The AA Hotel Guide 2008 This is the UK's best-selling "Hotel Guide". It is a full colour guide to over 4,000 AA inspected Hotels in Britain and Ireland, fully updated for 2008. All of the establishments featured have been officially inspected and rated for quality by the AA's professional inspectors, each graded with 1 to 5 stars, with AA red stars highlighting top hotels. It contains more establishments offering more choice than competing guides. Over 800 budget hotels are featured, ideal for overnight stops. Plus, there are up-to-date details of room prices, credit cards, parking, directions and leisure facilities throughout. Central reservation telephone numbers are featured for the major hotel groups. The hotels featured are arranged in county order with prices, opening times, directions and websites. The special features include the AA Hotel of the Year Awards and AA Top Hotels in Britain and Ireland. More information and prices from: Amazon.com - US dollars Amazon.ca - Canadian dollars Amazon.co.uk - British pounds Amazon.de - Euros Amazon.fr - Euros

The Rough Guide to Britain by Robert Andrews, Jules Brown, Rob Humphreys, Phil Lee, Donald Reid   If ever a nation were both hostage to and beneficiary of its history, it’s Britain. The single most important thing to remember when travelling here is that you’re visiting not one country, but three: England, Wales and Scotland. For visitors foreign and domestic, that means contending with three capital cities (London, Cardiff and Edinburgh) and three sets of national identity - not to mention the myriad accent shifts as you move between them. More information and prices from: Amazon.com - US dollars Amazon.ca - Canadian dollars Amazon.co.uk - British pounds Amazon.de - Euros Amazon.fr - Euros

Edinburgh Zoo is located at St John's Road, Corstorphine (Lothian bus routes 12, 26 and 31 from Princes Street), next to the Holiday Inn. It is the second busiest tourist attraction in Scotland after Edinburgh Castle. Some recent news:

Aye-aye

Dumnorix (male) and Vassago (female) arrived from Paris Zoo in October 2004. Dumnorix was wild-caught and is around 13 years old, Vassago is only 6 months old and was born in Paris Zoo. The aye-aye is a primate that lives in the forests of Madagascar. The exact number of aye ayes is unknown but there is thought to be between 1000-2000 in the world.

Paris Zoo are redeveloping and improving their own aye-aye enclosure, and needed somewhere to house the animals while the work was being done. Edinburgh Zoo was lucky enough to be chosen, and so the species will remain here for some time, giving our animal department and keepers a chance to observe this amazing and interesting species.

The aye-aye has become endangered in recent times mainly due to loss of habitat - the forests of Madagascar are cleared for sugarcane and coconut plantations, leaving the aye-aye without food or home. - but also because native people of Madagascar have the superstitious belief that the creature is evil and a bad omen. To the Malagsy people, the aye-aye is magical, and is believed to bring death to the village it appears in. This is the second reason behind the loss of this amazing species, as in some areas they are killed on sight.

The front feet of the aye-aye are unique. All the toes are long and thin, but the third is exceptionally long. Sometimes called the primate ‘woodpecker’, it taps trees with its long middle toe, listens intently with its huge ears for grubs under the bark, exposes them with its rodent-like teeth (that grow continuously) and extracts them with its middle toe.

The aye-aye is a nocturnal forager. Most of the night is spent traveling and foraging, and the day is spent sleeping in a nest constructed in a tree from interwoven twigs and dead leaves.

Primate keeper, Joanne Richardson, said:

"We’re really pleased to have these fascinating animals in the collection, and hope that it will be for the long term. We’ve heard of the superstitious beliefs surrounding the aye-aye, but have not encountered any strange goings on as yet!’

Getting to Edinburgh

Edinburgh: Scotland's Festival City

Edinburgh Book Festival

Edinburgh International Festival

Edinburgh Hotels - Lastminute.com

The Scotsman - 5* in Edinburgh
The Balmoral - 5* in Edinburgh
Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa - 5* in Edinburgh
Roxburghe Hotel - 4* in Edinburgh
Holiday Inn Edinburgh - 4*

A quiet place for walking, thinking, photography, relaxation. For more information go to: Papa Westray