Links

A selection of useful links, made and gathered by the Eland team over the years.

    • Africa & Asia Venture (AV)
      Established in 1993, has now sent over 5,000 volunteers onto community, conservation, sports coaching and teaching projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America.  They offer group based community projects from 5 weeks to 5 months, including designated travel time and an invisible safety net of support throughout for volunteers from around the world. 

    • CasaSwap
      Site specializing in the rent, subletting and swapping of rooms for students and younger people.

    • CouchSurfing
      ‘Creating a better world, one couch at a time’ – the site of a not-for-profit organisation with a million worldwide members interested in offering (and then perhaps themselves receiving) simple accommodation for passing travellers.

    • Ecoteer
      A site that helps stream individual volunteers towards specific destinations, projects and project leaders.

    • Home Exchange 50+
      Site dedicated to arranging Home and Hospitality swaps for the over 50s and holiday rentals for all.

    • GapYear
      Ideas, flights, gadgets ( and adds) around the gap year. 

    • iGapYear
      Site full of gap year advice and tips for further research.

    • MindmyHouse / HomeSitters / HouseCarers
      These three sites are aimed at an older age of travellers, connecting house sitters and house-owners. 

    •  Lattitude
      Organisation that has setting up placements for volunteers since 1972. 

    • Original Volunteers
      Good site to experiment with volunteering with short week-long placements, from around £80 a week, with straight forward flight advice.

    • The Hospitality Site
      Online hospitality exchange organization. 

    • Unique Irish Hostels & Unique Irish Experiences
      Passionately researched list of 120 Irish hostels, run by a family from Maine.

    • Workaway
      Site that offers up a few hours work a day with specific hosts in exchange for board and lodging.

    • Hippohelp

      Work, travel and live with the locals - all for free!

    • World Heritage
      Site for the hosting of foreign students.

    • Jobhero.com

      A useful guide to volunteering - living and working abroad

    • Bookaid International
      Originally known as the Ranfurly Library service, when postwar British libraries were ransacked for gifts for new start-up African schools, it has steadily grown in scale, ambition and professionalism but yet kept to its original passion. “If education is the road out of poverty, books are the wheels needed for the journey” - Bookaid sources, selects and delivers to where they are needed most. 

    • Child Hope
      Feel confused about whether to give to beggars when you travel? But why not give to ChildHope as well. They support projects in India, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Brazil and eight other countries, giving shelter, education, health care, training and legal support to children living and working on the streets. Thousands of children, some as young as six, would still be working as prostitutes, wrongly imprisoned, raped, scared, alone and ignored without their work.

    • Education Action International
      Formerly known as the World University Service. One of the few surviving institutions from the old League of Nations. Works with people affected by conflict in their home countries (ore refugee camps) providing support for basic education, literacy and employment training.

    • Education For All Morocco
      Small but well organised British-Berber association to help educate girls from rural Morocco.

    • Medecins sans frontieres
      On the side of the angels and born in France, MSF provides emergency medical relief where it is most needed, currently deployed in about 80 countries. One of the few medical charities that is genuinely free from any governmental or political manipulation. They have a scheme where you can provide a regular monthly bank order in return for receiving a concise annual report - and no further postal appeals.

    • Water Aid
      An international organisation that is exclusively concerned with providing safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene to those who do not possess them.

    • Corsican Places
      Comes with 20 years of experience of the island and biggest choice of accommodation of the specialist travel agents.

    • Croatian Affair and / or Hidden Croatia
      Croatian hotels, villas and cruises.

    • Desert Cruiser
      Mohammed Marzouk's Desert Cruiser is based on Cairo but uses a team of expert local drivers and guides for jeep or camel expeditions into Egypts western desert with its string of oases (Siwa, Bahriya, Farafa, Kharga & Dhakla) or into the mountains of Sinai and the eastern desert.

    • Jannat Tours
      Run by our friends Omar El-Naass and Nuri Lamin who will sort out your visa application, and can also book flights, internal connections and recommend hotels and experienced guides. 

    • Journey Latin America
      A well respected authority on travel in South America.

    • The Latin America Travel Company

    • We are a family owned and run company who specialise in arranging private tours and tailor made holidays to Central and South America.

    • Mahout
      Mary Anne Dennison-Penders' travel company; very useful resource for small hotels, villas and lodges in India, Australia, Morocco and Wilderness tours.

    • Simoon
      Middle East specialists - with well established links with Iran, Algeria, Oman, Syria and Libya. 

    • Syriana
      The leading tour operators in Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

    • Transindus.com
      Well-established Indian specialist.

  • A personal selection of the leading specialists in Cultural Tours, where the history, archaeology, music, art and architecture is brought alive by expert lecturers. Groups tend to be between a dozen and two dozen, tours between five days and a fortnight in length. 

    • Ace
      Cambridge-based with its own well-established bedrock of clients who are content with simpler, slightly cheaper hotels. 

    • Andante
      Wiltshire-based with a strong leaning towards Roman remains, pre-history and archaeology. 

    • Jon Baines
      Specialist cultural & medical study tours , spiced with comparative religion, cookery. Hands-on cultural immersion - plus a useful sideline in golfing holidays. 

    • Eastern Approaches
      Based in the Scottish borders, run by an archaeologist who has dug in Afghanistan, Iraq and Central Asia. 

    • Kudu
      Culture with an additional emphasis on walks, food, opera and a slightly younger client profile. 

    • The Latin America Travel Company

      We are a family owned and run company who specialise in arranging private tours and tailor made holidays to Central and South America.

    • Martin Randall
      The brand leader but also usually the most expensive; especially reknowned for their own music tours down the Rhine and Danube and cruises through the Eastern Mediterranean. 

    • Peter Sommer Travel
      A British-based operator, specializing in taking small groups on expert led cultural tours into Turkey, Greece, and Italy, as well as gulet cruises along these shores.

    • Special Tours
      Affiliated with the National Art Collection Fund and other charitable organisations which helps give their groups their own flavour. 

    • Spiekermann Travel, Inc. has been helping travelers to explore some of the most fascinating destinations in the world for over 55 years. Since that time we have meticulously planned thousands of trips for our clients to every corner of the Middle and Near East. We take travelers to seldom-visited regions where they have opportunities to visit some of the most prodigious ruins built by the ruling civilizations. Click here for a link to our website which will give some idea about our repertoire.

    • The Traveller
      Well established operator, which initially worked exclusively with the British Museum, but is now entirely independent.

    • Art Republic

    • Mosaiques
      An annual ten-day festival of world culture (usually held in the middle of May) focused on writing, documentaries and new films. It is run by the Institut Francais (17, Queensberry Place, South Kensington, London SW7 2DT) but makes use of such alterntive cinema houseas as Brixton's Ritzy, Greenwich Picture House and Peckhamplex.

    • Music Village/London Diaspora
      The permanent organisation behind such annual festivals as Music Village and London Diaspora. Music Village is a gathering of world musicians brought to play at a series of concerts in June and July (often for free in London parks) or at reasonably-priced concert halls. London Diaspora draws upon the cities own extraordinary diverse world communities.

    • What's On and When
      The local guide for the local traveller.

    • Alma Books
      Preceded by the Hesperus Press, Alma Books focus on the publication of translated fiction. 

    • American University in Cairo Press
      Everything about Egyptian history, art and politics but also innovatve publisher of Egyptian fiction. Also run small bookshop chain within Egypt.

    • Angel Books
      Specialist literature list, especially strong on German and Russian writers in translation.

    • Arcadia Books
      Focus on 'world writing' in all its myriad forms… 

    • Asian Educational Services
      Dedicated independent publisher, based in New Delhi and Madras that reissues books about the history, travel and langauge of India. 

    • Bennett & Bloom
      Specialist publishers for the Caucasus and Central Asia.

    • Bitter Lemon Press
      Bitter Lemon specialises in publishing 'the best crime and romance noirs from faraway places', including Saskia Noort's 'The Dinner Club'.

    • Black Dog Publishing
      Infusing style into every stage of the publication of their illustrated books, Shoreditch based BDP cover a wide range of non-fiction subjects. 

    • David Godine
      A wonderful, and eclectic literary list, as if the old Harvill list have been resurrected in the United States. 

    • Dedalus
      Original English language fiction in paperback – often with a surrealist-gothick-decadent whiff to it. 

    • Desert Winds
      Publish Tom Sheppard's immaculately researched and photographed travels across the Sahara by vehicle.

    • The Dovecote Press
      Dovecote has just set up its own paperback division, Little Toller Books (run by the daughter). Dovecote was started back in 1974 in a barn overlooking the water meadows of Wimborne Minster with a string of Dorset titles, but (some two hundred titles later) it is spreading its wings, to the extent that it has just published John Julius Norwich’s memoirs.

    • Granta
      Top notch literary magazine and general literature list, strong in translation work.

    • Haus Publishing
      Specialising in biography and travel, Haus publish a multitude of accounts of people who have changed the world, or have merely traversed it… 

    • Hurst
      Dedicated specialist on Islam, Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa. 

    • I.B.Tauris
      London’s leading academic publisher for the Middle East but also strong in film studies and general politics and history list.

    • Latin America Bureau
      Society for Latin America Studies.

    • Melisende Publishing
      Scholarly publisher specializing on architecture, religion and culture of the lands of Islam & the Middle East.

    • Orient Longman
      Business name for 'Permanent Black', a versatile, innovative publishing house set up in India in the year 2000 but already with an impressive backlist of 200 books and established as India's most prestigious academic imprint.

    • Persephone Books
      Fittingly named after the Greek goddess of the Underworld, Persephone re-publish fiction predominantly written by women during the inter-war period. 

    • Pushkin
      Elegantly produced literature list – especially strong in European writers.

    • Reportage Press
      New publishing house specialising in books on foreign affairs. 

    • Saqi
      Distinctive family-run publishers above wonderful bookshop in Westbourne Grove. Middle East, new fiction, history and politics. 

    • Short Books
      Innovative new general list publisher with additional list of short biographies. 

    • Signal Books
      Signal Books produces a refreshing mix of innovative travel guides and cultural studies.

    • Snow Books
      Snow Books publish a considerable breadth of titles ranging from women's literature to martial arts via illustration, all tied by the Company's strong commitment to style and presentation. 

    • Sort of Books
      The small general list par excellence, publishers of Men & Dogs, Driving Over Lemons & Gabriel Zaid’s So Many Books.

    • Tomorrow's Books
      Insider book information from author Anthony Gardner, who doubles as Editor of the Royal Society of Literature.

    • Arts & Letters Daily
      An extraordinary (but dangerously addictive)  free daily service, clipping its way through hundreds of newspapers from home and abroad,  radio stations, columnists, blogs and book review pages.

    • The Browser
      Fascinating weekly summary of news. Includes a weekly feature where current authors are interviewed about five seminal books.

    • Cornucopia
      The world's most elegant and informative magazine about Turkey, Anatolia and Ottoman culture.

    • London Review of Books
      opinionated fortnightly newspaper that grew out of the cultural death of the Times newspaper during the 1979 lock-out. Leading exponent of the essay length review, be it of books, writers, politics or contemporary issues. Also runs fabulous independent bookshop in street opposite British Museum 

    • The London Magazine
      leading bi-monthly literary journal 

    • Slightly Foxed: The Real Reader’s Quarterly
      Dedicated, highly independent quarterly book guide run by ex-editors from John Murray, directed at The Real Reader and bursting with enthusiasm for books. 

    • The Times Literary Supplement
      Invaluable broad review with only a slight wiff of academia about it, tends to have smaller, more tightly focused reviews than the LRB. Now stapled so that it doesn't fall to pieces in the train. 

    • The New York Review of Books 
      Bannered as 'The premier literary-intellectual magazine in English language.' Sort of half way between the LRB and TLS (and featuring many of the same writers) but with a breezy trans-Atlantic confidence that happily strays into broader cultural themes, so you get television, cinema and theatre. Also has a truly wonderful list of literary classics.

    • Poetry Books
      Founded by T S Eliot in 1953, the PBS is a book club that reviews, selects and allows readers to buy at discount or subscribe to annual award winning selections. 

    • Poetry London
      one of the most active of the British poetry magazines. 

    • Poetry Translation
      New start-up that will assist in translation of contemporary third-world poets (using skilled services of recognized English poets) as well as assisting in publicising poets in their own languages amongst the immigrant communities within Britain. 

    • Poetry School
      Annual programme of training events from beginners to master-classes. 

    • The Poetry Society
      Membership based club, open to all, that encourages study and use of poetry.

    • Armada Hotel4* 
      Istanbul - just in from the sea walls seven minutes walk below Blue Mosque.

    • Cornucopia
      The world's most elegant and informative magazine about Turkey, Anatolia and Ottoman culture.

    • Elixir Holidays
      Top notch London-based travel agent. 

    • Let's Go Turkey
      General information plus real estate.

    • mymerhaba.com
      General information site angled at expatriates. 

    • The View From Fez
      A fantastic blog with observations from the Medina of Fez, travel advice and more.

    • Tussock Cruising
      Istanbul - top notch squadron of gulets for cruising the Lycian & Carian shore of Turkey.

    • Turkey Travel Planner
      Travel information compiled by ex guide book writer.

    • Yesil Ev
      Istanbul - perfectly sited old mansion with courtyard garden, between Blue Mosque and Ayia Sophia.

    • Arvon Foundation
      Runs five day residential writing courses taught by active writers and open to anyone.

    • British Guild of Travel Writers

    • British National Union of Journalists

    • Dea Birkett & Rory Maclean
      Renowned Guardian columnist Dea Birkett and acclaimed travel-writer Rory Maclean have teamed up to run a series of writing workshops, training days and weekends. Targeted at those who are new to travel writing or who want to improve their writing skills. The aim of the day is to ensure an editor or publisher can only say 'Yes!'. 

    • Poetry Translation
      New start-up that will assist in translation of contemporary third-world poets (using skilled services of recognized English poets) as well as assisting in publicising poets in their own languages amongst the immigrant communities within Britain.

    • Travellers' Tales

    • Writers Workshop
      Oxford based service which offers casual advice for free, with a team of writers for paid manuscript assessements (£160) or £3.50 per thousand words.

  • “Eland have carried the torch for travel writing . . .

    . . .when other publishers with less stamina might have flagged by the wayside. Or for that matter thrown up or passed out. As a result they have a stellar list and an enviable record of gold medals.” — Hugh Thomson

  • “Thank God for Eland, a publishing house still producing books for the right reasons . . .

    . . . it is the most exotic of bazaars, a place of wonder and magic, where every corner and alleyway contains secret treasure. Travel its pages, explore its many titles, and you will discover worlds beyond worlds.”

    — Jason Webster