For Immediate Release
December 9, 2010-12-08
Contact:
Kevin Pollard
Babel Travel
kevinp@babeltravel.comPhone: +61 450 220 351
Robert Young Pelton and Babel Travel announce the first Cultural Engagement journeys into the World’s Most Dangerous Places.
Robert Young Pelton and Babel Travel have teamed up to create the first organized entries into the World’s Most Dangerous and forbidden places. These Cultural Engagement journeys have been created to give socially focused individuals an insight into the root problems of conflict and to help create lasting relationships and then pragmatic, sustainable solutions.
The team has developed breakthrough itineraries which journey to some of the world’s most inaccessible and controversial countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, North Korea, Burma and Iran.
These carefully planned Cultural Engagement trips will challenge the intellectual, emotional, participatory and educational interests of a very select group of individuals. All groups will maintain the highest level of personal and physical safety based on Pelton’s 30 years of continuous travel and work in conflict zones and Babel Travel’s experience in the adventure travel business.
“These trips are considered ‘dangerous’ because they are designed to challenge how people view these places, not to scare them” says Pelton. “Being face to face with people who are changing our world is an unforgettable experience. The slow decay of media coverage and the rise of personal communications mean it’s time for a small group of people to take on the work of bringing the truth of oppressed and abused people to the world.”
Pelton has travelled through over 120 countries and 36 conflicts in his efforts to give voices and insight into the world’s least accessible places.
“Being inside a country and being involved instead of watching it from the outside is going to dramatically energize and engage these people” says Pelton. “Each member will be interviewed, trained and more importantly tasked with creating an end product to tell their host’s story. Stories, interviews, research, video and photographs will be combined to create a portal for the next group and the world. Communities in these regions don’t have time to entertain outsiders unless they have come to help. They are happy to engage, challenge and share with visitors but only if they leave behind good, share their experience with the outside world.”
Kevin Pollard of Babel Travel has long wanted to tap into Pelton’s expertise and extraordinary access ever since he read his best selling guide The World’s Most Dangerous Places, which was first published in 1993 and is now its fifth edition. Participants in this program will also help in updating the 6th edition and carry on a two-decade legacy of penetrating the world’s least understood regions to bring understanding.
Pelton has designed the tours using his extensive experience and will rely on trusted local and foreign experts with whom he has worked. Itineraries run from 11-22 days with group sizes limited to 12 participants. Each journey will cost in the neighbourhood of USD 6-16,000 per person excluding airfare with the first trips commencing in March 2011.
Robert Young Pelton
Robert Young Pelton, 55 is an author, journalist and documentary filmmaker. An iconoclast known for his entry into most of the world's conflicts over the last 30 years, Pelton is considered an adventurer and a witness to conflict. His reputation is built on his interest and ability to enter forbidden, deadly and violent places and emerge with a stunning story. Pelton has been present at conflicts such as the battle of Qala-I-Jangi in Afghanistan, the siege of Grozny in Chechnya, the rebel campaign to take Monrovia in Liberia and approximately 50 conflicts. As well as interviewing John Walker Lindh (The American Taliban), Erik Prince and Ahmed Shah Massoud, Pelton has interview the leaderships of the Taliban, Al Qaeda, FARC, MILF, SPLA, LURD, spent time with the CIA during the hunt for Bin Laden and also with both insurgents and Blackwater security contractors during the war in Iraq.
Pelton's regularly publishes the survival and political guide; 'The World's Most Dangerous Places', which provides practical and survival information for people who work and travel in high-risk zones. With the book's best seller status, Pelton has become an expert on work and travel in high-risk environments. He was also host of the Discovery Travel Channel series "Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places" from 1998 to 2003. He is also a frequent television and magazine interview subject, often appearing as a humorous raconteur of his various adventures and safety tips on shows as diverse as Oprah, Conan O'Brien, CNN, Fox, BBC, ABC, CBS, NBC and others. He sums up his motivation by simply saying “the most dangerous thing in the world is ignorance”
http://www.comebackalive.comBabel Travel
Babel Travel offers small group adventure travel in 4 languages (English, French, Spanish and Italian) to off-the–beaten track destinations in Asia, Africa and The Middle East.
Babel Travel’s unique itineraries have been designed with the adventurous in mind. Babel Travel offers four different trip styles- Cultural Engagement, Babel Adventurer, Babel Traveller and Babel Comfort- with each trip giving travellers the opportunity to experience a country at a grass-roots level. Babel Travel aims to burst the tourist bubble and show travellers the real world, up close and personal. Travellers are encouraged to immerse themselves in local traditions, sample local cuisine and catch local transport where possible. Babel Travel trips facilitate many opportunities for face-to-face interaction with local people which helps foster cross-cultural understanding.
Babel Travel believes that giving back to local communities is essential. All trips benefit small, locally owned travel companies, locally owned hotels, transport and local guides. Babel Travel wants to encourage others to make a difference to the world, not just visit it. Every trip incorporates a visit to a local charity thereby helping to improve lives of the less fortunate in communities all over the world.
Babel Travel believes that travel should be sustainable causing no impact to the host communities or the environment. By travelling courteously and respectfully in small groups (12 is the maximum group size), ensures that every Babel Travel adventure is a beneficial experience for everyone involved.
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