Don Mankin, co-author of Riding the Hulahula to the Arctic Ocean, published by National Geographic, presented slides + stories of his adventures

Gorilla photo downloaded from Internet
Credit: Art for Africa

Thursday, July, 24 - San Carlos, California
I was riveted by a picture of the massive mountain gorilla staring menacingly at the camera. The photo, taken during a trip to Uganda, was one of dozens of slides shown by Don Mankin, (below,) last night at REI in San Carlos. Don explained the government of Uganda has mobilized to protect this animal, which has rebounded, to some degree, from near-extinction.*


The L.A.-based author showed an impressive collection of slides and shared stories about his international travels to far-flung corners of the world. His spirit of adventure permeates his recently released book, Riding the Hulahula to The Arctic Ocean — A Guide to 50 Extraordinary Adventures for the Seasoned Traveler. Shannon Stowell, president of the Adventure Travel Trade Association, is the co-author.

Don's 90-minute presentation captivated the audience and generated questions about his trips in Antarctica, Laos and Africa, among other places.

I will next see Don at the Adventure Travel Trade Association's South American World Summit in São Paulo, Brazil, Sept. 3-7, 2008. Both of us will be presenters at the conference.

*ScienceDaily (Apr. 22, 2007) — The most recent census of mountain gorillas in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park--one of only two places in the world where the rare gorillas exist--has found that the population has increased by 6 percent since the last census in 2002, according to the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Max Planck Institute of Anthropology and other groups that participated in the effort.