Photo Gallery: The Magic of Cuba
In 2012, we had the very great opportunity of sharing the magical land and people of Cuba with our Trip Members over the course of three sold-out departures. Top MTS Trip Leader Sergio Fitch-Watkins escorted two of those departures, and brought back some beautiful photos. Here are some of our favorites from the 500 or...
Spring Beckons in Morocco
By Kristy Larson It’s no secret that in many parts of the world, people are spilling out into the streets for different reasons. Here in Morocco, the people are all dancing in the streets. Dancing for JOY! Why? Because we have had a huge amount of precipitation during the month of November. In fact, we...
What Makes Galapagos Such a Special Place
By Kevin Callaghan What makes the Galapagos so intriguing and so resonant with our very humanity? Is it the crystalline azure skies, emerald green waters, the air scrubbed clean by open ocean breezes, or the uninhibited wildlife that goes about its business as if humans didn’t exist? That is exactly the point—“as if humans didn’t...
The View From Above: Kilimanjaro
By Chris Bettencourt Snow on the equator? You bet! At 19,340 feet, Mt. Kilimanjaro is Africa’s highest peak and the tallest free standing mountain in the world. Snow flurries aren’t uncommon when climbing this African giant, and add a shimmering mantle to the rocky terrain of its higher reaches. For the time being, Kili is...
First Person: Annapurna—In the Shadow of Giants
By Chris Bettencourt Nothing had prepared me for this. Not a lifelong love affair with anything to do with mountains, not a stint running the gallery for a groundbreaking mountaineer and adventure photographer…not even working for MTS for years! I had heard from numerous friends, colleagues, and fellow travelers how wonderful the region of...
Building Bridges in North Korea
By Kevin Callaghan — In my final set of comments here I’ll touch on the thorny question of whether or not tourists should support certain regimes by way of travel, exchange of hard currency and the possibility of implicitly condoning certain policies by simply visiting that country. This is a difficult and controversial topic over...
North Korea: A Bit of History
By Kevin Callaghan — North Korea, beset on all sides by superpowers China, Russia and the Japanese (who occupied Korea for 40 years, ending with WWII), accentuated by the Korean’s fervent nationalistic pride, have felt embattled for a century. With this as background, the legacy of Kim Il Sung (installed by Stalin post WWII) is...
North Korea: Pyongyang and Beyond
By Kevin Callaghan — Much of North Korea is off limits to foreigners, but we were able to arrange travel to places that few have access to. As promised in my last post, today I will share with you the four major destinations within North Korea that we visited: Pyongyang, the capitol; Mt. Paekdu, the...
Making Our Way in the DPRK
By Kevin Callaghan — Yesterday in my first post about our just completed trip to North Korea I posed our initial questions about the feasibility and viability of traveling to North Korea. In short, it is doable (and we can help), but one needs to be accompanied by assigned North Korean guides every step of...
Recharging in East Africa
By Kevin Callaghan — I recently returned from 2½ weeks in Tanzania where we took a group of entrepreneurs and their families on a custom safari of Tanzania’s iconic highlights: Tarangire, Manyara, Ngorogoro, Serengeti and the Maasai highlands. We crafted a unique, off-the-beaten-path adventure that enabled our friends to not only immerse themselves in the...
Our First Trip to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (yes, North Korea)
By Kevin Callaghan — Note: The following text is a compilation of five articles that were serialized here between September 25 and October 3, 2012. I just returned late last week from our first ever trip to North Korea. In the true spirit of Mountain Travel Sobek’s pioneering heritage, we led a group of...
Action Packed Galapagos—MTS Style!
“Man, what a morning!” exclaimed Luis, grinning from ear-to-ear. And we all had our own, big goofy grins.
Luis, our chief Galapagos guide, had just led us through an exhilarating morning: snorkeling along Isla Santiago’s dizzying underwater cliff, sea kayaking along the sheer face of this prehistoric island, tracking dolphins in the open sea...
