want to see “the sights” when you visit a different country. You want to get a feel for what real life looks like — or used to look like — before modernization swept over everything.

If you’re in Beijing, China’s sprawling capital, that means you’ve got to check out a hutong, a traditional Chinese neighborhood.

Many have been torn down to make way for high-rise apartments and office towers, while others are runddown, but a relative handful survive as well-maintained communities and are open to visitors. This slideshow from CNTV lists some of the best to visit in Beijing.

-0-

​from CNNgo
At the Bamboo Nest guesthouse in the mountains of Chiang Rai in Thailand, bamboo is everything. and I do mean everything. SLIDESHOW

from CNNgo
Want to play soldier? Then put down the remote, put on your cammo gear and head for the jungles of Thailand, where the Royal Thai Army will put you behind the trigger of an M-16 assault rifle or the controls of a tank. As real as it gets, including the insects you’ll be eating for dinner.

EUROPE ​
CATALUNYA: VISITORS UNWELCOME?
Spotted this on the TypicallySpanish.com site. Check out what this commenter has to say about Catalunya, a semi-autonomous region where people have a reputation for being fiercely proud of their Catalan heritage:

“…here, not only do most of those involved with tourists refuse to speak English (apologies but it is recognised as the ‘World’ language) – most insist on not speaking Spanish!!! It’s a case of ‘if you can’t be bothered to speak Catalonian, then I can’t be bothered with you, wherever you happen to be from!’ “

If this is true, it’s a real problem for Catalunya and for Spain in general. This is the kind of word-of-mouth advertising no country can afford, especially one in the midst of an economic crisis.

-0-

from The Telegraph (London UK)
Speaking of Spain, an extensive guide to the Andalucia region sponsored by the Spanish tourism folks. Extensive and potentially useful.

from The Guardian (London UK)
The tiny Greek island of Kalymnos is carving out a niche for itself as a destination for climbers and cavers.

from The Guardian (London UK)
Europe has a vibrant, diverse music scene, and that extends to its summer music festivals.

Edited by P.A.Rice

the IBIT TRAVEL DIGEST 4.4.2012

Leave a reply

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

Bicycle parking lot, Amsterdam | ©IBIT G. Gross

TOURISTS: A BILLION SERVED?
Some of you out there (and you KNOW who you are) are old enough to remember when McDonald’s fast-food joints started running those “1 million served” slogans on the marquees they mounted in front of their trademark golden arches. The count has long since run into the billions, of course.

Well, it looks as if the world’s tourism industry may be catching up.

If the UN World Tourism Organization is right, some time this year, someone will step off a plane or a train or a cruise ship to become something the world has never seen before:

The One Billionth Tourist. That’s one billion in 2012 alone.

There’s a reason why tourism is one of the largest industries on Earth. Nothing, it seems, stops the world from traveling. Not recession, wars, or flight crews losing their minds.

If you’re interested in the breakdown by region, the Adventure Travel Trade Association has it for you here.

And now, here’s this week’s Digest:

-0-

AIR
from Travel Daily News
The world’s largest airline alliance broadens its reach in the East. Star Alliance agrees to accept Taiwan’s Eva Air as a new member by mid-2013. China’s Shenzen Airlines joins Star this year. That will give Star eight airlines in the Asia-Pacific market.

from Travel Weekly
Pinnacle Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Never heard of them? There’s a good chance you’ve flown with them without knowing it. That regional shuttle or “puddle-jumper” flight you took with Delta, United or US Airways? In reality, it was these guys.
​
from Travel Weekly
The bad news: Southwest Airlines quietly raises its airfares. The worse news: Five of its rivals match Southwest increase for increase. You didn’t have to do that, guys. No, really, you didn’t.

LAND
from Smarter Travel
Truth or Consequences is one thing but — Elephant Butte, NM? Rabbit Hash? Leg O’Mutton? Crapstone? Some of wackiest town names you can find — including one Colorado town whose name is No Name. SLIDESHOW

from The Economist (United Kingdom)
Airlines aren’t the only ones looking to bypass online travel agencies like Expedia and Travelocity. A half-dozen hotel chains have joined forces to do the same thing.

from Smarter Travel
Shoes that fold up. Shirts that don’t smell. Jackets that double as pillows or even carry-ons. Clothing for the road warriors among you.

from Ethical Traveler
The world’s most ethical travel destinations among the world’s developing nations.

SEA
from the New York Times For every style of music, it seems, you can find a cruise for it, and rock-themed cruises are among the most popular.

from USA Today Another week, another cruise ship runs into mechanical troubles on the high seas. This time, it’s the Azamara Quest. Another engine room fire. Everyone’s safe.

from Der Spiegel (Germany)
Was the Costa Concordia disaster a tragedy waiting to happen? Der Spiegel talks to maritime experts who say yes, and say why.

-0-

AFRICA
from Vanguard News (Nigeria) via allAfrica.com
A diplomatic showdown may be coming between the Nigerian government and British airlines over complaints that Nigerian passengers are being overcharged compared with passengers from other West African countries. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are the carriers most often cited by officials inthe capital, Abuja.

from The Star (Kenya) via allAfrica.com
Government urged to combat child sex tourism in Kenya. The laws forbidding it are not being enforced.

from The Star (Kenya) via allAfrica.com
Tourism investors in northern Kenya appeal to the media to start reporting more of the region’s positive aspects, including its track record as a film location.

from The New Vision (Uganda) via allAfrica.com
Should Uganda use the controversial Kony 2012 video to lure tourists to the country? These guys say yes. EDITORIAL

from Daily Monitor (Uganda)
Unlike many African countries, Uganda doesn’t have a national airline — and odd as it might sound, the country might have a better chance of boosting its tourism without one. EDITORIAL

-0-

AMERICAS/CARIBBEAN
from theNew York Times
In New Orleans, they’re re-imagining the hotel bar. It’s not just for tourists anymore. Updated drinks, better food and good music are earning once-stodgy hotel bars a local following.

from the Los Angeles Times
Downtown (Las) Vegas, baby. The part of town that first made southern Nevada a major destination is renewing itself.
​
from the Los Angeles Times
Oakland is moving up in class as a destination. Yes, that Oakland.

-0-

ASIA/PACIFIC
​from Japan Australia
Like the idea of traveling Japan by train and want to save money, but you’re an expat, not a tourist? The Japan Rail Kanto Area Pass may be just your ticket.

from The Telegraph (London UK)
I’ve said it before: China likes to do big things. The world’s tallest bridge connecting two mountain tunnels? I’d say that qualifies. It’s 355 meters high. That’s 1,165 feet. You could fly a jumbo jet under that.

-0-

EUROPE
from Rick Steves via SFGate.com
Europe’s not just about cathedrals and vineyards. If you’re into adventure travel, the Old World is ready to satisfy your need for an adrenaline rush.

from the New York Times
History may be the biggest draw in Cologne, the oldest city in Germany, but fresh shops, restaurants and hotels have Cologne thriving in the present.

from VisitBritain Shop
Better than a hall pass, especially in London — a Pub Pass. Pretty cheap for what you get, and good for a year.

from Hotel Chatter
How’s this for a memorable summer: Commute to the 2012 London Olympics…from Paris.

Edited by P.A.Rice

SENEGAL: Standing tall

Leave a reply
Voters line up at a Senegal polling station in 2012 presidential runoff.

Voters line up at a Senegal polling station — © Smandy | Dreamstime.com

The Senegalese people peacefully and overwhelmingly vote out an incumbent who was seeking to become a president-for-life. It’s a shining moment, and one with huge implications for West African travel.

There’s a good chance you scarcely read, heard or saw anything in the mainstream media about Senegal’s recently concluded runoff election to choose the country’s next president.

And that might be the greatest mark of its success.

Abdoulaye Wade is at least 85 years old; the safe bet is that he’s even older. He was trying to win a third presidential term. Senegal’s constitution allows only two.

It had all the earmarks of yet another African leader installing himself as a president-for-life.

There was just one problem: The Senegalese people were not havin’ it.

A whole host of challengers arose, even legendary Senegalese entertainer Youssou N’Dour.

When the results of the initial vote forced a runoff between Wade and former prime minister Macky Sall, much of the outside world nervously looked on.

Would Wade somehow try to steal the election — and how would the opposition, and the populace, react if he did? If Wade did lose, would his followers accept it, or would they turn the country upside down? Anything could’ve happened.

Here’s what did happen:

  • The opposition united behind Macky Sall.
  • Sunday’s runoff ballot was smooth, clean and fair.
  • Sall won in a landslide, with nearly 66 percent of the vote, even swamping Wade in Wade’s own district.
  • Wade called Sall to acknowledge his win and concede the election.

Macky Sall may now be Senegal’s president-elect, but the real winner is Senegal itself.

Since gaining independence from France in 1960, it has never suffered a civil war or a coup d’etat, never put up with a dictatorship. Outsiders who doubted its commitment to democracy prior to Sunday’s runoff can doubt it no longer. It shows a political maturity and sophistication that much of Africa — indeed, much of the world — can only envy.

(The now-outgoing President Wade deserves applause for graciously accepting the results. In the end, he put his country ahead of his personal ambitions. In doing so, he may have salvaged his legacy — and saved his country.)

All this has huge implications for Senegal and the rest of West Africa, especially when it comes to travel. The region is positioned to become a gateway to the Mother Continent, especially from the Americas. It has a staggering array of potential attractions, natural and urban, cultural and historical.

It also is home to perhaps the most well-organized and forward-looking regional economic bloc on the Mother Continent — ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States.

What’s more, West Africa has something going for it that its landlocked Central African neighbors can only dream of, hundred of miles of Atlantic coastline, much of it in pristine condition. Some of the world’s cruise lines have been eyeing this part of Africa for some time and big things may be in the offing.

Most of the ECOWAS countries either have a track record of stability, like Cameroon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Others have already emerged from past turmoil, like Nigeria, Liberia and the Cote d’Ivoire, which we know as the Ivory Coast.

And when Tuareg rebels recently launched an armed coup to overthrow the government in Mali, ECOWAS gave the coup plotters 72 hours to return the government to civilian control or face harsh sanctions, including closing the borders of all ECOWAS nations to Mali.

The outcome in Mali remains uncertain, but the swiftness of the ECOWAS action was eye-catching. Could you picture the Arab League acting that decisively against, say, Syria?

So West Africa has a lot going for it. Still, so much of the region’s future, especially when it comes to tourism, hinged on what would happen in last week’s runoff race.

Senegal gave the world its answer with one of the more impressive displays of democracy in action the Mother Continent has ever witnessed. Senegal stood tall.

And because it did, West Africa’s future today looks a little brighter than it did a week earlier.

Edited by P.A. Rice

A Dreamliner of Africa

2 Replies
Boeing 787 Dreamliner of Ethiopian Airlines

Image courtesy of Boeing

One of Africa’s premier airlines is the first on the Mother Continent to acquire Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner. The implications for African travel are enormous.

While US-based airlines wait to get their hands on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the world’s newest jumbo jet is already changing the game in Africa.

Ethiopian Airlines is the first African carrier to put Boeing’s new state-of-the-art airplane into regular service on the Mother Continent. The first arrived last December and Ethiopian has nine more on order.

This comes as Ethiopian becomes the 26th member of the Star Alliance, the world’s largest airline alliance.

Both of these developments carry huge implications for American travelers with an interest in Africa.

Let’s start with Boeing’s shiny new toy. The Dreamliner is likely to have a much greater impact on African tourism than the Airbus A380 super-jumbo jet, at least in the near term.

Simply put, the 787 is more Africa-ready than the A380. Here’s why.

With the A380, Airbus took the position that “bigger is better,” creating the world’s first fully double-decked airliner, capable of flying as many as 800 travelers at a time.

Big plane equals more seats and (in theory, at least) cheaper seats.

Boeing chose range and fuel economy over size, limiting the Dreamliner to fewer than 300 passengers and marrying its two highly fuel-efficient engines to an aircraft made mostly of lightweight composites instead of metal.

That gives the Dreamliner a maximum range of nearly 9,500 miles, which puts virtually all of Africa within easy reach from virtually all of North America.

As an example, the 6,200 miles between Los Angeles and Dakar, Senegal would be nothing for this airplane.

This means that airlines like Ethiopian, Nigeria’s Arik Air and Kenya Airways, both of which have 787s on order, will be able to reach European and American destinations in one hop, without pilots nervously watching their fuel gauges.

Until more Africans start traveling by air, the 787′s extended range serves the Mother Continent better than the A380′s size. And with most of Africa’s international airports lacking the facilities or the runways to comfortably handle the massive A380, the Dreamliner literally is a better fit.

Where Africa-bound Americans are concerned, Ethiopian’s presence in the Star Alliance is just as important, especially if you happen to be a member of United Air Lines’ or US Airways’ frequent-flyer mileage program.

Star Alliance is now the only airline alliance in the world with three African airlines as members — Ethiopian, South African Airways and Egyptair. You now can put your United or USAir miles toward an Africa flight on any one of them.

Kenya Airways is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, which means you can use your Delta frequent-flyer miles with them.

Meanwhile, Arik Air was accepted late last year as a member by the International Air Transport Association, which sets safety standards and represents most of the world’s airlines. That clears the way for Arik to join an alliance.

oneworld is now the only one of the Big Three alliances without an African partner. Arik Air membership in oneworld would enable travelers holding miles on American Airlines or British Airways to snag code-share flights to West Africa via Arik.

Don’t be surprised, then, if oneworld puts the moves on Arik Air to partner with them.

What’s more, international airlines can and do form code-sharing partnerships outside of the alliances. South African Airways, for instance, has already hooked up with JetBlue.

Expect to see more connections like this, and soon.

Without the 787′s ultra-long reach, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. With this new long-range airliner coming into African hands, a whole world of new opportunity now opens up for them — and for the world’s travelers who are increasingly turning their eyes to Africa.

ALSO CHECK OUT:
Know your alliance, Part 1 Part 2
New wings over Africa, Part 1 Part 2
Dreamliner sighting
Delta does Africa

SITE REVIEW: The Other Africa

Leave a reply

©James Vallee | Dreamstime.com

SITE:The Other Africa

TYPE: News/information mashup

NOTE: Not to be confused with other Web sites with the same name

You’ve already got the mainstream media to bring you the latest horror stories from the Mother Continent. When you want to know what ELSE is going on in Africa, you can look here.

The Other Africa is basically a “mashup” created by JoelleET, a collection of stories from a variety of sources on the continent and around the world that illustrate some of the positive, uplifting, inspiring and innovative things taking place across the African continent that highlight the men and women doing them.

Other among things, you’ll read about:

  • The chief in Kenya who keeps the peace in his village…with the aid of Twitter.
  • How Kenya is turning itself into Africa’s Silicon Savanna.
  • The entrepreneur in Nigeria who ranks among the richest men in the world.
  • The young engineer from Cameroon who created a medical tablet computer.
  • The peasant farmer in Burkina Faso credited with stopping the spread of desertification.

I have no idea who JoelleET is, but I’d say her editorial judgment is bang-on. It’s not about trying to deny or ignore the terrible things that happen in Africa but about showing that there’s a lot more going on there than just terrible things.

You see similar efforts all over the Web to project a more fully rounded depiction of Africa, especially on YouTube. They’re to be found under titles like “This is Africa” or “The Africa They Never Show You.” Many are worth seeing.

But where those videos focus almost exclusively on imagery and music, The Other Africa is about spreading knowledge, the kind that, over time, may one day fill the yawning chasms of ignorance about Africa that still exist in the rest of the world.

Especially here.

You’ll note that a lot of the items published on this site are drawn from mainstream media sources, which may prompt you to wonder, “Why didn’t I see/hear/read about this?”

Good question. Feel free to email it to the editor of your favorite news outlets, as often as you feel the need. Because the cliched, stilted, one-dimensional picture of Africa brought to you by mainstream media will never change until their audience demands it.

ALSO CHECK OUT:
The AFRICA page

>Edited by P.A.Rice