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Wildlife lovers are coming together again to give back to nature and help protect endangered species and communities in Africa. Over 100 acclaimed wildlife photographers have donated a limited numbers of photo prints to be sold for US$100 each on printsforwildlife.org for the benefit of conservation non-profit African Parks. The fundraiser is taking place through Sept. 25.

With nearly 50% of Africa’s landmass suffering degradation, and the rapidly increasing affects biodiversity loss has on the climate crisis, it is critical to come together in support of conservation, says Prints for Wildlife, which adds that its goal is to help African Parks safeguard 30 million hectares of Africa’s protected areas, including adding new parks, and contributing to the global target of protecting 30% of nature on Earth by 2030.

“By purchasing an exclusive fine art print helping protect wildlife has never been easier or more beautiful! With the simple purchase of a stunning fine art print, everyone can help support this vital work,” says the organization.

How to participate:

• Visit www.printsforwildlife.org before Sept. 25, 2022 to purchase a print.
• Tell friends, family, and colleagues about the fundraiser.
• Give prints as gifts to loved ones

Created by photographers Marion Payr and Pie Aerts, Prints for Wildlife first launched in July 2020 as the devastating impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic started to be seen across Africa’s communities and wildlife areas. In the last two editions, Prints for Wildlife raised US$1.75 million for African Parks by selling over 15,000 unique wildlife prints.

This year’s fundraiser will feature more than 100 photos from acclaimed wildlife photographers, including Cristina Mittermeier, Paul Nicklen, Will Burrard Lucas, Beverly Joubert, Drew Doggett, Marsel van Oosten, Ami Vitale, Joachim Schmeisser, Karim Illya and Gaël Ruboneka Vande weghe. Each of the photographers has donated one fine art print each to the fundraiser, which will be sold for US$100 through the Prints for Wildlife online shop with 100% of the proceeds (after printing and handling) directly donated to African Parks.

African Parks

• African Parks is a non-profit conservation organization that takes on the complete responsibility for the rehabilitation and long-term management of national parks and protected areas in partnership with governments and local communities.

• African Parks currently manages 20 parks in 11 countries across Africa, including Kafue (Zambia), Akagera (Rwanda) and Liwonde (Malawi) National Parks, in partnership with governments for the benefit of local communities and wildlife – the largest and most ecologically diverse portfolio of protected areas in Africa under management by any one conservation organization.

• African Parks is looking to sign a number of new parks within the coming months and years, including Luengue-Luiana and Mavinga National Parks in Angola and Boma and Bandingilo National Parks in South Sudan, making sure that more exceptional ecosystems, endemic species, and natural habitats are being protected, while sustainably and holistically benefiting communities and wildlife.

“The key to conservation is putting people at the heart of the solution,” says Prints for Wildlife cofounder Pie Aerts. “This is done through community programs supporting health, education, job security, and sustainable livelihoods. African Parks, and their community-first approach to conservation, is ensuring that the protected areas under their management are safe places where wildlife and people can flourish. In safe places, magical things can happen. Therefore, choosing African Parks as our partner for this campaign was a no-brainer.”

PFW’S other co-founder Marion Payr adds, “Even in times of crisis, humanity can come together to spread hope and do good for our planet. Wildlife conservation, protecting valuable biomes and supporting communities has now found a place in the hearts and, with the stunning art of all the generous photographers, on the walls of thousands of homes across the globe. Now it’s time to support African Parks in their mission to grow to manage 30 parks by 2030.”

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News

After nearly a decade of renovations, one of Brazil’s most popular museums has reopened as part of the country’s bicentennial celebrations on Wednesday. The Paulista Museum is in the heart of the manicured grounds of Sao Paulo’s Independence Park and holds more than 3,000 items, including 2,800 restored since its closure in 2013.

Known by Brazilians as the Ipiranga Museum, it was founded in 1895 beside a creek where Emperor Pedro I declared the nation’s independence from Portugal.

The works cost some US$40 million and have made the museum fully accessible to the disabled, restored the building’s façade, and doubled its constructed area. Installation of a new air conditioning system also allowed for new collections of delicate items to be shown to the public.

Curators and directors from the University of Sao Paulo, which administers the museum, expect about 1 million visitors over the coming 12 months.

A house atop a small hill in the park also holds some independence memorabilia. The Casa do Grito (House of the Cry) allegedly sits on the exact spot where Pedro I shouted “Independence or Death!” to his supporters.

His remains are buried in a crypt on the park’s southern edge, while his heart is usually kept in a glass container of formaldehyde at the Church of Our Lady of Lapa in the Portuguese city of Porto. The heart was brought to Brazil on loan as part of bicentennial festivities and is also on display to the public.

“This was not built to be a museum initially; it was supposed to be a monument for Brazil’s independence,” curator Solange Ferraz de Lima says. “This museum was far from the city, but it was later engulfed by it.”

The museum’s most-visited room features the “Independence or Death,” a painting by Pedro Américo, dated 1888, one year before Brazil became a republic.

Rio de Janeiro’s National Museum, which held Latin America’s largest collection of historical artifacts, has a new façade after a fire that almost destroyed it completely in 2018. Brazilian daily O Globo has reported that reconstruction of the site will be completed in 2026.

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News

Last week’s homage to Stevie Ray Vaughan got us pondering rock’s great guitarists – a list that typically includes the likes Hendrix, Clapton, Page, and Richards, amongst others. But usually lacking some of that Big Love is Lindsay Buckingham, the genius behind Fleetwood Mac (even if he has currently been kicked out of the band).

For example, a 2016 Rolling Stone list of the rock’s 100 greatest guitarists saw Buckingham barely squeeze in at No. 100, though perhaps that’s because the music bible bizarrely cited him as an actor and father of three, listing some movie soundtracks to which had contributed, but entirely skipped his tenure in the Mac.

For a little balance, online magazine Off the Track rated Buckingham No. 11 on its best-ever list, declaring in no uncertain terms, “s—t and hell and f—, this guy can play!”

Er, indeed.

But they’re not wrong. Consider the performance in this week’s video, a life-changing acoustic remake that breathes new life into Fleetwood Mac’s late ‘80’s hit “Big Love” (watch that video for a fun fashion flashback – yikes!). Also check out his similar solo effort “To Try for the Sun.”

Demonstrating a unique self-taught and uncommon (in rock music) finger-picking style, using his fingernails in place of a pick, guitarists more learned than myself (which is to say all of them) have observed that it would typically take three players to do what he does alone in this song, orchestrating rhythm, melody, and a thumb-strum “drum” beat simultaneously. Plus adding a divergent line of vocals on top of it all.

Indeed, there are YouTube videos that exist, not to teach how to play it, but rather to explain how it really can’t be done (by a single human). It seems Mick Fleetwood knows that too: when he fired Buckingham in 2018, he hired two guitarists to replace him.

Not considered a virtuoso like Eddie Val Halen, Buckingham’s acumen seemingly suffers from eschewing the glorified stock-in-trade solos for a style that’s more subservient to the song than as a vehicle simply for the overt demonstration of skill. But even by that measure, he’s no less a guitar god – just an understated and sometimes unrecognized one.

This performance is from Fleetwood Mac’s “The Dance,” an album and concert film that helped recharge Mac’s career in 1997, but also left no doubt as to the singular brilliance of Lindsay Buckingham.

Lyrics

Lookin’ out for love, in the night so still
Oh, I’ll build you a kingdom in that house on the hill
Lookin’ out for love
Big, big love

You said that you love me, and that you always will
Oh, you begged me to keep you in that house on the hill
Looking’ out for love
Big, big love

I wake up, alone with it all
I wake up but only to fall
Lookin’ out for love
Big, big love

Just lookin’ out for love
Big, big love

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News

Marking the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun nearly 100 years ago (November 1922), Viking recently named its newest river ship, the Viking Osiris, with a celebration in Luxor, Egypt. As part of the intimate late August event, the company’s first ceremonial godfather, George Herbert, the 8th Earl of Carnarvon, offered a blessing of good fortune and safe sailing for the ship – an evolution of the naval tradition that dates back thousands of years.

Designed specifically to navigate the Nile, the state-of-the-art ship was built at Massara shipyard in Cairo and will sail Viking’s bestselling “Pharaohs & Pyramids” itinerary.

The naming of the Viking Osiris comes as Egypt marks several key events this year, including the highly anticipated opening of the new Grand Egyptian Museum outside of Cairo on the Giza Plateau and the 100th anniversary of the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb by the world’s most famous Egyptologist, Howard Carter, and his benefactor and co-explorer, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon.

“Egypt has always drawn curious explorers for its rich history and ancient antiquities, and ever since we first began operating on the Nile River in 2004, our guests continue to be amazed by the country’s many cultural treasures,” said Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking.

Hosting 82 guests in 41 staterooms, the new, state-of-the-art vessel features several aspects familiar to Viking guests, such as a distinctive square bow and an indoor/outdoor Aquavit Terrace. The Osiris joins the Viking Ra, which launched in 2018.

Additionally, in response to strong demand, the Viking Aton, an identical sister ship to the Viking Osiris, will join the fleet in 2023 and two more sister ships, the Viking Hathor and the Viking Sobek, are already under construction and will be delivered in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

Pharaohs & Pyramids itinerary

During the 12-day, Pharaohs & Pyramids itinerary, guests begin with a three-night stay at a first-class hotel in Cairo, where they can visit iconic sites such as the Great Pyramids of Giza, the necropolis of Sakkara, and the Mosque of Muhammad Ali. Beginning in late 2022, guests will also be able to visit the new Grand Egyptian Museum.

Guests then fly to Luxor, where they visit the Temples of Luxor and Karnak before boarding a Viking river ship for an eight-day, round-trip voyage on the Nile River, featuring Privileged Access to the tomb of Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens and the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, and excursions to the Temple of Khnum in Esna, the Dendera Temple complex in Qena, the temples at Abu Simbel and the High Dam in Aswan.

Guests also visit a colourful Nubian village, where guests can experience a traditional elementary school. Finally, the journey concludes with a flight back to Cairo for a final night in the ancient city.

First published at Travel Industry Today

First published at TravelNewsHub.com – Global Travel News