Carinthia & Rwanda

Carinthia first—and the evening took on the rhythm of the region. No pushing, no pathos. Ski legend and Carinthia native Franz Klammer spoke about a home that needs no staging. Seazen writer Elsa-Maria Honecker told us about Slow Food, mountain lakes shimmering Caribbean blue, and golf courses you wouldn’t expect to find there. Elke Maidic, head of marketing at Kärnten Tourismus, showed how thoughtfully a region can handle its own story when it takes that story seriously. Carinthia has more to say than you’d think.

Then Rwanda—and the room grew quieter. Seazen photographer Justin Hession showed images that don’t have to fight for attention. They hold it. Kurt Zürcher, founder of Let’s Go Tours and tied to the country for decades, spoke about a place that doesn’t push its past aside but has built something upright out of it—with a tourism sector that leaves much of the continent behind. And then the gorillas. Why you should stand face to face with them, just once. And why, oddly enough, once is enough.