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Traveler's Almanac, 1999 Annual Travel Guide
Volunteerism
Give It Up for Vacations
Maybe you're one of those people whose conscience rears up if life becomes too pampered — like when you're lying by a resort pool being served a frothy cocktail by a uniformed waiter. Or maybe you can't justify the expense of an exotic trip purely for pleasure. We've got the solution: guilt-free travel. When you sign on for a volunteer trip,
not only does your fee help fund the project, but your time and sweat make it happen. Now, c'mon, isn't that better than a poolside pi±a colada?
Earthwatch Institute (800-776-0188 or 617-926-8200) offers about 130 projects throughout the year. On its new African Island Monkeys expedition, volunteers observe the thriving mona monkey population on the volcanic island of Sƒo Tom‰ off Cameroon. You'll spend eight to 10 hours in the field each day, walking up to seven miles through hilly and dense tropical forest
and collecting data on the monkeys' habitat and behavior. Accommodations are a research station in the island's mountainous interior. Six two-week trips run between October 13 and April 27; cost is $1,695 per person, not including airfare.
With Global Volunteers (800-487-1074), you can teach English in Italy, Indonesia, or the Ukraine, or build homes, community centers, and churches in Jamaica, Ireland, Ecuador, or Tanzania. At the newest site, two small fishing villages on the Ghanaian coast, you teach basic sciences, math, and English at a local elementary school; teach cooking, nutrition, dressmaking, and home
management at a women's vocational school; or help build a pre-school, elementary school, and community center. You'll stay in a small hotel or vacant home. The first three-week trips, scheduled for January 22-February 12 and April 9-30, 1999, cost $1,985 per person, not including airfare.
A bit closer to home, you can check into Sierra Club Outings' half-dozen fall service programs. One is a weeklong camping trip to North Carolina's Cape Hatteras National Seashore, where participants help the Nature Conservancy and a national wildlife refuge repair trails; during free time, you can explore barrier beaches and spot oystercatchers, whistling swans, and Canadian
geese. The program runs October 25-31 and costs $365 per person (call 415-977-5522). — K.R.
| Airborne Excess |
If South America on a shoestring sounds like an oxymoron, you might want to get out your checkbook. For $52,500 per person, Abercrombie & Kent will fly you on the Concorde on a 21-day whirlwind journey around the continent. Just think: No more slow, bumpy bus rides on mountain roads with a goat sharing your seat. No, you'll
be way above it all in a Mach 2 stupor; at 1,320 miles per hour, you'll whiz around all of South America in less than 21 hours of flying time, hitting sights like Iguassu Falls, Easter Island, Tierra del Fuego, and Machu Picchu. If you're imagining a practically empty Concorde, think again: At press time, 78 out of 90 seats were filled. The trip leaves January 8, 1999;
call 800-323-7308.
— E.P.
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Copyright 1998, Outside magazine
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