Title – Cape Point
Date – August 1996
Location - Cape Point – South Africa
How many people have seen this identical picture taken with their family members or friends in my place?
Cape Point is the most southerly location in Africa and a Mecca for tourists. No visit to South Africa is complete without walking to the point and looking towards Antarctica the next landmass on the horizon. The area itself is a National Park and the fauna and flora is as remarkable, as the point is rugged.
Going where other people have been before is not a bad thing, some people feel they always have to go one better then the last person. Travelling is not a competition it’s a very personal experience and this experience can be as good when visiting Las Vegas or Kazakhstan. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop help candidates wherever they choose to go in the world
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Kylie
Date – August 1996
Location - Oudtshoorn – South Africa
Take advice but don’t copy others. Cheetahs are dangerous animals and normally if you get this close you are in all sorts of trouble. This big cat was part of rehabilitation centre in South Africa and as part of the breeding programme since a cub she is well used to interacting with people. That itself doesn’t make stroking them safe, but the risks are reduced by the handlers being there, just out of camera shot.
This sounds like common sense advice, but just a few weeks before we arrived in South Africa three tourists were killed when they got out of their car in Kruger National Park, so they could have their picture taken in front of a pride of lions that were lying in the shade of a tree near the road…
Beyond The Blue run Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop to help individuals travel the world safely and avoid some of the obvious and not so obvious dangers.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Croc.
Date – August 1996
Location – South Africa
Throughout Africa and Oceania these living dinosaurs still rule the rives, lakes and estuaries. Traditionally confused with floating logs, crocodiles are still responsible for deaths every year.
But to do them justice we need to put the figures into perspective; it is believed that 100’s of people die from crocodile attacks world wide each year with the majority being in impoverished areas and areas of political unrest. In Australia for example the average deaths recorded each year is less then one person.
The number of road death in the world vary depending on which statistics you believe, but the experts put the figure between 600,000 and 1,100,000 with over 10 million other people injured. Each year 1600 people die on Australia’s roads alone
The conclusion; In Australia you are one thousand six hindered times more likely to die on the road then by a crocodile.
Our advice; Drive safely and when you see a Croc….
Don’t get this close!
Beyond The Blue runs honest courses that try and get those attending our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop to see past the sensationalist headlines and the myths about the dangers that are out there and focus on the ones that we are involved in every day, but seem to manage to ignore until they affect us personally. How many people put off trips to Australia because of spiders, snakes and crocs? How many decide to leave the UK because over 3000 people die in road traffic accidents every year?
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Shopping Centre
Date – September 1995
Location - Fiji
It’s amazing what you can buy when you are away travelling. Globalisation is just that, the brands you think you are leaving behind seem to pop up everywhere you go and even the slight changes that used to appear between the same brands in different countries are slowly disappearing.
But not everywhere is it as easy as it is at home, to get exactly what you might be looking for. Ask around and you will normally find someone who knows what you are talking about, but if they direct you to the Shopping Centre, be prepared it might not be quite what you think. Here in Fiji the shopping centre is a little underwhelming when compared with the average mall in the US. Go to the Philippines and you’ll find sprawling shopping centres in the urban areas, but here too there are subtle and not so subtle changes. One mall in Manila I went to had a church right, slap bang, in the middle of it with enough pews for several hundred people; right next door was the local gun shop, where everything you could possibly imagine was on sale and licenses seemed to be optional.
Knowing what equipment to take and what to leave behind can make a huge difference to the enjoyment of your trip and to your budget. Take too much and you’ll have to dump it or send it home and take too little you’ll have to make up the difference when you are away. Beyond The Blue run Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops to help you prepare properly for your trip. During the workshop we examine what you should take with you and what is best left behind. We also look at what is available to buy at your destination which might be substantially cheaper then at home and what items you might struggle to find at your destination.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Koala Bear
Date – August 1995
Location - Noosa – Queensland - Australia
Koala Bears are as Australian as Kylie and almost as tall, they are the epitome of ‘cute and cuddly’ and sit in the top of eucalyptus trees nibbling away at the leaves and bark, their favourite foods. Because of massive over hunting in the early 1900’s and more recently destruction of habitat, their numbers have dwindled somewhat, but go to the right parts of the Australia, such as here at Noosa National Park and you stand a great chance of spotting one.
But is it all a charade? Koalas aren’t even real bears, they are marsupials, like many of Australia’s bigger land animals. As for ‘cute and cuddly’ that too is also a preconception, they are well known for their overly aggressive mating habits and if you come into contact with their teeth or large claws, there is no doubt that you’ll come off worst.
Beyond The Blue run Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop for anyone planning to travel the world and realise their dreams. We teach those attending how to act responsibly and safely throughout their trips, learning simple rules such as not to jump to conclusions and assessing risk based on good information and not just first impressions.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Peeping whale
Date – August 1995
Location - Harvey Bay – Queensland - Australia
Whale watching is likely not only to be one of the highlights of a trip, but can actually be one of the highlights of your life. If you are lucky enough to have one of these close encounters, it will leave you spellbound and with a smile across your face that that will last for days.
This peeping activity of the humpback whales off the eastern Australian coast is believed to be as simple an activity as them having a good look around at the outside world, which is so intent on looking in at it.
Beyond The Blue can not provide you with the tools to prepare you for the shock that will hit you when a Humpback breaches or pops it head out of the water only meters from you boat, no one can. However our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop can help you get there safely and with the tools to enjoy your experience with more confidence.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Wabby Lake
Date – August 1995
Location - Fraser Island – Queensland - Australia
Wabby Lake is famous for the fine sand dunes that lead down to the iridescent blue lakes in the middle of Fraser Island, the world largest sand island off the east coast of Australia. Despite the warning signs, a favourite activity is running and rolling down the dunes into the refreshing water.
The warning signs are there for a reason, the water may look deep and refreshing but it is actually deceptively shallow and this activity has resulted in several people breaking their necks on impact with the shallows.
Warning signs can be obvious, as in this case and simple common sense goes a long way, but many warning signs are not so straight forward. The Beyond The Blue, Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop examines warning signs in many forms and helps candidates attending learn how to behave and react to these warning signs, once they have learnt to identify them.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
