Courtesy of BBC Travel

By Steve Blount

The air that swept across the parched inland prairie was soft and cool, with just a hint of the humidity that soaks Florida in the summer months. Wildflowers encouraged by a rare recent rain — brilliant red buckeye and purple larkspur — peppered acres of grass, still brown from the winter dry season. Cattle browsed in the grass, and the distinctive call of a sandhill crane carried on the wind that flowed down from ancient sand dunes in the distance.

(Photo: Florida EcoSafaris)

The Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge (EHNWR), part of an arid, rolling  landscape just minutes from Orlando’s crowded theme parks, does not fit the iconic image of Florida’s three “S’s” (sea, sand and swamp). Yet the refuge, planned to encompass parts of the Lake Wales Ridge sand dunes and the Kissimmee River Basin, is a keystone in the effort to save the Everglades — vast wetlands just west of Miami — and one of the most ambitious land and wildlife conservation programs in the state’s history.

Declared one of three wetlands of global importance by Unesco in 1971, the Everglades is also the source of drinking water for approximately five million people in south Florida. Thus, protecting the Kissimmee River, the primary source of water for Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades, has become a paramount goal for conservationists. Under assault from developers who wanted to drain it and farmers who polluted it with pesticides, restoration of the Everglades has been a national priority since former US President Bill Clinton signed a formal clean-up plan in 2000.

“The Everglades is an international treasure and that’s partly because unique plants and animals call it home,” said US Senator Bill Nelson of Florida. “But 69 of these species are threatened and endangered. [EHNWR] is critical because it will preserve habitat in an innovative way that protects the land and ranching heritage.”

After years of wrangling with private landowners, sportsmen and local politicians, the US Department of Interior established the EHNWR on 18 January, solidifying protection for the wildflower-dappled prairie — an area key to the survival of the Everglades further south.

“Aside from sandhills and scub, the [area encompassed by EHNWR has] black water swamps, oak hammocks, dry prairie habitat and pine flat woods,” refuge manager Charlie Pelizza said. “Seeing that, it was evident how it all connected. We had everything needed for the conservation of the [Kissimmee River] watershed on this one landscape.”

The refuge was launched with a donation of just 10 acres of land from the US-based Nature Conservancy, but could eventually grow to more than 150,000 acres, connecting with conservation land near Naples, 175 miles to the southwest, and on through to the Big Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park that extends to the southern tip of the peninsula. This would give wildlife an unbroken pathway across the centre section of one of the most populous states in the union. Isolated populations of plants and animals could establish genetic contact with larger communities, creating healthier and more resilient breeding pools.

The area encompassed by EHNWR alone has more than 40 endangered species, some of them found nowhere else in the world. In addition to black bears, the region is home to red cockaded woodpeckers, the Florida scrub jay, sandhill cranes, Florida grasshopper sparrows and the enormous crested caracara.

This is a side of Florida seldom seen even by residents — it is what natives call “the real Florida” — and activities range from slow respites to hang-onto-your-potatoes adventures. With a little luck, you may even see a rare and elusive Florida panther slipping past you on his way to dinner.

Find out where to experience the real Florida!

Courtesy of BBC Travel

By Joshua Samuel Brown

Thirty-six percent of Belize’s landmass enjoys protected status. Thirteen percent of its waters, including vast portions of the world’s second largest coral reef system, are protected as well.

With tourism being one of the country’s top sources of revenue, Belize’s livelihood depends on nature. And while it is never easy to balance tourism growth with environmental preservation, the small Central American country has long recognized that ignoring the latter means betraying the former.

Since the 1980s, the government has encouraged Belizeans to be stakeholders in their own tourism industry, occasionally supporting community-based projects, according to the travel book Insight Guides Belize. Because residents have a vested interest in protecting their own communities and environment, they are the natural leaders of the ecotourism charge.

In Punta Gorda, Belize’s southernmost town and capital of the Toledo District, Mayan and Garifuna villagers started building guesthouses from available materials in the late ‘80s. Though they had minimal funding at the time, their efforts eventually became the ToledoEcotourismAssociation. With help from local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the group expanded into a network of eco-lodges and cultural tours that provide tourists with an authentic experience in local villages and the rainforests that surround them.

Another community-based tourism venture is the Community Baboon Sanctuary, an experiment in voluntary citizen conservation, founded in 1985. It began with 12 private landowners in the northern Bermudian Landing area agreeing to preserve their land as a habitat for endangered black howler monkeys (called “baboons” by locals). Now 200 landowners in seven different villages have joined the cause, in part because they stand to benefit from the tourism pulled in by the sanctuary.

In 1997, back in the southern Toledo District, a local grassroots campaign against illegal logging, fishing and poaching also eventually became a part of the ecotourism industry. The Toledo Institute for Development and Environment works today with villagers to conserve natural resources and biodiversity. The NGO also runs a sustainable tour operator, TideTours, which trains locals to be tour guides. Trips range from kayaking excursions to Mayan ruin expeditions, and proceeds support the local community.

In addition to community-based projects, successful efforts in the public sector have helped boost sustainable tourism in Belize. Within the Belize Barrier Reef, for example, the gorgeous atoll of Glover’s Reef has been maintained as a “no-take” marine reserve, a sanctuary where fishing is prohibited. In a place threatened by illegal fishing and overfishing, this unique stretch of reef helps promote natural biodiversity.

Traveling to Belize? Find out what you can do to minimize environmental harm.

Courtesy of BBC Travel

By Alex Robinson

The tiny Morelet’s crocodile moved furiously as it was pulled from the water, hissing like a cat and thrashing its scaly, armoured tail. Our field guide, Ruben Arévalo, stroked it under the chin and the reptile gurgled. Then, quick as flash, the guide slipped rubber bands around its snout.

Crocodiles have very strong jaws,” Arévalo said, “but only when they bite down. The muscles for opening their mouths are weak. So you can keep a crocodile’s mouth shut with just a tiny bit of pressure.”

He turned the croc over unceremoniously and it lay transfixed, as if in a trance. Its hazel-green eyes glistened in the flashlight beam. Its belly was white as an egg, soft, dry and shiny like polished leather and undulating with breaths.

“It’s a girl”, Arévalo said, pointing to what were not obviously genitals. “Just a baby too – they get up to three metres.” The crocodile was only as long as his leg, but its teeth looked like needles. He weighed the reptile on a hand scale, pulled out a clipboard — protected with plastic against the drizzling rain — and made a series of notes. Then he took the rubber bands off and gently lowered the croc into the water. As soon as it hit the surface, it shot away in a splash into the warm tropical night.

Read more about tagging crocodiles in Belize at BBC Travel!

Courtesy of BBC Travel
By Lindsey Galloway

The Rio Grande rift valley where Albuquerque now sits was first inhabited by stone-and-adobe dwelling Native Americans, a collection of tribes known collectively as the Pueblo people. Spanish explorers arrived in the 1500s, building missions and establishing farms, and eventually founded a city in 1706, named Albuquerque after a Spanish duke (the first “r” was later dropped).  Anglo settlers came in droves after 1848, when the territory of New Mexico was ceded to the United States from the newly independent Mexico.

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Relics of the past live on in Albuquerque’s present day culinary scene. From Pueblo blue corn porridge to Spanish empanadas, from Mexican carne asada to red and green chile, a good meal is the best way to uncover the many cultures that have shaped New Mexico’s largest city.

Native tastes and traditions
The Pueblo’s centuries-old staples — beans, corn and squash – still play a major part in their modern dishes. The Pueblo Harvest Café and Bakery, in the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, highlights both ancient recipes and contemporary variations based on these traditional ingredients.

Blue corn atole, a slate-coloured porridge, is a typical morning dish, hearty without being too thick or too sweet, though toppings like berries or nuts can be added to enhance the flavor. The café also makes blue corn pancakes for a European twist on the native blue corn. Lunch and dinner include dishes such as bison, served on the bone or ground into meatloaf; carne adovada, a pork marinated in red chile and served with beans and squash; and posole, a traditional corn hominy and pork stew.

All entrees come with oven bread, a traditional loaf baked in the adobe clay oven (also called a horno) on the center’s patio. The beehive-shaped horno was introduced by Spanish settlers, but quickly became a prominent feature in many Pueblo homes. The peasant-style bread with its crunchy exterior and soft interior is often served with creamy, sweet pinon butter made from locally-abundant pine nuts.

Read more about New Mexican cuisine over at BBC Travel!

Courtesy of BBC Travel
By Lindsey Galloway

At the Golden Crown Panaderia in Albuquerque, New Mexico, traditional Thanksgiving turkey is for the birds. Instead of serving the usual US holiday poultry feast, this neighborhood bakery sells bread loaves in the size and shape of an oven-roasted turkey.

(Photo: William Gruner)

A favorite among Tofurkey-shunning vegetarians — and those who prefer their dinner rolls with a little more character — the turkey loaves look almost exactly like the real thing. Sticklers for detail, father-son owners Pratt and Chris Morales sprinkle herbs and spices on the golden-brown loaf, and even substitute darker whole wheat flour for the “dark meat” wings and legs. Those who like a little extra heat with dinner can order the turkey bread made with New Mexico green chilli dough. Each loaf ranges from $35 to $45, depending on the type of dough used.

The Morales family has been baking up the turkey alternative since the late 1970s and makes hundreds each season. This year, they already have 245 loaves on order. While the turkey bread has been a best-seller, former accountant Pratt Morales has also molded castles, cacti and famous faces out of the humble peasant dough, and hopes to one day open a bread sculpture museum.

Holiday revelers can round out their Thanksgiving meal with New Mexico’s buttery state cookie, the anise- and cinnamon-flavored biscochitos, and a glass of cold-brew iced coffee served on tap, one of Chris Morales’ pet projects.  Once the Thanksgiving leftovers are long gone, order up a pizza baked on blue corn or green chile crust and topped with fresh vegetables grown in the bakery’s own hydroponic garden.

Find out why you should spend your winters in the desert over at BBC Travel!

Courtesy of BBC Travel
By Lindsey Galloway

Forget pumice stones and scrubs, fish are the new skin-smoother of choice at a growing number of spas worldwide.

First discovered in a thermal spring in Turkey, “nibble fish” or “doctor fish” suck away dry, dead skin with their toothless mouths, making them a favorite treatment among psoriasis and eczema patients. Since the temperature of their native hot springs does not allow for high levels of nutrients, the fish seek out human skin as an easy food source.

In the past few years, the specialized species have been exported to nearly every continent for use in “fish pedicures”, where about 150 carp chow down on a client’s feet for 15 to 30 minutes. The pedicures have become especially commonplace in Asia, with fish spas popping up everywhere from the Singapore Changi Airport to the Pavilion Mall in Kuala Lumpur.

As spa-goers become more adventurous, places like Wayan Village in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico (52-998-882-0789), Soothing Soles Fish Spa in Hertfordshire, UK, and Fisho Spa in Phuket, Thailand, are offering full-body treatments where 800 critters can nibble even those hard-to-reach places. Full-body tanks are often in full-view, so bathing suits are usually required.

Read about Thailand’s intense vegetarian festival!

Most providers sanitize the tanks with UV light or change the water after each treatment, but the fish themselves cannot be cleaned like more traditional spa tools, so some regions have questioned the safety of the practice. Several US states and Canadian provinces have banned fish pedicures , claiming the treatment is unsanitary and may spread infection, and the UK also launched an investigation into the possible health implications, though no official bans have been issued.

As for the rest of the world, business is going along just swimmingly.

Find out more about Thailand’s unexplored north at BBC Travel!

Courtesy of BBC Travel
By Tina Peng

Think of New Orleans cuisine, and you think of gumbo, jambalaya and mountains of crayfish. A burger stuffed with foie gras and served with truffled fries? Not so much. But with two recently opened gourmet burger joints — complete with secretly-sourced buns and homemade ketchup — and two more on the way, New Orleans is on the edge of a hamburger revolution.

“I think it’s going to be great,” said Adam Biderman, owner of the Company Burger, which should open its doors by April. “I think the more selection for the city, the better. We’ve got hundreds of po’boy shops. Why can’t we have burger shops vying for the same amount of attention?”

Celebrate New Orleans, from Mardi Gras to Jazz Fest

MVB
When the Magazine Street diner Slim Goodies shuts down on Sunday nights, MVB takes over its space to dish out a rotating list of milkshakes and burgers, including the Burger Benedict (with crispy pancetta, fried egg and hollandaise sauce), the Keep Austin Weird (with green chile puree and melted Mexican cheese) and the Knuckle Sandwich (with lobster meat, beurre fondue and remoulade sauce). “Each week, somebody had a meal, or somebody ate this, and we tried to see how we could turn it into a burger,” said partner Rene Louapre. In addition to adding creative toppings, the chefs grind and hand-form their own patties, cut their own fries and make their own ketchup.

MVB is currently a once-a-week pop-up, but it serves about 200 diners a night (5 pm to whenever they run out of burgers) and regularly sells out of burgers. There are plans to open a full restaurant “within the next couple of months”, Louapre said.

Cowbell
Owner Brack May’s original vision for this restaurant was a menu composed entirely of hamburgers named after Frank Zappa songs, at the kind of casual, family-friendly burger joint he used to love in his hometown of Menlo Park, California. He decided to diversify after learning that another burger restaurant would be opening up the street, but Cowbell‘s burger, an Angus blend served on buns from a top-secret distributor, is still its main event. It is served with a side of fries and aioli mayonnaise, and can be topped with a zinfandel, bacon and onion compote, or with smoked bacon and an egg.

The restaurant opened in mid-December and also offers shrimp quesadillas, macaroni and cheese and a barbecued ribeye.

(Photo: A cheeseburger at Cowbell shot by Tina Peng)

The Company Burger
Although owner Adam Biderman has mainly worked as a chef in upscale restaurants, he never envisioned white tablecloths and four-fork place settings for himself. And when he started brainstorming restaurant ideas, he realized that everywhere he has worked, “all we talked about was where the best burger was”, Biderman said. “That’s all we wanted to do after we got out of work – eat a hamburger.”

When the restaurant opens this spring, Biderman’s burgers will feature all-natural beef served with homemade ketchup and pickles on specialty buns. He is even experimenting with homemade waffle fries. “You try to make everything other than the American cheese and the red onions.”

His goal is to have the Company Burger open before New Orleans’ annual Jazz & Heritage Festival (29 April to 8 May). “Why not throw my hat into the mix?” he asked. “You don’t have to be the first [to the trend], but it’s good to be the best.”

Tru Burger

After realizing the popularity of the hamburger on the lunch menu at New Orleans’ Patois, Leon Touzet and his business partners there decided to open a freestanding burger joint, with a plan to start serving in early March. Touzet, like Biderman, is aware he will not be a patty pioneer, but said he and his partners will grind their own meat and find “the perfect bun”.

They spent months agonizing over a name for their spin-off eatery, handing out cards to Patois diners, with the promise of a $100 tab for whoever came up with the best suggestion. For a while, Touzet said, the bad ideas far outnumbered the good ones; in the end, his brother (and partner) came up with Tru Burger (8150 Oak Street).

Find out why New Orleans is called the “City of the Dead.”

Courtesy of BBC Travel
By Sunshine Flint

For all that New Orleans means to her residents, to tourists and to the repeat visitor, from jazz revivals to Greek Revival architecture, it is the city’s uniqueness within the modern United States that make it so exotically appealing. You may not need a passport to get here from the rest of the country, but you certainly can expect a change in latitude — and attitude. Let the good times roll.

What is it known for?
Beignets, beads and Bourbon Street, Mardi Gras, Mississippi mud pie and Creole cuisine, and sadly now Hurricane Katrina. That disaster cut the city’s population in half and displaced a larger proportion of the black population than the white, due to the city’s poorer neighbourhoods taking the brunt of the flooding. However, now the city has returned to three-quarters of its pre-Katrina population. And tourism is flourishing.

The magic of New Orleans is that its pace is tied to Old Man River, the Mississippi that just keeps rolling along. The Creole culture, mixed with Irish and Italian, means spectacular restaurants and inventive cuisine. The jazz tradition, from Preservation Hall to hole-in-the-wall clubs, attracts famous musicians and music lovers from around the world. The New Orleans Museum of Art and the National WWII Museum make the city a cultural hub for the Gulf South. But it is the people of New Orleans that give the place its soul and true joy.

Where do you want to live?
The areas that remain strongly popular are the historic districts, which became known as “the silver on the river” after they did not flood in Katrina. The land they are on is only a few feet above sea level, but it was enough. These districts include Bywater, Garden District and St Charles Avenue, the French Quarter, Faubourg Marigny and the Irish Channel area. “New Orleans is a city of neighbourhoods,” said Sterling Joe Ory, ex-officio of the New Orleans Metropolitan Association of Realtors. “The market is like the weather — it’s rarely raining everywhere.” The historic district market is currently brisk, according to Ory, who said they attract the large influx of young professionals who have moved to the city.

New Orleans has a unique mix of housing characteristics where affordable houses are cheek-by-jowl with wealthier blocks, and 19th-century architecture spans different price ranges. Some people are attracted to fixer-uppers or condo units in converted grand Victorian homes. “Even our slums are Greek Revival, so bargains are out there,” said Ory. But rentals are not. The inventory is very scarce at the moment and there are fewer places for rent than for sale.

Find out more about living in New Orleans over at BBC Travel!

Courtesy of BBC Travel
By Tina Peng

Since the 1970s, the vibrant community of New Orleans East has been home to what some say is the densest concentration of Vietnamese people outside Vietnam.

Located in the city’s Ninth Ward, the Vietnamese enclave is hidden in the city’s outlying neighborhoods, about a 15-minute drive from the French Quarter and other, more tourist-friendly areas. Because of that, residents and visitors seeking authentic pho or lemongrass grilled chicken have generally had to hop in a car to get their fix.

But in recent years, Vietnamese cuisine started moving into the city proper, as New Orleans residents grow increasingly health-conscious and restaurateurs trade in cream-soaked, deep-fried cuisine for spring rolls and broth-based soups. The Vietnamese MagasinCafe even opened on trendy Magazine Street in mid-February.

The Vietnamese Kitchen at the Lost Love Lounge
The LostLoveLounge, a bar in the city’s bohemian Marigny neighbourhood, features occasional stand-up comedy nights and spelling bees – and has a permanent Vietnamese restaurant in the back. Owner Bill Walker, who opened the lounge in 2010, said the informally named restaraunt (formally known as Pho King) was born from a desire to do something different in a neighbourhood saturated by traditional New Orleans food, and to attract the influx of younger, more progressive residents – some of whom are vegan and vegetarian. Instead of traditional bar fare like wings and french fries, the kitchen makes fresh stock for vegan, chicken and beef pho every day, and offers a variety of other traditional Vietnamese stews, banh mi, spring rolls and noodle salads, many of which are vegan-friendly.

Le Viet Café
When Kim Le opened Le Viet Café (2135 St Charles Avenue; 504-304-1339) in December 2011, she specifically chose to do so in the city’s uptown area, which suffered from a death of Vietnamese restaurants. “We have a lot of Chinese, Japanese, American and French food [here], but not Vietnamese,” Le said.  Le comes from generations of experience – her family has owned restaurants in the area since 1979 – but most served heavily-fried seafood. This is the first time she has experimented with her native Vietnamese cuisine, which emphasizes grilled meats and tofu.

So far, it seems to be catching on: “A lot of people come in for the first time and don’t know what it’s about, but they’ll try because it’s different, it’s exotic, it’s very healthy,” she said. “And they really like it. We have regulars already.”

Tan Dinh
Located across the Mississippi River, in Gretna, Louisiana, Tan Dinh (1705 Lafayette Street; 504-361-8008) has always drawn a primarily Vietnamese crowd. When the restaurant opened in 2006, more than two-thirds of its clientele was Asian, according to manager Phat Vu. These days, a more diverse crowd sits down to dinner — only about half of Tan Dinh’s customers are Asian — and more New Orleans natives and tourists are pouring in, attracted by how waistline-friendly Vietnamese cuisine can be, as well as by the opportunity to try an unfamiliar menu that is still fairly heavy on local seafood. “Our soup is light and healthy,” Vu said. “It doesn’t have cream like lots of people are used to. People are more conscious of their health nowadays, and that’s helped a lot.”

Celebrate New Orleans from Mardi Gras to Jazz Fest!

Courtesy of BBC Travel

By Sarah Kliff

With its lush gardens and picture-perfect landscapes, it is no wonder that the island of Kauai is best known as Hawaii’s “Garden Isle”. The beautiful vistas lure a steady stream of tourists, not to mention movie directors – Gilligan’s Island, Jurassic Park and, most recently, the latest installment of Pirates of the Caribbean have all used the island as a natural backdrop.

But in recent years, Kauai has also quietly developed into a prime destination for adventure seekers. From Hawaii’s largest ziplining course to a 100ft waterfall that can only be reached by kayak, a trip to Kauai can be as much about adrenaline as it is about relaxation.

How to choose the right Hawaiian island for your trip!

One of the best ways to see the island’s natural beauty is by ziplining across the lush, rolling hills and verdant valleys that dominate the southeast corner. Kauai Backcountry Adventures runs the largest ziplining course on the island; some of the lines are are among the longest in North America. The four-hour tour has visitors soaring as high as 250 feet above 17,000 acres of former plantation land and over a dense canopy of bright, green trees. The seven-line course zigzags down to a base camp, where Backcountry Adventures provides lunch and a chance to cool down in a nearby fresh-water swimming hole.

For those who prefer to travel by boat, Wailua Kayak Adventures and Kayak Wailua offer tours that begin with a slow, two-mile paddle down the calm Wailua River, pass an old Hawaiian village along the banks and end in the middle of a tropical rain forest. From there, it is a relatively easy, mile-long hike, following the rumbling sounds of gushing water, to the 100ft-tall Secret Falls.

Adventurous travellers can swim under the waterfall via a natural swimming hole at the bottom of the falls. Otherwise, the surrounding rocks offer the perfect place to picnic with a view.

On the north side of the island, Waimea Canyon is often nicknamed the “Grand Canyon of the West”. Stretching one mile wide and 3,600ft deep, the Waimea is full of hiking trails with panoramic views. Stop by the Kokee Natural History Museum and Visitor Center, near mile marker 15 on Kokee Road, to purchase a complete hiking map.

One of the most scenic treks starts with a drive to the Kalalau Lookout, slightly past the visitor’s centre. The top-down view of the canyon looks like something from the set of Jurassic Park, with cliffs that jut out into the Pacific Ocean. Starting there, a hiking trail traces the canyon’s edge, a great way to combine 360-degree views with a bit of exercise. The trail, just under two miles, continues to a second lookout point. It gets a bit steep and rocky at some points but is generally well-maintained.

In southern Kauai, locals know the place for body boarding is Brennecke’s Beach, a small inlet at the tip of Poipu Beach Park that attracts monster waves. There are a few spots for snorkelling and swimming, but the farther off shore you go, the closer to surfing territory you get.

A short walk away, Poipu Beach offers a natural, oceanic wading pool and towering palm trees.  It is the perfect respite for rest and relaxation once the adrenaline rush subsides.

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