Meanwhile... in Bhutan, the government is opening the door wider to foreign tourism
In Bhutan,聽the government is opening the door wider to foreign tourism. For the first time the country will allow visitors access to one of its lush heritage forests.
Until 1974, the reclusive mountain kingdom did not allow tourists at all. Today, a few thousand visit every year. They must pay a fee (about $250) for each day they stay and are allowed only in designated areas.
But now Bhutan鈥檚 Pemacholing Heritage Forest 鈥� near the town of Damphu 鈥� will permit tourists.聽
What鈥檚 there to see in the forest? Lonely Planet describes the area as 鈥渞ich with wildlife, including royal Bengal tigers.鈥� It further notes that 鈥渨ithin the reserve are ancient goembas (monasteries) and the ruins of a medieval dzong (royal fortress).鈥�
In Yangambi, Congo,聽Belgian biologist Koen Hufkens was struggling to find a cost-effective way to study the effects of climate change. He dreamed of installing a high-tech monitoring station in the Congo Basin.聽
But as Mr. Hufkens wrestled with the costs and logistics of such a project he stumbled upon an unexpected treasure-trove 鈥� a cache of notebooks dating back to the 1930s, abandoned long ago in a derelict herbarium in Yangambi. The notebooks 鈥� stained by rain and gnawed by rodents but still legible 鈥� contain meticulous weekly observations of 2,000 trees between 1937 and 1958.聽
Eight thousand volunteers helped Hufkens decode and digitize the information, which he was then able to correlate with weather records. Today, according to The Guardian, Hufkens is 鈥渁lready a long way toward predicting the Congo forest鈥檚 future,鈥� thanks to the massive database contained in the notebooks.
In Belle Mare, Mauritius,聽British tourist Tabitha Nash was sunning herself poolside at one of the island nation鈥檚 resorts when a skinny white puppy with big floppy ears rushed toward her, eagerly wagging its tail.
Ms. Nash was immediately smitten and took in the stray pup. When it came time to go home, Nash knew that she couldn鈥檛 leave the dog, now named Bella. But neither could she afford the $1,300 required for vaccines, quarantine, and transportation to get Bella home to Britain.聽
So Nash launched a GoFundMe campaign. Within three days she had raised more than $3,000, reported the Daily Mail, allowing her to meet the legal requirements and book a flight home for both of them. Animal advocates are hoping that Bella鈥檚 fairy-tale rescue story will raise awareness of the plight of abandoned dogs on Mauritius, where the government has been accused of periodically rounding up and slaughtering strays.聽
