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Overview

Introduction

Before the arrival of Columbus and other Europeans, the Caribs—or Kalinago, as they call themselves and prefer to be called—dominated many of the Caribbean islands. A nomadic, fishing and farming people from South America, the Kalinago also knew how to build a solid canoe, and they spread north for centuries looking for good fertile soil to grow their crops as well as rivers and bays for fish and shellfish.

In Dominica, they fought long and hard against European settlers, and the rugged mountains of Dominica became the site of their last stand in this region. Today, some of the last remaining Kalinago in the Caribbean live in a semiautonomous territory on the east coast of the island, 15 mi/24 km southeast of Portsmouth. It is home to some 3,000 indigenous Kalinago who eke a living though fishing, agriculture, canoe-building and basket-making as well as tourism.

A visit to the Carib Territory can be one of the cultural highlights of a trip to the island, but don't go expecting to see "real Indians" living as they did in Columbus' time. The Kalinago are very much part of the modern world and their villages are, in some ways, indistinguishable from others on the island. Visitors will find examples of ancient Kalinago dwellings and a large carbet (meetinghouse), but the people there live in houses similar to the ones you see elsewhere in Dominica.

Still, the Territory is a good place to support local craftspeople while getting good buys on Kalinago crafts. The baskets they weave using larouma reeds are unique to Dominica and you will find nothing like them elsewhere in the Caribbean.

In Crayfish River, near the main village of Salybia, visit the Kalinago Barana Aute (Kalinago village by the sea) which is a historic representation of how the Kalinago would have lived when Columbus and the Europeans arrived. A walk around Kalinago Touna Aute (Kalinago village by the river) near the village of Concord is a great way to see how Kalinago combine their cultural heritage and skills to live in the modern world.

A walk or a drive in a four-wheeler, along Horseback Ridge from Salybia to Bataca, offers outstanding views of the Territory, the villages, its farmlands and the rugged volcanic coastline. L'Escalier Tete Chien (snake's staircase) is a volcanic formation on the coast near the village of Sineku that, according to Kalinago legend, was created when a huge boa constrictor emerged from the ocean and crawled up the land to a secret cave in the mountains.

Look out for Israel Joseph and his wife, Victoria, on the main road near Mahaut River. Israel is a great exponent of tree fern carving, and his masks and plant pot holders make fabulous and unique souvenirs. Victoria is a traditional basket weaver. Their little shop is a real treasure trove.

Overview

Introduction

Most of this coastal area, south of Walvis Bay, is closed to the public to protect diamond-industry interests. Abiding by the boundaries is advisable, as it is said that trespassers will be shot.

However, on the coast in the middle of this area is the picturesque old German port of Luderitz, which is open to visitors. Luderitz, which resembles a Bavarian village, seems a bit out of place on the desolate, windswept coast of the Namib Desert. The area is home to seals, penguins, flamingos and ostriches. At Agate Beach you can find agates and sand roses (sand crystallized into petal-like designs). However, gathering sand roses is forbidden without a permit (diggers must be accompanied by an official from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism). From a nearby campground, there is a stunning view of the desert sand dunes colliding with the ocean.

A worthwhile short drive (14 miles/22km) runs south from Luderitz to Diaz Cross, where seals and marine birds (including the rare black oystercatcher) splash below a replica of the clifftop wooden cross erected there by the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Diaz in 1488. In Luderitz, you can get a permit to visit Kolmanskop, a diamond-mining ghost town just to the east. The Kolmanskop tour will give you an idea of the vast wealth created by the diamonds: The community imported all food and drinking water, built a gym with a bowling alley and owned the first X-ray machine in the Southern Hemisphere. Luderitz is 300 mi/490 km southwest of Windhoek.

Overview

Introduction

The Palestinian Territories constitute the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, two separate, unconnected areas under Palestinian control. Gaza is ruled with an iron fist by the hard-line Islamist militia Hamas. The West Bank is under the control of Fatah, a more moderate secular organization. The two organizations are violently opposed to each other; they have experienced a civil war in Gaza in 2007, in which Fatah was defeated.

The political future of these territories is uncertain, as negotiations over a final status agreement with Israel, intended to result eventually in the establishment of an independent Palestinian entity, have stalled because of years of violence and terrorism.

A number of sticking points have made a peaceful solution elusive. Palestinians regard Jerusalem, or at least its eastern half, as their future capital, but for Israelis the united city is the capital of Israel and has been the focal point of Jewish identity and worship for thousands of years, and therefore this remains the most perplexing issue on the negotiations agenda.

In the meantime, the territories are subject in part to Israeli security controls. Travel to the Palestinian Territories is not recommended at this time because of the security situation, although Bethlehem is usually feasible. The U.S. Department of State continues to issue a travel warning urging American citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

This dangerous situation is unfortunate, as there are many biblical and historical sites on the West Bank, and a completely undeveloped seafront offers future tourism potential in Gaza. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, and Jericho, possibly the oldest inhabited city on Earth, are both located on the West Bank. The Tomb of the Patriarchs is located in the Gaza Strip in Hebron, a city known for its lush grape vineyards, pottery and glassware. And there's also Ramallah, "The Bride of Palestine," which hosts many dance and folklore festivals during the summer.

Israel staged a unilateral withdrawal of civilians and military forces from the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005, and as a result that area is under total Palestinian control by Hamas. Palestinian towns on the West Bank are under Palestinian civilian control by Fatah; however, Israel retains overall security control there. Territorial sovereignty on the West Bank remains contested, and the area is pockmarked by both Palestinian towns and Israeli settlements. At this point it is nearly impossible to foresee a politically negotiated solution acceptable to both sides that will resolve the ongoing violent conflict.

Geography

The Palestinian Territories are two separate areas, unconnected geographically and separated by Israel. The West Bank refers to the landlocked western bank of the Jordan River. This kidney-shaped landmass, slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Delaware, is located between Israel and Jordan.

The Gaza Strip is a narrow piece of land running along the Mediterranean coast, with Israel to its north and east, and Egypt to the south. Because of the stalled political negotiations, the permanent and final boundaries of Israel and the Palestinian entity have yet to be determined.

History

The history of the Palestinian Territories is intertwined with the history of modern Israel. Muslims and Jews look back to the patriarch Abraham as having granted them inalienable territorial rights to the land known in biblical times as Canaan. But whereas Israelis trace their ancestry from Abraham's son Isaac, Muslims believe that the true inheritor of Abraham's seed was his son Ishmael. Throughout the centuries, this small patch of land hugging the Mediterranean has served as a corridor for conquering powers moving between Africa, Europe and Asia.

Extensive Roman writings describe Israel and the Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Roman conquest and Jewish rebellions. Archaeologists also use the Bible as a literary guide to their work, but physical evidence of the early Israelite kingdoms of David and Solomon has not been found. Many Palestinians deny the possible existence of the holy temple in Jerusalem constructed originally by Solomon and later rebuilt by Herod. Islam's connection with Israel is Muhammad's "Night Journey," a dream in which he flew to Temple Mount on a winged horse, and thence up to Heaven, before reawakening.

Palestinians trace their origins to the Philistines, a seafaring people who lived on the coastal shores in biblical times from Gaza in the south to parts of Lebanon in the north. The Philistines fought numerous battles with the Israelites living in Canaan, eventually falling to David as he enlarged his empire. The Philistines vanished from the region following the invasion of the Assyrians, and later the Philistine cities came under the control successively of the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans.

The Roman emperor Hadrian drove the remaining Jews out of Jerusalem in AD 135 and reestablished the city as Aelia Capitolina. The name given to this Roman province was Provincia Syria Palaestina, and this was the origin of the modern name Palestine.

In the year AD 638, six years after the prophet Mohammed's death, the Arabs seized Jerusalem and established a religious connection to the land. The Dome of the Rock was constructed in AD 691 over the spot where they believed Mohammed's Night Journey led him into heaven. The El Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest shrine to Muslims after Mecca and Medina, was built nearby in the following century.

In the 11th century, the Crusaders arrived in Palestine and established a short-lived kingdom in Jerusalem, only to be driven out by Saladin of Egypt in 1187. Christians and Muslims continued to fight over the land until the Mamelukes took control in the 13th century. The Ottomans annexed Palestine in 1516, and Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt Jerusalem's walls into their present form circling the Old City.

In 1917, in response to the Zionist Movement's call for the reestablishment of a Jewish homeland, the Balfour Declaration supported Palestine as the location of the homeland. Shortly afterwards, the British defeated the Turkish army and the League of Nations granted them a mandate to rule Palestine.

Following World War II and the Holocaust in Europe, Jewish immigrants flooded to Palestine, many of them illegally. In 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan that would create separate Jewish and Arab countries and an internationally controlled Jerusalem; the State of Israel was established in May 1948.

The Palestinian Arabs and the surrounding Arab countries rejected partition and the new state, and the young country of Israel was immediately invaded on all sides. The War of Independence resulted in Israel's firm control over its territories, but the West Bank and the eastern half of Jerusalem, including the holy sites in the Old City, fell under Jordanian rule. At the outbreak of war, Arab rulers called on the Palestinian residents to flee their homes, creating a refugee problem that would remain unresolved decades later. Palestinians refer to Israel's creation as the Nakhba, the day of their "catastrophe."

In 1964, the Palestine Liberation Organization was founded as an umbrella organization for political and military groups determined to replace Israel with a secular Arab Palestine. Together with nations of the Arab League, the PLO prepared to launch an all-out attack on Israel from all sides in 1967.

After a stunning military victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel took control of the West Bank and reunited the city of Jerusalem. Israel also secured control over the Gaza Strip, a band of desert that once was administered by Egypt, and annexed the strategically important Golan Heights, which had been Syrian.

These lands were collectively known as the Occupied Territories. Many Israelis argued that control of the areas was vital for their national survival, and Palestinians protested Israeli settlements and sought autonomy on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.

Over the years, PLO members and other extremist Palestinians, urged on by PLO leader Yasser Arafat, staged a number of spectacular and bloody terror attacks in efforts to focus world attention on what they regarded as the plight of the Palestinian people. Smoldering Palestinian resentment broke out in the 1980s with the First Intifada, a grinding, on-again, off-again rebellion that lasted for more than six years.

At the same time, a diplomatic peace process was in operation with international involvement. The struggle between Palestinians and Israelis took a dramatic turn in 1994, with the signing of a peace agreement between the two sides. The Palestinians agreed to recognize Israel, and Israel agreed to turn over the West Bank towns and the Gaza Strip to Palestinian autonomous control (with the status of the Jewish settlements in those areas to be decided later).

The peace process was dealt a blow with the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. A new round of violent altercations began in the fall of 2000 after Arafat, in his position as Palestinian authority chairman, rejected the major concessions offered by then Israeli Premier Ehud Barak at the Camp David summit. Following Ariel Sharon's election as Israel's prime minister in 2001, Palestinian violence intensified; Israeli civilians were targeted with suicide bombings and indiscriminate shooting attacks. Harsh Israeli military retaliations led to loss of life on the Palestinian side as well.

Even after Arafat's death in 2004, Israelis and Palestinians failed to resume negotiations. Determining that he had no partner in the peace process, Sharon embarked on a controversial unilateral move to set Israel's borders. Israeli troops and civilians withdrew from the Gaza Strip and a portion of the northern West Bank in August 2005.

In January 2006, diplomatic moves stalled even further after the Islamic militant group Hamas swept to victory over the long-dominant Fatah party in Palestinian parliamentary polls. Israel immediately ruled out talks with any government involving Hamas.

After taking control of Gaza, Hamas launched hundreds of missiles into southern Israel. In December 2008, Israel responded with Operation Cast Lead, a massive air and ground offensive against Gaza. Nevertheless, Hamas remains firmly in control of Gaza, and continues its campaign of firing missiles at communities in southern Israel.

In 2014, violence escalated once again when three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered in the West Bank. Israeli military forces conducted thousands of house-to-house searches for the perpetrators in Gaza and made hundreds of arrests of Hamas followers. It eventually led to a ground war with air strikes into Gaza and Hamas shooting missiles into Israel.

Despite the violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanyahu has vowed to keep negotiating for separate Israeli and Palestinian states.

Snapshot

The main attractions of the Palestinian Territories are the religious and historical sites in Bethlehem, Hebron and Jericho. Unfortunately, because of continued violence, visitors will be wise to adhere to travel advisories and defer unnecessary visits to these towns, except in organized groups with proper security permits. Visits to the Gaza Strip should be avoided altogether for the foreseeable future.

Ramallah in the West Bank is probably the most international of the cities because of the large number of foreign embassies posted there. It's also the most liberal and near several Palestinian Christian villages. But visitors tend to be there for political, business or humanitarian reasons, not for a leisurely vacation.

Potpourri

Jericho is not only the oldest city in the world, but at 853 ft/260 m below sea level, it is also the lowest city in the world.

The Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem is said to be the oldest continuously used church in the world.

Christmas Eve is marked in Bethlehem by a procession of marchers, bagpipe bands and officials riding Arabian horses. The solemn procession makes its way across Manger Square to the Basilica of the Nativity where local Christians and tourists attend a midnight Mass bringing in the holiday.

Overview

Introduction

Located 125 mi/200 km southeast of Melbourne, Wilsons Promontory (The Prom) is one of Victoria's premier national parks, and it's one of the only places in Australia where you may get to see wild wombats. Allow a few days to explore the park's many walking paths and serene beaches.

Australian wildlife is abundant there in all forms. Wallabies and kangaroos are a common sight and often hop across the path right in front of you. Parrots of all colors brighten the treetops and fill the air with their calls. Pay a visit to Squeaky Beach, where the sand is almost pure quartz, and you'll discover how the beach gets its name.

Overview

Introduction

Poet Robert Service once referred to Canada's Yukon Territory as "that raw-ribbed wild that abhors all life." The Yukon is a tamer place than it was in Service's lifetime—the lawlessness of the gold-rush days has faded, and a few refined towns now dot the map. But no one would dispute that this Canadian territory contains some of the most majestic wilderness on the North American continent.

This is a raw, isolated land—many places remain literally untouched. Clear blue lakes, mountains, glaciers and silence stretch for miles/kilometers, and both the caribou and the bears outnumber the people. During winter, the green, red and blue northern lights flicker overhead.

Most visitors just pass through this territory as they go from British Columbia to Alaska (or from Alaska's panhandle to the interior of the state). This is unfortunate, because they miss a chance to see great scenery and to relive the rugged life of the gold rush—either in relatively comfortable and fascinating tours of the region or in high-adventure outings that will challenge even the most experienced outdoor enthusiast. Besides scenic hiking and driving, the territory offers white-water rafting, dogsledding, mountain biking, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, canoeing and mountaineering.

Most visitors miss something else, too—the territory's rich First Nations (aboriginal) traditions. Approximately one-fifth of the Yukon's population is First Nations, and the majority of these people belong to one of the Athabascan or Tlingit language families: Gwitchin, Han, Northern Tutchone, Southern Tutchone, Kaska, Tagish, Upper Tanana and Tlingit. Historically they hunted caribou, moose and sheep, but they used any animal resource available (lynx, snow hares, salmon, beavers). Many Yukon First Nations people continue to practice subsistence hunting, fishing and trapping today.

Geography

History

It was not until the 1840s that members of the Hudson's Bay Company explored the Yukon in any detail. Gold miners pushed into the territory beginning in the 1870s, and in 1896, a major strike was made near the Klondike River, initiating the gold rush. About US$125 million in gold was taken out of the area over the next 10 years.

Prospectors from around the world flooded into the region in hopes of getting rich quick, though many found only backbreaking toil and long, cold winters. The influx of miners developed the Yukon, however: Dawson City became the thriving center of the mining activity, and Whitehorse was connected to the Alaskan coast by rail.

The rush had a short life. Once the easily accessible placer gold had played out, the Yukon's population plummeted. At the height of the rush, Dawson City was the largest western city north of San Francisco: It had 38,000 residents. Just 20 years later, only 975 people called it home. During World War II, the Yukon experienced another brief period of growth as the Alaska Highway and other war-related projects were introduced.

Mining for gold and other minerals has continued since the 1900s, though it is now carried out by large companies using heavy industrial equipment. Government and tourism are the major employers. Visitors to the territory are amazed by the wealth of aboriginal culture that has been preserved. In recent years, Yukon First Nations have pursued land claims and the majority have successfully regained powers of self-government, as well as control of portions of their traditional territory.

Snapshot

The Yukon's main attractions include Arctic wilderness, mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, scenic highways, historic sites, outdoor recreation, wildlife and handicrafts.

The territory will appeal most to those travelers who seek exotic and occasionally rugged adventure in a remote, mountainous location. Those who insist on urban recreation (organized entertainment, fine restaurants, deluxe accommodations) or inexpensive wilderness vacations will have to look elsewhere.

Potpourri

Unlike most of the world's locations, the Yukon's population was greater at the turn of the 20th century than it was at the beginning of the 21st century.

The northern lights (aurora borealis) are visible throughout the Yukon November-March. First Nations legends say the lights represent ancestors and that whistling at them sends messages of remembrance.

More than 20% of the Yukon's inhabitants are aboriginal. They are from two clans: Crow and Wolf. Check with local authorities to see if aboriginal celebrations (such as the Commissioner's Potlatch, Moosehide Gathering, stick gambling or hand game competitions) are taking place during your visit.

In hopes of alleviating shortages in the gold-rush boom towns, Canadian officials required each person entering the country through the Chilkoot Pass to transport 2,000 lbs/900 kg of provisions. Because horses and mules were unable to ascend the steep trail, the prospectors hauled the goods themselves—sometimes making as many as 50 trips through the pass. You can hike the same route today: It's a challenging 34-mi/55-km hike from Dyea, Alaska, to Bennett, British Columbia.

The 420 mi/675 km Dempster Highway is the only public road in Canada that crosses the Arctic Circle. Car companies have used the highway for testing cars in extreme temperatures.

The southwestern Yukon has the world's largest concentration of grizzly bears and the largest number of Dall sheep in the world.

The Canadian five-dollar bill once featured artwork of Otter Falls, which can be reached via the Alaska Highway, between Whitehorse and Haines Junction.

The Yukon is a popular location for films, television shows and commercials that feature settings with snow and wilderness. At one time, Robin Williams, Woody Harrelson and Holly Hunter were all in Whitehorse to shoot a movie called The Big White. It went straight to video.