A former journalist and business analyst that now works in the world of travel marketing. Based in Toronto, Red Hunt has travelled to more than 50 countries over the past 15 years. You can follow Red on Instagram or Twitter.
Orang-utan is a word that is actually composed of two Malay language words orang (person) and hutan (forest). This is where their nickname of ‘Man of the Forest’ originates from.
96.4% genetically human, these are the only great apes of Asia and they are only found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
The Bornean Orangutan is listed as endangered, as habitat destruction has had a devastating impact on their numbers in the wild. I saw three of them near the Kinabatangan River in Sabah, Borneo but they were all very far away. The most accessible and reliable way to see Orangutans in Borneo is by visiting the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilition Centre.
The first photo below is of a rehab Orangutan at Sepilok, the second is a wild Orangutan near the Kinabatangan River.
Young Orangutan eating a banana at Sepilok
A Wild Orangutan in a distant tree, about 100m from the Kinabatangan River
**Now updated with Travel Match Map 4, only 8 Destinations Remain!**
The first-ever Travel Match happened on Twitter in early 2010. Almost every week since then there has been a competition to see which country was most desirable to travel addicts on Twitter.
Here we’ll show the progression of each round as the world slowly fades to grey and only one green country will be left. Any predictions as to which destination will be the final winner?
Be sure to follow the #TravelMatch hashtag on twitter and cast your votes!
Travel Match Map 1: Open to Everywhere!
The stage was set! In a countdown that will last nearly 2.5 years and include more than 110 matches, the #TravelMatch showdowns begin with Mozambique taking on Mongolia and Morocco in Match #1. All matches are winner takes all, moving on to the next round. You lose once, you’re gone for good.
#TravelMatch Map 1: All Green, before the Competitions Began
Travel Match Map 2: After Round One
Every single country and many extra destinations squared off in a round of 72 Travel Matches. More than 240 destinations around the world were included in the competitions. A number of big travel destinations had surprising losses, while the small, remote islands proved they’re high on most people’s travel bucket lists.
There are 24 matches in Round Two, with three destinations per match. When the dust settles these 24 winners will be one step closer to winning it all!
Matches for round two will be running until April 2012, so follow me on Twitter @redhunttravel and watch the #TravelMatch hashtag for updates.
Update: The Round Two matches are over, here are the finalists moving on to Round Three!
#TravelMatch Map 3: The 24 Destinations Moving on to Round Three
The 24 destinations moving on to round three are: Antarctica, Bhutan, Brazil, Cuba, Curaçao, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Gabon, Galapagos Islands, Hungary, India, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Montenegro, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Switzerland, Tibet, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Vanuatu.
Travel Match Map 4: After Round Three
From June – August 2012, the 8 Travel Match finalists were chosen on Twitter. The map is below!
The Eight Travel Match Quarter-Finalists have been chosen!
The 8 destinations moving on to round four and the quarter-finals are: Antarctica, Bhutan, Brazil, Cuba, Ethiopia, Faroe Islands, Galapagos Islands, Tibet.
Create Your Own Travel Maps
These maps are images taken from maps I created using the handy Where I’ve Been tool! You can create your own maps of places you’d like to visit, where you’ve been and where you’ve lived. You can even include cities too. Their maps can be linked up to your Facebook profile or embedded onto your website or blog.
The Galapagos Islands are one of the world’s most fascinating destinations for wildlife lovers, largely because of the endemic and unique wildlife.
Even the birds are different here. Booby birds might be fun and whimsical, but I thought the Swallow-tailed gull was pretty cool too. Considering how relatively dull the seagulls are at home around Toronto, the head and eye colouring of these guys stood out for me. This photo I enjoyed the most, capturing one just as it was taking flight at South Plaza Island in the Galapagos.
They breed almost exclusively in the Galapagos Islands and can also be found along the coast of Peru and Ecuador when it isn’t breeding season.
Swallow-Tailed Gull taking flight in the Galapagos Islands
Have you heard that the world is going to end on December 12, 2012? According to some that is what the Mayans predict – well, what their calendar predicts.
I’ve enjoyed plenty of time travelling through Mayan areas in modern day Mexico and Guatemala and have to admit I’d be kind of bummed out if the world ended in 2012. So I did a little digging and am happy to say, with confidence, that the world will not end in December 2012.
You see, this ‘end of the world’ concept is an improper interpretation of the Mayan calendar. What is even more interesting is that the Mayans had many calendars, all with different purposes.
Jungle scenery at the Mayan Ruins of Tikal in Guatemala
The Mayan Long Count Calendar
This is the one that is associated with all the doom and gloom. The cycle of the long count calendar is soon coming to an end. But it has come to an end before, this is not the first time! In reality, when December 2012 arrives it will be a time of celebration as the Mayan people would be celebrating a change – a transition – of one world to another. The sun will still rise and set as it always has, as according to the long count calendar we will enter a new cycle of creation called the golden age. Sounds much better than end of the world doesn’t it?
The complexity of Mayan calendars comes in the fact that they do not just measure time, they’re more dynamically linked to civilization. A mix of daily life, understanding the cosmos and natural life cycles is what makes them somewhat mystical, giving Mayan calendars a more prophetic interpretation than our common Gregorian calendar.
The Mayan Tzolk’in Calendar
This is the most ancient of all Mayan calendar systems. It uses a 260-day cycle and began more than 2600 years ago. Most people believe the length of the calendar is linked to the 9-month time frame of a human pregnancy. The Mayans hold this calendar in highest regard, with it still being use today by Maya people in Mexico and Guatemala. (Yes, it is true there are still descendants of the Maya living today!)
Mayan Ruins in Tulum, Mexico
The calendar is an interesting combination of days and day names. The day names come from the Mayan belief that the days of their calendar are living entities, more powerful than ourselves. Call it creepy or call it cool, it sure makes our standard calendar seem pretty lame.
The Haab Calendar
This is the 365-day Mayan calendar that focuses on planetary and cosmic events similar to the Gregorian calendar many of us follow today. Pretty simple to understand. But…that’s not the end of it.
This calendar, combined with the Tzolk’in calendar, create the Calendar Round, a 52-year cycle! These round calendars are now popularized as souvenirs for tourists, but they once played a huge role in the building of Mayan pyramids at sites like Chichen Itza.
What it all boils down to is that the Maya had a complex set of calendars linked to the important events in their lives. None of them predict the end of the world, but being cyclical in nature some of them do come to an end and need to start over.
So don’t worry, you’ll still be around in 2013, as will the descendants of the Maya!
This past Monday was better than most as the fun people from Innis & Gunn in Scotland held a special beer dinner at Fynn’s Temple Bar in Toronto.
Innis & Gunn - Oak Aged Beer from Scotland
I had the event on my radar for some time but had totally forgotten about it until Nic Rennie, the rep for Innis & Gunn Canada sent a tweet that reminded me. There were two things I was looking forward to about the event – first was trying five different beers of theirs and second was trying Innis & Gunn on tap for the first time (they’ve only begun setting up bars with kegs of their beers the last couple of months).
Having been to a beer event at Fynn’s in the past I also knew that chef Patrick Narain would deliver some tasty creations to match the beers.
If you haven’t had any Innis & Gunn beers yet, they’re known for a sweet, buttery flavour profile which comes from maturing the beers in oak barrels. At first it might sound somewhat one-dimensional, but after sampling five different beers of theirs on Monday I can say each one had its own characteristics to make it stand out from the others.
Innis & Gunn Original Oak Aged Beer (pint)
This beer is so smooth it is dangerous, yet it isn’t a light weight beer at 6.6%. The sweetness of this golden-glow beer is more subdued on tap, with a less caramel-y taste. It is a fun mix of toffee sweetness, vanilla and slight whisky hints. You do have to be in the right mood for a beer that has such a sweet profile, but on tap it is wonderful and I can see this becoming a common sight at more bars in the near future. It was so good, I had to order an extra pint before the actual event started.
Innis & Gunn Rum Cask Oak Aged Beer
I’ve had this beer before and expected to favour it over the original, but when sampling one after the other, I still preferred the original. This is a darker beer with a slightly rum-raisin taste to it. Still fairly sweet with the characteristically butter finish that the original has.
Very nice beer that was served with a tasty mulligatawny soup to start the dinner part of the night.
Innis & Gunn Spiced Rum Finish
A new beer from the Scottish brewery and probably the most unique flavour profile. A dark amber colour, it had plenty of vanilla and toffee taste, but the spiciness cut through quick enough so that you weren’t left with a lingering sweetness. The dark chocolate chicken wings that it came with had a great taste and complemented the sweet and spicy beer profile.
Innis & Gunn Original and Rum Cask Oak Aged Beers (sorry, iPhone photo!)
Mind you, by this time our table had a few extra glasses of Innis & Gunn beers floating around so the ‘which beer goes with which food’ concept began to deteriorate.
Innis & Gunn Highland Cask
While it may not be the popular choice, the Highland Cask remains my personal favourite Innis & Gunn brew. It is a dark amber beer that has a whisky vanilla taste to it. At over 7% it drinks way to easy for a beer of it’s strength! I thought it had a sweeter profile than the spiced rum, yet the alcohol was enough to punch through any potential caramel sweet overdose. I really enjoyed the finish of this beer, not too sweet with some surprising bitterness.
This beer came with a tasty lamb and vegetable stew, which was well received by everyone at our table.
Innis & Gunn Winter Beer 2011
Another new brew that I hadn’t had previously. There was a good amount of oak and alcohol in this one, perhaps the oakiest of their beers. I felt it was a bolder beer than the rest of the offerings and I caught some hints of fruit and earthiness in this one to go along with the usual Innis & Gunn profile.
Meal-wise we finished things off with a cranberry bread pudding, which was fantastic.
I went into this event looking forward to some sweet and oak-y beers and that is what I got. I’ve been a fan of the Innis & Gunn beers for some time now and featured their special Canada Day beer during the 95 Beers of Summer Series. Unlike many brewers who try to create a beer to fit every taste, Innis & Gunn has found a niche that works well for them. Sure, the joke is that they stumbled upon their butter beer style by accident…but it works. While they are all different, there is a definite commonality between all the Innis & Gunn beers, which means if you like one of them, you’ll likely enjoy them all.
If you live in Ontario, look for a great Innis & Gunn holiday gift pack at the LCBO so you can sample a few of their beers yourself. They’ve recently announced they are brewing a stout too, which I am really looking forward to! From what Nic Rennie said we should expect it here in February. Can’t wait.
