The Costa Concordia forever inactive webcam

• 114.500 tons and 1.500 cabins
• Electric power generated enough for a city of 50.000 people
• 5 restaurants, 13 bars, 5 Jacuzzis and 4 pools
• 1 three stories high theater 1 dance floor
• the tek coating is enough to cover two soccer field,

Fuel consumption: 12 Tons per hour

With all the due respect for the people who lost their lives in this tragedy, and for the workers at Fincantieri who built the Costa Concordia, i still wonder why 4000 people are willing to get on board of this kind of “monster” to spend a week or two in the quite normal Tirreno Sea (in winter) getting in line, playing stupid games or quizzes, dance classes, aerobycs and so forth:

- Self service restaurants (haven’t you had enough of it?)
- Stores and promotions (Stores? You have them right in your neighborhood, haven’t you?)
- Every service either fee-paying or in turn

Schedules, shifts, lines… everything as in everyday life.

4000 people (a small city) in a close space as big as a shopping center

These people are not insterested in seeing the world, or find something new. All they want is to act like a VIP for a week or two waving their hand to those ashore, and then get back to everyday life, to work, for another year…

And if an excursion is cancelled because there are people on the land dying under the bombs this is their comment:

The kitchen is ok, the ship is very clean, excursions are expensive but beautiful (unfortunately the stop in Tunisia got cancelled because of Gaddafi war ). Oh well, we’ve been to La Valletta instead (cit. a passenger)

No alarms and no surprises

Silent, silent

Pousse-pousse alla periferia di Antsirabe

C’è voluto un po’ di tempo ma alla fine ci siamo riusciti. Ecco on line il racconto per parole e immagini del nostro recente viaggio in Madagascar., paese meraviglioso e dalle mille sorprese. Un mese intero passato sulle strade polverose e piene di buche che attraversano il paese, tra lemuri, balene, savane, fiumi, piroghe, montagne, città, villaggi sperduti. Un mese intero con la meravigliosa gente malgascia, con Andry, la nostra guida, i bambini della casa famiglia Omeobonbon, le guide che ci hanno accompagnato nei trek, gli abitanti dei villaggi. Un mese che faremo fatica a dimenticare.

Qui il diario di viaggio

Qui la galleria fotografica

Qui la mappa con l’itinerario

A breve pubblicheremo anche il video, ci vuole solo un po’ di tempo ancora….

Viaggiate con noi!

MXNXUD5GXRKA

Blue and gold macaw

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Blue and gold macaws are intelligent and social birds known for their loud vocalizations.

• Join WWF on our November 2011 or March 2012 Amazon Voyage.

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Indonesia’s new presidential degree aims to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. © Alain Compost / WWF-Canon

SPECIES

• The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University announced its list of the top 10 newly discovered species of 2010. It includes a monitor lizard found in the Philippines, a spider in Madagascar and a pollinating cricket on the Indian Ocean island of Réunion.
• Compared with all other beasts on the planet, primates, whales and all other mammals possess the largest brains relative to body size. How did that come to be? Wired Science has the lowdown.
• Watch this curious lioness as she steals photographer Roger de la Harpe’s video camera in South Africa. He was on location researching a book on lions at the time. We especially appreciate that he didn’t overlay the video with sappy or goofy music – hearing the lioness breathing and crunching through the bush makes the video even more charming.
• In the case of Gadling’s video of the day, however, the surreal music narrating a swim through Jellyfish Lake in Palau is befitting.  (Wish the snorkeler wasn’t wearing his fins, though – those jellyfish are fragile!)

ECOSYSTEMS

• Good news and bad news this week for the world’s forests. Indonesia’s president signed a decree banning logging of 64 million hectares of primary forests and peatlands and won’t dole out new clearing permits for two years, the WWF-International blog reports. Meanwhile, data published by the National Institute for Space Studies shows a 540 percent increase in deforestation in parts of Brazil.
• Marine debris has become “one of the most pervasive pollution problems facing the world’s oceans and waterways,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We’ve seen the problem firsthand during our snorkeling tours. The New York Times Green Blog runs down a solution.

WISE TRAVELS

• Wisebread offers some excellent tips on using credit cards and debit cards while traveling. We especially like the breeze-to-read chart outlining the best credit cards for travelers.
• We preach incessantly about packing light. Lifehacker’s article on five multi-use items to reduce baggage while traveling quiets our harping. For now.
• Globetrotter and blogger Carlos Alcos runs down 80 – yes, 80! – things he wish he wish he knew before he started traveling on the website Matador. Some of his top tips: don’t use travelers checks, carry a dummy wallet with fake or expired bank cards and accept you will never have time to do everything you want to do.

MISCELLANY

• WWF trips are indeed big journeys. GOOD takes a look at 23 of the most famous and interesting journeys in history with a cool interactive map.

–Elissa Poma

WWF Travel Blog

The endangered African wild dog is easily identifiable by its distinctive coat patter and large, round ears. © Frederick J. Weyerhaeuser / WWF-Canon

Revered and reviled
The African wild dog is one of the most revered, reviled and fascinating animals on the continent.  Its unusually communal and seemingly caring social structure endear it to human beings while its hunting style has been described as savage and cruel by people. It is Africa’s second most endangered carnivore.

(Incidentally, the dubious distinction of ‘most endangered carnivore’ on the continent goes to the Simean jackal or Ethiopian wolf – a reddish jackal-like species that lives in the Afro-alpine regions of Ethiopia.)

Life and times of the African wolf
Wild dogs are the wolves of Africa and their zoological name Lycaon (Greek for wolf) pictus (Latin for painted) is an appropriate moniker. Their social structure is very similar to their European and American cousins although they are about two thirds the mass. The pack—from two to 30 individuals—is lead by an alpha pair who, unless the pack is enormous, is normally the only one to breed. This they do once a year, normally in the winter when the vegetation is thin, allowing the pack increased visibility which suits their pernicious and unsubtle hunting style. The whole pack will feed the pups by regurgitating meat for them. They do this for sick and injured members too. Wild dogs favor woodland and savannah habitats but they can easily exist in grassland.

Wild dog packs are highly efficient hunting units. They do not employ the subtleties of the stalking feline counterparts. Instead they simply sight a herd of potential prey and then tear off after them, sometimes reaching speeds of 37 mph. The alpha male normally leads the hunt and packs have been known to chase prey for more than three miles at a time. They’re not particularly fussy eaters and will eat anything from scrub hares to wildebeest. That said, they like their meals fresh and tend not to eat carrion or rancid meat – unlike jackals, hyenas and the big cats.

Pups huddle together for warmth and security. © Frederick J. Weyerhaeuser / WWF-Canon

Where they are now
Wild dogs used to be distributed throughout Africa but for the desert and rain forest regions of the continent. During the last century however, the species has been reduced to an estimated 5,000 individuals. Their decline has been brought about by human persecution, disease and habitat loss. Most of the remaining dogs are concentrated in southern Africa with a small population in Tanzania, an isolated group in Senegal and confirmed populations in central Africa. There are also anecdotal reports of dogs from Mali, Guinea, Gambia, Nigeria, Algeria and Mauritania.

In southern Africa, the dogs occur in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Angola and the far north east of Namibia. There are also records of individuals in Mozambique south of the Zambezi River.

© Wilderness Safaris. Reprinted with permission.

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Visit Churchill with WWF:

• Tundra Lodge Adventure, October 15-21, 2011
• The Polar Bears of Churchill, October 26-31, 2011

WWF Travel Blog

More than 1,250 species can be found in India, of which 42 are endemic.

Smooth moves

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The Indian roller is the symbol of several states in India. Males are known for their aerobatic displays during mating season. © WWF-US / Lee Poston

Travel to India with WWF:

• Wild India, December 9-22, 2011, and March 16-29, 2012
• Southern India and the Maldives, December 17, 2011-January 3, 2012

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Children of Palestine – in pictures

A visit to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center, where orphaned orangutans are conditioned to return to the wild, is a highlight of our Borneo tour. © WWF-US / Jay Sherman

• Whale sharks are aggregating off Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula in larger numbers than scientists previously thought, according to a new study. What does that mean for travelers on our Expedition Whale Sharks tour in July? Potential to see even more of the biggest fish in the sea, perhaps.
• What will it take before the world’s largest land carnivore goes “the way of the dodo?” Scientific American answers a reader’s query about the impact of a melting Arctic on the polar bear and how it’s been forced to adapt to climate change.
• “We are asked to be quiet, and the elevated wooden path opens up to a platform for viewing. A few metres away, ropes in the trees lead to a series of wooden platforms. The morning crowd of about 200 is hushed and expectant. It’s all very respectful, very dignified.” So describes the atmosphere at Borneo’s Sepilok Orangutan Sanctuary, which Canadian blogger and adventurer traveler John Boivin recently visited.
• When we’re not traveling, we’re dreaming of it. That oversized, heavy, gorgeous coffee table books help whisk us away. TripBase runs down the top 20 travel photography books of all time. They include one tome on one of the most colorful places on the planet, India, and a great one covering various locales throughout Latin America.
• And for our final entry this week, we’re straying a bit from our theme by giving you one to watch, not read. We Blog the World shared a cool music video by Polish pop star Patrycja Markowska, who went on location to Zanzibar to shoot the video for her song “Ostatni.” She wanders the labyrinth-like alleys streaked in golden light, visits markets, strolls on the talcum-like beach and takes the wind through her hair on a dhow ride on the sea. It’s fantastic PR for our Madagascar Voyage and Mozambique Odyssey, both of which include a visit to Zanzibar’s Stone Town.

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Viewing elephants in the wild is a safari highlight for many travelers. © Dana Allen

This guest blog comes to us from James Hendry of Wilderness Safaris, one of our tour operators in Africa.

When I visit wild places, I am often torn between heading out on a drive or going for a walk. This pleasant quandary set me to thinking about what makes the two experiences so different.

Driving
I suppose for the inherently terrified this is the best option. Even if it is a false sense of security, sitting in a hulking great steel Land Cruiser does make one feel somewhat less threatened when viewing a herd of elephants or a pride of lions. In some areas, you can virtually park right near the cats to view them. Indeed, there are places where big cats will seek out vehicles for shade or the vantage that the bonnet provides.

If you’re a photographer and you want close-ups from a steady angle then there is no question that the back of a vehicle is where you want to be. You can obviously also cover more ground and see more from the back of a safari vehicle; important if you are on a once-in-a-lifetime African holiday.

There is, however, a sense of detachment that accompanies driving in the bush.

On Foot
Being on foot is different. No longer can you be merely an observer of nature. You are an active participant. For some this is a wonderful feeling and for others, it’s simply scary.

I remember my first experience of seeing big mammals on foot. I was on a ranger training course, utterly clueless and completely out of my depth. There were six of us in a group and, under the guidance of our trainer, we snuck up the back of a dam wall to view a small herd of buffalo drinking. There we sat in the shadows watching the eight large bovines about 20 meters off. They had no idea we were there.

Then, from the grass about the same distance off to the right, a huge male leopard stood up. I was awestruck. The leopard, who must have been a particularly gormless cat, eventually noticed us sitting in the shade and scarpered off.

I was blissfully unafraid.

This changed when I was sent out to walk a reserve unarmed and alone. Then I did feel threatened – actually the feeling was probably closer to sheer terror. Slowly, however, I came to appreciate the solace and pleasure of walking in the wilderness alone. It is quite unlike any other experience. My terror was so slowly replaced with caution and profound appreciation. Something primal, deep in the recesses of my genetic memory, began to speak to me.

Of course, walking in the African wilderness is not as unsafe as it might seem initially. Animals out here are generally terrified of us. Buried in their genetic memory is the knowledge that we have been hunting them since our ancestors first stood up and started throwing stones. Aggression from animals is almost always born of fear. Unless they feel threatened, even lions and elephants will keep their distance from a person on foot.

So which do I prefer?

Well, for viewing animals, driving is the way to go. Animals are simply not as affected by vehicles as they are by our upright human posture. In many areas it is possible to watch animals behave as they would without our being there at all. Much of our knowledge of ethology comes from the ability to watch, photograph and film animals so easily from vehicles.

Being on foot in the wilderness, however, presents a totally different sense of the wild. Walking is an immersion and connection with our pre-history and it delivers an “aliveness” that is difficult to achieve in any other circumstances.

© Wilderness Safaris. Reprinted with permission.

WWF Travel Blog