Wind Powered Race Goes To Team Elsie Piddock

June 15, 2015June 15, 2015 / Organikos / Leave a comment

Team Elsie Piddock sails up Nichols Passage south of Ketchikan on the way to winning the Race to Alaska. TAYLOR BALKOM / KETCHIKAN DAILY NEWS

Fishermen gonna fish, sometimes pushed to do remarkable things under extreme challenge. Sailors gonna sail, sometimes pushed to do remarkable things under extreme challenge. We thank Seattle radio station KUOW for sharing the news of the conclusion of this race that has had our attention for the last week:

Ross Reynolds talks to Jake Beattie the director of the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend and the organizer of the first ever Race to Alaska contest about how Team Elsie Piddock managed to defy expectations and win the race in one week and a day.

See more at the Ketchikan Daily News.

Humans At Their Best, In The Water, In The Extreme

June 7, 2015June 6, 2015 / Organikos / 1 Comment

Team Blackfish set sail Thursday morning in what organizers called the first human-powered boat race to Alaska. Credit Evan McGlinn for The New York Times

Too much dullness and dimwittedness recently. We need a break from that. We like the optimism of Team Blackfish and their fellow sailors:

A Race to Alaska: No Motors, but No Limits on Imagination

By KIRK JOHNSON

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. — Scott Veirs and Thomas Nielsen have a little wooden plank mounted on their boat, just in front of the seat where they plan to take turns, for days on end, pedaling a bike-chain-driven propeller shaft all the way to Alaska.

“If in doubt,” the sign reads, “try some optimism.”

That could be the motto for the entire field of competitors in what is billed as the first race of its kind — human powered to Alaska — which set off Thursday morning from this city on the shores of Puget Sound, heading north across open water. The 54 entrants in the Race to Alaska— solo efforts and teams, novices and old-salt veterans — were fueled by a mix of determination, ingenuity and upward of 6,000 calories a day, but no motors. Continue reading →

Water Play

May 6, 2015May 6, 2015 / Sudhir Shivaram / Leave a comment

What a privilege to watch the extremely playful cubs of the Sukhi Patiah Tigress enjoying in the Patiah water body at Bandhavgarh National Park!

We spent around 1 1/2 hrs with these cubs playing in the water. We learn so much about these tigers when we do the sunrise to sunset photo safari in the parks. For example, our understanding has been that tigers are active in the morning and late evenings. But these cats are smart, they become far more active after the regular safari timings.
Continue reading →

A Traveler in My Own Land – Introduction

April 21, 2015April 21, 2015 / Rosanna Abrachan / 5 Comments

Dear coffee-stained diary,

It’s been a while since you and I turned pages together, but then there were no new stories to tell. Now we say ‘hello’ at the start of a new line for am on the road again; taking paths that wind through tea gardens and forests, hug beaches and overlook a harbor in this homeland I call Kerala (India). The sights are plenty, so are the stories.

Yours to know are tales of ships docking here to trade in spices and those of communities striving to keep their identities alive. Yes, you’ve had your generous share of the history of the Chinese fishing nets but perspectives are things of beauty. Oh, I almost forgot the people. Continue reading →

The Great Golden Swallow Gear Review: Part 4

April 20, 2015June 25, 2016 / Seth Inman / Leave a comment

A mongoose in the Havahart 1090

Havahart Medium 1-Door Collapsible Easy Set Trap, Model 1090:

Justin: Great product all-around. Lightweight, foldable, and easy to set once you’ve learned how to do so. It’s a solid unit that can take some hits and very rarely did the trap spring by itself.

Garmin Oregon 650 3-Inch Worldwide Handheld GPS with 8MP Digital Camera:

Justin: Most reliable and intuitive GPS that I’ve ever used. The touch screen and layout is user-friendly and easy to navigate. I chose this unit based on reviews that claimed it’s its high-sensitivity, WAAS- and GLONASS-enabled GPS receiver and HotFix® satellite prediction would allow for reliable accuracy, even in deep forest in remote locations. Sure enough, even under the most dense canopy cover, we were always able to quickly gain satellite reception and an accuracy of 30ft or better. In less demanding environments, satellite precision was 5ft or less. The ability to load Continue reading →

Rosario Dawson, When You Come Back To Ghana, Come To Zaina Lodge!

April 15, 2015April 23, 2019 / Organikos / Leave a comment

We are still a few months away from opening the doors, but every day we see the progress. This post is to share with our Raxa Collective and Zaina Lodge colleagues a welcome love letter from a celebrity who manages to put Ghana in the glossiest pages of the New York Times:

Rosario Dawson’s Adventures in Ghana, Celebrating Women and Her First Clothing Collection

By JEANINE CELESTE PANG

The actress shares with T the friendly faces behind Studio One Eighty Nine — and the many friends she encountered on a recent trip to Africa.

Blue Mountain Peak

March 28, 2015April 23, 2019 / Seth Inman / 2 Comments

John walking down the mossy forest path

Last week, we hiked up to Blue Mountain Peak, the highest point in Jamaica. To reach the summit, you have to go through Portland Gap, a saddle between Mossman’s and Blue Mountain Peaks and a good point for camping out if you want to do the hike in the morning. Starting with all our camping gear on our backs at the trailhead around 4,185ft, we took a brisk hour’s hike to Portland Gap, gaining 1,356ft of elevation in the process. We set up our tents at Portland Gap, an area with the most Rufous-throated Solitaires we’ve seen so far – they’re very shy birds and are most often only heard, their haunting whistles echoing eerily over valleys and through the forest.

An elusive Rufous-throated Solitaire at Portland Gap

The Gap also ended up being a great spot to see Continue reading →

The Simple Things

March 27, 2015 / Justin Proctor / 1 Comment

When we find ourselves absolutely overwhelmed by the complexities, demands, and irrational expectations surrounding field work, it’s really nice to remember the simple things – and within them, find peace of mind, stability, and renewed strength.

Waking up early enough so as not to have to rush through a French-press filled with Blue Mountain coffee is a must. It’s 10 minutes of tranquility, when one can sit with friends, contemplate the day’s tasks, and appreciate the scenery you’ve missed while rushing from one place to the next.

And what about those incredibly infrequent times that the birds come to you? Continue reading →

What A Certain Change Of Scenery Can Do

March 7, 2015March 7, 2015 / Crist Inman / 2 Comments

Ludwig Wittgenstein, who knew how to sully a chalkboard with the best of them.

The photo above will make sense below, I hope. Read on. Derek is with us in Kerala for one more week before he moves on to Australia. I am reflecting on his time here, while also currently in conversation with prospective interns for the second half of 2015. And I just received news of Michael, the poet prince of past interns, who is currently on a tug boat in the Atlantic ocean. His experience, since graduating from Amherst College the year after he interned with us, is not typical of anything other than that we have had a very interesting variety of interns who go on to do very diverse, interesting, meaningful things of their own choosing.

These reflections are mixing up with reflections on Ethiopia that I hope to make enough sense of to produce one relevant post, soon. The meaning of our Ethiopia expedition, I already know, will have something to do with the value of perspective, and change of scenery, and leapfrogged expectations.

The pitch for an internship with us is related to those same values and is straightforward, in one sense: practical work experience in sustainable hospitality, social enterprise, or some variation of the two. The trickier part of the pitch is being clear about the value of spark plugs blowing out in the middle of the night before you’ve reached the top of the mountain. It is not possible to predict what a particular spark plug moment is going to be like in the future, or even that a particular person will be ready for it.

But it is possible to predict that most of us, most of the time, benefit from removing ourselves from our comfort zone. We may have just one zen moment, or a whole string of them, or none at all. And any of those may be just the right thing for us. It is making the decision to put one foot forward in a particular direction, and living with it for as long as it is useful for you, that seems to be the real source of valuable life experience.

So, the photo. It is not necessary to know who this philosopher was, or even that he was a philosopher. Just knowing what follows is enough to appreciate that sometimes a change of scenery is the best way to prepare yourself for the next big thing in your life:

…He revolutionized philosophy twice, fought with shocking bravery in World War I, inspired a host of memoirs by people who knew him only glancingly—and for six years taught elementary school in the mountains of rural Austria. Biographers have tended to find this bizarre. Chapters covering the period after his teaching years, when Wittgenstein returned to philosophy, are usually called something like “Out of the Wilderness.” (That one’s from Ray Monk’s excellent Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius. The next chapter is called “The Second Coming.”) Continue reading →

Munnar in 24 hours

March 6, 2015March 6, 2015 / Derek Spier / 2 Comments

The classic 350cc Royal Enfield or “Bullet”

When I arrived in Kerala around 6 weeks ago it would never have occurred to me to drive here in India. Based on my first impression of driving I was overwhelmed just sitting in the passenger seat. But between making new friends and my thirst for experiencing more of this beautiful state, it’s amazing what a mere 45 days can do. But a journey is multi-faceted; it’s not only about where one is going, but how one gets there, and everything in between.

I arrived to Fort Kochi in the late afternoon in search of a Royal Enfield, a classic Indian-made motorcycle that I’ve had a crush on for a while now. The older models are “backwards” to the typical bike, with the gear foot-lever on the right side and the break lever on the left. I was determined to find the newer model where the arrangement is “normal”. After scouring the city and asking every bike rental and all the contacts available to me, it was apparent that there was no chance of finding what I was looking for. With that news I made the decision to go with what was available rather than what I wanted, (a perfect example of the flexibility that India demands) and I paid the Rs. 800, roughly $13 for the rental. I couldn’t believe what I’d just done: My first time driving in India and I’d rented a totally unfamiliar bike from an unfamiliar source with a 6 hour drive ahead of me, at night. My nerves were tingling at the realization!

Luckily, Dilshad, a friend from Marari Pearl who’d been planning everything for us, was with me. We started the drive through Cochin rush hour traffic. Slowly, I began to stretch my motorcycle-memory-muscles, and gradually the drive became more pleasurable. Soon enough, I was flirting with my 350cc beauty and she was smiling back.

Continue reading →

Mindo, Ecuador: Tourism without context

March 5, 2015March 4, 2015 / Kayleigh Levitt / 3 Comments

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An ethereal plant from the ginger family from an orchid garden in Mindo

I just got back from Mindo, Ecuador, a small town with a lot to do. It’s about an hour and a half from Quito and we took a bus through winding roads in a cloud forest with beautiful sights of waterfalls along the way. Upon arriving, we promptly found a hostel and went ziplining within the first hour. After that, we did a “tarzan jump” off a 30 meter platform into the cloud forest. In the afternoon, we went tubing followed by a tour of a chocolate factory. Before dinner that day, I had a full, multi-layered sensory experience of my body in nature. It wasn’t until later, when I saw a mural on a wall, full of paintings of gringos and tourists ziplining that I realized what was missing. Continue reading →

Jamaican Columbids

February 7, 2015April 23, 2019 / Seth Inman / Leave a comment

Cockpit Country from “the Alps”

In rural Jamaica there appears to be a traditional pastime of hunting pigeons and doves (scientifically known as the family Columbidae). There are a total of twelve species on the island, of which seven or eight can be expected in Cockpit Country.

So far we’ve seen six of those species, and although we’d like a closer look at some like the Crested Quail-dove, we’re pretty satisfied with our luck so far. Continue reading →

The Backwaters of Kerala, India

January 28, 2015January 29, 2015 / Derek Spier / 2 Comments

Upstairs deck/lounge

Our group of four was greeted with “tender coconuts” to drink while we got settled into the boat and into our bedrooms. Our houseboat was over 100ft long with three bedrooms, a dining room, an upstairs lounge deck and all the amenities of a hotel (including AC), I was in awe. The outside was covered in a coconut palm woven shell tied together by coconut husk rope. Truly a product of “Kerala”, meaning “Land of Coconuts”. Continue reading →

Introduction & Upcoming posts

January 16, 2015January 18, 2015 / Derek Spier / 3 Comments

I would like to take a quick moment to introduce myself, my goals for the next few months and what I will be posting in this blog. I am a recent graduate from the University of Central Florida, Rosen School of Hospitality Management and I was born in Costa Rica.

I am excited to be interning at Marari Pearl (Kerala, India) starting this January. I don’t believe there will be a lack of material for me to write about in Kerala with its unique culture, customs, spicy foods and amazing animals! This will be my first time to Asia and I am quite sure it will be a great and rewarding culture shock and I want to convey my observations and thoughts about something totally new to me. Continue reading →

Friends, Collaboration And Awesome Accomplishment

January 16, 2015January 16, 2015 / Organikos / 1 Comment

Yosemite climbers reach summit of El Capitan

News feeds–especially those that give attention to adventure, and extreme sports and rock climbing in particular–are full of this story just now about two friends accomplishing one of the greatest challenges left in the small specialty sport. We are not at all devoted to the sport, but in the last year or two have developed a fascination, based on another climber’s feats and travails, mainly because of the collaboration component of climbing.

© AP Photo/Tom Evans, elcapreport In this Jan. 8, 2015 photo provided by Tom Evans, Kevin Jorgeson celebrates his finishing the climb of Pitch 15 while two photographers shoot video and stills from above…

Today’s news brings the collaboration part back to the forefront, in this case not due to absolute requirement but due to friendship. It is touching, in that “feel good” sense related to hoping you would do the same thing in the circumstance described; but more than that, it is just awesome:

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — American rock climber Tommy Caldwell was first to pull himself atop a 3,000-foot sheer granite face in Yosemite National Park, followed minutes later by his longtime friend Kevin Jorgeson.

The pair embraced and then Jorgeson pumped his arm in the air and clapped his hands above his head. After years of practice, failed attempts and 19 grueling days scaling the vertical wall on El Capitan by their bloodied fingertips, the friends at last grasped success.

“That’s a deep, abiding, lifelong friendship, built over suffering on the wall together over six years,” said Caldwell’s mother, Terry, among some 200 people in the valley floor thousands of feet below who broke into cheers at the climbers’ historic feat Wednesday.

She said her son could have reached the top of the world’s largest granite monolith several days ago, but he waited for his friend to ensure they made it together. Continue reading →

Dog + Humans = Team

November 28, 2014November 28, 2014 / Organikos / Leave a comment

Team Peak Performance says that after six days, they “crossed the finish line with 5 members instead of 4 as the 12th top team in the world.” Krister Goransson/Peak Performance

This takes us back to our Patagonia Expedition Race days. Thanks to National Public Radio (USA) for this reminder of what sometimes counts as the secret ingredient of teamwork in situations that require extraordinary endurance:

After a stray dog in Ecuador met a team of Swedish adventure athletes, he grew so attached to the squad that he ran for miles and swam along to keep up with them. Now Arthur the dog is world-famous — and it all started with a meatball.

Continue reading →

Sorry To Have Missed It

November 13, 2014November 13, 2014 / Organikos / 1 Comment

The Explorer’s Club, last week, hosted a lecture by Ueli Steck, who has had our attention for other reasons, on more than one occasion. He is in perpetual comeback mode, it seems but after the jump read what Steck did while in New York for this presentation at the Explorer’s Club, which we are sorry to have missed:

World renowned Swiss alpinist and record-breaking rock climber Ueli Steck joins us to present his legendary experiences. In this lecture, the “Swiss Machine” – whose rapid ascents of classic routes are just as demanding as three-minute miles – will share stories of his extreme expeditions all around the world. Join us in listening to tales of his rocky adventures and meet the Swiss Superman in person! Continue reading →

Giant of Africa

October 2, 2014October 1, 2014 / Rajashree Varma / 1 Comment

Nigeria is known as the Giant of Africa and that’s where I’m currently based. I was looking for a change in my life, so promptly accepted the position when it was offered. Most of you must be wondering why I’m here, and that’s one question I don’t have a clear answer to. Perhaps it’s the adventure and the challenge that comes along with moving into a territory. The nature of the job is different from the regular office administration job that I was used to so that was new as well.

So I packed my bags along with words of advice from family and friends – “don’t mingle too much”; “don’t be over friendly”; “do your work and go directly home”; “don’t get into any unnecessary relationships” etc. etc. It’s not surprising that a woman about to embark on this type of adventure should receive advice like this, so I thanked everyone and was on my way. The journey had it’s challenges, none of which were surprising. I was carrying heavy luggage and changing planes in Mumbai was the toughest. I promised myself that I’ll be taking a different route when I visit India next – not just a different route, I intend to fly Business class! Continue reading →

Advances In Solar-Based Flight

September 25, 2014September 26, 2014 / Organikos / Leave a comment

We do not expect this to mean we will board such a plane anytime soon, but anyway thanks to the New York Times for this news about advances in in our ability to harness the sun in ever-better ways:

Swiss Pilots to Fly Solar Plane Around World

By DIANE CARDWELL

The trip, which will begin and end in Abu Dhabi, will involve about 25 days of flying over four to five months, with stops in Asia, the United States and Southern Europe or North Africa.