To the outsider, Australia is broken into two categories – major cities and small towns that fringe its technicolour reef coastlines and the outback. And the latter is considered wildly off the beaten track – an arid, desolate landscape; a place the late Steve Irwin wrestled with crocs; where all kinds of creepy critters live, from giant funnel web spiders to fire ants, snakes and dingos. It’s all true, of course – after all, Australia has myriad landscapes and wildlife found nowhere else on the planet – and thankfully Intrepid Travel’s Journey into East Arnhem Land tour, based in the Northern Territory, will make you look beyond the surface where you’ll find ancient history imbued in one of the country’s most remote regions.
Australia’s indigenous people are the oldest living culture on Earth and this incredible journey gives you a unique opportunity to experience it. You’ll be welcomed by the Yolngu people, the traditional owners of East Arnhem Land, who have lived here for many millennia. Clan leaders will guide you in learning how to hunt and gather, dance and make bark paintings and you’ll learn about traditional gender roles and responsibilities, kinship and the history of the region.
You’ll also experience the remote Island oasis, Bremer Island. It’s a complete privilege to have access to East Arnhem Land and there really is no other way to fully experience Indigenous Australia and it’s cultural connection with the land.
If you go to Peru, but don’t visit Machu Picchu, did you really go? We’re all for getting lost (pun intended), but there are some destinations, that no matter how well trodden, are simply too epic not to witness or experience.
Located on the border of where the soaring Andes meet the lush Amazon Jungle, Machu Picchu is an immense and jaw-dropping archaeological site. Built by the Incas around 1450 AD, it was occupied for a just over a century before it was abandoned when the Spanish Conquest arrived. In fact, the Spanish never discovered it during their time there. I wouldn’t be uncovered again until one fateful day in 1911 when Hiram Bingham, an American historian, would stumble upon it – more than 350 years later. Since then the ancient Incan estate has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the most popular attraction in Peru, if not in all South America. Better still, your journey there can be experienced two ways – take the scenic train ride or embark on the hiking trail to reach its magnificence on Intrepid Travel’s Inca Trail Express.
Sitting among the clouds and often shrouded in mist, the site has a mysterious otherworldly quality and, despite its popularity, rarely feels as crowded as many other similar archaeological sites around the world given it’s spread across such a large area. This makes it easy to get around and really take it in without feeling the need to move on or rush through it.
A local expert guide will give you the history of the site (the local llamas that live here also make it easy to imagine what life was like in this incredible city in the clouds). A guide is a must as, unlike other sites, there are no markers or plaques explaining the significance of each area, so your options are a flimsy pamphlet or a knowledgeable and passionate local who knows the area inside out and will ensure its an depth and enjoyable experience (plus, who wants to be reading when they could be looking anyway?) A visit here isn’t just about seeing though, it’s about feeling and wondering and imagining – and this part of it? That’s an experience you can’t buy.
Tucked away within a leisurely stroll of the bright lights of Macao’s contemporary Cotai Strip is Taipa, a former fishing village that gave rise more than a century before ritzy resorts became integrated into the city’s skyline. The tiny village presents a maze of narrow lamp-posted lanes, the quaintness of its cobblestone squares matched by the colourful facades of multi-storey Portuguese homes and restaurants – therefore, lending itself perfectly as one of the self-guided walking tour routes part of Step Out, Experience Macao’s Communities.
Food for thought comes in the form of the array of street eateries along these lanes, where vendors – some with Michelin rating – sell almost everything, from Durian-flavoured ice cream to the mouth-watering pork chop bun, a Macao favourite among visiting holidaymakers from around the world. Even the street art focuses on food – an appropriate subject in 2018, as it is the Macao Year of Gastronomy, in recognition of its recent designation as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy.
Taipa Village is one of eight self-guided walks in the Step Out, Experience Macao’s Communities walking tour routes by the Macao Government Tourism Office. Even better, they can be downloaded straight to your smartphone – no messing around with big maps and squiggly lines required.
At least six walking routes centre on the Macao peninsula, home to iconic sites like the Ruins of St Paul’s and the A-Ma Temple, while another walk concentrates of Coloane Island – otherwise known as the lungs of Macao – famous for its walking and cycling trails, picnic areas and beaches.
If you’re the kind of person who prefers the tangibility of a hardcopy, however, all the walks are also listed in a handy pocket-sized guidebook with ample of information on the places to see and visit, such as the Museum of Taipa and Coloane History and the famous, lovingly restored 1921-built Taipa Houses included. These green and white painted former residences of senior civil servants are of the Portuguese architectural style and can be freely visited to wander through without forking out an entry fee. They, like many other sites around Macao, offer a good insight in the early twentieth-century history of the former Portuguese enclave, now a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.
Walk along a staircase from the Taipa Houses, and you will come across another charming square that fronts the yellow and white painted 1885-opened Our Lady of Carmo Church. This church is perched looking over Taipa Village and is a drawcard for newlyweds seeking photographs.
Evidence of Macao’s multi-cultural, east-meets-west values, traditions and qualities couldn’t be clearer than in Taipa Village. Within an easy walk of the Christian church are a number of tiny Buddhist temples, sandwiched between the Portuguese-designed houses. To think, the neon lights of such integrated resorts and hotels as The Venetian, the Galaxy and The City of Dreams are within eye-shot of such a quiet and culturally historical village.
The Blue Train offers luxury modern travel at its finest. As one of the world’s great luxury train journeys, South Africa’s Blue Train journeys between Pretoria and Cape Town and was named Africa’s Leading Luxury Train by the World Travel Awards for eight consecutive years from 2009 to 2017.
At the time of its creation, the dream was to engineer a train that could travel from Cape Town to Cairo. Though that dream was never realised, the Blue Train lives on to traverse the mountains and plains of the South African landscape.
Traditionally an overnight experience, 2019 will see the addition of a second night making this train journey across some of South Africa’s spectacular scenery a three day and two night experience. It also features off train excursions in Kimberley and Matjiesfontein.
On board you’ll be treated to award-winning South African wines and five-star food offers as a multi-course sittings. All beverages are included in the fare and breakfast or dinner can be served either in your compartment or in the dining car. Snacks are on offer too!
With personal butlers at your service 24 hours a day, once on board, all you need to look forward to is the impossibly impeccable service, the incredible attention to detail and a thoroughly luxurious and relaxing journey ahead.
While some will try to convince you that the iridescent seascapes of Halong Bay, Hanoi’s motorbike-frenzied streets or rolling hills of Sapa should be your number one pick, we’re going to subtly (read: not-so-subtly) tell you that Ho Chi Minh City should take top spot on your Vietnam itinerary. Its a city of organised chaos – backpacker hostels thrive among towering boutique skyscrapers, fancy restaurants and bustling street food stalls dish up delicacies side by side and winning buys can be found in both chic malls and street markets – which makes it a place unlike anywhere else in South-East Asia. It’s also the gateway to the intricate waterways, swamps and endless shades of green that makes up the Mekong Delta, the country’s most famous body of water, situated south of the city – and a sublime place of respite from the hustle. Often described to as ‘the rice bowl’ of Vietnam, the delta is one of immense fecundity where rice, tropical fruit and flowers grow and blossom (it’s got the monopoly on these and supplies the whole country) and a trip here plunges visitors into a world of laid-back river life.
Board your private boat, sailing beneath luscious green fronds and past locals transporting produce along the canals until you reach Ben Tre, where you’ll visit the coconut gardens and sample the jams that are made from this refreshing fruit, then enjoy a leisurely paddle in a sampan (small rowing boat) beside the water coconut trees the fringe the waters of the Mekong. The adventure goes beyond the river, too; clamber into a tuk-tuk and zip around the riverside villages, learning about rural life and how the locals make their living from making coconut products. All this talk is likely to make you hungry, and lunch at a restaurant in the heart of the delta, sampling regional specialties such as the famous Elephant Ear fish among others, won’t disappoint.
The name Angkor always captures the imagination, conjuring up images of soaring temples set in deep jungle hidden from the world for generations, and there is simply no better way to experience the allure of Cambodia’s legendary Angkor complex than by bicycle. Faster than walking yet able to go places that the tour buses just can’t go, cycling at your own pace along secluded roads and lush jungle trails is a tranquil way to experience this ancient wonderland as well as explore small temples hidden from everyday view.
Naturally you’ll set your pedal power to high as you make your way to the ancient structure of Angkor Wat, the greatest Buddhist temple in the world. You’ll also enjoy guided visits to the jungle-covered Tomb Raider favourite Ta Prohm, conquered by gigantor tree roots (the most renowned one is by the entrance, dubbed the Crocodile Tree), and the sheer majesty and many faces of Angkor Thom, too.
Seeing these UNESCO World Heritage Sites in such an environmentally friendly way, with no pollution or strain on the environment, is not only a great way to experience some semblance of the efforts that went into creating these masterpieces (pedalling is hot and hungry work, after all), it also helps to preserve this magnificent icons for future generations.
Oh, Canada: is there no end to your beauty? No? Well, thank goodness for that, because we would’ve cried ourselves silly if there were – and you should, too: from the creative and culinary hub of Vancouver and Whistler’s snow-covered maze-like streets, to national parks around every corner – Wells Gray, Jasper, Banff, Yoho and Glacier just to name a few – Canada is a dreamboat for nature lovers and city slickers alike. Thankfully, Intrepid Travel’s Canadian Rockies tour is a slam dunk when it comes to taking the plunge into the great outdoors here.
While you’ll get to hang out among the national park bigwigs like Banff and Glacier, Wells Gray Provincial Park in Canada’s British Columbia region is somewhat of an underrated treasure, which makes canoeing along Clearwater Lake in the park’s eastern reaches that much sweeter. Wend along the winding roads into the depths of Wells Gray until you arrive at Clearwater Lake. Here you’ll pack your camping equipment into the canoes before they’re launched into the aptly-named lake (on a sunny day you can see just how clear and pure the water is, so be sure to fill your water bottle along the way). After some instruction from your canoeing guides, you’ll clamber into your vessel as push off along the glassy surface, moving deeper in the serenity with each stroke. The paddle takes between two and a half to four hours, leading you to the sandy beach where you’ll set up camp for the night.
Once you’re set up, spend some time splashing about in the water or exploring the forested surrounds before cooking dinner. The campsite is a little more basic; there’s tables, fire-pits and tent sites, but only pit toilets and no showers. This will all pale in comparison to your surrounds though, as the stunning location more than makes up for the lack of facilities.
Wake up lakeside bright and early the next day – there’ll be time to enjoy a short hike from the campsite or, if you’d rather spend the morning being still, chill by the lake while you tuck in to breakfast. Soon enough it’ll be time to paddle back to the starting point, with a stop at another beach for a picnic lunch and exploring some waterfalls along the way.
While it’s true that the Kenya’s and Tanzania’s local governments are trying to encourage the nomadic communities to abandon their lifestyles, the Masaai, a semi-nomadic people native to Kenya and northern Tanzania, are stronger than ever. Continuing to push forward and evolve, the Masaai culture remains steadfast in the face of change as they hold true to their ancient traditions, living off the land and managing to farm, most impressively, among the deserts and scrublands. It’s why no trip to Kenya would be complete without spending some time with the Maasai people.
Best known for their red shukas (cloths), colourful jewellery and distinctive customs, the Masaai are as formidable as they are friendly. On Intrepid Travel’s Kenya Wildlife Safari tour, you’ll head to a local village in the Lolita Hills to camp alongside a Maasai community and experience firsthand what their modern-day lives are like. Visit the village, step inside a typical mud hut, learn how to throw a spear, and perhaps even help tend to their livestock.
After dinner, you’ll gather around a crackling fire to hear stories about the Masaai’s age-old culture and traditions from a the village elder, before drifting off to sleep to the crackling of the fire and the sounds of the bush under a sky of stars. The Maasai are forbidding warriors and while you slumber they will patrol the campsite, even accompanying you to the loo should you need to get up during the night.
The next morning you’ll collect your belongings and wave farewell your new friends as you hit the dusty roads in your 4×4 and make your way into the vast arid plains, dotted with wildlife and blanketed by open sky as far as the eye can see, of the Masai Mara National Reserve, an experience all-the-more richer for the one you had the night before.
Strap in for an adventure imbued with diversity and enriching culture on Intrepid Travel’s Baltic Experience, traversing Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany.
Among the many awe-inspiring experiences you’ll have on this adventure (ancient architecture, jaw-dropping landscapes, quirky bars and local hospitality are just a few things you’ll touch on), one that shines particularly bright is a visit Lithuania’s Aukštaitija (pronounced ‘Owk-sty-chee-ah’) National Park, one of the most magical nature reserves in the Baltic states. After checking into our homestay, swap your packs for paddles as you prepare to embark on a guided kayak tour with a local guide, gliding along the quaint, pristine waterways that make up the 126 lakes Aukštaitija National Park is famous for.
Your start point is the charming village of Ginučiai, located on the shores of Lake Linkmenas, right next to a nineteenth-century watermill (it’s worth a look in, too: it’s only one of six traditional watermills left in the national park and has been preserved as a museum and a technical monument for its authentic equipment). The kayak trip will take you past little villages, and through forests and dense reed, to a hill with fantastic views across the surrounding lakes and forests. The hill is a pagan site with a wishing tree on top. Upon return back to our home stay in the village look forward to a home-cooked dinner and some great hospitality by our local hosts.
Botswana’s inland delta – described as ‘Africa’s last Eden’ – is a huge draw card for travellers keen to experience its unmatched wildlife. While most opt for fly-in tented camps or wild camping, sleeping on a houseboat is one of the most unique (and peaceful) ways to experience the Okavango Delta.
Leave the crowds behind and board a small speedboat for a 90-minute journey up winding waterways to your houseboat in the middle of nowhere. Keep your eyes peeled for resident wildlife such as hippo, crocodiles, and plenty of birds. This is one hotel transfer you’ll be talking about for years to come!
Once on board, sit back and relax while your captain masterfully prepares three course meals. As you idle up the delta for sunset, help yourself to the honesty bar and enjoy the spectacular views with a sundowner in hand.
Although the cabins are small and basic with shared facilities you’re unlikely to spend much time there; this floating home comes action packed with adventures. Take a mokoro (traditional dugout canoe) and venture into the myriad waterways with expert local polers. Go on a nature walk around one of the many islands in the Delta before enjoying a picnic lunch. Back on the boat head to the deck to laze away the afternoon listening to the sound of the hippos and crickets, read a book, nap, or perhaps try your hand at some fishing.
The immersion into Botswana doesn’t end there, though; in fact, this is just one portion of Intrepid Travel’s Botswana Adventure tour. Not only will you journey into Central Kalahari, home to the San Bushman community; Maun, the gateway to the Delta; the arid Makgadikgadi Pans; and Chobe National Park, renowned for its vast communities of elephants and buffalo, but on either side of this you’ll alaso experience exciting snippets of Namibia and Zimbabwe (Windhoek and Victoria Falls are just a handful of the highlights). Gear up, because this is set to be an unforgettable immersion into nature.
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