Jaunted

Extreme Travel / New Zealand / Adventure Tourism / New Zealand Travel / Tragedies / → All Tags

Is New Zealand Extreme Travel Getting Too Extreme?

In the US, rescuers have been complaining about "Yuppie 911." This happens when inexperienced urban hikers try to rough it and discover that nature is actually kind of brutal, so they use their personal locator beacons to call in helicopters because their water tastes salty (sweat) or because they heard a loud noise (thunderstorm). The underlying problem is that adventure tourists often simply don't realize what they're getting into.

In New Zealand their extreme travel tourism problems are less humorous and, at least recently, more tragic. The April 2008 death of Emily Jordan, a 21 year old who was killed in a river boarding accident, triggered a review of the entire industry. Now a new UK group, led by Emily's father, is demanding that the government take steps in the meantime to make adventure tourism safer:

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Contests / Adventure Tourism / Green Travel / → All Tags

Travel on the Guardian's Dime

The Guardian is looking for two people to blog their travels and get paid in the process. It's not exactly a king's ransom, but you do get 2000 quid, a laptop, a camera, and a cell phone. The two slots they have in mind are for a "green," whose trip proposal should be "in line with the rising tide of interest in eco- and responsible tourism. You may choose to base this on where you go or stay, your mode of transport, what you leave behind and how lightly you tread along the way."

For the other, known as a "grey" (isn't that a kind of alien?), the Guardian doesn't care how PC your trip is -- go eat baby seals raw and throw DDT into rivers if you want. You do have to be over 50 and "not have outgrown your spirit of adventure." Via Travel Writers