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Travel Briefs

India’s tiger tourism restricted

In July, the Supreme Court of India banned all tourism and business activities within the “core areas” of all of its 25 national tiger reserves until states comply with the “core/buffer” management strategy laid out by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in 1972.

Protected core areas of at least 300 square kilometers are where tigers can find water, shelter and prey and breed in safety. Around these are “buffer areas” in which limited industry (logging, farming, grazing, etc.) as well as tourism lodges are allowed.

Insect-repellent clothing

Among new products in Magellan’s summer 2004 travel supplies catalog is “Buzz Off” Insect Shield clothing. It repels mosquitoes, ticks and other biting insects without lotion or spray; offers 30+ SPF sun protection, and wicks moisture away from skin for comfort. The protectant lasts through 25 or more machine washings.

Contact Magellan’s, 110 W. Sola St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101-3007; call 800/962-4943 or visit www.magellans.com.

Bird observatory in Korea

The delta of the Geumgang River is one of Korea’s main breeding grounds for migratory birds. Just opened there in the Seongdeok-ri, Seongsan-myeon, Gunsan-si, area is the Geumgang Migratory Bird Observatory (phone 82-63450-6273).

It has observatories on the ninth and 11th floors; a revolving restaurant on the 10th floor; lectures and information on birds in the basement; year-round displays plus a screening room on the first floor; special exhibits on the second floor, and cultural events on the third.

Architecture in Denmark

The Danish Architecture Center’s new webguide helps you plan your own architectural walking tours through Copenhagen, Odense, Aarhus and Aalborg. There are 14 tours in all. Visit www.dac.dk/guide, choose the ones you like, print them out and you’re ready to go!

For info on Denmark, call the Danish Tourist Board at 212/885-9700 or visit www.visitdenmark.com.

Historic pubs

The guidebook “Pub Interiors of Special Historic Interest” helps visitors to London seek out the city’s best time-capsule pubs. Only 133 make it onto the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) regional inventory for their important historic interiors. The 48-page guide, with photographs, costs £3.50. Visit www.camra.org.uk.

Captivated by dinosaurs

The man who coined the word “dinosaur,” Sir Richard Owen, campaigned for a “national museum of natural wonders.” Two hundred years after his birth, this founder of the Natural History Museum is being celebrated in London with a special display and self-guided trail (through Oct. 24, 2004).

Hampton Court Palace gardens

Hampton Court Palace, the former home of King Henry VIII, has a new permanent gardens exhibition. Situated off the East Front Gardens, it shows how the palace gardens evolved from the early 16th century up to the present day.

On Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 26, 2004, costumed interpreters dressed as courtiers in the days when William III and Mary II were in residence will lead 30-minute tours of the East and South Front gardens.

Contact Hampton Court Palace, East Molesey, Surrey, KT8 9AV, England; phone +44 (0) 870 752 7777.

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