I’m torn—a big part of my job is to convey to you the amazing places that I go, so that you can go there too, and see just how amazing it was. Sometimes, however, I find a place so special that I’d really rather keep it to myself. So if I tell you about my […]

If trekking in the tropics with weird and wonderful wildlife is your thing, pack your hardcore hiking-boots for Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula. This 43,000-hectare park preserves the largest tract of Pacific coastal rainforest in Central America. The stats are impressive: over 500 species of trees, 400 species of birds (including most […]

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 […]

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 […]

Every great destination has a unique energy about it. A not-quite-tangible quality that lies in every building, each interaction. But there is nowhere more unmistakable than Vietnam—there’s something about the country that makes it impossible to confuse with any place else. There are of course some obvious traits that make Vietnam so distinctive. The intensity […]

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 […]

It’s a tricky thing, being off the grid. How disconnected can you be, really? I think that’s why I like Africa so much. Most of the countries that you can travel to have modern cell phone networks and broadband internet connectivity, but you can still find places that don’t. There are remote regions all over […]

My experiences in the wilds of Africa have equipped me with a specific set of skills to deal with things like charging elephants and angry lions. These skills tell me when to stand my ground, and when running is the more prudent choice. Having said that, there are certain things I’m just not ready for, […]

Close your eyes (enough to allow for some mental visualization, but not so much that you can’t read this). Now, imagine that you’re standing on an 18th century rampart overlooking the sea. The air is humid and heavy, the sun warm like a pancake on your forehead. Seagulls are swooping around, making noise, in their […]

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. […]

If you like to think about food as much as you like to cook it, eat it, grow it, discuss it, find it, dig it up, hunt it, forage for it, bottle it, ferment it or even shoot it, read on: we have the trip for you. La Petraia is a bio-dynamic field-to-fork agriturismo high up […]

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 […]

Brazil’s not known as a country to cover its charms. And yet, the little towns of Paraty and Tiradentes are largely hidden from the traveller’s initial glance. One is tucked in the mountains of the interior, the other snuggles the coast (about halfway between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo). Geographically they’re 430 km apart, […]

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 […]

First things first, it’s pronounced ‘Why-Hecky’. And it’s a tiny island in New Zealand. Not the North Island, nor the South Island, Waiheke is it’s very own dot on the map. Okay, so it’s more of a speck. I think everyone knows by now (or has been told ad infinitum) that New Zealand is a […]