Maps, Maps, Maps

As a lover of all things map-related, I was excited to come across these cartographic masterpieces today. A couple groups, including the World Bank and the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, created these maps to give us a better sense of how connected we all are... not in the digital sense, but the old fashioned physical sense. The maps below represent the world's shipping routes, train tracks, roads, and accessibility, respectively. The last map is especially cool, showing how long it would take (in days and hours) to get to the most accessible and least accessible parts of the world.

Jumbo Hostel, Stockholm, Sweden

I really like the idea of unusual sleeping accommodations, and a private room inside the belly of a renovated 747 jet certainly qualifies. Built especially for backpackers, the Jumbo Hostel at the Stockholm airport opened toward the beginning of 2009, and certainly beats sleeping with your head on a radiator in a LaGuardia cafeteria (been there). Sleep in the cockpit for $734/night (um, that's not a hostel), reserve a room for about $160/night (again, not a hostel), or recline in a first-class seat for $44/night (there we go).

Prehistoric Cave Art

At present, I'm designing a unit on prehistoric cave art for the upcoming school year, and like so many of the Social Studies topics I come across, there's a clear need for some armchair travel in order to fully appreciate its awesome-ness.

The most famous examples of Paleolithic cave art are found at Altamira, in Cantabria, Spain, and Lascaux, France, and several other notable European cave sites are concentrated in these two countries. Both of the aforementioned caves were discovered by intrepid children, and are now highly protected UNESCO World Heritage sites. After some 15,000+ years of isolation, the carbon dioxide exhaled by tourists during the first years of public display began to damage the paintings, so both Altamira and Lascaux are pretty much impossible to experience first-hand these days. Altamira has close to a three year waiting list, and Lascaux is open to a handful of scientists for a few days out of every month. You can visit accurately represented replicas that have since been created for preservation's sake, but not the real thing.

(Above: Altamira)

(Above: Lascaux)

Outside of Europe, as expected, the materials and themes displayed in prehistoric cave art vary quite a bit. For example, the paintings at uKhahlamba/Drakensberg, South Africa, depict uniquely African predators chasing spear-toting humans across the rock walls. Compare that to the figures represented in Australia's Kakadu National Park (which portray pre-Aboriginal weaponry and the pursuit of kangaroos) or India's Bhimbetka rock shelters (where everyday life is drawn in colors that are still vivid some 9,000 years later), just to name a few. These non-European cave art sites are often considerably more accessible, sometimes because the site itself is more exposed and therefore less susceptible to carbon dioxide accumulation.

(Above: uKhahlamba/Drakenberg)

(Above: Kakadu National Park)

(Above: Bhimbetka)

Anyway you look at it, the various symbols on these caves' walls, though relative simplistic, are remarkably powerful. Just imagine being the nine-year-old girl who strolled into Altamira for the first time in modern history and took it all in amidst the deafening silence. Or maybe the group of teenagers taking their dog for a walk, who stumbled upon "the Sistine Chapel of pre-history" (as Lascaux is popularly known) and had it all to themselves for a few hours. If that doesn't make you want to be an explorer, nothing will.

Geo Quiz Challenge

PRI puts out a daily Geo Quiz segment on the radio, though I get their podcast via iTunes. If you're looking to test or build your knowledge of world geography, check it out:

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TheWorld.org

TravBuddy.com

Notes from Tanzania: Ngorongoro Crater

After our Kilimanjaro climb, Brother Bill and I drove west across Northern Tanzania for some safari action. There is one road connecting Arusha and Serengeti National Park, most of which was built by the Japanese government. We guessed that it had something do to with the large number of Toyota cars on the road, but never really got a good explanation. Anyway, after a game drive at Lake Manyara National Park (home to tree-climbing lions, flamingos, hippos, giraffes, elephants, and more), we continued on to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which blew our minds.

Picture this: A few million years ago, a large volcano blows up, creating the world's largest (and best preserved) volcanic caldera. In the ensuing years, a diverse set of animals descend the caldera walls, find everything they need inside, and sort of voluntarily commit themselves to a lifetime in an open-air aquarium. While Maasai tribesmen still bring their herds into the crater to graze during the day, the "bowl" is just like a modern day Jurassic Park where animals live and die on full display. Additionally, there's an eerie halo of fog that surrounds the crater rim during most of the day, and once you begin to descend into Ngorongoro along the lone entrance road, the inner sanctum just glows, like a secret world. Unbelievable.


Above: The overview of Ngorongoro Crater from the rim.


Above: Maasai herdsmen in the crater.


Above: Our ride, Kermit, and one of the crater lakes.


Above: Baboon mom grooming her baby.


Above: A serval cat, stalking our car.

Notes from Tanzania: Kilimanjaro

Brother Bill and I are back from a wonderful two weeks in Tanzania. The highlight was definitely our seven-day climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro, following the difficult and stunningly-beautiful Machame route through rainforest, moorlands, alpine desert, and finally, some serious arctic conditions on summit day. This was one of the most difficult things I've ever done, both mentally and physically, and we were constantly put to shame by our incredible Tanzanian porters, who so often passed us on the trail, balancing cast-iron stoves on their heads and singing in Swahili. All said and done, we hiked/climbed/scrambled some 50 miles, watched the sun rise over Tanzania and Kenya from 19,340 feet above sea level, and had great fun along the way.


(Above: Kilimanjaro's Kibo Peak from Moshi.)


(Above: Our first day's trek through the rainforest.)


(Above: Sweet Spanish moss handlebar mustaches.)


(Above: An acclimitizing hike up to Lava Tower.)


(Above: Walking among otherworldly Senecio Kilimanjari plants.)


(Above: Clinging on for dear life on the Barranco Wall.)


(Above: Resting up at Barrafu Camp prior to summit attempt.)


(Above: Crazy blizzard at the summit, just before sunrise.)


(Above: One of several majestic glaciers atop Kili.)


(Above: The porters and guides who made it all possible.)

The Knee Defender

Roughly two paragraphs into a heartfelt blog entry about my pre-Kilimanjaro adrenaline buzz, I began searching Yahoo! for funny images of people with their knees jammed into narrow airplane rows. (This is how my mind works.) As the proud owner of chicken legs, I was overjoyed to discover a marvelously passive-aggressive travel gizmo called the Knee Defender, which locks onto your seatback tray, preventing the person in front of you from reclining. Genius! I can just picture the scene:

Person in front of you: Um, sir, my seat won't recline.
Flight attendant: Let me give that a try. Hmm, it feels jammed.
Person in front of you: It was working earlier.
Flight attendant: (Looking behind the seat) Ahh, the Knee Defender!
Person in front of you: Huh?
Flight attendant: I'm sorry, sir. There's nothing I can do.
Person in front of you: (Turning to see the lock) He can't do that!
You: Yes, I can. Eat it, space hog.
Person in front of me: Take it off!
You: Never.
Person in front of you: I guess I've learned my lesson about being considerate.
Flight attendant: Wonderful. (To you) Sir, I see the space we've provided you is entirely inadequate for your go-go-gadget legs. Can we upgrade you to business class?
You: Why, yes. Thank you.
Person in front of you: Will you take the Knee Defender off before you go?
You: (To flight attendant) Did you hear something?

Needless to say, I didn't finish the aformentioned entry about Kilimanjaro, but will report in full upon my return.

Peter Island, B.V.I.

After three years of hard work, my wife is now a proud J.D., which in the context of this blog means one thing... bar trip! As tradition holds, we've been looking into possible international adventures to pursue after she completes the bar exam later this summer, and with the help of the knowledgeable Barb Maxwell at Viking Travel, we've settled on Peter Island, in the British Virgin Islands. We're flying from Chicago to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then taking a small plane on to Tortola, B.V.I. From here, a ferry will take us five miles across the Sir Francis Drake Channel (Arr!) to the island resort. Our room looks out at Dead Chest Island (a half mile offshore), where Blackbeard is said to have ditched 15 sailors with a cask of rum and a sword (Double arr!). A few miles further out to sea is Norman Island, which is believed to be Robert Louis Stevenson's inspiration for "Treasure Island". Pirate lore aside, Peter Island is 18,000 acres of palm trees, electric blue water, and secluded strolling beaches, offering much needed R&R. We can't wait!

Borobudur, Java, Indonesia

In the same way that Machu Picchu was "discovered" in the Peruvian Andes by Hiram Bingham (1911), the equally impressive Buddhist temple of Borobudur led a sleepy existence in the jungles of Central Java until Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (founder of Singapore, etc.) was shown its location by indigenous Indonesians in 1814. In the 200 years since Raffles first visited Borobudur, some 2,500 carved relief panels and 500 Buddha statues have been identified, documented, and restored, preserving one of the world's foremost Buddhist pilgrimage sites and creating (justifiably) Indonesia's most popular tourist landmark. If Borobudur interests you, also see Ankgor Wat, near Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Petra, Jordan

For many years, I thought the final scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (where they enter a hidden city through a spectacular slot canyon) were filmed on a constructed set someplace. It wasn't until much later that a friend told me that this city, Petra, was a real place-- an ancient Nabatean trade capital on the route between Asia and Africa-- and it naturally moved to the top of my must-see list. The building shown in the movie, Petra's treasury, is carved into the face of the sandstone canyon. Most travelers arrive via Amman, Jordan, the closest major city.