It was wonderful to be back in Myanmar. This was my fourth visit to Burma so I had some sense of what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by what we found upon arrival in Yangon.  There is a new airport with efficient immigration and customs. Changing money was easy. Everyone was predictably courteous. Nothing about this government encounter seems evil or authoritarian.  Surely, the Burmese are among the friendliest people in Asia.

We made a quick visit to the markets and monuments of Yangon and everyone in our group of five was especially impressed by the great golden Buddhist  pagoda of Shwedagon which was especially impressive at sunset. Our primary destination was the northernmost tip of Myanmar accessible by a long, two-stop flight via Mandalay .  The ATR-72 turboprop aircraft of Air Bagan was smooth and comfortable.  The farther north we flew the more extensive the forest became.    There are only about four flights per week to Putao and the good weather season is from October to April. Road access is possible in the dry season but the roads are rough and tortuous. The lack of traffic and modern buildings gave Putao a friendly village feeling.The Putao Trekking House where we stayed for three nights was an especially comfortable and hospitable base. Built according to local architectural style, but from beautiful local hardwoods, it offfers a rich, yet simple ambiance.

Our main objective was a trek to Ziyadam, the last village at the end of a trail that leads to the base of the Burmese Himalayas. Although we had to cross numerous streams on improvised stone and stick bridges, this was the dry season and there was no real  problem.,  One day required a 3,000 foot climb over Mt. Shangaung, but it felt like a privilege to hike through beautiful sub-tropical primary forest that separated friendly villages.  Our group of five Westerners encountered no other foreigners on the trail, but lots of interesting local travelers like the fellow at right.

This is a trip we plan to offer again next January  as the Trails of Himalayan Burma. I have created a Photo Gallery of the trip, and a visit to the Ngapali Beach area of coastal Myanmar. If you might be interested in this trip give us a call.

There is currently a United Nations Climate Change conference taking place in Cancun, Mexico.   Notables like Ted Turner, founder of CNN and UN benefactor; and Richard Branson, entrepeneur and founder of many enterprises including Virgin Airways, and others are urging prompt and dramatic action. The biggest unanswered questions are not whether the globe is warming or to what extent human activity is the cause, but rather why the United States seems to be so uninterested and uninvolved in contributing to solutions. As travelers we have seen the melting glaciers and observed the effects of droughts and unseasonable storms. We have spoken with guides, farmers and villagers who observe that what were once predictable seasonal patterns. Shannon Stowell of the Adventure Travel Trade Association addressed the conference with ideas about how adventure travel can contribute to awareness of climate change and how our interests as travelers align with those most concerned about finding solutions and climate stability. His suggestions center more on the value of awareness than on actual reduction of the global temperature, which is the most enormous common property resource management problem ever faced by humanity.

We, as travelers still have this fundamental problem of the carbon profligacy of mechanized travel.  Ted Turner does not bicycle between and around his many far flung ranches.  Richard Branson,  is not yet running his commercial jet fleets on biofuel or hydrogen.  I guess they justify their outsized personal  carbon footprints by  the compensatory effects of their political advocacy that other people (families, cultures, nations) not create such large carbon footprints. It is kind of like using a megaphone to urge a crowd to keep the peace by turning down the volume on their ipod headphones.
Everyone  I have ever met in the nature-eco-adventure travel industry is aware of the problem of global warming and would like to participate in an effective solution, if they can afford it and if it is presented convincingly.  At least we are beyond denial and open to ideas.  As far as I can tell we are still lacking in truly effective good ideas and especially lacking in an estimate of the cost.   Adventure travel may be less damaging to the global climate than some other types of travel, but we should be cautious in suggesting we are more a part of the solution than part of the problem.

This week international leaders and environmental ministers gathered in St. Petersburg, Russia, to discuss dramatic declines in wild tiger populations across Asia. Tigers have been exterminated from most of their range which once stretched from the Mediterranean to Siberia, Korea and Bali. Now your best chance to see a tiger in the wild is in one of the nature reserves or national parks of India or Nepal. Even here the animals are still under threat from illegal hunters seeking their skins, reputed medicinal body parts, or as illegal pets.  According to the NY Times report or the meeeting, saving the tiger, an animal associated with royalty, fierceness and solitary has a special appeal for leaders like Vladmir Putin who is front and center in the political imagery of tiger conservation. Even the much disparaged military junta of Myanmar is behind the effort and has created the largest tiger reserve on earth. We visit this sanctuary on the JOURNEYS Tiger Trails of Northern Burma, a trip I will be leading next January. It is exceptionally rare to actually see a wild tiger in Burma, Siberia, Sumatra, Bhutan or China where diminishing, secretive populations still exist.  Preserving tiger habitat is critical to the thousands of smaller, less-politically or esthetically charismatic species which are equally endangered by expanding human populations and natural habitat destruction.  We hope this international effort, supported even by the World Bank, will result in a reversal of the tiger trend toward extinction.  In the mean time, if you are eager to see or photograph a tiger in the wild while you still can, we suggest our Great India Tiger Safari or our India Great Cats Safari as the closest to a certain opportunity.

I returned this month from a spectacular experience in Rwanda and Uganda tracking gorillas, chimps and other primates.

See my photos at http://gallery.me.com/weberwill#100069