WHERE'S OGOPOGO?: In a move P.T. Barnum would surely have recognized as genius, British Columbia's Okanagan Valley is marketing the legend of a Loch Ness Monster&150;type creature called Ogopogo by offering a $1.36 million reward to the first person who produces convincing proof of the beast—which is listed as a protected species under B.C.'s Fisheries and Wildlife Act.

Organized by the Rotary Club of the nearby town of Penticton, the cash prize, says contest coordinator George Tinling (who readily admits the reward is a marketing ploy to draw more tourists to the mountainbiking, climbing, boardsailing, and sailing mecca), "gives people visiting this beautiful area something else to do." Interested in pursuing the beast? Have a look at www.ogopogosearch.com.

SERMONS ON THE MOUNT: Avid cryptozoologists will be intrigued to learn that the great alpinist Reinhold Messner (left), who recently announced he'd solved the mystery behind the mythological Bigfoot-like yeti—it's a rare nocturnal Tibetan bear, he says—is now more than halfway toward attaining an even loftier aspiration: climbing the world's seven holy summits. And many adventure travelers are engaging in their own pilgrimages—outfitter Geographic Expeditions (800-777-8183) leads a trip up the sacred Buddhist peak of China's Kawakarpo, and Himalayan Travel (800-225-2380) takes trekkers around Tibet's Mount Kailas.

Messner's project, started in 1996 and sponsored by Germany's ZDF television channel, films and airs one 45-minute segment on a holy ascent each year.The legendary mountaineer plans to spin the series (so far only available in Germany) into a book.

BORDERLANDS: Several previously war-torn southern African countries are knocking down border fences for the sake of animals and creating international wildlife sanctuaries called "peace parks." In May, the 24,000-square-mile Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was born when the presidents of Botswana and South Africa spliced two adjacent sanctuaries in the Kalahari Desert. That project, as well as seven others in the works to reestablish transcontinental animal migration routes, was overseen by the three-year-old, South Africa-based Peace Parks Foundation(www.peaceparks.org). The ultimate goal? No fences for animals, and no passports for visitors.For outfitters, new wildlife-viewing potential is sure to be a boon to business. Wild Frontiers (011-27-11-702-2035, www.wildfrontiers.com) and Wilderness Safaris, Ltd. (27-11-883-0747; www.african-safari.com) are leading custom safaris in Kgalagadi.

—COMPILED BY TED BOTHA, STEPHANIE GREGORY, AND CRISTINA OPDAHL

Illustration by David Miller