tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15971044299956588882024-03-14T11:49:33.965-07:00In Humboldt's FootstepsA mix of travel tips, history, music and fine food as I explore Venezuela in the footsteps of the great German scientist and adventurer Alexander von Humboldt.Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-26335968944843209852015-09-19T08:02:00.000-07:002015-09-19T12:25:17.041-07:00Angel Falls in National Geographic Traveller
South America: Off the Tourist Map
From a Witches’ Market in Suriname to storm chasing in Venezuela, a world of unexpected adventure awaits those who dare to delve into the less-explored corners of the continent.
Come with me as I fly deep into Venezuela's southern jungles and take a traditional dugout canoe up the tea-coloured Carrao and Churun rivers to the base of the highest waterfall inRussell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-22485114390900832932015-09-06T01:59:00.001-07:002015-09-07T10:24:07.344-07:00Venezuela's Mini Miracle - The Coromoto Virgin
Venezuela celebrates a miracle in the first week of September with pilgrimages and processions in honour of Our Lady of Coromoto (Nuestra Señora de Coromoto), the Patroness of Venezuela. The main focus for the faithful is a tiny yet miraculous piece of papyrus - just 2.5 cm high by 2 cm wide - that is as revered in Venezuela as the Guadalupe Virgin is in Mexico. According to believers, this is Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-4278642225342453782014-09-08T05:31:00.001-07:002014-09-08T06:22:57.732-07:00Margarita Pays Homage to the Virgen del Valle
The Basilica of the Virgen del Valle in the Valley of Espiritu Santo in Venezuela's Margarita Island is a pastel-pink chapel that houses an image of the Virgin Mary that dates back to the 1530s. (All photographs copyright Russell Maddicks).
In Margarita Island the biggest religious celebration of the year comes on 8 September when the Catholic faithful turn out en masse to pay homage to theRussell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-38277668660318708432013-12-05T09:21:00.000-08:002013-12-10T01:34:41.582-08:00Venezuelan San Pedro Festival Recognized by UNESCO
Venezuelan Folk Festival for San Pedro Recognized by UNESCO -- A centuries-old Venezuelan folk festival called the Parranda de San Pedro, which is celebrated in the small towns of Guarenas and Guatire in Miranda State every year on 28 and 29 of June, has been included in the United Nations' List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The official announcement Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-70058008890633137662013-12-03T18:16:00.001-08:002013-12-03T18:19:53.570-08:00Whitewater Rafting in Barinas
Whitewater Rafting in Barinas State: The Merida-based adventure tour company Arassari Trek took me on a bumpy, adrenaline-pumping ride down a Grade III stretch of foaming rapids on the Rio Acequias in October as part of the FitVen2013 International Tourism Fair.
It was my first time rafting in Barinas and for a relatively short ride of some 90 minutes it lived up to all the hype I'veRussell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-45233431343596645812013-11-16T04:11:00.003-08:002013-11-20T06:11:34.031-08:00Paragliding in Merida, in the Venezuelan Andes
Author of the Bradt Guide to Venezuela Takes to the Air in Merida
On October 26, while taking part in the Venezuelan International Tourism Fair (FITVen2013) in Merida, I did a tandem flight from Tierra Negra with local paragliding legend Jose Albarran, better known by his nickname "Piojo" (Flea).
Jose has been flying from Tierra Negra for more than 15 years. When not paragliding you'll find Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-51493935842556951412013-11-12T16:40:00.001-08:002013-11-13T01:56:12.396-08:00Animal Planet: Giant Anacondas in Venezuela
Local Venezuelan guide Juan Carlos Ramirez of Akanan Adventure and Travel recently took scientist-explorer Niall McCann on a hunt for giant anacondas in Los Llanos and the Rio Caura for the programme "Biggest and Baddest" on Animal Planet.
The pair started their search in Hato Cedral, a working cattle ranch in Los Llanos that is one of the best places in Venezuela to see birds and wildlife.
Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-52454398566711659392013-11-11T15:20:00.001-08:002013-11-12T05:22:19.340-08:00Mariano Rangel: Merida Sculptor Carves Life into Wood
Mariano Rangel is a Venezuelan folk artist from Tabay, Merida, and something of a local legend. Born in 1944, he is completely self-taught. He worked as a farmer until 1984, when one day his wife asked him for help to finish a wood carving of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.
The idea of creating the image had come to her in a dream, she said. The Virgin had appeared to her in Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-67007777132566115162013-11-07T16:51:00.003-08:002013-11-07T17:00:42.536-08:00Merida Cable Car to Re-Open Mid-2014 as Mukumbari
This short but enlightening film, "En lo Mas Alto", shows exactly the working conditions I encountered on my trip on the cable car at the end of October as part of the FITVen2013 press trip with the Tourism Ministry (MinTur).
It used to be known simply as the teleferico (cable car) but in mid-2014 when work finishes in the Andean city of Merida on a huge project to completely Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-11153698539563844742013-11-07T14:54:00.000-08:002013-11-07T15:42:20.966-08:00FITVen2013 - Talking Tourism in Venezuela
After writing a tour guide and book about living in Venezuela it was good to spend time talking tourism at Venezuela's International Tourism Fair, FITVen 2013. I even got interviewed a few times by the local media.
Venezuela is so blessed with natural treasures that it's hard to understand sometimes why more people aren't visiting the country. Where else can you find the world's highestRussell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-4541881377991921132013-11-01T14:33:00.001-07:002013-12-04T16:12:44.900-08:00Venezuela Guide on Instagram - FITVen2013
INSTAGRAMEANDO ANDO YO...
In October 2013 I was invited to travel around Venezuela on a Press Trip organized by the Tourism Ministry (MinTur) in the run up to the FITVen2013 International Tourism Fair.
As I lost my laptop and camera en route to Venezuela I was forced to improvise. Armed only with an HTC One S mobile phone with an 8 megapixel camera, I decided to document my trip on Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-67603882666222081612012-12-06T09:45:00.002-08:002012-12-06T10:13:01.398-08:00Venezuela's Dancing Devils make UN World Heritage List
Venezuela's historic and very unique tradition of masked devil dancing, known as the Diablos Danzantes, which takes place in some 14 towns and villages each year to celebrate the Catholic Feast of Corpus Christi, has been chosen by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for inclusion in its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-7284265542793609992012-10-26T09:23:00.003-07:002013-11-07T15:48:16.346-08:00Venezuelan Folk Saint Jose Gregorio Hernandez is 148
Venezuelans will be lighting a candle today for the country's most popular folk saint, Dr Jose Gregorio Hernandez, who was born on 26 October 1864 in the small Andean pueblo of Isnotú, Trujillo State.
The good doctor spent his short lifetime helping the poor and performing miracles until he was tragically killed on 26 June 1919, run down on the corner of Amadores and Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-83032996721692463082012-10-02T10:17:00.000-07:002012-10-02T10:18:21.478-07:00Culture Smart! Venezuela - My New Book is Out
Culture Smart! Venezuela - My new book about Venezuelan culture, language, history, music, jokes, business etiquette and travel comes out a few days before the presidential election.
Can't believe it's here. Can't wait to do the update already.
To purchase on Amazon.co.uk click here:
Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-6909777061522412362012-05-27T13:15:00.002-07:002012-05-27T14:37:47.624-07:00British climbers scale Venezuela's Autana Tepuy
By Russell Maddicks
A British expedition led by UK climber Leo Houlding has made the first successful ascent of the east face of Venezuela's Cerro Autana - a remote, flat-topped tepuy mountain in the Amazonas region that is considered sacred by the local Piaroa people.
The higher 700m South West Face of Autana was climbed by Jose Pereyra and John Arran in 2002.
The 2012 team was Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-56576804273132937152012-02-15T06:00:00.000-08:002012-02-15T06:00:29.372-08:00Calypso is king of Venezuela's El Callao carnival
The 2012 Carnival has already kicked off in El Callao with beauty contests and calypso competitions but the big processions start Saturday 18 February - Tuesday 21 February, and end on Ash Wednesday with the start of Lent.
El Callao - A Calypso, Caribbean Carnival in the South of Venezuela
Venezuela is a country of countless parties, fiestas and dances, from individual celebrations of local Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-48144539611477369062011-12-29T02:13:00.000-08:002011-12-29T02:15:36.521-08:00Venezuela author to speak at Adventure Travel Show, London
Russell Maddicks, author of the Bradt Guide to Venezuela, will give an illustrated talk about travelling in Venezuela at the Telegraph Adventure Travel Show at Olympia, London, on 28 January.
Saturday 28 January 2012
Time : 12:00 till 12:45
Where : Theatre 4, Olympia (Kensington)
Venezuela: Wildlife Wonderful. Russell Maddicks.
One of the 17 most megadiverse countries in the world, Venezuela, Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-47208105899226968252011-12-16T08:16:00.000-08:002011-12-16T09:58:08.387-08:00Roraima bush toad escapes tarantula in spectacular BBC film
This amazing footage from the BBC series Life shows how a hopless pebble toad uses a remarkable escape strategy when faced with a predator, in this case a tarantula spider.
But have David Attenborough and the BBC wildlife team got their names wrong this time?
The toad is identified in the programme notes as Oreophrynella nigra, commonly known as the Kukenan bush toad (sapito del Kukenan).
Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-1577808571309624002011-11-07T14:26:00.000-08:002011-11-22T09:11:12.896-08:00Miss World promotes Venezuela at World Travel MarketWilmer Sifontes (maracas), Diego la Verde (harp), and Jose "Chebeto" Requena (cuatro) entertain visitors to the Venezuelan stand at the World Travel Market in Excel, London.
By Russell Maddicks
The Venezuelan Tourism Board, Inatur, set out its stall today at one of the largest tourism fairs in the world, the World Travel Market, which is taking place at the Excel Centre in London until Thursday Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-82089495122552464052011-11-06T11:27:00.000-08:002012-02-06T05:18:49.623-08:00Venezuelan beauty Ivian Sarcos wins Miss World 2011
Ivian Lunasol Sarcos Colmenares, a 21-year-old from Guanare in Venezuela's Portuguesa State, beat 120 of the world's most beautiful women to win the coveted Miss World crown in London on Sunday, 6 November 2011.
The glittering ceremony culminated with Miss Philippines, Gwendoline Gaelle Sandrine Ruais, named runner-up, and Miss Puerto Rico, Amanda Victoria Vilanova Perez, in third place.
Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-88925711445429798462011-11-01T11:51:00.000-07:002011-11-14T05:19:38.548-08:00Venezuelan Soap Stars in London - Esperando Al Italiano
By Russell Maddicks
Anybody who's followed a Venezuelan telenovela, or soap opera, will have heard of Carolina Perpetuo or Hilda Abrahamz, two legends of the small screen who've played everything from wide-eyed country-girls with hearts of gold to evil vamps, pouting their ruby lips like their lives depended on it. And who will ever forget Hilda Abrahamz as the jungle girl Ka Ina.
Both Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-28488153709797809282011-09-26T04:32:00.000-07:002011-09-29T09:06:50.706-07:00Bradt Venezuela author at Globetrotters Club - 1 Oct 2011
Exploring Venezuela: A Land of Natural Wonders
Russell Maddicks, the author of the Bradt Guide to Venezuela will highlight some of the most fascinating areas of Venezuela to visit and what you can expect to see and do. Drawing on his experience of adventuring in Venezuela for more than 20 years, Russell will take you to:
* The “Lost World” mountain of Roraima and the unique ecosystem of its Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-80090315187318521292011-09-25T03:02:00.000-07:002011-09-25T06:03:37.412-07:00Hato Masaragual, Los Llanos and Orinoco Caiman on BBC
Veteran BBC presenter Jonathan Dimbleby visits Hato Masaguaral, a ranch in the plains of Los LLanos Venezuela, that breeds an endangered species of crocodile commonly know as the Caiman del Orinoco, as part of a BBC series called "South American Journey with Jonathan Dimbleby" that airs on 25 September at 8 p.m.
In the hour-long documentary the broadcaster happily strokes a three day old Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-40406928722423223042011-09-04T06:42:00.000-07:002011-09-04T06:42:55.881-07:00Bradt Guide to Venezuela: At home with the author Russell Maddicks
Author, translator and traveller Russell Maddicks discusses his latest book: "The Bradt Guide to Venezuela" in a short film directed and shot at his house in Caversham by Reading film maker Jorge Franca.Russell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1597104429995658888.post-72164751391949521452011-08-17T12:12:00.000-07:002011-08-29T01:42:41.300-07:00Socialist Dreams & Beauty Queens - author interview
It's always good to see a new book about Venezuela, especially a travel book, and Jamie Maslin's "Socialist Dreams and Beauty Queens" does not disappoint.
The author not only takes his readers on a journey to the capital Caracas and the tourist isle of Margarita, but also heads south to the jungles of the Gran Sabana where he treks up Mount Roraima and takes a canoe to the highest waterfall inRussell Maddickshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989noreply@blogger.com1