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Dave's Travel Corner

Seeing the World One Step at a Time

About Richard Bangs

http://www.richardbangs.com/

Richard Bangs has often been called the father of modern adventure travel. He has spent 30 years as an explorer, leading first descents of 35 rivers around the globe, including the Yangtze in China and the Zambezi in Southern Africa. During that period he founded Sobek Expeditions, the first multi-national river running company and the pioneering outfitter for global active wilderness travel.

Author and Producer
Richard has published more than 1000 magazine articles, 19 books, a score of documentaries, several CD-ROMs, and all manner of digital media. He has lectured at the Smithsonian, the National Geographic Society, the Explorers Club and many other notable venues. He writes a semi-regular feature for HuffingtonPost.com, occasionally freelances for other print and online publications, and produces and hosts "Richard Bangs" Adventures with Purpose, as seen on national public television.

Can food broker peace? Mamnoon Restaurant, Seattle

January 27, 2014 by Richard Bangs2 Comments

Celebrating Syria: “We couldn’t go back, so we started mamnoon instead.” -Richard Bangs “For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.” -T.S. Elliot There are so many delicious facets to this story. I first met Wassef Haroun in Zambia, at the Kafue River Camp, owned by a mutual friend who had invited us for a week-long private safari. Towards the end of the week Wassef excused himself from the Rhodesian teak table … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: Africa Safari, America, Arabic, Architecture, Art, Bakeries, Bridges, Coffee, Culinary travel, Culture, Drinking, Fashion, Food and Wine, History, Journey, Restaurants, Seattle, Shopping Mall, Street Food, Sydney

River Gods: Confessions of a Grand Canyon Guide

January 16, 2014 by Richard Bangs1 Comment

It all began, for me, at a meeting of the Canoe Cruisers Association, the Washington, D.C. chapter. In the midst of the button-down capital there is an underground of cutoffs and t-shirts that each weekend assembles by the banks of some Shenandoah or Appalachia river to rake the whitewater with paddles. A recent high school graduate searching for life’s passion, I joined up at the urging of my old Scout leader, and was immediately hooked. My … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: Airport, America, Animal Rescue, Arizona, Art, Beach, Bridges, Canyon, Colorado, Culture, Desert, Drinking, Fashion, Film, Grand Canyon, Helicopter, History, Mexico, Mountain Climbing, New Mexico

The Six Best Places for 2014…Can you guess?

December 31, 2013 by Richard Bangs2 Comments

So, once again we combed the planet, turned over the stones, took the pulses, danced the boards, and basked in the wonders. Over the years we’ve plumbed over 180 countries, but we do not choose a “best” because “it is a great place,” and certainly not because it has fantastic hotels or restaurants. We choose a place because it inspires us. The destinations in this year’s list were chosen because they swept us away. Yes, there are the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Other · Tagged: Restaurants

Bradenton Area: Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing

December 23, 2013 by Richard BangsLeave a Comment

Oh, the places they stole. Four times this year I’ve been to the canals of Venice, without ever setting foot in Italy. In Vegas, Macau, Qatar and where I live, Venice, California, there are facsimiles of the famous waterways, only cleaner, shinier, and without the creases of deep history. Theme parks, made-made-islands, cruise ships, old quarter facades, entire cities fashioned to appear as someplace else. It’s hard, these days, to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: Animal Rescue, Art, Beach, Boston, Bridges, California, Canals, Cruising, Culture, Drinking, Florida, Food and Wine, History, Italy, Macau, Museum, Restaurants, River Rafting, Sand, Seafood

Walking with Polar Bears: The Next Great Safari

December 1, 2013 by Richard BangsLeave a Comment

You can’t drive here; you can’t boat here; you can’t even walk here...you’d be eaten. We’re somewhere in the back end of nowhere, some 300 kilometers from the closest paved road; 1500 kilometers from the nearest Whole Foods. If you cry wolf here, everyone believes you. It’s the third day of a week-long safari. Not in Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia or anywhere in Africa. We’re in the sub-Arctic, on Cape Tatnum, Hudson Bay, Manitoba, 57 degrees … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: Africa, Africa Safari, America, Animal Rescue, Beach, Bicycle, Botswana, Bus Travel, Chocolate, Cruising, Dancing, Dessert, Film, Food and Wine, History, Lodge, Los Angeles, Mountain Climbing, Naked, North America

The Different Cancún Another Side of Paradise

September 22, 2013 by Richard Bangs2 Comments

The pearls of praise for the place called Cancún often sheen to dizzying effect. There is no refuting that this stretch of soft sand caressing the warm, clear waters of the Caribbean is the acreage of paradise, a dazzling tropical necklace that evokes powerful, even passionate imagery. The acclaim is true….the beaches, the resorts, the sun, the sports, the shopping, the clubs and bars are laced in lavish profusion, and all so close to a host of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: Airport, America, Art, Beach, Beer, Bus Travel, Canyon, Caribbean, Chocolate, Cuba, Drinking, Fiji, Fishing, Food and Wine, Golf, Grand Canyon, Hawaii, History, Honeymoon, Los Angeles

Sexy Vermont: 50 Shades of Green

August 15, 2013 by Richard BangsLeave a Comment

Who would have guessed? But, as laid bare before me, Vermont is the sexiest state. Beyond its partially-trussed shoulders, and sensually curved back, beyond its juicy, succulent berries, Vermont is a place that emanates a pheromone that smells more pine than Axe. And yet it somehow manages to excite in ways unexpected. The favored car is not a Porsche, but rather a Subaru. The state color not hot pink, but forest green. It is more Von … [Read more...]

Filed Under: North America · Tagged: America, Art, Beach, Bicycle, Bridges, Britain, Canada, China, Christmas, Drinking, England, Festival, Film, Golf, Hiking, Mountain Climbing, Naked, New Hampshire, Quebec, Resort

The Worst Food in the World: Ñachi

August 10, 2013 by Richard Bangs3 Comments

On the way to the headwaters of the Bio-Bio River in Chile, where we hoped to make the first descent, we stopped at a Mapuche Indian farm house and asked if we might camp in an untilled field. Yes, Yaco, the owner, replied, but only if we joined for dinner. Of course! We would be delighted. As we sat at a long wooden table, Yaco served up Mudai, maize chicha, made by cooking ground corn in water, adding masticated maize meal, and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: South America · Tagged: Animal Rescue, Chile, Drinking, Food and Wine, Wildlife

Bring Adventure Back to Europe

May 17, 2013 by Richard BangsLeave a Comment

This was Richard's Keynote to The European Travel Commission, presented on May 9, 2013. This also took first place in our 2013 travel writing competition. I once ran with the bulls of Pamplona....by mistake, involuntarily. I was at Microsoft, where we were developing a new travel product that would become Expedia, and we had the idea to use a new web technology called Live Chat to convey from the field the adventure of travel. I had the idea … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Europe · Tagged: Adventure Travel, Africa, America, Asia, Balkans, Bus Travel, Castle, Culture, England, Europe, Farming, Food and Wine, Hiking, Italy, Journey, Lodge, London, National Park, Norway, River Rafting

Death in Africa

May 12, 2013 by Richard Bangs2 Comments

While scouting for the first descent of the Baro River in Ethiopia, a tributary of the White Nile, I heard about a Peace Corps volunteer, Bill Olsen, 25, a recent graduate of Cornell, who decided to take a dip in the river at Gambella, a village near the South Sudan border. The locals warned to stay away from the river, which they claimed was busy with monsters. Bill ignored the cautions, and swam to a sandbar on the far side of the muddy river, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Africa · Tagged: Africa, Africa Safari, Arizona, Beach, Britain, Bus Travel, Canyon, Caves, Christmas, Colorado, England, Ethiopia, Fashion, Food and Wine, Helicopter, Journey, Mississippi, Mountain Climbing, New Jersey, Palm Trees

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