A close-up snap

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Title – A close-up snapSource – The Metro
Date – 30th July 2009

During our workshop we look at many different aspects of

Travel Safety and even touch on the issue of danger from wild animals.

With ever more exotic destination being chosen by travellers, encounters with unfamiliar wild animals are increasingly more likely. From the prolific hunters of Africa (a list topped by the hippopotamus), to the marmots of Mongolia (which still carry plague), every continent has its own contenders for the list of ‘dangerous animals’. The feral dogs which in many parts of the world infected with Rabies and the snakes, spiders, scorpions, jellyfish, sharks, bears, big cats, buffalo, piranha and many other species which have been labelled as dangerous, can awake deeply ingrained phobias in many people.

We really try and get one message across; never forget these animals are wild!

In the UK, television, zoos and safari parks have tended to desensitise us to the real dangers. Television especially has a tendency to require more and more sensationalism. Presenters regularly approach wild animals to get themselves in-shot. What they don’t show is the planning, expert knowledge and the ‘safety net’ in place; or the real perspective which often means they are not actually as close as they seem.

I have visited many places and heard stories of deadly encounters with wild animals; in South Africa, the Japanese tourists who climbed out of their car to have their photograph taken in front of a pride of lions ‘sleeping’ off the midday sun under a tree; in the Red Sea, the diver experiencing the ‘ultimate thrill’ of feeding sharks only to end up being bitten themselves; in the USA, the campers asleep in their tent mauled by a Grizzly, because they failed to clean up properly after dinner.

Wild animals should be respected and you should keep your distance. Remember when you leave the city / your hotel / the safety of your vehicle, you enter their environment, one which they have been adapting to for thousands of years.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Safety, alongside sessions on, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance, Travel Health, Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice, Transport Options, and more.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

River blindness ‘can be beaten’

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Title – River blindness ‘can be beaten’Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 21st July 2009

Onchocerciasis or River Blindness is another of the terrible afflictions which local populations face in parts of the world, which can affect travellers and for which protective measures should be taken.

Once again Africa and particularly Sub Saharan Africa is badly affected by this terrible disease with it’s debilitating symptoms.

With 37 million people affected by River Blindness the news that there is hope for successful treatment is very welcome and let’s hope the funding is found to extend the work already being done.

For independent travellers the key is prevention. Bite protection is the key, so avoiding the Black Fly habitats (river banks and lakes), wearing appropriate clothing, use of insect repellent and insecticides and sleeping under a mosquito net are all essential. Make sure that if any symptoms occur (even some years after infection) you inform your doctor of your travels and where appropriate seek specialist advice and treatment.

At

Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Health, alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Tourists warned of Thailand airport scam

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Title – Tourists warned of Thailand airport scamSource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 20th July 2009

There is not a continent on earth (with the exception of

Antarctica where the penguins are remarkably honest) where scams are not perpetrated. Some are worse than others, some more frightening, some more expensive, some more obvious, some very clever, some criminal and some just ‘cheeky’.
Thailand is no exception to this rule, in fact it can sometimes feel like Thailand specialises in the scam at every level. They range from the fake gemstone scam, to the planting of illegal drugs. Sadly as with many countries where the police are paid a very low wage, some scams inevitably involve rogue police officers and other government officials.

In countries where corruption is almost endemic, some scams effectively become accepted as part of ‘the system’.

The thing which worries me about this scam is first that it seems to target victims using technology (CCTV) which is easily manipulated, but more that it takes place in what many travellers feel is a bit of a ‘sanctuary’; the airport.

Culture shock affects us most in unfamiliar environments like the Far East where the heat, humidity, hustle and bustle, traffic, food, chaos of the urban areas, poverty etc. delivers sensory overload, which can be significant. Sometimes the ‘sanctuary’ of an international airport, an environment we feel comfortable in, which is familiar to us and one more akin to our home environment, is just what we need to boost confidence for the next leg of a journey.

This also means we let our guard down, we behave in a manner more familiar to the one we know at home. Everything has a price so there is no need to haggle, the food (even if we take the local option) is presented in a more western style and so we assume that we will also be protected in the way we are at home; a way we take for granted.

So to be suddenly caught up in this kind of scam is frightening and the fact that those involved are officials within the airport, the police and potentially even the judiciary, make it a very difficult one to get out of. The loss of passport puts you at the mercy of your ‘captors’ and the facilities you are kept in mean that any sum of money to free yourself seems reasonable.

The hope is that by uncovering this scam publically and by consulates putting pressure on the Thai government, it makes them clamp down and put and end to this practice.

To avoid getting caught up in the scam the best and most obvious way is to avoid shopping at the airport. If you want to shop, just don’t touch anything you are not buying and pay with a credit card so you not only get (and keep) a receipt, but also a record of your transaction is made by your card company. The last piece of advice is to be more obvious than usual when handling anything you are going to buy, don’t open your bag, hold everything at arm’s length and with finger tips so any cctv footage will clearly show you paying for items and shop alone. Shopping alone means that if you are travelling with a partner at least they can call the embassy for help if you are caught up in the scam.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Safety, alongside sessions on Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Health, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Killer parasites’ genes decoded

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Title – Killer parasites’ genes decoded
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 16th July 2009

I put these articles into the blog sometimes, not because such an in-depth knowledge of diseases is important for independent travellers, but because highlighting these diseases and making people aware of them provides a degree of protection.

Those diseases which attract the most attention are those which have vaccinations or for which prophylactic drugs are available. This is because the drug companies spend a vast amount of money promoting their drugs by providing information about the diseases themselves.

This means that diseases like Dengue Fever or in this case Bilharzia (Schistosomiasis) get largely left behind and tend only to be highlighted by government departments and then only when travellers actually seek out information.

If anything these are the ones we need to take more care with, because there is no vaccination or prophylactic drugs to provide ‘easy’ protection, so it is knowledge and our behaviour which offers the only protection.

Bilharzia is an incredibly debilitating and potentially fatal disease and is frighteningly common with over 200 million cases reported every year. London’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases sees an average of 200 cases a year in returning travellers.

Local advise is especially important in understanding bodies of water which are not safe to wade or swim in. For example reports suggest that 50% of swimmers in Lake Malawi test positive for Bilharzia; those are odds simply not worth contemplating, no matter how hot it is.

At

Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Health alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Missing backpacker is found alive / Gap-year teenager who was given up for dead walks out of the Bush

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Title – Missing backpacker is found alive / Gap-year teenager who was given up for dead walks out of the Bush
Source – www.bbc.co.uk / The Times
Date – 15th July 2009 / 16th July 2009

This story is set to run and run, the problem is which story it is which will run? A story of extraordinary survival; a story of doubt and mistrust; a story of great luck; a story of ignorance and stupidity; or a story of the heroics of the Australian teams who were out looking?

Everyone is going to take their angle and the media hype has already started; I watched a Sky News ‘Exclusive’ last night which was no doubt handsomely paid for.

I have to say I feel very uncomfortable with the whole situation; I am not suggesting that this was a hoax, how would I know? I am not suggesting that Jamie Neale is telling lies or spinning his own story and for me these are really not the important factors. However I wholly understand the local feeling, that profiting from the strong sits very uncomfortably when so many local resources went into the search, when searchers were themselves hurt and when goodwill shown is taken for granted.

There are many concerns that we should have:

The first is that unless any profit generated goes towards the costs until they are paid and maybe even beyond to show gratitude for the time and effort put into the search, much of the goodwill (and let’s not forget that many of those searching were volunteers putting their own safety at risk) will be lost. Local people will be much less enthusiastic in future to mount these sorts of operations.

The second is that a perception is given that this was not as perilous as it was and that other travellers think they can profit from such situations themselves. In an age of celebrity, too many people want their 15 minutes and this should not be seen as a way of getting that.

The third is that we don’t brush over the errors that Jamie made which led to him being in this situation in the first place. Watching a few episodes of Ray Mears (great as he is) or some of the other more ‘high octane’ survival specialists, in no way guarantees your survival. I’m not saying it will not help, but it is a little like using a plaster to fix a fracture…

There is talk of Jamie now going into all sorts of projects, no one will be surprised to see the book, dvd, magazine and TV appearances; there was even talk already of him holding talks on survival skills…. All a little premature I think, it took Ray more than ten days to learn his skills.

Spending two weeks lost in the Blue Mountains in winter is no joke, the Australian Search & Rescue crews know their stuff and if they were on the verge of giving up the hunt, then you can be sure the chances of survival are slim.

It is so important for travellers to realise that the UK and what they are used to at home is one of the safest environments in the world and that we have some of the best facilities for dealing with people in distress. We are a small country, dwarfed by somewhere like Australia, searching and finding people who are lost is made easier by our relative size. If you get lost in the outback or in a jungle being found or finding your way back is really not straight forward and often results in people never being found.

On a trip to

Madagascar in 2003 I went in search of the elusive Red Lemur, deep in the jungles in the north of the island. With two villagers as guides, I trekked for several hours along single tracks. I was acutely aware that these tracks while easily distinguishable while you were on them, effectively disappeared once you wandered more than 5 meters off them. When one of my guides finally found two red Lemurs high in the canopy, the chase to get a good view was on. Only being able to hear the second guide by his animal calls we scrambled off the track to catch up with him, fighting our way through the sometimes dense undergrowth, sliding down muddy banks and using jungle vines to climb up the other side. When we eventually caught up with him and looked up, there was the most magnificent sight of two Red Lemurs casually foraging.

Right there (as has happened on several trips) I realised I was 100% in the hands of other people. Had I lost my guides, there was no way for me to find the path or a way out of the jungle and had I hurt myself, help was a long way away. You can not always be 100% safe, sliding down a bank in the jungle of Madagascar is as likely to end in a twisted ankle as sliding down a slope in Dorset. It’s just that in Dorset my mobile phone calls for help which arrives like the cavalry; in Madagascar, my guides, my preparations and my kit go some way to helping protect me, but the cavalry is nowhere to be seen.

In the Blue Mountains there are systems in place to help protect hikers; simple steps all of which Jamie seems to have ignored, steps which would undoubtedly have speeded up his rescue. Registering his destination with his hostel, seeking advice from the National Parks and Wildlife Service and taking one of their free beacons, taking more appropriate equipment, understanding the environment and his own capabilities.… hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Independent Gap Year travellers are often referred to by the Foreign Office as the ‘Invincibles’ because they believe they can conquer the world almost without any forethought. Pride, peer pressure and boastability often get in the way of common sense. In a choice between luck and judgement, judgement is always the preferred option.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Safety, alongside sessions on Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Health, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

EU lifts Indonesian airline ban

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Title – EU lifts Indonesian airline ban
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 14th July 2009

This is a blast from the past. Garuda Airlines was long a favourite amongst backpackers and ‘gappers’, as it offered cheap flights to Southeast Asia and on to

Australia. But things went quickly downhill after the Asian financial crisis and Indonesia’s own internal problems after the fall of the Suharto dictatorship.
Indonesia has made significant progress and despite the eventual 2007 ban (many travel companies had delisted Indonesian airlines much before this) they have improved standards to such a degree that the EU have readmitted them and removed them from the list of banned airlines.

The EU ‘black-list’ is a good starting point for anyone researching airline safety; http://ec.europa.eu/transport/air-ban/list_en.htm

For now Guruda will be flying out of the Netherlands, but that does not make it inaccessible to UK travellers and I would imagine that it will still offer ‘good value’. Any increase in competition is only good for travellers looking for cheap long haul flights.

With the recent spate of accidents including the still unexplained accidents by Air France and Yemeni airline, I also welcome the EU’s scrutiny of world airlines. It helps us make informed decisions about ‘airline safety’ around the world.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Transport Options, alongside sessions on, Travel Health, Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice, Travel Safety, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Row over climbing at Ayers Rock

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Title – Row over climbing at Ayers RockSource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 9th July 2009

Well if you are reading this expecting a definitive answer to this question from me you are going to be sadly disappointed. Do I have a personal opinion on the matter? Well I know what I would do when I was confronted with the decision.

The first step is what should we be calling this majestic rock; Ayers Rock or Uluru? Here again I think the arguments are divided, but I don’t believe that they are significant, in fact I am not a great believer that indigenous names or ‘British’ names have a great deal of significance unless they were devised to offend, oppress or deride local cultures.

To climb or not to climb is slightly more complicated. As always I think our role is not to dictate but to educate. Let’s not tell people what to do or what to think, but give them the information to think for themselves; at least while the decision to climb or not is still one they can make.

Australia has been battling with its conscience for several decades; they have tried hard to right many of the wrongs of history since colonisation. It’s a battle not easily resolved, colonisation happened and it can not be undone, but a ‘happy’ medium can be found.

The Aborigines have won many arguments and concessions from the Australian government and lost others. Some would say the Aborigines have done well out of recent settlements while others say that having lost everything, any concession they win is not a victory but merely a small step towards recouping what was theirs anyway.

The argument with climbing Uluru / Ayers Rock (delete as appropriate), for me is relatively straight forward. There is no doubt it is a sacred site to the Aboriginal people. Their belief is that it disrespects their spirits to climb the rock. Where is the argument?

The argument that we don’t scramble over mosques, churches and temples when it offends those people who worship in those places seems quite reasonable. After all when entering a Buddhist temple we remove our shoes to avoid offending local sensibilities, in a Sikh temple we will when directed cover our heads and we wouldn’t stand on the alter in a church to get a better view of the murals…

Maybe I have just revealed my view point after all.

The fact is it is still down to each individual to make a choice. My suggestion would be that on a visit to the rock, first one of the tours with an aboriginal guide, not only to understand the fascinating stories they will tell of their heritage and of the rock, but because it will give you the information to make your own informed decision.

The rock itself will continue to inspire anyone who comes across it and although the tourist facilities now take a little away from it’s splendid isolation, anyone not impressed by sunset at the rock should probably consider a rethink on the rest of their trip…

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Ethical and Responsible Travel, alongside sessions on Travel Health, Travel Safety, , Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

The holiday bug with a lethal sting

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Title – The holiday bug with a lethal stingSource – Independent
Date – 7th July 2009

I have written before about Malaria in this blog and I don’t really want to retrace those words at this point. During our workshop we go on and on about taking a co-ordinated approach to protecting against malaria and in practice the steps are relatively simple; add to these a few tricks and tips we have learnt along the way and the protection becomes even more complete. Even though it is never going to be 100% full proof, it seems logical to me that the closer you get to 100% the better. Too many travellers seem to take the bizarre attitude, that if the pills are not 100% proof why take them at all…

Our approach is fourfold:

1. Planning
2. Prophylactic drugs & Vaccinations
3. Bite prevention
4. Awareness & Diagnosis

The good thing about this approach is that malaria is just one of many diseases spread by mosquitoes and this simple strategy goes a significant way to assisting with protection against these as well. Bite prevention adds significant protection from diseases including:

· Dengue Fever
· Yellow Fever
· Encephalitis
· Rift Valley Fever

The experience of people who have contracted malaria should be enough to get anyone thinking. The 2000 people diagnosed with malaria every year in the UK, not to mention the 10 – 12 fatalities a year, should be enough to make anyone take those measures required in order to protect themselves.

In addition to the fact that getting malaria is a devastating and life threatening experience, the added pressure put on local services & resources when you require treatment in-country because you have failed to take the appropriate prevention measures is very unfair; especially when many countries can’t even look after their own population. The hospital bed you as a foreigner will undoubtedly be given is a bed which a local person will be turned away from.

I always ask people how many people in Sub-Saharan Africa would refuse a mosquito net or prophylactic drugs if they were offered them; the answer is obviously none. When you leave your mosquito net at home or ignore the doctor’s advice, you do rather rub salt in their considerable wounds.

At

Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Health, alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.