Luke Freeman – A Drovers view of Madagascar  Luke’s talk was based on the time he spent with the cattle drovers, who take the long horned cattle from the highlands to markets on the coast. Cattle are currency in Madagascar, they can even be seen on the bank notes. These young men hope to earn enough from this hard existence to set themselves up in life. The Drovers carry only the basic’s, a blanket, polythene sheet which they use when it rains and as a shelter at night, cooking pot and some clothes. They buy food from markets along the way, though often end up having to pay for what their cattle steal from the same markets as well. As well as the obvious hardships, the Drovers also have to deal with local bandits, who raid villages. The Police also have check points where they check the cattle’s “Passports” and paperwork, each cow has its own document and woe betide the drovers if it doesn’t all match up. Luke is an Anthropologist and has come to the conclusion that in many ways the drovers of Madagascar are responsible for helping maintain the country’s cohesion and common language, despite the diverse ethnic make up of the country. One surprising fact about Madagascar is that its population eats more rice per person than any other country on the planet.

See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3645594.stm for more details…

Our second speaker was Ed Gillespie whose talk was called “Around the World without the aluminium sausage!”. Ed set out to travel around the round with his girlfriend emitting as little carbon as possible. His original idea was to parody Phileas Fogg and go “RTW in 80 ways”, but he soon realised this would involve lots of animals! But in 381 days Ed managed to travel 45,000 miles via 31 countries emitting just 1.8 Tonnes of carbon. He left the UK by ship for Spain, then travelled across Europe by train to Moscow, across Russia to Irkutsk where his Scottish girlfriend was delighted to find Irn Bru being in a supermarket! Through China and then by cargo ship to Japan and Hong Kong, before resorting to buses on the backpacker routes through south east Asia. After a stop in New Zealand to visit his cousins, he travelled by rust bucket across the Pacific to Mexico and buses through Central America, before finding a container ship heading for Dover and home.

Ed is the founder of Futerra http://www.futerra.co.uk/

For the end of the season London meeting, we had the traditional Members’ Slides to entertain us and this time around we had as many new speakers as returning favourites.  All provided the audience with a varied range of excellent journeys and adventures, illustrated with some stunning photos:-

Eric Hayman : slides and memories about the extensive steam rail network in Ireland that he travelled in the 1960’s, often by hitching a ride with the driver. A wonderful insight into times gone by and the life of those who lived nearest to the tracks.

Delia Cardnell : A colourful glimpse of Delia’s trip to Vietnam and especially her interactions with the children and families she met there.

Jacek Obloj : These fascinating portraits from a trip to Morocco showed both Jacek’s interest in the human face but also a close up and intimate look at a colourful and varied people in black & white.

Suneel Kaur : A recent trip to India to visit the Jain temples near Bundi provided the subject for this presentation. History, culture and lots and lots of steps added to the attraction of this ‘off the tourist trail’ site.

Liz Cooper : Beautiful close-up photographs of the insects, birds and animals of Thai and English islands. A timely reminder that it is not always necessary to travel a long way to see beauty in nature. 

Kevin Brackley : A trip to Sweden to practice his yoga gave Kevin a fine opportunity to explore the quirky sculpture & art that seems to litter the urban landscape of Stockholm. Who could miss the Shrek roof decoration or the stickered bin? 

Nick Preston : Katoomba and the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, Australia, was the source of Nick’s inspiration. Waterfalls, Adam Lindsay Gordon, the Three Sisters and lots of leafy bush spoke of sun and warmth and Nick’s love of travel.

Neil Harris : the Crimea. Florence Nightingale, the charge of the Light Brigade, Yalta, Soviet architecture,  beaches and the Russian naval base whose lease is almost up, all came up for a mention. Once a favourite vacation spot for the elite of the USSR, the Crimea is now the summer escape for Ukrainians, with package tourism starting to discover that the beauty & history of the region i.e. a real selling point.

Details of the forth coming meetings at the London branch, September to December 2009, can be found at http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/lon09it1.html

The London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend. There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh in September. For more information, contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk.

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

The Ontario branch meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

Fellow travel enthusiasts Footprint books have generously offered eNewsletter readers a summer surprise to help us all with our travels, whether we’re planning or actually setting off…if you read the following instructions, it should all be fairly self explanatory.  At this point I should say that you should read the fine print and for our non UK based readers, you should make sure you understand any currency & shipping costs, before you place your orders.

The Ant

     “Hello there,

      We would like to offer the readers of your monthly newsletter a discount off our guidebooks – would this be something of interest ?  Footprint would like to offer you an 15% off all their

      guides, all you have to do is:-

• log on to footprinttravelguides.com
• add the item [of your choice] to basket
• proceed to checkout and enter the coupon code, globe15
• click update [and complete the checkout process]

      Best wishes

      Hannah”

Channel 4 (UK) are producing a new landmark documentary series about the growing number of British families putting day-to-day life on hold to see the world with their children.

Through the films we hope to highlight just how rewarding, educational and most importantly possible it is to go travelling with the kids.

Our hope is that the programmes will inspire more parents thinking about this kind of trip to actually take the plunge and get involved around the world. We also want to highlight the positives of this kind of experience has on a family unit and the educational benefit for children. Each family would be left with a unique travel-log of their journey.

We would not plan to be with the family the entire time but would provide them with a camera to record the events with us dropping in at certain key points along the way.

We hope to follow five families in the series and whilst we have already started filming with four we are still looking for one more to be involved who could be leaving anytime up to 2010.

I am trying to cast the net as wide as possible in the search for families and simply want to spread the word so that people can get in touch with me if they are interested.

It’s like a needle in a haystack trying to find people so any suggestion or help however small would be very gratefully received.

Kind regards

Naomi Elkin-Jones

Assistant Producer

Twenty Twenty Television

20 Kentish Town Road

London NW1 9NX

Tel: 0207 2842020

NaomiElkinJones@twentytwenty.tv

Hot off the press the club has just received this email from one of its own speakers – read more and click the link to find out what Peter is up to…The Ant

Dear all,

I spoke at the Globetrotters club [London branch] during the March meeting this year about my Long Ride Home – bicycle journey from Japan-UK. 

I would just like to inform you that on August 16th I am beginning my next major two-wheeled adventure. The Big Africa Cycle is a solo and unsupported expedition from England-South Africa – 15,000 miles and 25 countries, give or take.  I have a website for the trip at www.thebigafricacycle.com – it would be a pleasure to share my experiences with members again on my return [and as I travel along].

Many thanks for your help.

Kind regards, Peter Gostelow

 

Paul Whittle – Land of Gold and Green, a journey through Burma, aka Myanmar. Burma gained its independence in 1948 and since 1962 has been run by the military with an iron rule, the only threat to its continued dictatorship being Aung San Suu Kyi winning the 1990 election, but never being allowed to hold office. The country is 90% Buddhist. Paul showed us the capital Yangon, where the public buses are made from 60 year old truck chassis. From Yangon you can take the steamer up the Irrawaddy river to Mandalay with its Pagodas and Kyaiktiyo gold rock said to be precariously held in place by a hair from Gautama Buddha. Paul travelled around Burma using a hired steam locomotive, which would stop whenever a photo opportunity arose. Paul showed us the beauty of Inlay Lake, with its famous “Jumping Cat” Monastery and also the UNESCO listed Bagan with its 2200 temples.

Brazil Bunch – Tony Annis & five friends (three of the six being Globetrotters’ members) travel across to the western Brazilian state of Acre, in order to spend time with the Ashaninka people and sample life in their communities along the rivers & forests for Peru/Brazil border. Whilst not professional speakers or authors, these enthusiastic travellers showed us a range of adventures as they left the modern state behind and headed up river in a small convoy of powerful motorboats. Whilst not quite Bruce Parry in Amazon, they did get a chance to gain a unique insight into a way of life that is rapidly changing.

Polly Evans – “Mad dogs and an Englishwoman”. Polly travelled to Canada’s Yukon Territory to learn about the Huskies who take part in the 1000 mile Yukon Quest sled race. First Polly spent time with Frank, who invented the race and his son Saul who have 108 Huskies in training. She learned about the dogs, how they each have a personality and like to “live” with their friends and their rather gruesome looking horse meat in hot water diet! The race itself runs from Fairbanks in Alaska, via Dawson where the Mushers have a 36 hour rest, before continuing to the finish at Whitehorse. Each team set out with 14 dogs and are allowed no outside help, though they can drop off injured dogs at “Dog drops” and pick up supplies along the way, though they must finish the race with at least 8 dogs, which the fastest sleds manage in 10 days. During the race Polly watched, a bad storm occurred resulting in the Military having to use helicopters to rescue over 88 dogs and their Mushers. After the race Polly had a go at dog sledding, as she said you end up with lots of photos of dogs behinds!

More information at www.pollyevans.com

Our second speaker was John Mole whose talk was called “I was a potato Oligarch!”. When Russia changed into a free market economy John thought he saw a gap in the market between McDonalds and Pizza Hut, something quintessentially English, his own version of the now defunct “Spud-U-Like” chain to be called “Jackets Moscow”. After getting a grant he set off to try and find the best potatoes Russia could grow, visiting farms, looking at Spuds and learning Russian along the way. Alas John’s plan was thwarted by the Russian Mafia, where everyone from the Police, Fire Brigade, Local council all want paying off, the Russian mafia demanded 10% of his takings, which was the equivalent of 80% of his profit, so the whole thing was a no starter, but made for a great story.

More information at www.johnmole.com/oligarch

For details of the forth coming meetings of the London branch, December 2008 through to July 2009 – http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/lon09it1.html.

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend. There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh in September. For more information, contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk.

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

Ontario meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.