Scuba diving Panama for one is a wonderful option, and if scuba diving Panama sounds good to you, there are a few things you will want to know first. Scuba diving is a sport that is really unlike any other, and there are some really amazing places around the places around the world that you can visit if you want to go scuba diving.

Panama is a maritime country that offers some of the best and fabulous reef diving sites. Scuba diving is one of the most popular sports here, and the San Blas Archipelago in particular is renowned for its wonderful islands of coralline origin and clear crystalline waters, and offers experiences unlike any other.

Also considered as being unique diving areas are the waters that are located next to the Panama Canal, because the wonderful attraction of seeing the underwater remains of the first transisthmian railroad as well as the old dredges that excavated the Canal pathway. For scuba diving Panama there are many different sites.

Getting Ready

If you are planning a vacation to go scuba diving Panama, there are a few items you are going to need in order to prepare for your adventure. First you are going to have all of the necessary scuba diving apparel. Snorkel mask, fins, and an oxygen tank are all basic pieces of scuba diving equipment that you are going to need to go diving.

Also if you want to go scuba diving Panama you are going to have to find accommodations, especially if you are planning to stay for a couple days or more. There are many wonderful hotels, motels, villas and condominiums around Panama’s area that you can make reservations at, and just make sure that you book your accommodations early enough to ensure availability.

Panama is a breathtakingly beautiful and cultural location and definitely one that any avid PADI diver will want to visit. Even if you are just a beginner and strapping on your new gear and wetsuit for the very first time, if you go diving in Panama you are going to have a great travel experience that you will never forget.

So that you are not going to forget anything, make sure that you have a checklist, and are completely prepared before heading off on your adventure. You will then be able to enjoy your holiday, underwater diving trip as much as you possibly can.

It is true what they say, that everything is bigger in Texas. Big hair and big beef come to mind. As the largest state in our lower forty-eight, you wouldn’t expect anything else. Bigger isn’t always better; but, if you are talking saltwater fishing, it surely is. Big fish are definitely abundant when you go Texas saltwater fishing.

If you are interested in a truly memorable vacation, Texas is known for good food, beautiful scenery, and terrific fishing. You can go to the upper, middle, or lower coast, as Texas saltwater fishing is hotter than chili peppers on a plate of Tex-Mex cooking. This is also where speckled trout and redfish are awesome!

Galveston and Texas City offer the family lots of fun in the surf. Here, the oyster reefs are just right for wading.

If you want to try something new on your Texas saltwater fishing trip, charter a fishing boat and go on down the Gulf of Mexico. The blue water offers some great fishing. Tuna, amberjack, snapper, ling, sharks, grouper, and bullfish are out there just waiting for your baited hook.

Because there is so much to do on a Texas saltwater fishing trip, it can make a great getaway for just you or for the whole family. For information on where to go Texas saltwater fishing, be sure to contact local charter companies and look at their fishing reports. Also, local guides can fill you in on what is available to do.

Should you want even more information, head to the Internet and round up all of the data available for adventures in Texas saltwater fishing. To locate fishing reports, just go online. You can also locate guide and charter information, gear, articles on saltwater fishing, and whatever else you might wish to know about a Texas fishing trip. The Internet will also have photographs of what you may experience on your trip.

Texas is not only a place for fun and fishing, but it is a place where you can check out a little bit of what made our country such an amazing place. This is a family-friendly state with an abundance of American history to take in.

There are other wonderful attractions such as beautiful beaches for swimming, exciting theme parks, home-cooked meals, Tex-Mex food and more cultural experiences than you realize. When you plan a Texas vacation, you will experience much of what they have to offer, especially their saltwater fishing.

Do you want to live in a way that protects thefuture of our children? Do you wish to live in the greenest world possible with a conscience, respect and appreciation for the environment?

Many Americans have a strong sense of environmental and social responsibility. We try to make environmentally well advised choices in many aspects of our daily living, yet we ignore one of the major contributors to the endangered state of the planet.

Worldwide in excess of one billion people do not have a pure source of clean drinking water, this is in excess of 1/6 of the world citizens, yet we, as Americans, waste billions of dollars yearly for the convenience of drinking from a plastic bottle instead of a water tap.

1.5 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water every year. It takes in excess of 25 times the amount of water to make each plastic bottle than the bottle contains. 300 million gallons of bottled water are imported to the United States yearly.

Often, in America bottled water is simply an indulgence. Despite our rationalizations, it is not a harmless indulgence. Bottled water is an environmental disaster. Thirty years ago bottled water hardly survived as a business in the United States. We Americans now spend more on “designer” bottled water than we spend on iPods or movie tickets - $15 billion in 2007. The expected United States expenditure for bottled water will be $16 billion a year before the end of the decade.

As a nation we drink more than 30 billion single-serving bottles of water per year. Bottled water is the fastest growing beverage industry in the world, valued at $22 billion a year. Less than 15% of plastic bottles are recycled, the rest end up in the waste system and cost America’s major cities in excess of 70 million per year to handle processing and landfill expenditures. America yearly produces in excess of 800,000 tons of plastic bottle pollution that substantially magnifies global warming.

Last year, Americans threw away 38 billion plastic water bottles, about $1 billion worth of plastic. That’s an overwhelming waste, especially considering 1.5 million barrels of oil - enough to power 100,000 cars for a year - were consumed to manufacture these bottles. And that’s not even including the oil and gas required for shipping and delivering this massive volume of liquid.

If you are choosing to purchase bottled water, you are basically buying plastic, which is manufactured from petroleum products. When we buy a bottle of water, what we’re often purchasing is the bottle its self. One of the main problems with bottled water production is the reliance on fossil fuels. From manufacturing to transportation, bottled water relies on oil, using 17 million barrels of oil and producing massive amounts of carbon dioxide every year.

In the United States alone, we are hauling 1 billion liters of water around a week in trains, trucks, railcars and ships. That adds up to a weekly giant convoy equivalent to 37,800 18-wheelers. Water weighs over 8 pounds a gallon. Water is so very heavy you cannot fill an 18 wheeler with bottled water, you have to allow empty space.

There is an simple eco friendly solution. Tap water is considerably less expensive. As an investigative reporter for the NY Times points out, almost all municipal water in America is so good that nobody needs to import a single bottle from Italy or France or the Fiji Islands.

Clean and pure drinking water should be public and inexpensive. The more the wealthy opt out of drinking tap water, the less political support and funds there will be for investing in developing, maintaining and repairing America’s public water supply. That would be a dreadful loss.

Access to affordable, pure water is basic to a nations health. In Fiji, a state-of-the-art factory spins out more than a million bottles a day of the trendiest bottled water on the U.S. market, while more than half the people in Fiji do not have a pure or dependable source of drinking water. Therefore it is easier for the average American in Seattle or Boston to quench their thirst with refreshing Fiji water than it is for the majority of people in Fiji.

Should you elect to get your suggested eight to ten glasses a day from bottled water, you may spend up to $1,500 or more every year. An equal amount of tap water would cost pennies a day. Recent studies show that many brands of bottled water fail to meet industry guidelines and the cost of even poor quality bottled water can grow quite high.

A lot of bottled water is really just plain tap water. Several bottled water companies package tap water into plastic bottles, then sell them to you at prices higher than gas and increasing just as rapidly. Aquafina, as an example, has sucessfully been pressured into correcting its labels to advise consumers that Aquafina water comes from tap water. Why do we not just drink tap water? In fact, more than a quarter of bottled water is just processed tap water.

Plastic containers leach toxic chemicals. Have you considered why your plastic bottle of water has a label warning telling you not to reuse it? The longer you have that bottle, the more likely it is to leach toxic chemicals into your water.

There is a to solve the dilemma. If you are unsure of your local water supply or wish to easily filter tap water when on the go, carbon-filtered tap water is safer and costs much less than bottled water. As reported by the Environmental Working Group, carbon filtration of tap water will dramatically lower levels of toxic by products; it is also 10 to 20 times less expensive than bottled water, and does not produce the waste and pollution associated with the packaging and transport of bottled water.

Portable water filters are a perfect solution for water filtration on the go. A portable water filter allows anyone to filter their own water, no matter where they travel; across town or around the world. A portable water filter allows you to free yourself from any harsh taste, additives or contaminates while protecting the environment and your pocketbook. Attempt to get the whole family involved. A five member family could save well over $7,500.00 a year.

Stop being unwitting victims of manipulative advertising. When a entire industry is built up by overwhelming us with a product we do not need, when an entire industry is based on packaging and presentation, not the product, it is worth asking how that happened and what the future impact is upon our precious planet.

Is bass fishing one of your favorite pastimes? Might your fishing for a specific type of bass be an extra opportunity for fun? How about considering going striped bass fishing?

Striped bass fishing is a type of bass fishing that has become very popular in recent years. Instead of looking for all types of bass, you concentrate on just one particular type of fish, the striped bass.

Whether you consider yourself a beginner or an experienced and seasoned bass fisherman, you know or will learn soon that it is necessary to use different lures or tackle to catch the varied species of bass. You should understand the differences of tackle required for striped bass fishing from the shore or in the deep sea.

For a number of different reasons, striped bass fishing has gained a lot of popularity. Stripers can be caught in several ways: with a fishing pole, by casting, or by trolling.

Your catch, which can be shared with others, will be considered incredibly delicious by all who partake of it.

Stripers are well known to fight hard and don’t give up without a struggle. These traits have lots of appeal to avid fishermen who enjoy a good challenge. Also, when you go striped bass fishing, your trip will be full of excitement; and, it will require the physical exertion you need for your exercise regimen.

There are many Internet sites devoted to striped bass fishing for you to examine. These sites enable you to join a group, to read blogs, to get answers to your questions, and to learn techniques from experts.

Hopefully, once you have done some research, you will avoid making the mistakes others before you have learned the hard way. Furthermore, writers of these websites are usually passionate about striped bass fishing and often they will share their experiences with you. These people have made themselves available so that you can make your new endeavor a success.

It does not matter whether you want to learn about striped bass fishing in general or which bodies of water will provide a great catch. Doing the research will expose you to tips from people who are in the know. Their advice or fishing lore can guide you so that your future striped bass fishing trips will be memorable occasions for you and your companions. Ready to go striped bash fishing? Let’s do it!

A large number of patents pertaining to the three layer construction of this ball gives an insight into why it stands alone as a peak performer. A very ingenious design keeps its legend going.

The 3 piece construction has been around in the Titleist Pro v1 golf ball family since its inception, but prior to that only callaway had the technology to make this type of ball. The exclusivity of this capability obviously has a direct influence on their cost. Simple supply and demand metrics in action.

Sure it has 392 dimples disparately placed around the titleist pro v1 ball with a new staggered wave parting line marketing angle. It even has an exclusive Alignment integrated Marking (AIM) line to help out with your putting.This is all wonderful marketing stuff and no doubt contributes to both cost and profile of features for the pro v1 ball. Great in print but how does that help and what does it mean.

Aim - well basically I figure someone got tasked with the job of making an acronym for AIM. Does it help with you putting and is it exclusive. The line wasn’t there for years and people putted fine. It is not exactly exclusive territory either. Anyone can produce a line on a golf ball, so cross that off as a reason to buy. You could take the line that any little bit helps, but the intent of this article is to cut through the crap.

392 dimples with a staggered wave parting line. Hmmm! Once again sounds like you could put the pro v1 ball on the moon with ease. This is a great advantage. What you are seeing here is extremely advanced aerodynamic testing and design fruition in action. Delaying airflow separation by energising boundary layer flow results in prolonged laminar airflow around the ball. Determining and perfecting this takes lots of time and money and only someone like titleist has the resources to get this maximised.

In plain terms what does this mean. Basically the ball will go further, perform much better in flight, and give you a much more consistent ball to play with. The dimple design will also impact on the spin the ball will obtain in flight. This has two effects. The gyroscopic effect stabilises the ball and makes any flightpath variation much more unlikely. Try sitting on a bike when it is stationary, and then try it again when moving with the wheels spinning. The other effect you see is the legendary stopping power the pro v1 ball has on the greens due to the spin.

OK, now that we have briefly explained why the titleist pro v1 ball behaves like it does what are the results seen on the course. All that design and science is for titleist to worry about, we just want to know how it works out on the course and forget about all of that.

There’s no doubt about it the pro v1 is as good as it gets( that will cause some debat). The titleist pro v1 ball is the most prevalent golf ball on every tour on the planet. Granted, titleist pay the pros to use them so that may be a factor. However the same figures are mirrored amongst the higher skilled amatuer ranks who are using by choice and paying for the privilege. The answer is very self evident and compelling.

Expect longer distances from the titleist pro v1 ball with steeper arrival angles to the green. You get so much packed into this ball, its now up to you to use it. It is worth your while todo some practice with them to get your distances and greenside behaviour down pat before you start for real.

Being such a premier performance ball they are hugely popular with lower marked golfers. This fact also account for why you dont find too many in the water or lost on the course. They are not cheap and for good reason.

Put your ego away when trying to decide what is for you. Lets face it, if you are off a 24 handicap with a swing like a rusty gate in a tornado, then you wont be consistent enough to get maximum benefit from a titleist pro v1 ball. By the same token, if you have a great swing but are using golf balls with questionable manufacturing tolerances, then you might find yourself with an erratically flying golf ball due to an offset centre of gravity. Solving this golf dilemma is how titleist first started.

Yes , yes I know. How do I get to try these things out without mortgaging the house. Is this possible. Well yes in fact it is. If money is a strong determining factor in your purchase like it is for most of us, then you can try titleist prov1 refinished golf balls. Generally I have found them to be very good and well worth the try. They are quite often half price and quite durable. All right, all right, MyGolf bid.com.au or titleistgolfballs.com.au are my source for these balls. Last time I checked they have great rates for the US as well. Make sure you leave some for me though.

Mastering your back swing is important if you want to play good golf. Unless you have this skill, you can not make the most of your game of golf. Perhaps you already have this skill.

This does not mean that you will not be able to play the game, but a great back swing can take you miles ahead in performance as well as improving your putting skills. Improving your power is not that important as improving your form and distance when you want to work on this area.

Aligning with the ball, the right posture and good shoes would help you to improve your swing. What happens when you have a wrong posture is that you tend to twist at the wrong time. This poses a problem which may not allow you to hold the club properly.

It can make you twist at an inappropriate moment which ultimately does not allow you to grasp the club correctly. All these things put together could create big problems in a good back swing. The first build up is to have the right posture. This allows you for a rapid follow through to your swing.

One of the ways you can correct your posture is to take a snapshot of yourself or ask someone to take a shot. Once you have your picture, see it against the proper stance that has to be taken. If this is not an option for you, look into some lessons, which will allow you to work with someone to truly master your stance.

A strong foundation skill is needed so that you could move in the right direction as you go on. Because it is difficult to assess one self, you could work with a golf instructor for his honest and unbiased views about your stance.

Once you have corrected your stance, you should rectify problems with your grip. You could end up with a poor backhand right from the start if you overextend your grip or hold the club the wrong way. There is no way possible to have a correct back swing if you do not grip the club appropriately. Remember that it is impossible. It would only result in more frustration from numerous attempts. A little alteration in the hand position could provide unprecedented results in the outcome.

Before you lift the club from the ground simply pull it away from the ball. This is important if you want to improve your back swing. Lifting and pulling the club at the same is a common mistake made by most players. Not only does it jeopardize the game but it results in an off-center hit also. Ensure that you are pulling the club straight back before you start lifting it up and you would notice an almost instant improvement. Surely this not asking for too much. Your back swing would improve drastically if you make that extra effort to pull the club before lifting.

The 3 layer construction is a novel idea and making it happen is another. A lot of technology has gone into making this ball, mostly patented, and therefore keeping its exclusivity.

The 3 piece construction has been around in the Titleist Pro v1 golf ball family since its inception, but prior to that only callaway had the technology to make this type of ball. The exclusivity of this capability obviously has a direct influence on their cost. Simple supply and demand metrics in action.

Sure it has 392 dimples disparately placed around the titleist pro v1 ball with a new staggered wave parting line marketing angle. It even has an exclusive Alignment integrated Marking (AIM) line to help out with your putting.This is all wonderful marketing stuff and no doubt contributes to both cost and profile of features for the pro v1 ball. Great in print but how does that help and what does it mean.

AIM- Forget the hype for this feature of the titleist pro v1 ball and take your normal aim for you putt. For what its worth it may as well have been called “BUS”. Bloody Unreliable Sight. This is not a game making feature so read what you want into it. Draw a line on your golf ball with a nikko and save yourself a few bucks if this has you hooked.

392 dimples with a staggered wave parting line. Hmmm! Once again sounds like you could put the pro v1 ball on the moon with ease. This is a great advantage. What you are seeing here is extremely advanced aerodynamic testing and design fruition in action. Delaying airflow separation by energising boundary layer flow results in prolonged laminar airflow around the ball. Determining and perfecting this takes lots of time and money and only someone like titleist has the resources to get this maximised.

In plain terms what does this mean. Basically the ball will go further, perform much better in flight, and give you a much more consistent ball to play with. The dimple design will also impact on the spin the ball will obtain in flight. This has two effects. The gyroscopic effect stabilises the ball and makes any flightpath variation much more unlikely. Try sitting on a bike when it is stationary, and then try it again when moving with the wheels spinning. The other effect you see is the legendary stopping power the pro v1 ball has on the greens due to the spin.

This all sounds like I should take a seat on one and catch a ride down to cancun. All that concerns any golfer is that the equipment they are using is performing for them as best they could expect. Even better still, quality control in manufacture gives the confidence that thesame results will be repeated withthe next ball you use. The titleist pro v1 golf ball encompasses all of that technology to enable it to fly further and straighter, and still have the ability to stop on the greens.

Pro ranks, amatuer ranks all choose to use the Titleist pro v1 golf ball mostly by choice. Such a widespread and varied audience speaks volumes for the performance of this golf ball. If you really want to take the golf ball factor as a negative out of your game the select the titleist pro v1 ball as your weapon of choice . Any discrepencies after that are purely yours.

A good consistent kit allows for good consistent results. After all thats why steel shafts were first used. The titleist pro v1 is a perfect compliment to your exacting game. Get ready for its seperb traction around the greens. You will wonder how that can be acheived with such long distance as well. Most distance balls are super hard, go a mile but are good candidates for the darwinian awards when it is suddenly realised that someday you have to stop as well.

Prices for the titleist pro v1 are at the upper end of the scale. With such hard work being done on their design I wouldnt be giving them away either.

Put your ego away when trying to decide what is for you. Lets face it, if you are off a 24 handicap with a swing like a rusty gate in a tornado, then you wont be consistent enough to get maximum benefit from a titleist pro v1 ball. By the same token, if you have a great swing but are using golf balls with questionable manufacturing tolerances, then you might find yourself with an erratically flying golf ball due to an offset centre of gravity. Solving this golf dilemma is how titleist first started.

Yes , yes I know. How do I get to try these things out without mortgaging the house. Is this possible. Well yes in fact it is. If money is a strong determining factor in your purchase like it is for most of us, then you can try titleist prov1 refinished golf balls. Generally I have found them to be very good and well worth the try. They are quite often half price and quite durable. All right, all right, MyGolf bid.com.au or titleistgolfballs.com.au are my source for these balls. Last time I checked they have great rates for the US as well. Make sure you leave some for me though.

The control and influence of the largest football clubs in the world on how the game is run has been significantly reduced in recent times. This is largely due to the stand both FIFA and UEFA have undertaken, in particular 2 changes which will be talked about in this article. Nevertheless, there is still much to do.

The year 2003 marks the first year in which big clubs slowly began losing control over how club football is run. Why? Because UEFA decided to get rid of the second group stage of the Champion League, which was simply a money spinner for already cashed up clubs. In addition, it led to greater player fatigue and burnouts, the effects of which were seen at major tournaments such as the 2002 World Cup.

Apart from the players, the fans were almost big losers in this situation. The 6 games played during this stage never reached great heights of tension and rivalry, contrary to the history and prestige of the tournament. Fans were made to pay and/or watch games which ultimately did not have the excitement that the tournament was supposed to have. One group stage was enough. We must thank UEFA for listening to the fans and players for bringing back some common sense to football.

Following the removal of the second stage, the other big change that has reduced clubs’ influence in the way football is run was the disappearance of the G14 group of clubs. G14 was a group of the richest clubs in the world, and it served solely to promote their interests against political heavyweights, most notably UEFA and FIFA.

However, the interests of G14 rarely, if ever, were in accordance with what was best for the game. The one proposal that was always a talking point was the possible formation of the European league which would have been exclusively for G14 members. In hindsight, it’s a blessing that they didn’t go through with it, and a lot of it was due to the strong opposition voiced by UEFA and FIFA. It’s also no wonder that throughout G14’s existence, the gulf between the richest clubs and poorest clubs increased significantly. Clearly, G14 was not an organisation promoting football’s interests, and its disbandment in January 2008 means that these rich clubs have lost an influential, or not scary, vehicle in their quest for world domination.

The abolition of the second group stage and the G14 group of clubs have been largely positive for the way football is run in that football’s interests, rather than club’s self-interests have come back to the forefront. FIFA has lived up to its slogan of “For The Good of the Game” and the signs are that it will continue to wrestle control from clubs. The proposed ‘6+5 rule’ will be another positive development for football if it comes through and gets implemented in Europe. My next article will closely analyse the pros and cons of such a rule if it comes to fruition.

That said, this doesn’t mean that we’ve solved the problem for there is much that can still be done. For one, the fact remains that most wealth divide seems to be getting bigger and this is putting small poor clubs under severe financial pressure, potentially making some prestigious clubs go under. The solution to such a problem is not easy at all, nevertheless I hope to propose some solutions in my next few articles.

Club loyalty is one aspect of football that seems to be extinct. These days, money talks louder than ever before, probably because there’s more of it going around. The new generation of players are also more arrogant than before and as a result club loyalty has taken a beating. If this continues, who knows where football will end up in future years?

Learning Tribal Bellydancing

A lot of women seem to have a growing interest in learning the art form of belly dancing even though men have loved to watch the dance for years. There is a lot to learn when it comes to getting it all done but the mental and physical benefits that come with it are just too good to pass up. If you want to get in a lot better shape or want to add a little spice to your normal routine, try learning belly dancing, as you will be happy you did.

But as with everything in life, there are options to pick from, as belly dancing is just not belly dancing. There are several different types and forms of belly dancing to be aware of so you must consider which you would be more interested in. One of the more popular types is that of the tribal bellydancing.

Tribal bellydancing has been used for many years as a form of celebration and communication. Women have used the various dances and routines in their tribal bellydancing to get across a certain message or story. For modern woman though, this is just something that is used more for fun then anything else.

Taking Classes

While there may be a tape or two out there promising to teach you the basics of tribal bellydancing, nothing can compare to being taught in person. Being in a classroom setting will allow you to catch on quicker and to learn slight variations and tips that could help you that your otherwise would have never learned about.

Learning such skills from a tape is generally not advised, as you could also get hurt without the proper instruction. Learning directly from a professional is always the best thing no matter what it is that you are trying to learn in this lifetime.

There are a lot more classes offering tribal bellydancing then there ever used to be before as there has been an increased interest in it. What that means for you is that your chances of finding and actually getting into a class that offers lessons on tribal bellydancing is a lot better then it used to be.

Just start searching your local paper for advertisements or your local yellow pages for more information on classes near you. If that does not work well for you, head to the computer and jump on the Internet as you are bound to be overloaded with lots of information from there.

Hiking provides millions of people with a great deal of pleasure and a sense of adventure each year and 99% of the time it is anything but dangerous. However, people do get lost and have accidents every now and a again and it can become a dangerous activity very quickly if you are not prepared.

Here we look at are just 4 basic safety tips to make sure that your hiking doesn’t get you into trouble.

Safety Tip No1 - Consider taking a partner of friend along.

There’s really no need to worry about setting off by yourself if you’re taking a short hike in a nearby area on easy terrain, however, if you are hiking through heavily wooded wilderness areas with winding trails and steep canyons then the likelihood of getting lost or sustaining injury becomes very real and you should think carefully about whether or not it is sensible to head out alone.

Taking a partner along has many advantages, especially if that individual is a seasoned hiker. Obviously, ‘two heads are better than one’ and if you do become lost or run into difficulty you’re far less likely to panic if you have somebody with you to help solve the problem.

Safety Tip No 2 - Make sure that somebody knows where you are going.

If you are a novice hiker then you should stick to clearly marked and well traveled trails and ought not to stray from these trails to explore until you have some experience and have mastered the basics of map and compass work. But, it won’t take you too long before you are ready to tackle some more adventurous hiking and the possibility of getting injured or lost will arise.

As a result, you should always let someone know where you’re going and when you plan to return so that they can dispatch a search party if you don’t return when expected.

Safety Tip No 3 - Take along some basic equipment.

It’s essential to carry a basic survival kit with you and your local hiking club will give you advice on the items which this should include. What we’re looking at here are things like a lighter and matches, a good knife, a first aid kit and a flashlight.

In addition, it is a good idea to take a map and compass along and a fully charged cell phone.

Safety Tip No 4 - Take some basic provisions with you.

Water or other fluids like sports drinks are clearly essential as you can lose a great deal of fluid even over a short period of time on a hot day. You should remember however that water is bulky, so take along enough but not too much. Do not forget though that you must not drink from local streams as natural water sources might appear to be inviting but they are often loaded with bacteria and might make you sick very quickly.

Also do not forget to take along sufficient food to last you. There’s no pleasure in being hungry out on the trail but don’t forget that you can last a lot longer without food than without water.