‘The Mappila Verses’: Where do we go if our names are not in the list?
‘Where do coconut trees go when their roots are declared illegal?’ Anonymous 16th-century Portuguese illustration from Códice Casanatense, depicting Kerala Muslims | Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome / Wikimedia Commons
Following the Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish’s
Write me down, I am an Arab, Ajmal Khan wrote “Write me down, I am an Indian” in the wake of the CAA-NRC protests. It was translated into Hindi by lyricist Varun Grover, and into many other regional languages.
The Mappila Verses is Khan’s new collection of poems.
Portrait of a Bastard
Amazing photographs show the three-month old youngster enjoying a prized position during the pride s early morning grooming session in the Masai Mara in Kenya.
In 2021 and beyond, revitalising human connections and directing funds straight into the pockets of those who need it most will be an important part of the sustainable travel experience.
However, in the age of contagion an extra degree of care will need to be taken to protect not infect the people we come in contact with when we go overseas, especially if they are living in remote communities.
Here, three travel industry experts share their views on how to experience community immersion trips in an ethical and socially responsible way.
Alice Gully, co-owner of Aardvark Safaris:
When it comes to responsible tourism that employs, supports and engages with local communities, many African lodges and camps are well ahead of the curve – look at the likes of Volcanoes Safaris, African Bush Camps (which has launched a new Community Conservation Safari), Great Plains and Sarara, which is collectively owned by approximately 2,400 Samburu families.
Strict new travel rules will increase poverty, starvation and poaching in Africa, operators warn We are already seeing huge increases in poverty – children are unable to attend school, families cannot buy food
28 January 2021 • 9:17am Each job in a safari camp supports 8-10 people. Without tourism those jobs don t exist
Credit: Getty
Tour operators have sought to highlight the devastating impact that Britain’s strict new travel restrictions will have on people in developing countries, particularly those in Africa.
The Government has confirmed that – having already banned arrivals from 30 countries, scrapped the quarantine-free travel corridor list, and introduced a requirement to show evidence of a negative Covid test – it will soon force arrivals from some high-risk countries to spend 10 days isolating under guard, at their own cost, in an airport hotel.
Out of Africa
Rick Taylor shines a light on Africa as a next choice for meeting, change and legacy opportunity.
Africa is 30.2m sqkm in size and home to 16.7% of the world’s population. Sub-Saharan Africa is the youngest region in the world with a median age of 19.5 compared to 38 in the US, 43 in the EU and 47 in Japan.
Against the aspirations of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 (a plan for transformation of the continent by 2063), Africa’s tourism competitiveness is increasing as destinations scale up their development agendas specifically into the business events sector. The importance of the business events sector, with its unmatched value chain and deep social impacts, has become even more evident during Covid-19.