A local family strolls home at sunset on Malapasuca Island, Philippines (click on the image to see a larger version).

As the winner, it’s my turn to host the next competition.

The theme for round #43 of Travel Photo Roulette is, not surprisingly, Adventure.

Contest Overview

The contest moves from blog to blog. The winner of each round hosts the next one (I’m hosting because I won the last round). Each host chooses a theme for their round and entrants may submit photos related that theme for one week. Readers may try to sway the host blogger’s choice by posting comments. The host blogger my ignore, delete, or ridicule comments as they see fit. Actually, this is encouraged, especially after seven or eight margaritas. At the end of the week, the host blogger chooses their favorite photo from the submissions and displays it as the week’s winning entry. The host then passes the contest to the winner, who will host the next round and choose a new theme. The game continues until the Internet implodes, North Korea gains control of the Internet and outlaws tomfoolery, or or skynet destroys the human race, whichever comes first. 

Guidelines

• After 1 year, phrases can be reused, however new photos must be submitted.
• Obscene pictures or phrases are not allowed. Suggestive phrases and photography are acceptable, but please keep them within reason.
• You may submit any photo, no matter how old, as long as you took it.
• Most importantly, ALL PHOTOS MUST BE YOUR OWN. No trolling Flickr for winners.
• This is a competition for bloggers, therefore you must be a blogger to be declared a winner.

How to submit your entries

It’s easy. Just leave comment below with a link your photo and caption. I will add it to this post. Please provide a brief description or caption so that  viewers can get a little background as to what’s happening. Check back here throughout the week to see all the entries as they come in and feel free to comment on them. The contest runs for 7 days from today, with the submission date being May 17th, 2012  –  May 24th, 2012 11.59pm GMT (Wednesday to Wednesday). The winner will be announced in the days after the deadline, and they will host round 44.

**Note** Please enter medium-size web-friendly photos max 530px wide. Large pictures slow down servers and increase page load times for everybody.

Past Photo Roulette Winners and Hosts

The following is a list of the previously played rounds blog hosts. This list also doubles as a winner’s table because host won the preceding round! Click the links to go directly to winning entries and see some stunning photographs!

1. Nov 4–10, 2010  – Living the Dream – “Animals”
2. Nov 17–24, 2010 – Skinny Backpacker - “Road Signs”
3. Nov 29–Dec 6, 2010 – Dream a Little Dream - “Street Art”
4. Dec 8–15, 2010 – Flashpacker HQ – “Festival”
5. Dec 17–24, 2010 – Over Yonderlust – “Landmarks”
6. Dec 26–Jan 2, 2011 – Don’t Ever Look Back – “Beaches”
7. Jan 5–12, 2011 – ThePlanetD – “Portraits”
8. Jan 15–22, 2011 – Travel with a Mate – “Motion”
9. Jan 26–Feb 3, 2011 – Johnny Vagabond – “Water”
10. Feb 8–15, 2011 – Ken Kaminesky – “Urban”
11. Feb 21–27, 2011 – Travels of Adam - “Friday Night”
12. Mar 7–13, 2011 – Itchy Feet Chronicles – “The Journey”
13. Mar 19– 25, 2011 – Brendan’s Adventures – “Changing Seasons”
14. Apr 4–10, 2011 - Shutterfeet – “Storytelling”
15. Apr 13–21, 2011 - 10 Times One - “Piousness”
16. Apr 26–May 4, 2011 – Beached Eskimo – “Learning”
17. May 21–27, 2011 – Travel Junkies – “Architecture”
18. Jun 1–7, 2011 – Destination World – “Transportation”
19. Jun 8–15, 2011 – Living the Dream – “Paradise”
20. Jun 21-28, 2011 - Vagabond Quest - “Clothes”
21. Jul 4-11, 2011 – The Unframed World – “Symmetry”
22. Jul 16-25, 2011 – Beached Eskimo – “Home”
23. Jul 31 – Aug 7, 2011 – BackPackerBanter – “Inspiration”
24. Aug 14 – 21, 2011 – WanderingTrader - “Darkness”
25. Aug 28 – Sep 4, 2011 – Finding the Universe – “Tranquillity”
26. Sep 12 – 19, 2011 – Fearful Adventurer – “Food”
27. Sep 23 – 30, 2011 – Adventures of a GoodMan – “City”
28. Oct 06 – 13, 2011 – Globe-Trekking.com - “Reflections”
29. Oct 17 – 24, 2011 – Scene With A Hart - ”Framing”
30. Nov 9 – 16, 2011 – Vagabond Quest - “Silhouettes”
31. Nov 26 – Dec 3, 2011 – Hecktic Travels – “Music”
32. Dec 11 – Dec 18, 2011 – Globetrotter Girls – “Love”
33. Dec 25 – Jan 1st, 2012– Man on the lam – “Humor”
34. January 8 – Jan 15 – My Walkabout – “Winter”
35. Jan 15 – Jan 22 – The Art of Slow Travel – “Blue”
36. Feb 6 – Feb 13 – Ten Times One – “Depth of Field”
37. Feb 22 – Feb 29 – Runaway Juno – “My Glorious Digital Nomad Moment”
38. March 7 – March 14 – Nomadbiba – “Sunshine”
39. March 24 – 31 – Travel With Kat – “Local Character”
40. April 10th – 16th - The Travel Bunny – “Street Scene”
41.  April 23rd – April 30th – Adventure Crow – “Spirit of the Country”
42. May 7th – May 14th – Food Travel Bliss - “Evening”

The police are trying to figure out if the thieves stole the lift to sell it (it’s valued at around $10,000 USD) or to set it up somewhere else.

I think that they must be selling it. Whenever ski bums muster up the motivation to get organized and coordinate a plan it usually results in five guys twenty miles into the backcountry, a snow fort, or a large bong.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this one plays out.

In other weird ski news, a New Jersey ski resort is suing its insurance company over lack of snow.

A rare and remarkable finding at an the archaeological site of Xultun in the northeast corner of the country clearly indicates that the Mayan calendar goes on for another 7000 years.

The finding was made when a student at the site sat down to eat lunch and noticed some paint on a stone in a looter’s trench. Investigation led to a older than the other structures build on top of it. The room contained a mural of a king, a second mural of “strangely dressed figures” and a wall covered in astronomical calculations that indicate a calendar extending thousands of years into the future.

The room has been called a “Mayan workshop for astronomers”.

Some have said the room indicates that the Mayan calendar continues for another 7000 years. Some say for only 4000.

Either way, one thing is for certain. That sandwich-eating student is totally going to get an ‘A’.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Australia Location

Australia, officially known as the Commonwealth of Australia, is located in the Southern Hemisphere and includes the main island of Australia, as well as numerous smaller islands, the best known of which is Tasmania. Located in the South Pacific, Australia is bounded by the Coral Sea to the northeast, Tasman Sea to the southeast, Great Australian Bight to the south, Indian Ocean to the west, and Timor Sea to the north.

Major Cities in Australia

The largest and best known cities in Australia include Canberra, the capital, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, and Perth.

Geography of Australia

At 7.6 million square kilometres, Australia is the sixth largest country in the world, the smallest continent, and has about 34,000 kilometres of coastline. It’s often referred to as the “island continent” and sometimes the “Earth’s largest island” even though Australia is technically not an island.

Australia sits atop the Indo-Australian Plate. Since it’s so big, Australia has a wide variety of landscapes and climactic zones. Australia’s best-known geographic feature is the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world, which is located off the country’s northeast coast and extends over 2000 kilometres. You’ve likely seen pictures of an enormous flat rock that rises out of an Australian plain. They actually have several, one of which is Mount Augustus, the largest monolith in the world, which is located near Australia’s East Coast. The tallest peak on the mainland is 2,228 m Mount Kosciuszko in Western Australia, but the tallest in the country is Mount McClintock in the Australian Antarctic Territory at 3.492 m.

The northeast of the country is home to subtropical rain forests, and the southeast is comprised largely of mountain ranges. In the middle is a really big desert. Anyone who has seen Crocodile Dundee knows about Australia’s vast wild outback, which is mostly semi-arid desertish landscape. And, of course, there are lots of nice beaches.

Australia Weather and Climate

Since it’s so enormous, and surrounded by ocean, Australia has different climates in different places. They include equatorial, tropical, subtropical, desert, grassland, and temperate. To get a better idea of how Australia’s climactic zones are arranged check out this climate map.

Australia Description

Tourism makes up a significant part of the Australian economy (about 2.5%) and in 2010-11 the country received 5.9 million short-term visitors. Considering the size of the country, though, it’s not exactly what you’d call jam-packed.

Australia is a geographic wonder with tons of unique outdoors opportunities. The country is home to twelve UNESCO Natural World Heritage Sites including the Australian Fossil Mammal Sites, Fraser Island, the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia, the Great Barrier Reef, the Greater Blue Mountains Area, Heard and McDonald Islands, the Lord Howe Island Group, Macquarie Island, the Ningaloo Coast, Purnululu National Park, Shark Bay, Western Australia, and the Wet Tropics of Queensland.

The Great Barrier Reef is, of course, epic for snorkelling and scuba diving. Fraser Island, just off the East Coast is the largest sand island in the world and home to hoof of the world’s perched freshwater dune lakes. The Gondwana Rainforests in the east contain a cornucopia of rare and threatened species. The Heard and McDonald islands, just 1,700 km from Antarctica is one of the few places on earth where the unique ecosystem is completely intact and free of alien plants and animals. The Ningaloo Coast has an enormous network of underground caves and is also a gathering place for whale sharks and sea turtles. This list could go on and on.

Adventure activity recommendations

Australia Highlights

It’s hard to pick just a few highlights from this diverse country. But a few exceptional outings include:
• Sandboarding in the Pinnacles Desert near Perth is a great way to experience the desert without getting bored.
• Surfing anywhere in the country.
• The Grampian Mountains northwest of Melbourne offer hiking and climbing for enthusiasts of all levels.
• I don’t even know if I need to tell you that scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef should be on everybody’s list.

Australia Outdoor Adventure Activities

• Surfing
• Stand-up paddle boarding
• Scuba diving (wreck, reef, cave)
• Snorkeling
• Surfing (all levels)
• Sailing
• Kitesurfing
• Windsurfing
• Parasailing
• Paragliding
• Hang gliding
• Sky diving
• Bungee jumping
• Hot air ballooning
• Whitewater rafting
• Kayaking (river and lake)
• Hydrospeed/riverboarding
• Canoeing
• Caving and spelunking
• Hiking/trekking (all levels)
• Via Ferrata
• Canyoning
• Coasteering
• Ziplining
• Rock climbing (all levels)
• Ice climbing
• Abseiling/rappelling
• Mountain Biking (novice to expert)
• Horseback Riding
• Skiing and snowboarding
• Sandboarding
• Cross-country skiing

Travel Insurance

Get a travel insurance quote here

Australia Photos

[Show as slideshow]

Images (in order) courtesy ,drubuntu, University of Denver, nosha, Tooley, monkeyc.net, Michael Dawes, steve caddy, boobook48, Luca Zappa,Kenski1970, richard ling, and kelvin_luffs on Flickr.

Australia Map

View Larger Map

Disclosure: If you purchase insurance, book a hostel, or purchase one of the recommended books on this page using the links provided, I will receive a small commission. I do not, however, recommend these products simply to make money. I recommend World Nomads travel insurance because I use it myself and feel that they offer a good product that suits my needs at a fair price. I recommend Hostelbookers.com because they have the cheapest booking prices that I have seen online and a large selection, and I recommend the selected books from Amazon.com because they have reputations for quality information and were up to date at the time of writing. If you have found my blog useful I hope that you will consider purchasing some of these products using the links on this page to help me to continue providing free information about adventure travel around the world.

Violet tried to stop the attack, so the cheetah started mauling her instead.

Then his buddy joined in.  They weren’t simply biting her leg or foot, mind you, they were gnawing on her head.

And what did her husband do during all of this? He stood there like an idiot photographing the whole thing.  Now the photos of the attack are all over the Internet.

Eventually the Violet played dead and a park ranger chased the cheetahs off of her with a stick.

The husband later said he was so stunned he didn’t realize that he kept taking photos.

I hope Archie is using the money he made selling the photos of his Violet’s mauling to buy her some nice hats.

That was weak, Archie, really weak.

Lead photo by Tambako the Jaguar

Scotland is home to some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. It’s no wonder that walkers the world over choose to find flights to Scotland to experience it the best way possible: with a pair of hiking boots, a stick, and a windbreaker. Of course there are plenty of walks to choose from, but these are by far the most scenic that Scotland has to offer.

The Water of Leith

Photo by law_keven

Start your walking holiday in Scotland with flights to Edinburgh and a walk so picturesque you won’t believe that you’re in the middle of a city. The Water of Leith River flows from the Pentland Hills to the Port of Leith. The 20.5km walk by the riverside begins in the sleepy suburb of Balerno just South of the City, easily accessible by public transport. The first part of the walk goes through a shaded dell, with beautiful trees and ruined mills. The path then takes hikers through the inner city towards the pretty Dean Village and bohemian Stockbridge area of the city. This is the perfect place to stop for lunch, or you can press on to The Shore where there are plenty of bars to toast your walk with a pint of locally brewed beer.

The West Highland Way

Photo by Kenny Murray

Be sure to bring your camera along on this 152.8km walk through the West of Scotland. To begin take the train to Milngavie (pronounced “Mul-guy”), and end in Fort William at the foot of Ben Nevis. The West Highland Way meanders through wilderness and forest, taking in some of Scotland’s most beautiful and well known sights: from Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park to the mysterious Glen Coe. The route is very challenging, with many hardy walkers giving up before reaching the mountainous ascent of the Devil’s Staircase. The walk is lined with inns, hotels, and campsites so you’re unlikely to go hungry or without sleep.

The Southern Upland Way

Photo by Bods

Rivalling the West Highland Way for scenery, the second of Scotland’s great walks is actually longer than the Highland counterpart. Beginning at Portpatrick the 341km walk passes through Galloway Forest Park and holds the honour of being Britain’s first official coast to coast path. Ambitious walkers only need apply, although some sections are great for families and daytrippers.

The Fife Coastal Path

Photo by Florian Seiffert (F*)

Although the West Coast is considered the best coast when it comes to scenic walks, anyone who has taken the 150km Fife Coastal path from Culross to Newport on Tay will disagree. The path takes in beautiful award-winning beaches, quaint fishing villages, and of course the town where Prince William met his wife: St Andrews. Perhaps the most demanding stretch of the walk is the Via Ferrata outside Elie. This part of the walk involves a lot of scrambling, aided by chains in some areas. It’s best to wait an hour after high tide before attempting this section.

St Cuthbert’s Way

Photo by lunaman

The Scottish Borders provide stunning scenery to rival even that of the highlands. Mountains, lochs, and beautiful ruins form the basis of St Cuthbert’s Way: 100km  from Melrose in the West to Lindisfarne in the East. This walk may be a bit of a cheat, as it does cross the border into England.  Starting at Melrose Abbey, one of the most beautiful examples of 12^th Century architecture still standing in Scotland, the walk ends at the ruined Lindisfarne Priory on the island of Lindsfarne. This walk crosses over with a number of famous walks, including the Southern Uplands Way and the Roman Heritage Way.

James C is an online media professional who loves both hiking and Scotland–especially when they are combined. 

I was just doing some lazy Sunday googling around the interweb, reading about the unfortunate premature death of Adam Yauch and his influence on his hometown, and I ended up finding three really sweet-looking adventures all in New York. Two are in the city, and one is just a few hours away.

If you are in New York, these are all convenient, reasonably priced, and fully worth checking out.

1) Take a Zipline Adventure Tour

Photo by youngrocky

I think ziplines are great. They’re accessible to everyone, even those who aren’t in super shape. They’re very environmentally friendly. They provide a nice little adrenaline boost to go with an epic view. And, they’re the cheapest flights you’re ever going to find (unless, that is, you check out my flight hacking tips).

New York Zipline Adventure Tours, about a 2.5 – 3 hour drive from the city in the Catskill Mountains, offers two zipline packages. Their Mid-Mountain Tour is a light family-friendly tour that includes six zippiness, four rope bridges, nine aerial tree platforms, and one rappel. The tour lasts about three hours and costs $89 USD per person.

Their more exciting tour is called the SkyRider, and they market it as the “longest, fastest, and highest zipline tour in the North America.”  It includes over 4.6 miles of zippiness, which they require you attend a training school to ride. This includes one cable that spans 3200 feet 600 feet above the valley floor. This tour is also three hours, and costs $119 USD per person.

2) Check Out Discover Outdoors Adventures

Photo by slagheap

If you want to get out, get fit, and get into some new adventure activities in New York, Discover Outdoors is definitely a company you should check out.  They have a variety of programs from backpacking lessons (free), to sunrise photography ($59 USD), to multi-sport adventures ($39 USD). They even have extreme indoor rock wall climbing ($29 USD). It’s not exactly Wharepapa, New Zealand, but hey, what did you expect.

The most gruesome looking calss is their mountain fitness training class ($39 USD). These classes are “non-traditional, fitness-oriented adventures,” but from the looks of the pictures they are seriously taxing. There is no specific training routine given, but its implied that the instructor chooses terrain and activities with a mind to wrenching your muscles in ways they’ve never experienced. Yes, they even lift logs. They have pictures of it on the website (though the one I have above is not of an actual class. I just picked it to scare you).

3) The Annual Adventures NYC Event

Photo by Ed Yourdon

Every summer the City of New York Parks and Rec team board teams up with sponsors like Backpacker Magazine, The North Face, and Pentax to put on Adventures NYC, a free outdoors event in Central Park. This year (2012) it will be held on June 25th and will include free bicycle rentals, climbing walls, health and fitness clinics, gear exhibits, yoga, and live entertainment. The price is right, and so are the activities.

Lead photo by Stuck in Customs

So, now that I think about it, the kids in this story are probably smarter than we were.

The new drinking game in New Zealand that’s scaring parents and pissing off park rangers is called Possum. Basically, students climb into trees and then drink until they fall out (the full story can be found here). Apparently park managers are more upset about the mess (trash, vomit, and urine) than they are worried about people getting hurt.

Is that really fun? Well, when you’re young and intelligent as me and my friends were, a lot of things sound fun.

But, lets be honest, were you any better?

Lead photo by Oneras

PHILIPPINES ADVENTURES 2011

PT1: Manila to Banaue

PT2: Hiking the Rice Terraces

PT3: The Loboc Tarsier Conservation Area

During my visit to Loboc I visited a well-known tarsier conservation area that I had looked forward to seeing for years only to later learn that in doing so I had unwittingly contributed to an unethical business. Read on to avoid making the same mistake I did.

Getting to Loboc

After a whirlwind two-day bus, plane, and tricycle journey from Banaue Rice Terraces on Luzon, Jeannie and I arrived at Alona Beach on the island of Bohol where we contemplated our next step. After some deliberation, we decided to split up. Jeannie wanted to spend a few days in a filipino homestead with Flip Flop Tours (she wrote about it here). I had been to Bohol several times before and had heard a lot about the Loboc River and the Tarsier Sanctuary there, but had not yet seen it.

I looked at reviews of accommodations in Loboc online and found MaryJane’s Native House on HostelBookers.com. It was described as a filipino style native house beside the river with a real toilet and at $12 USD/night, the price was right. I thought I’d try to save some money by calling  instead of booking online. Not having the proper change, I had to use my international calling card to use the payphone to reserve the room. I should have saved myself the trouble. I saved no money and it would have been way easier to book through the website.

I hopped in a tricycle back to Tagbilaran, which is the capital city of Bohol where the airport and main ferry terminals are located. If you are travelling to Bohol, you will most likely travel through Tagbilaran.

The most common way to get to Loboc is by local bus. The local bus station, however, is about 2km out of the city, so I had to take a tricycle there, which cost about fifty pesos. Loboc is only 24km from Tagbilaran, so it’s a short cheap bus ride.

A Philippine tarsier in the conservation area

The Loboc Tarsier Conservation Area

The Philippine Tarsier has two claims to fame: 1) it’s endangered and 2) it’s cute as a button. For these reasons, visiting the Loboc Tarsier Conservation Area was on top of my list in Loboc. Sadly, in researching this article I discovered that the Loboc Tarsier Conservation is not an official tarsier sanctuary run by the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, but is an unethical for-profit tarsier viewing area that subjects tarsiers to conditions harmful to their health.

The Philippine tarsier (locally referred to as the kupal) is one of the world’s smallest primates. They grow to 8 – 16 cm (3.5 – 6.5 in) and are known for their enormous and strangely cute bug-eyes. They actually have the largest eye-to-body ratio of all mammals–their eyes are 150 times larger than a human’s in relation to their body. They can move their ears to better hear sounds, leap 5m in the air, rotate their heads nearly 360 degrees, and bear an uncanny resemblance to Yoda.

The Philippine tarsier is endemic to the southern Philippines and listed as endangered. for this reason the Philippine Tarsier Foundation, a private organization, works to protect them and runs a research and development centre. When I visited the Loboc Tarsier Conservation Center I assumed it was run by this organization.

I was wrong.

In researching this article I learned several disturbing facts about tarsiers that are kept in captivity for public viewing:

1) It is illegal in the Philippines to possess a tarsier except for educational or conservation activities.

2) Philippine tarsiers are shy solitary roaming animals. One average males need 6.45 hectares of home range, and females need 2.45.

3) Philippine tarsiers live alone and only encounter each other occasionally during the night while hunting.

4) Philippine tarsiers are nocturnal.

4) Philippine tarsiers reproduce poorly in captivity.

5) Captive tarsiers can live as little as two years and as long as 12 years, which is still much shorter than their natural average lifespan of 24 years.

A captive tourism-based environment is very stressful to tarsiers. They are kept awake all day when they normally sleep, they are subject to camera flashes that hurt their extremely light-sensitive eyes (they can see at night, remember), they are forced to live in close proximity to other tarsiers and humans (which runs counter to their solitary nature), and they are unable to roam as they do in the wild. The result is extremely low reproductive rates and a 50-95% reduction in their lifespan due to stress. Some captive tarsiers even been reported known to ‘commit suicide’ by banging their heads against hard objects.

Man photographing a captive tarsier in a cage

That means that captive tarsiers have shorter lives and reproduce less than those in the wild. When captive tarsiers die, they almost always need to be replaced with wild ones, thus contributing their ever-nearing extinction.

The legal status of the Loboc Tarsier Conservation Area is not clear but it does, from what I can tell, seem possible that they have special permission to display tarsiers for tourists. The facility I visited, with a large (perhaps 1-2 acre) open tarsier viewing area, appeared to be much better than its previous incarnation, which was simply a collection of caged tarsiers along the Loboc River.

So, it seems that steps have been taken over the years to improve conditions. Still, knowing the suffering that tarsiers in captivity endure, I cannot recommend visiting this facility.

If you would like to see tarsiers, I strongly urge you to visit the official Tarsier Research and Development Center just 18 km from Tabilaran. Alternatively, this centre is also a short 20 km drive from Loboc. It’s a short distance to travel to know that you are contributing to the survival, rather than the demise, of an entire race of furry little Yodas.

Mary Jane’s Native House

While in Loboc I stayed at Mary Jane’s Native House, a traditional native-style house beside the Loboc river. I have to say that, while basic, the room, which had a sink, toaster oven, fridge, and separate bathroom with a real toilet and hot shower, was more than worth the $12 USD/night they charge for it. The owners are also incredibly kind, which is the real charm of the place.