Funds from this year’s event were donated to various projects including the Zoological Parks Organisation of Thailand which supports veterinary and educational projects to improve the year-round lives of elephants and mahouts in the Surin Province where ex-street elephants face ongoing hardship.

The donations have also funded South East Asia’s first ever workshop to teach mahouts and vets the benefits of Environmental Enrichment to keep elephants happy as well as the construction of a watch tower in a village whose crops are raided by elephants, allowing villagers to watch and warn other villagers of approaching elephants in a safe manner for both people and elephants.

Donations also funded a conservation education trip to a National Park for the children and next generation of hereditary mahouts to learn the importance of elephants in the wild; the transport of Thai elephant vets to international conferences; funding Thai Government aid to teach mahouts to act as veterinary assistants and provide basic first aid and other medical care to their elephants; as well as community based Human Elephant Conflict mitigation projects in two Thai and one Tanzanian National Parks and the purchase of equipment for anti-poaching rangers in a Cambodian National Park.

Other significant benefits from the money raised by the tournament include: the ongoing Thai Elephant Therapy Project which has been underway since 2009 in conjunction with Chiang Mai University’s Department of Occupational Therapy, with future clinics to include children with Down’s Syndrome and other conditions now committed until the end of 2018 as well as the funding of Asia’s first workshop to show traditional elephant trainers and camp owners the benefits of Positive Reinforcement Training for captive elephants with additional workshops this year in Myanmar reaching teams responsible for over 200 elephants.

To plan your Thailand trip to coincide with this great annual event, contact Symbiosis Custom Travel and start planning now.

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Where normally special promotions cannot be combined, Manta Ray Bay wants to share their 30-years’ success with divers being able to profit both from their 30th Anniversary special and the 20% Discount deal during this year’s Manta Fest meaning divers can book a complete Hotel/Dive-package for as low as US$ 99,– per day** which includes accommodation, dives, breakfast, roundtrip airport/resort transfer and all taxes.

This year’s Manta Ray Fest has 5 professional presenters that include some of today’s top underwater shooters – Frank Schneider, contributor of Tauchen magazine, Steven Miller from Ikelite photo school, Andy Schumacher from Schumacherfilms in Germany as well as Ray Bullion and Brad Holland.

The festival culminates in a photo contest with more prizes than photographers – everyone goes home with something from our sponsors – compact camera shooters win the same prizes as big dSLR systems. Top prizes include liveaboard trips to Raja Ampat with Dive Damai and to Guadalupe Island for Great White sharks with Solmar V, Mares gear sets as well as a bunch of prizes from Henderson, Pelican, Armor bags and McNett towels while dSLR and non-dSLR categories winners will receive special titanium jewelry by Diver Design.

For more information and reservations please contact Symbiosis Custom Travel.

* When booking Hotel-/Dive-packages for 7 nights/10 dives or more/for new bookings only.
** When booking the 14 night/22 dives Hotel/Dive package in a Standard room with automatic upgrade to a 20 night/22 dive Hotel/Dive package.

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The Mt Hagen Show will be held on the weekend of 16th & 17th August 2014. We have 4 tour variations or 10 to 12 days duration to coincide with this highly colourful event that will also take you to other areas of this fascinating country including the highlands and the Sepik basin.

For information on the tours visit the Mt Hagen Show webpage here

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For 24 hours everything on the island will be closed with no one permitted on the streets, with the exception of emergency vehicles. This enforcement begins from 6am on 31 March and continues until 6am on 1 Apr 2014. April 1st is also a public holiday after the enforcement has been lifted at 6am.

Although Nyepi is a Hindu holiday, non-Hindu residents of the island and tourists are not exempt. Although they are free to do as they wish inside their hotels, no one is allowed on the beaches or streets and the only airport in Bali remains closed for the entire day. The only exceptions granted are for emergency vehicles carrying those with life-threatening conditions and women about to give birth.

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In the Kingdom of Thailand’s Jazz scene, the Hua Hin Jazz Festival is one of the most recognised and established jazz festivals, attracting more than 15,000 locals and travellers to the beachside town of Hua Hin, which is just 2-3 hours drive from Bangkok.

The Jazz Festival was first started by a collection of forward thinking hotels in Hua Hin. They took the lead to organise the Jazz Festival on the beach with the aim of attracting more travellers.

You can follow developments of the 2014 Jazz Festival and how the event plans to grow at http://www.thehuahinjazzfestival.com. Why not include it in your next trip to Thailand? Contact us at Symbiosis Custom Travel to discuss.

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The Hagen show is held in August every year – and we are be offering three escorted programs and one unescorted program in 2013. Escorted programs have the same guide throughout whereas with unescorted programs, you still have guides to assist you at each location, the only difference being that guides change at the different locations.

For photographers, the Mount Hagen Show offers an amazing opportunity to capture many of the flamboyant traditional costumes of Papua New Guinea’s highlander people all on one place. The tours will also take you to other fascinating parts of the main island, staying at the finest and most remote lodges as you go, with flights by small charter plane to give you some amazing aerial views of the mountains and rainforests.

Tours range in length from 11 to days, starting on either the 8th or 16 August, depending on the tour configuration.

More info with prices on the Symbiosis Custom Travel website.

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The event is centred on the stunning, multi-coloured Kelimutu Crater Lake which is considered to be a final resting place for spirits. Local people honour these departed souls by offering food at a sacred site on top of the mountain.

Annually, hundreds of people make the pilgrimage to a stone altar (Mesbah) where chants and prayers accompany the rite. After the ceremony has been observed, the congregation head back down to the starting point where a series of fascinating cultural performances are staged.

This is a stunning destination to visit in its own right, but the celebration of Pati Ka Du’a Bapu Ata adds colour and cultural richness to the experience.

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Cambodia might not rank among the world’s brewery or beer garden capitals, but change is coming.

From its setting on the banks of the Tonle Sap river, Kingdom Breweries, Phnom Penh’s newest boutique producer, opened in October 2010, is gearing up to give local brands Anchor and Angkor a run for their riel, using only the best German and Czech hops, premium German malt and top-quality water to produce the brand’s flagship pilsner.

Read the full story in the LA Times.

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The highlight of the annual Water Festival is the boat races that take place on the Tonle Sap River where it flows into the Mekong at Phnom Penh, the capital. However this year the rivers are lapping at the very tops of the river banks, and the fast flowing waters add an additional risk to the safety of race participants.

Full story in today’s Phnom Penh Post

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Dust off your cameras and take to the water with 5 Star IDC Centre Thalassa, located in the heart of Bunaken National Park. CTS participants get a head start in the Shoot Out competition with our special 5-day unlimited diving package. Literally dive till you drop in Bunaken, Bangka and the Lembeh Strait. With sites only 5 minutes away by boat, you can get trigger happy as and when you please. So why wait? Get your chance to win the festival’s top award along with a cash prize of USD 3500.

* Camera rinse tanks and electrical charge points onboard custom-made dive boats
* Imaging facilities for video capture and image processing
* Specialist photographic dive guides
* Boat charters

5 nights Deluxe room in Seaside Resort Santika
5 days Unlimited Diving with Thalassa, incl. use of tanks, weights, towels and lunch with the dive centre Daily breakfast + Airport transfers

Package for 2 : USD775
Package for 1 : USD1,045
Extension 1 Night + 3 Dives (for 2) : USD160
Extension 1 Night + 3 Dives (for 1) : USD190

Contact Symbiosis Custom Travel for full details

In association with the World Festival of Underwater Pictures, Le Festival Mondial de l’Image Sous-Marine – Marseille 2010, Ocean Geographic, DIVER magazine (Canada), Action Asia (HK), X Ray Mag (Scandinavia), Duiken (Holland), Tauchen (Germany), AQUA (Italy), Plongee (France), Neptune (Russia), DIVE (UK) and Scuba Diver Australia

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The 2011 Hua Hin Ballooning Festival will be taking place from 12 February to 6 March and you can join in if you wish. Flights will float off just after sunrise each day from the Hua Hin Hills Vineyard for a leisurely one hour flight. Each skippered by a professional Balloon Pilot, you will then fly over beautiful rolling hills countryside, before setting down for a private Champagne Breakfast Tent.

The Hua Hin Hills Vineyard is built on a former elephant corral where wild Asian elephants used to be domesticated. Covering some 600 acres with 160 acres of plantation area, its varietals and experimental plots include a range of variety of grapes including Colombard, Chenin Blanc, Muscat, Shiraz. Sangiovese and Tempranillo. The harvest is taken between February and March.

At an elevation of 140 to 210 meters above sea level, the weather feels cool and dry. Each flight carries 5 passengers plus a pilot and the experienced crew will be on hand to guide guests through the experience.

Prices range from THB12,000 per person for guests of the Rest Detail hotel Hua Hin, or B15,000 for non-guests.

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The fifteenth day, of the tenth month, of the Khmer calendar marks the Pchum Ben festival. This is a time when the spirits of the dead ancestors walk the Earth. And the living can ease their suffering by offering them food to eat.

At four in the morning, nearly all of the residents of Phnom Penh gather at the temple with offerings of rice, which they toss on the ground, feeding the dead ancestors.

“Some of the ghosts have small mouths,” one man explains. “So we have to use special rice.”

Many of the people throw sticky rice, which, apparently is easier for the spirits to consume.

According to Buddhist beliefs, the lives that we live, after death, are predicated by the actions that we took when we were living. Minor infractions would be punished with small punishments, such as being an unattractive ghost or having a small mouth. With a small mouth, it is hard to eat. Other, more severe, punishments could include being crippled or having no mouth at all.

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Contact Symbiosis Expedition Planning about making a trip to attend the show next month and perhaps trekking into the forests to look for some birds yourself!

See poster below:

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Organised by Tribob, the Bintan Triathlon 2010 will be staged on a scenic yet challenging course in Bintan Island. Race participants will start the course with a swim at the picturesque beaches off Nirwana Beach Club, followed by a bike ride through to the undulating hills of the island and a shaded run in the greenery of Nirwana Gardens.

Now in its sixth year, organisers are expecting a crowd of 1,400 participants across all categories. The event started in 2005 with 480 participants and has seen a steady annual increase to 1,200 race participants from 37 different countries last year. While most participants make it a holiday weekend; the day-trip option from Singapore is available for the most budget-conscious athletes.

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This is a highly sought after Papua New Guinea experience – the famous Mount Hagen Cultural festival. A must for people interested in photographing people.

In addition to attending this colourful event, the tour also includes stays at the stunning Ambua Lodge, high up in the Southern Highlands, overlooking the Tari basin (home to the Huli Wigmen) and to Karawari Lodge, deep in the Sepik basin, plus a Sepik River cruise aboard the Sepik Spirit.

Full tour details here.

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