If you tire of the perfect beaches and wild surf, head deep into the centre of French Polynesia’s main island where few tourists tread. This is “forest bathing” at its best and even better when guided by Moana, one of the island’s few female mountain guides. Having spent 23 days surviving on her own in these mountains Moana is better than Google when it comes to knowledge about the island’s flora. She picks leaves and wild fruit to smell and taste while pointing out caves she slept in while “cleansing her soul” during her 23 days in the wild.
While this starts out an easy stroll you do end up climbing through dense bush and crossing several rivers, so ya reasonable level of fitness is required. The deep breaths and burning thighs are all worth it though once you spot the cascading Fautaua Waterfall through a clearing in the distance.
It spills into a natural amphitheatre with a deep swimming hole below. Lounging in the cool water is the perfect end to a rather sweaty hike. Moana’s jungle platter of mixed fruits soaked in coconut milk and vanilla is a just reward, too.
One of Europe’s most raucous festivals is tucked between rolling Serbian hills, a three-hour drive from Belgrade. For one week each August the quiet village of Guca becomes a mass of maniacal dancing, heavy drinking and enough brass to plate an empire as bands battle to win the coveted Golden Trumpet Award.
The town swells from 2,000 inhabitants to a whopping half-million as Serbs, Eastern Europeans and a smattering of international travellers converge to hear horn at its best. Said to warm the soul of the population, the trumpet heralds every important occasion, and festival goers celebrate their affection for the instrument with gusto.
Official competitors perform on stage from Friday through to Sunday, while gypsy orchestras and travelling bands jam in surrounding streets and restaurants, tooting Balkan tunes in exchange for cash licked and pasted to their sweaty foreheads.
Days begin with sticky shots of rakia (plum brandy) followed by gallons of local beer. Competitors’ tunes are rehearsed to perfection, but a din of vevuzelas sounds over the trumpets mingling with the chants of patriotism in the hot summer air.
Vegetarians beware – hundreds of pigs crisp on spits until they’re ready to be devoured with a mound of cabbage and litres of beer. Temporary stalls share slices of Serbian life, with weavers, tailors and cobblers hawking their wares as brewers pour homemade liquor with a generous hand. First held in 1961 with just a scraping of musicians, the festival survived decades of political turmoil and the trumpeters of Dragacevo continue to bust out brass like you’ve never heard before.
Just off the coast of Townsville, in Queensland’s north, is a surprising visitor attraction, the Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA). It comprises, at the moment, two separate works of art.
The first, a glowing statue off the Strand, a popular waterfront promenade, is Ocean Siren. Modelled on 12-year-old Takoda Johnson, a member of the local Wulgurukaba people, the sculpture changes colour according to the ocean’s temperature using data collected by the Davies Reef weather station. It’s a reminder – and warning – about rising sea temperatures.
About two hours off shore by boat, at John Brewer Reef, is Coral Greenhouse. Anchored at a depth of 18 metres below the ocean’s surface, it consists of a ribbed structure and 20 statues of student scientists.
They make up the first two locations of MOUA; two more – near Palm Island and Magnetic Island – are due to be finished by the end of 2021. All were designed and constructed by underwater sculptor, Jason deCaires Taylor (in consultation with local community groups and traditional owners), who has previously launched projects all over the world, including the Bahamas and Spain. We spoke to him about MOUA.
How did you become an underwater sculptor? After I finished my degree in arts I went to Australia and learned to become a dive instructor on the Great Barrier Reef and taught diving there for some time. Then I moved to other countries around the world, but still really wanted to get back into the arts.
What attracted you to the Museum of Underwater Art? I’ve done lots of other projects around the world, but I’ve never done a substantial project in the Pacific Ocean, and it’s been a great ambition of mine. The diversity of life in the Pacific is much greater than in many of the other places I’ve worked. Queensland is also quite a special place for me because I lived there.
Tell us about Ocean Siren, the statue displayed above the water, just off the Strand in Townsville. I wanted to connect art and science in one piece. Ocean Siren changes colour according to water temperature data and it reflects how the ocean temperature can change. I was keen to show an urban community what’s happening out on the reef, so it connects the community to the reef as well.
You’ve also created Coral Greenhouse at John Brewer Reef, off Townsville. What’s special about that? This is a very different project to some of my previous ones. In the past it’s been about drawing tourists away from reefs. In the Caribbean, for instance, there are very few pristine reefs left. This was a very different proposition. This project was more about drawing people out to the reef to showcase how it is still in fantastic condition and has some of the most amazing corals in the world.
There are statues of 20 schoolchildren in the Greenhouse, too. When we talk about reefs we’re very much talking about what we’re leaving for younger generations. But I also wanted to encourage more youth into exploring the underwater world. Plus, I wanted the local communities – school students, especially – to become ambassadors for the reef.
Not too many years ago, Aitutaki was a well-kept secret. Tapuaeta’i Motu (One Foot Island) is an uninhabited island of Aitutaki atoll, part of the Cook Islands. Its bluer-than-the-sky lagoon, friendly locals and lack of resort accommodation meant many travellers stayed on Rarotonga or visited for the day. Big mistake. Tapuaeta’i Motu is where it’s at!
Fringing Aitutaki Lagoon are 21 tiny islands including Tapuaeta’i Motu. Get dropped off with a picnic, and pretend you’ve washed up on your own deserted isle. Guide Teking will personally show you several of his favourite diving locations where you will se an abundance of tropical fish, turtles, large clams and stunning coral. It’s all pretty chilled affair with Teking setting the scene pretty early on with his dry sense of humour mixed with his intimate local knowledge of the island and environment.
After a day’s snorkelling you’ll enjoy a delish BBQ lunch that includes fresh tuna, fruits, salad and sweet banana…set against a backdrop of a dazzling blue sky.
India is known as for its deep spirituality, entwined with the country’s culture. It is also the birthplace of yoga; the spiritual, mental and physical practice that has been well and truly embraced by the western world.
To gain a deeper understanding of the fundamentals and background of this physical and mental practice, there’s no better place to try a yoga retreat than India. Set in beautiful natural surrounds on the stunning Malabar beach in Kerala, enjoy a full wellness program under the tutelage of expert teachers. Among six hectares of verdant greenery, the Somatheeram Ayurveda Retreat allows you to reconnect with your core, using traditional Ayurveda techniques. Ayurveda is the essence of Somatheeram, which has been providing Ayurvedic treatment in the traditional way for more than 30 years.
Somatheeram has been awarded the Best Ayurvedic Centre in Kerala ten times so you know your in good hands. Each stay includes a personalised wellness program and consultations by experts who have provided treatment in this traditional way for over 30 years. The retreat combines a beach resort with mindfulness and yoga, with accommodation in quaint bungalows and cottages set back from the tranquil blue waters of the sea nearby.
Strap yourself in for a voyage to one of the earth’s most remote frontiers aboard a nuclear-powered Russian icebreaker. Hear metres of ice explode around you and feel the deck tremble as the ship closes in on the North Pole.
This voyage operates twice a year in the northern summer, when the icebreaker is temporarily relived of duties clearing Russian shipping lanes. Powered by two nuclear reactors, the 50 Years of Victory can go where few boats would dare. The ship is the world’s largest nuclear-powered icebreaker and is capable of crunching through ice up to three metres thick. Not that its atomic might has compromised the experience on board, which is replete with a dining room, bar, library, gym and swimming pool.
Travel is always more about the journey than the destination, but a voyage to the North Pole is possibly the exception. After eight days ploughing through ice-encrusted seas you arrive at latitude 90 degrees north. Here you can literally stand on top of the world and walk cross every time zone.
The 50 Years of Victory cruise departs from Finland each June and includes scenic helicopter flights and Zodiac landings for up-close encounters with polar bears and other wildlife.
Best of all, it comes with serious bragging rights. Who else do you know who has been to the North Pole?
Driving through the arid landscape of northern Oman, you probably wouldn’t expect to come across a roadside swimming hole – especially not one as otherworldly as Bimmah Sinkhole. Located in Hawiyat Najm Park, just an hour and a half from Muscat, this natural limestone pool was formed by a falling meteor, or so the legend goes.
Forty metres wide and nearly 30 metres below ground level, the crescent-shaped basin of vivid turquoise water surrounded by dramatic rock formations is perfect for a cooling dip. And best of all, Bimmah Sinkhole is easy peasy to get to because there is no hiking or long drives, as is the case with a lot of Oman attractions. If you’re lucky, you might be visited by the tiny, toe-nibbling fish that live here – think of it as a free pedicure!
There is only one way to get to the tiny rocky outcrop of Isla Damas, one of three making up Pingüino de Humboldt National Park: hitching a lift with a fisherman from Punta de Choros. There is nothing on this 60-hectare island bar an unmanned lighthouse, a campsite with a couple of toilets and two beaches (La Poza and Las Tijeras) with white sand and azure water, that will make you think you’re kicking it in the Caribbean.
Except the water here is significantly colder, thanks to the current from Antarctica. It meets warmer water flowing down from Peru, making this a playground for marine wildlife, including sea otters, bottlenose dolphins, sea lions, sea turtles and the Humboldt penguin, the park’s namesake.
Venture through the veil on an expedition to Mongolia’s north to experience the life of the nomadic Tsaachin tribe. On the way, explore monasteries, museums and markets in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital, then strap in for a drive through the rocky mountain ranges of Ulaan-Uul to the town of Tsagaannuur. Saddle up your Mongolian steed and ride towards Taiga, home to part of the Tsaachin.
Here, you’ll experience everyday life of this nomadic tribe, from milking reindeer and making cheese to witnessing shamanic rituals. After a full day, you’ll slumber in a tepee before waving goodbye in the morning as you head to Jigleg Pass for a boat ride along Khövsgöl Lake and a hike among the surrounding mountains before returning to the capital, feeling a little more blessed and humbled.
Trek around the edges of the prehistoric ice sheet that dominates the interior of Greenland – in fact more than 80 per cent of the country. Ice sheet is perhaps misleading: there are many ice mountains, frozen freshwater formations and fauna. This ice sheet represents 10 per cent of the world’s fresh water supplies and is 14 times the size of the UK. While in Greenland, be sure to see the Ilulissat Icefjord, an incredible natural sight. Sermeq Kujalleq is the largest glacier outside of Antarctica and the whole area has been listed as UNESCO World Heritage.
Now is the perfect time to trek around the glacier or see Ilulissat as a Nature Climate Change study has shown that the North Greenland Ice Sheet is melting at a rate of 10 billion tons of water per year since 2003 and shows no signs of letting up. What’s more, as the popularity of Greenland grows, you can see the Icefjord from many different ways – by boat, helicopter or foot, hiking around the edge of the glacier with experienced guides.
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