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Mario Rigby walks across Africa

“There are times when it’s actually easier to die than to keep going,” says explorer Mario Rigby, reflecting on his solo, two-plus year walk across the continent of Africa.

Rigby — who was born in the Turks and Caicos, ran track in Germany as a teenager, and now resides in Canada — began his journey in Cape Town, South Africa, traveling through Mozambique, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, and Ethiopia on the way to his final destination of Cairo, Egypt. He walked nearly the whole way but spent two months kayaking his way across Lake Malawi. Many challenges arose along the way.

Relying on maps, for example, that don’t tell you a river has run dry can mean you will run out of water before you expect to. But, says Rigby, he always found the drive to push forward. It’s a drive he says he believes “separates certain people, people who will be survivors and people who will be victims.”

Photo: Mario Rigby

“When you’re out on the lake, in the middle of the lake, and your kayak is sinking, and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I have five kilometers left to go,’ and you’re dead tired after 15 hours of kayaking, it’s easier to just sink,” says Rigby in a conversation with Matador. He adds, “Same thing with walking across deserts. It’s nice to just sleep and then you know you’re not going to wake up again.”

Rigby could well have been a victim on his journey. Although he chose the western route of Africa, a shorter journey than the eastern route and one where he’d face far fewer conflict zones, Rigby still was arrested several times, twice bitten by a snake, and caught malaria. He had AK47s pointed at him by guards in Ethiopia who mistook him for a rebel fighter.

Although the former personal trainer, who says he was unfulfilled with the money race of Toronto city life, had plenty of opportunities to die in Africa, Rigby says, “The people, the African people themselves, were the ones who saved me.”

Rigby contrasts that to the prevalent Western view of Africa, which tends to be one of pity. “A lot of the times the narrative is we go out and save Africa, whatever that means. But what happened actually is it was the opposite.”

Photo: Mario Rigby

Beyond testing himself physically and psychologically, seeing that side of Africa that “people haven’t really seen” was another motivation for Rigby to undertake the journey. “African people themselves are quite innovative, unique, special. I feel like that has not been represented in the media as well,” says Rigby.

Rigby was also touched by the warmth and generosity of the people he met. Unlike in Toronto, where Rigby says even he found himself not taking the time to connect with people, he says that in Africa, everyone he met was ready to slow down and be present with him.

“I was encouraged to stay in people’s homes who only had a single thing of rice left, and they still fed that to me,” says Rigby. “Obviously I felt really bad,” he adds. In telling their stories, perhaps he can repay the favor.

Stories he may tell are of dancing in colorful festivals, perusing markets teeming with fruits and vegetables, exploring Nubian pyramids, walking with the Maasai between Tanzania and Kenya, or watching traditional wrestling in Khartoum. Rigby has several videos of his journey available on his website, but he’s also working on a longer Crossing Africa documentary. One of the most compelling stories he’s likely to share will be about his time in Sudan.

Photo: Mario Rigby

In Sudan, says Rigby, “You’re thinking Shariah law, and it’s going to be extremely strict and everyone’s going to tell you not to do this and not to do that.” While Rigby acknowledges that it was indeed strict, particularly for women, whose movements were more limited, he also says the Sudanese “were actually the most hospitable people I’ve ever met.”

“The country that I thought would be the worst country was actually the nicest country. I learned so much from these people,” says Rigby. “When I was in Sudan, that’s when I really learned about humanity, particularly, and how people treat themselves within a certain society.”

While finding Sudan unexpectedly moving, Rigby found other places surprisingly challenging. He began in Cape Town, on South Africa’s southwest corner, and walked eastward along the southern edge of the country before turning north and walking the coast well into Mozambique before turning inwards. The coastal walk wasn’t as lovely as it sounds.

“I call it the ‘beach trap,’” says Rigby. “You’re on the beach, and a lot of people think, ‘Oh this is a nice little vacation.’ It is not. I have pictures of my feet … look[ing] like grated cheese. There’s massive holes in them.”

The struggles at the outset of his trip, though, helped Rigby learn what to look for. “You become better and better at survival. You start to understand what you need to look for. You start to understand the different terrain. And you start to understand how to ask questions to the local people like, ‘How do you survive?’”

Photo: Mario Rigby

Rigby did survive, and the experience taught him that “anything is possible with research and understanding. You just have to have a logical approach to an impossible situation, and eventually, the outcome will come out as possible.”

Since returning from Africa in 2018, Rigby has translated that message into school talks where he seeks to inspire youth to understand that they can overcome personal obstacles of their own. “These kids, they message me still on Instagram and stuff like that,” he says. “They’re like, hey man, you know, you really inspired me.”

Rigby has since completed other challenges, like cycling across Canada, but he continues to be inspired by Africa. Upon his return from Africa, he was chosen by a UN committee as one of the year’s 200 Most Influential People of African Descent and encouraged to think about more work in the region.

Photo: Mario Rigby

A future project Rigby is exploring is creating a documentary about the West African slave trade, which will have him tracing his own DNA to discover the African country, or countries, of his origin; traveling to major slave importing countries including not just the US and Caribbean countries but also Brazil; and traveling in a kayak across the Atlantic, to simulate the time and challenges of the journey.

Rigby says the kids he has met in the Caribbean and North America rarely want to confront their dark slave history. “The problem is that, particularly in America and the Caribbean, is that Black people do not want to tie themselves to slave history … You know I always ask the children, ‘Hey do you know what your roots are?’ And none of them say Africa. Except for maybe one person out of a hundred kids.”

“Nobody would ever say Africa, and they use Africa as a derogatory term, and that’s because of the history, the stigma that’s behind it. Because nobody has really talked about Africa in a way that it deserves to be told about. It is the cradle of mankind really. We all come from there,” says Rigby.

Rigby, for one, is ready to talk about Africa. And he has a lot of good things to say.

More like thisFemale TravelThese 14 women are shattering stereotypes of Africa one photo at a time

The post Explorer Mario Rigby finds the real Africa in a two-year walk across it appeared first on Matador Network.

Meteorite crater in Australia

A meteorite crater has been discovered in Western Australia, and luckily it’s not from a recent impact. The crater was formed 100 million years ago but only discovered recently when a company was drilling for gold in the outback. The three-mile crater is located near the Goldfields mining town of Ora Banda and is considered to be one of the largest meteorite craters anywhere in the world.

Photo: Google Maps

According to geologist and geophysicist Dr. Jayson Meyers, “This discovery was made in an area where the landscape is very flat. You wouldn’t know it was there because the crater has been filled in over geological time. There’s probably quite a few more out there.”

Unlike other meteorite craters in Western Australia, like the Wolf Creek crater in The Kimberley, the newly discovered crater is not visible to the naked eye. It was found using electromagnetic surveys.

The Wolf Creek crater in the Kimberley in Western Australia. It is five times smaller than the newly discovered crater in Ora Banda. Photo: Matt Deakin/Shutterstock

An inspection of the crater revealed signs of a meteorite strike, including “shatter cones” that form in the bedrock below craters. Meyers estimates that the meteorite was about 320 to 660 feet in diameter.

The discovery could help scientists learn more about meteors and potentially predict when the next one may strike Earth.

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Big Basin to close for one year

In the aftermath of the wildfires that devastated Big Basin Redwoods State Park, California’s oldest state park will be closed for 12 months. The recent wildfires in Santa Cruz and San Mateo wreaked havoc on much of the park, with the historic park headquarters, ranger station, nature museum, gatehouse, campground bathrooms, and multiple park residences destroyed. Due to their durability, the fires caused the evacuation of campers, visitors, and staff.

Although most of the redwood trees are expected to survive thanks to their thick bark and a chemical composition that makes them highly resistant to fires, given the amount of burned vegetation and fallen tree trunks, it will be quite some time for the park to be safe to visit again. To ensure the safety of guests, park officials are taking extra precautions and closing the park for one year before allowing visitors to re-enter.

All campgrounds in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties’ state beaches will also be temporarily closed to reserved camping, though at least September 8.

Mark Shatter, the park’s chief marketing and communications officer, told Lonely Planet, “Reports are that, despite significant burning to some trees and felled trees, some of the iconic old growth, including the Mother and the Father of the forest trees, is still standing. We know redwoods thrive on fire, but Big Basin is a magical place where millions have stood in the shadows of these ancient giants — many for the first time. Those memories aren’t lost, but Big Basin as we knew it will be forever transformed.”

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US campgrounds for stargazing

Nature’s natural night sky is best appreciated in true darkness. The stars, the Milky Way, the constellations that you somewhat know — it’s always better to experience these wonders with as little light pollution as possible. Unfortunately, in many of the cities and towns we call home, light pollution proliferates. But in regions certified as International Dark Sky Places (IDSP) by the International Dark Sky Association (IDSA), the stars are yours for the viewing.

The IDSA keeps track of light pollution around the world. There are more than 130 certified locations across the globe that undertake an application process. Before somewhere can become a true dark sky location, it first must show its commitment to protecting against the types of light that make satellites the only visible specks in the sky. There are dark sky communities, sanctuaries, urban centers, reserves, and, most importantly for those looking for isolation under the night sky, parks.

An International Dark Sky Park, according to the official designation, is “a land possessing an exceptional or distinguished quality of starry nights and a nocturnal environment that is specifically protected for its scientific, natural, educational, cultural heritage, and/or public enjoyment.” It can be private or public. The main requirement other than its sky visibility is that the general population has access to all of the night sky glory.

As camping and activities friendly to social distancing continue to be the safest and preferred way of leaving the house, these night skies are all the more appealing. The United States has a lot to choose from, and here’s a map of all of the dark sky locations. Maybe you want to road trip to them all while taking the proper precautions, or maybe you simply want to escape for a weekend. Either way, there are worse places to start than these certified International Dark Sky Parks across the continental US.

1. Death Valley National Park — California and Nevada

Photo: Dixon Pictures/Shutterstock

Death Valley is hot. So hot that it reached what may be the hottest temperature ever recorded, 130 degrees Fahrenheit, in August of 2020. Yet it’s also in that sweet spot where it’s close enough to major urban centers — Los Angeles is about four hours away, and Las Vegas is around two — to be convenient without being so close that it encounters much light pollution.

Death Valley is rated as a “Gold Tier” location, which is the highest dark sky designation. Camping here may mean being prepared for the elements, but it also means catching some of the best views of what lies beyond the atmosphere while stuck here on planet Earth. With relative humidity levels hitting lows of 10 percent in the summer, Death Valley’s air is so dry that little distorts the lightwaves making their way from distant galaxies.

You could spend your days cycling through the desert landscape and camping under the stars at night, though be sure to arrive at the right time of year. Temperatures can top 100 into midnight in the dead of summer. Bring an RV to satisfy all your humanly needs if you’d rather arrive on your own schedule rather than follow nature’s schedule. There are multiple tent and RV camping options, including Furnace Creek, Sunset, and Stovepipe Wells. Sites are first-come, first-served.

Best season to visit: Winter

Best type of camping: RV

2. Big Bend National Park — Texas

Photo: Wisanu Boonrawd/Shutterstock

Texas is large, and it only makes sense that there are near-empty regions of the state perfect for stargazing. Big Bend National Park is in southern Texas along the Rio Grande River that serves as the border between the US and Mexico. It’s one of the largest national parks, yet also one of the least-visited. Both of these qualities are prime for a dark sky designation — as well as its low humidity, which means hardly any clouds nor any distortion caused by water particles.

Big Bend never gets too cold, and even winter temperatures hover around a comfortable 70 degrees during the day, 50 at night. Stay for a few days to float down the Rio Grande and take in the diversity of birds, bats, and cacti. At night, experience why the IDA describes the skies over Big Bend as “among the darkest in North America.”

Best season to visit: Spring, winter, and fall

Best type of camping: Tent and RV

3. Great Sand Dunes National Park — Colorado

Photo: Sean Xu/Shutterstock

The coasts get all of the attention when it comes to sand dunes, but it’s actually the middle of the state that has the tallest sand dunes in the United States. And one of the best parts about the locale isn’t below your feet — it’s above. Great Sand Dunes National Park is in a remote region of southern Colorado. It’s not only one of the darkest but also one of the quietest sites monitored by the National Parks Service.

Midday can get hot, so start any daytime treks to the highest reaches early. The heavy flowing Medano Creek provides some respite when there’s enough snowmelt to get the water moving, and stunning lookouts abound. The real magic happens after dark, however. Camping season is April through October, and a set number of backpackers are allowed first-come, first-served, along with tent camping at the Piñon Flats Campground.

Best seasons to visit: Spring, summer, and fall

Best type of camping: Tent

4. Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park — Montana and Alberta, Canada

Photo: FloridaStock/Shutterstock

This certified dark sky location spans two parks and two countries: Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada, and Glacier National Park in Montana. The spot is also a UNESCO World Heritage site and has a cumulative two UNESCO Biosphere Reserves. The flora and fauna are reason enough to visit in the summer months due to the diversity of wildlife to see. The remoteness that makes it such a special place for animals also makes it a special place to see the heavens.

Stateside, Glacier National Park is the 10th most-visited National Park in the US. Thanks to its size, however, it’s not too hard to find a place without people. (Hiking the Jefferson Pass Traverse is a good starting getaway.) It’s about as remote as remote gets in the country, leaving you at night with nothing but your thoughts and the stars. Tent camping with the proper gear is easy enough to do, while there are a number of locations throughout the park that are not recommended for RVs and trailers.

Best season to visit: Summer

Best type of camping: Tent

5. Buffalo National River — Arkansas

Photo: Buffalo National River/Facebook

At Buffalo National River, the Ozark Mountains serve as an earthly frame for the stars. The area’s namesake river is actually America’s first designated national river, and it’s a point of pride in the state. There are plenty of places for all types of camping here, whether you’d rather be in the thick of the woods or closer to the main road. Hiking trails and sections of the river ideal for floating provide enough activities to fill the time between stargazing sessions in the 95,000-acre park. The park also hosts several ranger-led night sky programs during the summer.

Best seasons to visit: Fall and spring

Best type of camping: Tent or RV

6. James River State Park — Virginia

Photo: James River State Park/Facebook

The Eastern Seaboard is not known for its night skies. It’s home to nearly 40 percent of the country’s population, despite being around just 10 percent of the country’s land. These are not optimal night sky viewing conditions, to say the least. Yet a small park in the geographic center of Virginia pulls through for stargazers.

Located around 39 miles from Charlottesville, James River State Park has two miles of river with primitive camp spots and cabins to enjoy the forests and hills. Despite being relatively close to population centers, the sky is remarkably dark, and local astronomy groups hold events with telescopes throughout the year.

Best seasons to visit: Spring and fall

Best type of camping: Tent

7. Big Cypress National Preserve — Florida

Photo: Paul Harrison/Shutterstock

At around 45 miles from Miami, Big Cypress National Preserve is one of the rare dark sky locations that’s not too far from city lights. It’s a perfect day trip — or, for stargazing purposes, night trip — for anyone in the vicinity of the southern tip of Florida. The sheer number of bright plants and wildlife makes for an eye-catching experience throughout the park. Here, right next to the Everglades, a sudden lack of people both grounds you and encourages you to look up at a sky without light pollution from neon signs and massive freeways.

Best seasons to visit: Winter and spring

Best type of camping: RV

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Burmese roofed turtles back

A species of turtle endemic to Myanmar has a new reason to smile. The Burmese roofed turtle, once thriving along the mouth of the Irrawaddy River and whose face seems to bear a permanent smile, has faced threats to its survival after being victim to habitat loss, the pet trade, and intense fishing and egg harvesting. Thanks to the efforts of conservationists and scientists, the smiling turtle is now on the long road to recovery.

Photo: TurtleSurvival/YouTube

The New York Times reported that scientists discovered a small number of Burmese roofed turtles remaining in the wild and have since grown the population to about 1,000 animals. This marks an extraordinary feat, given that scientists had presumed the species extinct after being unable to locate any living members following Myanmar’s opening to the international world in the 1990s.

According to The New York Times, a shell was found by a local in 2001, and, at the same time, one individual turned up at a market in Hong Kong, alerting scientists and triggering further study. To confirm the existence of the species, Dr. Gerald Kuchling, a biologist at the University of Western Australia, led an expedition to Myanmar, where he found a small number of the turtles.

The individuals found were transported to the Mandalay zoo for protection and breeding purposes and a plan was set up with local villagers to protect the few females found to nest on a beach on the upper Chindwin River.

“We came so close to losing them,” Steven G. Platt, a herpetologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, told The New York Times. “If we didn’t intervene when we did, this turtle would have just been gone.”

Today, there are about 1,000 Burmese roofed turtles (some bred in captivity, some naturally in the wild) living in facilities in Myanmar. The few females in the wild still go back to Chindwin beach to lay eggs every dry season.

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What to do in Salem, MA

Visiting Salem on Halloween is a cliche, like watching A Christmas Story on Christmas. Well, much like A Christmas Story, Salem is an experience you simply never get tired of, and it has the power to put you in a festive mood all year round. Halloween in Salem is a rite of passage for anyone living in New England and should be a bucket-list trip for Halloween lovers everywhere around the country. Going to Salem is like getting on the magic bus that takes you to Halloweentown from the 1998 Disney movie, a place filled with eccentric — and sometimes frightening — characters, steeped in history, and with a charming aesthetic verging on supernatural.

The city owes its nationwide fame to its role in the horrific witch trials of the 1690s. Although the trials remain a somber and sad part of the country’s past, Salem has somehow transformed this dark moment into a selling point. Ironically, the very creatures the city was once so keen to get rid of now serve as mascots, as witch culture seeps into every aspect of Salem’s identity. From witch dungeon museums to haunted 17th-century houses, going to Salem means leaving reality behind for an almost-supernatural destination that never loses its magic, whether it’s October 31 or mid-July.

The spooky museum circuit

If you have a few days and really want to see everything Salem has to offer, just follow the Salem Heritage Trail (and if it’s October, lean into the eccentricity and do it in costume). The trail is a red line on the ground that leads visitors through all the historic sites and will give you the most comprehensive tour of the city. If you only have a day or an afternoon, you’ll want to be more selective. Start with the museums, which connect Salem’s complicated history and its contemporary whimsy.

Photo: Paul Brady Photography/Shutterstock

Your first stop should be the famous Salem Witch Museum, with performances that tell the story of the Salem witch trials using life-size sets, dramatic lighting, and narration based on documents from the real event. Once the story of the witch trials concludes, you’ll be introduced to the second exhibit, called Witches: Evolving Perceptions, which educates visitors on how witches have been perceived throughout history. This includes debunking common stereotypes, discussing the phenomenon of “witch hunting,” and looking at modern witchcraft practices.

To dive a little deeper into the history of the Salem witch trials, head to the Witch House on Essex Street. The former home of Judge Jonathan Corwin in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the house is the only preserved structure in Salem with direct ties to the Salem witch trials. Corwin had been one of the judges involved in the trials, signing several arrest warrants for alleged witches and presiding over hearings. The house now serves as a museum of 17th-century life, and guided tours give visitors a better understanding of those who were involved in the witch trials.

If you’re more of a visual learner, the Witch Dungeon Museum offers a performance-based experience to transport you back to the troubling days of 1692. There you’ll see a live performance by professional actors reenacting a witch trial, based on transcripts from the 17th century. You’ll watch the infamous story play out from beginning to end — from the strange behavior of the allegedly possessed children to the flimsy accusations of witchcraft and the eventual hanging of the accused. The reenactment is followed by a tour of the downstairs dungeon, recreated in the style of those used to imprison those judged and condemned as witches.

Photo: Joshua Rayman/Shutterstock

Once you’ve finished the museum circuit, it’s time to pay a visit to some of the historical figures you may have learned about on the tours. The Old Burying Point Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Salem, started accepting new residents in 1637 and is the final resting place of several figures associated with the witch trials. The cemetery is home to Judge Hathorne, one of the main magistrates involved in the trials; Bartholomew Gedney, another trial judge; and Simon Bradstreet, the last governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Candlelight ghost tour

If you’re going to explore Salem, especially around Halloween, it’s only fitting to do it by eerie candlelight. Candlelit Ghostly & Graveyard Walking Tours are guided tours around the old streets of Salem, where you’ll learn about the city’s most haunted houses and locations. Rather than just hearing a history monologue, you’ll also be learning about various accounts of supernatural activity and the best methods for practicing ghost photography. The tour stops at several haunted locations including the Joshua Ward House, the Howard St. Cemetery, the Old Salem Prison, and the Lyceum.

Tours are held every hour from noon to 7:00 PM and every 30 minutes in October until 10:00 PM. Tickets can be purchased at the Salem Wax Museum or Salem Witch Village. The Witch Village is a small maze of streets lined with shops selling witchy memorabilia and crafts. While you’re there buying your ghost tour tickets, you might as well check out all the boutiques and get yourself a souvenir. You can also opt for a guided tour of the village by a practicing witch, who will teach you all about modern witchcraft.

Other attractions

After a day saturated with ghosts and witch stories, you may be craving a dose of reality. Luckily, some of Salem’s best museums aren’t even Halloween related. Apart from the witch trials, Salem is perhaps best known as the home of Nathanial Hawthorne, author of The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne used the town as inspiration for many of his stories, particularly The House of Seven Gables — a gothic novel with elements of supernaturalism and witchcraft.

Hawthorne based the titular house on a mansion on Salem’s Derby Street, called the Turner-Ingersoll mansion. Built in 1668, the 350-year-old gabled house was owned by Hawthorne’s cousin, Susanna, and now serves as a museum to American architectural history. On a tour you’ll be able to climb through a secret passageway, see Hawthorne’s original work on display, and explore the seaside gardens and surrounding grounds. You can also visit Hawthorne’s birthplace, which was moved from its original location a few streets over to sit conveniently beside the House of Seven Gables.

Photo: Dominionart/Shutterstock

To many, Salem’s Halloween associations are secondary to its significance in the art world. Established in 1799, the Peabody Essex Museum is the oldest continuously operating museum in the United States. It holds one of the country’s largest collections of Asian art and a trove of manuscripts, maps, and artifacts related to Salem’s centuries of maritime history.

Pickering Wharf

The more you lose yourself in Salem’s history of haunted houses, the easier it is to forget that you’re still in a classic New England seaside town. To give yourself a reminder, head to Pickering Wharf, a harborside shopping village with local boutiques and dining with waterfront views.

Photo: Terry Kelly/Shutterstock

Make sure to check out Joe’s Fresh Fish Prints, a unique gallery and workshop selling prints and clothing made from actual fish, and The Marble Faun Books & Gifts for eclectic handcrafted accessories and books reflecting the local seafaring culture. When it’s time for food, Brodie’s Seaport is a local staple for seafood, steak, and flatbreads just one block from the water.

Photo: Wangkun Jia/Shutterstock

Since it wouldn’t really be Salem without a little nod to the past, the wharf is also home to the Friendship Schooner. This replica of an 1800s trading ship that serves as an homage to Salem’s former role as a hub for maritime commerce, and you can either choose to admire it from afar or tour the decks yourself. For an even more interactive boating experience, take a sailing tour aboard the Fame of Salem, a replica of a ship from 1812. Half-day tours bring guests all the way to Gloucester and Swampscott, while the more relaxed Sunset Sail allows you to just kick back with a cocktail.

Where to stay

There is no shortage of hotels in the area, but you didn’t come to Salem to stay in a Holiday Inn Express. To get the full Salem experience — a potent mixture of eerie history and New England charm — you need to stay at the Hawthorne Hotel. Founded in 1925, this 95-year-old hotel is defined by its elegance and antique luxury. Nathaniel Hawthorne himself never stayed here, but entering the ornate lobby you can easily imagine Hawthorne seated by the fireplace writing The House of Seven Gables.

Photo: Hawthorne Hotel/Facebook

In true Salem fashion, the hotel is considered one of the most haunted in the country. Many guests have reported seeing the ghosts of old sea captains returning to haunt their favorite place of gathering. In 1990, a seance was held in the hotel’s grand ballroom on the 64th anniversary of Harry Houdini’s death in an attempt to summon his spirit. Although the seance proved unsuccessful, reports of hauntings and supernatural activity at the property have been rampant, with many stories claiming that a ghostly woman haunts the halls of the sixth floor.

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High Airbnb numbers for Labor Day

Like every year, people are looking forward to fall travel in 2020. This year, however, those vacations are taking a slightly different shape. With the COVID-19 pandemic severely limiting travel options, the fall travel trends are reflective of the new reality. Luckily, travelers are extremely adaptive. Airbnb has just released its report on booking trends for fall 2020, and the results are truly representative of these uncertain times.

This Labor Day, people are booking Airbnb’s cabins at double the rate of last year. Apartment bookings, in contrast, are nearly cut in half. This trend is most obvious in the platform’s wish lists, where people bookmark their favorite properties for future stays. Barn bookings are up 60 percent, cabins up 40 percent, cottages up 30 percent, and of August’s 20 most wishlisted properties, five are treehouses and three are tiny houses.

Photo: Airbnb

People are also prioritizing flexibility in their vacations for Labor Day Weekend. The average lead time between booking and staying is 10 days less than it was last year, reflecting the desire to keep all options open in the face of an evolving health situation.

Perhaps most importantly, people are increasingly interested in bringing their animal companions along on their trips. For the upcoming holiday weekend, “allows pets” was the most searched amenity, followed by “pool,” “Wi-Fi,” “kitchen,” and “AC.”

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20 US cities broke heat records

With the news that Death Valley likely had the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth this August, it’s hardly surprising to hear that 2020 was a record scorcher for the entire country. This year has the hottest summer on record for several cities across the country, including Phoenix, Sacramento, Las Vegas, and Sarasota.

It's official. August was the hottest month ever recorded in Phoenix with an average of 99.1° F, beating out the previous record set just last month of 98.9° F. Before this summer, the highest monthly average was 98.3° F. #azwx pic.twitter.com/7cXVTeDdos

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) September 1, 2020

Phoenix’s average temperatures from June to August reached 96.7 degrees this year, about 1.6 degrees higher than the city’s previous record. Typically cooler cities like Bridgeport and Hartford in Connecticut also tied their previous summer highs.

This weekend, the Bay Area faces a heatwave threatening temperatures topping 105 degrees. As firefighters continue battling the wildfires in the area, the upcoming heat is expected to exacerbate the problem and worsen the smoke issue.

Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, said on Twitter, “Another week, another major California heatwave. This will undoubtedly complicate ongoing wildfire situation, & may have elevated health impacts given ongoing “smokestorm” conditions that make it difficult to spend time outdoors/open windows.”

ABC News reported that the following 19 US cities broke their average heat record this summer:

Phoenix, AZ: 96.7°
Naples, FL: 84.6°
Caribou, ME: 66.9°
Harrisburg, PA: 77.9°
Tucson, AZ: 90.0°
Burlington, VT: 72.3°
Portland, ME: 70.5°
LaGuardia, NY: 79.5°
Providence, RI: 74.4°
Charlottesville, VA: 78.8°
Norfolk, VA: 81.3°
Cape Hatteras, NC: 81.7°
Manchester, NH: 74.4°
Bradford, PA: 67°
Dubois, PA: 70.3°
State College, PA: 73.5°<
Tampa, FL: 84.8°
Sarasota, FL: 84.6°
Brainerd, MN: 71.1°

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The post For many US cities, 2020 was the hottest summer yet appeared first on Matador Network.

Berlin is returning mummified Māori

A German museum just announced that it will return the mummified, tattooed heads of two Māori men to New Zealand. The heads, known as Toi Moko, were acquired over a century ago and have been at the Ethnological Museum in Berlin since 1879 and 1905.

The tattooed heads belonged to eminent Maori people and were acquired through trade with Europeans.

The return is part of the Karanga Aotearoa Repatriation Program, set up by New Zealand back in 2003 and organized by the Te Papa Tongarewa museum in Wellington, New Zealand, to bring back Māori and Moriori human remains to their rightful homes.

The Māori and Moriori peoples believe that returning the mummified heads to their homeland will allow the dead to rest with dignity. So far, around 400 indigenous ancestral remains have been returned from international institutions including in Berlin, Amsterdam, and Oxford.

Hermann Parzinger, the head of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, said in a statement, “Toi moko have already been repatriated from many museums worldwide and the work of Te Papa is impressive. I am glad that we too are starting to address the misdeeds of the past with this return, even if we cannot undo them.”

The Karanga Aotearoa Repatriation Program estimates that another 600 Māori and Moriori remains are still abroad.

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Santa Monica’s mountain lion kittens

Between heat waves and wildfires, California has had a really hard summer. But this week we finally get a glimmer of good news that the beleaguered state is catching a break. The Santa Monica region is experiencing a “kitten boom,” with 13 kittens born to five mountain lion mothers between May and August. It’s the first time in nearly two decades that so many mountain lion dens have been discovered in such a short time frame in the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills.

Photo: santamonicamtns/Flickr

Jeff Sikich, a wildlife biologist studying the mountain lion population at Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, said, “This level of reproduction is a great thing to see, especially since half of our mountains burned almost two years ago during the Woolsey Fire. It will be interesting to see how these kittens use the landscape in the coming years and navigate the many challenges, both natural and human-caused, they will face as they grow older and disperse.”

Photo: santamonicamtns/Flickr

When the mother mountain lions leave the den to gather food, researchers enter their home to study the kittens, ensure their health, and tag them for identification. Before the mother returns, the researchers leave the den without a trace. The National Park Service has been studying mountain lions around the Santa Monica Mountains to further research their survival techniques in an increasingly urbanized environment.

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