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A change of date….on October 19^th,
we have yet, another interesting guest speaker!! Liz Ferber will be doing
a picture show and presentation about some of her favorite exotic locations,
with an in-depth look at some of their most special features. Highlights
will include: India, Peru, Africa, and Thailand, specifically: Northern
India, the Andes mountains and Cusco area, Senegal and the Gambia in West
Africa, and the Andaman Sea, food in Chiang Mai, and the best chicken
in Thailand!

Elizabeth Ferber is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The
New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, and
several other publications. She is the author of ten books, is a graduate
of Barnard College and received her Master's Degree in Education from
New York University. She is the President of Design Alternatives, a firm
specializing in environmentally-sustainable interior design. She currently
lives in Katonah, New York with her husband and two children. Together,
they travel to the ends of the earth as often as possible.

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theater, 154 Christopher
Street (btw Greenwich St and Washington St), to the right of Crunch Fitness,
in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month from 4pm -5:30pm. $8.00
for members, $10.00 for non-members.

7^th September 2002 London meeting Review
by Padmassana

We had two excellent speakers who both captured the essence of the countries
they talked about with some fantastic photographs.

Our first speaker was Marion Bull who showed us the N’Afjer
plateau in the Algerian Sahara. This area is the site of the world’s
oldest rock paintings, some dating back 12,000 years. Marion explained
that although UNESCO protects the paintings, many have been damaged over
the last few years by Arabic graffiti, and as there have been few tourists
to this area, the government has not protected them. The slides of the
rock paintings Marion showed us depicted prehistoric scenes of long extinct
animals, pastoral scenes of grazing cattle, newer pictures of what appeared
to be a boat and fishermen and paintings of chariots being pulled by animals.

This area of Algeria is also the site of The Forest of Stones, which
look like streets and stretch for 35 miles. These “streets”
of rock have spectacular pinnacles, which Marion said were difficult to
photograph due to the shadows cast by neighbouring towers of rock. But
Marion did these wonderful formations justice with her colourful slides.
We were lucky that Marion was able to show us these wonderful images,
as when she was leaving the area her plane had a little mishap, and she
had to spend another night in her sleeping bag on the runway tarmac.

Our second speaker was Julian Webster who treated us to some
glorious images of India. These included pictures of the Ganges high in
the Himalayas, right down to India’s southern tip, showing us a
lifeguard complete with a pointy “Go Faster” swim hat! We
saw colourful images of religious India including temples in Kerala, Buddhists
in the north, Christian nuns and Oracles who treat the local people with
their magic. Julian moved onto India at work, from the washing Ghats in
Bombay (Mumbai), where we saw clothes being beaten clean on stones, Fish
markets, Railway station bookshops with English sounding names and even
the office of “The World Famous Sex Therapist”! Julian finished
with some of the classical images of India such as holy cows and the Taj
Mahal.

On Saturday 5^th October, Eamonn
Gearon will give a talk called “Walking to Siwa – and
then staying there!” This features solo camel trekking in the Libyan
desert and life in the Egyptian oasis of Siwa, past present and future.
This is an extract from just one of Eamonn's expeditions in North
Africa – he is already planning his next to Sudan/Liberia.

After the break, Tahir Shah will give a talk entitled “In
search of King Solomon’s Mines.” Tahir is the third generation
of his family to become obsessed with King Solomon's mines. He travelled
to Ethiopia to a remote cliff face monastery where visitors are pulled
up by rope, the ruined castles of Gondar, to rock-hewn churches of Lalibela,
an illegal gold mine, and the hardest leg to the accursed mountain of
Tullu Wallel, where legend says the shafts to the entrance to King Solomon's
mines. All class competition for Rider Haggard's classic adventure
novel!

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court,
behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday
of each month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back
on Saturday 1^st September. For more information,
you can contact the Globetrotter Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or
visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

On September 20, Bruce Weber & Hoang Nguyen will talk about: “Impressions
of Vietnam” (with slides). Bruce, the first-time visitor and Hong
returned after 15 years. We will also have some Visiting medical students
talking about: “Secrets of Bavaria”

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact: Svatka Hermanek:

shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca
or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

Meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May,
September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133,
Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

14^th September 2002 Texas branch meeting Review
by Christina Smith

Two wonderful presentations were enjoyed by the 18 in attendance. Emily
Naberhaus, a regular attendee, discussed and demonstrated packing
techniques for a week or a month.

Sue Howell, a soon to be regular attendee, introduced the group
to her new business Vacations Unlimited Travel, Inc. Everyone had
time to share their travel stories and dreams, and do some networking
before the meeting ended. Two door prizes were given.. More than half
of the group continuedtravel conversation over a few beverages and a bunch
of peanuts at the Hoity Toit.

On October 12th at 2 p.m, resident photographer Chris Schorre
will present a slide show and provide travel facts about Croatia. As always,
everyone is invited to the New Braunfels Public Library in New Braunfels,
Texas to meet with fellow travelers.

Organizer of the Texas branch meetings Christina Smith says: “The
monthly meetings are the exact support I need in dealing with the travel
bug that bit me early in life. My desire and obsession for travel takes
center stage. Fortunately the fellowship of other travelers on a monthly
basis continues toenhance my addiction. I love this wonderful support
group”. The Beetle says a big thank you to you, Christina for
making the Texas branch what it is today – down to your enthusiasm
and dedication!

The Texas branch members have decided to take a trip together! Plans
are being developed for a group excursion to the Copper Canyon in Mexico
for Spring 2003.

Future meetings: October 12and November 9th

A reminder that Texas meetings will start one hour earlier, at 2pm and
not 3pm.

Meetings are held at 2pm at the New Braunfels Public Library,
700 E. Common Street in New Braunfels, Texas. The meeting ends at 5 p.m.
If you would like to continue travel talk on a more informal basis, we
plan to adjourn to the Hoity-Toit, a local New Braunfels establishment.
If anybody would like to enquire about meetings or help Christina, please
contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk

Dubai has never been known to do things by halves. Tourism is a huge
earner for Dubai, the tiny state on the Arabian peninsular. They already
have super de-luxe hotel complexes, reputedly the world’s first
6 star hotel, golf courses created from grass imported from the United
States, watered each night from a massive desalination plant. You start
to get the picture that nothing is too much. And now, the Dubai government
has started work on what will be the world’s largest artificial
island called The Palm.

It will be 300 metres offshore, and 5km long, in the shape of a palm
tree. The marketing company in charge say that it will be visible from
the moon. Press information states that the project is using 415 architects
and 760 labourers, working 24 hours a day to obtain the rock and sand
that the island requires.

Foreigners will be allowed to own property, on a 100 year freehold basis,
and there will be an estimated 3,000 villas, townhouses and apartments,
many with private access to a beach and moorings. Sound tempting? Villa
prices start at £350,000 or $550,000, but buyers can chose the style
of their villa, from Italianate, Caribbean or Middle Eastern. 40 boutique
hotels are on the drawing board, many designed according to a set of themes:
Tahitian, Moroccan, Greek are just some of the styles.

For more info, take a look at: Palm Island Info

Fate has a strange knack of intervening in your live when you least
expect it. 1999 had been the worst year of my life ending with the death
of my father after a long drawn out illness. I just wanted to get away
from everything. I didn’t care where it was so long as it was hot
and I could sit on the beach, relax and recover. So I found myself in
The Gambia for the first time in late December 1999. I loved The Gambia
immediately. Although not scenic, I was captivated by the warmth and friendliness
of the people. I had travelled extensively in Africa before but there
was something indefinable about this place that drew me like a magnet.
All I wanted to do was relax so I would rise early and lay on the beach
for a couple of hours to set me up for the day. I enjoyed being on the
beach early, most tourists were still in bed and the peace and the early
morning sun revitalised me. I did not want to be sociable so I read or
feigned sleep. However, I could not help but be fascinated by one lady
who also at on the beach every morning. She was always surrounded by Gambians.
They encircled her, sat on the bottom of her sunbed, chatting away. They
called her Mama Africa. As the days passed my self-imposed exile began
to waver and my curiosity surfaced. Who was she? Why were The Gambians
always flocking around her? Why did they call her Mama Africa? In the
end I could stand it no longer and I approached her and asked her my questions.
That long conversation was to alter the course of my life. Mama Africa
and her dynamic daughter Debbie worked tirelessly to collect medical equipment
which they shipped to The Gambia in a container every year. They were
also involved in collecting items for the schools and the emergency services.
She gave me her address and I promised to try and help. Over the next
ten months I collected items towards their next shipment. The more I came
to know them both, the greater the respect and admiration I had for both
of them. They worked tirelessly for The Gambia. The project was by this
time expanding so rapidly that Debbie took the decision to amalgamate
the medical, educational and emergency services under one umbrella to
become an official charity. Thus GO GAMBIA was born. I was asked to become
a Trustee and took on the responsibility of Sponsorship Program Administrator.
We now run an educational sponsorship programme for 200 children as well
as providing desperately needed equipment for the schools, hospitals and
the emergency services. GO GAMBIA continues to expand and has become one
of the great passions in my life. I could go on forever about it but it
would be easier to log on to our website where our work is explained in
detail. Go Gambia website Fate led
me to that beach in The Gambia in 1999. I often look back and think how
strange it was that a conversation on Banjul beach turned my life upside
down when I least expected it. Any Globetrotters members interested in
sponsoring a child’s education or who can assist the project in
any way can contact us through the GO GAMBIA website. Alternatively, you
may contact Rosemary by e-mail on: rahamblin@hotmail.coms

The majority of tourists visiting Cyprus are blissfully unaware of the
pain and division that has haunted the island since 1974. To most, the
image and experience of Cyprus is one of sun and sand, the snow-capped
Troodos Mountains and exquisite frescoes housed in Byzantine monasteries.
For the island's inhabitants its a different story altogether. After
gaining independence in 1960, peace between the Greek and Turkish communities
was already fragile with the Turkish minority, representing 20% of the
population, retreating into ghettos and enclaves after sporadic violence
and harassment. In their defence, the Turkish army launched an invasion
of northern Cyprus in July 1974 and occupied the northern third of the
island, leaving thousands dead or wounded and huge numbers of refugees
fleeing to their respective sides of the divide. That division of Cyprus
has remained to this day.

Whilst the south has enjoyed international recognition and a booming
economy boosted by tourism, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has
found life a lot tougher and depends on its sponsor Turkey for its economic
survival. Separating the two factions and running almost the length of
the country and dividing the island's capital into two is the Green
Line, also known at the Attila Line – a buffer zone maintained and patrolled
by the blue-bereted peacekeepers of the United Nations. Talks of a reconciliation
between the two sides have stuttered and stalled on many occasions and
feelings still run high, fuelled by recent incidents like the deaths of
the three Deryneia Martyrs in 1996.

This was the background to my visit to the island's capital city
Nicosia, or Lefkosia as it's called today. The holiday rep at my hotel
in Pafos had whetted my appetite when he told me that crossing the Green
Line wasn't a good idea, as I might not be allowed back. That statement
immediately sparked my thirst for adventure and my wife Sue and I set
off early one morning in our hire car to cover the 150 kilometers to see
for ourselves. Our first stop in the capital was the 11th floor of the
Woolworths department store on Lidras Street, where telescopes gave us
a bird's eye view across into the northern half of the city. At the
end of the street, an observation platform allowed us to peer into the
buffer zone to see a street with rubble-strewn buildings and rolls of
barbed wire, left as it was in July 1974.

On foot, we followed the Green Line westwards, punctuated by a series
of UN bunkers, roadblocks, a wall of sandbags and oil drums and signs
forbidding photographs and stopped at the Holy Cross RC church, isolated
inside the buffer zone and guarded by a solitary UN soldier. Nearby is
the only spot on the island where you can legally cross into the north
on a day excursion, at the site of the old Ledra Palace hotel. As we approached,
Sue's nerves became a little more frayed when we encountered up to
fifty wailing Cypriot women, dressed in black mourning clothes and holding
pictures of loved ones still missing since the 1970s.The stern-faced Greek
Cypriot border guards made little effort to disguise their disgust at
our desire to cross as they slowly copied details of our passports onto
a list and pointed at a sign that instructed our return by 5.30pm. It
was a few minutes past eleven o'clock.

Leaving the checkpoint, Sue and I walked quietly along a connecting
road, the ruined Ledra Palace hotel on our left, now used as a billet
by the UN (who have 1,500 personnel on peace-keeping duty on the island),
and desolate waste ground to our right. Two female UN soldiers nodded
their hello as we completed the 300 metre walk and checked into the Turkish
police control building. A few minutes later and the form-filling formalities
completed, we were in northern Cypriot territory and Sue began breathing
normally again. No real hassle at all but a mixed feeling of excitement
and unease nonetheless, heightened by the soulful wailing of the widowed
Cypriot women we'd left at the border post as we crossed no-mans land.

For the next four hours we walked around the old city, along narrow
passageways and empty streets, enjoying the friendliness of the people,
soaking up the atmosphere and visiting a few notable attractions including
the soaring minarets of north Nicosia's most prominent landmark, the
Cami Selimiye Mosque. Its a working church with a strong French Gothic
style but it was empty as I stepped inside and removed my shoes for my
first look inside a mosque. Next door is the sixth century Byzantine church
ruin known as the Bedesten and nearby is another ornate Gothic church,
the Cami Haydarpasa. Undergoing restoration work is the Buyuk Han, a rare
example of a Middle Age inn, known as a caravanserai. Although closed,
the foreman invited us in to look around before we finished off our tour
with a ten minute walk to the Turkish (Mevlevi Tekke) Museum, the former
home of the mystical Islamic sect known as the Whirling Dervishes. They
are famed for their spinning, trance-like dance that flourished for 700
years until they were banned in 1930.

Returning to the old city, we stopped at a sidewalk cafe in the pedestrian
zone and listened to a rock band playing an open-air concert. One unusual
aspect which gave Sue a few jitters north of the divide was the distinct
lack of female shoppers. Instead, large groups of young Turkish men were
much in evidence, either standing on street corners or wandering aimlessly
and appeared to be army conscripts in civilian clothes. With an hour to
go before the border closed, Sue and I made our way back towards the crossing
point via the quiet back streets where buildings have been left unoccupied,
others are bullet-scarred and in ruins including a church and the Roccas
Bastion, where Turkish Cypriots can look through a barbwire-topped fence
into the southern half of the city and what for them is forbidden territory.

The smiling faces of the Turkish police were in stark contrast to the
dour look on the faces of the Greek border guards as we returned to the
southern half of Nicosia via the long and eerie walk past a lone UN soldier
on sentinel duty midway between the two factions. The wailing widows were
still massed just past the guardroom and we were handed a flyer asking
if we knew of the whereabouts of Pavlos Solomi and Solon Pavlos Solomi,
missing since the morning of 15 August 1974 and the beloved husband and
17 year old son of the old woman who'd handed us the poster. Her name
was Panayiota Pavlos and she told us that 1,588 people are still missing
from that time, their fate unknown and the encounter was a poignant reminder
of the human face of the division that still separates Cyprus today.

For more information on Andy’s travels, visit his website which
has lots of travelogue stories with pictures. Andy Brouwer's
website

Amina Lawal to be stoned in
Nigeria in the 21^st Century As you may recently
have read in the papers, a court in Northern Nigeria has confirmed that
30 year old Amina Lawal will be executed by stoning due to giving birth
to a child after her divorce. “The crime”, proved by Ms Lawal
becoming pregnant was made at a time when the Law of Sharia was not yet
legal in the area. Funnily enough, the father of the “crime”
could not be prosecuted because of the requirement of 4 witnesses to the
event, who, strangely have not come forward. The stoning will take place
when Ms Lawal has finished breast feeding her 8 months old daughter. What’s
more, Miss Universe are still considering scheduling their event in Nigeria,
despite this sentence.

At Amnesty International (AI) England's home page you can sign an
open letter to Nigeria’s President to protest against this cruel
sentence. AI say that more than 18.500 people have already done so. To
sign the letter, visit: Amina Open Letter