Travel

Across Kazakhstan by rail – a photo essay

Photographer Mario Heller spent three weeks crossing the steppe by train. Here is his journey through the stories of the passengers, the history of the country and the romance of the railwayThe monotonous rattling of the train accompanies us through the steppe of Central Asia. The air that travels with us smells of cooked food and the exhalations of dozens of passengers. Sounds drift over to me from various corners of the wagon: a sawing snore, children’s cries, folk music and a hyperactive radi...
Tags: Travel, Photography, World news, South and Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Mario Heller

Fifth of Indonesia’s palm oil sites lie in protected forests, says Greenpeace

Report says enforcement failures have led to Unesco sites and land mapped as orangutan habitat being turned into plantationsAlmost one-fifth of the land used for Indonesian oil palm plantations is located in the country’s forest estate, despite a law banning such activity, according to a study by Greenpeace.The report, produced by Greenpeace and TheTreeMap, describes a catastrophic failure of law enforcement that has allowed swathes of land, including Unesco sites, national parks and areas once ...
Tags: Indonesia, Animals, Environment, World news, Unesco, Asia Pacific, Wildlife, Palm Oil, Greenpeace, Sumatran

‘Nobody ever put hands on me before’: flight attendants on the air rage epidemic

Although travelers’ hissy fits are nothing new, incidences of bad behavior have spiked amid the tense landscape of Covid-19Alexander Clark had only just boarded the Los Angeles-bound United airliner when the man seated behind him became incensed. As Clark tells it, a flight attendant had repeatedly asked the passenger to alternately stop talking on his phone or don a face mask when, after the fourth ask, the passenger snapped.“I will find your name, date of birth, and address! I will know your s...
Tags: Travel, Los Angeles, Life and style, World news, US news, United, Clark

US to lift restrictions for fully vaccinated international travelers on 8 November

Early last year, the US banned visitors from more than 30 countries, including China, the UK and most of the EUThe US will lift restrictions for international travelers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 on 8 November, a White House official said on Friday, allowing people from dozens of countries to reunite with their families and take leisure trips to the US for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.White House assistant press secretary Kevin Munoz said international air an...
Tags: Travel, UK, White House, China, US, World news, US news, Coronavirus, COVID, Kevin Munoz

As important as the Taj Mahal? The Palestinian refugee camp seeking Unesco world heritage status

For 70 years, the ramshackle Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem has been a site of displacement. Why is this ‘heritage of exile’ not enough for Unesco to grant it the status it gives Macchu Picchu and Venice?The Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem doesn’t look much like your usual Unesco world heritage site. For a start, there are no souvenir stalls or swarms of trinket hawkers. Instead, cracked concrete walls covered with Arabic graffiti frame the entrance to a corner shop, where an old phot...
Tags: London, World news, Culture, Architecture, Unesco, Middle East and North Africa, Palestinian territories, Art and design, Heritage, United Nations, Refugees, Bethlehem, Macchu Picchu, Petti, Mosaic Rooms, Sandi Hilal

Netflix and Unesco search for African film-makers to ‘reimagine’ folktales

Competition opens to find six young creators in sub-Saharan Africa who will be funded to produce movies for 2022For Nelson Mandela they were “morsels rich with the gritty essence of Africa but in many instances universal in their portrayal of humanity, beasts and the mystical.”Passed down through the generations, whispered at bedtimes and raucously retold by elders, folktales have long been a mainstay of African cultural heritage. Continue reading...
Tags: Film, Africa, World news, Netflix, Culture, Unesco, Nelson Mandela, Global development, Saharan Africa

EU says it will recognise NHS Covid pass ‘soon’

Constant Covid testing when travelling from the UK to countries such as the Netherlands should soon be a thing of the pastTrips to Europe over October half-term could become easier for British travellers after Brussels said a technical tie-up with the EU ensuring the NHS Covid pass is recognised across over 40 countries would be “going live soon”.In some European countries, such as the Netherlands, tourists from the UK have faced constant Covid tests as the NHS app proving full vaccination statu...
Tags: Travel, Europe, UK, Eu, European Union, UK News, World news, NHS, Netherlands, European Commission, Brussels, Europe Holidays, Netherlands Holidays, NHS COVID

‘It is our identity’: two Congos seek Unesco listing for rumba

Joint bid aims to add musical style that inspired independence to list of intangible cultural heritageAuthorities in Kinshasa and Brazzaville, the capitals of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Republic, have submitted a joint bid to add Congolese rumba to the Unesco list of intangible cultural heritage. The list helps demonstrate the diversity of heritage and raises awareness about its importance. If Congolese rumba were to be added, it would join the hawker food of Singapo...
Tags: Music, Singapore, Africa, World news, Culture, Unesco, United Nations, United Arab Emirates, Finland, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic Of Congo, KINSHASA, BRAZZAVILLE, Congo Republic, Congo-Brazzaville

A peek behind the curtain: inside North Korea – in pictures

Hong Kong native Ted Lau’s new book tries to understand everyday life in the ‘dystopian utopia’ of a totalitarian country shrouded in mystery Continue reading...
Tags: Travel, Hong Kong, Books, North Korea, Society, World news, Culture, Asia Pacific, Art and design, North Korea Holidays, Art and design books, Ted Lau

‘Renting the Taj Mahal’: the fight to save Darjeeling’s toy train

India’s tiny train has puffed up the Himalayas since 1881 but now the world heritage site is under threat“Darjeeling ko sano rail, hirna lai abo tyari cha / Guard le shuna bhai siti bajayo” (Darjeeling’s dainty train is all set to chug off / Oh, listen to the guard blowing the whistle): generations of children in Darjeeling have grown up hearing these lines from a Nepali nursery rhyme. Serenading the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), it depicts the close relationship between the “Queen of the ...
Tags: Travel, Protest, India, Employment, World news, Unesco, South and Central Asia, Heritage, Rail Travel, Global development, Rail transport, Himalayas, Darjeeling Himalayan Railway DHR

‘Volcanic eruptions are like cats’: the La Palma volcano explained

The ongoing eruption in the Canary Islands has raised concerns over cancelled holidays and a potential tsunami. Here a volcanologist weighs the risksOn 19 September, after 50 years of magmatic quiescence, the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma roared back to life. Ash speckled the sky, and molten rock cooking at 1,075C (1,967F) oozed from several fresh fissures and cascaded down the volcano’s western flanks in the form of hadean rivers, ploughing through houses and farms with...
Tags: Travel, Europe, Spain, World news, Volcanoes, Tsunamis, Canary Islands, Canary Islands Holidays, La Palma, Cumbre Vieja

Matera: the gorgeous Italian hill town film-makers can’t resist

Anyone from Jesus to James Bond has been seen in the Unesco heritage site now open for business after lockdownAs audiences have come to expect with the James Bond franchise, the locations are almost as show-stopping as the high-adrenaline plot twists. The latest, No Time to Die, is no exception, thanks to La La Land cinematographer Linus Sandgren, and the film’s location scouts.As always, London looms large as the HQ for MI6; Port Antonio in Jamaica makes an appearance, as this is where author I...
Tags: Travel, Europe, London, Film, Religion, World news, Culture, Unesco, Italy, Christianity, James Bond, Ian Fleming, Denmark, Thrillers, Jesus, Faroe Islands

‘My future is overseas’: Tunisians look to Europe as Covid hits tourism

As the pandemic deals a death blow to an already struggling sector, former workers see little hope for recoveryThe seafront along the town of Hammamet in Tunisia is deserted. Looking out at the bright empty coast from his souvenir shop, Kais Azzabi, 42, describes the crowds that would stroll along the broad boulevards. Today, there is nobody.“It was very busy here,” he says, gesturing to the street and the Mediterranean Sea beyond. “Since the corona started, everything stopped.” Continue reading...
Tags: Travel, Europe, Africa, Employment, Society, World news, Unemployment, Middle East and North Africa, Italy, Global development, Tunisia, Migration And Development, Mediterranean Sea, Hammamet, Tunisia attacks 2015, Coronavirus

Gilgamesh Dream Tablet to be formally handed back to Iraq

The 3,600-year-old tablet that shows parts of a Sumerian poem will be returned by the US to the country it was taken from in 1991A 3,600-year-old tablet showing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh will be formally handed back to Iraq by the US on Thursday.The tablet, known as the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, shows parts of a Sumerian poem from the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world’s oldest known religious texts. It is believed to have been looted from a museum in Iraq in 1991, and “fraudulently” entered ...
Tags: Books, Iraq, Poetry, US, World news, US news, Culture, Unesco, Middle East and North Africa, United Nations, US Department of Justice, Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh Dream Tablet

Taliban replace ministry for women with ‘virtue’ authorities

By KATHY GANNON KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice” in the building that once housed the Women’s Affairs Ministry, escorting out World Bank staffers on Saturday as part of the forced move. It was the latest troubling sign that the Taliban are restricting women’s rights as they settle into government, just a month since they overran the capital of Kabul. During their previous rule of Afghanistan in...
Tags: Politics, New York, News, Washington, Islamic State, Qatar, Sport, World news, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Unesco, Soccer, Taliban, Pakistan, Dubai

Is it ethical to travel right now? Experts on flying in the age of Delta

Questions to consider before you inflict the ‘moral injury’ of a risky, nonessential trip A new season is here and, with it, seedlings of holiday escape plans to some sun-drenched beach or snowy mountain ski slope. In view of passenger data from the US and the UK, air travel is on its way toward recovering from the slump of a pre-vaccine Covid-19 pandemic – despite the rise of the Delta variant.But does that mean it’s a good idea to buy that plane ticket, even if you’re vaccinated? And if you’re...
Tags: Travel, UK, US, Life and style, World news, US news, Ethics, Health & wellbeing, Delta, Coronavirus

Covid: France bans unvaccinated U.S. travelers

By Barry Neild and Sakya Vandoorne | CNN France has become the latest European country — and the most significant tourism destination — to remove the United States from its safe travel list, following EU recommendations in the wake of a US Covid spike. A French government decree issued on Thursday bumped the United States and Israel from the country’s “green” list, down to “orange,” effectively prohibiting nonessential travel to France for unvaccinated visitors. Under France’s rules, unvaccinat...
Tags: Travel, Business, News, Sweden, Greece, France, Germany, Israel, US, Eu, Spain, Sport, European Union, World news, Things To Do, Soccer

Home Office says delays at Heathrow are ‘unacceptable’

Border staff left dealing with backlog of travellers as reports emerge of people fainting in three-hour queuesDelays at Heathrow airport have been described as “unacceptable” by the Home Office, af reports of passengers fainting in queues of up to three hours.Border staff were left dealing with a huge backlog of travellers, with witnesses saying they had seen people – including a pregnant woman – passing out while queueing. Continue reading...
Tags: Travel, UK News, World news, Air transport, Home Office, Heathrow, Transport, Heathrow Airport, Brexit

Unstoppable movement: how New Zealand’s Māori are reclaiming land with occupations

Since 1975, Māori have been able to reclaim land through a tribunal – but its reach is limited and now they are exploring other optionsTwo years ago, a small pocket of land three kilometres from Auckland’s international airport became the most prominent site of a struggle by Māori, New Zealand’s indigenous people, to reclaim land confiscated by the crown more than 150 years ago.Ihumātao contains evidence of New Zealand’s first commercial gardens, where thousands of hectares were planted with kum...
Tags: Law, World news, Unesco, Asia Pacific, New Zealand, Indigenous Peoples, Auckland, Maori, William Hobson, Māori New Zealand, Ihumātao

CDC adds 7 destinations to ‘very high’ Covid-19 travel risk list, including Puerto Rico and Switzerland

Switzerland and Puerto Rico are now among the highest-risk destinations for travelers, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s regularly updated travel advisories list. People should avoid traveling to locations designated with the “Level 4: Covid-19 Very High” notice, the CDC recommends. Anyone who must travel should be fully vaccinated first, the agency advises. Seven destinations moved up on August 30 from the “Level 3: Covid-19 High” list to Level 4: Azerbaijan Esto...
Tags: Travel, Business, News, Cdc, La, Sport, World news, Things To Do, Soccer, Switzerland, Zimbabwe, Lausd, Moldova, Puerto Rico, Lucia, LA County

CDC adds 6 destinations to ‘very high’ Covid-19 travel risk list, including the Bahamas

By Kristen Rogers and Marnie Hunter | CNN The Bahamas and Morocco are now among the highest-risk destinations for travelers, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s regularly revised travel advisories list. People should avoid traveling to locations designated with the “Level 4: Covid-19 Very High” notice, the CDC recommends. Anyone who must travel should be fully vaccinated first, the agency advises. Six destinations moved to the Level 4 list on August 23: Bahamas Hai...
Tags: Travel, Business, Politics, News, Cdc, US, Los Angeles, Sport, World news, Things To Do, Soccer, Morocco, Paraguay, Serbia, Bulgaria, Tokyo

NHS Covid pass still not recognised in some EU countries

British tourists facing difficulties following delay in linking NHS Covid pass to EU’s systemCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBritish tourists face difficulties in proving their vaccine status in Europe following a delay in linking the NHS Covid pass to the EU’s system due to gaps in the British government’s application to Brussels.An IT tie-up would ensure automatic recognition across the 27 member states of the information held on the NHS app, facilitating both inter...
Tags: Travel, Europe, Eu, European Union, UK News, World news, NHS, Brussels, Coronavirus, NHS COVID

Excommunicated Spanish ‘witch’ village turns curse into tourist cash

Embracing its strange past is a blessing for Trasmoz as thousands flock to its witchcraft attractionsTucked into the foothills of northern Spain, the village of Trasmoz attracts thousands of tourists each year. For many, the allure is not its half-ruined castle nor stunning mountain backdrop but rather a curious quirk of history: Trasmoz is Spain’s only excommunicated and cursed village.“So far, being excommunicated and cursed hasn’t been bad for us,” said Lola Ruiz Diaz, one of the 47 or so peo...
Tags: Travel, Europe, Religion, Spain, World news, Catholicism, Festivals, Vatican, Magic, Zaragoza, Trasmoz, Lola Ruiz Diaz

‘No one comes here any more’: the human cost as Covid wipes out tourism

From Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca to wildlife tourism in Nepal, we find out how the crisis has affected people in four travel hotspots – and whether or not they want the tourists to returnOpinion: Africa’s park tourism crash is a wake-up call. Can we find new ways to finance conservation?In March last year, it was predicted that the global travel shutdown would cause international arrivals to plummet by 20 to 30% by the end of 2020.Six weeks later, the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) revised th...
Tags: Travel, Africa, Americas, Employment, World news, Poverty, South and Central Asia, Migration, Nepal, Global development, Malawi, Tajikistan, Bolivia, Lake Titicaca, UN World Tourism Organisation UNWTO, Coronavirus

Africa’s park tourism crash is a wake-up call. Can we find new ways to finance conservation? | Peter Muiruri

As Covid continues to curb visits to see our iconic wildlife, now is the time to move away from western-led funding modelsThat African governments have failed to mobilise funds to conserve their vast protected areas is not in doubt. Countries were just about managing to pay basic salaries to rangers who barely had enough to put fuel in their patrol vehicles. Covid has exacerbated this already dire situation, with the loss of income from foreign tourism.The continent has more than 8,500 protected...
Tags: Travel, Africa, Environment, World news, Uganda, South Africa, Foreign Policy, Conservation, National Parks, Aid, Global development, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Iucn, Coronavirus

Spanish village tells tourists to suck up roosters and braying donkeys

Posters in Ribadesella warn visitors unhappy about reality of rural life they ‘may not be in the right place’Some called in to complain about braying donkeys. Other tourists dialled up officials in the northern Spanish village of Ribadesella, population 5,700, to notify them of the mess left behind by wandering cows.“Last week we had a lady who called us three or four times over a rooster that was waking her up at 5am,” said Ramón Canal, Ribadesella’s mayor. “She told us that we had to do someth...
Tags: Travel, Europe, Animals, Spain, World news, Rural affairs, Ribadesella, Ramón Canal Ribadesella

‘All that’s left are ashes’: Italian communities count cost of wildfires

Blazes raging in southern regions have ravaged mountain area of Calabria that is home to Unesco world heritage siteAs with most farmers living in the remote towns of the Aspromonte mountain range in Calabria, southern Italy, Nicola Fortugno’s land was his life. The 79-year-old refused to be evacuated when flames engulfed Piraino, a hamlet surrounded by pine forest above the town of Cardeto, on Wednesday. Instead, he stayed at home to try to save his animals and crops. His burnt, lifeless body wa...
Tags: Europe, Climate Change, World news, Unesco, Wildfires, Italy, Calabria, Nicola, Aspromonte, Piraino, Nicola Fortugno, Cardeto, Francesca Crea

New budget Norwegian airline will fly from London to New York by 2022

Norse Atlantic Airways to launch low-cost flights between Europe and the US by next springThe new low-cost long-haul Norwegian airline Norse Atlantic Airways has announced plans to fly between Europe and the US from early 2022, as it aims to fill the gap in budget transatlantic air travel left by the Norwegian’s departure from long-haul routes.Norse, which was only formed in March by Norwegian airline industry veterans, will initially fly from Oslo, London and Paris to New York, Los Angeles and ...
Tags: Travel, Europe, New York, London, US, World news, Paris, Air transport, Airline Industry, Norway, Flights, New York Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale Continue, Oslo London, Norse Atlantic Airways

Spanish village seeks Unesco world heritage status for outdoor chats

Mayor of Algar (pop 1,400) says the tradition is the ‘opposite of social media’ and good for mental healthIt’s a nightly summer ritual across much of Spain: as the sweltering heat of the day eases off, chairs are hauled out to the street for an alfresco chat. Now an enterprising village in southern Spain is seeking to have the tradition recognised by the United Nations as a cultural treasure.The aim is to protect the centuries-old custom from the encroaching threat of social media and television...
Tags: Europe, Spain, World news, Unesco, United Nations, Guardian, Algar, José Carlos Sánchez

Lotion in the ocean: is your sunscreen killing the sea?

Up to 14,000 tonnes ends up in coral reef areas each year, but scientists are divided on how we can best protect our skin without harming the environment Related: Deadly coral disease sweeping Caribbean linked to water from ships Autumn Blum was 5 metres underwater, scuba diving off the Pacific island of Palau, when she looked up towards the surface and saw a rainbow. Continue reading...
Tags: Travel, Environment, Life and style, World news, Wildlife, Marine Life, Oceans, Beauty, Coral, Pacific, Caribbean, Palau, Blum