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View Requirements >- Indonesian Visa Requirements To Walk With Orangutans in Sumatra
- Get a Russian Visa to Visit Lake Baikal
- Get a Brazil Visa to Leave the World Behind
- Get a Nepal Visa to Go Parahawking
- Southeast Asia Considers Introducing One Travel Visa to Rule Them All
Archive for March, 2011
Indonesian Visa Requirements To Walk With Orangutans in Sumatra
March 30th, 2011
The orangutan is a fascinating but increasingly rare creature. The only species of great ape native to Asia, its numbers have declined drastically over the past few decades, mainly due to habitat loss and hunting. There were only about 61,234 left in the wild as of 2007; a disturbing decline from the population of 76,300 that scientists estimated were left between 2000 and 2003 (via Wikipedia). However, if you're tough enough to handle the Indonesian jungle, you can still see these "men of the forest" up close in their natural habitat... for now.
Mark Wiens of GoBackpacking recently went on an orangutan trek in Sumatra. He writes:
"It was a truly magnificent site. The bulkiness of the Orangutans miraculously swung through the branches of the trees with effortless ease. The weight of
Get a Russian Visa to Visit Lake Baikal
March 27th, 2011
Here are some fun facts about Russia's Lake Baikal, this week's featured UNESCO World Heritage Site:
Lake Baikal was formed about 30 million years ago, making it the world's oldest lake.
At 1,700 meters deep, it's also the deepest lake in the world.
Over 20% of the world's unfrozen fresh water is found inside Lake Baikal.
Lake Baikal is home to many species of plants and animals that are found nowhere else on earth. Because of its rich biodiversity, it is often called the "Galapagos of Russia."
The lake is formed by the deepest continental rift in the world.
UNESCO added Lake Baikal to the World Heritage List in 1996, calling it "the most outstanding example of a freshwater ecosystem."
In addition to the lake itself, the surrounding landscape is a striking mix of mountai
Get a Brazil Visa to Leave the World Behind
March 27th, 2011
If you're looking to get away from it all, Brazil has just the place: the tropical island of Boipeba. Getting there takes effort: your options are a four-hour odyssey by bus, ferry and speedboat or a flight in from El Salvador in a tiny plane, an experience that the New York Times referred to as "not for the tremulous."
Once you're there, though, the island will reward you with the kind of peace that comes from being someplace beautiful and remote, almost entirely shut away from the outside world.
Charles Levitan, who runs a guesthouse on the island, told the New York Times, “If you can’t live in the moment, this isn’t the place for you,If you need to constantly know the weather forecast, you might want to go somewhere else.”
Activities here include swimming, sunning, snor
Get a Nepal Visa to Go Parahawking
March 26th, 2011
Yet another reason Nepal is freaking awesome: it's one of only two places in the world where you can go parahawking. (h/t Gadling) What, you may ask, is parahawking? It's your chance to literally soar with the eagles (or in this case, the trained Egyptian vultures).
Parahawking involves paragliding (in tandem with a trained pilot if you're inexperienced, though you can go solo if you know what you're doing) with a trained bird of prey to guide you to the best thermals. Thermals are updrafts of warm air that help both raptors and paragliding humans soar effortlessly.
Even better, at the moment the only organization that offers parahawking is also involved in conservation and rescue efforts for local birds of prey. So, the €125 you pay is money well spent as it helps support those
Southeast Asia Considers Introducing One Travel Visa to Rule Them All
March 24th, 2011
Right now, planning a tour of Southeast Asia requires more research and paperwork than a tour of Europe. Each country has its own travel visa requirements for tourists, ranging from relatively permissive (Thailand) to restrictive bureaucratic spiderwebs like those in Vietnam.
In as little as 5 years, though, that may change. As part of its strategic plan to encourage tourism in member countries, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is trying to introduce one travel visa to rule them all: a Schengen-like visa that would allow tourists to travel effortlessly between countries such as Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei.
Stuart McDonald of TravelFish.org told the Inquirer Global Nation that visa regulat
