Unleash the savage!
...and be game for a big game!

At home with the Big 5!
Dwelling in the creases and crevices of perhaps the greenest spread on earth, better known as Sabi Sands, there’re chances rare that you’ll NOT come across lions, leopards, rhinos, buff aloes and elephants – collectively called the Big 5 – all at once, any time during the day! Nestled in the Kruger National Park area, Sabi Sands perhaps makes for the best tourist destination in South Africa, and is renowned for its ‘wild’ natural settings supported by the most developed infrastructure. It’s sure to leave you with the greenest memories of your life!

Singita Private Game Reserve, Cape Town, South Africa
Finishing first in the Travel and Leisure awards, 2006, the Singita Private Game Reserve boasts of everything African with a tinge of the West to suit all penchants & proclivities.
The View: Located in the spellbinding Sabi Sands area, the Singita Private Game Reserve is situated right in the heart of the Kruger National Park.
Archi-Type: Comprising five luxury safari lodges in the heart of the pristine forests – the Ebony Lodge, the Boulders Lodge, the Castleton, Lebombo and the Sweni Lodge – Singita redefines ‘fierce’ magnifi cence by the hour!
Bon Appétit: Countless cuisines abundant, the Singita kitchen remains fragrant all day long with delectable flavours and ingredients, typically African. And the wide array of exquisite wine matured in the temperature-controlled cellars for that perfect taste render the best culinary experience ever!
Around The Corner: The Sand River, Sweni, the Kruger National Park and the Lebombo Concession, thriving with elephants, wild buff aloes, prides of lions, leopards, antelopes et al make your safari worth its while!
From Under The Carpet: A malaria vaccination and mosquito repellent is recommended on all occasions…
In Essence: You’ll watch in bewilderment the sheer variety and profusion of the most exotic flora and fauna that you could ever have imagined!

Whale of an Whale of an experience! experience!
An exciting kayaking excursion into the forest trail, or taking those unforgettable dips in the hot springs… Tofino, British Columbia has it all! Typical to this region, Tofino thrives on its whale watching expeditions, where we are treated to the magnify cent sight of thousands of these mammoth creatures – grey whales, killer and the humpbacks – swirling and twirling effortlessly in the water! And although British Columbia can perhaps boast of the richest wildlife reserves in the whole of Canada, virgin lands are still being discovered every day! Astounded, one will be with the sheer abundance and diversity that this Eden has to offer!

The Wickaninnish Inn, Bc, Canada

(column by Pooja Priyadarshini)

Stop! Red Light!
Truckers to be careful on the highway... in ways more than one!

(column by Amarpal Malhi)

AIDS is that four letter word that usually spells death or a short life of extreme pain, and not always physical alone, as the body withers away against the onslaught of the killer. With no known cure, the disease that has reached pandemic proportions in some parts of the world, is so debilitating that the infected are usually left with little option other than awaiting their fate – their final date with death. Against such a determined killer, the logical response should ideally be of similar, if not greater, magnitude but alas, from our political parties and busy ‘culture police’, that would be expecting a little too much.

What happened in New Delhi on 16th April during a campaign to create awareness about HIV/AIDS amongst the trucker community was an apt demonstration of putting the cart before the horse. The absurd brouhaha raised over the Richard Gere-Shilpa Shetty kiss while the original hero of the truckers – Sunny Deol – looked on, turned out to be nothing better than what Gere described it himself before the apology – a ‘circus’! Not only did our self styled ‘culture cops’ scoff at what was nothing more than an exaggerated gesture of friendliness, they also ended up trivializing the cause for the benefit of the assembled 4,000 odd truckers, losing it in the moral melee.

AIDS is a growing problem in India with 1 in every 200 already infected, making it the country with the second highest number of HIV infections after South Africa. This pernicious proliferation owes a lot to the 6 million truckers and their helpers plying on the national highways. Away from homes and wives for long periods, the promiscuous ways of these truckers, added to which their ignorance and reluctance about condoms, render them at a high risk of contracting AIDS. They, in turn, go on to infect their wives, and later, children. This mirrors the classic pattern of the spread of AIDS in Africa, where it was the lorry drivers who first contracted the disease and then passed it on to their families. Even today, in parts of Africa, where there are lower incidences of HIV and AIDS, are those that have no or fewer highways. According to UN estimates, India is not far from surpassing South Africa at the dubious record of maximum AIDS and HIV cases in the coming decade.

At Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Asia’s largest transport hub on the outskirts of Delhi, 7,000 truckers from all over India converge each day to haul freight to and fro from the capital. This is also where they solicit the services of prostitutes operating from the truck stops for as little as Rs. 30! With most of the intimacy being unprotected, it’s not uncommon to see long queues in front of the solitary STD clinic of the area. Gonorrhea and Syphilis are common, but in recent years, AIDS too has joined the list. About 15% to 18% of truckers tested here have been diagnosed to be HIV positive, which isn’t any less an alarming prospect considering the scenes at many other such transport hubs across India. What is needed, perhaps now more than ever, is to combat this looming catastrophe with creating awareness among truckers about the risks unprotected sex exposes them and their families to. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Richard Gere wanted to do.

(End of Amarpal Malhi column)