News
Greece: Make a Difference While You Play!
April 02, 2009, 1:42PM MT
By Pamela F Benbow
Adventure-travel and help Greek dogs? at the same time!
Adventure-travel and help Greek dogs? at the same time!
By Pamela Benbow, Editor: Greece & Cyprus, Best Friends Network
Zoe Katsulos is a fascinating woman who has come up with a fascinating new concept in adventure travel. Zoe is an entrepreneurial spirit, a creative and vivacious woman who lives up to her name Zoe-- a name which, in the Greek of her ancestors, means "Life." Among her many interesting identities, she runs inside/out, an eco-adventure and humanitarian travel enterprise promoting what she calls Humanitourism™ .
Now Zoe wants to take you to Greece on a two-part holiday with a soul. For the eco-adventure part, you'll explore the magnificent and rarely visited (by tourists) Zagoria region of northwest Greece. It's full of mountains and cliff-hanging villages of unique stone architecture and charm, dotted with gorges and landmarks like the famed Vikos Gorge, and home to the ancient Oracle of Zeus at Dodona with its talking oak trees.
For the humanitarian part of your journey, you'll be working with Mary O'Connor, a respected and widely experienced animal rescuer who lives in Greece. Mary manages rescue efforts in the city of Ioannina, situated on a lake at the southern edge of the Zagoria region which you will visit.
Mary O'Connor at work in Ioannina
That's a quick take on this truly thrilling journey. But Zoe and inside/out have recently issued a Press Release that I think you will want to see. With the airfares to Greece more reasonable than in recent human memory (!), why not read the Release below and check out this Humanitourism™ trip!
How else can you explore a stunning, gorgeous, off-all-beaten-paths region of Greece (this is seriously interesting cocktail party conversation when you return) AND help one of Greece's most experienced and dedicated animal rescuers, all in the same trip?
Homeless puppies in the Ioannina area: photo by Mary O'Connor
One more thing: This is an important journey for all the animals of Greece. You will be pioneers in a new and challenging effort to put more help on the ground for determined--but sadly understaffed--rescuers in Greece. You can genuinely make a difference in Greek animal welfare, planting new seeds for a very different future.
What better way to spend your vacation than nourishing both body and soul!
Here's Zoe's Press Release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: ZOE KATSULOS
303-517-3400
zoe@theinsideandout.com
http://www.theinsideandout.com
INSIDE/OUT OFFERS UNIQUE TRAVEL TWIST TACKLING GREEK ANIMAL WELFARE CRISIS WITH 'HUMANITOURISM' ADVENTURE TRIP TO GREECE
"Humanitourism" travel company inside/out addresses the largely unknown animal welfare crisis in Greece with an assistance adventure trip in June 2009. Participants will assist in improving the lives of the countless dogs and cats in Greece struggling to survive under tragic and inhumane conditions and then explore the country in a unique adventure tour.
BOULDER, CO - February 19 -- inside/out, developers of innovative "humanitourism" trips that combine humanitarian project work with guided adventure travel, announced today an assistance adventure trip to Greece June 12-22, 2009 to aid in the shockingly inhumane conditions that exist for dogs and cats in Greece.
Purpose of the Journey
inside/out offers travelers the opportunity to provide hands-on help to a project which desperately needs outside assistance. In this largely unknown crisis, dogs and cats are struggling to survive in an environment of overwhelming overpopulation, neglect, abuse, cruelty, abandonment, poisoning, starvation and apathy all over Greece.
The purpose of the trip is to assist a small contingent of animal welfare workers in Greece to provide contributions in education, care and feeding programs and to gain further insight into the culture by actively touring in the local region.
Location, Location, Location
The trip will be centered in Ioannina, located in the mountains of northern Greece, the Zagoria region. Following the humanitarian work in Ioannina, travelers embark on an eco-adventure tour of this lesser-known but extraordinarily beautiful mountainous region, to include trekking, rafting, sea kayaking, culture and history. Ioannina was selected as the destination because it is part of an area which is truly Greek and visited by very few tourists from outside the country.
Ioannina is also the site of a number of mass poisonings of the area's dog and cat population, one of which recently triggered a small protest from area locals.
"This [protest] represents a notable departure from previous Greek attitudes and indicates that this area is ripe for a shift in consciousness which was previously unthinkable," enthused inside/out founder Zoe Katsulos.
"It is the idea location for our educational work."
Humane Education and Greek Attitudes toward Animals
Greek attitudes toward animals have long been apathetic at best and outwardly cruel at their worst. One of the more highly criticized issues is the systematic poisoning of the stray dog and cat populations, which can sometimes result in the deaths of animals that have homes as well. Sterilization is significantly underutilized and sometimes outwardly rejected, and there is a stunning lack of education on and support of humane treatment and care of animals.
The humanitarian portion of the trip is designed to address these issues.
Humanitourism is a Unique Concept
Humanitourism is a unique concept developed by inside/out to promote longer-term relationships between communities and travelers. Participants on inside/out's trips dispatch to destinations around the world to work on humanitarian projects that have been largely overlooked or underserved.
Following this rewarding volunteer work, the travelers are treated to a guided multi-sport adventure local to the area served. The goal is to create a more intimate experience with the local culture and land so that travelers return home with more than just photos and memories, rather with a real connection to the people and places they have visited.
Accommodation and Food
The travel experience includes stays with local hosts or in small culturally significant accommodations and enables travelers to experience local food and culture through both the project and the adventure. Small group sizes, from 6-12 people, are designed to provide opportunities for each traveler to personally interact with the local population, hosts and each other.
"This trip will give people the opportunity to view Greek culture in a more authentic and intimate way," offers Katsulos. "We also hope that it will provide a needed awareness of the problems with animal welfare that exist in Greece." End of Press Release
So here's the opportunity of a lifetime for the adventurous among us! Embark on a Journey that is travel in a physical, outer way, and then allow yourself to move inward, to the part of you that wrestles with purpose and meaning in your life.
Fly to Greece, travel the Zagoria, and help animal rescuers--like Mary O'Connor--on the ground. It's a ground-breaking, breath-taking concept. We hope that the pioneers among you will grasp this chance!
A little shift in consciousness is always a good thing. Adventure + travel + animals = being in touch with your soul.
Photos courtesy of Zoe Katsulos Top, Zoe and her dog, the heavenly Urania, the Muse of Astronomy and Astrology. Urania is a Greek dog whom Zoe adopted. Urania lives with Zoe in Colorado. Embedded, Mary O'Connor feeds homeless dogs in Ioannina; homeless puppies near Ioannina
What You Can Do
First, remember what Mark Twain said:
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."
Then visit Zoe Katsulos' inside/out website and ponder this trip for yourself.
http://www.theinsideandout.com
For those who may not be able to participate in a trip but still want to help, there are many opportunities, including donating funds or services to the organization, donating funds or supplies for the project, or writing letters of protest to the Greek government.
For a more complete list of how to help, visit the website.
http://www.theinsideandout.com.