Where in the World Is Niuatoputapu?
April 20, 2004Mike Messick, April 2004
Tahiti, Bora Bora, Fiji, and the Marquesas have come to symbolize romantic Polynesia; a simple mention of their names conveys images of tropical paradises familiar to Western travelers through Gauguin's paintings, Melville's and Michener's writings, a Broadway musical, and numerous Hollywood films.
Certainly they are an essential part of any South Pacific expedition, but travelers who limit themselves to those shores catch only a narrow glimpse of Polynesia's wide spectrum. For a full appreciation, one must explore the variety of archipelagoes and islands that lies along the region's southern and western limits. These destinations -- the Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, and Wallis and Futuna -- are perhaps only specks when set against the whole of the South Pacific, but each is distinct and varied in its culture, history, and natural abundance.
The twin pleasures of leading expeditions are discovering a region's unique qualities, the hidden anchorages, little-known islands, and pristine underwater sites, that give a voyage its identity, and then sharing these with travelers. In October I look forward to taking you to some of Polynesia's lesser-known wonders:
The Cook Islands
The Cook Islands are in many ways a microcosm of the entire region, replete with fertile islands, atolls, isolated peoples, and stunning bird and marine life.
On last year's expedition we experienced the quintessence of the South Pacific during our first landfall in this archipelago. As we rode Zodiacs through the turquoise waters surrounding Atiu Island, the morning light revealed native women arrayed on either side of our landing site, blowing conch shells to herald our arrival, young men accompanying them on slit-drums. You could not ask for a more perfect Polynesian moment.
Niue
At roughly 100 square miles, Niue is both one of the world's largest raised coral islands and one of its smallest self-governing states. It is also one of the South Pacific's best-kept secrets. In a region of omnipresent physical beauty, Niue stands out. A coral reef nearly encircles the island, which has an unusual, tiered shape, having twice uplifted from the sea. Limestone cliffs form the coastline; above them another set of cliffs rises to a central plateau. The resulting chasms and caves offer hours of exploration for the adventurous visitor. Stunning primary and secondary-growth forests drape much of the island, and orchids, frangipani, and bougainvillea provide a backdrop for Niue's birdlife. Offshore, snorkelers and divers have the opportunity to spot katuali, the rare black-and-gray-striped sea snakes that ply the clear waters surrounding the island.
Tonga
From the uplifted limestone Vava'u Archipelago to volcanic Niuatoputapu and Niuafo'ou, the islands of Tonga offer a greater geological diversity than any other Pacific nation. Niuafo'ou is so remote and inaccessible, it is largely unknown even to Tongans. We'll land on its black-lava beach and hike inland to a sulfur-rich crater lake, hoping to spy the rare endemic megapode, a bird that incubates its eggs in the warm volcanic ash. How rare is this species? Peter Harrison, in a lifetime traveling the globe studying birds, finally saw his first mega-pode on last year's voyage.
Wallis and Futuna
Although they are collectively an overseas territory of France, the islands of Wallis and Futuna are more different from each other than they are similar. Volcanic eruptions formed Wallis, a barrier reef island, whereas Futuna was uplifted from the sea. Wallis possesses excellent archeological sites, but a population that reflects a more Western influence in its buildings and customs. Futunans tend to follow more traditional ways, still observing the nightly kava ritual. Our time here will reveal how disparate societies can arise even in proximity to each other.
A Return to Madagascar
April 20, 2004Ian Tattersall, April 2004
Paleoanthropologist and primatologist Ian Tattersall, who conducted extensive fieldwork in Madagascar, will be a member of the lecture team on our inaugural Indian Ocean Safari expedition, which begins 12 February 2005, on board Le Ponant. Here he explains why this itinerary holds special meaning for him.
I was delighted to be asked to accompany this voyage, not only because it begins and ends in places (the islands of Reunion and Zanzibar) for which I have long nourished a special affection, but most of all because it will give us a very unusual taste of what is for me the most fascinating place on earth: the vast mini-continent of Madagascar, the world's largest oceanic island. It is by now well over 30 years since I began my love affair with Madagascar, but I still discover something new on every visit there.
One hundred and sixty-five million years ago, Madagascar was part of the vast southern continent of Gondwana, with which it shared an ancient flora and fauna. But at that point Gondwana began to fragment into what we know today as South America, Africa, India, Antarctica, and Australia, as its components began to drift apart. By about 120 million years ago Madagascar was as far away from Africa as it is today, and as a result of the island's isolation its living inhabitants were launched along an independent evolutionary trajectory. It has been said that, in Madagascar it is as if the river of evolution burst its banks and flowed to the present down an entirely different course.
My particular fascination in Madagascar is with the lemurs: distant primate cousins of humans and a window into our own remote past of about 60 million years ago. These creatures exist only in Madagascar, but are there in amazing variety, including several creatures that are my particular candidates for the title of "world's most beautiful animal." Our ports of call along the island's east coast will give us a fascinating glimpse of the teeming life of the eastern rain forests, as well as of a little-visited coastline whose colorful history has involved seafarers from Indonesia, Arab traders, Betsimisaraka princesses, and assorted pirates, explorers, and adventurers.
Most of Madagascar's coastal rain forest is now gone, since humans began the ongoing process of clearing the island about two thousand years ago. But one tiny forest remnant hangs on, miraculously preserved as a sacred place to the local Malagasy people. This is Tampolo, a magical place that recently became twinned with the Lemur Conservation Foundation's (LCF) reserve at Myakka City in Florida. The LCF is solely devoted to the conservation and understanding of the lemurs of Madagascar, and recently financed the building of a site museum at Tampolo. This resource is designed to help the local people appreciate and thus protect the unique nature that surrounds them. We will visit this forest from the sea, arriving exactly as did the early explorers who first discovered Madagascar's wealth of natural history.
Another highlight for me along the island's eastern coast will be our call at Vohemar, which is the jumping-off place for Daraina, a site where I discovered a new kind of lemur back in 1974. A decade after I saw it and first reported its presence here, this immensely attractive animal, the golden-crowned sifaka, received the scientific name Propithecus tattersalli. It is highly unusual nowadays to discover, anywhere in the world, a new kind of large-bodied and day-active primate. But Madagascar is just that kind of place: a spot where the new, bizarre, and unexpected lurk around almost every corner.
This itinerary on Le Ponant thus promises an incessant round of discoveries and new delights to all its participants, whether or not they have previously explored this part of the world. I look forward very much to sharing these experiences with you.
The Lemur Conservation Foundation
The lemurs of Madagascar are the world's oldest surviving primates. These prosimians, protected by isolation and the lack of predators, thrived on the island and today number 32 different species. With the arrival of humans roughly two millennia ago, the existence of the lemurs became more precarious. Seventeen species have gone extinct in that span from habitat loss and hunting, with many others considered endangered or critically endangered.
Founded in 1996, the Lemur Conservation Foundation (LCF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and conservation of lemurs through captive breeding, nonharmful scientific research, education, and reintroduction of lemurs to the wild. To these ends, the LCF operates the Myakka City Lemur Reserve in Florida, home to a small colony of lemurs. The LCF concentrates its efforts on so-called orphan species, lemurs that other conservation programs choose not to propagate. The foundation also works with a multinational effort in Madagascar and is officially allied with Tampolo Forest Station, one of the last remaining areas of coastal forest on Madagascar's eastern shore.
For more information on the LCF and their mission, visit their Web site at www.lemurreserve.org, call them at (941) 322-8494, or write them at P.O. Box 249, Myakka City, FL 34251.
The Dalmatian Coast
April 19, 2004 | Tags: EuropeThe unparalleled number of civilizations that rose in the Mediterranean resulted in a melding of cultures greater than anywhere else on earth. Today the region draws travelers interested in art, culture, and history. Yet, while many travelers revel in the better-known glories of the Mediterranean -- Venice, Crete, Athens -- few avail themselves of an exploration of the Dalmatian Coast, an area that, along with possessing treasures to match any others found in the Mediterranean, perfectly displays how settlement, conquest, and trade inform a society.
Comprising the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea from Rijeka in the north to Dubrovnik in the south, the Dalmatian Coast is one of the most visually striking areas in Europe. Rugged limestone cliffs rise abruptly from the sea; medieval towns, built from the rock of their surroundings, blend into the landscape in a way not seen elsewhere on the continent.
Approaching from the Adriatic, a traveler can easily comprehend why so many peoples coveted and fought over these protected sites. Around the sixth century B.C., Illyrian tribal groups, famed as warriors and closely related to Alexander and his Macedonians, lived throughout Dalmatia. With the rise of the Roman Empire, the region became the source of many of the famed Praetorian Guards and leaders of the army. As a result, Roman ruins dot the coast, and in the city of Split one finds the remnants of the palace erected by the tyrannical emperor Diocletian -- one of the best examples of Roman palaces in Europe.
One can also understand the role geography played in shaping Dalmatian society. The coast lay directly between the Byzantine Empire, with its distinct art, architecture, and culture, and the Western Roman Empire. The divide between the empires, and also the eastern (Orthodox) and western (Catholic) churches, is roughly today's border of Dalmatia and Montenegro. In medieval times Dalmatian cities thrived through trade with North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and Egypt, Byzantium and its Ottoman successor state, as well as various Italian states. Most important of these was the wealthy and powerful city-state of Venice, which left an indelible mark on many towns and villages, making the coast one of the gems of Venetian culture. Indeed, today if you wish to see the finest examples of a medieval Venetian town, you need to go to Dalmatia.
None of the various powers that held sway over Dalmatia ever truly eradicated those that came before it. Rather, a fusion form of art, architecture, and costume evolved as each culture added to previous cultures' contributions. Travelers can see a unique form of art that mixed icons style, with its gold-tile backgrounds, with Renaissance styles of painting. In Split we see how later rulers created a major Christian cultural center amid structures erected by the Romans.
The Ottomans introduced intricate forms of silver jewelry and weaving patterns, spurred by the Dalmatians' fascination with the splendor of Istanbul. Sephardic Jews, invited by the Ottomans to settle in the Balkans, contributed the famous scroll embroidery seen in clothing worn in the region. Traditional garments may be the single best visible example of Dalmatia's cultural mix. You can see Croatian, Venetian, North African, Ottoman Turkish, and Sephardic Jewish influences in a single costume.
Finally, in Dalmatia, history isn't something we see only in museums and preserved sites; it's a vital force, one whose influence is manifest in everyday lives. Walks through old town centers are delights in themselves. These old towns are still the homes of ordinary local people. The streets and alleys are more suited for donkeys than for cars, and in many, cars are banned. As one walks these streets, one encounters old inns, shops, wells, fountains, churches, and, of course, local people. The past and the present continue to meld; in the squares and narrow streets one frequently encounters elderly citizens, dressed in black, watching their grandchildren, in modern colorful dress, play.
The Dalmatian Coast is part of our September Mediterranean Under Sail: Crete to Venice expedition, which you can combine with our Istanbul to Crete departure. Call or e-mail our office for more information.
Insider's Choice: Jungle Rivers of South America
April 19, 2004 | Tags: AmericasThe forests and rivers of South America have long enthralled the human imagination, luring explorers and settlers, stirring writers and artists, and inspiring naturalists and conservationists. And, for the adventure traveler, any shortlist of essential destinations must include the Amazon. Even repeated visits cannot lessen this pull; I've made any number of journeys down the Amazon over the past 25 years, and am still greatly excited to return in March aboard Jungle Rivers of South America.
Much of this anticipation stems from the region's renowned biodiversity. The Amazon basin contains nearly one-fifth of the world's bird species, roughly 30 monkey species, 1,800 types of butterflies, and more species of fish than the entire Atlantic Ocean.
At best, these sorts of numbers can only hint at the extravagance of life that will surround us, not just on the Amazon, but also on the other three, very distinct, rivers on our itinerary. Where some travel firms might offer trips to the Amazon, our exploration of that river marks only the beginning of our expedition. From there we proceed to the Suriname, Essequibo, and Orinoco.
As we negotiate the narrow waterways aboard ship or on Zodiac excursions, the only sounds we'll hear will be howls, chirps, hoots, and calls of the wildlife flying through the trees, lurking in the shallows, or nesting in the undergrowth. One moment, a bright blue-yellow flash will signal the arrival of a flock of macaws; in the next instant, movement in the rain forest canopy will draw your attention to a troop of howler monkeys crashing through the treetops. Perhaps you'll spy a half-submerged caiman regarding you as you drift among five-foot-wide Victoria lilies or see a silky anteater or agouti moving through the tangled fauna.
Jungle Rivers also presents an opportunity to experience one of the world's premier scenic marvels, the Essequibo's Kaieteur Falls. Over the years, I've seen every notable waterfall on the planet, and for me, Kaieteur beats them all. A few falls are wider, a very few taller, but none is more spectacular. Kaieteur truly commands the landscape as it drops 741 feet down granite cliffs in a brilliant cascade.
Also, I have never worked with a better or more qualified team of naturalists than the one we've assembled for the March departure. Among them is Jonathan Rossouw. Highly experienced, Jonathan has worked as a resident guide and conducted ornithological surveys in the South American rain forest. Clive Byers, one of Britain's celebrated bird artists and an authority on Neotropical birds, will also be with us. Like Jonathan, Clive is an all-around expert. I doubt there's a species that flies, climbs, crawls, or slithers that they can't instantly identify and expound upon.
We designed this expedition to speak to the explorer in you. Join us as we discover the compendium of wildlife scattered through one of the world's most incredible ecosystems.
Where in the World Is Niuatoputapu?
April 19, 2004 | Tags: OceaniaMike Messick, April 2004
Tahiti, Bora Bora, Fiji, and the Marquesas have come to symbolize romantic Polynesia; a simple mention of their names conveys images of tropical paradises familiar to Western travelers through Gauguin's paintings, Melville's and Michener's writings, a Broadway musical, and numerous Hollywood films.
Certainly they are an essential part of any South Pacific expedition, but travelers who limit themselves to those shores catch only a narrow glimpse of Polynesia's wide spectrum. For a full appreciation, one must explore the variety of archipelagoes and islands that lies along the region's southern and western limits. These destinations -- the Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, and Wallis and Futuna -- are perhaps only specks when set against the whole of the South Pacific, but each is distinct and varied in its culture, history, and natural abundance.
The twin pleasures of leading expeditions are discovering a region's unique qualities, the hidden anchorages, little-known islands, and pristine underwater sites, that give a voyage its identity, and then sharing these with travelers. In October I look forward to taking you to some of Polynesia's lesser-known wonders:
The Cook Islands
The Cook Islands are in many ways a microcosm of the entire region, replete with fertile islands, atolls, isolated peoples, and stunning bird and marine life.
On last year's expedition we experienced the quintessence of the South Pacific during our first landfall in this archipelago. As we rode Zodiacs through the turquoise waters surrounding Atiu Island, the morning light revealed native women arrayed on either side of our landing site, blowing conch shells to herald our arrival, young men accompanying them on slit-drums. You could not ask for a more perfect Polynesian moment.
Niue
At roughly 100 square miles, Niue is both one of the world's largest raised coral islands and one of its smallest self-governing states. It is also one of the South Pacific's best-kept secrets. In a region of omnipresent physical beauty, Niue stands out. A coral reef nearly encircles the island, which has an unusual, tiered shape, having twice uplifted from the sea. Limestone cliffs form the coastline; above them another set of cliffs rises to a central plateau. The resulting chasms and caves offer hours of exploration for the adventurous visitor. Stunning primary and secondary-growth forests drape much of the island, and orchids, frangipani, and bougainvillea provide a backdrop for Niue's birdlife. Offshore, snorkelers and divers have the opportunity to spot katuali, the rare black-and-gray-striped sea snakes that ply the clear waters surrounding the island.
Tonga
From the uplifted limestone Vava'u Archipelago to volcanic Niuatoputapu and Niuafo'ou, the islands of Tonga offer a greater geological diversity than any other Pacific nation. Niuafo'ou is so remote and inaccessible, it is largely unknown even to Tongans. We'll land on its black-lava beach and hike inland to a sulfur-rich crater lake, hoping to spy the rare endemic megapode, a bird that incubates its eggs in the warm volcanic ash. How rare is this species? Peter Harrison, in a lifetime traveling the globe studying birds, finally saw his first mega-pode on last year's voyage.
Wallis and Futuna
Although they are collectively an overseas territory of France, the islands of Wallis and Futuna are more different from each other than they are similar. Volcanic eruptions formed Wallis, a barrier reef island, whereas Futuna was uplifted from the sea. Wallis possesses excellent archeological sites, but a population that reflects a more Western influence in its buildings and customs. Futunans tend to follow more traditional ways, still observing the nightly kava ritual. Our time here will reveal how disparate societies can arise even in proximity to each other.