PRLog (Press Release) - Oct 13, 2012 - Pono Express, a Kauai-based van service not to be confused with the legendry Pony Express of pioneer days, is now offering services in Lahaina to ferry passengers island wide to and from the airport and provide private sightseeing tours, government and medical transportation.

Steve Monas, president of the growing firm that has expanded to Maui, picked the name Pono because it pledges to do the right thing for customers. 

Pono Express is unique in that it offers packages that will allow drivers to  stop for up to 20 minutes or more along the way to allow passengers to do brief errands on their way to hotels, condos, or the airport, according to Monas.  The company provides lei greetings on request and offers child seats and other amenities.

For cruise passengers and other visitors, Pono Express also offers private customized sightseeing tours of Haleakala, Hana, Upcountry, or West Maui in air conditioned Toyota Siena minivans for up to six people for one flat rate. Drivers are schooled in Hawaiian culture and the Aloha way.

A customer driven entrepreneur, Ukraine-born Monas is the co-author of “Shoestring Venture: The Startup Bible,” a kind of consultant in a book that offers practical resources entrepreneurs can use to build successful small businesses. 

PRLog (Press Release) - Sep 24, 2012 - Greener Pastures, a frontier ecotourism enterprise of Northeastern India which promotes responsible tours and adventures to exotic destinations of the region, has recently launched a tour which will take travelers to the world famous Hornbill Festival which is celebrated in the remote state of Nagaland every first week of December.

Nagaland, the land of tribes, is known as the land of festivals, and appropriately the tourism department of the state of Nagaland organizes the Hornbill Festival each year, in honor of the rich cultures and traditions of Nagaland. It is an event where all the tribes of the state participate willingly, coming together to display in extravagant and elaborate ways, the ways and customs of tribal life in Nagaland. It is a time of joy and zest throughout the communities, a time when colorful dances are performed by tribesmen and women wearing elaborately stitched dresses, songs and folklore are sung by local and popular bands, and majestic feasts are organized filled with limitless supply of rice beer and local ethnic cuisine. Other highlights of the festival include fashions shows, talent hunts, and display of traditional herbal medicine, food stalls, and many other ceremonies where ancient tribal customs of Nagaland are performed.

In this tour, meant for travelers, filmmakers, photographers, anthropologists and culture enthusiasts, one will get a glimpse of how life is lived in Nagaland which is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating states of India. Guests will get to participate in the festival activities, and enjoy the relentless dancing, singing, eating, drinking and merry making. They will also get to visit the villages and houses of the tribes, interact with them, and learn about their indigenous and sustainable ways of living. Nagaland is also bordered by Myanmar on one side, and short excursions to such nearby and very remote places is possible in the tour. There is also the village of Konoma where ecotourism in practiced in all its glory and has provided the people of Khonoma a reason to safeguard and protect their environment. Tourists get to stay in traditional Naga styled huts in Khonoma and the money generated from such tourism activities is utilized to protect and conserve the nearby Tragopan Wildlife Santuary which is home to the endemic and endangered species of pheasants called tragopans. Hiking in this sanctuary is permitted, and can be continued till the Dzoku Highlands which is one of the most scenic places in India where breathtaking rolling hills of bamboo stretch for miles and miles into the horizon.

Scheduled to begin on the 2nd December for a duration of 8 days, the tour is an once a lifetime experience for anyone and everyone, which will take a traveler to the remote wilderness hills of Nagaland, in a territory where tribes live in all their glory, a life that is sustainable, nature oriented and indigenous. Greener Pastures recommends that bookings for this tour should be made early, as accommodations for the festival start getting filled up months before the festival even takes place.

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