Travel Tips: Earthwatch Scientific Expeditions and The Poor Person’s Travel Guide To Queensland

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PHOTO: MOTHER EARTH NEWS STAFF
In 1982, the nonprofit organization Earthwatch Scientific Expeditions sponsored more than 80 expeditions to 20 states and 30 countries.

Travel tips from the Getting There column shares travel info on MOTHER’s tours by Earthwatch Scientific Expeditions which covers the areas of archaeology, anthropology, ornithology, marine biology, ecology, and animal behavior, and the travel book The Poor Person’s Travel Guide To Queensland that helps tourists traveling through Australia.

EARTHWATCH SCIENTIFIC EXPEDITIONS: TAX-DEDUCTIBLE TREKKING

Those of you who dream of venturing forth on a scientific expedition–perhaps tracking rhinos in the wilds of Africa, or helping to study and interpret the antics of whales, or finding and actually holding in your hand an ancient artifact that has lain untouched for thousands of years–may well want to investigate Earthwatch (Dept. TMEN, Belmont, Massachusetts).

In 1982, the nonprofit organization Earthwatch Scientific Expeditions sponsored more than 80 expeditions to 20 states and 30 countries . . . involving such varied areas of study as archaeology, anthropology, ornithology, marine biology, ecology, and animal behavior. They succeeded in this endeavor by matching up interested lay people with scholars from some 50 universities who needed help in accomplishing their field research.

You don’t have to be a scientist to take part, because everyday talents can almost always be put to unexpectedly good use. On one trip, for example, a grandmother’s tea-cup-mending ability was found to be perfectly suited for artifact reconstruction . . . in another case a rock group’s soundman recorded the calls of dolphins . . . and during a journey to Kenya a physician was called upon to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a hyena. More important than academic training, says Earthwatch, are curiosity, a flair for adventure, and an abiding sense of humor!

  • Published on Nov 1, 1982
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