“Watch where you’re stepping!” says our naturalist guide, Nikolas. I flinch. Slowly but surely I am learning the proper rules of etiquette in the Galápagos National Park and Marine Reserve as we carefully wind our way along narrow trails, some of them treacherous and slippery from water and shards of hard lava. “You see,” whispers Nikolas, “you might have stepped on their nests if you wandered off the trail.”
Read More >>Posts Tagged ‘tsunami’
How to Help Japan in the Aftermath of the Earthquake and Tsunami
What’s happening in Japan is tragic. Rather than dwell on the much-reported disaster, the WHL Group hopes you will show solidarity with the global effort to help reach everyone in distress through any of an assortment of programs.
Read More >>
Australia / Australia & New Zealand / cities / local knowledge / natural disasters / Oceania / personal experience / weather extremes /
Queensland, Australia, Faces Devastating Floods
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. 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.
Read More >>
Asia / cities / local knowledge / natural disasters / Oceania / personal experience / Philippines / Polynesia / Samoa / South-Eastern Asia / weather extremes / whl.travel /
Natural Disasters Pound Southeast Asia, Including Typhoon Ketsana
It came as a triple whammy for which no one was prepared: Tuesday’s major undersea earthquake in the South Pacific triggered a devastating tsunami in Samoa and American Samoa; two pummelling tectonic shakedowns on the Indonesian island of Sumatra have produced heaps of rubble; all while the world deplored the wind- and water-lashed aftermath of last weekend’s Typhoon Ketsana, which slammed into the Philippines.
Read More >>
local knowledge / natural disasters / Oceania / personal experience / Polynesia / Samoa / whl.travel /
Tsunami in the South Pacific Devastates the Coasts of Samoa and American Samoa
The news from Samoa Islands is heartbreaking. On early Tuesday morning, triggered by a powerful undersea earthquake (8.0 in magnitude), a towering tsunami struck with disastrous consequences. Three surges were reported, with waves of up to five or six metres reaching almost two metres higher than sea level. “At this time [late afternoon on Tuesday…
Read More >>
Participation of locals is of paramount... 
Carmen- That was what I kept saying... 
Those waterfalls in southern Laos are amazing – great... 
Beautiful! Will have to... 
This place looks perfect for a...