Kenya wildlife starve through drought

Global Post reports on how Kenya's drought is affecting not only the people but also the wildlife.

Ten Rare white rhinos (picture right) were moved from drought-stricken Lake Nakuru National Park and released at Nairobi NP, but they are among the lucky survivors

“This is the third year without rain so all the grass is gone. What we’re left with is a barren land of carcasses,” Cynthia Moss (a renowned conservationist who studies the elephants of Kenya’s Amboseli National Park) told GlobalPost.

Moss said this year’s drought is about as bad as she has known in 37 years of researching Amboseli’s elephants. “We had very bad droughts in '76, '84 and 2000 but this is the worst I’ve seen. The old Maasai — the wazee — say it hasn’t been this bad since the 1960s.”

Read the full story: Drought hits Kenya's wildlife

Photo by Thomas Mukoya / Reuters

National Park trip planner website online now

National Parks Traveler reports on the new National Park Service website that will enable travelers to plan their next trip.

Dubbed Plan Your Visit to America's Best Idea (Your National Parks): Fall, Winter, Spring 2009-2010, the site provides a rundown of events and activities at the parks for the fall, winter and spring months. It also provides some tips, such as where to get the right pass for the parks, a suggestion that you stop at visitor centers and ask rangers questions, and, naturally, a suggestion that you visit www.nps.gov before you leave home to gather more information on the park of your choice.

Read the full story: National Park Service launches new website

Photo from National Park Service

Man-made noise is threat to animals; report

BBC Earth News reports on the study that shows how man-made noise torments animals.

Sounds produced by vehicles, oil and gas fields and urban sprawl interfere with the way animals communicate, mate and prey on one another.

The sounds are becoming so ubiquitous that they may threaten biodiversity, say the review's authors.

Even the animals living in protected National Parks in the US are being exposed to chronic levels of noise.

Writing in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, three scientists based in Fort Collins, Colorado, US detail the extent to which noise pollution is now harming wild animals.

Read the full story: Noise pollution threatens animals

Photo by Dietmar Nill / NPL

Madagascar lemurs and forests decimated by gangs

New Scientist reports on the rampant bush meat and illegal logging trades currently happening in Madagascar.

This African island's legendary lemurs and other animals as well as its forests are under threat by loggers and poachers after a March coup that ousted the former president reports the magazine.

In August, Conservation International reported that 15 bushmeat traders, contracted by a restaurant, were arrested carrying hundreds of endangered lemurs, which had been killed and roasted. "This happened in one of the country's best managed parks," says Edward Louis, a conservation biologist at the Omaha Zoo, who has been working in Madagascar for a decade. "If it's happening there, I can't begin to imagine what is happening elsewhere."

Read the full story: Madagascar biodiversity under threat as gangs run wild

Photo from Madagasikara Voakajy a capacity building project

Alaska polar bear sightseeing rise

USA Today reports on Alaska's boom in polar bear tourism.

It's not hard to understand the allure of these giant white bears. Regal and majestic, but also somehow cuddly, there is a natural magnetism that draws us. Add the sense that their future is in doubt, and it translates into heightened public interest in seeing bears. Worldwide, there are 19 known polar bear populations, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Two are in Alaska— the other is in the Chukchi Sea on the western coast.

In May 2008, the polar bear was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act after research indicated the sea ice vital to the bears' existence is declining. The decline is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

Read the full story: Polar bear tourism booms on Alaska's North Slope

Photo by Steve Amstrup / U.S. Fish and Wild Life Service

Idaho fall nature pics

The Idaho Statesman has a gorgeous photo gallery of flowers and animals (like this trout taken by Roger Phillips) abundant around this time of year.

Check out the gallery here: 2009 Natural Wonders

Biking "world's most dangerous road" Boliva

Bolivia is a mountainous country that boasts the "world's most dangerous road." Of course now there are many adventure bike tours over that road.

Watch an interesting video about this:

Drive through and create power

Reuters video reports on a New Jersey fast food drive-thru that is helping to test an energy capturing prototype.

New Energy Technologies Inc. is testing a new kinetic energy capturing device that looks like a speed bump at a Hillside, New Jersey Burger King. When cars slow down to go over the Motion Power bump, energy is captured and can be used to power the restaurant.

Watch the video below:

More deer hit by NC cars; study

The Charlotte Observer reports that more deer are being hit by cars now that man is encroaching on their habitat.

A new study shows deer-related crashes reported to police hit a high last year in Mecklenburg and across the state, as new residents and increasing development gobble up habitat.

Rapid growth across the state also means fewer places to hunt - still the most effective way to cull the deer population, said Jon Shaw, an N.C. Wildlife Commission biologist in charge of Mecklenburg and nine other western counties.

The above photo shows a deer just before it's hit by the Google Street View car.

Read the full story: It's wild: wrecks due to deer have surged in North Carolina

Photo from Computer Weekly

Hike in Swiss Alps, see climate change

BBC video reports on climate change hikes in the Swiss Alps.

A Swiss resort is offering climate change hiking trips to show the changes in the landscape scientists say are the result of global warming.

Mobile phones with GPS show the area as it once was, but melting and retreating glaciers have caused huge changes to the area - not least flooding and landslides.

Imogen Foulkes reports from the Swiss resort of Grindelwald.

Click to watch the video: Climate change hikes in Alps

Waterfall snaps

CNN's iReport's latest travel picture submissions were of some spectacular waterfalls.

Inspired by this we at Ecotravel News found the artist Olafur Eliasson's waterfall installation under New York's Brooklyn Bridge.

Click here for all the CNN waterfall pictures

Photo is Artist rendering: Olafur Eliasson - Courtesy Public Art Fund/Handout/Reuters

Australia koalas dying of stress

The Seattle Times reports that koalas are dying of stress-related disease.

The iconic Australian marsupials are being crowded out of their native forests by human populations; and with this comes stress.

The stress is bringing out a latent disease that infects 50 to 90 percent of the animals.

The problem came to national attention in August, when the well-known Sam the Koala (picture above) died during surgery to treat the disease, called chlamydia. Sam captured the world's attention during major wildfires in February, when she was photographed drinking from the water bottle of a firefighter in a smoldering forest.

Chlamydiosis is a virus that breaks out in koalas in times of stress - like cold sores in humans - and leads to infections in the eyes and urinary, reproductive and respiratory tracts. It can cause blindness, infertility and death.

Read the full story: Stress-related disease killing off Australia's koalas

Photo by Mark Pardew / AP

10 best American hikes

Conde Nast Traveler compiles their list of America's 10 best hikes.

Among their recommendations are:

New Hampshire's Presidential Traverse (picture right) that "strings together the seven summits named for U.S. presidents in New Hampshire's White Mountains."

Angels Landing in Utah's Zion National Park where hikers get gorgeous high views but must pass over extremely steep sandstone with the help of permanently bolted-in chains.

Read the full story: America's best hikes

Photo from concierge.com

Wash State trail is "classic"

USA Today reports on Washington State's Olympic National Park High Divide Trail, calling it a "classic."

The 18.2-mile wilderness loop on the Olympic Mountains' northwest side is a sampler of what the park has to offer: old-growth forest, river canyons and waterfalls, subalpine meadows, a high, rugged basin dotted by peaceful lakes, views of Mount Olympus and other peaks — nearly everything but the park's ocean beaches and rain forests. You won't be lonely — it's justifiably popular as one of the Pacific Northwest's classic backpacking trips — but there's more than enough room to be off by yourself.

Read the full story: Olympic National Park's High Divide Trail is a Pacific Northwest classic

Photo By George Tibbits, AP Photo

Ride the rails on the "10 greatest" train trips

ABC News.com reports on 10 of the "world's greatest train journeys."

Among the journeys is the number 7: Hejaz Jordan Railway (picture right) through Syria and Jordan where "you'll be off rattling along tracks built by the Ottomans, through dusty red countryside, little towns and under tunnels through towering gray mountains."

Also on the list is Switzerland's Glacier Express (that we at Ecotravel News have been on and highly recommend for beautiful mountain scenery), The Eastern & Oriental Express from Singapore to Bangkok, Thailand, and the Settle-Carlisle Railway through England's countryside.

Read the full story: World's 10 greatest train journeys

Photo from ABC News.com

Grizzly Bears endangered again

Environmental News Network reports that Grizzly Bears in Yellowstone National Park are back on the endangered species list.

According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) a Montana federal district court returned the bears to the protections under the Endangered Species Act on Tuesday September 22.

In the case, brought by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Judge Donald Molloy ruled that inadequate regulatory mechanisms were put in place to manage the bears after federal protections were dropped in early 2007, and that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) failed to address the loss of an essential food source for the bears, whitebark pine seeds. The NRDC and six other groups, represented by Earthjustice, have a similar case pending in Idaho.

Read the full story: Yellowstone Grizzlies back on endangered species list

Photo from National Park Travel, Inc.

100-year-old Galapagos tortoise could be father

Reuters video reports that Lonesome George, the only surviving Galapagos giant tortoise, could finally be a father at the age of almost 100.

Eggs were found in George's habitat in July, transferred to an incubation center, but have a four-month wait before scientists will know if they are fertile or not.

Giant tortoises dwindled to extinction on the northern Galapagos island of Pinta in the 1960s and their habitat was destroyed by goats. George was found in 1972 and brought to the Charles Darwin research station where scientists have tried to mate him with females of a subspecies.

Eggs were discovered last year but were infertile.

Watch the report below:


For more on Galapagos read our previous post on the islands' overpopulation problems

Airline emissions to be halved by 2050

The Financial Times reports on the airline industry plans to halve carbon emissions by 2050.

The plan initiative set forth by British Airways chief Willie Walsh will be unveiled at the United Nations climate change forum today in New York.

"International aviation emissions were not included in the Kyoto Protocol 12 years ago," [Walsh] said. "Now we have a chance to rectify that omission -- and we must seize it."

The plan is unlikely to satisfy environmental campaigners, however. By choosing 2005 as the year from which to cut emissions, the aviation industry will be able to make its proposed reductions from a much higher base than if it had chosen 1990, the year used for comparisons by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Read the full story: Airline industry plans to halve carbon emissions

Photo by AFP/Getty images

Ecotour Cuba

MSNBC reports on Cuba's efforts to lure ecotourists.

Cuba is betting environmentally conscious vacationers, who are often willing to pay premium prices and stay longer than those hankering for cheap beach getaways, can boost profits. Eco-tourists focus not only on nature — biking, hiking, bird-watching, scuba-diving — but also on the country's social and cultural charms, while trying to make as little negative impact as possible on nature.

A key attraction will be the national park near the Bay of Pigs — the Cienaga de Zapata [picture above], or Zapata Swamp. Cuba's equivalent of the Florida Everglades, it's the Caribbean's largest bioreserve, 1.5 million acres of mangrove-choked canals teeming with the wildest Cuban wildlife.

Read the full story: Cuba works to become ecotourism destination

Photo from flickr by Manolo Marrero

Cruise lines' pollution report cards

USA Today reports on an environmental group's cruise lines pollution report cards.

Friends of the Earth gave its highest mark — a "B"_ to Holland America Line (picture right).

Cruise lines were graded in three categories: sewage treatment, air pollution reduction and water quality compliance.

Disney Cruise Line was among the lowest "F-rated."

Read the full story: Some cruise lines found failing in pollution 'report' card

Photo by Andy Newman, Holland America Line, via Getty Images

Electric Trabant unveiled

Reuters video reports on the Frankfurt car show where three new electric car models were shown as well as an electric Trabant.

Trabants, nicknamed Trabis, were the most common and often only available car in communist East Germany. Residents waited 15 years to even receive one of these cars after they had put in an order. They are now seen as a symbol of the former communist country and regarded with a "derisive affection," according to Wikipedia.

Watch the report below:

Iowa fall foliage spots

USA Today reports on Iowa fall foliage.

The foliage is pretty anywhere along the Mississippi River but particularly in Pikes Peak State Park in McGregor, about three hours from Des Moines on the state's eastern border. (And yes, it is named for Zebulon Pike, who explored the area in the early 1800s and for whom Pikes Peak is named in Colorado.)

Read the full story: Autumn colors are easy to find in Iowa

Picture from KCRG-TV

Forbes Traveler via MSNBC reports on worldwide "amazing" rainforests.

From reserves in Australia to Belize to British Columbia and beyond, opportunities for adventurous travelers abound. Depending on the destination, you can either incorporate a rainforest visit into a broader itinerary, such as in Australia or Hawaii, or make it the centerpiece of a trip—for instance, a week-long river cruise though the heart of the vast Amazon rainforest

Read the full story: World's most amazing rainforests

From old flip-flops to art in Kenya

Global Post reports on recycled flip-flops turned into art in Kenya.

Old flip-flops wash up onto Kenya's beaches from all over the world. A company was formed to make this rubbish into saleable art like: "crazily striped rhinos, elephants and lions looking like mini psychedelic safaris."

Read the full story: Turning flip-flops into art

Idaho moose encounters

The Idaho Statesman's Pete Zimowsky shares his readers' moose sighting tales.

Kathy and Bob Durbin along with their dog Scruffy were kayaking around northern Idaho's Spirit Lake (pic right) when they came across this female moose who was quietly munching away on water plants.

Read the full story: Close encounters with moose

Cars to run on used clothing?

Reuters video reports on bio-fuel made from old clothing.

Swedish engineers have created a chemical process that breaks down cotton and synthetic fabrics into bio-fuel (ethanol and methane) which could fuel vehicles.

The scientists claim that this process uses less energy than extracting from plant sources and "50 percent more ethanol is produced."

Watch the report below:

Visit Washington State nuclear power plant

The New York Times reports on a visit to the Hanford nuclear site in central Washington State.

The site, closed to production in 1980, is surrounded ironically by unspoiled nature, but is"one of the world’s largest environmental clean-up projects"

Nature lovers can now tour the site and the B Reactor; which was "the world's first production-scale nuclear reactor."

Plutonium from this reactor powered the test bomb at Los Alamos, N.M., and the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on Aug. 9, 1945. (The Hiroshima bomb, three days earlier, was fueled by uranium 235 made in Oak Ridge, Tenn.)

Read the full story: Unspoiled nature in shadow of nuclear site

Photo by Annie Marie Musselman

Fall in North Carolina

USA Today reports on autumnal nature viewing in North Carolina.

Some of the prettiest places to see fall foliage in Western North Carolina also offer scenic views of waterfalls.

The Blue Ridge Parkway will take you to U.S. 276, where you'll find Looking Glass Falls and Sliding Rock. The water in the natural 60-foot waterslide at Sliding Rock is still warm enough to try in early fall.

For hikers, a three-mile trail in DuPont State Forest will take in three waterfalls: Hooker, Triple and the 150-foot High Falls.

Read the full story: Waterfalls and fall foliage mix in North Carolina

Photo of Looking Glass Falls in Pisgah National Forest by David Blevins

More OR coast birds killed by drivers

The Seattle Times reports that more Oregon Coast seabirds are being killed by beach drivers.

Sharnelle Fee, director of the Wildlife Center of the North Coast, said she found the bodies of eight protected seabirds on Saturday, scattered on the sand just north of the entrance to Gearhart Beach on the Oregon coast

Fee has found the bodies of dead birds just about every week this summer. In June, a young motorist hit and killed nearly 50 seabirds near Long Beach on the Washington coast. "In many instances, the tides just wash the bodies away," Fee said. "I think we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg."

Read the full story: Beach drivers killing birds on Oregon coast

Photo from Wikimedia

Did global warming help Incas?

Reuters video reports on the new theory that South America's Inca population was helped by a warming planet.

Scientists now believe that the Incas were able to expand their food crops to higher altitudes when the temperature went up and thus able to sustain their growing population.

Watch the full report below: