Geographical articles from November 2004

Geographical archives from November 2004

Imagined underground.(From The Editor)(Editorial)
November 1, 2004... Those of us who use the London Underground on a daily basis will find it difficult to become emotionally attached to a dirty, outmoded infrastructure bedevilled by labour disputes and punctuality and technical problems. And if you've ever tried...

Ancient guides.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... The answer given to the question "Which travel guide was the world's first?" (Quizzical, October 2004) is inaccurate by several centuries. A much older example is the famous Periegesis Hellados (Description of Greece) written by Pausanias in...

Letter from Baghdad.(Letter Of The Month)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... Damian Bird's article on the misery that is life in Sadr City (After the event..., September 2004) provided a much-needed and challenging insight into a vast swathe of Baghdad that is, for obvious reasons, under-reported. That so many...

Rohan fusion giveaway.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... This month, we have three sets of clothing from Rohan to give away. Each set is made up of a pair of Fusion trousers and a fleece top (Vital for men; Angelfleece for women)--a combined value of 78 [pounds sterling]. For more about these...

Getting to Abu Simbel.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I read Anthony Sattin's article Egypt through the looking glass (October 2004) with interest, as my husband and I had a wonderful holiday there in February. However, he's wrong about one thing: Abu Simbel. There are three different ways of...

Providing parallels.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2004... I read the September 2004 issue of Geographical with much interest. The articles on Tamerlane (Tamerlane: Return of the sword of Islam) and Iraq were particularly worthy of note, considering the parallels between the destruction and pillaging...

Adventure travel and sports show ticket offer.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... If adventure's your thing, then book your tickets now for the Daily Telegraph Adventure Travel and Sports Show and save with a special offer for Geographical readers. Now in its tenth year, the show will host more than 250 adventure...

Lost in the post.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... This stamp's island origin, which is located where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Bristol Channel, has the world's oldest still-functioning private postal service. This stamp and its counterpart, the half puffin, were the first issued by the...

The Woodland Trust has launched an interactive website as part of its efforts to educate people about the threats posed to ancient woodland.(UK)(www.woods underthreat.info)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Woodland Trust has launched an interactive website as part of its efforts to educate people about the threats posed to ancient woodland. For the first time, anyone can find out where the country's ancient woods are, along with details of...

South Korea has chosen a site in South Chungchong province for its new, yet-to-be-named capital.(South Korea)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... South Korea has chosen a site in South Chungchong province for its new, yet-to-be-named capital. Construction will begin in 2007 and is expected to be completed by 2030. It's hoped that the US$45billion move will ease overcrowding in Seoul and...

President Niyazov of Turkmenistan has ordered the construction of an ice palace "big enough for 1,000 people" in the Copa Deg mountains outside the capital, Ashgabat.(Turkmenistan)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... President Niyazov of Turkmenistan has ordered the construction of an ice palace "big enough for 1,000 people" in the Copa Deg mountains outside the capital, Ashgabat. This is the latest in a series of massive building projects instigated by the...

Georgian leopard reappears after 50 years.(Global)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A lone Caucasus leopard--one of the world's most endangered big cats has been found in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, 50 years after the last known individual living in the region was killed. During the 1990s, people living around...

Royal Society launches ocean study.(Global)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Royal Society has launched an investigation into the potentially catastrophic consequences of increased ocean acidity caused by the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide. When carbon dioxide from the atmosphere dissolves in seawater it...

Botanists find 50 new species.(UK)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A decade-long botanical study in western Cameroon, carried out by scientists from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and assisted by more than 300 Earthwatch volunteers, has uncovered 50 endemic plant and fungi species and varieties new to...

Colin Joseph Bibby, 1948-2004.(Worldwatch)(Biography)
November 1, 2004... Ornithologist Colin Bibby, who died in August aged 55, devoted more than 30 years to research and survey work that has made a significant contribution to conservation and knowledge of UK wildlife. Born into a farming family in the Wirral,...

A black marsh turtle has hatched at Bristol Zoo Gardens, the first to be bred in a European zoo.(UK)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A black marsh turtle has hatched at Bristol Zoo Gardens, the first to be bred in a European zoo. The rare turtle is the first offspring to emerge from a group of 10,000 rescued turtles from six species destined for human consumption in the...

NASA scientists have confirmed that a 700-gram meteorite discovered on an ice field 770km from the South Pole at the end of 2003 is from Mars.(Antarctica)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... NASA scientists have confirmed that a 700-gram meteorite discovered on an ice field 770km from the South Pole at the end of 2003 is from Mars, one of only 30 Martian rocks so far discovered on Earth.

Chalk rivers under threat.(UK)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... England's celebrated chalk rivers, including the rivers Test, Itchen and Avon, are under significant threat, according to a new report from the UK Biodiversity Action Plan Steering Group. Although half of the sites surveyed were found to be of...

Top 10 countries with poorest access to safe drinking water.(Worldwatch)
November 1, 2004... TOP 10 COUNTRIES WITH POOREST ACCESS TO SAFE DRINKING WATER proportion with access (%) 1 Afghanistan 13 2 Ethiopia 24 3 Chad ...

The fat-tailed lemur is the first tropical animal known to hibernate.(Madagascar)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The fat-tailed lemur is the first tropical animal known to hibernate. Scientists have long suspected that the animal sleeps for up to seven months through Madagascar's dry winter, when temperatures rise to 30[degrees]C, living off the fat in...

20 years ago today ... Geographical Magazine, November 1984.(Worldwatch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... In When the Earth bums, University of Exeter geographer Dr Edward Maltby described the damage caused when peat ignited in the rainforest of eastern Kalimantan, Indonesia, during 1982-83. The fires came after the failure of the monsoon...

Frozen ark set to receive its first passengers.(UK)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The world's first bank to preserve DNA from all known endangered animal species has been launched. Frozen Ark, which is supported by the Natural History Museum, the Zoological Society of London and the Institute of Genetics at the University of...

Brazil.(Geographical Flags Of The World)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... BRAZIL Description A large yellow diamond sits on a green background. Within is a blue circle that contains white stars of five different sizes. A white band with Ordem e progresso (Order and progress) inscribed on it runs across the...

United Nations Environment Programme--World Conservation Monitoring Centre.(Geographical Organisations of Note)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Working for a wiser world When was the UNEP-WCMC founded? This year, the UNEP-WCMC celebrates its 25th anniversary--the centre's roots go back to 1979, when the IUCN established a Cambridge office to monitor endangered species. In...

The Scientific Exploration Society (SES) is recruiting for an expedition to explore the Beschillo River, a tributary of the Blue Nile, from October to December next year.(Ethiopia)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Scientific Exploration Society (SES) is recruiting for an expedition to explore the Beschillo River, a tributary of the Blue Nile, from October to December next year. The SES undertook the first recorded descent of the Blue Nile in 1968,...

The USA and Russia have pledged US$560,000 to help fund work to secure sites containing 170,000 cubic metres of ex-Soviet nuclear waste in Kyrgyzstan.(Kyrgyzstan)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The USA and Russia have pledged US$560,000 to help fund work to secure sites containing 170,000 cubic metres of ex Soviet nuclear waste in Kyrgyzstan. The funds are in addition to a recent World Bank grant of US$8.9million for the...

Apes in the tropical rainforests of the Ivory Coast are dying of anthrax, a disease never before recorded in the region.(Ivory Coast)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Apes in the tropical rainforests of the Ivory Coast are dying of anthrax, a disease never before recorded in the region. This is also the first example of anthrax killing non-human primates in the wild Heinz Ellerbrok, a virologist at Berlin's...

Cumbria's largest peatbog restored.(UK)(Foulshaw Moss)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Foulshaw Moss, Cumbria's largest peat bog, has been officially opened to the public following the completion of a four-year restoration project. More than 190 hectares of conifer woodland, planted during the 1950s and '60s, were removed to...

Scottish tourism warming up.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Darts of eastern Scotland could see regular droughts by the latter part of the 21st century but the west may end up benefiting from tourism, according to researchers from the University of Stifling. Global warming could make higher ground in...

Dump the office.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Wireless computer networks are encouraging workers to do away with offices entirely and adopt a nomadic working lifestyle, according to research carried out by Paul Bevan of the University of Wales Bevan said officeless working was "emerging by...

Antarctic anomaly raises questions.(Worldwatch)
November 1, 2004... More than 40 years after they first discovered a geological anomaly under the Antarctic ice, two researchers are claiming it was caused by a massive asteroid that hit the continent 800,000 years ago. Dr John Weihaupt of the University of...

Antidote for nimbyism.(Worldwatch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The UK government is gathering data to support a new policy aimed at reducing 'nimbyism'--the 'not in my backyard' response to a new development. The programme comes under the banner of 'environmental justice', and is designed to force either...

Cost more important than security.(Worldwatch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... New research from the USA has undermined the assumption that the rapidly growing popularity of gated communities is down to a desire for increased security. Andrew Kirby of Arizona State University surveyed more than 300 people in the...

Satellites home in on fog banks.(Worldwatch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Satellites could greatly improve the accuracy of information about moving fog banks, thanks to research at the University of Marburg, Germany. PhD student Jan Cermak said the M8 weather satellite launched by the European Space Agency in...

Private forests needed for Japanese carbon plan.(Worldwatch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Japanese government needs to co-opt private forest owners if it's to meet the carbon-emission target to which it agreed under the Kyoto Protocol, according to Dr Jun Yamashita of Kyushu University. Under the protocol's first stage,...

Ponies to save the uplands.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... British native ponies should be recruited to conserve uplands threatened by farming methods encouraged by the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, according to conservation scientist David Anthony Murray Murray said the native pony breeds are...

Waves tearing British cliffs apart.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Giant waves from the North Atlantic are tearing boulders from British cliffs and throwing them as far as 20 metres inland, according to a team from the Universities of Glasgow and St Andrews and Fettes College, Edinburgh. The team recreated the...

Why you won't find Kurdistan on a Microsoft map of Turkey.(Worldwatch)
November 1, 2004... Microsoft bowed to pressure from the government of Turkey and removed Kurdistan from a map of Turkey that had been included in its Encarta CD-ROM encyclopedia. Tom Edwards, senior geopolitical strategist at Microsoft, said the Turkish...

Heat gets tornado-style index.(Worldwatch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A researcher from Kansas State University has developed a heatwave index that could be used to warn people of dangerously high temperatures and humidity, such as those that killed more than 35,000 people across Europe in 2003. "In the USA,...

New York top for diversity.(Worldwatch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... New York has been named the world's most diverse city. The ranking of cities with more than a million residents, produced by researchers at George Washington University, was based on an index designed he show how globalisation affects the...

Townie invasion spurs growth.(Worldwatch)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The migration of self-employed people into England's rural areas is helping to regenerate them, according to research from the Universities of Aberdeen and Dundee. Dr Aileen Stockdale of the University of Aberdeen said 2.4 full-time jobs...

Global population watch.(Quizzical)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The world population at the time of going to press was according to: the United Nations 6,471,196,328 the CIA 6,409,848,137 the US Bureau of the Census 6,402,099,489

Is it true that you only need four colours to draw a map?(Quizzical)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... J Pierce, Worthing ANSWER: Almost certainly. Cartographers have long known that you only need four colours in order to ensure that no two adjacent countries or regions are the same colour. Often, it's possible to get away with fewer, but...

Is there a relationship between the length of a river and its 'as the crow flies' distance from source to mouth?(Quizzical)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... P Soames, Hereford ANSWER: During the mid-1990s, Cambridge University researcher Professor Hans-Henrik Stolum found that the ratio between the actual length of a river and the straight-line distance from its source to its mouth--known as...

What are freak waves and what causes them?(Quizzical)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... R Francis, Durham ANSWER: Freak waves are large--up to 30 metres in height--spontaneous ocean surface waves. A relativel puny such wave, with a height of about 15 metres, recently put paid to an attempt by four Britons to row across the...

Why do I sometimes get red dust all over my car in the morning?(Quizzical)(4x4s)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... K Shields, Bolton ANSWER: You can thank 4x4 drivers for some of that dust. However, it isn't the family-owned cars doing the school run every morning and afternoon that are responsible for giving cars in Europe a good coating of dirt once...

How quickly do rivers carve valleys?(Quizzical)
November 1, 2004... B Gillespie, Salisbury ANSWER: It can take just 1,000 years for water to cut one metre through solid rock, according to recent research carded out in the USA, but the process needs regular floods. Luke Reusser and a team from the...

Become a Corporate Friend.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Society has introduced a new category of supporter--Corporate Friend--for companies whose values align with the Society's. Supporters will gain access to the facilities, activities, archives and brains of the Society. The support given to...

Geographers online.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... If you're interested in adding CGeog after your name, then be inspired by the biographies of more than 100 Chartered Geographers. * Visit www.rgs.org/ CGeogBiographies

Grant deadlines.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Ralph Brown Expedition Award: 15,000 [pounds sterling] to an international team planning to conduct research in wetland environments or shallow seas (26 November). Hong Kong Research Grant: up to 2,500 [pounds sterling] to postgraduate...

Bringing the Caribbean to life in black and white.(Editorial)
November 1, 2004... Following the popular Geographical Photographer of the Year exhibition, the Society's display space on Exhibition Road is now adorned with stunning black and white photos by Sir Harry Johnston of early 20th century Caribbean life. Timed to...

Conference success.(In society: a round-up of news, views and recent and forthcoming events at the RGS-IBG)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Glasgow and geography proved to be a bonny mix during August, as 1,800 geographers gathered for the International Geographical Congress. With a whopping 580 sessions and representation from more than 80 countries, it was a memorable occasion...

A selection of November's Society events.(In society: a round-up of news, views and recent and forthcoming events at the RGS-IBG)(Calendar)
November 1, 2004... For details, please contact the Events Office on 020 7591 3100 or see www.rgs.org/events 3 November, 7pm The Japanese influence in our gardens today Tony Kirkham will look at plants that have been introduced to the UK from Japan...

Charting the Great Siege of Malta: Melita nunc Malta (1565).(Map Of The Month)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... This anonymous map of the Great Siege of Malta by Ottoman Turkish forces, was published in Rome in August 1565. It is one of 143 maps of the siege. Only two copies of this original print are recorded. The islands of Malta and Gozo were...

Darfur's road to hell: with mass starvation and disease the inevitable outcome of the conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan, photojournalist Damian Bird reports back from some of the worst-hit refugee camps and looks at the origins of this humanitarian tragedy. Additional reporting by Chris Edwards.(Crisis In Darfur)
November 1, 2004... As our vehicle slowed down and came to an unscheduled halt, I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. We were half way into a four-hour drive from Abeche in eastern Chad to the refugee camps near fire border with Sudan. The boulders that...

Cowboys of Madagascar.
November 1, 2004... To young Malagasy men, driving cattle hundreds of kilometres from the island's wild, barren west to markets in the east represents a rite of passage and a chance to make enough money to be able to marry, Luke Freeman, an anthropologist at the...

Global oil production.(Geographical dossier)
November 1, 2004... In September 2000, Europe was crippled by a blockade of ports, oil refineries and fuel depots carried out by hauliers, farmers and even taxi and ambulance drivers protesting against rising fuel costs. More than three quarters of the UK's petrol...

The West's oily heart: oil's central position in the world economy has also put it at the heart of global geopolitics. So why can't anyone agree on how much is left to exploit?(Geographical dossier)
November 1, 2004... Oil has been known to man for millennia. The walls of ancient Babylon were cemented with the bitumen that bubbled through the same earth where now stand the derricks of Iraq. But it took until the 1860s, when the first commercial wells were...

The end of the oil age? Experts agree that oil production will begin terminal decline sometime in the near future. But it is unclear exactly when, and what the effects will be.(Geographical dossier)
November 1, 2004... Oil is a finite resource. If we continue to consume it, we will eventually reach the point where the fields cease production. Tankers will be decommissioned, filling stations will close and the world will have to reconfigure its stock markets...

Fuelling corruption: in feeding its unquenchable thirst for oil, the West has historically supported conflict, corruption and human-rights abuses in producing nations.(Geographical dossier)
November 1, 2004... Seen from certain angles, the oil economy is an awesome testament to human progress and achievement. Viewed from the mud shacks beneath the flaring wells of the Niger Delta, or from the roadblocks protecting the Iraqi terminals and pipelines,...

Time to make a change: now in its 28th year, the Rolex Awards for Enterprise is an international philanthropic programme that highlights and supports the innovative work being carried out by determined individuals to improve our world. Christian Amodeo reports on the inspirational projects of this year's Laureates.(Rolex Awards 2004)
November 1, 2004... Next May, Rolex Award Laureate Lonnie Dupre, together with his companion Eric Larsen, will attempt the first summer crossing of the Arctic Ocean using kayaks and skis, unsupported, in order to draw attention to the threat of global warming....

The tree of life: for the British, the coconut has traditionally been a source of amusement, whose value was as a target for youngsters with cricket balls at the village fete. But throughout the tropics, the coconut palm has sustained lives and livelihoods for millennia. Alexander Frater profiles one of the world's most altruistic trees.
November 1, 2004... The coconut palm, to a tropical expatriate, is a powerful symbol of home. Its image--perhaps glimpsed in a magazine or someone's holiday snaps will usually trigger a moment of wistfulness, maybe even memories of an incredible reliance on those...

From under the surface to the London Underground: in last month's Geographical, Nicholas Crane described four of the groundbreaking maps that feature in Mapman, the eight-part BBC2 series that looks at the way maps changed the shape of Britain. In this issue, he discusses the four modern masterpieces that complete the series.(Mapping Britain Part 2)(Map)
November 1, 2004... Hidden away in a wood to the east of Bruton in Somerset are a crater-shaped depression and a gentle mound. Today, this is a peaceful spot, quiet but for birdsong and the whisper of wind in the foliage overhead. But in the early 1800s, it was an...

In search of the caterpillar fungus: each year, thousands of Tibetans gather in the alpine meadows of Shangri-la county in southwestern China to search for a rare subterranean fungus. Writer Ken Hugonoit and photographer Luke Duggleby join the hunt.
November 1, 2004... The notched rock face loses its morning blush as a cloud eclipses the sun. From the foot of a scree slope comes the burble of a pheasant. Under the grey, craggy walls that ring the mountain valley, a short cry goes up from a form wrapped in a...

Marathon man: whether he's crossing Antarctica, braving the heat of the desert or running seven marathons on the trot, Dr Mike Stroud is the ultimate man of extremes. He talks to Vicky Bamforth about his career in medicine and his exploits as Sir Ranulph Fiennes's running mate.(Interview)
November 1, 2004... Few Geographical readers will be unaware of Dr Mike Stroud, for he is well known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes's expedition partner. They teamed up in 1986 to make the first of five attempts to reach the North Pole unsupported and on foot. Then, in...

Historic Himalaya: before the Himalaya became associated with climbing and trekking, visitors to the world's most famous mountain range observed it in much broader terms and found a fascinating region of enormous cultural and environmental diversity.(Geographical Archive)(Cover Story)
November 1, 2004... The Himalaya have fascinated Western explorers ever since two 17th-century Jesuit missionaries returned to Europe with tales of the Forbidden City of Lhasa. But it probably wasn't until 1856, when Mount Everest was identified as the world's...

The Lost Amazon: the Photographic Journey of Richard Evans Schultes.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Lost Amazon: The Photographic Journey of Richard Evans Schultes by Wade Davis, Thames & Hudson, pb, pp159, 18.95 [pounds sterling] In 1941, Richard Evans Schultes disappeared into the northwestern Amazon region of Colombia on a...

The Turks Today.
November 1, 2004... The Turks Today by Andrew Mango John Murray, hb, pp304, 20 [pounds sterling] Insightful, concise and marvellously accessible, Andrew Mango's The Turks Today shows us a country that stands on the brink of an extraordinary new era. According...

Spinsters Abroad.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Spinsters Abroad by Dea Birkett Sutton Publishing, pb, pp224, 8.99 [pounds sterling] The universal spinster--aunt, sister, daughter, repressed and dutiful--is the Victorian archetype. The travelling spinster--adventurer and...

Lords of the Atlas.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Lords of the Atlas by Gavin Maxwell Eland, pb, pp320, 11.99 [pounds sterling] Lords of the Atlas is the latest skirmish in Eland Publishing's crusade to resurrect travel literature's forgotten classics. This time it's Gavin Maxwell's 1966...

Solo.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Solo by Pen Hadow, Michael Joseph, hb, pp3B4, 17.99 [pounds sterling] "Before I die I'm going to reach the North Pole--alone. No re-supplies. If I do nothing else with my life, I will do that. "This is no 'smash-and-grab' tale of adventure...

Himalaya.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Himalaya, by Michael Palin Weidenfeld & Nicolson, hb, pp288, 20 [pounds sterling] If only Michael Palin didn't keep doing such interesting things. It makes it rather difficult to get on with your life when you're compelled to keep turning...

The New Amateur Naturalist.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The New Amateur Naturalist by Nick Baker, Collins, hb, pp28B, 19.99 [pounds sterling] Gerald and Lee Durrell's The Amateur Naturalist was first published in 1982 and quickly became a classic. Now, TV wildlife expert Dr Nick Baker has set...

Further Travellers' Tales from Heaven and Hell.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Further Travellers' Tales from Heaven and Hell edited by Gordon Medcalf, Eye Books, pb, pp243, 9.99 [pounds sterling] The third in Eye Books' series of travellers' tales, this is an enjoyable anthology of the wonders of roving. All three...

Splendours of Imperial India.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Splendours of Imperial India by Andreas Volwahsen, Prestel, hb, pp304, 65 [pounds sterling] If the buildings constructed during the two centuries preceding independence tell the story of Britain's dominance and power in India, they also...

In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: a Memoir of Iran.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs: A Memoir of Iran by Christopher de Bellaigue, HarperCollins, hb, pp283, 20 [pounds sterling] For the past decade, the West's attention has been focused on Iraq, but for much of the 1970s and '80s,...

Rounding the Horn.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Rounding the Horn by Dallas Murphy Weidenfeld & Nicolson, hb, pp358, 16.99 [pounds sterling] According to Dallas Murphy, Cape Horn is a destination for the truly 'sea struck'--a rock outcrop set in some of the world's most hostile waters....

Secret Histories.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Secret Histories by Emma Larkin John Murray hb, pp232, 15.99 [pounds sterling] When Emma Larkin heard the joke that George Orwell wrote three novels about Burma--Burmese Days, Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four--she decided to...

Life Interrupted.
November 1, 2004... Photography by Don McCullin. County Hall Gallery, Riverside Building, London SE1 7PB. Open: 10am-5.30pm, Fri-Sun, 26 November-10 January, then touring. Free admission Launched in conjunction with Christian Aid, this is photographer Don...

Blank on the Map.(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Blank on the Map by Eric Shipton First published in 1938. Most recent edition published by Baton Wicks in The Six Mountain Travel Books, hb, pp800, 18.99 [pounds sterling] My passion for high, wild mountain country had its inspiration in...

Geographical travel: this month, we speak to Dr Mark Brabyn of Hiking New Zealand and bring you the latest travel news, including a report that the Taj Mahal may once more open at night.
November 1, 2004... LAVENDER FIELDS, NORFOLK, UK Every summer, Norfolk's flat, rather unspectacular farmland suddenly bursts into colour as fields of deep-purple lavender and bright-yellow oil-seed rape announce that it's time for harvest. For visitors to...

UK tourism hits all-time high.(travel news)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... VisitBritain has announced that UK visitor numbers for the first half of this year are the best ever. The number of international visitors to the UK during the January-June period was 13 per cent higher than for the same period last year,...

Sun, sand and sweatshops.(Tourism Concern)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Working conditions in the tourism sector are notoriously exploitative--nowhere more so than in the developing countries that more and more of us are choosing to visit. Tourism Concern's research has revealed an over-dependency on tips, long...

Taj Mahal by moonlight.(travel news)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The Taj Mahal may soon be opening its gates at night for the first time in 20 years. Night visits were banned in 1984 by federal authorities in Uttar Pradesh due to concerns that Sikh militants would attack the monument. According to a...