Video: Kayaking the Verzasca in Switzerland

Here's a fun little paddling video that features kayakers Sam Sutton and Sven Lämmler taking on the wild whitewater found on the narrow confines of the Verzasca River in Switzerland. It gives us a great view of this roller coaster ride through the Swiss mountains. The Verzasca is a mere 30 km (18.6 miles) in length, but it offers plenty of excitement for such a short river. Looks like a blast!

Verzasca from Sven Lämmler on Vimeo.

Polar Bears Force Halloween Celebration Indoors in Canadian Community

Halloween is suppose to be a fun, and slightly scary, holiday for kids of all ages. But one Canadian town is taking measures to ensure that it isn't too frightening this year, following an invasion of polar bears to the community. The Inuit village of Arviat has decided that it will hold its annual Halloween celebration indoors in order to avoid bumping into ursine visitors, which are said to be hanging out in record numbers this year.
Polar bears are not new to the tiny town of just 2000 inhabitants, located on the northernmost coast of Nunavut territory. The village sees numerous bears in the region in any given year. But this year, the population has increased dramatically, and they have been wandering into town with more frequency as a result.

With this in mind, the town council held a special meeting last week to discuss what they should do about Halloween. With 1200 kids in town, they didn't want to disappoint the young trick-or-treaters, so they came up with the idea of holding the holiday indoors at the local community hall. A shuttle bus will even pick up the children and safely deliver them to the festivities. This should greatly reduce the chances of a bear encounter, which could easily end in tragedy.

Animal experts say that shrinking ice caps in the arctic are reducing the size of the polar bear's natural habitat, and forcing them into a smaller area. That is the reason that Arviat, and other villages along the Arctic Ocean, are seeing more of the bears in their area. Warmer weather is causing the Hudson Bay to take longer to freeze this year as well, preventing then bears from making their annual pilgrimage back north. Once the bay has frozen over for the season, the animals will leave Arviat behind.

While some of the ghosts, ghouls, and zombies of Halloween can indeed be scary, I can think of few things that would be more terrifying than coming face-to-face with a hungry male polar bear weighing more than a thousand pounds (450 kg). This is a wise move on the part of villagers.

Antarctica 2014: Prep Teams at Union Glacier

The 2014 Antarctic season is still a couple of weeks away from getting started, but the prep work for the support teams on the frozen continent have already begun. ExWeb is reporting that ANI flew the first support team to Union Glacier last week, where they are now prepping for the arrival of the South Pole skiers, climbers heading to Mt. Vinson, and the various other expeditions that will be taking place in the weeks ahead.

ANI's advance team arrived at Union Glacier on October 17, where they promptly went to work preparing for the new season. That prep work includes setting up the permanent camp facilities there, which serve as a logistical base for everyone that comes and goes from the Antarctic on ANI flights. The team is also preparing the company's blue ice runway and ensuring that it is ready for the big Ilyushin-76 aircraft that serve as shuttles from Punta Arenas, Chile to the facilities on the frozen continent.

In order for this first ANI staff to get to Union Glacier, they must first charter a flight with Kenn Borek Air, who uses smaller, shorter ranged Twin Otter aircraft for flights throughout the Antarctic. Their flight path took them from Punta Arenas to the Rothera Research Station – a British scientific outpost located on Adelaide Island. From there, the flight hops over to Union Glacier to drop off personnel and supplies.

Over the next couple of weeks, the ANI team will stock the Union Glacier camp, and make it as comfortable as possible before the arrival of the first wave of South Pole skiers. Usually, those adventurers start arriving around the first of November, although the weather actually dictates when they can get to the camp, and start their expeditions. Most spend only a short time at UG, before they are flown out to Patriot Hills, the traditional starting point for a journey to 90ºS.

ExWeb also points out that there is one other base that supports Antarctic expeditions, although it isn't used quite as often as ANI's Union Glacier camp. It is located at the Russian science station Novolazarevskaya, with flights arriving out of Cape Town, South Africa. The first flight due for that camp is scheduled to take place on November 4, and is reportedly fully booked.

It looks like another busy Antarctic season is about to get underway. As usual, I'll be following the progress of the teams closely.

Video: The Isle of Skye in Scotland

The Isle of Skye is one of a number of islands that are part of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Skye is a wild, mountainous place, with some amazing landscapes, some of which you'll get to see for yourself in the video below. The use of black and white imagery, and wonderfully atmospheric music, helps to set the scene. This looks like a beautiful place.

Skíð : 'Cloud Island' from Fourth Dimension on Vimeo.

Video: John of the Forest

Here's a wonderful short film that has some good messages for all of us. It features a man named John who is a retired organic farmer that lives in New South Wales, Australia on Mount Warning. His land is covered in dense, beautiful forest that looks like a spectacular place to call home. John shares his philosophy of connecting with nature, and the importance of recognizing that we are all part of the environment, with the need to work towards protecting it. The short video is thoughtful with its narration and imagery.

John of the Forest from PALATE on Vimeo.

Video: Kayaking Kerela, India

Earlier this year, kayakers Sam Sutton, Bradely Lauder, and Mire Kodada traveled to the remote Kerela region of India to explore opportunities to go kayaking in the largely unexplored and untouched part of that country. What they found was some of the best whitewater that they had ever seen, on rivers that few – if any – other paddlers had ever descended. The video below shares some of that adventure, with some amazing footage from this beautiful part of the world.

Fears of Ebola Crushing Africa's Safari Tourism Industry

A month ago I wrote an article about why now is a good time to go to Africa. When I wrote that piece, Ebola was making headlines, and fear over the deadly virus was just beginning to set in with the general public. I argued then – and continue to do so now – that a downturn in travel to Africa was coming, and that opportunistic travelers could take advantage of the fear and ignorance over the disease to book a once in a lifetime journey at a fraction of the normal cost.

Since then, the bottom has fallen out in the safari tourism industry, with bookings dropping off to almost nothing. Countries such as Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, and Botswana are all seeing their economies damaged by fear over Ebola, even though they are thousands of miles away from the countries that have suffered the epidemic. In fact, there are European nations that are closer to West Africa, where the virus is most prevalent, than the countries that I've named above.

New reports indicate that safari operators are seeing a 20-70% drop off in new bookings for the rest of this year, and into 2015. This is an alarming number for many countries in Africa, who had seen tourism rise dramatically in recent years. In fact, 2014 was poised to have the best travel numbers of all time, as more people planned holidays on safari. But now, fear over Ebola has put the breaks on the tourism economy, most due to a misunderstanding of the geography of Africa.

Make no mistake, Ebola is a dangerous virus, and those traveling to West Africa should take caution, particularly if they are visiting Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. But the disease has not spread to other parts of the continent, and thus travelers are safe from coming in contact with someone who is infected. Still, there is a misperception that Africa is just one big place, and that all of it is rampant with Ebola. As a result, the entire continent is being lumped together, with dire consequences for the economy there.


As Ebola cases have started to turn up in the U.S., it seems that fear and uncertainty over the virus have reached an all time high. There have been several incidences of planes being diverted due to panic over potential Ebola exposure onboard, none of which have proved to be true as of yet. The general misconceptions over the disease continue to grow, and it seems that there are major concerns amongst the public, even though the chances of contracting the disease are practically nonexistent. It has been sad to watch the reaction people who don't understand how it is spread, and are deathly afraid that they'll be exposed to the virus.

All of this leads me back to the premise of the article I wrote last month. Now is a good time to go to Africa, as the predicted drop off in tourism there is happening. That means there will indeed be good deals on flights to the continent, as well as on safaris, Kilimanjaro climbs, and other adventure activities. If you've ever wanted to go to Africa, now is the time to start planning. I think if you do a little research, remain a bit patient, and plan properly, you'll be able to find some incredible deals that will be too good to pass up.

Don't let fear over Ebola stand in the way of visiting some of the amazing places in Africa. You'll be just as safe there as you would be back home, and you'll get an experience of a life time. Definitely take advantage of this opportunity to visit some of my favorite places on Earth. You won't regret it.