I held a moment in my hand, brilliant as a star, fragile as a flower, a tiny sliver of one hour. I dropped it carelessly, Ah! I didn’t know, I held opportunity.
» Hazel Lee (Aug 24, 1912 – Nov 25, 1944)
Page 2 of 70
Deutsche Welle Documentary »
Taiwan is a place of incredible variety. The tiny island’s natural beauty is a concentration of some of Asia’s most spectacular features. To the east, there are sheer cliffs with mountain peaks, plateaus and hot springs. To the south, you’ll find sandy beaches, coral reefs and lagoons.
Although the Taiwanese live in a high-tech world, they are still firmly anchored by ancient traditions. During the course of his life, Lin Liang-tai has created many elaborately adorned wooden boats. But they’re not built to last, as they’re destined for Taiwan’s legendary Wang Ye Festival. As part of the temple ceremony to honor the goddess of the sea, a 10-meter boat is blessed, loaded with offerings and pulled through the village down to the beach. There, it’s set alight, burning any evil spirits that might be lurking about the place.
Shrimps are all the rage in Taiwan. In large halls across the entire island, shrimps can be fished out of huge tanks and put straight on the barbecue. Zhan Jia-ming runs one of these popular shrimp halls, and tips bucketloads of fresh shrimps into the tanks every hour.
Oysters are a mainstay of Taiwanese cuisine, whether boiled, fried or made into oyster sauce. On the west coast, oyster farms sustain entire village communities. In Fangyuan, we see one oyster farmer still using traditional methods to harvest his oysters. He drives ox-drawn carts onto the tidal flats, just as it has been done for generations. In the fishing village of Dongshi, several tons of oysters are harvested, opened and processed every day.
Taiwan’s relations with the mainland have often been strained since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Beijing regards the island as part of its territory. Tensions have been on the rise in recent times. Tsai Jin-lu is a committed birdwatcher. For years, he’s documented his rare bird sightings in the Aogu Wetlands Forest Park on the western coast of Taiwan. But these days, his binoculars are frequently trained on something much bigger, up in the skies above. That’s because this is where the Taiwan carries out fighter jet exercises almost every day.
As tourists have returned to Europe en masse, familiar stories of misbehaviour have come with them.
A tourist from the UK said he was “unaware” of how old Rome’s Colosseum was when he was filmed carving his and his girlfriend’s names into the 2,000-year-old amphitheatre in July.
Italy’s deputy prime minister in August branded a group of German tourists “imbeciles”after they toppled a statue that was part of a 150-year-old fountain in the Lombardy region.
The opening of the Eiffel Tower was delayed one morning in August after two inebriated Americans decided to sleep it off at the 300-metre high monument overnight.
Canadian Geographic Explorer Podcast »
Podcast host David McGuffin sits down with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss his passion and history with canoeing, including childhood trips and being taught to paddle by canoeing legend Bill Mason
2023 Global Peace Index
On June 28, the 17th edition of the Global Peace Index from international think-tank, the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP) was released, and things are not looking great.
The analysis showed that conflict deaths are at their highest level this century causing world peacefulness to decline.
Some key findings in the report »
On Monday 14 August, when the tide is right, an antique sailing ship will manoeuvre through the lock of Plymouth’s historic Sutton harbour and point herself south-west towards the Canary Islands. It will be the start of a two-year voyage around the world taking in 32 ports and involving thousands of people in a groundbreaking geographical project, Darwin200, which aims, among other things, to inspire the environmental leaders and scientists of the future.
Not only that, adventurous souls can apply to be part of the crew on epic voyages between, for example, Tahiti and the Cook Islands, or Cape Town and the Falklands.
The Oosterschelde, a traditional three-masted Dutch schooner, plans to retrace the route taken by another historic ship almost two centuries ago. In Plymouth on Boxing Day 1831, a young man boarded HMS Beagle and the following day set out on a voyage that would change our world. Not that the 22-year-old Charles Darwin suspected the vast significance the voyage would later have. He was suffering a little of what would later be known as impostor syndrome, wondering if he deserved the opportunity given. Fortunately for us, however, he had the necessary determination and enthusiasm. And that is what Darwin200 founder Stewart McPherson hopes will be the legacy of this project. “We are identifying 200 young naturalists from 200 countries who will become the leaders of the future – young people who can drive change.” En route, the Oosterschelde will touch places as far apart as Cape Verde, Rio, Auckland and Tasmania – all spots Darwin reached.
With its new constitution, Mali has dropped French, which has been the country’s official language since 1960. Ironically, the constitution that demoted French as an official language, is written in French.
The decision comes at a time of growing anti-France sentiments across West Africa due to its perceived military and political interference.
In June, Malian voters approved a new constitution proposed by the country’s military government that moved French from an official language to a working one.
The change raises complicated questions in a country with more than 70 local languages. French has served as a way for Malians of different ethnic groups to communicate; it has also allowed the government to sidestep privileging one group’s language over another’s.
Used by over 600,000 hikers worldwide.
Hiiker app makes offline maps available for free
One of the most staggering things we noticed over the past few years, is the number of rescues that are carried out by emergency services, that could have been avoided if the hiker had a good quality map. While we are developing an app to help more people get into the outdoors, there are still many that are exploring without the adequate gear/equipment to do so.
So by making offline maps free, we are breaking the status quo of all hiking apps, charging for this service and saying that safety shouldn’t require a subscription!
Offline maps means you have the freedom to us them while in the outdoors. Once you download the map to your device, you don’t need signal while hiking. So you can save that essential battery life!
Teenager Adam Swanson spent the past two years cycling around the world.
With no training, Adam and a friend flew to the Netherlands in August 2021, where they would begin their cycling journey. They had no real route plan but cycled their way across to Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. After six months, Henry called it, while Swanson decided to continued on.
CNN »
Now, after a “few years of unconventional education,” cycling across 20 different countries and four continents, Swanson is finally on his way home, and will begin studying at the University of Minnesota in September.