The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Heart-warming holidays with a human touch
From learning to make fire with a Tanzanian tribe to helping out Himalayan shepherds, travel is all about people, says Sarah Baxter
To think that we once thought hell was other people. The lockdown is proving to be a wake-up call. Never before have so many of us craved the company of, well, anyone. Because at heart, we are a social lot – especially travellers.
Even those who are more introverted often find it’s the people rather than the places that provide the most treasured holiday memories: that stranger who invited us in for a chai; that impromptu invitation to a littleknown fiesta; the women who tried to teach us their traditional dance moves, with hilarious consequences. When you are naturally flung in with the locals, anti self-isolating, you will likely learn far more about the country (and maybe even yourself ).
Indeed, while monuments might be in-the-moment impressive, people are endlessly fascinating. Take Henrik Knudsen, founder of Denmark’s Official Elvis Fan Club and the Randers Memphis Mansion (memphismansion. com), where there are 80,000-odd bits of Presley memorabilia, 4,350 miles from Graceland. Or how about Thierry Habersetzer, owner of the Bluets et Brimbelles B&B in Alsace (sawdays.co. uk) who will serve you breakfast then drive you around in his vintage 2CVs? Or Arizona desert guide Lauren Darren (wildbunchdesertguides.com), a selfconfessed dive-bar girl, who wouldd take you to Scottsdale’s Hot Chick for a cheap drink and local atmosphere.
There are many types of interaction, of course. In the Faroe Islands you might come across heimablidni, or “home hospitality”, a tradition born from a desire to socialise but stay
A supper club, below, lets visitors experience ‘heimablidni’ (home hospitality) in the Faroe Islands sheltered from the weather. Anna and Oli Rubeksen’s supper club on Streymoy is a good way for outsiders to embrace this (visitfaroeislands.com). The word to remember in Rwanda is umuganda (“community work”). This tradition, undertaken on the last Saturday of the month, involves citizens helping with initiatives such as tree planting or school building – and visitors can join in too.
Even exploring at home can be better in the company of others. Take Blue Badge Guides (britainsbestguides.org), the rigorously trained and tested crème de la crème of UK tour leaders. They come from all walks of life, and their expertise from previous careers – for example as actors, policemen, lawyers, museum directors – makes their tours far more rounded and personal than a mere history lesson.
“Local experiences are so powerful because they put the human back into travelling,” says Carol Savage, of Not In The Guidebooks (notintheguidebooks. com). “Travel has amazing potential to help build a better world. As the tourism industry has grown, it has moved away from those deeply human connections and instead focused on cramming people on to tour buses. But when you meet local people, learn about their way of life, see the world through someone else’s eyes, you get under the skin of a place. That experience is not just more rewarding for you, but is also better for local communities – and better for the planet.
“There are some wonderful people out there who are passionate about where they live and are keen to show you all about their lives,” adds Savage. “Come the end of lockdown, it will be more important than ever to make those connections by travelling local.”
Stubborn Mule
(01728 752751; stubborn muletravel.com) specialises in family adventures; a two-week Tanzania trip, including safari activities, a stay in Zanzibar, and meeting the Hadzabe, costs from around £14,000 per family of four, excluding flights.
‘When you meet local people, learn about their way of life, you get under the skin of a place’
COMMUNE WITH THE LOCALS BRAZIL
Local people, conservation and sustainability are the tenets behind Ibitipoca. This experimental socioenvironmental project, tucked into the Atlantic rainforests of Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, provides real insight for visitors plus employment and purpose for local people. Almost all of the 200 or so people who work here are from here, and are engaged in running the charming on-site accommodation, growing organic food for the restaurants, guiding forest and waterfall walks, horse rides and cycling trips, creating public artworks, giving lectures at the Ibitipoca University and conserving the prolific wildlife (specific rewilding projects centre on tapirs, macuco and jacutinga birds, and the endangered muriqui primate). Ask for guide Juninho, one of Ibitipoca’s best.
The doors open to everything when he gets involved.
Comuna do Ibitipoca (0055 32 99840 3455; ibiti.com) offers a range of accommodation and activities; stays cost from around £190pp per night, including meals and tours.
LEARN AN ALTERNATIVE LANGUAGE
I TA LY
The original residents of the Italian Dolomites are unlike anyone anywhere else. Ladin culture – with its Rhaeto-Romance language, cuisine and traditions – is unique to a handful of handsome Alpine valleys. A new programme called Nos Ladins (We Ladins) will allow visitors to sample life with local people. Spend time with dressmaker Anita Vittur, who creates traditional-contemporary clothing; take a sunrise hike with mountaineer Manuel Agreiter, who owns one of the region’s oldest alpine huts; or join a course with chef Andrea Irsara, owner of the family-run Hotel Gran Ander, where he runs workshops teaching the secrets of Ladin dishes such as barley soup and tutres (fried pastries).
The Alta Badia region (altabadia. org) is preparing the Nos Ladins programme for summer 2020 and 2021; rooms at Hotel Gran Ander (granander.it) cost from €82 (£72) per person, half board.