Indholdsfortegnelse for January 2022 i Wanderlust

The Wanderlust Club has a great range of exclusive offers, competitions and events for our members – here are just a few. Already a member? Head to wanderlustmagazine.com/your-wanderlust to find out more. Missing out? To join the Club, turn to page 104 WIN! A three-night stay for two on a new luxury narrowboat Wanderlust Club members get the chance to win a three-night stay on Tregulland & Co’s fabulous new narrowboat. Blackbird is located on a secret lake on the North Devon/Cornwall border and offers the perfect cosy and off-grid ‘boat-hole’ with its luxurious boathouse boudoir and tranquil setting. VIRTUAL EVENT: On safari in the Masai Mara (January, date tbc) We go live to Kicheche Bush Camp in the Olare Motorogi Conservancy of the Masai Mara for a…

1 STRAW ART Unlike straw art in other countries, which is created by weaving straw together, Uzbek artisans soak wheat, oat or rye straw in water, slice it and iron it flat. They then create marks and shadows with burn marks in a technique known as pyrography to form folk scenes and landmarks. 2 CERAMICS Prized for its red clay, Rishtan in the Fergana Valley has been producing ceramic tiles, teapots and tableware since the 7th century. Once fired, the pieces are painted with flowers, pomegranates, fish and birds then glazed with quartz and ash from the endemic ishkor plant – which gives them their distinctive blue colour. 3 SKULLCAPS Made from silk or satin, then embroidered with silk or gold thread, the tubeteika skullcap often features…

Presenter Holly Rubenstein describes The Travel Diaries as the travel version of Desert Island Discs, with her special guests revealing the travel experiences that shaped them rather than the songs. It’s the UK’s number one travel podcast and recent guests include Steve Backshall, actor Stanley Tucci and Jessica Nabongo, the first black woman to visit every country in the world. The back catalogue includes Michael Palin, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Tony Wheeler, Simon Reeve, and Wanderlust's very own Lyn Hughes.…

It’s been a tough time for everyone since spring last year, but for all of us with the travel bug there’s been an added layer of difficulty. You seem to have experienced the pandemic with mixed emotions, as you describe it in your new book, Journeys to Impossible Places? There’s no getting around it – it’s been a difficult time for all of us. And yet the pandemic gave me the opportunity to look back and reflect, like for many of us, and write Journeys to Impossible Places as a very cathartic experience and an explanation for my son. I suppose the problem for me is that I know how wonderful the world is, I know the experiences, memories, opportunities, sights, tastes, encounters that are there to be had. That…

1 EBONY FOREST Privately-owned conservation reserve (ebonyforest.com). Take a guided hike or 4WD experience, plant a tree, and admire the views from Sublime Point. 2 ILE AUX AIGRETTES Home to the last remnants of dry coastal forest, and now a nature reserve. 3 BLACK RIVER GORGES NP Explore the 60km of walking trails while looking out for the rare endemic species that live here. 4 BOIS CHERI TEA FACTORY The oldest tea plantation on the island. Visit early to see the tea being picked, before a visit to the museum and then try a tea tasting of the many varieties produced. 5 PAMPLEMOUSSES BOTANICAL GARDENS The third oldest botanical garden in the world and home to a variety of species. 6 LE MORNE BRABANT…

1 CASTELLAMMARE DI GOLFO The scenic little town stands on a cliff, defended by a castle and overlooking a natural harbour and beach. Attracts a chic set and has some wonderful waterside restaurants. 2 SEGESTA One of the most inspiring temples anywhere in the classical world, on the same site as a ruined hilltop amphitheatre. One of Western Sicily’s two archaeological jewels. 3 THE HINTERLAND Cycling at leisure through the gently rolling hills blanketed with vines, olives and pomegranates. 4 ERICE The peer-less hilltop town, and palimpsest of all the region’s history. 5 SALINE DI STAGNONE Tranquil salt pans that are also a nature reserve and the gateway to Mozia island. 6 MAZARA DEL VALLO KASBAH The place to immerse in Arab heritage and…

Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railway For 140 years, this 1882 steam train has been transporting passengers on the 72km route from Durango, taking them 900m up to the remote former mining town of Silverton. It is a journey to be savoured: hugging sheer cliffs and the rapids of the Animas River throughout. With its colourful western style building and saloons, Silverton feels more like the set of a John Wayne movie than a living town. But that’s its charm. Close your eyes, let your imagination wander and you can just about hear the clop of hooves and click of spurs galloping down the dusty dirt roads. Black Canyon Of The Gunnison National Park Just an hour’s drive from the northern tip of the San Juan Skyway is one of…

International dialling  code +679 Currency Fijian dollar (FJD), currently around FJD285 to the UK£. ATMs are widespread. Australian and USA dollars are also freely exchangeable. Getting there There are no direct flights between the UK and Fiji, but there are extensive connections via Australia and New Zealand (Fiji Airways is part of the Oneworld airline alliance; www.fijiairways.com; from £800). International flights arrive at Nadi International Airport (NAN), 120km from Suva – take a shuttlebus (£5), taxi (£70), or add in 30-minute internal flight to Suva-Nausori Airport (from £50), 23km outside the city. Getting around Suva is small enough to explore by foot, but local taxis are plentiful, cheap and metered. Festivals In August all of Suva seems to gather for the annual week-long Hibiscus Festival. Music, food stalls, flowers and…

Congratulations to all the winners at the 20th Wanderlust Travel Awards, voted for by the most in-the-know travellers on the planet – you, the Wanderlust readers. The winners were announced on 2 November at a glittering event held at Kensington Palace. Hosted by star Steve Backshall, the night saw Australia crowned as the Most Desirable (Long Haul) Country destination, with France picking up the award for Short Haul Country and Singapore and Lisbon being your cities of choice. There was also the return of the Wanderlust World Guide Awards with two inspirational guides awarded for their years of looking after and inspiring visitors. Thank you again to all of you who voted in your thousands – and keep on travelling. See p32.…

Walk like an Egyptian A 3,000-year-old walkway in the ancient city of Luxor, Egypt, has reopened after an extensive period of restoration. The Avenue of Sphinxes, also known as El Kebbash Road, is 2,700 metres long and up to seven metres wide, linking the Luxor Temple to the Karnak Temple Complex. Lined with ram-headed statues and traditional sphinxes, it was originally built by Queen Hatshepsut and lay hidden for centuries. THE AURORA BY AIR See the northern lights up close by booking a seat on the Aurora | 360 Experience. Returning to Canada’s Yukon next February, the service will take off from Whitehorse, flying passengers above the clouds to hunt for the natural phenomenon. With the flight path created by a team of scientists, the charter jet will search for…

Straw art Browse straw art, handmade paper and carvings at Naqshband Craft Centre, just north of Bukhara, then take a workshop with a straw artist. From £25; day trip with BTLES Tours £220-£235 (from April 2022); btles.uz Ceramics Make a tile at Akbar Rakhimov’s workshop on Kukcha Darboza Street (entry £8-£13, workshop £18-£22) in Tashkent, or a ceramic cup at Rishtan Art Ceramics Factory in Rishtan; £5-£15 or £161-£213 on a day trip with Silk Road Treasure Tours. silkroadtreasuretours.com Skullcaps Observe 3,000 women embroider tubeteikas, tapestries and more by hand and on machines in Sharq-Guli, a factory in Tashkent. Visit with a local guide and enquire about workshops. Puppets In Khiva, watch the State Puppet Theatre with Advan Tour. To make a 15cm puppet yourself, visit Bukhara Artisan Development Centre…

VanLifers: Beautiful Conversions for Life on the Road Ed by Alex Waite £20, The History Press Fancy turning the road into your home? This book documents the stories of people across the world – hipsters, retirees, families – who turned that (exhaust) pipe dream into reality, converting their vehicle into elaborately personalised mini-homes – and transforming their lives at the same time. Iceland’s raw scenery is just made for photographers, Photographing Iceland: Volumes 1 & 2 By James Rushforth £49.50/29.95, FotoVue Ltd  and Rushforth’s two-volume guidebook – highlighting 170 locations and 1,000 of the country’s most-striking viewpoints – is aimed at helping aspiring snappers make the most of their visit. Sacred Nature 2: Reconnecting People to Our Planet By Jonathan & Angela Scott £59, HPH Publishing Taking us around the…

Carbon offsetting measures the amount of carbon emissions you’ve caused and then pays for the equivalent emissions to be drawn down from the atmosphere via projects such as clean energy initiatives or planting trees. It’s a quick-win solution to the climate crisis but unfortunately fraught with problems. There’s little accountability to check the offsetting schemes do what they say they do, and we need to shrink emissions in half rather than maintaining current levels. If you do offset, look for third-party verification like Gold Standard and question anyone that offers to offset a transatlantic flight for a measly £5. It’s best to reduce carbon emissions where possible and make every trip count by visiting and supporting conservation projects led by or empowering local communities.…

ELLIOT BROWN Founder’s Edition 3 Hand Diver, £570 For a watch fanatic, here’s a limited-edition of the specialist brand’s new Bloxworth 3 Hand Diver watch. This classic dive watch has been on the drawing board for two years and the striking result is worth the wait. The ceramic non-scratch bezel, brushed bronze case, Purbeck Stone lume colour, Swiss-made Ronda 713 quartz movement and domed ‘box’ anti-reflective crystal are perfectly balanced with the addition of a textured basket weave pattern on the dial and caseback inspired from the ‘tropic’ strap design of the 1950s and 60s. elliotbrownwatches.com ARIAT Skyline Summit GORE-TEX Waterproof Boot, £170 Ariat is well-known in the equestrian world for its high-performance footwear and here is its new equivalent for walkers. Featuring ATS® Pro technology for advanced stability, a…

1 Encountering humpback whales Whether gazed at from the deck of a boat or listened to beneath the waves, however you choose to encounter these marine mammals on their mammoth migration along the Coral Coast will not disappoint. 2 Swimming with whale sharks There’s no adequate way to describe having the world’s biggest fish swimming towards you. Do it and you won’t regret it. 3 Snorkelling The true highlight of Ningaloo is the ability to simply step off the beach when the mood takes you and immediately come face-to-face with the reef. Tours are recommended for novices – so you get species pointed out to you – before trying it unguided. 4 Coastal views There are plenty of places from which to gaze down the coastline. Vlamingh Head…

Montreal Population: 4.22 million Average July temp: 26°C Famous for: Largest French-speaking city in Canada, European vibe, street art, festivals and food Québec Population: 543,000 Average July temp: 25°C Famous for: The World Heritage Site of Old Québec, St Lawrence River cruises and islands, pastry shops Need to know The 231km between the cities takes 3hrs 45mins by VIA train, with onboard catering and free Wi-Fi. How to get there British Airways (ba.com) and Air Canada (aircanada.com) fly non-stop from London Heathrow for the 7.5hr flight to Montreal. Air Transat (airtransat.com) is offering flights from London Gatwick in May 2022 at £362, including taxes/fees, and has announced a new summer service between Gatwick and Québec City from 11 May.…

SOLWAY FIRTH Cumbria’s Solway estuary splits the England-Scotland border. It’s a wild land of bird-filled salt marshes and Roman history, and in Bowness-on-Solway you’ll even find the first stone inklings of Hadrian’s Wall. WILD CUMBRIA Walney Island’s nature reserves are prolific birding spots, with some 250 species spotted across the calendar. It’s also the only year-round haul-out locations for grey seals in Cumbria, and if you go at high tide you can see the sands quickly fill up. A LONG JOURNEY St Bees is the starting point for one of the UK’s most iconic walks: Wainwright’s Coast to Coast (293km). It links the Irish and North Seas, stumbling the Lake District and North York Moors to Robin Hood’s Bay. It’s English countryside at its most spectacular. CASTLE HOPPING Guided tours…

Small & characterful Colo-i-Suva Rainforest Eco Resort Get away from everything with a lakeside bungalow in this rainforest retreat on the outskirts of Suva. Facilities are basic, but the sounds of nature will serenade you to sleep and wake you gently the next morning for your adventures in Colo-i-Suva. Rooms from £21pn; https://www.coloisuva. com.fj/ Mid-Range Tanoa Plaza Hotel Rooms decorated with traditional Fijian fabrics add a cheery touch to the popular Tanoa Plaza; along with the great service, these offer a welcoming contrast to the hotel’s business-class bland exterior. Rooms at the front have tremendous views over the city. Rooms from £82pn; https://www.tanoahotels. com/tanoa-plaza-hotel/ Best address in town Grand Pacific Hotel The crisp white porticoed facade of this storied hotel was first raised in 1914, and the Grand Pacific has…

“This area is located in the middle of the Ardennes, so there are many forest walks to discover. The first things to see are the Dolmens de Wéris, funerary monuments built between 2500 and 3000BC. Another must-see place is ‘the smallest city in the world’, Durbuy. You must also try our artisan-made products, like cheeses produced by local farmers or apple juice pressed by the villagers themselves. Our region has charm in every season, but if I had to choose my favourite, come in winter with the Christmas village in Durbuy and layers of snow that cover our forests.”…

International dialling code: +32 Currency: Euro (€) Getting there: Eurostar trains serve Brussels from London, taking less than two hours. Express coach services connect Brussels and Liège with London. By car, take a ferry or Eurotunnel Le Shuttle to France for fast motorway links. Flights from UK airports go to Brussels Airport, just north of Wallonia, and Brussels South Charleroi Airport, in Charleroi. Getting around: Good roads and toll-free motorways make driving easy. Rail's the best alternative thanks to an extensive intercity and local network, Charleroi and Liège being key hubs. Buses operate in all towns and cities. Charleroi also has a subway system. Bike hire is widely available. RAVeL network: Ideal for cycling, walking and horse-riding, Wallonia’s 1,350km RAVeL network (ravel.wallonie.be) comprises 45 trails on flat sections of disused…

PETER ELLEGARD Wallonia A globe-trotting journalist for more-than 35 years, Peter likes to get under the skin of places he visits in order to better understand their heritage and culture. On p188, he slowly road-trips through Belgium’s little-visited southern state. What will you do to travel more sustainably in 2022? “I will aim to support local communities as much as I can and reduce my carbon footprint by finding more eco-friendly travel options.” TINA CHARISMA Ghana The founder of the NGO Charisma Campaign, dedicated to improving sustainability and advocating for local cultures, Tina enthuses about the cuisine of Ghana on p38. What will you do to travel more sustainably in 2022? “I believe giving back to communities is one of the ways to encourage sustainable travel – I’ll buy from…

“Congrats to tour guide Marta [Corte-Real; ToursByLocals] in Lisbon, recognised by Wanderlust as one of the world’s best tour guides” Sara Cooke “Yesterday I went to an @wanderlustmag talk at the @RGS_IBG about a truly fascinating place called AlUla in Saudi Arabia. Sounds as though now’s the time to go, so that you can have it almost to yourself.” @APlanToGo “Puebla is really pleasant and barely visited by non-local tourists. Loved the place when I was there on a cycling tour.” Travelling claus “Canada is beautiful. Abraham Lake is especially beautiful for the activity that goes on under the ice in winter. Go back then. It’s awesome. “ @la53_la “Love the Singapore super trees. Can’t wait to go back in February. [I’ve been] quite a few times, it’s changed a…

New Year’s Eve travels “I got greedy. I spent New Year’s Eve on a small Fijian island – fireworks on the beach, a band playing, guests jumping in the pool in all their clothes. Perfect. But I wanted to experience the joy again, immediately. On 1 January I flew to Hawaii and, as the flight was in the morning and there was a 22-hour time difference, I arrived in time to celebrate New Year all over again!” Diana Connor “One year I went to Vigelandsparken in Oslo, where everyone was going mad with fireworks, sending them mainly horizontally rather than vertically. It was only by luck that most people left without burnt holes in their coats!” Robert Bacon “A few years ago my son and I spent New Year at…

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently opened its doors to visitors and AlUla is its hidden gem. Four heritage sites await exploration including Saudi’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, the ancient city of Hegra, open year round. Once a melting pot of trade and commerce dating back to the 1st millennium BC, the opening of Hegra and the region of AlUla means you can enjoy a litany of adventures, historic sites, forgotten treasures of antiquity and more. There is so much to do in AlUla that it is possible to explore this little-visited place from the minute you wake up until the moment you fall asleep. Read on for a full guide on how to spend every waking second of a day in AlUla… Morning: AlUla from above and…

Although we’re beginning to travel again, many of us have got hooked on virtual experiences. Intrepid Urban Adventures offer a range of short tours and experiences in cities around the world, and their Urban Adventures at Home are fun, imaginative and informative. Join a vegetarian Indian cooking class coming from a kitchen in Delhi, participate in a Coca Leaf Reading Ceremony from La Paz, or discover everything you need to know about authentic Finnish sauna and wellness rituals from your sofa in an online Sauna and Ice Swimming experience from Helsinki. You can also get a group of friends together and book a custom experience. www.urbanadventures.com/online-experiences…

Climate Perks One of the challenges of overland travel is time, but the environmental campaign Climate Perks is hoping to change that. Having found that 50% of people are willing to change habits but only 3% do due to time constraints, the scheme encourages employers to offer additional days off for overland travel. Google Travel Google search results now show the carbon emissions for each flight, providing travellers with the information needed to opt for the least environmentally damaging journey. Kayak and Skyscanner also list emissions. For an in-depth breakdown of an airline’s sustainability rating, check yearly reports from atmosfair.de. Byway This start-up tour operator specialises in flight-free trips from the UK to all over Europe. Bespoke trips focus on locally owned and sustainable places to stay alongside navigating the…

Getting there The nearest airports to Saas-Fee are Zurich and Geneva, both of which can be reached from London City and London Heathrow airports with Swiss International Airlines in under two hours (from £69; swiss.com). From Zurich, it’s around a two-hour train to Visp followed by a 45-minute bus to Saas-Fee village. A train from Geneva to Visp takes around two-and-a-half hours. Buy a Swiss Travel Pass for unlimited access to over 90 cities by train, bus and boat as well as free entry to over 500 museums; from £186; myswitzerland.com/rail. Getting around Electric taxis operate in car-free Saas-Fee but the easiest way to travel is through the network of buses and cableways. A Saastal Card (included with your hotel stay once you have paid the visitor tax) gives you…

WILD BRITAIN The UK offers plenty of winter encounters. In Scotland’s Cairngorms, walkers can meet Britain’s only free-roaming reindeer herd on guided hill trips, with the snow adds extra atmosphere. Over in Northern Ireland, birders welcome the arrival of 90% of the world’s light-bellied Brent geese to the inland sea of Strangford Lough. Or head to the east coast of England where winter means seal pupping. Between late December and February, Norfolk’s Horsey Gap and Blakeney Point are good spots to spy wriggling newborns at a respectful distance. NORTHERN LIGHTS IN THE UK The UK is northerly enough for aurora sightings, especially in deep winter. To improve your chances, International Dark Sky Parks offer viewpoints far from light pollution. In Northern Ireland, County Tyrone’s Davagh Forest earned its Dark Sky…

The Colorado Rockies are what mountain dreams are made of. They stretch 611km across the entire length of the state and filled with jagged peaks (58 of them over 14,000 feet (4,267m) - or ‘fourteeners’ as the locals call them), ice blue alpine lakes and wildflower meadows roamed by elk, coyote and black bears. There is perhaps nowhere in the country where the USA’s rugged wilderness, that raw untampered spirit of the once-wild west, is more keenly felt than the San Juan Mountains. Considered by many to be the most beautiful and varied of the entire range, this south-western portion of the Rockies nonetheless only receives a fraction of the visitors that better-known, and easier-accessed, regions to the north get. Better still, one single road will take you to all…

Out of the entire Malay Archipelago, Sulawesi (then known as Celebes) was described as “the most remarkable and interesting [island] in the whole region, or perhaps on the globe.”Alfred Russel Wallace’s words were written over 150 years ago, but still ring true. Indonesia’s fourth biggest island – twice the size of Portugal – boasts unique wildlife (many species first described by the tireless Welsh naturalist) along with its fascinating indigenous cultures. On Sulawesi’s far northern tip you find the volcanic homelands of the Minahasa people, heirs to a wealth of fiery legends and vibrant traditions. “The name ‘Minahasa’ comes from a local phrase meaning unification, or ‘coming together’,” Elvis Pangemanan (elvispangemanan@gmail.com), head of the Minahasa Tour Guide Association, tells me. “Once our ancestors were divided into nine feuding clans. Perhaps…

Those wondering why Suva is rarely troubled by visitors should look no further than the Pearl Harbour attack. Despite Suva being Fiji’s capital, most travellers instead touch down 120km away at Nadi International on the opposite, western side of Viti Levu, the country’s largest island, from where they’re quickly whisked away to their beachside resort. In 1941, it was Nadi whose newly laid runway accommodated the Flying Fortress bombers of the USA airforce as they flew sorties against the Japanese, and the infrastructure left over after the war made it the perfect hub for air connections across the South Pacific. Nadi boomed, leaving Suva on the other-side of the island sleepily untroubled by Fiji’s post-war tourism boom. That’s a (kind of) shame, because Suva is the largest and most cosmopolitan…

Fiji Museum An ocean-going double-hulled canoe is the highlight of this national museum, along with the chewed-over remains of a Christian missionary’s shoe from the days of ritual cannibalism. The surrounding Thurston Gardens is the spot for a picnic. Colo-i-Suva Forest Park A pocket-sized slice of rainforest on the hilly outskirts of Suva, Colo-i-Suva is braided with lush walking trails and waterfalls leading to swimming holes. Bring a pair of binoculars for the birdwatching. Mt Korobaba The best views of Suva and the surrounding city can be found from the peak of Mt Korobaba (427m). It’s a stiff-but-beautiful three-hour return bush hike, though the trail should be avoided after heavy rain. Suva Municipal Market This lively market is the place to take the city’s temperature, amid earthy piles of vegetables,…

Day 1 Just 90 minutes from Calais, start your Wallonia tour in Tournai. See one of Belgium’s oldest towns, once part of England after being captured by Henry VIII, and its UNESCO-listed Notre-Dame Cathedral from atop the adjacent belfry. At Leuze-en-Hainault, the Mahymobiles museum’s extensive car collection captivates petrolheads. Stop in medieval Ath, known as ‘the City of Giants’ for its folklore festival, and finish in Mons, renowned for its cultural institutions as well as its monuments and events marking both World Wars. Day 2 In Chimay, discover the history of Trappist beer and cheese at Espace Chimay museum then tour the regal Chateau du Chimay. Explore Hitler’s Bunker, the HQ for his France offensive, at Brûly-de-Pesche. Delightful Bouillon is dominated by its feudal castle while both Chassepierre and Torgny…

Hike Wallonia is made for walking, whether short riverside and forest strolls or hiking the upland woods and moorland of the Ardennes’ Hautes Fagnes-Eifel Natural Park. Stretch your legs on the 160km Transardennaise from La Roche to Bouillon or the two-leg 290km Trappist Beer Trail linking the Trappist beer-producing abbeys of Chimay, Rochefort and Orval. Cycle Besides the extensive RAVeL network, Wallonia has a number of cycle routes linked by well-signposted intersections known locally as points-noeuds, allowing cyclists to create their own itineraries to match their capabilities or desired route. Eat Regional specialities include: gaufre de Liege (Liege waffle); truite au bleu (poached trout, mainly found in the Ardennes); bouquettes (thick pancakes); flamiche (savoury tart using regional cheese, popular in Dinant); and la tarte au riz (rice tart, from around…

Val di Fassa, Trentino, Italy The Val di Fassa, in the heart of the Dolomites, is a mesmerising valley in the province of Trentino, northern Italy. And it’s where you’ll find Rifugio Fuciade, a cosy mountain hut on the shoulder of the San Pellegrino Pass. The tracks in the snow meander to the hut’s own wine cellar, which houses over 700 bottles. Visitors can also stay the night (very necessary after sampling such a selection), enjoy a range of seasonal local delicacies for dinner and wake up to the sound of silence, dramatic views and the feel of icy-crisp air.…