These cat’s name says it all. This group comes to us out of the UK with a unique style for today’s time. Their technique is very soulful and James Brown-esque with numerous horns and light playful guitar licks. All in all this music is fun but also very real. Listening to the lyrics to How You Like Me Now?, off of their album titled The House That Dirt Built, explains the wanting and desire of a troubled individual. A very real feeling if you have ever wanted something, or someone, you just couldn’t have. Give the song a listen and enjoy this new music movement we are in.

The Heavy – How You Like Me Now?

India, the land and her people, a mere mention of the word India takes one to heights of delight and compels people from other countries to pay a visit at least once. However, the fauna is something, which is unique to this land. The source of these exotic varieties is the jungles of India, which are scattered over the geographic landscape. Then there is a wide array of about 80 national parks and countless reserved forest areas. For the people from other countries, who want to savor the very best of the jungle life and yet can’t do without the luxuries, wildlife tour India is the answer. The package provides a unique, though refreshing experience for the people from other countries. Through this package, you can get the accommodation at the wildlife resorts which have been furnished with the modern gadgets.

India is a wildlife paradise for the nature seekers and can offer anybody a chance to take a peep at its fauna. For wildlife lovers, a number of wildlife tour India packages are there to be selected from. These wildlife tours take you to many wildlife parks and sanctuaries in India. Many wildlife safari options are available which include jeep safari in the Indian jungles and elephant safari. Tiger viewing on the back of an elephant is one of the favorite activities for the adventure seekers. During the wildlife tour India, you can experience the flavors of India while putting up at various accommodations in the resorts in the jungles. One of the famous places is the Corbett National Park, which is home to the Indian tiger. Others include Bandhavgarh National park, Kaziranga National Park, Gir wildlife sanctuary and others. For centuries, India has been famous for her flora too and the Indian jungles are a sight to see. It is a treat to see so much greenery which is missing in the concrete jungles of India.

Many wildlife resorts in India have been fitted with the modern gadgets. For the tourists, this type of experience proves to be very exciting as they can now savor the luxuries of life in the midst of a jungle. The resorts have been constructed right in the middle of the reserved sanctuaries, which at times, prove to be very distracting to the animals. Though you can watch them from your window, it amounts to disturbing their space which at times, proves to be fatal. A number of incidents in recent years prove that the conflict between the beast and the man is increasing. Yet everybody knows who is to be blamed for this sorry state of affairs. Provisions should be made to re-locate these luxurious resorts far from the jungle. Wildlife tour India will then serve its purpose if the people visit these resorts and leave the animals in peace.

Wildlife tour India includes much more. Some of the packages include the viewing of tribal dances and their culture. The tribes, which have been living since ages outside these forests possess a lot of local knowledge. This includes the knowledge about the unique medicinal value of the jungle plants. You can enrich yourself with their age-old wisdom in case you want to. One more thing here. Take a good pair of boots with yourself to withstand the rough terrain of the jungle and also the mosquito repellants. At night, these will protect you from the insect bites and the infection, which you might acquire form them.

Travelling through South Africa, Swaziland and the beaches Mozambique this tour gives you a mix of the old and the new and great photographic opportunities.

Discover the diverse culture and rich wildlife of South Africa and Mozambique with a maximum of 16 person in our custom built full size expedition truck. With over a meter of legroom at each seat sit back, relax and experience the wonders of Southern Africa.

We have purpose-built our expedition vehicle, a Mercedes 1820 truck to be one of the best in the business, with exceptional reliability and speed. The truck is designed with our clients in mind: as a result, comfort and space are high on our list of priorities. The truck seats only 16 passengers. A smaller group size means that our tours have less impact on local communities and on the environment. We do not “rack-em, stack-em and pack-em”, as some companies do. Reclining coach-style seats, with over 1.3 metres of leg room, give you the space you need on long days of travelling. Our unique drop-down windows afford exceptional viewing. Above each set of seats is a roof hatch to provide an additional all-round viewing option.

There are two storage lockers per set of two seats. One locker is located inside at your feet for your hand luggage/camera gear and contains a box-safe for travel documents, money and other valuables. The other is an outside baggage locker. The truck itself is fully lockable. The linked cab and passenger compartments allow for optimal communication between passengers and the crew, and includes an intercom system for travel information.

We provide the services of an expert photographer and digital download facility on all our overland tours, a unique feature making us stand out from the others! One of our crew (normally the Tour Leader) is a full-qualified, semi-professional, photographer who will be available to give advice on photographic (and video) techniques; and will organise “workshops/tutorials” on photographic subjects and techniques (eg landscape, wildlife and bird photography, night shots, close-ups and portraits) to assist our guests to improve their photographic technique. We also provide a laptop computer with multi-card reader for those clients with digital cameras to enable you to download your memory cards and burn those special memories to CD or DVD while on tour.

Source: Nature & Kind Travel Collection

An 11 day safari taking in the highlights of Sabah, Borneo. Visit Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, the worlds largest Orang Utang Sanctuary.

An 11 day safari visiting the highlights of Sabah, Borneo. Travellers visit the renowned Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre, the worlds largest Orang Utan Sanctuary. This much documented and world renowned centre rehabilitates Orang Utans rescued from captivity and those orphaned and displaced by logging activities until they are fit to be released for independent life in their natural habitat. This is a perfect opportunity for travellers to see exactly what threats the Orang-utans are facing and the effort required to put a stop to these issues. A visit to the Sanctuary will allow you to come in close contact with the remarkable “man of the forest”. It is interesting and exciting to watch as these large red apes are astonishingly gentle, highly intelligent and will gaze at you with almost disconcerting frankness. In the evening set off into the jungle in search of the nocturnal jungle wildlife.

Source: Nature & Kind Travel Collection

DJ /rupture

No Tracklist.

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Spacefunk and Parallax – Crucial Turducken (live on dnbradio.com)

Recorded live on 2009-11-25 22:06:20 – (111 MB)

Description: Thanksgiving Eve Special

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Tracklist:
01 – Henree/Hiten – Naked City
02 – SPY – Asbo
03 – Mikal – Distance
04 – Noah D/Einstein – Killing Time (Break remix)
05 – Spectrasoul – 4 Points
06 – Gremlinz/Goldstar – Cutlass
07 – Giocator – You Go First
08 – Nymfo – Magnetic Field
09 – Alix Perez – Playing Tricks
10 – Stereotype- Euphoria
11 – Arp XP – Equation
12 – Bcee – Mr. Brigidan feat. Jo S
13 – The Law – Sophine
14 – Level 2 – Extension
15 – Subwave – Dreamcatcher
16 – Bcee – Heartache feat. Ad-Apt
17 – Data – The Sprawl
18 – ATP – Don’t Stand Still
19 – EZ Rollers – Believe (Marky/XRS Remix)
20 – Break – Old Method
21 – Break & Kyo – Last Chance (remix)
22 – D kay/Lee – Tuning VIP
23 – Bulletproof/No Money – Immortal
24 – Scoop/Rico – Little Green Men
25 – Ruffen/Dissent – 2 Original
26 – Lomax – Avon Calling
27 – Future Forces – Strontium Jazz (Dillinja remix)
28 – Dom/Roland – Mind Feeder
29 – Utopia – Scan Me
30 – Dom/Roland – Peacekeeper (Audio Remix)
31 – Loxy/JDub – Twisted 3rd Mind (Keaton/Hive Remix)
32 – Dub Elements – Green Bottle
33 – Higher Sense – Cold Fresh Air (Cyantific remix)
34 – Spectrasoul – Gaurdian
35 – Calibre – Ringtone
36 – High Feel – Make My Mind (Mage VIP)
37 – High Contrast – Green Screen
38 – DJ Trace – Final Chapta
39 – Stress Level/TC1/Chris Su – Waves (Survival remix)
40 – Zero T/ Mosus – Headspace
41 – Alix Perez – Melanie
42 – Survival – Betrayed

Sub Focus, the current drum’n'bass it producer has just released his self titled debut album. The album is a pleasant surprice as he was not content with just giving you drum’n'bass anthem one after another, instead there are a fwe nice down tempo tunes along with couple dub step tunes and my current favorite house tune at the moment “Move Higher”. Going along the line of DJ Zinc’s crack house sound, the track opens up with some old skool funky breaks followed with some dreamy rave stab that reminds you of the early days of jungle. Then when the bass drop, we’re treated with bouncy wobble bass on top of groovin’ four on the floor house beat. It was quite a surprise for me to hear such killer house banger from this drum’n'bass top producer. I once read in a page of computer music magazine and it stated that drum’n'nbass is one of the most complex genre to produce, resulting in its practitioner becoming one of the most versatile and technically adept producer. Sub Focus just emphasized that statement.

Sub Focus myspace

Music:
Sub Focus – Move Higher

Alex the Lion

I was delighted to be asked recently to produce a lion cushion for a little boy called Jack who had seen the block for Bertie’s Blanket and thought the lazy lion looked like Alex from the Madagascar film.

Jack has taken delivery of his cushion, thanks to a very kind friend of ours who couriered it and safely delivered it by hand to his mummy.  He likes it and his mummy likes.  I can let my breath out now!

I love doing these cushions, pictures and blankets but can never quite believe that people like them as much as I do.  I’m delighted!

barry the buzzy bee

Whilst making Jack’s cushion, I realised that there is a little character who is starting to appear on a lot of my pictures….

The little character is a buzzy bee and I’ve decided to call him “Barry’.

We have a local bee keeper who is called Barry and he very kindly gave us a talk and tour of some of his hives during the summer while we were out on a bike ride. He now sell his honey through our local butcher and a jar is always in our kitchen cupboard.  We have orders from our friend’s kids for his honey too.  He is a busy bee keeper.

Anyway, I’d quite like to keep bees myself but until a time when I can, I like the wee bee in my pictures and I like Barry’s honey so it seems fitting to call my wee bee Barry.

I hope Barry doesn’t mind.

So the idea is being banded about that John & Edward might replace Katie Price in the jungle that is “I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here”….
That seems like a reasonable suggestion to me.
After all, the jungle wouldn’t be the same without an amazing pair of TITS to look at !

Curtis ********* – is “Drunk on the beach trying to ride sea turtles.”

- I don’t think there’s much of a joke to be had here. Yes… you’re an Idiot for messing around with prehistoric creatures that could snap your skull into two soup bowls; on the flip side this is one of the best updates I’ve ever read. Curtis, your next update needs to involve: drunk in the jungle, arm wrestling, and a gorilla.

Been watching ‘I’m a Celebrity…’ which is becoming quite tiresome now. I’m sure it didn’t ALL involve eating and drinking animal products in past series. Anyway, I was thinking that all those ‘celebrities’ are quite lucky to have lights. The rainforest can be a creepy place at night. Imagine it without the lights. Black. Complete darkness. Like being inside a cave except you’re surrounded by the constant, electrical hum of life. Croaks and chirrups and shuffles and squeaks and coughs and…and you don’t know where it’s coming from or what’s making it. My brother and I used to camp out on the river sometimes in Brazil, but we always stuck to a beach on the Araguaia, chucking a couple of waterproof ponchos and a mosquito net over some sticks. Once we got canny, (seasoned ‘adventurers’, oh yeah) we even found ourselves a couple of semi-comfy bedrolls. There, under the open sky, it was distracting to hear the turtles coming up onto the beach during the night, river dolphins surfacing for air, maybe a caiman or two, but actually in the forest? Scary. Some of the locals used to hunt lowland paca (click the link for a quirky video of the little fella that’s very good to eat) by going into the forest at night and stringing a hammock high in the trees over a paca run. They’d wait for the animal to pass underneath and shoot it.

Eat me!

My brother and I decided we’d go into the forest one night with our friend Marco to try a similar deal but we didn’t last long. The forest was dense. Unlike the forest in ‘I’m a celebrity…’ this forest was thick and almost impenetrable in some places at ground level and we thought we’d lucked out when we found an opening at the edge of the trees, with a narrow track leading deeper inside. So we switched on our torches and held our assorted weapons ready for the first paca.

I don’t think we made it more than about a hundred metres in there.

After a short while of creeping about like great hunters, we encountered a heavy smell that settled over and smothered the usual odour of the forest. And as we progressed further in, the smell grew stronger. A kind of musky smell, with an underlying hint of decaying flesh. Being brave souls, we pressed on until we came to the end of the track which was a kind of cul-de-sac of death. A hollowed out lair, scattered with bones and scented with the rotting corpses of forest animals. Something lived there, though I have no idea what, and it liked meat. We shared a look, turned around, and decided the jungle was no place to be at night.

Dan Smith’s Official Website

Fish-faced ‘model and business woman’ Jordan has walked from I’m a celebrity. I hope that her decision is after the realisation that not many people actually like her. I’m surprised that even Jordan was so blinkered to think that another appearance on the ITV show would boost her public image after her divorce from Peter Andre.

After getting paid over five times more than the other contestants, it’s a kick in the teeth for the remaining celebs who have to see her walk. It’s a typical tantrum for Jordan and things aren’t looking too good elsewhere in her empire. Her latest children’s book sold only 19 copies and out of her last five books (I say her books but they’re actually ghost written), there has only been 1043 sales. The bubble has burst with her fragrance range that is getting trounced in the shops and things are so bad that she’s even offering to sign any one of her products with a personal message – hardly something a successful business woman needs to do.

So what’s the news?

The UK press is going wild at the moment with the speculation that John & Edward Grimes will replace Jordan. £100,000 has been put on the table for them to join the rest of the muppets in the Jungle and a decision should have been made late yesterday evening.

John & Edward were voted off the X-Factor on Saturday night after finding themselves in the bottom two with Olly Murs (!) and I’ve got to say, I ended up quite liking them. They can’t sing and one of them can’t actually dance but they managed to bring a smile to my face every week. They had to put up with people in the crowd booing them during the live shows and they didn’t complain once, they just got on with it. They even had to contend with Calvin Harris invading their performance and also the ridicule that Cowell put their way in the first few weeks of the live shows. I say fair play to them. I hope they do go to the jungle, it’ll earn them a few quid and they’ll be a lot more entertaining than the celebrities already out there.

Colin and Justin praying to the God of Soft Furnishings

So, Colin is out of the jungle. I think I’m as shocked as most. I mean I guess it’s not that surprising that Colin or Justin were near the first to be out as they aren’t that well known to Joe Public. I fell in love with them during their Million Pound Property Experiment several years back, but if you didn’t see that, then you wouldn’t have had many opportunities to to catch them on TV since unless you live in Canada or Scotland. The big (read: HUGE) surprise is that Justin received more votes than Colin to remain.

Colin was always the cutesy one, the compassionate one, the emotional one. You can’t help but have a soft spot for him, but by contrast, I always found that Justin grated on me. I found him that little bit too loud, a smidgen over-opinionated, a tad obnoxious, and I didn’t like the way he treated Colin on their TV shows. However, these two have been together for many years, lived together for 20 years; they are very much in love, suit each-other immensely, and I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that their relationship is confusing, or wrong. So enter Joe Swash, he’ll suggest it live on ITV2, he will also suggest that there is no reason that anyone should like Justin, and no reason why Colin would be dating him. SHAME ON YOU JOE! You may have formed the same opinion as me over Justin’s TV persona, but what on Earth qualifies you to know who the REAL Colin and Justin are? How do you know what life they’ve shared together, or how much they are in love? FOR SHAME!!! Next time, be careful about what you say on TV as an impartial commentator.

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Peanut butter…

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JedWard of the Jungle???

Edward and John (Edwohn)

My only comment is YAAAAAAAAY! I hope they sign! I hope they sign!! I’m going to miss them on Saturday nights. They were always the act I looked forward to seeing the most. Don’t get me wrong, they can’t sing for toffee, and I certainly won’t buy any albums, but boy are they fun to watch on TV!

To read the original story, click here

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AMA-BOWB-AMA-TIDDL-AMA-WOW-AMA!

Adam Lambert and mysterious stranger. Seriously, does this guy know how to kiss without mashing your face in?

Adam Lambert of American Idol fame has got into a spot a bother over a gay ‘kiss’ live on TV during a performance of his new single ‘For Your Entertainment’. First of all, it wasn’t a kiss; it was a mauling. A kiss that aggressive is usually only performed at 4am after a heavy night of drink and debauchery. Secondly, it only recieved 1500 complaints to the relevant authority, which considering the size of the audience, shows that there may be some hope for the American race yet. Thirdly, I thought it was pretty gross, and laughed for at least 15 seconds before trying to pick which of the dancers I would have prefered to snog if I absolutely HAD to live on TV (as the thing he picked wasn’t pretty), which brings me to point Four: If any Americans did have an issue with explaining to their young children why two blokes were kissing on TV, they could have easily just told them that Adam was kissing a pretty young girl wearing WAY too much make-up, and one of those ‘progressive’ European hairstyles.

The ‘uproar’ has proved to be relatively tame, and Adam has now gained a new ‘fan’ in Me; NOT for performing the grossest kiss in live television history, but for remarking the following: that if people had been upset by his performance, then that it is a “form of discrimination and it’s too bad”, adding “I had fun, my dancers had fun, the audience that was in the Nokia [Theatre] had fun. Anybody else who was watching it and enjoying it, thank you for being entertained”.

I take my hat off to you Adam Lambert. In recent times you would have heard a Celebrity apologising even when they did nothing wrongin order to please their more moderate public, in an attempt to increase their ‘brand’ appeal, and whilst it is sometimes necessary to apologise for ‘offending’ people, but not apologise for the ‘offensive act’ itself, in this case, the kiss would only have been offensive to prudes and bigots, and a heterosexual kiss shown at the same time, in the same scenario would most certainly not have offended America’s heartland, and therefore Adam is 100% justified in his response, and it is refreshing to see a celebrity, especially one at the start of his career with so much to lose, being so firm and backing his convictions with very public words.

Hear, hear!

To read the original story, click here

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Michael Sheen

I’ve just realised I really like him, as an actor and TV personality. Shame he’s Welsh. Ho Hum.

D.O.A. – MUPPET MAYHEM!!! I wish I still had this record.

PS…must listen to the final 15 seconds

Charles Darwin è stata una delle persone più viaggiato nella storia. Potete immaginare le commissioni suo agente di viaggio guadagnato?

Quante volte avete avuto luogo a cercare di prenotare un volo o un albergo, perché … "Il nostro sistema è il basso". Oggi, le persone non hanno la pazienza per mancato funzionamento del software di agenzia di viaggi. In un'epoca in cui le persone possono prenotare un volo con un modem cellulare, il più
importante agenzia di attività di viaggi offre ai clienti un servizio personalizzato è sostenuta dasoftware per agenzie di viaggio eccellente.

Agenzia di Viaggi System – Il stasera Lion Sleeps

Travel System Agent può significare la difesa tra un viaggiatore felice e leone arrabbiato! Travel è una parola di business bocca … un cliente soddisfatto porta più imprese, di un cliente scontento può costare una agenzia di viaggi a caro prezzo. Nella giungla di oggi di viaggio, il cliente insoddisfatto è il leone di un'agenzia di viaggi dovrebbe temere di più. Software di agenzia di viaggio Poor puòcausare clienti insoddisfatti per raccontare i loro amici e persino dannosa scrivere recensioni sui blog e forum. la giungla di viaggio le agenzie di viaggio, con facile da usare, software per agenzie di viaggio efficiente dormire la più solida.

Travel Agency Software-Survival of the Fittest

Software per agenzie di viaggi che soddisfa entrambe le esigenze presenti e future è di vitale importanza. Prodotti delle agenzie e clienti sono in costante evoluzione, e così deve viaggiare una agenzia di viaggiagente software. La concorrenza tra la concorrenza nel settore dei viaggi e del turismo campo è forte e lo è anche Agenzia di Viaggi Software un campo fortemente competitivo. Agenzie di viaggio che offrono personali come pure le prenotazioni on-line guadagnare margini di profitto più elevati. Qui ci sono grandi agente di linee guida di viaggio software per il software di agenzia di viaggi ha bisogno:

Software per agenzie di viaggio – L'origine delle specie

Molto facile da usare

Flessibile Commissioneimpianti

Multilingue

Multi-currency

Funzionalità full contabili

Piena integrazione di Internet

Vasto sistema automatizzato

Totale fine di porre fine una soluzione

State-of-the-art technology

Ottima affidabilità e la stabilità

See Also : sunglasses Cristinas talk about health Douglas says Sunglasses Brand

A few random shots of Kuranda before we move on to Sidney:

White bird

The white bird you see above was only one of many birds that live in this area (rain forest in Australia).  He was not restrained  in any way.  He was free to come and go as he wished although there were food and water dishes available for him to come enjoy.

Color in the middle of the jungle.

This tree is supposed to be 75 years old!

Rough Road Ahead!

One of the things Tony had planned was for us to go on a tour of the rainforest on one of those amphibious vehicles which this place called “Army Ducks”.  It goes on both land and sea.  We climbed all over the hills then went down to the river and into to it.  The photo above shows the road we were about to go on from the water.  It was, needless to say, a bumpy ride!

Lush Land

As you can see in the photo immediately above, the land is very lush and colorful.  The skies are bluest blue.  The sounds are those of birds calling out to each other, the jumping of kangaroos, splashing of crocodiles in to the water, and because there was an indigenous interpretive center adjacent to this area, there were also sounds of didjeridu and drums.  It was more than enough to make us want to stay a lot longer!

So, Jordan’s left I’m A Celebrity and many would say good riddance.  But I for one will miss her.

I know, I know.  Katie Price knew what she was getting herself into when she signed up for I’m a Celebrity. She was hardly the nation’s sweetheart when she went into the jungle,

Katie found the pressure of the trials too much

famed for pushing the boundaries of human suffering.  But I think the British public should give her a break.

Yes, her split with Peter Andre may not have shown her in the best light.  But unlike Peter, who seems to have been told to stare wistfully into the distance and talk about his kids every few seconds, Katie did what any self-respecting celeb would do.  She went to Ibiza, got trashed and nabbed herself a cross-dressing, cage-fighting boyfriend.  Ask yourself this question:  if all celebrities were like this, would the world not be a far better place?

And like all true celebs, she has an alter ego.  Beyonce has Sasha.  Jennifer Lopez has J-Lo.  Katie has Jordan.  By day she is Katie,  the average, stay-at-home type, but at night she becomes Jordan, the surgery addict who likes to play with the notions of human decency and taste.  She is almost like a modern day superhero.  And to top it all off, she is willing to eat a kangeroo anus to win favour with the British public.  If that isn’t true star quality, I don’t know what is.

No, I’d keep an eye on Stuart instead.  His dazzlingly white teeth and chiselled jaw may have blinded a few people, but I just don’t trust him.  Look at how long he was prepared to stand holding water in a tube to escape nominations.  People who have the capacity to hold water in tubes for hours can never be trusted.  And after all that, he moaned about his immunity and claimed he was “taking one for the team”.  Unless he has an unusual fetish for saving water, something doesn’t quite add up, methinks…

Just when you thought there weren’t enough reality shows on TV (funny yeah), like the buses, three came along at once. First of all we had Strictly Come Dancing which has become more like an episode of Casualty this year and which as you probably guessed by now I love. Then we had the farce which passes for X Factor, judged by Mr Nasty, two fashion victims and a leprechaun and defies belief with some of its remaining acts. And then finally we had I’ll be a celebrity when I get out of here. Trouble with the latter is that the formula is just not funny any more. Too many bugs and nothing new. I actually admire some of the celebs like Kim and George, but when you’ve seen one kangaroo testicle you’ve see them all.

In fact I think my problem with all these shows is the GBP (Great British Public) being given the vote (after all these are the same ‘public’ who voted three times for a Labour Government and look where that’s got us). Strictly at least has the good ones left though Zoe and James should be there. X Factor still has Jedward – need I say more? Even poor little Lloyd may be sweet but he just can’t sing and who voted out Lucie and Jamie? As if the public aren’t bad enough, even the judges have gone completely barking.

As for I’m a Celeb, the pubic voting for Katie every time to do the bushtucker trial is starting to look like bullying again.

I despair. So why am I still watching? Maybe it’s beacuse there’s just nothing else on TV right now apart from Spooks. But I have to say, the real talent was on Thursday night at the BBC Children in Need concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Take That, Robbie Williams, Paolo Nutini, Mika, Leona Lewis, Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey, the list is endless. It was strictly fantastic!

I haven’t updated since July, but October was one of my best months yet. Despite being in the middle of finishing my masters degree (my albatross), I have found a window of opportunity to get a quick update in. Just to show this site has not left my mind, far from it, ideas are countless still. My next update should be during the winter break between fall and spring semester. So… in preparation for a more in depth article on Latin America I’m going to tell you about the Darien Gap.

What is the Darien Gap?

The Darien Gap - thanks to Canary in the Coal Mine

This question is more difficult to answer than I had originally planned. ‘What is the Darien Gap’ is like asking ‘What is physics?’ Sure – there’s the simple answer that it’s the study of matter and energy and how they interact with each other… but anybody who has ever studied it knows that physics is the greatest mindfuck there is. And like physics, the complexity surrounding the Darien Gap might be equally boggling. And also like physics, there is a simple answer: the Darien Gap is a small swath of jungle that sits on the border of Central and South America on the edges of Colombia and Panama. It’s a mere 31 miles wide from the Caribbean Coast to the Pacific Coast and various thicknesses depending on your source and what they consider to be the Darien Gap since it’s not an entirely defined region. But as I said, this simple answer to the question “What is the Darien Gap’ does it no justice. If I were to create my own answer to this question I might simply call it the most insidious place on Earth.

And there was no light matter in choosing the word ‘insidious’ either. The Darien Gap is insidious in every aspect of the definition. Merriam-Webster describes insidious as “awaiting a chance entrap: treacherous, harmful and enticing: seductive” and the Darien Gap is most definitely both seductive and treacherous. The following are real-life situations and issues directly involving the seduction and treachery of the Darien Gap. And these stories are so extreme that they could only be fact because fiction wouldn’t believe them. But the Darien Gap is virtually unheard of despite its global reach. The 31 miles of unbroken jungle seems paltry to the behemoth Amazon to the South, yet it is crucial to understand the power it holds. But for all these stories to truly have weight, we need to understand the setting: The Darien Jungle itself.

Thomas Griffioen's beautiful snapshot of the Darien Jungle

The Darien Jungle

The Darien Jungle consists of some of the most impassible and impossible terrain on the planet. In some areas rocky cliffs reign supreme while other areas are so swampy that you could hide a few passenger jets deep in the swamp with plenty of room to spare. Some rainforest areas have been described as if being in a giant Cathedral with nothing but dirt on the ground and nothing but canopied trees above, other areas are shrouded in a constant fog of clouds. The picture to the right is from one of the only places I could find quality pictures from the Darien Gap. Most pictures are small or grainy or poor quality in some way. Thomas Griffioen’s website has a lot of high quality beautiful pictures from the area, his set of pictures will really help you get a feel for the area. Through these pictures the seduction of the Darien Gap becomes obvious.  In fact, it seduced this entirely different man to be the first to cross the Darien Gap by motorcycle and he had this to say about describing one part of the jungle:

After two hours on the trail we arrived at the marker on the Panama Columbia border. The hills were getting steeper and longer, sometimes it took three of us to get a bike up a hill. At places the trail was on the side of a steep hill. One slip, bike and rider would plunge into a deep valley that would be almost impossible to get out of. To make problems worse, there were many fallen trees and the jungle seemed to be getting thicker. We could barley see the sky and the jungle seemed like perpetual twilight zone.

He also took some pictures. Ian Hibell, a bicyclist that made the goal to bike from the tip of South America to Alaska went through the Darien Gap and you can see him hiking through a torturous swamp. And that is actually the only video I have of the Darien Jungle deep in its own heart. To think so very few primary resources of any place teeming with life on the planet in the 21st century is shocking.

And hidden deep within the jungle along the coast not accessible by road lays nothing less than one of the most unique fishing locations on the planet. The Tropic Star Lodge’s website proudly acknowledges that they are rated the number one salt-water fishing resort in the world. Built in 1961 by a Texas oil rancher it has become an expensive fishing resort that lures the rich and famous across the planet including John Wayne and Saudi Shieks.

The Tropic Star Lodge poolside, the mystical Darien in the background

As in any unexplored jungle, it is needless to say that species of both plant and animal life still lay undiscovered inside. So naturally there are also numerous species that have been discovered that are endemic within the Darien Gap area. The Darien Gap is also a safe-haven for quite a few endangered species. Of these endangered species you might stumble across a Howler monkey, so surly in disposition it is the only untamed monkey by Native Americans. The Giant Anteater is another endangered species crawling through this tropical dimension. I’m going to take a minute to grind my axe here – I hate it when species like this are endangered, I’ve express this same feeling in my ocean entry about the endangered Leatherback turtles that eat jellyfish.  Speaking from one human to another, we do not want species like this to go extinct. I know the anteater looks like a joke with legs but truly this animal is really smart and useful. Like bats and Leatherbacks they get rid of the pesky primordial species that are always trying to overwhelm the planet to turn the Earth back in to the golden age of when simple-celled organisms and insects ruled the planet. Ants are ridiculously plentiful, nobody is complaining about the scarcity of ants, and nobody is all too keen on hanging around with ants – so why aren’t we worshiping these creatures that have adapted a nose to actually inhale them? AND it’s the BIGGEST of them ALL! These animals are worth not only saving but actually growing their population. But instead we blindly go around eradicating these useful complex species from our planet in favor of the mechanical insects and primordial jellyfish. Why are we so stupid as to pick stinging, burning, biting, insects over silly-looking ant-eaters, flying mammals, and cool turtles, I will never understand this…

But I digress… Another endangered species found in the Darien Gap is the Bush Dog – super cute little guy right there. The white lipped peccary is a hog-like species that are notoriously aggressive and travel in packs. So you might be going for a random stroll through the Darien Jungle when all of a sudden you hear a large herd of white lipped peccaries coming your way – you better climb up the nearest tree because these little guys are nasty and they aren’t afraid of people. The lesser capybara is another rare and endangered species, it also weighs in as the worlds largest rodent. But before you cringe in disgust it’s clear the picture that it looks less like a rat and more like a guinea pig. And giant guinea pigs should be cool in everybody’s book. In fact, looking at this animal makes me understand that even rabbits had to have come from rodent ancestry.  Another endangered species is the Oncilla, a super cute 5 – 10 lb wildcat, I suspect living in a jungle they could get pretty nasty though. Baird’s Tapir is the last endangered animal I’m going to showcase even though it is not the last endangered animal in the jungle; this strange mammal travels largely alone through the inexplicably unforgiving jungle trying to survive despite lower and lower numbers. These Tapirs take over a year to give birth after being impregnated and have to survive in a jungle in addition to being hunted by humans. I’m surprised any animal lives a year in that jungle with all the predators and deadly insects. Finally, some of the native residents of the Darien Jungle are the Embera tribe, traditional warriors of the region. Hunting with blowpipes and into some serious body painting, these native inhabitants have survived the Darien for centuries.

The Darien Scheme

The Isthmus of Darien

So how unforgiving can the Darien Gap be? Well, listen to the story of how the Darien Gap defeats the country of Scotland. Yes – Scotland! How does a 30-mile swath of jungle in Central America defeat a country half a world away? Well, Scotland had existed as an autonomous entity for roughly 1000 years without compromising their independence. Yet it is well documented that at the very minimum the Darien Gap accelerated dissolution of Scotland and the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

William Paterson was a Scottish fellow who got rich by creating the Bank of England. And for his second trick he decided to return to his native Scotland and create a trading empire out of the tiny kingdom to the North. The cartography of the world had been complete enough at the turn of the 18th century and Paterson recognized a trading monopolists dream. It was clear beyond a doubt that the narrow isthmus of Darien, a mere 30 miles across (have I stressed that point enough yet?), would be ideal to establish a trading monopoly. Paterson was certain that if the Scottish government and the people of Scotland backed this plan they could colonize this isthmus and establish a crucial trading route from the expansive Atlantic and mighty Pacific.

I can only imagine Paterson’s vision. Any completed map of the world back then would clearly show the unique geographic feature of an incredibly thin strip of land sitting conveniently between two massive continents. I can even feel his excitement – the Panama Canal would not be created for another 200 years – plenty of time to make Scotland the ultimate trading monopoly on the planet. For all these years the Kingdom of Scotland sat in the shadow of the likes of England, France, and Spain colonizing half the planet while Scotland held no successful colonies. And here was Scotland’s prodigal son – William Paterson – a successful businessman with capital to invest getting ready to give Scotland its just due in the light of exploitation. No longer will England, Spain, and France be the only countries patting each other on the back for the capitalization of whole regions of the planet – in fact they’ll now be at Scotland’s mercy because they will have control of the Darien isthmus – and thus have control of the simplest trading route between the two monster continents. It would be an unavoidable monopoly and it would be Scotland who would benefit.

So Paterson started pitching this “scheme” to the Scots, and the Scots bought it – hook, line, and sinker. The Scots invested £500,000 which totaled about 50% of the nations capital. There was hardly a Scot who didn’t throw whatever money he could at this global conquest. Originally, the Scots weren’t going to bare the entire load and Paterson had worked the English and Dutch into the deal who subsequently backed out. To this day scandalous rumors float around questioning if this was done intentionally with the foresight of what would happen in Darien. Volunteers for the first trip to Darien were easy to find and were packed on a boat, 1,200 in number, and sailed 4 months across an expansive ocean to settle in their distant tropical paradise, build a colony, and make money! Of course when you cram 1,200 people on a boat for 4 months across an ocean at the turn of the 18th century enthusiasm tends to diffuse rather quickly. The Scots arrived in Darien sick and filled with dead – including Paterson’s wife.

They unloaded their ship and began setting up their colony in the exact jungle in which I’ve already took the liberty to describe for you. And if things were bad on the boat they only got worse in the unforgiving heart of tropical Darien. Jungle diseases quickly began decimating the population and rations were becoming thin. Back at home Scotland sent a resupply ship which got shipwrecked. It then took even longer to send two ships which began their 4 month journey to Darien too late. The colony, decimated, took to the jungle in search of nearby plantations run by other nations. The resupply ships, only equipped for the basic necessities for a fully operating colony landed at Darien in shock and dismay to find nobody.  1,200 resupply colonists reached Darien but it is said that as few as 30 survived.  With a complete and utter disaster realized it’s believed that Scotland became so crippled it forced the 1707 Act of Union with England.

The Pan-American Highway

Nothing can stop the pan-American highway... except for the Darien Gap -click to enlarge-

So we just read some history of the Darien region, now let’s fast-forward to modern day. But again, let’s step away from Darien for a moment and head to the top of the world where the small town of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska sits on the edge of the Arctic Ocean. Like Darien, this is a place on the planet where most people avoid. In fact, Prudhoe Bay has only about 50 residents all toiling in a remote, lifeless region of the planet to pump oil back to civilization for us to consume. According to their website that looks like it was made in 1995, there are 0 families that live at this northernmost town in North America. A few years ago Prudhoe Bay got some notoriety when BP spilled over a million liters of oil.

Now let’s go the the very opposite now – the bottom of the world, Ushuaia, Argentina – often regarded as the southernmost city in the world. Not as extreme as Prudhoe Bay, Ushuaia enjoys milder weather despite its location. What do these two places have in common? They are both the starting and ending points of the Pan-American Highway – a highway created to span across the expanses of two continents. Unbroken lay the chain of highway from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia standing as a testament to the power of mankind over nature… well unbroken everywhere except for the Darien Gap.

Yes, you could take the Pan-American Highway and cross its distances from the icy Arctic, where no trees live through the towering rockies and conifer forests, down through the North American deserts, into unstable Central American countries shrouded in jungle, but in the small backwater of Yaviza, Panama the Pan-American Highway stops. A seemingly impenetrable wall of jungle faces you here – you are staring at the Darien Gap. Nothing but raw jungle stands between you and Turbo Colombia. From Colombia, you could follow along the Pacific through Ecuador, Peru, and Chile into the ribbed backside of the Andes Mountains.  The final leg of the intensely long journey would be through country of Argentina, showcasing its capital – Buenos Aires, before turning sharply South along the Atlantic to Ushuaia.

And it’s this fact that draws people to want to know more about the Darien Gap. We have a road that has conquered all aside from this stretch of jungle. Why hasn’t the jungle been breached? Why haven’t we connected this highway that would be an unrivaled global achievement? What power does this Darien Gap have that we cannot tame in this 21st Century? It turns out that these questions are presumptuous, because despite its inaccessibility, it was purposefully left unfinished.

Now, I know what you’re thinking – With all the endangered species I listed above it’s clear that a highway cutting through this very narrow and diverse jungle is something that humanity as a species would never dare ruin because the preciousness of diversity in life far outweighs the worlds longest road.  But the truth is a terrible livestock disease that exists in South America does not exist in North America. The disease is called Foot and Mouth Disease, from Outside Magazine:

FMD is the doomsday plague of the livestock industry, an illness whose outbreak can shake global stock markets. Most recently, an epidemic of FMD ravaged England in 2001, causing more than $7 billion in economic losses. No cases of the disease have been reported in Panama, and the last U.S. outbreak occurred in 1929. But in Colombia, FMD was endemic during the 1970s and remains present today.

“If FMD were to invade Central America, it could have very rapid access to the United States,” says Harold Hofmann, 61, associate regional director of the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), an agency within the Department of Agriculture that’s charged with protecting the U.S. food supply from pests and diseases. “Therefore, the government’s plan is to keep it as far away as we can.”

Not only did the Pan-American highway never get finished but the creation of the Darien National Park was a result of the fear of this disease. A national park ensured no livestock would be raised within its boundaries. The United States has been puppeteering this region because it is precisely the country standing to lose the most if this disease crosses over. The United States Health Inspection Service has a $4.5 million regional budget working towards eliminating both FMD and a critter known as a screwworm whose larvae eat the flesh of cows.

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia

FARC rebels

So Darien is purposefully closed off, and with essentially good reasons. But when we look closer, we see there is still yet more to the story. It’s essential to remember the Darien Gap is insidious. And while we look at the Darien Gap and see 3 feet tall kitties and cute rodents and endangered species that need to be saved, the people who live with the Darien see the jungle as a giant death trap. Not simply for the natural causes of death – which are many – but because the Darien Gap has been home to Americas oldest terrorist organization. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are a by-product of over a century of civil war in Colombia. In the 1960s, rallying behind Marxist ideas, FARC was organized and began financing through the drug-trade. Today FARC is a multi-billion dollar drug-dealing enterprise supplying the United States with at least 60% of its cocaine.  This is unfortunate because this is financing a group who recruits child-soldiers and kidnaps anyone of seemingly value  and holds them in remote jungle prisons for sometimes years. The FARC have found their way to the Colombia-Panama border and are living (among other places)  in the Darien Jungle kidnapping those they could use in any way and killing those who don’t help in any way. There will be no arrest for your murder when you are murdered in the jungle, because you will never be found. Due to FARCs power people such as Hugo Chavez, leader of Venezuela, use them to cause confusion among accountable established nations by committing a certain amount of support for them. The United States has paid particular attention to them due to their influence.

Other rebel/terrorist groups that exist in this region are the National Liberation Army and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. All groups kidnap for some money. National Geographic Adventure magazine reporter, Robert Young Pelton, and two others were kidnapped for 10 days by the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia attempting to trek the Darien.  When asked advice for travelers considering going to the region he responded:

The Darién Gap is an extremely dangerous place—it’s probably the most dangerous place in the Western Hemisphere, definitely in Colombia. It’s used as a conduit for drugs. There are no police there, there’s no military, the trails aren’t marked. Kuna Indians are freaked out now because of the violence being perpetrated against them. Unless you have a lot of experience in Colombia, I wouldn’t suggest it. [For the most part] the jungle there is not viewed as a place that is pristine and beautiful—it’s looked at as a place where you get killed. Because no one bothers gathering information, like I did. I mean, I know how you can hike the Darién now. But you have to have a group of armed men with you.

Abandoned mining train succumbing to the Darien Jungle

Destruction of the Darien Gap

Despite the Darien Gap existing (albeit dangerously) into the 21st century, it is guaranteed that it will not exist into the 22nd century. In fact it seems the Gap has less than a decade until the natural plug is breached and the Americas are irrevocably connected. Deforestation of the Gap is rampant. The rebel groups infest the interior making it incredibly dangerous for any sort of ecological protection. And the clock ticks until the final, slim, remaining barrier between North and South America is breached and the transference of Foot-and-Mouth disease to the North will be uncertain. The Native Embera tribe and jungle animals are losing their home tree by tree for basic subsistence and the result will be the elimination of an ecosystem of transcontinental importance.