Bugbog.com

Review by Adrian Mann, owner of Adrian Mann Design, providing independent reviews and analysis of travel web sites in the UK.

Bugbog.com
Who? Bugbog.com is an independent, impartial travel advice website run by a group of experienced world travellers, aiming to provide destination information and travel resources to holidaymakers. They also seem to gathering good reviews from various quarters, so it’s high time to take a look and see why that is.

Overall
In a departure from most travel sites, they’ve elected to use a black background rather than the more usual white. It certainly makes for a striking design, and makes the photos look more vibrant. Text is another matter, and it has been found that reading light text on a dark background can become tiring.
Bugbog.com state that their guiding principles are download speed, clarity, simplicity and utility. The homepage takes less than 11 seconds to download at 56k, and most of the rest of the site is similarly quick. They’ve achieved this by adopting a minimalist approach to the site, doing away with anything that’s not absolutely necessary. It may not set the technical world on fire, but it does mean the information is quickly and easily accessible.
The categories include those that you’d expect – Maps, Travel Directory, Travel Health etc., and some more unusual ones – Wildlife, English Speaking Places, World Wonders for example.

Content
There’s no real journey through the site – just pick something and see what’s there. The Destination Finder will help if you can’t decide where to go – enter the month of your trip, select one of six holiday types, and see what comes up. Want a safari in August? How about Tanzania. Or colourful culture in June? Try the Usaba Sambah Fistfighting and Traditional Costume event in Bali. The destinations found are sorted by weather and date, and there are links to more information on weather, safety insurance, operators and so on.
The Travel Directory is a resource of links to other travel and travel-related websites, with an alphabetical listing of all world airlines sites, map sites, tourist offices, health and safety and more.
Travel Pictures is a more-or-less arbitrary collection of destinations, and pictures of them. They make a refreshing change from the more usual ‘brochure shots’, and give a much better flavour of the place. And where else do you find 16 pages of pictures from Madagascar?
The Wildlife section is arranged by type of destination – Safari, Marine, Polar Wildlife, for instance, and also by month, to show what’s best or available at the time you want to travel. Tigers in April anyone?
The English-speaking Places section points out some of the benefits and pitfalls of these destinations – usually expensive, with dull weather, duller cuisine, but at least they’re reasonably safe and easy to get around. All the obvious countries are covered, apart from the USA, which is ‘Coming Soon’. Travel Safety includes some good tips and advice, but also some truly frightening stories of robbery and tropical skin lesions, with welcome links to travel insurance sites.
Travel Maps has some splendid-looking maps, but unfortunately they only zoom into to the country level before going to the country information pages, but there are plenty of links to other map sites if you’re after more detailed information. The other sections of the site – Wonders of the World or Beaches, for example – follow a similar format, revealing plenty of links and information.

Summary
A very well thought-out and constructed site. I applaud their decision to step back and produce a robust, functional site that really delivers without showing off. The information is generally good, but there are some omissions – some notable European cities, and the entire USA for example. It has an idiosyncratic style, so be prepared to find some personal comments from the contributors as you look around.
After a while, it becomes absorbing as you search for obscure details or links, and you may spend longer on this site than expected. It’s certainly found a place in my ‘Favourites’. But if you want to know why it’s call Bugbog, you’ll have to check the site yourself.