Watery journeys in far-flung places
A ferry across Lake Malawi
Lake Malawi is the country’s “pride and joy – a dazzling inland sea that demands attention”, says Amelia Duggan in National Geographic. David Livingstone named it “the Lake of Stars” when he first saw the fishermen’s lanterns glinting on the water at night, and it is still a life source for the many villages dotted along its banks. The MV Ilala, a ferry built in Glasgow in 1949, has cruised the “vast length of freshwater” between Monkey Bay and Chilumba for almost 70 years, taking in a dozen ports twice weekly. There are only six cabins, so most passengers make themselves comfortable on the upper deck. The lake takes on a different character at various sections: some marshy and filled with hippos and crocodiles, others “tranquil and pellucid as an aquarium”. When it alights at Likoma Island, a wooden skiff approaches and passengers “shimmy” down the ship’s ladder Ladies with babies strapped in papooses on their backs “hike up their colourful skirts”, and young men throw cargo sacks as the boathands expertly organise everyone and everything “like Tetris” – bags of maize here, chickens there. Then it’s a short chug to a “broad smile of white sand” and a waist-deep wade to shore – a welcome “dunk” after two hot days onboard.
Sailing through Panama and Costa Rica
The Wind Star is the “perfect vessel” in which to venture into unexplored pockets of the world”, says Alex French in Travel + Leisure. Carrying 148 guests and 101 crew, it’s a “slick” 130m yacht, with small but smart cabins, “first-rate” food and a top minibar situation – there’s even sparkling rosé. We’re in Panama, where the ten-day itinerary begins at the port of Colón, a “stunning shambles” of decaying apartments, “dusty streets and stray dogs”. Setting sail for the Canal, we spend a day squeezing through sets of massive iron locks, past “pocked concrete walls now more than a century old”. On the other side, there are multiple options for onshore excursions: from snorkelling and dolphin watching to monkey spotting, zip-lining or taking an “air tram” through Soberanía National Park. One of the most memorable days is spent kayaking the Rio Platanares in southwest Costa Rica. In 34°C heat, we “glide beneath the delicious shade” of a mangrove canopy, where hummingbirds “scoot” the surface and the only sound is the splash of our oars amid the “immensity of the quiet”. windstarcruises.com.
A slow boat down the Nile
Dahabiyas are the “barge-like” boats that have sailed the Nile since the times of the pharaohs, says Pamela Goodman in the FT. Today, there are modern versions with en-suite cabins, but built using old techniques, with no on-board engines. Nour el Nil’s boats are propelled by wind when it’s there, and “pulled by tug in times of calm”. The journey from Luxor to Aswan would take three hours by road; upstream it takes five days on a journey that demands “full immersion” in river life. The flotilla can go where cruise ships can’t, drifting in at sunset to secluded riverbanks “where larger boats are forbidden to moor”. On board, the decor is “chic” with a “prevailing sense of the bohemian”, and the cuisine is fresh and appealing. At sites of special interest, “Egyptologists appear to decipher complex hieroglyphs”. From the Temple of Horus to the Valley of the Queens, tourist numbers are still “trifling” after the unrest and terrorist activity of recent years, and for those who go, the “rewards of Ancient Egypt unfettered by gawping crowds are manifold”. nourelnil.com.