Costa Rica

After a frenetic Oscar week, RSVIP simply wanted to languish in a tropical plunge pool, right. Call it kismet, but a birthday-fete invite arrived from a college pal, former Democratic National Committee Chair Joe Andrew, husband of America’s first female ambassador to Costa Rica, Anne Slaughter Andrew.

The Obama-appointed ambassador, a font of Indiana-spun charm, is a formidable advocate of biodiversity, a former environmental lawyer, and an entrepreneur. At her current post, when she isn’t glued to her BlackBerry or being whisked off by her security detail, she spends 16 hours a day at chess like diplomacy.

Friday afternoon, a breath of jungle steam greeted RSVIP as the cabin door of my Taca Airline flight opened at San Jose International Airport. After a bumpy, 20-minute taxi shuttle through gumdrop volcanic hills, we puttered up to the Real Intercontinental Hotel in Escazu, a chichi suburb of San Jose, Costa Rica. A cacophony of parrots in palm fronds screeched overhead. A five-story lobby and a kickboxing session at the spa overlooked two attractive pools with a throbbing water feature. Views were complemented by an, ahem, $41 Mexican buffet and a Factory Steak and Lobster restaurant with tables facing the pool. A nearby mall boasts a Givenchy boutique, but good luck crossing the street at rush hour.

Continue reading RSVIP: Dinner with an Astronaut and Fireworks in Costa Rica

RSVIP: Dinner with an Astronaut and Fireworks in Costa Rica originally appeared on Luxist on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

URBAN SPACES (PAGE 20)
From Athens to St. Petersburg to Vancouver, National Geographic Traveler spotlights 10 remarkable, stimulating cities that stand in a league of their own.

WILD PLACES (PAGE 42)
The primordial beckons at remote and unspoiled wilderness spots like Australia’s Arnhem Land, Siberia’s Lake Baikal and Botswana’s Okavango Delta.

PARADISE FOUND (PAGE 62)
The places we call heaven on Earth require the perfect mix of elements, a mix you will find in such extraordinary destinations as Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, Switzerland’s Mount Rigi and Australia’s Lord Howe Island.

COUNTRY UNBOUND (PAGE 78)
Man and nature harmonize in scenic landscapes, including Turkey’s Azure Coast, the exotic Gobi Desert and Virginia’s pastoral Piedmont.

WORLD WONDERS (PAGE 94)
Monumental creations such as China’s terra cotta warriors, Easter Island’s stone figures and Tibet’s Potala Palace have fascinated generations with their mystery and power.

* National Geographic Traveler experts are available for interviews. Contact Heather Wyatt if you have questions, need additional information or would like to schedule an interview.

The winners practice and advance the growing trend of geotourism: tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents. They were selected from 10 finalists out of 611 original entries from 81 countries. Entries for “Geotourism Challenge 2009: Power of Place” almost doubled over the first Geotourism Challenge in 2008.

All three cutting-edge, innovative winners provide visitors with the opportunity to participate in sustainable travel; each winner will receive a $5,000 prize:

• Nature Air, the 100 percent carbon-neutral airline in Costa Rica, offsets 100 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions to encourage reforestation of tropical forests in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. To date, Nature Air has compensated for nearly 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide through the protection of more than 500 acres. In addition, Nature Air recently helped develop Costa Rica’s first alternative fueling station through its wholly owned fueling company, Aerotica. Nature Air fuels all ground equipment and vehicles with bio-diesel (a mix of recycled vegetable and cooking oils) collected from employees and restaurants.
• PEPY (“Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself”) is Cambodia’s Educational Volunteer Tourism Program, providing adventure bike tours and on-site volunteer projects, like building rainwater collection units. All participants make donations to enhance education in impoverished rural Cambodia, where PEPY is based. It supports education for more than 1,700 families in 12 villages and six schools in rural Siem Reap Province, about 40 miles (65 km) from the city of Siem Reap, site of the Angkor temples.
• Wikiloc Community Maps in Girona, Spain, created by a software engineer with a passion for travel, is built on information — including maps, photos and video — submitted to offer honest impressions about destinations. Wikiloc is a great source of outdoor activities, from mountain biking to ballooning. The site also promotes thematic activities like gastronomic routes, sightseeing urban trails and walks in archaeological areas. Created in 2006, the site is already translated in 14 languages, and more than 65,000 trails are included.

“We’re excited to support three new innovators stretching the possibilities of geotourism,” said Charlie Brown, Changemakers’ executive director. “These winners are pushing us closer to realizing and sustaining a kind of travel that will enrich cultures and environments across the globe.”

Jonathan B. Tourtellot, director of National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations, said, “The winners are outstanding examples of geotourism practices that extend to good destination stewardship. They are committed to conserving and enhancing the quality of their locales while benefiting local people and providing visitors with authentic experiences. Geotourism is no flash in the pan: Travelers around the globe are seeking it out in both rural and urban settings. We’re delighted to showcase the winners and runners-up who are leading the way.”

The seven Geotourism Challenge runners-up:

• Mongolia’s Ger to Ger Foundation links visitors with genuine nomadic families and guides as a way to stimulate cultural understanding through noncommercial outdoor activities and to provide alternative incomes for these Mongolian people.
• Evergreen Brick Works of Toronto, Canada, is an adaptive re-use of the heritage structures at the Don Valley Brick Works, converting the city’s abandoned ravines into a much-respected public park and nature exploratory center.
• Virgin Islands Youth Heritage Exchange Farm Excursions, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, focuses on food as the basis of youth identity and education, with visitors contributing to local mentoring through hands-on workshops and nature-based lifestyle-skill building.
• Context Travel, based in Philadelphia, United States, offers walking seminars in major European cities. It encourages sustainable ways to visit urban destinations and contributes funds to cultural preservation projects in each of the cities where it operates.
• RiverIndia.com’s Bamboo Eco-Lodge River Trips, Arunachal Pradesh, India, help protect India’s Siang River through increased conservation and locally guided rafting, kayaking and fishing expeditions.
• Trout Point Lodge, Nova Scotia, a Five Green Key-designated nature retreat in Canada, has revitalized backwoods and Acadian French cultural tourism through its Nova Scotia Seafood Cooking School and staff naturalists providing guided access to the Tobeatic Wilderness Area.
• Reality Tour Viagens e Turismo Ltda’s Route of Freedom, Rua Bom Jesus, Brazil, commemorates the “Memory of the African Diaspora in Brazil” with seven interpretive trails winding through 15 cities of the Paraiba Valley.

For more details about the innovative work of all 10 finalists, go to the Geotourism Challenge 2009 website at www.changemakers.net/geotourismchallenge.

A panel of expert judges selected the 10 finalists in July, while the public chose the top three winners through online voting during a four-week period this summer, ending Aug. 12. The expert judges were Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement; Keith Bellows, a vice president of the National Geographic Society and editor of National Geographic Traveler magazine; Erika Harms, executive director of Sustainable Development, United Nations Foundation; Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet; Ben Keene, founder of Tribewanted; and Dr. Yang Yuming, vice president of Southwest Forestry University, China.

About Ashoka’s Changemakers
Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka, an organization with over three decades of finding, funding, and expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe. It is a global online community of action that connects people to share ideas, inspire and mentor each other, and find and support the best ideas in social innovation. The Changemakers online community builds on this history and expands the Ashoka vision by creating an “Everyone a Changemaker” world through networking, relationship-building, and the sourcing of funding opportunities.

Through its collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers has created one of the world’s most robust laboratories for launching, refining, and scaling ideas for solving the world’s most pressing social problems.

About National Geographic
The National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 370 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy. For more information, visit nationalgeographic.com. To learn more about the mission and work of the , visit www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable/.

For images of the three 2009 Geotourism Challenge winners, visit http://ftp.nationalgeographic.com/pressroom/geotourism_challenge/

All the finalists practice and advance geotourism: tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents. They were selected from 611 entries from 81 countries. Entries almost doubled this year over the first Geotourism Challenge in 2008.

A panel of expert judges — Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement; Keith Bellows, editor of National Geographic Traveler magazine; Erika Harms, executive director of Sustainable Development, United Nations Foundation; Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet; Ben Keene, founder of Tribewanted; and Dr. Yang Yuming, vice president of Southwest Forestry University, China — selected the finalists based on their innovation, social impact and sustainability/viability.

Said Maathai, “The entries really address community needs, teach, entertain and are accompanied by a lot of passion. I admire the finalists’ enthusiasm and wish them much success.”

The 10 finalists are:

• Evergreen Brick Works of Toronto, Canada, is an adaptive re-use of the heritage structures at the Don Valley Brick Works, converting the city’s abandoned ravines into a much respected public park and nature exploratory center. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/fr/node/23438)
• Mongolia’s Ger to Ger Foundation links visitors with genuine nomadic families and guides as a way to stimulate cultural understanding through non-commercial outdoor activities and to provide alternative incomes for these Mongolian people. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/23485)
• Nature Air, the 100 percent carbon neutral airline in Costa Rica, offsets 100 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions to encourage reforestation of tropical forests in southern Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/20613)
• Virgin Islands Youth Heritage Exchange Farm Excursions focuses on food as the basis of youth identity and education, with visitors contributing to local mentoring through hands-on workshops and nature-based lifestyle-skill building. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/24143)
• Context Travel, based in Philadelphia, offers walking seminars in major European cities. It encourages sustainable ways to visit urban destinations and contributes funds to cultural preservation projects — such as an artist apprenticeship — to benefit local residents. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/21933)
• RiverIndia.com’s Bamboo Eco-Lodge River Trips help protect India’s Siang River through increased conservation and locally guided rafting, kayaking and fishing expeditions. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/19044)
• Trout Point Lodge, a Five Green Key-designated nature retreat in Canada, has revitalized backwoods and Acadian French cultural tourism through its Nova Scotia Seafood Cooking School and staff naturalists providing guided access to the Tobeatic Wilderness Area. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/21375)
• PEPY, Cambodia’s Educational Volunteer Tourism Program, is where on-site learning projects combine with donations to personally invest visitors in sustaining and enhancing education in Cambodia. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/node/21931)
• Wikiloc Community Maps, created by a company in Girona, Spain, are built on information provided by visitors and hosts to offer honest and authentic impressions about destinations.
• Reality Tour Viagens e Turismo Ltda’s Route of Freedom commemorates the “Memory of the African Diaspora in Brazil” with seven interpretive trails winding through 15 cities of the Paraiba Valley. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/24996)

“This year’s entrants truly demonstrate how tourism is transforming the world at the global and local level,” said Charlie Brown, Ashoka’s Changemaker’s executive director and facilitator of the judging process. “Not only do they provide insights and practical lessons for an effective tourism operation, but they also highlight some of the most important destinations for travelers to visit now.”

About Ashoka’s Changemakers
Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka, an organization with over three decades of finding, funding and expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe. The Changemakers online community builds on this history and expands the Ashoka vision by creating an “Everyone a Changemaker” world through networking, online competitions and relationship-building. Changemakers creates opportunities for those who want to be at the center of social change by offering competitions that are supported by philanthropic organizations. The competitions and the community connect those who are passionate about change and make ideas come to life. For more information, visit www.ashoka.org or www.changemakers.net.

The Obama-appointed ambassador, a font of Indiana-spun charm, is a formidable advocate of biodiversity, a former environmental lawyer, and an entrepreneur. At her current post, when she isn’t glued to her BlackBerry or being whisked off by her security detail, she spends 16 hours a day at chess like diplomacy.

Friday afternoon, a breath of jungle steam greeted RSVIP as the cabin door of my Taca Airline flight opened at San Jose International Airport. After a bumpy, 20-minute taxi shuttle through gumdrop volcanic hills, we puttered up to the Real Intercontinental Hotel in Escazu, a chichi suburb of San Jose, Costa Rica. A cacophony of parrots in palm fronds screeched overhead. A five-story lobby and a kickboxing session at the spa overlooked two attractive pools with a throbbing water feature. Views were complemented by an, ahem, $41 Mexican buffet and a Factory Steak and Lobster restaurant with tables facing the pool. A nearby mall boasts a Givenchy boutique, but good luck crossing the street at rush hour.

Continue reading RSVIP: Dinner with an Astronaut and Fireworks in Costa Rica

Filed under: Luxury Travel & Hotels, Events

RSVIP: Dinner with an Astronaut and Fireworks in Costa Rica originally appeared on Luxist on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The winners practice and advance the growing trend of geotourism: tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents. They were selected from 10 finalists out of 611 original entries from 81 countries. Entries for “Geotourism Challenge 2009: Power of Place” almost doubled over the first Geotourism Challenge in 2008.

All three cutting-edge, innovative winners provide visitors with the opportunity to participate in sustainable travel; each winner will receive a $5,000 prize:

• Nature Air, the 100 percent carbon-neutral airline in Costa Rica, offsets 100 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions to encourage reforestation of tropical forests in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. To date, Nature Air has compensated for nearly 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide through the protection of more than 500 acres. In addition, Nature Air recently helped develop Costa Rica’s first alternative fueling station through its wholly owned fueling company, Aerotica. Nature Air fuels all ground equipment and vehicles with bio-diesel (a mix of recycled vegetable and cooking oils) collected from employees and restaurants.
• PEPY (“Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself”) is Cambodia’s Educational Volunteer Tourism Program, providing adventure bike tours and on-site volunteer projects, like building rainwater collection units. All participants make donations to enhance education in impoverished rural Cambodia, where PEPY is based. It supports education for more than 1,700 families in 12 villages and six schools in rural Siem Reap Province, about 40 miles (65 km) from the city of Siem Reap, site of the Angkor temples.
• Wikiloc Community Maps in Girona, Spain, created by a software engineer with a passion for travel, is built on information — including maps, photos and video — submitted to offer honest impressions about destinations. Wikiloc is a great source of outdoor activities, from mountain biking to ballooning. The site also promotes thematic activities like gastronomic routes, sightseeing urban trails and walks in archaeological areas. Created in 2006, the site is already translated in 14 languages, and more than 65,000 trails are included.

“We’re excited to support three new innovators stretching the possibilities of geotourism,” said Charlie Brown, Changemakers’ executive director. “These winners are pushing us closer to realizing and sustaining a kind of travel that will enrich cultures and environments across the globe.”

Jonathan B. Tourtellot, director of National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations, said, “The winners are outstanding examples of geotourism practices that extend to good destination stewardship. They are committed to conserving and enhancing the quality of their locales while benefiting local people and providing visitors with authentic experiences. Geotourism is no flash in the pan: Travelers around the globe are seeking it out in both rural and urban settings. We’re delighted to showcase the winners and runners-up who are leading the way.”

The seven Geotourism Challenge runners-up:

• Mongolia’s Ger to Ger Foundation links visitors with genuine nomadic families and guides as a way to stimulate cultural understanding through noncommercial outdoor activities and to provide alternative incomes for these Mongolian people.
• Evergreen Brick Works of Toronto, Canada, is an adaptive re-use of the heritage structures at the Don Valley Brick Works, converting the city’s abandoned ravines into a much-respected public park and nature exploratory center.
• Virgin Islands Youth Heritage Exchange Farm Excursions, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, focuses on food as the basis of youth identity and education, with visitors contributing to local mentoring through hands-on workshops and nature-based lifestyle-skill building.
• Context Travel, based in Philadelphia, United States, offers walking seminars in major European cities. It encourages sustainable ways to visit urban destinations and contributes funds to cultural preservation projects in each of the cities where it operates.
• RiverIndia.com’s Bamboo Eco-Lodge River Trips, Arunachal Pradesh, India, help protect India’s Siang River through increased conservation and locally guided rafting, kayaking and fishing expeditions.
• Trout Point Lodge, Nova Scotia, a Five Green Key-designated nature retreat in Canada, has revitalized backwoods and Acadian French cultural tourism through its Nova Scotia Seafood Cooking School and staff naturalists providing guided access to the Tobeatic Wilderness Area.
• Reality Tour Viagens e Turismo Ltda’s Route of Freedom, Rua Bom Jesus, Brazil, commemorates the “Memory of the African Diaspora in Brazil” with seven interpretive trails winding through 15 cities of the Paraiba Valley.

For more details about the innovative work of all 10 finalists, go to the Geotourism Challenge 2009 website at www.changemakers.net/geotourismchallenge.

A panel of expert judges selected the 10 finalists in July, while the public chose the top three winners through online voting during a four-week period this summer, ending Aug. 12. The expert judges were Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement; Keith Bellows, a vice president of the National Geographic Society and editor of National Geographic Traveler magazine; Erika Harms, executive director of Sustainable Development, United Nations Foundation; Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet; Ben Keene, founder of Tribewanted; and Dr. Yang Yuming, vice president of Southwest Forestry University, China.

About Ashoka’s Changemakers
Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka, an organization with over three decades of finding, funding, and expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe. It is a global online community of action that connects people to share ideas, inspire and mentor each other, and find and support the best ideas in social innovation. The Changemakers online community builds on this history and expands the Ashoka vision by creating an “Everyone a Changemaker” world through networking, relationship-building, and the sourcing of funding opportunities.

Through its collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers has created one of the world’s most robust laboratories for launching, refining, and scaling ideas for solving the world’s most pressing social problems.

About National Geographic
The National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 370 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy. For more information, visit nationalgeographic.com. To learn more about the mission and work of the , visit www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable/.

For images of the three 2009 Geotourism Challenge winners, visit http://ftp.nationalgeographic.com/pressroom/geotourism_challenge/

All the finalists practice and advance geotourism: tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents. They were selected from 611 entries from 81 countries. Entries almost doubled this year over the first Geotourism Challenge in 2008.

A panel of expert judges — Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement; Keith Bellows, editor of National Geographic Traveler magazine; Erika Harms, executive director of Sustainable Development, United Nations Foundation; Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet; Ben Keene, founder of Tribewanted; and Dr. Yang Yuming, vice president of Southwest Forestry University, China — selected the finalists based on their innovation, social impact and sustainability/viability.

Said Maathai, “The entries really address community needs, teach, entertain and are accompanied by a lot of passion. I admire the finalists’ enthusiasm and wish them much success.”

The 10 finalists are:

• Evergreen Brick Works of Toronto, Canada, is an adaptive re-use of the heritage structures at the Don Valley Brick Works, converting the city’s abandoned ravines into a much respected public park and nature exploratory center. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/fr/node/23438)
• Mongolia’s Ger to Ger Foundation links visitors with genuine nomadic families and guides as a way to stimulate cultural understanding through non-commercial outdoor activities and to provide alternative incomes for these Mongolian people. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/23485)
• Nature Air, the 100 percent carbon neutral airline in Costa Rica, offsets 100 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions to encourage reforestation of tropical forests in southern Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/20613)
• Virgin Islands Youth Heritage Exchange Farm Excursions focuses on food as the basis of youth identity and education, with visitors contributing to local mentoring through hands-on workshops and nature-based lifestyle-skill building. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/24143)
• Context Travel, based in Philadelphia, offers walking seminars in major European cities. It encourages sustainable ways to visit urban destinations and contributes funds to cultural preservation projects — such as an artist apprenticeship — to benefit local residents. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/21933)
• RiverIndia.com’s Bamboo Eco-Lodge River Trips help protect India’s Siang River through increased conservation and locally guided rafting, kayaking and fishing expeditions. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/19044)
• Trout Point Lodge, a Five Green Key-designated nature retreat in Canada, has revitalized backwoods and Acadian French cultural tourism through its Nova Scotia Seafood Cooking School and staff naturalists providing guided access to the Tobeatic Wilderness Area. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/21375)
• PEPY, Cambodia’s Educational Volunteer Tourism Program, is where on-site learning projects combine with donations to personally invest visitors in sustaining and enhancing education in Cambodia. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/node/21931)
• Wikiloc Community Maps, created by a company in Girona, Spain, are built on information provided by visitors and hosts to offer honest and authentic impressions about destinations.
• Reality Tour Viagens e Turismo Ltda’s Route of Freedom commemorates the “Memory of the African Diaspora in Brazil” with seven interpretive trails winding through 15 cities of the Paraiba Valley. (http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/24996)

“This year’s entrants truly demonstrate how tourism is transforming the world at the global and local level,” said Charlie Brown, Ashoka’s Changemaker’s executive director and facilitator of the judging process. “Not only do they provide insights and practical lessons for an effective tourism operation, but they also highlight some of the most important destinations for travelers to visit now.”

About Ashoka’s Changemakers
Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka, an organization with over three decades of finding, funding and expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe. The Changemakers online community builds on this history and expands the Ashoka vision by creating an “Everyone a Changemaker” world through networking, online competitions and relationship-building. Changemakers creates opportunities for those who want to be at the center of social change by offering competitions that are supported by philanthropic organizations. The competitions and the community connect those who are passionate about change and make ideas come to life. For more information, visit www.ashoka.org or www.changemakers.net.

The winners practice and advance the growing trend of geotourism: tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents. They were selected from 10 finalists out of 611 original entries from 81 countries. Entries for “Geotourism Challenge 2009: Power of Place” almost doubled over the first Geotourism Challenge in 2008.

All three cutting-edge, innovative winners provide visitors with the opportunity to participate in sustainable travel; each winner will receive a $5,000 prize:

• Nature Air, the 100 percent carbon-neutral airline in Costa Rica, offsets 100 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions to encourage reforestation of tropical forests in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. To date, Nature Air has compensated for nearly 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide through the protection of more than 500 acres. In addition, Nature Air recently helped develop Costa Rica’s first alternative fueling station through its wholly owned fueling company, Aerotica. Nature Air fuels all ground equipment and vehicles with bio-diesel (a mix of recycled vegetable and cooking oils) collected from employees and restaurants.
• PEPY (“Protect the Earth, Protect Yourself”) is Cambodia’s Educational Volunteer Tourism Program, providing adventure bike tours and on-site volunteer projects, like building rainwater collection units. All participants make donations to enhance education in impoverished rural Cambodia, where PEPY is based. It supports education for more than 1,700 families in 12 villages and six schools in rural Siem Reap Province, about 40 miles (65 km) from the city of Siem Reap, site of the Angkor temples.
• Wikiloc Community Maps in Girona, Spain, created by a software engineer with a passion for travel, is built on information — including maps, photos and video — submitted to offer honest impressions about destinations. Wikiloc is a great source of outdoor activities, from mountain biking to ballooning. The site also promotes thematic activities like gastronomic routes, sightseeing urban trails and walks in archaeological areas. Created in 2006, the site is already translated in 14 languages, and more than 65,000 trails are included.

“We’re excited to support three new innovators stretching the possibilities of geotourism,” said Charlie Brown, Changemakers’ executive director. “These winners are pushing us closer to realizing and sustaining a kind of travel that will enrich cultures and environments across the globe.”

Jonathan B. Tourtellot, director of National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations, said, “The winners are outstanding examples of geotourism practices that extend to good destination stewardship. They are committed to conserving and enhancing the quality of their locales while benefiting local people and providing visitors with authentic experiences. Geotourism is no flash in the pan: Travelers around the globe are seeking it out in both rural and urban settings. We’re delighted to showcase the winners and runners-up who are leading the way.”

The seven Geotourism Challenge runners-up:

• Mongolia’s Ger to Ger Foundation links visitors with genuine nomadic families and guides as a way to stimulate cultural understanding through noncommercial outdoor activities and to provide alternative incomes for these Mongolian people.
• Evergreen Brick Works of Toronto, Canada, is an adaptive re-use of the heritage structures at the Don Valley Brick Works, converting the city’s abandoned ravines into a much-respected public park and nature exploratory center.
• Virgin Islands Youth Heritage Exchange Farm Excursions, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, focuses on food as the basis of youth identity and education, with visitors contributing to local mentoring through hands-on workshops and nature-based lifestyle-skill building.
• Context Travel, based in Philadelphia, United States, offers walking seminars in major European cities. It encourages sustainable ways to visit urban destinations and contributes funds to cultural preservation projects in each of the cities where it operates.
• RiverIndia.com’s Bamboo Eco-Lodge River Trips, Arunachal Pradesh, India, help protect India’s Siang River through increased conservation and locally guided rafting, kayaking and fishing expeditions.
• Trout Point Lodge, Nova Scotia, a Five Green Key-designated nature retreat in Canada, has revitalized backwoods and Acadian French cultural tourism through its Nova Scotia Seafood Cooking School and staff naturalists providing guided access to the Tobeatic Wilderness Area.
• Reality Tour Viagens e Turismo Ltda’s Route of Freedom, Rua Bom Jesus, Brazil, commemorates the “Memory of the African Diaspora in Brazil” with seven interpretive trails winding through 15 cities of the Paraiba Valley.

For more details about the innovative work of all 10 finalists, go to the Geotourism Challenge 2009 website at www.changemakers.net/geotourismchallenge.

A panel of expert judges selected the 10 finalists in July, while the public chose the top three winners through online voting during a four-week period this summer, ending Aug. 12. The expert judges were Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Wangari Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement; Keith Bellows, a vice president of the National Geographic Society and editor of National Geographic Traveler magazine; Erika Harms, executive director of Sustainable Development, United Nations Foundation; Tony Wheeler, founder of Lonely Planet; Ben Keene, founder of Tribewanted; and Dr. Yang Yuming, vice president of Southwest Forestry University, China.

About Ashoka’s Changemakers
Changemakers is an initiative of Ashoka, an organization with over three decades of finding, funding, and expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe. It is a global online community of action that connects people to share ideas, inspire and mentor each other, and find and support the best ideas in social innovation. The Changemakers online community builds on this history and expands the Ashoka vision by creating an “Everyone a Changemaker” world through networking, relationship-building, and the sourcing of funding opportunities.

Through its collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers has created one of the world’s most robust laboratories for launching, refining, and scaling ideas for solving the world’s most pressing social problems.

About National Geographic
The National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 370 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; live events; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program promoting geographic literacy. For more information, visit nationalgeographic.com. To learn more about the mission and work of the , visit www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable/.

For images of the three 2009 Geotourism Challenge winners, visit http://ftp.nationalgeographic.com/pressroom/geotourism_challenge/

“We sought this partnership for Terra Firma to leverage Café Bom Dia’s leadership in specialty coffee and sustainability with an internationally renowned organization trusted by millions to educate and inspire us about world cultures,” said Sydney Marques De Paiva, CEO of Café Bom Dia. “With so many organizations looking beyond their own walls and seeking supply partners with similar values on environmental and cultural sustainability, Terra Firma meets a growing need.”

“In carrying out our mission to inspire people to care about the planet, it is vital for National Geographic to partner with organizations that share similar values. Through its emphasis on sustainability and Fair Trade Certified™ growers, Bom Dia is an ideal partner for us as we venture into the specialty coffee market,” said Krista Newberry, vice president, Licensing, for National Geographic.

All Terra Firma single-origin, specialty coffees will be Fair Trade Certified, an international third-party mark that guarantees direct trade, fair prices, environmental stewardship and investment in farming communities.

Terra Firma specialty coffee arrives at a time when consumers are increasingly using their purchasing power to support companies and products that meet their values for quality and regard for people and the environment. According to research conducted in 2008 by DYG on behalf of National Geographic, 57 percent of Americans say “being environmentally friendly” has a very strong or strong influence on their purchase decisions, and 41 percent actively shop for products for social, political or environmental reasons. The exponential growth of Fair Trade Certified product sales, from
$50 million to $500 million (2000 to 2006), demonstrates how consumers put their values into action through purchasing decisions.

National Geographic’s net proceeds from Terra Firma coffee will support vital exploration, conservation, research and education programs of the Society.

About Café Bom Dia
Café Bom Dia is a fourth-generation, family-owned coffee company based in Brazil. Known for its “tree to shelf” supply chain, Café Bom Dia meets the strictest international certification standards for quality and food management (ISO 9001, 14001 and 22000). In 2007, Café Bom Dia converted its Brazil roaster to run on biomass instead of fossil fuel. Through that conversion, offsets and other environmentally sensitive reforms, Café Bom Dia has zero net carbon emissions and is a certified CarbonNeutral® company.

About National Geographic
The National Geographic Society is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations. Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” the Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. It reaches more than 325 million people worldwide each month through its official journal, National Geographic, and other magazines; National Geographic Channel; television documentaries; music; radio; films; books; DVDs; maps; exhibitions; school publishing programs; interactive media; and merchandise. National Geographic has funded more than 9,000 scientific research, conservation and exploration projects and supports an education program combating geographic illiteracy. For more information, visit nationalgeographic.com.

Note: For product images, visit our FTP site at http://ftp.nationalgeographic.com/pressroom/terra_firma

The promotion, geared toward young children and their caregivers, will take place in late September and early to mid-October, directed toward World Animal Day on Saturday, Oct. 4. Each zoo event will lead off with “Photo Safari Camp,” a hands-on workshop with award-winning National Geographic photographers, which will introduce young children to photography and send them “on assignment” with a Fisher-Price Kid-Tough Digital Camera to observe Mama Mirabelle’s animal friends at the zoo. The photo camp will be followed by premiere screenings of “Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies”; a 30-minute movement program presented by My Gym, with animal themes and music rhythms from around the world; art projects; and a birthday celebration hosted by Hefty Zoo Pals, with a birthday cake and sing-along.

“At National Geographic, we’re always looking for fun, interesting ways to connect to new audiences and like-minded partners. The Mama Mirabelle World Animal Day promotion is a great way to get kids outdoors, exploring their natural world, an idea that’s central to the ‘Mama Mirabelle’ program,” said Darren Metzger, director, franchise marketing, for National Geographic Kids Entertainment.

Scheduled events include:

• Sept. 27: Bronx Zoo (Bronx, N.Y.), with photographer Mark Moffett
• Sept. 28: Brookfield Zoo (Chicago), with photographer Annie Griffiths Belt
• Oct. 4: Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium (Tacoma, Wash.), with photographer Kevin Horan
• Oct. 4: Lowry Park Zoo (Tampa, Fla.), with photographer Annie Griffiths Belt
• Oct. 11: San Francisco Zoo, with photographer Jim Sugar
• Oct. 11: Dallas Zoo, with photographer Darlyne Murawski

The World Animal Day promotions will serve as a launching pad for “Mama Mirabelle’s My Favorite Animal” photo contest, set to go live on the Mama Mirabelle Web site Saturday, Sept. 27. Families are encouraged to take photos of their favorite animals and upload them to www.mamamirabelle.com for a chance to win prize packs from National Geographic and Fisher-Price.

Additional sponsors offering financial and in-kind support include Hefty® Zoo Pals®; My Gym Enterprises Inc.; PNY Technologies; Ritz Camera Centers Inc.; Parenting Magazine, a publication of Bonnier Corporation; KIWI Magazine, a May Media publication; and the Costa Rica Tourism Board.

“Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies” stars Vanessa Williams (“Ugly Betty”) as the voice of Mama Mirabelle and airs on PBS Kids! (check local listings for airdates and times). The weekly half-hour show helps preschoolers learn about themselves and the world around them through the help of Mama and the young animals in her charge on the African savanna. Visit www.mamamirabelle.com for interactive games, videos, coloring pages and postcards. Episodes from season one are now available on DVD at stores where videos are sold, and two softcover books, “Anybody Home?” and “Hide and Seek,” are available online and at area bookstores.

National Geographic Kids Entertainment is an independent production and U.S. distribution entity of National Geographic Ventures. Established in 2003, NGKE brings the renowned National Geographic brand to children’s entertainment through the development, production and distribution of quality animated and live-action, entertainment-driven programming that excites kids to explore their world. NGKE will work with all major broadcast outlets in the United States and abroad. For more information about National Geographic, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.

From the 323 entries submitted from 84 countries, these 15 finalists were selected:

1. Wildlife Conservation Society, Gabon: Establishing Gabon as the gateway to Africa’s rainforests by highlighting its pristine nature and ancient cultures
2. Blue Ventures Conservation, Madagascar: Using paying volunteer program as a strategy to protect threatened marine resources
3. Banyon Tree Hotel, Maldives: Creating a marine lab to protect, conserve, research and educate about the coral reef environment
4. CC Africa, South Africa: Pioneering land and wildlife conservation, and giving local rural communities a meaningful share of the benefits
5. Chumbe Island Coral Park, Ltd., Tanzania: Creating a financially, ecologically and socially sustainable model to save the country’s coral reefs
6. Crete’s Culinary Sanctuaries, Greece: Offering seminars for organic farmers, chefs, historians, mountaineers and other locals to share their knowledge about Crete’s culture and nature with visitors
7. Eco-Health Farms, Latvia: Integrating ancestral traditions, nature protection and health prevention
8. Evason Phuket & Six Senses Spa, Thailand: Setting up an eco-trail that shows locals and guests the resort’s environmental practices
9. Exotica Cottages, Dominica: Integrating local expertise in gardening and conservation into the island’s ecotourism efforts
10. Great Baikal Trail, Russia: Establishing Russia’s first system of hiking trails to promote environmentally sustainable development
11. Rios Tropicales Lodge, Costa Rica: Protecting the rainforest through the collaboration of local communities, tourists and conservation organizations
12. Snow Leopard Conservancy India Trust, India: Changing local mindsets towards snow leopards
13. 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking, Nepal: Training and empowering women to be guides in adventure tourism efforts
14. Tourism Board of Bhutan, Bhutan: Making geotourism development a national policy
15. Yachana Foundation, Ecuador: Offering lodging, meals, adventure and education through experiences with local Amazonian nature and culture

The four judges who reviewed submissions and selected the finalists were Keith Bellows, vice president of the National Geographic Society and editor-in-chief of National Geographic Traveler magazine; Susan Berresford, past president of the Ford Foundation; Leonard Cordiner, CEO of WHL Travel; and Nachiket Mor, president of the ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth.

“I was stunned at the quality of the applications,” said Bellows. “They showcased great innovation that can be exported to other countries, terrific successes against long odds and a far-reaching global distribution of projects. Not only did the entries make fascinating reading, but I was inspired by the vision, imagination, passion and entrepreneurship of the people who are making a difference in the lives of locals and travelers.”

The global online community can vote for the three winners, through Wednesday, June 11, at www.changemakers.net. The winners will be announced on Tuesday, June 17, and each will receive a cash prize of US $5,000.

“The Geotourism Challenge received entries from the most countries for any collaborative competition we’ve held so far,” said Charlie Brown, executive director of Changemakers. “This shows that the Changemakers global online community is influential in surfacing innovators who are helping destinations benefit from tourism while protecting the assets that make their places special.”

National Geographic’s Center for Sustainable Destinations is dedicated to protecting the world’s distinctive places through wisely managed geotourism and enlightened destination stewardship. www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable

“Private Journeys allows our travelers to explore the world with National Geographic — on their own schedule,” said Lynn Cutter, senior vice president, Travel and Business Development, at National Geographic. “We’ve worked with our experts to craft itineraries for 15 extraordinary places around the globe. Once you select the journey and the dates you want to travel, we do the rest –from lining up first-rate local guides and top accommodations to arranging visits with National Geographic experts in the field.”

On a Private Journey, travelers have access to special events and research sites, private visits with National Geographic contacts and opportunities to get to know local people and learn about their daily life. In Tanzania, travelers could meet Sarah Durant, a National Geographic grantee and the head of the Cheetah Conservation Program. In Vietnam, they may take a walking tour of Hue with Jim Sullivan, author of the National Geographic Traveler guidebook to Vietnam, and in Istanbul, they could go behind the scenes with National Geographic magazine’s local expert Aydin Kudu.

National Geographic has teamed up with the highly regarded tour operator Abercrombie & Kent to offer these 15 Private Journeys. Whether travelers choose to explore the Okavango Delta by mokoro (canoe), ride a rickshaw through India’s breathtaking Keoladeo Ghana National Park or take a private tour of St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum, they’ll enjoy an enriching travel experience as well as round-the-clock support.

Each itinerary balances planned explorations with ample time for travelers to explore on their own and take advantage of the spontaneous moments that can make a trip especially memorable. Abercrombie & Kent’s extensive network of on-the-ground staff provides 24-hour support and logistical coordination to help travelers fully experience the destination. In preparation for the journey, materials including books, maps and/or videos produced by National Geographic, are sent in advance to provide valuable background information on the location and culture.

Private Journey destinations include Alaska, Botswana & Victoria Falls, Budapest/Vienna/Prague, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Italy, Morocco, Peru, Russia, Scotland, Tanzania, Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam and Turkey. For more information or to receive a copy of the 2008 National Geographic Private Journeys travel catalog, call
(866) 572-1563 or visit www.nationalgeographicprivatejourneys.com.