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Framed by glowing sunsets and a bountiful
canopy of stars, lies the Kruger National Park. The park, rich in
biodiversity, was established in 1898 and stretches for 350km (approx
140 miles - within the park itself the road network measures in at
about 1300 miles) from the south to north along the Mozambican border
before meeting up with the Zimbabwean border. A paradise for the
wildlife enthusiast with close to 150 mammals to be on the look-out
for, amongst them six cat species, the park also has more than 500
species of birds and over 300 species of trees for the visitor to
identify. With its subtropical climate, the large habitat variety and a
surface area of 19 633km², the park is home to a spectacular
array of fauna and flora and is undoubtedly the world leader in dynamic
environmental management techniques and policies based on experience
gained over more than a century.

Most
national parks also offer organised night drives or early morning
drives in park vehicles with guides, but they have to stay on the road
and take place at set times, so many people hire a car themselves to
explore the parks on their own. Most parks have rest camps, and
— depending on the park – a range of accommodation,
from camps and huts to bungalows and guest houses. Most accommodation
is equipped with self-catering facilities, although many camps do have
shops, and some have restaurants.

In the last 20 years most of the fences have been
removed between the private reserves and South Africa’s
Kruger National Park, allowing game to roam freely. The most
famous of the parks is
Sabi Sands where you can find well known lodges such as
Londolozi, Singita and Mala Mala. The
Timbavati area is slightly further north and is well known
for its large populations of elephant and buffalo.

When to Go

Between October and March, when summer rains transform
the dry landscape into a flowering paradise, the park is alive with
baby buck and migratory birds, but at the same time temperatures can
hit over 105°F (40°C), dropping to 68°F
(20°C) in the evenings. The foliage can often hide game, and
this is when the risk of malaria is at its highest so you are advised
to take a course of anti-malaria drugs.

In
the winter, when water is scarce and the plant life dies back, the
animals are easier to spot, especially at water holes and riverbeds.
This is the most popular season, so be prepared to share your safari
with other motorists. The days are warm, but temperatures can drop
close to freezing at night, and units are not heated. Try to avoid
going during the school holidays, particularly in winter, when the park
is packed to capacity.

Driving

Unlike some private game reserves where rangers are
permitted to drive off road, at Kruger you must drives on roads. The
speed limit is 50 kmph on paved roads; 40 kmph on
gravel roads; 20 kmph in the rest camps (30, 25, and 15 mph,
respectively). There are speed traps! You should always stay in your
vehicle unless you’re at a designated picnic site.

Safety

Under no circumstances should you leave your vehicle
unless at a designated site; one story goes that a local ranger left
his game drive to “relieve” himself didn’t survive
to do up his zipper, so make sure to visit the bathroom before leaving
your rest camp.

Entrance and Admission

The entrance gates open from January to February from
5:30am to 6:30pm; March from 5:30am to 6pm; April from 6am to 6pm; May
to July 6am to 5:30pm; August to September 6am to 6pm; October from
5:30am to 6pm; and November to December from 5:30am to 6:30pm.

Admission to the Kruger Park costs R30 ($4.75) per
person and R24 ($3) per vehicle; children ages 2 to 15 R15 ($2).

For the Rest Camps, the gates follow the same hours
except in the summer months (Nov-Jan) when they open an hour earlier
(that is, 4:30am). Camps are fenced off to protect residents from
animals. If you’re changing rest camps, try not to ensure that you get
to your new camp before its gates close. Operating hours for camp
receptions are from 8am to 5:30pm; for shops from 8am to 1/2 hour after
camp gates close; for restaurants from 7 to 9am, 12 to 2pm, and 6 to
9pm. There are petrol stations at every rest camp, but you can only pay
in cash.

The highest risk of malaria is between October and May,

Getting There

There are nine entrance gates, around a 5- to 6-hour
drive from Johannesburg or Pretoria. The closest gate, Malelane, is
428km (265 miles) from Johannesburg, while Punda Maria (the farthest)
lies 581km (360 miles) northeast. The southern gates: Malelane,
Crocodile Bridge, Numbi, Phabeni, and Paul Kruger. The central gates:
Orpen and Phalaborwa. The northern gates: Punda Maria and Parfuri.
Allow sufficient travelling time to the park; entrance-gate hours are
strictly adhered to. Note that officials recommend using the new
Phabeni Gate from safety and ease of access point of view.

To get to the Kruger park by air, there are three
airports in the Kruger vicinity: Kruger-Mpumalanga International
Airport (near White River and Hazyview, southern Kruger), Eastgate
Airport (Hoedspruit, southern/central Kruger), and the Kruger Park
Gateway Airport (Phalaborwa, central Kruger). There are daily flights
from Cape Town on SA Express (www.saexpress.co.za) to Hoedspruit’s
Eastgate Airport. SA Airlink (www.saairlink.co.za) flies daily to the
relatively nearby Kruger-Mpumalanga International — as does Nationwide
(www.flynationwide.co.za), but you’ll have to stop in Johannesburg for
at least 20 minutes to pick up passengers. From Johannesburg, SA
Express flies daily to Hoedspruit’s Eastgate Airport. SA Airlink and
Nationwide fly daily to Kruger-Mpumalanga International. SA Airlink
also flies daily from Johannesburg into Kruger Park Gateway Airport.
From Durban: SA Airlink flies Sunday through Friday to
Kruger-Mpumalanga airport.

For more information contact Dewald Bodenstein at info@stylishtravel.co.za
or visit the official webpage www.krugerpark.co.za

In the first of a number of Where in the World
profiles, we look at Diego Garcia, a tiny island in The Indian Ocean,
with coral beaches, turquoise waters and a vast lagoon in the centre.
It is 1,600 kilometres from land in any direction, which seems to be
the main attraction for the people who are allowed to go there. If you
were ever thinking of visiting Diego Garcia, unless you are in the US
or UK military, it might be wise to think again. But where is it, and
why is it so controversial?

The
Portuguese
put Diego Garcia on the map in the 1500s. The island’s name is believed
to have come from either the ship’s captain or the navigator. Diego
Garcia was covered in plantations (copra, coconut, etc) in the 1800s.
Between 1814 and 1965 it was a dependency of Mauritius.
It then became part of the Chagos Archipelago, which belonged to the
newly created British
Indian Ocean Territory. The island remains a British
dependency today but is leased to the US by the British. In 1970.

Once Diego Garcia had a small native population, known
as the Ilois, or the Chagossians, many of whom were agricultural
workers or fishermen. They were, however, forced to relocate
(1967–1973) so that the island could be turned into a
military base, much to strong protestations of other Indian Ocean
islands, who objected to the island being used as a base for cruise
missiles. Most of the Ilois now live in reduced circumstances in
Mauritius’s shanty towns, more than 1,000 miles from their home. A
smaller number were deported to the Seychelles. In 2000, a British
court ruled that the order to evacuate Diego Garcia’s inhabitants was
invalid, but the court also upheld the island’s military status, which
permits only personnel authorized by the military to inhabit the
island. The Ilois sued the British government for compensation and the
right to repatriation, but in Oct. 2003 a British judge ruled that
although the Ilois had been treated “shamefully” by
the government, their claims were unfounded. Not much help, really. In
2004 the British government issued an “Order of
Council” prohibiting islanders from ever returning to Diego
Garcia.

A somewhat biased 2004 documentary by Australian
journalist John Pilger called Stealing a Nation publicised the plight
of the islanders. According to Mr Pilger,
the islanders were tricked and intimidated into leaving until
“the remaining population was loaded on to ships, allowed to
take only one suitcase. They left behind their homes and furniture, and
their lives. On one journey in rough seas, the copra company’s horses
occupied the deck, while women and children were forced to sleep on a
cargo of bird fertilizer. Arriving in the Seychelles, they were marched
up the hill to a prison where they were held until they were
transported to Mauritius. There, they were dumped on the
docks.” Some of the Ilois are making return plans to turn
Diego Garcia into a sugarcane and fishing enterprise as soon as the
defense agreement expires (some see this as early as 2016). A few dozen
other Ilois are still fighting to be housed in the UK.

Now, Diego Garcia is home to a military
base jointly operated by the United
States and the United
Kingdom, although in practice it is said to be largely run as
a US base, with only a small number of British forces and military
police. No other economic activity is now allowed. The base serves as a
naval refueling and support station. It is also equipped with airfields
that have been used on missions to Iraq
during the 1990
Gulf War, and to Afghanistan
in the
2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan.

But still
there is controversy. Human rights groups claim that the military base
is used by the US government for the interrogation
of prisoners (allegedly with methods illegal in the US). The
British Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw has said in the British parliament
that the US authorities have repeatedly assured him that no detainees
have passed in transit through Diego Garcia or have disembarked there.
Intelligence analysts say Diego Garcia’s geographic isolation is now
being exploited for other, more sinister purposes. They claim it is one
of several secret detention centres being operated by the Central
Intelligence Agency to interrogate high-value terrorist suspects known
as “ghost detainees” or the “new
disappeared,” beyond the reach of American or international
law.

We are
sorry to say that Mac is not very well, but he is still e-mailing
strong and recently sent the Beetle a collection of travel
reminiscences.

A friend of mine reading my Guam notes was also
stationed in Guam whilst working in the Navy. He told me something
interesting about a couple of Japanese soldiers that had hid in the
jungles for many years not knowing the War was over. He said that one
was something like a private and the other a Corporal and they had some
kind of disagreement between them and did not speak to each other for a
period of twenty years while hiding out in the jungle. Ha!

I am still enjoying reading A Sense of Place about
travel writers by Michael Shapiro. I was surprised to learn that India
is Rick Steves favourite country although he writes and conducts tours
mostly in Europe. He said he would never take a tour group to India as
it is unpredictable: “I wouldn’t want to be in
charge of making twenty people happy in India”.

Me: I visited India three times taking India rail pass
and loved it and found it fascinating, but like Rick Steves, I would
not recommend it to others for fear they might get ill and blame me!
Rick Steves says the Reichstag (new one) building in Berlin is a new
glass dome that is open and free all the time so people can literally
look over the shoulders of their legislators and know what’s
on their desk and keep an eye on them. He has a building in Edmonds
Washington where he employs sixty people. Here, I thought it was just
him with a backpack on his back roughing it through Europe, well, maybe
along with a photographer! He says his tour guides for his tours are
the best paid in Europe. I suspect his tours would be good for someone
wanting to be with a group.

One of my favourite writers is Jan Morris. I started
reading her when he was James Morris. Morris had sex change operation
in Casablanca. He had been at one time an Intelligence officer in the
British Army and accompanied the 1933 Everest expedition that reached
the summit for the first time. He was married with four children. His
wife and he still live together in Wales. I was disappointed when I
heard he had become a woman as I prefer male travel writers. I guess I
will have to reread his earlier work when he was a male to see if I can
notice any difference in his travel writing as a woman.

The travel writer Eric Newby spent thirteen months in
POW camps in World War II. He escaped in September 1943 immediately
after the Italian armistice. A sympathetic Italian commander who was
later beaten to death by the Germans let the prisoners escape. Newby
who had recently broke his ankle left atop a mule. A Slovenian couple
with anti-Fascist sympathies sheltered Newby who became smitten with
their daughter Wanda. When it became unsafe for Newby to stay with
Slovenian family, he sought shelter in the maternity hospital of a
nearby hospital. But as the Germans closed in father of the family
risked his life to drive Newby through Parma to a mountain hideout in
the Po Valley. Ultimately Newby was recaptured and returned to prison
camps but survived the war. Interesting accounts (to me)!

On continuing on the theme of travel writers,
I’ve been reading Fodors’ Exploring India Author
Fiona Dunlop 1998. On page 14, she says, “When a desert woman
in Rajasthan (the most colourful and interesting section of India to
me. Mac) dons a pido, a yellow veil with a large red spot, it announces
her pregnancy and acceptance by the community. Simply being fertile is
however not enough. Vedic verses honour sons followed by more sons but
never daughters. When a boy is born conch shells are blown in Bengal
and Assam and drums are beaten in Makargshtra. When a girl is born the
women of Rajasthan retreat behind their veils and wail. In traditional
Hindu households throughout India an ancient rite to produce a male
child is still performed over pregnant women”.

In the 1980s a survey revealed that of 8,000 abortions
carried out in India after prenatal sex determination only one was a
male foetus. On page 15 the author talks about Muslims, who, unlike
Hindus believing in resurrection after death and in the existence of
heaven and hell. It is customary for Muslims to bury rather than
cremate their dead.

If you would like to contact Mac, he can be e-mailed
on: macsan400@yahoo.com

Buckingham
Palace has served as the official London residence of Britain’s Kings
and Queens since 1837. Built by George VI on the site of the King’s
House, Pimlico, the shell of which was preserved by Nash, the
architect. Marble Arch once stood in front, but it was later removed to
the western end of Oxford Street where the famous Tyburn Gallows once
stood. When Queen Victoria moved here in 1837, just 10 years after the
works had been carried out, it was barely habitable. There are 600
rooms in the Palace, of which under twenty can be visited, as well as
the Queen’s Picture gallery and the Mews.

It originated as a town house that was owned from the
beginning of the eighteenth century by the Dukes of Buckingham. Today
it is The Queen’s official residence. It is regularly on the top ten
lists of worse places to visit by those that have, but still draws huge
numbers of those that haven’t. Some say that it is a nice place to view
from the outside, though the crowds can be horrendous. If the Royal
Standard is flying over the palace then the Queen’s in residence.

Although in use for the many official events and
receptions held by the Queen, areas of Buckingham Palace are opened to
visitors on a regular basis. The Palace is also the venue for great
Royal ceremonies, State Visits and Investitures, all of which are
organised by the Royal Household. Besides being the official London
residence of the Queen, it is also the administrative headquarters of
the Monarchy, including the offices of those who support the day-to-day
activities and duties of The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh and their
immediate family.

The State Rooms of the Palace are open to visitors
during the Annual Summer Opening in August and September. They are
lavishly furnished with items from the Royal Collection including
paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Vermeer, Poussin, Canaletto and Claude;
sculpture by Canova and Chantrey; examples of Sèvres
porcelain; and some of the finest English and French furniture in the
world. Visits to Buckingham Palace can be combined with visits to The
Queen’s Gallery, which reopened in May 2002. The nearby Royal Mews is
open from 5 March to 31 October 2005.

For those who do receive an invitation to Buckingham
Palace, the first step across the threshold is into the Grand Hall and
up the curving marble stairs of the Grand Staircase. Portraits are
still set in the walls, as they were by Queen Victoria. The Throne
Room, sometimes used during Queen Victoria’s reign for Court gatherings
and as a second dancing room, is dominated by a huge arch supported by
a pair of winged figures of ‘victory’ holding garlands above the
‘chairs of state’. It is in the Throne Room that the Queen, on special
occasions like Jubilees, receives loyal addresses. Another use of the
Throne Room has been for formal wedding photographs.

George IV’s original palace lacked a large room in
which to entertain. Queen Victoria rectified that shortcoming by adding
in 1853-5 what was, at the time of its construction, the largest room
in London. It is 22 feet long, 60 feet wide and 45 feet high, the
Ballroom is the largest multi-purpose room in Buckingham Palace. It was
opened in 1856 with a ball to celebrate the end of the Crimean War. The
Ballroom has been used variously as a concert hall for memorial
concerts and performances of the arts and it is the regular venue for
Investitures of which there are usually 21 a year - nine in spring, two
in the summer and ten in the autumn. At Investitures, the Queen (or the
Prince of Wales as her representative) will meet recipients of British
honours and give them their awards, including knighting those who have
been awarded knighthoods.

It is along the East Gallery that the Queen and her
State guests process to the Ballroom for the State Banquet normally
held on the first day of the visit. Around 150 guests are invited and
include members of the Royal family, the government and other political
leaders, High Commissioners and Ambassadors and prominent people who
have trade or other associations with the visiting country. Today, it
is used by the Queen for State banquets and other formal occasions such
as the annual Diplomatic Reception attended by 1,500 guests. This is a
very formal occasion during which The Queen will meet every head of
mission accredited to the Court of St James’s. For the diplomats it is
perhaps the highlight of the annual diplomatic social calendar.

From the Ballroom, the West Gallery, with its four
Gobelin tapestries, leads into the first of the great rooms that
overlook lawn and the formal gardens - setting for the annual Garden
Parties introduced by Queen Victoria in 1868.

The State Dining Room is one of the principal State
Rooms on the West side of the Palace. Many distinguished people have
dined in this room including the 24 holders of the Order of Merit as
well as presidents and prime ministers.

Before the Ballroom was added to the Palace in the
1850s, the first State Ball was held in the Blue Drawing Room in May
1838 as part of the celebrations leading up to Queen Victoria’s
Coronation.

The Music Room was originally known as the Bow Drawing
Room and is the centre of the suite of rooms on the Garden Front
between the Blue and the White Drawing Rooms.

Four Royal babies - The Prince of Wales, The Princess
Royal, The Duke of York and Prince William - were all christened by the
Archbishop of Canterbury in the Music Room. One of its more formal uses
is during a State Visit when guests are presented to The Queen, The
Duke of Edinburgh and the visiting Head of State or for receptions.

The last of the suite of rooms overlooking the gardens
on the principal floor is the White Drawing Room. Originally called the
North Drawing Room, it is perhaps the grandest of all the State Rooms.
The Room also serves as a Royal reception room for The Queen and
members of the Royal family to gather before State and official
occasions.

The Bow Room is familiar to the many thousands of
guests to Royal Garden Parties who pass through it on their way to the
garden. It was originally intended as a part of George IV’s private
apartments - to be the King’s Library - but it was never fitted up as
such. Instead, it has become another room for entertaining and is where
The Queen holds the arrival lunch for a visiting Head of State at the
start of a State visit.

If you are looking for a job at Buckingham Palace, they
are regularly advertised on the official website: http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page315.asp

Ryanair, always on the look out from generating new
sources of revenue including charging passengers for food, drinks, car
hire and hotels, was also looking at gambling and property ventures for
‘other’ sources of non-ticket revenue. They
recently announced that they were in talks with telecoms network
operators about launching its own UK mobile phone business. Ryanair,
which recently banned its staff from charging their mobile phones at
work, said it may sell mobile phone connections via the Internet under
the plan.

Ryanair Deputy Chief Executive Michael Cawley told
reporters the carrier was talking to potential partners for the
business, which may not necessarily use the airline’s branding. Ryanair
had initial talks with 3UK, owned by Hutchison Whampoa, but failed to
reach agreement, the source said.

EasyMobile, which is linked to Ryanair rival easyJet,
launched its own-brand mobile phone service in Britain in March, while
airline entrepreneur Richard Branson’s Virgin Group also has a mobile
phone business.

“Currently we are looking at some gambling
products. That is very much at an embryonic stage,” Cawley
said.

That’s not the only way Ryanair increases its income,
writes Brian from the UK. The airline charges Euro 7.00 per kilo for
excess baggage. At Treviso (Italy) airport recently, the scales showed
between 1.5 and 3.5 kilos when empty - before any baggage was put on.
Protests to check-in personnel were in vain. Pay the excess or leave
your luggage behind. When contacted, Ryanair denied responsibility
claiming scales were owned and maintained by Treviso airport
authorities. It was a Ryanair agent,however, who demanded payment and
who issued a Ryanair receipt. The same luggage deemed overweight by
Ryanair was later weighed at another low-cost airline at Gatwick and
found to be 3.0 kilos below the limit.

I sent Ryanair a request for a refund of the
unjustified charges by snail mail, including a copy of the receipt.
Their reply came by email. When I tried to respond by email I received
a message saying I would have to fax or mail my message. Deliberate
effort to make communication difficult for customers, easy for them. I
faxed it anyway: here is the text:

Thank you for your prompt email reply to my letter of
June 4th.

I regret, however, having to inform you that the
response of Ryanair is less than satisfactory. I have no objections
whatsoever for being charged a fee for luggage which weighs more than
the amount allowed. However, as I stated in my letter, my luggage was
found on three other occasions to be well within the limit set by your
airline.

The fact that the scales are owned and operated by
Treviso airport authorities is really not relevant in this case. The
fee was collected by Ryanair agents and was paid to Ryanair over my
objections at the time. Ryanair clearly has a responsibility to its
passengers to ensure that the excess baggage fees it charges are not
based on inaccurate measurement, the ownership of the scales is simply
immaterial.

Since I cannot accept your effective denial of
responsibility for this incident, I anticipate contacting the Treviso
airport authorities and the Transport Department of the Government of
Ireland for their opinion on this matter and their advice on how to
proceed further.

I am in contact with other passengers on the flight who
had a similar experience and can confirm my account of events.

Yours sincerely,

Can anyone help me write the letter to Treviso airport
in Italian? Or maybe the Guardia di Finanza if that would be
appropriate - sounds promising? My hope is that it will cost Ryanair
more than the 30 euros it owes me to respond to all the correspondence
I will generate for them.

If you can help Brian, please let the Beetle
know.

Recently Suspended Armed Conflicts

1. Peace agreement signed May 26, 2004.

Sources: Centre for Defense
Information, www.cdi.org,
Project Ploughshares, www.ploughshares.ca
, and news sources.

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The
British Foreign and Commonwealth Office advise against all
travel to Aceh except for those involved in post-tsunami humanitarian
and reconstruction work under the auspices of a recognised aid
organisation that has a security plan approved by the Indonesian
authorities to ensure the safety and security of its personnel. Parts
of Aceh remain affected by a long running internal conflict with the
possibility of armed clashes. An aid worker was shot and injured while
travelling at night in West Aceh on 23 June. Relief agencies should
check the local security advice of the UN Office for Crisis and
Humanitarian Affairs in Banda Aceh.

We advise against travel to some parts of Maluku,
especially Ambon, and some parts of Central Sulawesi, which are
experiencing civilian unrest. At least 22 people were killed in a bomb
attack in Central Sulawesi on Saturday 28 May.

There remains a high threat from terrorism in
Indonesia. We continue to receive reports that terrorists in Indonesia
are planning further attacks on Westerners and Western interests.
Attacks could occur at any time, anywhere in Indonesia and are likely
to be directed against locations and buildings frequented by
foreigners.

The Indonesian Police are on a state of high alert in
Jakarta, and have deployed additional personnel around the city,
including additional security arrangements for embassies.

Terrorists have shown in previous attacks, like the
attack on the Australian Embassy, the Marriott Hotel, Jakarta and the
Bali bombings, that they have the means and the motivation to carry out
successful attacks.

Penalties for illegal drug importation and use are
severe and can include the death penalty.

If any Globetrotters member would like to start a
branch, whether it is in Aberdeen or Zanzibar, please see our FAQ or
contact our Branch Liaison Officer via our Website at Meeting
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