Getting the flavour of…
Brazil’s jaguar jackpot
At the Onçafari jaguar conservation project, deep in the Brazilian Pantanal – a vast area of wetland and savannah in the west of the country – visitors are almost guaranteed to see one of these endangered cats in the wild, says Sarah Marshall in The Daily Telegraph. Founded in 2011 by former British Formula 3 racing car champion Mário Haberfeld, the organisation was criticised at first for its practice of radio tagging the animals. But the scientific insights this has yielded are invaluable, and it may have deterred farmers from shooting jaguars. And the project has given the local economy a boost too. Visitors can stay at “high-end ecotourism lodges” in the Caiman Ecological Refuge, but must be prepared for safari drives in “brain-sizzling” heat. Dehouche (dehouche.com) organises tailor-made tours in Brazil.
The quiet heart of Mallorca
From the “noisome resorts” of its coast to the “posh-hippy enclaves” of the Tramuntana mountains, Mallorca has been all but gobbled up by mass tourism. But you can escape the crowds by heading to the centre of the island, says Paul Richardson in The Daily Telegraph. Known locally as Es Pla – the Plain – this is a region of “gently rolling” farmland, grand houses and quiet villages, where the nights are darker, the people seem friendlier, and the food is hearty, oldfashioned and local. The sights are mostly modest – street markets, wineries, windmills like “miniature castles” – although Petra’s Gothic church is almost a cathedral, and Els Calderers is a great Mallorcan country pile, still run as a working farm. Among the best places to stay are Sa Franquesa Nova, Son Penya Petit Hotel, Roqueta, and the newly opened Finca Serena, “by some way Es Pla’s most exquisite hotel”.
Cycling sans map in Flanders
Its name is not catchy, but the new Réseau Points-Noeuds Vélo, in the French part of Flanders, offers a “brilliantly simple” form of cycle touring, says Dixe Wills in The Guardian. Visitors pick out their routes by noting down a list of numbers designating “node-points” along a 515-mile network of minor roads and cycle paths. Having done so, they can throw away their maps, confident of finding signposts marked with corresponding numbers at every junction they come to. Once you strip out the stress of navigation, the ride becomes incredibly relaxing. And the region – situated at the country’s northern tip, just three hours by train from London – has some “gorgeous” villages (Cassel was voted France’s favourite in a TV competition last year), plenty of pleasant accommodation, and a great deal of good local beer. See jadorelenord.fr for
more information.