I’ve been doing a lot of online hol­i­day shop­ping and recently picked up some nice travel gifts at Magellan’s Travel Sup­plies. When my items arrived, the box also con­tained a flyer about Magellan’s part­ner­ship with a non­profit orga­ni­za­tion called SEE Inter­na­tional.

Accord­ing to the orga­ni­za­tion, 75 per­cent of the world’s 37 mil­lion cases of blind­ness are actu­ally treat­able, mak­ing the loss of sight a human­i­tar­ian emergency.

SEE Inter­na­tional puts together teams of vol­un­teer oph­thal­mol­o­gists to go where their help is needed, includ­ing places like Thai­land, Mex­ico, Bangladesh, Viet­nam, and Zimbabwe.

Since 1974 SEE’s eye sur­geons have per­formed more than 360,000 sight-storing procedures.

Magellan’s has been a cor­po­rate part­ner of SEE Inter­na­tional for over 20 years, pro­vid­ing travel kits for sur­geons as well as adver­tis­ing out­reach to its customers.

Expe­di­tions to the fol­low­ing coun­tries are sched­uled for 2010: Swazi­land, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Ghana, The Gam­bia, Nige­ria, Namibia, and Kenya.

Dona­tions are tax deductible and may be made online via a secure server. Visit See International’s web­site or call 1-(805)963‑3303 and men­tion that you heard about the orga­ni­za­tion from Magellan’s Travel Supplies.

Sur­gi­cal Eye Expe­di­tions (SEE) Inter­na­tional is a 501©(3) non­profit orga­ni­za­tion. Tax ID #31–1682275.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo of Maa­sai woman and child cour­tesy of iStockPhoto.com

I really like what Aber­crom­bie & Kent is doing with its orga­ni­za­tion, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy. The tour pack­ager that’s known for high-end expe­di­tions to the far cor­ners of the globe is now offer­ing indi­vid­u­als the chance to be part of the solu­tion to a local prob­lem in a far-off location.

As the hol­i­day sea­son approaches, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy is remindng every­one that dona­tions make fan­tas­tic gifts for friends and fam­ily who have everything.

“This year the focus is on what money can­not buy—shared expe­ri­ences and trea­sured mem­o­ries,” says Aber­crom­bie & Kent Vice Chair­man Jorie But­ler Kent, who guides Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy. “Our guests are look­ing for more mean­ing­ful ways to cel­e­brate with their fam­i­lies and asked us to cre­ate a Gift Pro­gram that makes it easy to donate to projects mak­ing a dif­fer­ence in places they have visited.”

With the help of A&K’s 62 world­wide offices, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy has iden­ti­fied grass­roots orga­ni­za­tions, spear­headed by ded­i­cated local experts in con­ser­va­tion, edu­ca­tion, com­mu­nity devel­op­ment, and pub­lic health.

These are inspir­ing gifts designed to honor a friend or fam­ily mem­ber.  Dona­tions range from $10 for a sim­ple HIV test to help pre­vent the trans­mis­sion of AIDS to an unborn child to $500 for a field trip for Maa­sai chil­dren who have never been on safari.

Here are three pro­grams being offered right now. Visit Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy to read about all dona­tion pro­grams through­out the world.

HIV Test­ing in Uganda
Uganda Bwindi Com­mu­nity Hospital
—$10 helps assess the HIV sta­tus of a local res­i­dent with a sim­ple field test.

Restore a Nat­ural Land­mark 
in Morocco
Morocco—Protection of the Palmeraie—
$50 plants a tree to help restore the del­i­cate ecosys­tem in this thousand-year-old date palm grove, a Mar­rakech landmark.

A Safari Field Trip
Kenya — Friends of Conservation—
$500 gives 20 Maa­sai chil­dren the chance to dis­cover their nat­ural her­itage and learn the value of pro­tect­ing wildlife with a field trip to the Masai Mara National Reserve.

Dona­tions can be made online through Aber­crom­bie & Kent Philanthropy’s secure web­site www.akphilanthropy.org with 100 per­cent of all dona­tions going directly to the project selected.  Gift cer­tifi­cates will be deliv­ered to the recipient(s) elec­tron­i­cally or printed and mailed.

To make a dona­tion as a family—or in honor of a loved one—go to www.akphilanthropy.org. One hun­dred per­cent of your char­i­ta­ble gift to Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy goes directly to sup­port local projects world­wide. Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy is estab­lished in the United States as a 501©(3) not-for-profit orga­ni­za­tion. Your char­i­ta­ble gift is tax deductible as pro­vided by law.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Excit­ing news for the gorilla pop­u­la­tion in Uganda…

A newly habit­u­ated gorilla fam­ily with 30 mem­bers was launched for tourism on Sep­tem­ber 24, 2009. Chris­tened the Nshongi group, the fam­ily is located in Rushaga on the south­west­ern part of Bwindi Impen­e­tra­ble National Park.

This is the largest group for tourism in the coun­try and is expected to boost Uganda’s gorilla tourism capacity.

The launch was a big event with some world class celebri­ties attend­ing the occa­sion along with other key Uganda gov­ern­ment officials.

—from the man­age­ment of Sanc­tu­ary Gorilla For­est Camp

Check out this amaz­ing pho­to­graph cour­tesy of Sanc­tu­ary Gorilla For­est Camp.

Twenty-nine ani­mal con­ser­va­tion­ists who have ded­i­cated their lives to sav­ing the Earth’s endan­gered species have been nom­i­nated to receive the bien­nial Indi­anapo­lis Prize, the world’s lead­ing award for ani­mal con­ser­va­tion. The nom­i­nees’ work spans the globe, rep­re­sent­ing a range of species from insects to mam­mals, and includes amphib­ians, ele­phants, bats, wolves and sharks, among many oth­ers. The Nom­i­nat­ing Com­mit­tee will review the appli­ca­tions and select the six final­ists, who will be announced in the spring of 2010. The Prize Jury will then deter­mine the win­ner who will be announced in mid-2010 and hon­ored at the next Indi­anapo­lis Prize Gala, to be held Sep­tem­ber 25, 2010, in Indianapolis.

Twenty-nine ani­mal con­ser­va­tion­ists who have ded­i­cated their lives to sav­ing the Earth’s endan­gered species have been nom­i­nated to receive the bien­nial Indi­anapo­lis Prize. The nom­i­nees’ work spans the globe, rep­re­sent­ing a range of species from insects to mam­mals, and includes amphib­ians, ele­phants, bats, wolves and sharks, among many oth­ers. The Nom­i­nat­ing Com­mit­tee will review the appli­ca­tions and select the six final­ists, who will be announced in the spring of 2010. The Prize Jury will then deter­mine the win­ner who will be announced in mid-2010 and hon­ored at the next Indi­anapo­lis Prize Gala, to be held Sep­tem­ber 25, 2010, in Indianapolis.

In addi­tion to receiv­ing the $100,000 Prize, the recip­i­ent is also awarded the Lilly Medal, an orig­i­nal work of art that sig­ni­fies the winner’s con­tri­bu­tions to con­serv­ing some of the world’s most threat­ened animals.

The 2008 Indi­anapo­lis Prize was awarded to leg­endary field biol­o­gist George Schaller, Ph.D. Schaller’s accom­plish­ments span decades and con­ti­nents, bring­ing fresh focus to the plight of sev­eral endan­gered species—from tigers in India to goril­las in Rwanda—and inspir­ing oth­ers to join the crusade.

“Fol­low­ing in Schaller’s foot­steps will not be easy, but the cur­rent nom­i­nees are excep­tional,” said Michael Crowther, pres­i­dent and CEO of the Indi­anapo­lis Zoo, the orga­ni­za­tion respon­si­ble for ini­ti­at­ing the con­ser­va­tion award. “These con­ser­va­tion­ists are all liv­ing their own unique and fas­ci­nat­ing adven­tures that bat­tle the odds, but achieve great victories.”

The nom­i­nees for the 2010 Indi­anapo­lis Prize include many indi­vid­u­als work­ing to con­serve the diverse wildlife of Africa:

Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Ph.D.: (Save the Ele­phants) Founded Save the Ele­phants; devotes his life to the cause of ele­phant conservation—from tes­ti­fy­ing before Con­gress to lead­ing anti-poaching aid pro­grams in Africa.

Jack Hanna: (Colum­bus Zoo and Aquar­ium) For more than 30 years, Hanna has been the pub­lic face of zoos, bring­ing the con­ser­va­tion mes­sage to mil­lions of peo­ple world­wide; pas­sion­ately ded­i­cated to Rwanda’s endan­gered ani­mals and its people.

Lisa Hywood: (Tikki Hywood Trust) Works tire­lessly to pre­serve Zimbabwe’s wildlife—including cap­tive breed­ing, man­age­ment and mon­i­tored release of endan­gered species and con­ser­va­tion edu­ca­tion in under-privileged, rural areas.

Lau­rie Marker, D.Phil.: (Chee­tah Con­ser­va­tion Fund) Founded the Chee­tah Con­ser­va­tion Fund; led a con­ser­va­tion pro­gram from hum­ble begin­nings in rural Namibia to an unpar­al­leled model for preda­tor conservation.

Gre­gory Ras­mussen, Ph.D.: (Painted Dog Con­ser­va­tion) Dili­gent advo­cate of the crit­i­cally endan­gered African wild dogs; founder of the Painted Dog Con­ser­va­tion, which strives to increase the range and num­bers of wild dogs in Zim­babwe and else­where in Africa.

Lente Lidia Roode: (Hoed­spruit Endan­gered Species Cen­tre) Estab­lished the Hoed­spruit Endan­gered Species Cen­tre, a non­profit orga­ni­za­tion that pro­vides a safe haven for orphaned and sick ani­mals, com­plete with an edu­ca­tion cen­ter, res­cue unit and breed­ing program.

Addi­tional nom­i­nees work­ing out­side of Africa:

Karen Eck­ert, Ph.D.: (WIDECAST: Wider Caribbean Sea Tur­tle Con­ser­va­tion Net­work) Ded­i­cated to research, mul­ti­lat­eral marine resource man­age­ment and the inter­na­tional con­ser­va­tion poli­cies for sea tur­tles for more than three decades.

Ger­ardo Cebal­los, Ph.D.: (Insti­tuto de Ecolo­gia, Uni­ver­si­dad Nacional Autonoma de Mex­ico) Leader in design­ing con­ser­va­tion strate­gies for endan­gered species and threat­ened ecosys­tems; con­ducted the first geo­graph­i­cally explicit analy­sis of pat­terns of pop­u­la­tion and species extinc­tion in a major tax­o­nomic group (mammals).

Nigel Col­lar, Ph.D.: (BirdLife Inter­na­tional) Researched and com­piled a unique and com­pre­hen­sive dataset on glob­ally threat­ened bird species that was pub­lished in ground­break­ing regional Red Data Books worldwide.

Ruth M. Elsey, M.D.: (Louisiana Depart­ment of Wildlife and Fish­eries) Fos­tered pro­grams to enhance the sur­viv­abil­ity and sus­tain­abil­ity of the Amer­i­can alli­ga­tor, in addi­tion to par­al­lel efforts for other crocodilians.

George Fen­wick, Ph.D.: (Amer­i­can Bird Con­ser­vancy) Founded Amer­i­can Bird Con­ser­vancy; ded­i­cated to cre­at­ing and sus­tain­ing glob­ally sig­nif­i­cant bio­di­ver­sity reserves, tack­ling policy-based threats to birds and gen­er­at­ing fund­ing resources for the bio­di­ver­sity community.

Rod­ney Fox: (Rod­ney Fox Shark Expeditions/Fox Shark Research Foun­da­tion) Mir­a­cle sur­vivor of one of the world’s worst shark attacks; regarded as a world author­ity on Great White Shark research, obser­va­tion and conservation.

Birute Mary Galdikas, Ph.D.: (Orang­utan Foun­da­tion Inter­na­tional) More than 35 years of advanc­ing research on wild orang­utan ecol­ogy and behav­ior; estab­lished reha­bil­i­ta­tion and release pro­grams and saved mil­lions of acres of trop­i­cal rain for­est in Kalimantan.

Paul Gar­ber, Ph.D.: (Uni­ver­sity of Illi­nois Urbana-Champaign) More than 30 years of ded­i­ca­tion and com­mit­ment to research, con­ser­va­tion and edu­ca­tional pro­grams involv­ing the mon­keys of Latin America.

Mau­rice Hornocker, Ph.D.: (Sel­way Insti­tute; Pro­fes­sor Emer­i­tus, Uni­ver­sity of Idaho) Devoted his career to under­stand­ing the eco­log­i­cal role of wild cats and advo­cat­ing for the con­ser­va­tion of large car­ni­vores, includ­ing the first-ever field inves­ti­ga­tion of cougars.

Rick Hud­son: (Fort Worth Zoo; Inter­na­tional Iguana Foun­da­tion; IUCN Tur­tle Sur­vival Alliance) Ded­i­cated advo­cate for rep­tile con­ser­va­tion, includ­ing ground­break­ing work with the Jamaican iguana and the coor­di­na­tion of the largest tur­tle res­cue event in history.

Rod­ney Jack­son, Ph.D.: (Snow Leop­ard Con­ser­vancy) Con­ducted an in-depth radio-tracking study of snow leop­ards in the 1980s; ded­i­cated to build­ing local com­mu­ni­ties’ capac­ity as key play­ers in con­serv­ing the species.

Jana John­son, M.S., Ph.D.: (Moor­park Col­lege, The But­ter­fly Project) Founded The But­ter­fly Project, a cen­ter for endan­gered but­ter­fly prop­a­ga­tion and research; helped the Palos Verdes blue but­ter­fly pop­u­la­tion, once pre­sumed extinct, grow from 200 to 10,000.

James Earl Ken­namer, Ph.D.: (National Wild Turkey Fed­er­a­tion) Devoted leader in wild turkey research, sci­en­tific wildlife man­age­ment and forg­ing coop­er­a­tive con­ser­va­tion part­ner­ships to grow the wild turkey pop­u­la­tion from 1.3 mil­lion to 7 mil­lion in less than 30 years.

Thomas H. Kunz, Ph.D.: (Boston Uni­ver­sity) For more than 50 years, has sig­nif­i­cantly and instru­men­tally con­tributed to the con­ser­va­tion and teach­ing of bat ecol­ogy, phys­i­ol­ogy and behavior.

Amanda Lol­lar: (Bat World Sanc­tu­ary) Estab­lished Bat World Sanc­tu­ary, the largest reha­bil­i­ta­tion facil­ity in the world ded­i­cated exclu­sively to bats; cre­ated the first nutri­tion­ally sound diet for debil­i­tated bats.

Edward Louis Jr., Ph.D., DVM: (Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo) Tire­less con­ser­va­tion advo­cate of island bio­geog­ra­phy, includ­ing the dis­cov­ery of 30 per­cent of known lemurs to date.

Stephen McCul­loch: (Har­bor Branch Oceano­graphic Insti­tu­tion) Cre­ated leg­is­la­tion to fund sev­eral ongo­ing marine mam­mal research and con­ser­va­tion pro­grams while work­ing to con­struct the first teach­ing marine mam­mal hos­pi­tal, sci­ence and edu­ca­tion center.

Rodrigo Medellin, Ph.D.: (Uni­ver­sity of Mex­ico) Gal­va­nized bat research through­out Latin Amer­ica by using a mul­ti­pronged approach includ­ing research, edu­ca­tion, pop­u­la­tion biol­ogy, mol­e­c­u­lar ecol­ogy and com­mu­nity involvement.

Patrick T. Redig, DVM, Ph.D.: (The Rap­tor Cen­ter, Col­lege of Vet­eri­nary Med­i­cine, Uni­ver­sity of Min­nesota) Ded­i­cated more than 35 years to pro­tect­ing rap­tor pop­u­la­tions though exten­sive field work, bench research, clin­i­cal work, pro­fes­sional teach­ing and com­mu­nity service.

Patrick Rose: (Save the Man­a­tee Club) Worked to help edu­cate oppo­nents, build coali­tions and focus on spe­cific pro­tec­tion goals for man­a­tees, includ­ing pro­tect­ing the manatee’s habi­tat and advo­cat­ing for strong growth man­age­ment laws.

Carl Safina, Ph.D.: (Blue Ocean Insti­tute) Brought ocean con­ser­va­tion into the envi­ron­men­tal main­stream by using sci­ence, art and lit­er­a­ture to inspire “sea ethic.”

Simon Stu­art, Ph.D.: (IUCN-World Con­ser­va­tion Union) Devel­oped the IUCN Red List Cat­e­gories and Cri­te­ria, which assesses the extinc­tion risk for species.

Amanda Vin­cent, Ph.D.: (The Uni­ver­sity of British Colum­bia) First per­son to study sea­horses under­wa­ter, doc­u­ment exten­sive com­mer­cial trade, and ini­ti­ate a sea­horse con­ser­va­tion project, Project Seahorse.

The bien­nial $100,000 Indi­anapo­lis Prize rep­re­sents the largest indi­vid­ual mon­e­tary award for ani­mal con­ser­va­tion in the world and is given as an unre­stricted gift to the cho­sen honoree.

The Indi­anapo­lis Prize was ini­ti­ated by the Indi­anapo­lis Zoo as a sig­nif­i­cant com­po­nent of its mis­sion to inspire local and global com­mu­ni­ties and to cel­e­brate, pro­tect and pre­serve our nat­ural world through con­ser­va­tion, edu­ca­tion and research. This award brings the world’s atten­tion to the cause of ani­mal con­ser­va­tion and the brave, tal­ented and ded­i­cated men and women who spend their lives sav­ing the Earth’s endan­gered ani­mal species. It was first awarded in 2006 to Dr. George Archibald, the co-founder of the Inter­na­tional Crane Foun­da­tion and one of the world’s great field biologists.

In 2008, the Indi­anapo­lis Prize went to Dr. George Schaller, the world’s pre­em­i­nent field biol­o­gist and vice pres­i­dent of sci­ence and explo­ration for the Wildlife Con­ser­va­tion Soci­ety. The Eli Lilly and Com­pany Foun­da­tion has pro­vided fund­ing for the Indi­anapo­lis Prize since 2006.

A vari­ety of 2009 travel awards have been announced recently and &Beyond’s Kichwa Tembo in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve is rack­ing up the accolades.

Travel + Leisure hon­ored Kichwa Tembo with a World’s Best Award for 2009 and Condé Nast Trav­eler added the lodge to its Gold List of the World’s Best Places to Stay.

So what’s spe­cial about Kichwa Tembo? It’s located right on the path of the annual Great Migra­tion on a pri­vate con­ces­sion leased from Maa­sai land­lords in the exclu­sive west­ern Mara. The Migra­tion trav­els through here from June through Octo­ber, but the ani­mal view­ing is excel­lent all year long.

Kichwa Tembo actu­ally con­sists of two dis­tinct camps: the more inti­mate and upscale Bateleur Camp and Kichwa Tembo Masai Mara Tented Camp.

Bateleur Camp is mod­eled after the clas­sic safaris of the 20s and 30s. There are two camps of just nine tented suites each, all ser­viced by per­sonal but­lers. Pri­vate decks over­look the sweep­ing Masai Mara plains.

Kichwa Tembo Masai Mara Tented Camp com­prises 40 Hem­ing­way style ensuite safari tents (28 clas­sic safari tents and 12 lux­ury tents). The camp offers both a for­est and a savanna expe­ri­ence with out­looks either across the mag­nif­i­cent grass­lands or Sabaringo River. A huge infin­ity pool with breath­tak­ing views pro­vides not only a refresh­ing dip but also some of the best game sight­ings in the Mara.

For more infor­ma­tion, visit &Beyond or call 1-(888) 882‑3742.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of &Beyond

“I’ve dis­cov­ered that for those who try to climb Kili, the moun­tain is almost always a metaphor. You climb it not just to reach the sum­mit, but to prove some­thing to your­self,” says Richard Wiese, for­mer pres­i­dent of The Explor­ers Club.  “How­ever, for thought­ful trav­el­ers, there is a respon­si­bil­ity to research and choose a com­pany that prac­tices and pro­motes respon­si­ble, sus­tain­able tourism.”

Wiese and Aber­crom­bie & Kent came together to cre­ate Mount Kil­i­man­jaro: To the Sum­mit on a Mis­sion. This phil­an­thropic jour­ney gives trav­el­ers the chance to explore Tan­za­nia while giv­ing some­thing back as they deliver the third in a series of weather sta­tions to mon­i­tor the cli­mate changes affect­ing Kilimanjaro.

Wiese will point out the changes he has seen on the moun­tain over the years due to global warm­ing. “Peo­ple who take a trip like this are look­ing for more than just adven­ture and chal­lenge,” adds Wiese. “They want to be involved in a project that is related to under­stand­ing how global warm­ing is chang­ing our world. This is impor­tant sci­en­tific research that is being sup­ported by tourism dollars.”

Aber­crom­bie & Kent was recently rec­og­nized as a Part­ner for Respon­si­ble Travel by the Inter­na­tional Moun­tain Explor­ers Con­nec­tion (IMEC),  a not-for-profit orga­ni­za­tion whose mis­sion is to pro­mote respon­si­ble and sus­tain­able con­nec­tions between trav­el­ers and the peo­ple of devel­op­ing moun­tain regions of the world.

Since much of a climber’s suc­cess in sum­mit­ing Mt. Kil­i­man­jaro depends on the assis­tance of the porters, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy has pledged ongo­ing sup­port for IMEC’s Kil­i­man­jaro Porter Assis­tance Project, which seeks to improve their work­ing con­di­tions by:
• Pro­vid­ing indi­vid­ual porters with warm, high-quality cloth­ing free of charge.
• Offer­ing free Eng­lish lan­guage, first aid, and HIV/AIDS aware­ness classes.
• Edu­cat­ing guests about accept­able stan­dards of porter treatment.

Mt. Kil­i­man­jaro: To the Sum­mit on a Mis­sion is sched­uled for Decem­ber 27, 2009 through Jan 8, 2010 with Richard Wiese; thir­teen days from $7,795, plus $1,200 dona­tion (tax deductible) required.

For more infor­ma­tion, visit Aber­crom­bie & Kent or call 1-(800) 554‑7094.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Aber­crom­bie & Kent

It’s not always easy to research travel options in African coun­tries like Uganda, but it just got a lot less tax­ing with the debut of Safari-in-Uganda.com.

This new web­site fea­tures a data­base with more than 300 accom­mo­da­tions, 40 car rental options, and about 170 safari providers as well as travel agen­cies worldwide.

You’ll also find infor­ma­tion on Uganda’s ten national parks, its cities, econ­omy, and politics.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com