The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
RISE TO THE CHALLENGE
Want to taste the exotic? Go to the extremes? Have a wild encounter? Sarah Baxter has just the trip for you
20,000 people sheltered during the Vietnam War) and into wildlife-filled Nam Et Phou Louey, Laos’s largest protected park, which sees only 80 hikers a year.
A 14-day Trekking Northern Vietnam & Laos trip costs from £3,580 including accommodation and some meals. Flights not included. January-May, OctoberDecember 2019. Inside Asia (0117 244 3380; insideasiatours.com).
FOLLOW AN AB FAB TRAIL, GEORGIA
Following her ITV series, Joanna Lumley seems to have single-handedly revived the Silk Road. Good for her: it’s epic. Mountain Kingdom’s new Georgia trip follows Lumley on the most spectacular section of the 1,864-mile (3,000km) Transcaucasian Trail, via snow peaks and glaciers, lush valleys, summer wild flowers and little-changed rural life, staying in family homes en route.
An 11-day Svaneti and the Transcaucasian Trail trip costs from £2,250 including accommodation and meals. Flights included. June
20, Aug 15 and Sept 5 2019. Mountain Kingdoms (01453 844400; mountainkingdoms.com).
GREET GORILLAS, RWANDA
Since Rwanda doubled the price of gorilla-tracking permits in 2017, more high-end accommodation has sprung up to match. This includes the new One&Only Nyungwe House, which the Luxury Holiday Company has paired with ridge-top Virunga Lodge in Volcanoes National Park, so you can make the trek with gorillas and track chimpanzees in Nyungwe, in style. e. A nine-day Mountain Gorilla Adventure costs from £6,415 including accommodation, most t meals and permits. Flights included. uded. Year round. Luxury Holiday Company (020 7590 0674; theluxuryholidaycompany.com). ).
GO EAST, BHUTAN
Bhutan is a Himalayan kingdom with a high price tag. But since 2018 the daily fee for those heading to the country’s ry’s little-trodden east has been reduced, ed, to encourage visitors. KE Adventure’s re’s Merak and Sakteng Trek makes the e most of this, and a flight from Paro to Yonphula, to explore this region of f Brokpa villages, pastoral valleys and nd yeti legends.
A 16-day East Bhutan trip costs ts from £3,895 including accommodation and meals.
Flights included. March-April, November-December 2019. KE Adventure (01768 773966; keadventure.com). Remote Bhutan, main; an elephant sanctuary in Laos, left; follow Joanna Lumley, below, to Georgia
HIKE IN PARADISE, ST LUCIA, ANTIGUA AND MONTSERRAT
There’s more to the Caribbean than beaches of course – not least good walking and an abundance of birds. Hike Caribbean’s new three-island Birding and Hiking trip combines varied walks on Antigua with rainforest forays to seek St Lucia’s endemic parrot par and time on littlevisited Mont Montserrat to trek amid avifauna and the surreal aftereffects of its famed vol volcanic eruption.
A 14-day Birding B and Hiking trip costs from £2,995 £ including B&B accommodation accommoda and inter-island flights. flflights. International Int flights not include included. Year round. Hike Caribb Caribbean (0333 987 4694;
hikec hikecaribbean.com).
ACCESS ALL AREAS, ETHIOPIA ET
Wit With Ethiopian Air’s new Ma Manchester-Addis Ababa flig flight (launched in December) and a new connection from Add Addis to Goba, it’s never been quick quicker to access Ethiopia’s wild, remote Bale Mountains. Travel TravelLocal’s Hiking Bale trip hea heads into the hills, conquer conquering peaks (including 4,203m Mount M Batu), dipping in hot springs sprin and ending on the
STROLL WITH SAMURAI, JAPAN
As all eyes fall on Japan’s cities for the 2019 Rugby World Cup, look the other way to one of the country’s leastexplored, least-populated parts. Walk Japan’s new San’in Quest explores legend-laced western Honshu. Trails are gentle, leading along rugged shores, through rural countryside and into the Takadono valley, the ancient source of steel for samurai swords.
A nine-day San’in Quest trip costs 428,000 yen (£2,990) including accommodation and most meals. Flights not included. April 22 and Nov 3 2019. Walk
Japan (walkjapan.com).
BE A PILGIM, IRELAND AND SPAIN
To earn a pilgrim certificate in
Santiago de Compostela, you must have walked at least 62 miles (100km). But it’s now possible to clock some of those miles in Ireland. Complete a 16-mile/25km-plus Irish pilgrimage, such as the Kerry Camino, along the Dingle Peninsula, then walk the 11-mile (75km) Camino Inglés from A Coruña, the traditional route to Santiago for peregrinos.
A four-night Kerry Camino/ Camino Inglés costs from €374 (£368) including accommodation and some meals. Flights not included. March-October 2019. Camino Ways (00353 1 525 2886; caminoways.com).
WALK WILD, NAMIBIA
Launched late last year, the Etendeka Walking Trail is a multi-day guided hike through the Grootberg Massive, one of Namibia’s most untouched wildernesses. The trip involves climbing Crystal Mountain, looking for desert-adapted wildlife and sleeping on mats under dark skies. Expert Africa can combine the trail with more walking and wildlife in Namibia’s north.
A 13-day Walking & Wildlife trip costs from £2,345 including accommodation, most meals and four-wheel drive hire. Flights not included. February-December 2019. Expert Africa (020 3405 6666; expertafrica.com).
BIMBLE WITH BACH, GERMANY
In 1705, J S Bach walked 310 miles (500km) from Arnstadt to Lübeck, in search of musical inspiration. Martin Randall’s new “When Bach went Awol” trip traces an approximation of his route, in the company of Lindsay Kemp, producer of BBC Radio 3’s
Bach Walks. It’s mainly a musical road trip, but with frequent stops for strolls in pine forests, medieval towns and the myth-shrouded
Harz Mountains.
A seven-day Bach trip costs from £2,460 including accommodation and most meals. Flights included. May 7 2019. Martin Randall Travel (020 8742 3355; martinrandall.com).
DO GOOD, DOMINICA
Dominica was battered by Hurricane Maria in 2017. It’s recovering – with 2019 seeing the opening of several new/restored hotels – but it still needs help. Mot Mot Travel’s “Dominica Voluntourism Holiday” is focused on restoring the Waitukubuli National Trail, the Caribbean’s first long-distance hike; as well as working on the clean-up, you’ll learn about island ecology and hike along a beach newly formed since the hurricane.
A seven-night Dominica trip costs from £1,900 including accommodation and meals.
Flights included. Year round.
Mot Mot Travel (01327 359622; motmottravel.com).
AMBLE WITH ELES, KENYA
Wellness tourism is booming, up six and a half per cent year on year – and more travellers are seeking more mindful experiences. Asilia Africa’s new programme of immersive adventures is a response to that. Its “Traverse the Mara Conservancies on Foot” trip crosses classic Kenyan big-game country; the expert guide, slow pace, attention to details and nights spent fly-camping offer a deeper connection with the bush.
A six-day Mara trip costs from £3,375 including accommodation and meals. Flights not included. May, November 2019-March 2020. Asilia Adventures (0027 21 418 0468; asiliaadventures.com).
WALK RIGHT AROUND, WALES
The Wales Coast Path, the world’s first continuous trail along a nation’s edge, celebrates its seventh birthday with a new walking festival in May 2019. Celtic Trails offers an 80-day itinerary covering the lot; for something more manageable, yet still magnificent, try the Pembrokeshire section, which runs through the UK’s only coastal national park, passing the Preseli Hills, puffins and seals, and Britain’s smallest city.
A 14-night Pembrokeshire Coast Path trip costs from £1,205 including B&B accommodation. Flights not included. March-October 2019. Celtic Trails (01291 689774; celtictrailswalkingholidays.co.uk).
SAUNTER IN STYLE, AUSTRALIA
Since Qantas launched direct flights in 2018, Perth-London takes only 16 and a half hours, and thanks to Walk Into Luxury’s “Best of the Bibbulmun Walk”, Western Australia’s 620-mile (1,000km) trail (40 years old in 2019) can be experienced in just six days. The trip combines wonderful walking via dazzling beaches, Conspicuous Cliff and giant karri trees with gourmet food and a sumptuous villa overlooking the ocean.
An eight-night Luxury Bibbulmun trip costs from £3,399pp including accommodation and some meals. Flights included. Tailor-made. Abercrombie & Kent (01242 547826; abercrombiekent.co.uk).