August 2008, I went for a 2 months self-drive journey into main National Parks & Game Reserves of Botswana & Namibia. During this trip more than 6000 photos were taken and following friends advise, I have now published a coffee table book which contains the Best 100 shots.

A preview is available online.

Tags: botswana, cedric favero, chobe, etosha, moremi, namibia, nature, nomadcom, okavango, photo, Photography, safari, Travel, wildlife

40 years ago, this is what we got as Christmas gift from Apollo 8 crew.

Just to remember of fragile this small blue planet is.

More about Apollo 8 mission on Nasa dedicated site

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) starts today at 11:00 GMT to track Santa Claus’ Journey.

You can get accurate data in “real time” via Google Earth. All infos on Norad tracking site

Merry Christmas and have fun !

Our two months self-drive safari in Botswana and Namibia is now over. We drove nearly 11’000 kms without any major incident and I shot about 6000 photos. After a first selection, 1700 remain and about 150 are now available online on a dedicated gallery.

Our trip went quite smoothly without any major incident. Indeed we got some visitors at night in our camps (Elephants, Hyena, Baboons and Lions) and we got some minor technical damages (the auto-focus of the Sigma lens 50-500mm gave up, a tyre exploded in Southern Namibia and our 350W power inverter did not go further than Maun).

As I’m leaving Thailand for Côte d’Ivoire, the traditional content of this blog will certainly change a bit and get an African perspective on new technologies. Nothing clearly defined yet, but for sure, moving from South-East Asia to Western Africa will have an impact.

In the meantime, enjoy the photos and feel free to drop questions and comments about our trip

Tags: blog, botswana, gallery, namibia, Photography, safari, wildlife

During the coming months, these pages may not speak too much about technologies as we may be partially or even totally “unplugged” for days or even weeks.

The reason is a 55 days self-drive safari across Botswana, Namibia & South Africa and a day trip to the famous Victoria Falls. So, I’ll try to relate our experiences and publish some photos instead.

On the menu:

• Central Kalahari Game Reserve
• Okavango Delta
• Victoria Falls
• Chobe National Park
• BwaBwata National Park (ex. Caprivi Game Reserve)
• Etosha National Park
• Damaraland
• Cape Cross
• Sossusvlei area
• Fish River Canyon
• Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park

If you wish, feel free to post any useful information (location, coordinates, trips, etc..).

Tags: africa, botswana, caprivi, chobe, etosha, kalahari, kgalagadi, namibia, okavango, Photography, safari, selfdrive, sossusvlei, southafrica, victoria falls, wildlife

One of the stressful thing when traveling is to define what to carry on and what to left behind. In addition constant changes of transport regulations do not help travelers how to pack their stuff.

Some websites help you to reduce the quantity of personal belongings you travel with and provide some tips regarding the way you pack your stuff into your suitcase or bag.

One of the most resourceful site is Doug Dyment‘s OneBag.com which offers exhaustive (some might say exhausting!) detail on the art and science of traveling light.

Examples:




Folding and wrapping all your clothes together:




Folding your t-shirt using Japanese skills:




A more industrial version for frequent travelers:




Tags: journey, light, luggage, onebag, packing, suitcase, transport, Travel, travell

Not releated at all with Nomadcom (just in case some might have a doubt) ,

Skype has selected Rebecca, a 26 y/o Australian girl, to take up the "Skype Nomad Challenge" which is to travel non-stop around the Globe and demonstrates that Skype is now mobile.

Over 33 days, Rebecca "The Nomad" will be using as many different forms of transport possible for a girl – from jumbo jets to dog sleds, canoes to camels, sky diving to revolving restaurants.

Her non-stop journey started on May 5th from London (UK) to Singapore, China, Australia (current location) Alaska, USA an back to Europe.

To keep in touch, Rebecca uses SkypePhones as well as a Nokia N810 (the Internet Tablet) loaded with, indeed, Skype software. 

All related links which also gives a good overview of what Web 2.0 is offering:

• Twitter
• Skype: theskypenomad
• Flickr
• You Tube
• Blog
• My space
• Facebook
  

All this perpetual motion is also for a good cause – to create some noise about an awesome charity called Motivation. Basically, they help disabled people in poor countries get mobile.

I may propose to Skype the Challenge #2 as I have an extended list of countries and locations which cannot be so called "Internet/mobile phone" friendly… interested ?

Tags: 33 days, challenge, charity, gsm, internet, Mobile Communications, motivation, N810, Nomad Tools, rebecca, skype, Skype nomad, Travel, VoIP, wifi, world, worldwide

According "The Nation" Bangkok newspaper, the railway link between Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok International Airport, and the City Air Terminal located in Makkasan area should be available as from December 2008.

Passengers will have the opportunity of checking in their luggage at the City Air Terminal, before boarding the rapid train to Bangkok airport. The 29 kms journey will take 15 minutes (express train) or 27 minutes (commuter train).

Interconnection with existing transport systems will take place at Phetchaburi station for MRT (subway) Blue line and at Phayathai Station for BTS (skytrain) Sukhumvit line.

About 80% of the overall work is now completed.

Tags: airport, Bangkok, bts, city terminal, link, mrt, passengers, rail, railway, Suvarnabhumi Airport, train, transportation

Travelpod proposes to discover, through an online game, how well do you know your world.

Questions includes major cities of the World, Capital cities as well as travelers must see locations. Additional set of questions are also available (Continents, Flags, Unesco sites, Photos).

Want to play ?

My personal score:
Final Score : 576'899
Final Level : 12
Traveler IQ : 133

Tags: 2008, api, blog, capital, cities, Fun, game, im, knowledge, lan, location, must see, nomadcom.net, online, Our World, photo, quiz, sco, Travel, traveler, travelpod, world, worldwide, wp, www

Emirates Airlines announced yesterday that passengers will no longer have to switch off their mobile phones and will be allowed to make calls and text people during their journey on-board.

The first flight with authorized mobile phone calls was made on 20th of March between Dubai and Casablanca on-board of an Emirates Airbus A340-300 fitted with AeroMobile system, which ensures mobile telephones operate at minimum power during flights and make sure mobile phone signal does not interfere with aircraft navigation equipments.

A second aircraft equipped with the same AeroMobile system will be in service shortly.

Rates were not published, but in 2007, cost per minute was estimated between 2.50 and 3.50 USD.

Source: Arabnews via Wi-Fi Networking 

Tags: 2007, 2008, aeromobile, air, airbus, aircraft, airlines, arc, art, blog, cellphone, cellular, emirates, flight, gsm onboard, ia, im, King, lan, light, mobile, Mobile Communications, mobile phone, network, nomadcom.net, passengers, phone, phones, power, Travel, wifi, wp, www