Concerned? I'd wager not as much as this hippo...

Nothing makes my eyes roll and triggers my gag reflexes more than Range-Rover driving yuppies who book extreme adventure vacations to countries in the Amazon or Congo where local citizens make 10 cents a day so they can return home to their Range-Rover driving friends and tell them over a $600 bottle of brandy how they barely escaped the clutches of a maniacal hippopotamus. "It was horrible, Julian. I was half way inside the beast when Gwyneth's 7-carat engagement ring must have blinded the bastard. Same diamond mined no less up the road by some very dear looking little boys. The irony!"

But no matter how much this bothers me, there's little I can do to control this phenomenon as there will always be rich people who will spend thousands paying other rich people to guide them through poor countries with endangered ecoregions so they can do ridiculous things. Thankfully there’s a charity that’s capitalizing on this trend, and turning it to good use. And the target market would be BoBos.

Today I happened across a brochure for the Concern Challenge 2008. Concern Worldwide is a UK Charity that I was previously unfamiliar with, but apparently they are well established in organizing “treks” to exotic places in the world like Ethiopia, Nepal and even Transylvania (vampires not included). They can also set you up to mush with sled dogs or jump out of planes (although, who hasn't been skydiving these days? geez). After you sign up for one of their adventures, you begin fund raising a minimum of 5,000 euro (that's $7,700) that goes towards world hunger relief and health care.

Though these trips come off as little obnoxious, I'll definitely give CW credit for being innovative enough to make them all about donating money for very worthwhile causes. I'm not sure exactly how much of the money actually goes to the impoverished, but I'll assume it's most of it. And who knows? Someday I may get tired of academic travel or even organizing my own excursions. So next year I may be asking you to sponsor me, or inviting you over so I can tell you about my near-miss with the last wild snow leopard after a record-setting ascent up K2. Just be sure to BYO brandy.