The Torres del Paine (Towers of Paine) are the most famous peaks of the Paine massif in Torres del Paine National Park, Chile, a park that covers 181,414 hectares (448,284 acres) of unique landscapes and is a UNESCO-recognised Biosphere Reserve. Photo © Hernán Torres

The park is one of the nature tourism meccas in Chile. Located in the Chilean Patagonia, it covers a total of 181,414 hectares (448,284 acres) and is among the preferred worldwide destinations for trekking, particularly for its famous five-day ‘W’ circuit (named for the shape of the route). In 1978, Torres del Paine National Park was declared a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, because it is one of the world’s most representative regions of different ecosystem and also provides opportunities to measure human impacts on the environment.

The stark granite rock formations known as the Towers of Paine, the Grey and Dickson glaciers, the numerous waterfalls and lakes, and an abundance of wildlife that includes endangered species such as the condor, the puma and the Huemul deer, are some of the main attractions of this protected area.

Irresponsible Tourists

Unfortunately, the most recent recent conflagration is not the first time that a fire has started as a result of a tourist’s irresponsible conduct. In recent years, three forest fires have affected the park, all of them caused by visitors.

The first one occurred in February 2005, when an inferno that lasted 10 days destroyed more than 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres), or approximately 7 percent of the park. It was sparked by a gas stove used by a Czech tourist in a grassland area where camping was not authorised. The disaster was such that the Czech Republic quickly offered help to restore the damaged sectors and sent Czech experts. The forest cooperation project “Assistance to renew Torres del Paine National Park ecosystems damaged by the fire” ended in December 2010. It ran for five years and included reforestation with 180,000 Lenga (Nothofagus pumilio)plants.

In February 2011, a new fire was again cause for grief. An Israeli tourist who lit a bonfire in an unauthorised area initiated it, although it did not have the same catastrophic consequences because rain helped control the flames. The tourist was expelled from the national park and declared an unwelcome visitor because of his irresponsibility.

Most recently, on December 29, 2011, another Israeli citizen caused the second fire in one year when he tried to burn some toilet paper. The devastation, in this case, was far worse. So much so that volunteers from all over the world came to offer help, including Australian firefighters. Until last week, CONAF– the government agency in charge of managing protected areas in Chile – still had staff putting out blazes in different sectors of the park.

The endangered Huemul deer (Hippocamelus bisulcus) lives in the Chilean and Argentine Patagonia and can sometimes be seen in Torres del Paine National Park. Photo © Hernán Torres

Impacts of the Fire

The native forest that was destroyed comprised trees that grow very slowly and reach maturity only after approximately 200 years. They also need to be protected from the cold and wind during the winter and the dryness during the summer.

Revitalising the scorched areas is therefore not just a matter of replanting small trees, but also of providing them with the required growing conditions. In addition, it’s important to consider that a large part of the fire went underground and affected the area’s soil. Wildlife living in the park will probably return to the damaged sectors only to find them completely barren and will have to move elsewhere in search of food and shelter.

The forced closure of the park also affected the local economy, which depends on income generated by thousands of foreign tourists who visit the area during the high season, between November and February.

It is estimated that tourism business owners lost US$2 million dollars, although this is a preliminary figure that may need to be revised upward. Many local businesses have made great efforts to avoid layoffs because their employees rely on the salaries they obtain during these months.

More than 140,000 tourists travel to Torres del Paine National Park in Chile each year, many to admire the Large Paine Waterfall. Photo © Hernán Torres

Data provided by park authorities shows that, despite the park’s partial reopening, visits dropped 50 percent in January. Thankfully, the Chilean government has allocated resources to support micro and small tourism enterprises in the area and has launched an aggressive international promotion campaign to maintain the flow of visitors to the park in 2012 and 2013.

Who’s to Blame?

This third fire in Torres del Paine caused a flurry of angry comments in social networks and the media, with Chileans demanding that the government change the rules for visitors to national parks, such as forbidding camping, and also allocate more resources to protection. Many people also complained about what was considered to be a slow reaction by the Israeli government to offer help, certainly in comparison to that of the Czech Republic in 2005.

The biggest issue is that Torres del Paineis mainly a destination for foreign tourists. Chilean visitors usually just go for a day trip, since the cost of staying overnight is too expensive for them. Many foreign tourists who also can’t afford to travel to the park with a tour operator and stay at one of the several accommodations available there choose to rent a car to go on their own and to camp.

The Cuernos del Paine (Horns of Paine) are one of the most astounding features of the Paine massif in Chile's Torres del Paine National Park. Photo © Hernán Torres

Those are the riskier visitors, because many of them stay outside of authorised areas. In such cases – faced with inadequate infrastructure – they do whatever they can to be comfortable. Although they generally mean no harm, their limited knowledge of the park’s environmental conditions and their disregard for warnings by park rangers leads them to make wrong decisions.

The Israeli tourist who started this last fire has been forced to stay in the area until the legal investigation is over. He has claimed that there were no warning signs in the national park and that nobody gave him any guidelines. That may be true. National parks in Chile – as in many other countries – suffer from decades of insufficient funding to hire necessary personnel and implement adequate surveillance and prevention measures. Things will probably improve after this devastating fire, but until then it is up to us to act responsibly to ensure that beautiful places such as Torres del Paine National Park are preserved for the enjoyment of future generations.

For incredible vacation packages in Chile, including a five-day discovery tour of Southern Patagonia and Torres del Paine National Park, visit Gunyah.com, the WHL Group’s marketplace for authentic and responsible local travel experiences.

This beautiful section of the Italian Riviera is known for its eponymous Cinque Terre or ‘Five Lands’ – five picturesque villages and the surrounding carefully-terraced farmland that have been insulated from outside influences for generations. This spectacular territory was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, but tourism has proven to be something of a poisoned chalice. The sudden inflow of visitors has placed major strain on the area’s infrastructure and the desire to capitalise has seen tension between developers and local residents grow.

It was the problems that these growing pains posed for the region that the Vendemmia documentary team set out to document when filming began in 2008. Then, unexpectedly, after the team wrapped up their filming in late 2010, a sudden series of events struck the area.

A scandal broke, revealing evidence of widespread political corruption, compounding the problems already facing Cinque Terre. Land deals and development projects that posed a threat to the area’s outstanding natural beauty and traditional ways of life were under way.

Local residents, already facing the challenge of coping with a booming tourist industry that threatened to destroy their livelihoods, were outraged at the extent to which the land which they called home was being exploited.

Further disaster came in the form of severe rainfall in October 2011. The extreme weather caused widespread flooding and mudslides, resulting in several deaths and major damage to two of Cinque Terre’s villages, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare.

Knowing that they could not let these new problems go undocumented and compelled by their love of the region and its people, Weller and Boeckle realised that they would have to revisit major sections of their film if it was to achieve its objective of bringing awareness and support to Cinque Terre.

In order to finance the project, the team at Harvest Films Productions have opted to use kickstarter.com to raise the necessary funds. With nine days still to run, the project has already secured its ‘bare-bones’ funding package of $2,600, but additional support will contribute greatly to their ability to deliver an excellent and effective product.

We wish Weller, Boeckle and their team all the best for the project and join them in spreading the message about the importance of sustainability in tourism. The situation in Cinque Terre could apply to any number of other destinations.

Let’s not destroy what we’re trying to love.

Rather than dwell on the much-reported disaster, the WHL Group hopes you will join the global effort to help reach everyone distress. Below you will find an assortment of programs through which you can make a show of solidarity.

Fortunately, in a highly developed country like Japan, the resources and readiness to respond to the immediate crisis are in place; the country’s government has already begun a massive mobilisation to forestall any further calamity and eventually repair the aftermath.

Given this, we agree with statements from some global relief organisations that now is not the time to saddle Japan’s leaders with the burden of coordinating external aid, no matter how well meaning it may be. (In any case, the world has other regions of extreme need but without the infrastructure of a place like Japan.)

Therefore, if you are able to give, we encourage you to focus your generosity on (1) relief groups already on the ground and with a long history of connection to Japan, and (2) local organisations that will find themselves targeting support for vulnerable individuals, groups and communities that my slip through the cracks of national emergency programs.

The enormity of the challenges in Japan are such that the inevitable limitations of human and material endurance will lead inevitably (perhaps sooner than expected) to need. In anticipation of that, please do not hesitate to donate now.

In addition to what follows, Google Crisis Response has created its 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsuanmi page, which is especially useful for anyone in search of “information regarding the disaster and damage with realtime updates.”

Where and How to Give

+ American Red Cross (for the Japanese Red Cross Society in Japanese, look here)
+ Authors for Japan
+ Crowdrise
+ Doctors Without Borders
+ Global Giving
+ International Medical Corps
+ Japan Ecolodge Association
+ Japan Platform
+ Mercy Corps
+ Network for Good
+ Oxfam America
+ Salvation Army
+ Save the Children
+ Unicef
+ World Vision

In the US, text donations (added to your monthly cell/mobile phone bills) are possible through the following services:
+ American Red Cross: text ‘REDCROSS’ to 90999 to donate $10
+ Global Giving: text ‘JAPAN’ to 50555 to donate $10
+ International Medical Corps: text ‘MED’ to 80888 to donate $10
+ Salvation Army: text ‘JAPAN’ or ‘QUAKE’ to 80888 to donate $10
+ Save the Children: text ‘JAPAN’ or ‘TSUNAMI’ to 20222 to donate $10
+ World Vision: text ’4JAPAN’ to 20222 to donate $10

In 1974, the flooding Brisbane River of Queensland, Australia, peaked at 5.4 metres. It has been etched in local memory as the worst inundation the city and surrounding areas faced in the 20th century. The river winds down from the hills to Moreton Bay (on the coast) through many towns and tributaries and past most of Brisbane‘s suburbs, landmarks and its central downtown area. So when it floods, the effect can be catastrophic and widely felt.

The floods in Queensland, Australia, have claimed 16 lives so far and left more the 28,750 homes without power. Photo courtesy of Flickr/Martin Howard

Although the Brisbane River peaked just below the 1974 level on 13 January 2011, the damage has been far more targic and it is now the new point of reference for flood devastation. Not only Brisbane, but the entire state of Queensland, is now attempting to recover from what many are calling the worst natural disaster in Australia’s history. Although high waters in the Brisbane area have affected the most people, the residents of towns and communities all over the state have battled this crippling flood, and the consequences will be long lasting.

Here are some fast facts:
+ Queensland covers 1.8 million square kilometres, three-quarters of which are currently underwater.
+ Over 30,000 homes around Brisbane were hit by the flood waters.
+ Over 100,000 homes are without power.
+ Sixteen people have died, a number expected to rise as 60 are still missing.
+ The damage bill will run into the billions of dollars.
+ The national export industry has been severely impacted.
+ Most of the year’s agricultural crop, which feeds much of the nation, has been lost.

An Inland Tsunami

This event has been coming for months. With record rainfall over the last four months, the Wivenhoe Dam (built after the 1974 flood) was at 190% capacity and water was overflowing back into the river system. The sad irony is that, until recently, the area had been facing a terrible drought and the dam had been empty, with water use restrictions for residents.

The constant precipitation culminated in a final week of torrential rain in early January. I had never seen or experienced anything like it before. Worse, it fell in the worst possible places, pouring onto saturated earth that sent it coursing the only place it could go: down. As a result, the town of Toowoomba, 125 kilometres west of Brisbane, faced an unspeakable and unprecedented natural disaster – an inland tsunami – as a 5- to 10-metre-high wall of water unexpectedly made its way through the town and surrounding communities.

This is where most of the heartbreaking deaths occurred. There were stories of babies ripped from their mothers’ arms by the water, people washed clean out of their houses and cars, picked up like they were toys, carried kilometres away. The images are truly beyond belief and gave an indication of what was coming downstream in Brisbane. Downtown Brisbane and all surrounding low-lying areas had to be evacuated; and people rushed to get out what they could from businesses and homes.

Making a Difference

The sad fact is that most Australian insurance policies don’t cover floods from river systems, so this initial heartbreak is set to get much worse for many more Queenslanders. Assistance is therefore vitally needed for those hardest hit.

The recent flooding in Australia, as seen in Yeronga, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane. Photo courtesy of Flickr/David McKelvey

Anyone in Queensland who can assist is encouraged to contribute equipment, skills or time. Register at www.volunteeringqld.org.au/home/. Anyone anywhere around the world can donate to help those affected through the Australian Red Cross or the Queensland Government. In Australia, donations are also being accepted at most banks and supermarkets. Those affected will be very grateful.

Despite the overwhelming tragedy, there have been positives as outstanding as donors’ generosity. People around the world know of the Aussie reputation for being laid back and easygoing. Well, some people here have lost everything, but they are still able to say “Well what can you do? It’s nature. Time to start rebuilding.” Although Brisbane will take its time to reflect, grieve and recover, the unique Queensland character is shining through. Neighbours and strangers have been helping each other move or save whatever they can, bonds have been built that will be needed to restore this city to what it was, and through it all we will do what Queenslanders do best – get on with the job and look after our mates.

Flooding in Gailes, Queensland, Australia. Photo courtesy of Flickr/Martin Howard

A Note from Tourism Australia

There’s no question that travellers should stay clear of Brisbane and other areas. However, much of Queensland is open for busy and eager to welcome visitors. The following is a message from Tourism Australia, the national government agency.

“The current disaster has impacted particular parts of Queensland, including Brisbane and its surrounding regions, Rockhampton and regional communities in the central and southern Queensland area. However, the tourism regions of Whitsundays, Mackay, Townsville, Cairns, Port Douglas, Tropical North Queensland and the Gold Coast are all accessible and, in many cases, completely unaffected by the flooding.

The Sunshine Coast, Fraser Coast and Bundaberg regions are open, although there are some accessibility issues due to localised road closures, but most tourism operators are open for business. Brisbane Airport is open and still the major gateway to Queensland. All airports in Queensland except Rockhampton Airport are open.”

The destruction of flood waters in Faizabad village in Swat. Photo by Imran Khan, courtesy of Oxfam International/Flickr

“It is miserable,” said Sadia Kalsoom, tour manager of Walji’s, a large tour operators based in Islamabad. “Millions of people are without a home, the animals have died, crops have been destroyed. Some of the most beautiful valleys in our country have also collapsed, throwing another hard blow to the already suffering tourism industry.”

The people in the flood-stricken areas were already desperately impoverished, surviving at the most basic of living standards. The full extent of the new damage has not yet been fully realised, but the mass destruction has left those who had little with absolutely nothing. Currently, there is a desperate need for funds to build temporary shelters and toilets, and to provide clean drinking water to prevent a public health catastrophe. The locals are in dire need of medical care and basic food items, but aid on this scale will require substantial public support.

The Red Cross provides an update on the situation in Pakistan

How You Can Help

The people of Pakistan need our help. Oxfam is on the ground assisting 600,000 people in the hardest-hit areas: trucking in water and installing water tanks, building emergency toilets, providing sanitation kits and hygiene supplies to reduce the threat of disease. They are also distributing cooked meals and setting up work programs for locals to rebuild their towns and establish an income. Officials are hoping to raise US$6 million for their immediate and long-term response to the crisis; you can donate by visiting the Oxfam website.

Other relief organisations working within the country include Action Against Hunger, for whom the priority is on containing the spread of water-borne disease; the American Red Cross, which has committed US$1 million to the relief effort; and UNICEF, which has so far set up nine medical camps to provide treatment to flood victims. For a complete list of the aid organizations currently operating within Pakistan, click here.

The Sacred Valley of Peru, where green rolling hills meet the snow-capped Andes, is a land of breathtaking vistas. No wonder Pachamama's Path wishes to preserve the traditions of this beautiful land.

Pachamama’s Path

Tourism may have brought new opportunities to the Sacred Valley, but as more money and influence flow through it, the ancient customs and culture of the Quechua people are gradually being lost to the press of globalisation and outside religious views, languages and experimental government politics.

To counteract this loss of cultural identity, the Vizcarra family, proprietors of the local Pisac Inn in the Sacred Valley, organised a noble initiative called Pachamama’s Path. The vision is “to sustain permanent, multidisciplinary activities oriented toward children, youth, and adults of traditional communities, towns and cities, especially in the Sacred Valley area of Cusco, Peru, through workshops, special events, cultural exchanges and other integral educational activities that reinforce, promote and protect the values and knowledge of Andean culture – and in this way, empower the endangered traditional way of life.”

Children in Sacred Valley learn about an ancestral coca leaf ceremony. The coca leaf has been part of life in the Andes since before anyone can remember and is used for everything from tea to medicine to religion.

The Vizcarras – Roman is Peruvian and Fielding Wood hails from Lexington, Kentucky – met in Italy but settled in the highlands of Peru to raise their children. The couple has run the Pisac Inn for the last 17 years and shares a deep respect for the local culture. By advocating for Quechua rights, the Vizcarras hope to share the validity and encourage a resurgence in the practice of the traditional belief systems of the Quechua people.

Educating about Culture

One well-established means of preserving culture is through education, so Pachamama’s Path went to work opening a pioneering elementary school at the base of the Pisac archaeological site. The Kusi Kawsay Andean School Project, which was granted legal status by the Peruvian Ministry of Education, has been functioning as a school since March 2009.

The school’s mission is to provide an outstanding curriculum while honouring the endangered traditional lifestyle of the local people. Now, instead of being forced to leave their villages to receive a conventional education – through which students are made to believe that to be ‘successful’ is to be a professional – Kusi Kawsay students are taught that an education can be had as part of a traditional way of life. Relying on the humanistic Waldorf approach to education, the school seeks to extend the reach of the nationalised educational system by respecting local highland culture and cultivating united communities of strong individuals with high self-esteem for their ancestry.

The Kusi Kawsay schoolhouse is situated at the base of the Pisac archaeological site overlooking the picturesque Sacred Valley in the highlands of Peru.

The Kusi Kawsay Andean School Project has been able to accommodate 65 students (kindergarten through sixth grade) for the 2010 school year. Four schoolhouses have been completed and two more are under construction, as is a new facility for the kindergarten. The success of this pilot program has been an inspiration throughout Peru and Kusi Kawsay’s teachers are writing educational materials for other schools wishing to incorporate lessons on the Andean way of life.

Pachamama’s Path has also established four cultural centres as spaces in which to host local celebrations and promote the practice of Quechua beliefs. The Vizcarras hope that other cultural centre projects will be initiated throughout Peru to cultivate traditional knowledge while fostering a greater sense of community.

After teaching about their traditional Andean culture, teachers let the children play outdoors to loosen up before returning to the classroom.

Off to a Wet Start in 2010

Many exciting projects are underway, but 2010 got off to a rocky start after intense rains, flooding and mudslides devastated the Sacred Valley. The Vizcarras survived a terrifying flash flood that destroyed the village of Taray along with their own home. Two cultural centres suffered critical damage and have been trying to hold finances together after Machu Picchu was closed for weeks and tourism came to a complete standstill. The higher grades of the Kusi Kawsay Andean School Project, usually previously held at the Taray Cultural Centre, have also had to move into a provisional classroom in another school. Though the flooding is no longer front-page news for the papers, the people of this region are still dealing daily with its consequences.

By visiting the highlands of Peru and booking accommodation with the Pisac Inn, guests are supporting the Pachamama’s Path foundation and contributing to the preservation of the Quechua culture in the Sacred Valley. For other accommodation options, tours and local tips, check in with Chaska Tours, the whl.travel local connection in the Sacred Valley of the Incas in Peru.

Houses all over Santiago suffered damage after the earthquake. Now residents are starting to pick up the pieces and try to put their homes and lives back together.

Everyone jumped up and started running toward the door, screaming as the walls continued to move for an excruciating 90 seconds. The entire neighbourhood flooded into the street for fear of their houses collapsing.

Throughout the early morning of the 27th and the rest of the day, we continued to feel aftershocks. There were so much that sometimes we couldn’t tell if it was our imagination or the ground was actually moving. Nevertheless, by midday, our electricity and internet access had been restored, which gave me the opportunity to find out exactly what had happened and if it was something my family back in North Carolina would see in the international news. I quickly discovered that the earthquake had measured 8.8 on the Richter scale and a top news story worldwide.

Chilean State of Emergency

Chile is no stranger to quakes, since it sits on one of several active fault lines that make up the Pacific Ring of Fire. But this earthquake is said to be the fifth strongest one in 100 years. While the epicentre was out in the ocean, 325km southwest of Santiago and 115km northeast of Concepción, an estimated 2 million people have been affected or displaced and 1.5 million homes have been damaged. At present, the death toll lingers above 700, although once we discover the whereabouts of the missing, it is expected to rise.

The Church of the Divine Providence in Avenue Providencia of Santiago, Chile, suffered structural damage from the tremors. This photo was taken a few hours after the earthquake. (Photo by Santiago Vanegas)

The worst damage was done in the Chilean region of Bio Bio in the middle of Chile. Now, with the dust settling, residents are trying to piece their lives back together. Where the quake hit the hardest is now a near wasteland and major roads, bridges and countless buildings are in ruin. The search for survivors is still in full force, as the rubble of apartment high-rises and other destroyed buildings is being cleared. One 15-story building in Concepción was demolished and several areas of the main road, Ruta 5, were lifted.

Closest to the centre of the quake, many people remain without electricity or potable water. Rampant looting has broken out in the more affected areas, such as Concepción; as some people may be desperate for basic supplies, others are taking advantage of the lack of security. President Bachalet has called in the army to police problem areas and help with control issues. They have had to resort to tear gas at times to keep the chaos at bay.

On the positive side, Santiago’s Arturo Merino Benitez Airport is expected to begin receiving some international incoming flights on Sunday after it was closed due to runway damage. Some parts of the capital’s metro system were also reopened Monday, while others are being inspected for possible repairs to the tracks. At present, many of city’s traffic lights are still not functioning.

How You Can Help

I was very lucky to make it through such a strong earthquake with only a broken mirror and a crack through my bedroom ceiling. Others in the country were not so fortunate and now lack the basic necessities. In general, Chile has serious problems.

If you would like to offer some aid to those in need, several non-profits have come forward to organise aid efforts. Take a look at these links to find out more:

• Americares
• Chilean Red Cross
• Habitat for Humanity
• International Medical Corps
• Save the Children
• UNICEF
• World Vision International

Maureen Valentine is the Regional Editor for whl.travel in Central and South America.

Flood waters fill the Avenida Arriaga of Funchal, Madeira, the day after heavy rains provoked deadly mudslides

Drenching Rain

Madeira usually enjoys mild weather all year round, but this winter brought unusually heavy precipitation, beginning as more or less steady rain starting back in October. As a measure, the rainfall of 426mm recorded during the first 22 days of February is equivalent to approximately 70% of the total annual average.

With so much water in the ground, on 20 February, the soaked mountains could retain it no longer and finally gave out. The water drainage lines that lead across Funchal to the sea were unable to channel the vast quantities of water, rock and dirt that came coursing down the mountains carrying away everything in its path.

The result was a sea of mud in the heart of Funchal and Ribeira Brava, houses destroyed, shops flooded, people evacuated, streets packed with rubble and mud.

Click image to enlarge: Mud and earth choke the Avenida do Mar and Marina of Funchal

Click image to enlarge: Three days later, the Avendia do Mar of Funchal is almost clear of debris

Quick Response

There was an immediate response by firemen, the army and the police. After the shock and following ‘this can’t be happening!’ feeling, an information network formed immediately via Twitter and Facebook, carrying regular updates about people missing, people found alive and people found too late. Helicopters and more manpower flew in to aid in search and rescue, and the distribution of food and supplies to isolated villages.

By the next day, cleaning and recovery operations were well underway and involve around 2,000 people from the public and private sectors, the army and volunteers.

Two days later, on Monday, as we crossed the very heart of Funchal to reach our office, there was no water or mud whatsoever. Soon after, essential services, including electricity and water, were restored, as was mobile phone reception and Internet on most of the island. We could almost wonder if it had all been a terrible nightmare, but the noise of heavy machinery and ongoing cleaning proof of the reality. (See videos of the cleanup effort.)

Click image to enlarge: The day after the mudslides, the people of Funchal don't let the mess in Rua Bom Jesus deter them

Click image to enlarge: Three days later in Rue Bom Jesus, work crews have quickly and effectively made it look like nothing ever happened

Facing the Aftermath

The bitter toll is now: 42 dead, 18 missing and 18 injured still in the hospital. Six hundred people were dislodged, of which 193 families have been allocated temporary shelter.

We are mourning our dead, taking care of those who lost everything and, above all, working hard to bet back on our feet.

It was all but natural for us, as travel agents, to expect cancellations or zero bookings. We were wrong. Although we did have a couple of cancellations, we continue to receive bookings for individuals and groups alike.

After all, the hotels were unaffected and are fully operational, as are the airport, the harbour and the main tourist areas. And, of course, the beauty of the land no less spectacular.

Click image to enlarge: Boots are best on the Avenida Arriaga of Funchal on the day after the rains

Click image to enlarge: Three days later, the Avenida Arriaga is as clear and clean

Support Comes from Far and Wide

The support we have received from all around the world touches our hearts deeply and give us strength.

What can you do to help? You can contribute through the official ‘Conta Solidariedade com as vítimas da Madeira’ relief fund maintained by BANIF – International Bank of Funchal (IBAN PT 50003800011986711677151 and SWIFT code BNLFPTPL).

You can also spread the word that the worst of our misfortunate has already passed. We are working hard and Madeira continues to be an amazing destination to visit and experience. We will be right here waiting for you.

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For more information about Madeira, including hotels, tours, activities and the kinds of tips you can only get from a local, please contact Madeira Intertours, your whl.travel local connection at www.madeira-hotels.travel.

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Chrystel Cancel grew up in Toulouse, France. After earning both a Bachelors and Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Toulouse, Chrystel graduated from the University of Paris in 1999 with another Masters in Political Science, specialising in developing countries. A passion for travel, adventure and international development led her to Washington, DC, where she obtained a Masters in Tourism Administration from the George Washington University in 2006.

Chrystel spent the majority of her career as a dedicated sustainable tourism consultant leaving her lasting legacy on a variety of projects around the world.

We will never be able to give voice to the thousands of people Chrystel touched, both directly and indirectly. We hope that a few short remarks from some of the people with whom she worked will impart a sense of her spirit, her character… and the empty space we now feel in her absence.

See below for short tributes to Chrystel from:

• Len Cordiner, CEO of the WHL Group
• Zachary Rozga, CEO of WHL Consulting
• Simon Jones, Vice President of Solimar International
• Sandrine-Pia Casto, General Manager of Tucaya Panama

Chrsytel leaves behind her parents, a brother and her fiancé. Shortly after the earthquake and loss of contact with Chrystel, her fiancé travelled to Haiti to add his hands to the search for her, a heartbreaking story told in an interview with NPR.

George Washington University has devoted a special page to the memory of Chrystel.

Chrystel’s friends have also created a Facebook page through which feelings, thoughts, memories and pictures of her can be shared.

Chrystel’s remains, now back in France, will be interred in Pamiers cemetery of the village of Escosse on 13 February at 4pm local time.

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From Len Cordiner, CEO of the WHL Group, on behalf of the extended WHL Group network:

My first contact with Chrystel was a coffee we arranged in Washington, DC, late one afternoon around three years ago. Chrystel was doing some work for the World Bank at the time and was keen to learn more about the WHL Group, having had an introduction through Zachary Rozga and Jodi McKeeman to our consulting activities in Africa.

The coffee stretched out to becoming a dinner as Chrystel explored possibilities for doing more business together. Subsequently I met Chrystel on several DC trips, where each time she briefed me on what she was up to and introduced me to people she thought would be interested in what we were doing. Not only did Chrystel share our vision for a more sustainable future for travel, she wanted to be part of the journey.

Before long she teamed up with her friend Sandrine-Pia Casto to become Tucaya Panama, the whl.travel franchisee in Panama. Not long after launching this site, Chrystel and Sandrine had their first blog article up highlighting the special work being done Supporting Local and Responsible Travel on Panama’s Gobernadora Island.

The last time I met with Chrystel was in August 2009 in Brazil at the WHL Group regional meeting for the Americas. As always, Chrystel was busy networking and bring to my attention all those franchisees she felt were doing exceptional things, as well as ideas she had for how we could do things better.

In fact after that meeting she started working actively to build a new program in the whl.travel network, where we would give more prominence to the local community and environmental projects our franchisees were driving. She was very keen to run a competition amongst franchisees in the whl.travel network to surface the best examples of local social entrepreneurship. In her last communication to the project team in December, she wanted to get things underway but said she was going to be busy in Haiti in January… so it would have to wait.

We will all miss her very much.

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From Zachary Rozga, CEO of WHL Consulting

Chrystel was a good friend and an important colleague to WHL Consulting. Jodi McKeeman and I, cofounders of WHL Consulting, first met Chrystel while in graduate school at George Washington University, where we all studied sustainable tourism development together.

After graduation, Jodi and I left for Africa and Chrystel made her way to London, but we remained in touch. In January 2008, WHL Consulting landed a project with the government of Lesotho, which was the nexus of the Market Access Program. The problem was that none of the materials that were promised for the Market Access Training Seminars had been developed. So Jodi and I convinced Chrystel to come help us create material and then deliver the courses in Lesotho.

Those two months that Chrystel spent with us in Africa were some of the most random and wild months we had in our entire 3.5 years in Africa. Just a few of the highlights: we got stuck on a plane with the Prime Minister of Lesotho, Jodi and Chrystel danced with the King and Queen and we were invited for a VIP wine tasting in the laboratory with the owner of the largest wine farm in the Cape Winelands. More recently Chrystel was slated to begin working with WHL Consulting on the rollout of our pilot program with the MIF IDB.

She will be sorely missed. Every time we run a Market Access Training Seminar, we will most definitely pay tribute to Chrystel Cancel.

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From Simon Jones, Vice President of Solimar International on behalf of the whole Solimar family

During 2009, Chrystel tirelessly led Solimar’s initiative to develop the Bocas Sustainable Tourism Alliance in Panama, a destination management organization and tourism information center dedicated to promoting Bocas del Toro’s natural and cultural attractions and an organization that will promote Chrystel’s passion for community-run sustainable tourism long into the future.

In January 2010, Chrystel was part of a team deployed to Haiti to assess the tourism opportunities and needs in the north of the country in an effort to promote greater economic opportunities for Haitians. She died dedicated to improving the lives of others and making this world a better place for us all.

Chrystel resided in Panama City, Panama, and was a valuable member and friend of the Solimar team. Her legacy will be remembered, but she will be missed by all that knew her.

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From Sandrine-Pia Casto, General Manager of Tucaya Panama

One of the Tucayettes is not physically with us anymore. A passionate, restless worker, persevering and patient – all those things could be said about Chrystel Cancel. The projects she was involved with and those she wanted to pursue make this world a better place. The last thing we need is to let lights like her extinguish. We will try our best to carry on her legacy and with the spirit she has left at Bocas and Gobernadora Island. Chrystel, you won’t be forgotten.

Flooding and rainfall damaged local homes, business and roads in the Sacred Valley near Cusco, Peru

The result caught everyone by surprise. On 23 January, floods and mudslides destroyed rail and road access to Aguas Calientes, also known as Machupicchu town, stranding more than 2,000 people in the mountains to which travellers flock for a visit of Machu Picchu, the famous pre-Columbian ‘Lost City of the Incas’ and one of South America’s most famous ruins. Due to the high water, the bridge at the entrance to Pisac also collapsed, cutting off access for many to the Sacred Valley, where thousands of homes, several bridges and as many as 40,000 acres of farmland have been destroyed.

“Fifteen years ago was the last time the water level in the rivers reached dangerous levels,” continued Scholten, “but nothing compared to the situation now.”

Massive Airlift

As soon as the weather allowed it, the Peruvian government began the slow process of airlifting visitors trapped for several days to Ollantaytambo and Cusco. By 6pm local time on 27 January, an announcement from the Ministry of Tourism declared that a total 1,137 people had been evacuated by helicopter and more than 1,200 kilograms of food and drink had been carried in.

A handful of Peruvian helicopters, joined by six from the US, transported people to safety a few at a time, prompting scrummages every time a new one arrived, particularly early in the process when many people were camping in open fields. Fortunately, most of the remaining people have now been flown to safety, including most of those who had set off on multi-day hikes before the mudslides occurred.

Risky Enterprise

“It’s stopped raining like it was before, so the water level has dropped spectacularly,” said Scholten. “However, as February is known for its rain – we call it Febrero loco (crazy February) – we’re still not sure what to expect.”

Flood waters have swept away the train tracks between Cusco and Aguas Calientes, near Machu Picchu in southern Peru (photo courtesy of Living in Peru - www.livinginperu.com)

With the Inca Trail itself closed in February, the railroad is usually the only means of reaching Aguas Calientes, the staging point for further hiking, bus and helicopter travel to the ruins. The recent word from PeruRail, however, is that an experienced team of rail engineers has already begun extensive repair work on the tracks between the hydroelectric power station and Machupicchu. Estimates are the this sector will be operational in the next two weeks.

Work has also commenced on clearing and repairing the tracks between Piscacucho (kilometre 82) and Machupicchu town (kilometre 110), part of the rail line used by tourist trains from Cusco. Work along this segment of track will is scheduled to take seven to eight weeks, dependent on weather and water flow in the Vilcanota River.

This will of course have a tough economic aftereffect. ”Right now people are thinking of alternatives to the Inca Trail,” declared Scholten.

Finding Help in a Time of Need

For many, the Aguas Calientes railroad station and carriages became temporary shelter. Anyone stranded was made welcome and every effort was made to keep the facilities running.

The numbers of people relying on railroad generosity may have been added to by reports of price gouging for hotels, food and water price gouging, as local owners may have taken advantage of the captive audience.

This too may have been fed by somewhat reduced resources. “A major problem comes from 15 years during which it didn’t rain like this,” expressed Scholten. “Everybody started building their houses, hotels and restaurant dangerously close to the river. We think lots of places were destroyed by it.”

“If you plan to travel to Peru and have space in your luggage for old clothes or shoes, please do think of bringing them along,” added Pieter Roos, also of Chaska Tours. “You can leave them at the Chaska Tours office, where the team will manage distribution to those in need.”

To learn more about accommodation, tours and activities and much more in Cusco, Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley – including interesting travel alternatives to areas that remain accessible – contact Chaska Tours, your whl.travel local connection in Cusco.

Information from people actively helping to direct donations to the right places have relayed a call made by the United Nations Office of Humanitarian Assistance for 200,000 tents. By some estimates, less than 5% of what is needed has made it to people on the ground.

To help with this effort, Partners in Health, a non-profit medical charity that has been working in Haiti for for more than 20 years to build local medical capacity, has set up a special Web page for everyone able to donate money specifically for tents and bedding (sleeping pads, blankets and lightweight sleeping bags).

Donating cash is by far and away the best way to help. Partners in Health is not able to handle in-kind donations, generous though they are.

People, injured and afraid, on the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, following the earthquake (photo courtesy of Lambi Fund for Haiti)

I watch in horror, helpless from my distant perch (Sydney, Australia) but committed in whatever trifling ways open to me, reminded of just how thin the thread is that keeps us all safe on a sometimes merciless planet that, with a simple shrug, is able to wreak so much havoc. I was resident (albeit not present) in Sri Lanka at the time of the tsunami five years ago. I hastened home to Colombo a week later to do what I could then. What I feel today is laced with the anger and frustration of that time.

Thankfully, faced with rising predictions of the number of lives lost, the international community is promising financial aid, food, water, medicine, clothing and anything else of those who survived the catastrophe.

In solidarity with the Haitian people, hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of people around the globe are reaching into their pockets.

Special News About How You Can Help

To help you make a decision about how you can help, I’ve received permission from a fellow travel writer, Paul Clammer, author of the Lonely Planet guide book to Haiti, to reproduce sections of an email he sent to many of his colleagues yesterday.

It’s the kind of inside take we should all always have when in search of an informed way to help. My trust in what he shares here is implicit:

“I’ve spent the last 24 hours trying to get to grips with the news from [Haiti], and as we’ve all discovered, hard news has been hard to come by in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake. The Haitian phone network was out of action all yesterday, and is patchy today. I haven’t been able to contact any of my friends in Port-au-Prince directly, but have managed to learn (unbelievably, through following a long chain of Twitterers) that they’re OK.

The place I like to stay at in Port-au-Prince, St. Joseph’s Home for Boys, a vocational home for ex-street kids that also runs as a guesthouse popular with backpackers, was totally destroyed, although mercifully no one was injured.

But things aren’t good – parliament destroyed, the presidential palace destroyed, the main hospital, the UN headquarters, a major hotel, the prison, the Catholic cathedral – all destroyed. The southern town of Jacmel – a truly lovely place with beautiful Victorian buildings and one of the best carnivals in the Caribbean – is also reportedly heavily damaged, and the road over the mountains connecting it to to Port-au-Prince is impassable due to landslides. The scale of the disaster is quite numbing, and people can so far only guess at the number of dead. Tens of thousands doesn’t seem unlikely.

Naturally, aid agencies are crying out for assistance, and I urge you to please give something if you can. The BBC website has a good page listing NGOs on the ground in Haiti. Of these, the Red Cross is naturally one of the biggest players, while Oxfam have long had a big operation in Haiti.

That said, I’d like to mention three excellent smaller organisations in Haiti worthy of your support – these are the sort of smaller players who inevitably get overlooked in the media scrum, but often have more focussed and effective programmes working among local communities – essential characteristics once the immediate heavy lifting of disaster relief is over, and the media and world inevitably turn their attention to the next story.

* Partners in Health is a medical charity that has been working in Haiti for a long time, building local medical capacity. Run by MD Paul Farmer, a noted writer on Haiti, it has a large network of Haitian doctors and nurses well-placed to offer immediate and long-term medical assistance.

* The Lambi Fund is a smaller but highly regarded development charity. It offers assistance to communities outside Port-au-Prince (areas also hit by the effects of the quake) to help arrest the decline of the agricultural sector which has driven hundreds of thousands of young people from the countryside to search for a livelihood in the capital’s now-stricken shanty-towns.

* Yele is a development NGO working mainly in education and community projects, but with extensive experience in food distribution and emergency relief. Yele was set up by the musician Wyclef Jean, who is also a Goodwill Ambassador for Haiti. Its close ties to communities in some of the poorest and worst affected areas will be invaluable in the coming weeks and months.

Parts of the media haven’t been slow to point out that Haiti seems like a country from which only bad news ever seems to come, but the last few years really had seen the country begin to turn a corner. Security has largely no longer been an issue, peaceful elections have been held, and some major foreign investors have started to return to the country. The tourism sector, once Haiti’s major hard currency earner, was also starting to pick up. It’s not all a bed of roses certainly, but the outlook was positive. But the legacy of long periods of political instability has seen Haiti’s infrastructure in tatters even before the earthquake. This is a country in need of serious and prolonged help.”

If you’re based in the US or use a USE mobile phone carrier, two further popular and very effective ways of making a donation are as follows. Despite rumors to the contrary, these are NOT scams. Others may be, but these two are reliable:

* Text HAITI to 90999 – The U.S. Dept of State’s website has suggested making a $10 donation. This charge will show up on your next phone bill.

* Texting YELE to 501501 – This is in support of Wyclef Jean’s Yele movement (see above). You will automatically be making a $5 donation.

Residents of Manila do their best to come to grips with life in a city left flooded by Typhoon Ketsana

In the Philippines, the typhoon began on Friday evening with rain and wind warnings from the local weather centre. Torrential downpours continued into the night and throughout the day on Saturday. Utterly unrelenting, the rains quickly turned into floods and by Saturday afternoon, Metro Manila was inundated.

With the heaviest precipitation in 40 years, Typhoon Ketsana dropped 17.9 inches of rain on the Philippine capital – a month’s worth of rainfall all in 24 hours. At the height of the flood, 80% of Manila was submerged.

Cars in Manila were no match for the force of the waters dropped by Typhoon Ketsana

The storm affected some 2 million people, wreaking havoc on lives and land. At the time of writing, there are approximately 300 reported dead, 38 missing and more than 500,000 evacuees.

Unexpected strong currents pushed flood waters into people’s homes, turned many of Manila’s busy streets into swimming pools and tossed floating vehicles around as if they were toys. Scuba divers and surfers were called on to volunteer in the search for missing people. Survivors were rescued from the roofs of their homes, some after 10-hour waits in the cold downpour. No one was spared.

Ketsana’s destructive impact left behind a nation in pain. Even before the floods subsided completely, civilians of all ages had mobilised and rescue and relief efforts were underway. Facebook, Twitter and text messages carried news about which relief centres needed which goods the most, as well as notices with further weather warnings, alerts about missing people and other critical information needed for rescue operations.

Due to the significant clean-up costs, the Philippines is pleading for help from other nations. Manila alone needs everything it can get to repair the mess. Although closets, cupboards and wallets are being emptied to provide relief to the hundreds of thousands of displaced victims of the typhoon and floods, more is required, especially since relief operations will probably continue at east until the end of the year. Even intangible support is welcome – comfort, warmth and love shared with the poor traumatised children who have lost their families.

“I’m going to Manila first thing tomorrow,” reported one staff member who works with the whl.travel partner in Boracay in the Philippines. “Another super typhoon is hitting and I’m freaking out. I’ve got to be with my parents. Things have been crazy and emotional for a week already – it’s surreal. That’s climate change for you.”

Rescue efforts began immediately, everyone able to help a neighbour reaching out as necessary

[Update: On 3 October, eight days after Ketsana moved on, Typhoon Parma made landfall in the Philippines. Although Manila escaped the worst, the northeastern tip of Luzon was hit hard and the southern villages of Taiwan were evacuating.]

To make donations from abroad, check here for a comprehensive list of options.

“At this time [late afternoon on Tuesday in Samoa], there are 69 confirmed deceased, 146 injured brought to the hospitals, with several missing. To date there are only five tourists in the deceased list,” reported Nynette Sass, the whl.travel local partner in Samoa. (Read more about Nynette Sass, the right person in the right place during these difficult days.)

“Please bear with us whilst we work our way through this sad sad event. We’re working with the High Commissions in identifying and locating all the visitors from the devastated areas and trying to get through to their loved ones to let them know their respective states.”

The tragic loss of life was accompanied by significant property damage, the details of which are still emerging. “All our member properties on the south coast have been wiped out,” reported Sass. “We’re madly trying to move all our tourists from the south coast to Apia.”

The whl.travel family has already begun mobilising in support of relief efforts. “There are hundreds of families with nothing left except the clothes on the backs,” said Sass. “Used clothing, cooking utensils… perhaps if someone can coordinate from the different countries, we would appreciate it very much.”

The Latest Word from the South Coast of Upolu

Whereas Apia is located on the north side of Upolu, Samoa’s main island, the south received the full brunt of the waves. “We were all very, very lucky at Virgin Cove Resort as nobody was killed or badly hurt,” reported Mats Loefkvist, manager of this hotel located on the south coast. “Although we were very close to losing many lives we managed to get everyone up in the forest rather quickly. Due to the fantastic and fearless work of our staff to save all our tourists plus my wife and kids we are all safe today.

“We only had 10 minutes between the big earthquake and the first wave. Luckily it happened in the early morning and not during the night. The wave also came in from the side which reduced its impact and then swept away the beach villa plus five smaller fales. We managed to get everyone to the church minister’s house and we all camped in the church hall during the night. The village of Sa’anapu brought us food and everything else we needed.

“The damage to Virgin Cove Resort is very little compared to other resorts and villages like Lalomanu, which today is non-existent. I have received many mails from people asking how they could help with a donation. The Red Cross has it all set up as they do a fantastic work to help people at this time. I know that clothes are badly needed as many many people have lost everything.”

For contributions and donations, please visit the Current Appeals page of the Red Cross in New Zealand.