Wildlife adventures in warmer climes
The African safari cure
We have a tendency these days to think that we’re “at the centre of things”, and that there’s “an explanation for everything”. It’s an attitude that can make for unhappiness, says Jeremy Paxman in the FT, but luckily there’s an antidote. For a truly visceral reminder of “our relative lack of significance” and “the unimportance of our troubles”, go on safari in Africa. Set on the northern bank of the Zambezi River in Zambia, with views across it to Zimbabwe, the fantastic camp at Chiawa is made up of just nine luxurious “tents”, with en-suite bathrooms and “shady” wooden verandas. You’re likely to see lions, leopards and elephant on game drives here. But still more revelatory are the early morning walks, when the air is “fragrant with the scent of mahogany flowers”, and anything – “a twig, a white flower, iridescent butterflies settling on a piece of hippo dung” – might trigger “an extraordinary story from a knowledgeable ranger”. There’s something about it that makes you “gasp” – a sense of wonder, and of perspective, that’s good for the soul. Cazenove + Loyd (020-7384 2332, www.cazloyd.com) has a six-night trip to Zambia from £3,600pp, excluding international flights.
The flight of a lifetime in Ecuador
Set in the middle of a private cloud-forest reserve in Ecuador, Mashpi Lodge is an “airy, cavernous steel-and-glass building” like a Bond villain’s lair, with all the Jacuzzis, spa treatments and “fine-dining” options a “top-end” modern ecotourist could want (and a room rate to match). But last year it acquired something more unusual too, says James Lowen in The Daily Telegraph – the Dragonfly, an aerial gondola that cost £1.5m and cruises for more than a mile through the forest canopy, 655ft above the ground. Guests start with a ride on its predecessor, the Sky Bike, a two-person pedalo that traverses 650ft of forested gorge along a cable. Then there’s the “main act”, an effortless, silent journey through “one of the world’s most wildliferich landscapes”. Some of the species you’ll have pointed out to you are new to science – the Dragonfly has been a boon for researchers too. And, of course, there is plenty more wildlife to see during walks on the forest floor, including birds, butterflies, frogs, and the odd snake. Journey Latin America (020-8600 1881, www.journeylatinamerica.co.uk) has a nine-day Ecuador trip from £3,055 per person, including flights.
Australia’s island of wonders
An isolated speck of basalt in the middle of the Tasman Sea, Lord Howe Island is a natural marvel, says Steve King in Vanity Fair – a repository of endemic flora and fauna with a striking mountainous profile, “at once severe and serene”. Its first known sighting was by Henry Lidgbird Ball, commander of HMS Supply, who claimed it for Britain in 1788 and named it after the First Lord of the Admiralty. Settlers came later, but today the island is home to only 382 people, and its birds are generally as unafraid as they were then (you may find they land on your head). Its lagoon is home to the most southerly coral reef in the world, teeming with tropical and temperate species, including “beaglelike” Galapagos sharks. And its tallest peak, Mount Gower (2,871ft), is worth climbing to see the ecosystem at its summit, the Gnarled Mossy Cloud Forest. Capella Lodge (www.lordhowe. com) has great views and a “superb” restaurant.