The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
WILD ENCOUNTERS
TAKE TIME WITH THE TIGERS
India
Always wanted to track India’s big cats? Then don’t rush the experience once you’re finally allowed to tick it off your list. Make an extended stay in Ranthambore National Park to work alongside Tiger Watch; join the NGO on its monitoring patrols, help record tiger movements and take part in community engagement programmes, which help highlight the benefits of ecotourism to local people. You will also explore Ranthambore’s more remote sections and stay at a boutique homestay run by the family of the founder of Tiger Watch.
A 13-day tailor-made Golden Triangle & Tigers trip costs from £3,300pp including flights (0203 880 8585; yonder.co.uk).
GET LOST WITH THE FAMILY
Canada
Enjoyed a back-to-nature staycation last summer holidays? Up the ante in 2021 by taking the family to Canada: the country excels in innately socially distanced adventures in the great outdoors. Take Ontario’s Algonquin Provincial Park, where the whole brood can go lake canoeing, forest hiking, wild swimming, moose-spotting and wolf-howling, as well as sleeping in log cabins and camping under the stars. Combine this with kayaking around the 1,000 Islands and a jolly good soaking at Niagara Falls.
A 17-day, tailor-made Lakes, Falls & Cities of Ontario trip costs from £1,750pp excluding flights (01728 752751; stubbornmuletravel.com).
GO (RE)WILD
Slovakia
There’s a great deal of buzz around
“regenerative travel” right now – that is, travel that seeks to improve the condition of the destination. It’s an ethos at the heart of new company Wild Europe, which specialises in flight-free, low- carbon breaks to rewilding projects on the continent. Its Slovakia expedition includes learning about wolf conservation in offbeat Poloniny National Park, visiting a raptor rescue centre in the High Tatras and e-biking with a naturalist who knows the best way to observe bears. A 10-day tailor-made Slovakia trip costs from £5,800pp including train travel (0117 427 0129; wildeuropetravel.com).
GET UNDER THE SKIN
Rwanda & Uganda
Travelling deeper rather than more is another hot trend, and Rainbow Tours’ new two-country African immersion seeks to do just that. In Rwanda, stay in Akagera National Park, which was badly hit during the genocide but is now a conservation success; spot the reintroduced Big Five and go behind the scenes with the rangers. In Uganda, enjoy an authentic encounter with the Batwa people before tracking golden monkeys in Mgahinga and making a once-in-a-lifetime trek to meet Bwindi’s mountain gorillas.
A 10-day, tailor-made Immersive Rwanda & Uganda trip costs from £6,995pp including flights (020 7666 1266; rainbowtours.co.uk).
EXPLORE THE JUNGLE WITH KATE HUMBLE
Colombia
Seek rare primates in one of the most biodiverse places on the planet. Colombia is home to nearly 2,000 species of bird and more than 400 types of mammal; this one-of-a-kind trip explores the jungly lowlands and Caribbean coast in search of the country’s 41 primate species – from ornate titi and Brumback’s night monkey to variegated spider monkey and cotton-top tamarin – in the company of Colombiaphile TV presenter Kate Humble and local expert guides.
A 12-night, small-group Colombia’s Rare Primates with Kate Humble trip costs from £6,795pp including flights; November 11 2021 (01962 302086; wildlifeworldwide.com).
EMBARK ON AN INDIAN OCEAN
ODYSSEY
Sri Lanka & Maldives
Double the faunal fun by combining two super, sun-soaked specks in the Indian Ocean. Start with southern Sri Lanka, where the national parks and dazzling coastline offer excellent opportunities for spotting leopards and sloth bears, blue whales and a flurry of bird species. Then hop across to the Maldives to stay in a local guesthouse on the Ari Atoll and dive some of the most astonishing waters in the world – encounters here might include turtles, manta rays and whale sharks.
A 15-day, tailor-made Sri Lanka & Maldives trip costs from £3,500pp excluding flights (0117 325 7898; travellocal.com).