The Copernicus Sentinel-1 takes us over Lake Mar Chiquita – an endorheic salt lake in the northeast province of Córdoba, Argentina, in this edition of the Earth from Space programme.
Category: World 🌎 » (Page 10 of 41)
A Tour of African Gastronomy
Much of a nations’ culture is defined by food. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has published a 90-page Tour of African Gastronomy. They suggest African cuisine is a treat hiding in plain sight that remains relatively unexplored.
The rich and endlessly diverse flavours of the continent tell stories and rituals steeped in history. Explore the legacy of centuries of amazing culinary traditions hand in hand with some of the most prominent figures of African gastronomy. Over thirty Chefs will take you on a trip around the wonderful flavours and delicacies whose preparation alone is akin to a performance.
The impossible balance between human ingenuity, natural wonder and roaring wilderness continues to fascinate travellers which turn out in flocks to explore Africa. To this day it is well known that Africa,if anything, spells adventure. However, despite a growing number of travellers every year setting off to discover the many hidden jewels Africa has to oer there is a treat hiding in plain sight that remains relatively unexplored: its cuisines.Whereas tourists defy safaris under the blazing sun, raft down the Zambezi River and hike the Kilimanjaro, few are those that bring the African experience to their taste buds. Inexplicably, among the many treasures the continent conceals, the food remains perhaps the biggest mystery of them all.From the notorious tajines and couscous in the north, to a long-standing tradition of barbecued goodies, as well as splendid variety of stews and hundreds of different types of breads to heartily dip into all these rich flavours, Africa truly is an atlas of flavours. Besides, the food is not only savoury but also surprisingly healthy as many dishes are based on combinations of delicious fruits and vegetables.
eISBN: 978-92-844-2235-7 | ISBN: 978-92-844-2234-0
As Everest climbers return home from Nepal, Sir Edmund Hillary’s son, Peter Hillary, is inviting them to both celebrate their ascent, while also challenging them to give back to the Nepalese people, to assist during the Covid pandemic.
Now, in these phenomenally challenging times in Nepal, with Covid numbers rising dramatically, with oxygen shortages and hospitals forced to turn people away to die, this is an immediate way climbers can truly give back to the country and the people they have climbed and shared their adventure with.
The Himalayan Trust, launched by Sir Edmund Hillary in 1960, is right now providing direct assistance with medical supplies to the Nepali people and the Sherpas in the Khumbu, through their long established hospitals and medical care facilities. But the challenges they are facing are immense and additional resources are needed.
James Gingell (via The Guardian)
As a government civil servant, James Gingell was burnt out from working on Brexit and Covid. Trekking the length of Britain, from Land’s End to John o’Groats, was the change he needed.
James Gingell, via The Guardian »
Walking Land’s End to John o’Groats wasn’t the original plan. All I wanted was freedom. I had worked as a civil servant for three years, first in central government as the country grappled with Brexit, then, after the pandemic hit, on the Covid response. Through the tumult, my colleagues were pleasant and supportive, and the material circumstances of my life did not change. When I took a burnout questionnaire, though, I ticked every box: tiredness, torpor, tetchiness. I’m normally a silly person. But I wasn’t smiling much. I’m normally a creative person. But nothing was happening in my brain. I felt bleached.
…
All I wanted was to be free, of emails and objectives and obligations which could only disappoint, of defined, quantifiable purpose. I wanted to luxuriate in pure freedom, to walk in a wild, blank void. If our culture of metrics and targets and progress were more receptive to the idea of pointlessness as a point, I might instead have quoted another naturalist, Henry David Thoreau. He wrote that creative thoughts are like birds, coming to us only if they have branches to settle. “If the grove in our minds is laid waste – sold to feed unnecessary fires of ambition – they no longer build or breed with us.” I needed to do nothing but walk and wallow in swamp and marrow for the trees to heal, for the birds to come back. The walk was more to do with that.
Resources mentioned in this article »
Jazz Nobel writing in Outdoors Magic »
Ursula Martin defines herself as an ‘extreme rambler’. And that she certainly is. Between 2014 and 2015, she walked 3,700 miles in and around her homeland of Wales, all whilst undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer. Along the way she raised over £12,000 for cancer charities and helped to draw attention to the symptoms of ovarian cancer to thousands of people.
A few years later, Ursula embarked on another trek, hitchhiking from Wales to Eastern Europe to begin a solo walk across the bulk of the continent. Starting in Ukraine, she travelled through the Balkans and into Southern Europe, steadily making her way towards the Atlantic Ocean. All was going well enough until the beginning of 2020, when a roadblock arrived in the form of a global pandemic.
The US News and World Report has again ranked countries according to how well they break from the norm and fulfill people’s wanderlust and desire for adventure.
The top 30 adventure rankings for 2021 are »
- 1. Brazil 🇧🇷
- 2. Italy 🇮🇹
- 3. Spain 🇪🇸
- 4. Greece 🇬🇷
- 5. Thailand 🇹🇭
- 6. Mexico 🇲🇽 (Up from #11 in 2020)
- 7. New Zealand 🇳🇿
- 8. Australia 🇦🇺 (Up from #10 in 2020)
- 9. Portugal 🇵🇹 (Down from #6 in 2020)
- 10. Costa Rica 🇨🇷 (Down from #8 in 2020)
Peru has created the Nazca Ridge National Reserve —the first fully marine protected area in the country— which will help, above all, protect the underwater mountain range, Environment Minister Gabriel Quijandria has announced.
Cyril Derreumaux and his custom-made kayak named Valentine
Updated 2021.06.11 »
After more than four days of holding in place and waiting for things to get better, Derreumeux made the difficult decision to call the U.S. Coast Guard for a rescue.
A helicopter was dispatched in the night to retrieve the ocean kayaker, who was airlifted off the water and flown back to shore. Once on land however, it didn’t take him long to start thinking about resuming the journey.
Updated 2021.06.07 »
After just a week, Cyril Derreumaux has abandoned his attempt to kayak alone to Hawaii. He set off on May 31, and although the first few days went smoothly, conditions deteriorated over the last 72 hours. He eventually called for rescue.
Derreumaux had not moved since June 4. Because of the rough weather, he deployed his sea anchor and stayed inside the cabin.
Yesterday, winds reached 55-65kph with gusts over 80kph. The waves towered to 4.5m. He also had an issue with his sea anchor but couldn’t try to fix it in such weather.
Earlier…
Rebecca McPhee for Explorersweb »
On May 31, Cyril Derreumaux dipped his paddle in the Pacific and began his 4,450km solo kayak from San Francisco to Hawaii. The 44-year-old hopes to complete the journey in 70 days.
His custom-made kayak Valentine — named after his sister –- includes an enlarged watertight aft cockpit for sleeping and storage of some of his 140 kilograms of equipment and supplies. This makes his experience quite different from the iconic paddle that Ed Gillet did in 1987, using an off-the-shelf sea kayak. Gillet, the only person to kayak from the U.S. to Hawaii, was the inspiration for Derreumaux’s project.
From December 2022, non-European Union nationals who do not require a visa to enter the Schengen area, will need to request prior authorisation to visit Schengen countries.
You will be able to apply online for authorisation via the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS).
The ETIAS authorisation is not a visa. Nationals of visa liberalisation countries will continue to travel the EU without a visa but will simply be required to obtain a travel authorisation via ETIAS prior to their travel. ETIAS will be a simple, fast and visitor-friendly system, which will, in more than 95% of cases, result in a positive answer within a few minutes.
An ETIAS travel authorisation does not reintroduce visa-like obligations. There is no need to go to a consulate to make an application, no biometric data is collected and significantly less information is gathered than during a visa application procedure. Whereas, as a general rule, a Schengen visa procedure can take up to 15 days, and can in some cases be extended up to 30 or 60 days, the online ETIAS application only takes a few minutes to fill in. The validity will be for a period of three years, significantly longer than the validity of a Schengen visa. An ETIAS authorisation will be valid for an unlimited number of entries.
The ETIAS travel authorisation will be a necessary and small procedural step for all visa-exempt travellers which will allow them to avoid bureaucracy and delays when presenting themselves at the borders. ETIAS will fully respect this visa-free status; facilitate the crossing of the Schengen external border; and allow visa free visitors to fully enjoy their status.
The exact date on which these changes will come into force is not yet clear.
Seven Summits (Source » Wikipedia)
The Seven Summits has become part of the adventure lexicon, shorthand for the highest mountain on each continent.
The most commonly accepted list is:
- Mount Everest, Asia, 8,849m
- Aconcagua, South America, 6,961m
- Denali, North America, 6,194m
- Kilimanjaro, Africa, 5,895m
- Mount Elbrus, Europe, 5,642m
- Mount Vinson, Antarctica, 4,892m
- Puncak Jaya/Carstensz Pyramid, Oceania, 4,884m
Mountaineers have sought to climb the highest peak on each continent since at least 1956 when American William Hackett completed five of the seven. However, he climbed Mont Blanc rather than Mount Elbrus and Mount Kosciuszko rather than Puncak Jaya, as these were considered the highest peaks in Europe and Oceania respectively at the time.
Also »