Richard E. Smith of Long Beach, California, opened up the topic of tipping on tours (April ’04, pg. 4). Questions he asked included 1) “Should the cost of tipping be included in the tour price?,” 2) “Should there be an existing standard for tipping adhered to by most tour companies?,” 3) “Should an escrow tipping account be set up for each traveler, to be refunded partially or in toto (the reason being that some cheapskates never tip a penny)?” and 4) “Should travel companies be required to...

Nakhichevan or Naxcivan: whatever the name, it’s a small piece of land separated from but part of Azerbaijan. It’s located 250 miles west of Baku, the country’s capital, and is surrounded by Armenia, Iran and Turkey.

When I visited the domestic airlines office in Baku in late January ’07, the staff looked at me as if I’d just turned green and walked through a wall. Foreigners don’t go there, they told me, and they tried to discourage me by saying that a special visa is required, which...

On a trip to Ethiopia with Elderhostel (Boston, MA; 877/426-8056, www.elderhostel.org) in October ’06, I had the opportunity to feed a wild hyena.

One of the most enduring popular attractions in the city of Harar is the Hyena Man. At about 7 p.m. he starts calling the wild hyenas by name. After 10 minutes or so, the animals appear from the shadows. The hyena is Africa’s second-largest predator and is potentially very dangerous.

I held a stick with meat on its end and one of...