Compass
Mount Everest is the biggest of most climbers’ dreams and many more travelers are taking to its trails to see if they can reach the top of the world’s highest mountain. However, officials in Nepal are currently considering updating their regulations for Mount Everest after a controversial and fatal climbing season.
Scientists from the University of Portsmouth have created a vodka using ingredients from the Chernobyl exclusion zone, insisting that it is completely safe to drink. As most people know, Chernobyl is the location of one of the worst nuclear disasters in world history. In April 1986, the number four reactor at the power plant exploded, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people and the evacuation of a whole region.
Uluru is not just the geographical heart of Australia; it is considered by Indigenous Australians to be the spiritual heart as well.
It may be seen as one of the last bastions of adventure travel, but the recent boom in tourists travelling to the Arctic Circle is having a devastating effect on its environment, being damaging to both the local landscape and its inhabitants.
On this show World Footprints discusses the power of travel to generate social change and heal depression with two amazing guests. Matilde Simas is an award-winning documentary photographer who uses her gifts to generate social change. Her work focuses on human rights, people affected by trauma, and endangered ecosystems. Matilde Simas, born in 1973, studied at the Suffolk University in Boston and studied photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. As a photographer and filmmaker, she traveled to more than 50 countries and early on started to fully commit herself to human rights and the fight against violations of the rights of women and children. In 2017 the award-winning photographer founded Capture Humanity, an artistic collaborative organization that aims to document humanitarian groups that assist women, children, marginalized communities, and conservation efforts. Patience, commitment, and integrity are the core of their effort to inspire greater creative and social consciousness. [...]
Women’s rights have long been a huge issue in Saudi Arabia due to the strict application of sharia law within the country, with women only gaining the right to drive last year. However, a landmark ruling change will now give Saudi women over the age of 21 the right to obtain their own passports without the need for permission from a male guardian.
A Russian family was recently cautioned by police in Cambodia after being caught begging in the town of Battambang, raising the issue of the growing trend of begpacking and the effect it has on the countries where people practice it.
In recent years, Venice has introduced a number of laws and regulations in order to crack down on the large number of tourists that flock to the city every year, including a tourist tax of up to €10 for day trippers which caused controversy at the beginning of this year. The Italian government has now gone a step further by announcing plans for large cruise ships to no longer be allowed to dock in the city’s historic center, instead being rerouted to the Fusina and Lombardia terminals outside of the city center.
Amsterdam is a city with many recognizable features like winding canals and famous historic buildings such as the Anne Frank House. It’s also one of the world’s most bikeable places, and it’s renowned for its cafe and coffee house culture. But in December 2018, Amsterdam lost one of its most iconic symbols – the I amsterdam sign.
Have you ever wondered what draws people to the morbid places associated with suffering or death? Auschwitz, Ground Zero, and Chernobyl come to mind.
For the past few years, wellness vacations have been on the rise and it’s not hard to understand why: with modern life burdening us with stressful commutes, long working hours, and the expectation of being available 24/7, it’s no wonder that some of us are looking to get away from it all and reconnect with ourselves.
If you ever saw an Aldabra Giant Tortoise, you’d think it was a dinosaur, as they look as if they came from another time period. And, it’s possible that’s true. After all, they can live to be more than 100 years old and weigh up to 300 pounds. Of course, seeing the actual Aldabra is difficult due to the excessive number of restrictions put on visitors.
