West Africa Responsible Tourism Conference MBOKA 2009. 3 - 5 December 2009, Dakar, Senegal

From the 3^rd – 5^th December 2009, the “Association of Small Scale Enterprises in Tourism” (ASSET) in The Gambia and the “National Organisation for Tourism Integration in Senegal” (ONITS) in Senegal will be presenting the 3rd edition of the Senegambia Tourism Fair MBOKA 2009. This is a unique opportunity to showcase and promote the Senegambian Tourism Industry to an international audience.

Tourism is playing an increasingly important part in the development of the sub-Saharan region, not only in economic terms but also in the preservation of their rich cultural heritage and their environment. To develop tourism and indeed the whole economy along sustainable guidelines the Senegambia tourism industry has taken into consideration socio-economic, environmental and economic principles.

For this edition of MBOKA 2009, the organisers have decided on the theme of “Women Entrepreneurship”. Daouda Niang, director at ASSET explains: “Women play an ever increasing active part in developing our economy and to foster and promote this trend, this years’ Fair has been themed accordingly”.

He adds: “Tourism must be seen as an important and integral sector of the economic development of our country – all sectors of industry are inter-linked and benefit from a thriving tourist trade”.

This stance towards sustainable economic development through sustainable tourism is a beacon for the rest of the West African region pointing towards what can be achieved through sustainable means. This being, other countries may just follow suit to make West Africa the next destination for the responsible tourist looking for new horizons, awe-inspiring experiences and learning opportunities whilst giving them the option to give back to the destination they visit.

Visit the Senegambia Travel Market website for more information on MBOKA 2009.

Please visit www.westafricadiscovery.com for more information on our web portal.

Luanda: World's Most Expensive City

The capital city of Angola, Luanda,  recently snatched the title of "most expensive city" away from better-known capitals such as London, Oslo and Tokyo, according to a number of international surveys. The survey measured the cost of food, basic items including drinks and tobacco, and other costs such as clothing and electrical goods.  A liter of imported milk is $5 and a can of locally produced Coke is $.90.

The tide of petrodollars surging into the once sleepy port has widened the gulf of disparity between the rich and the poor in the city and moreso in the whole country. More than three-quarters of Luanda's residents, nearly four million people, live in the informal settlements, and these are grim. Most have no sanitation services; people must buy water from tanker trucks for nearly $1 a bucket. Infant and maternal mortality rates are some of the worst in the world. Many of the slums have no schools; when they do, they lack teachers, desks and books.

What has risen most significantly is the cost of real estate. For sale in a mediocre neighbourhood of Luanda: pokey two-bedroom apartment in a Soviet-style 1960s apartment block, fourteenth floor, elevator last operated in 1990, erratic plumbing, no maintenance in the past 22 years. Asking $300,000 (U.S.) And that's about all you're going to get in Luanda for $300,000: any new one-bedroom apartment in this city starts at $1-million. (The Globe and Mail, September 9, 2009)

The rising cost of goods and land in Luanda directly impacts church activities.  More and more new and growing congregations are being pushed to the outer limits of the city in a quest to afford the rising cost of land.   Bare land that has been secured comes with the government caveat that a church building must be erected in certain period of time or else the land must be forfeited.  These are challenging, yet faith-building times for the Angolan Church.

Amazing Tilt-Shift Video of Swiss Landscape and Trains

Some of you, amateur world photographers, have probably heard about "tilt-shift" photography. It's a special technique, which allows you to focus only on specific parts of the picture, to emphasize its particularity. And the results, well - you can see an amazing example here:

First time I saw it, I thought: "Hey, those are toy trains!" and I bet I'm not the only one to think this way.
The truth is, this is a photo of a real train made using the "tilt-shift" technique.

This movie project is particularly interesting - it's all about beautiful Swiss countryside (villages of Sisikon and Göschenen) and its magnificent, legendary trains. If you had any doubts whether you should visit Switzerland and take a ride - I think the short movie below might be a nudge in the right direction for you. it is a project filmed by Andi Leemann and Jeri Peier (if you're interested in technicalities: they used two EOS 5D Mark II cameras, a Canon 90mm TS-E f/2.8 and a Canon TS-E 24mm f/3.5 combined with a 1.4x converter, woohoo!).


And now, sit back and enjoy the amazing views of Swiss Trains from an amazing perspective:

gottardo nord from fb1 visuals on Vimeo.

Hope you like it as much as I do :)

Source: http://www.geeksaresexy.net/

Rising of the Angolan Church - Video

The story of how the Angolan Church has endured and grown through many years of a brutal civil war is amazing! Check out this video below made by SIM (another mission agency working in Angola) which outlines how the evangelical church in Angola has persevered and is once again growing in this new age of transition. Enjoy!