On a trip to Africa you’re likely going to want a healthy dose of big-ticket wildlife. Stick with me, that’s coming, just not quite yet. The thing about a trip to Kenya is that the experience goes way beyond the safari. As I began to explain a few weeks ago, it’s about exposing yourself to something […]

December has hit (along with the snow), and suddenly everyone is in a planning panic for Christmas vacation. We know, we warn you to come to us far in advance for the good stuff. But in the eleventh hour, we can still toss a few truffles in your stocking. Huvafen Fushi, Maldives Huvafen Fushi is […]

In my mind, I am Russell Crowe in the movie Gladiator; charging into battle, meting out death and destruction with all manner of things sharp and pointy from the saddle of an expertly ridden horse. Or, I’m Wyatt Earp, dealing justice in the wild west on horseback… in my mind. The reality of me on […]

Everyone has heard facts and figures, stats and standards about the Amazon—how it is the largest flow of water in the world, the largest rainforest in the world, the list goes on. But which Amazon is the best to visit? It spans many countries: Brazil is the most famous with the lion’s share, but the […]

When an angry silverback gorilla tells you its time to leave—you jolly well listen. From Rwanda’s capital—Kigali—a two and a half hour drive into the mountains brought me to the comfortable Sabyinyo Silverback Lodge and the threshold of Volcanoes National Park. The lodge is not what I was there for, however; the following morning I met Francois—the most […]

On a recent trip I had it all—the best room, the best guide, the best meal, and yet something was missing. What has happened to me? Have I become that complicated? Quite the opposite in fact. If you take an old tree and cut through the rings of time, you will find at its heart the […]

Some say that if we were meant to fly we’d have been born with wings. Perhaps. But I doubt those naysayers have been to Milford Sound. And I’d bet a golden grouse they’ve never seen it by helicopter. The truth is New Zealand’s epic fjord land can only be appreciated fully if seen from the […]

Clothes may make the man. But the car he drives… well, that will tell you all about him. Likewise, the cars of a country can provide entertaining insight into the character of the local culture. So, let’s say you’re planning a trip, you love cars, and you’re looking for a fun way to turbo charge […]

Abandon Aqaba. Ditch the Dead Sea. To get way off the beaten wadi in eco-friendly style, head for the simple pleasures of Feynan Ecolodge. Perched on the edge of the Great Rift Valley in Jordan’s Dana Biosphere Reserve, Feynan is something of an architectural oddity. Its look is part crusader castle, part Bedouin spaceship—and 100% […]

Whenever possible, we try to bring you the unique, the quirky and the off the beaten track. Occasionally though, we can’t help but point out the obvious—things that everyone knows about but that are so good we just have to mention them. Angkor Wat is one of those. Chances are if you went to Southeast […]

I slowly navigate my ATV along a winding path, through coarse salt grass and lonely stands of palm trees. The sun is low in the sky and the desiccated landscape is bathed in that magical golden African light. All of a sudden the path widens and I’m there on the edge of the Makgadikgadi Pans. […]

The stretch of the Thames that runs from Oxford to London is an almost uninterrupted perfect run of weeping willow’d prettiness, unspoilt villages and top notch pubs. No better way to discover it than by plying the river in a 100-year-old rowboat with a few friends. Jerome K. Jerome’s 120 year old book “Three Men […]

North of Toronto’s urban sprawl lies a secret universe of undulating hills and dense forest, not to mention the best horseback riding in all of Ontario. Rawhide Adventures operates out of Peace Valley Ranch in the Mulmur Hills, where the cattle are grass finished and the resulting beef is amazing (order a grilling box before the summer is […]

The best thing I ever did to improve my already stratospheric enjoyment of snorkelling was to buy an underwater case for my camera. For about $150 USD, you can transform your point-and-shoot into a mini-submarine, and your holiday snaps into a National Geographic special. It helps if you have picuresque friends, too. All the major […]

If you’re keen to explore the pata-negra heartland of Spain’s Extremadura region, make the Monasterio de Rocamador your base. Surrounded by the oak groves typical of Extremadura, which teem with semi-wild pigs munching on acorns and getting tastier by the minute, Rocamador is a weird, wonderful and totally unique hotel, in a quite unlikely part […]

Lodge-to-lodge trekking out of the Kasbah du Toubkal gives you access to some of the most beautiful parts of the Atlas, remote rural communities, and sweeping other-worldly landscapes. The well-known Kasbah du Toubkal has been doing up lodges, scattered in the hills and valleys around Imlil, which the lodge uses to put together multi-day treks beginning and […]