2024
List
Readers and
editors pick their
dream destinations
for the year ahead

+

Going local in Fiji
Tobago Japan homestays Arctic Canada Mandela’s Cape Town
Caravaggio’s Malta West Sweden stays Brazil Rhode Island, USA
















 








WELCOME

Mark your calendars! (clockwise from top left)
Whether wildlife-spotting in Canada’s High Arctic
(p78), tracing the history of South African democracy
on the streets of Cape Town (p68) or finding greener
ways to explore the islands of Fiji (p112), this issue is
packed with intriguing travel ideas for the year ahead

Tour operators traditionally have some of their busiest
booking periods during the first few months of the
year. Indeed, many of us will already have organised
our journeys for 2024, building expectation for the
great travel adventures to come.
When it came to planning our annual Hot List, we
asked: what destinations make more sense to visit
this year than any other? We’ve narrowed the list down to 24 (p154), each with
a strong case as to why they should star in your 2024 travel calendars. Some
were even so compelling that we couldn’t resist covering them in this issue,
including an insightful feature on Mandela’s Cape Town (p68), a unique stay
in Japan (p88) and a guide to Brazil’s Salvador da Bahia (p194).
We’re also sharing the results of our annual Reader Travel Awards (p176),
for which some 91,000 of you voted on your most desirable destinations to
visit around the world, as well as the tour operators you love to travel with.
For our first edition of 2024, we’ve gently refreshed our magazine’s design
and fine-tuned our editorial content. We are now grouping together all of our
first-person narratives into a new section called ‘Travelogues’, and we are also
adding more pages dedicated to captivating travel stories from around the
world. Further still, we’ve introduced a couple of new regular features, including a ‘Wildlife Encounters’ guide that kicks off with a piece on unsung Malawi
(p200), plus a ‘Set-jetting’ (p37) article that unpicks the incredible real-life
locations that make our favourite films and TV shows shine.
Last but not least, we are thrilled to welcome a new cohort of Contributing
Editors to Wanderlust, alongside dedicated editors for our North America
(Jacqui Agate) and sustainability (Ketti Wilhelm) content. You can read about the
destinations they’re most excited about visiting on page eight.
As you plan your future travels, we hope to continue inspiring you to explore
the world in a deeper, slower and more responsible way – in 2024 and beyond!
Bon voyage,
George Kipouros
Editor in Chief
@georgiostravels

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Established in 1993, Wanderlust is the UK’s longest-running travel-media brand and the

#1 Consumer Travel Magazine in the UK
Off-thebeaten-path
and off-season
destinations and experiences
around the world

Thought-provoking content for
all kinds of travellers, ranging
from culture, history, art and
heritage through to our unrivalled nature,
wildlife and adventure-travel coverage

Extensive coverage of
immersive, authentic and
longer travel experiences for
the passionate travellers who care deeply
about our planet and its people

A strong focus on responsible,
sustainable travel throughout
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The Travel Green ListTM issue in spring

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 7

ABOUT US

Meet
the new
members
of the
team...

Contributors

and discover
their hot
picks for
2024 travel

LYNN BROWN

WILLIAM GRAY

SHERRY L RUPERT

JULIET RIX

Contributing Editor

Contributing Editor

Contributing Editor

Contributing Editor

Lynn Brown is a journalist,
professor and amateur
historian with a passion for
travel that helps inspire and
educate. She has joined
Wanderlust as our new
Contributing Editor and
is expecting a big 2024:
“I’m super excited to visit
the new International
African American Museum
in Charleston, USA, this
year. And as far as trends
go, I suspect that we’ll be
seeing even more places
leaning into cultural and
environmental travel.”

A longtime Contributing
Editor at Wanderlust, Will is
an award-winning writer,
photographer and author.
“In 2024, I’m seeking places
where photography and slow
travel go hand-in-hand. No
rushing around, gathering
content and posting on
social media. I want full
immersion, allowing me
to take the time to capture
the perfect light in places
like Iceland, the Namib
Desert, Norway’s Lofoten
Islands and Scotland’s
north-west Highlands.”

Juliet is a writer, broadcaster
and author with a focus on
travel and the arts. Now she
has joined Wanderlust as
our new Contributing Editor.
Her hot destination for
2024? Malta (see p126).
“Besides the paintings of
Caravaggio and the
greatest density of historic
sites of any country, it has
sun, sea and some of
the oldest prehistoric
architecture in the world.
I shall be there – updating
my Bradt Guide to Malta and
Gozo for its fifth edition.”

Sherry (Paiute and Washoe
Tribes of Nevada) is the
CEO of the American Indian
Alaska Native Tourism
Association and our new
Contributing Editor:
“In 2024, I expect to see
more people exploring the
authentic Native Nations and
Indigenous communities of
the United States. There are
endless transformative
experiences unique to these
cultures, which connect us
spiritually to the land we live
on and teach us to be good
stewards of the earth.”

MARK STRATTON

JACQUI AGATE

KETTI WILHELM

Contributing Editor

North America Editor

As a travel writer, radio broadcaster and
Wanderlust’s longtime Contributing
Editor, Mark thinks that Fiji (see p112)
is going to be a big hit with travellers in
2024: “After a lengthy shutdown during
the pandemic, this archipelago is
issuing a heartfelt plea for visitors to
return. Granted, it is a long flight. Yet
I encountered inspiring conservation
and community development projects
that rely on visitors for their success,
and which will make a journey to Fiji
in 2024 so richly rewarding.”

Jacqui is an award-winning journalist
and US travel specialist. She has also
recently joined the Wanderlust team
as our new North America Editor, so
her tip for 2024 is, naturally, going to
be Stateside: “This year, all eyes and
ears should be on Louisiana, USA.
Pulsing New Orleans will benefit from
a restored Gulf Coast Amtrak rail
service, while a new trail will go
beyond the Big Easy and hold a
microphone to the state’s underrated
musical hotspots.”

Sustainability
Editor at Large

Diversity
In Travel
Writing
Matters
cious
, cons
nsible le travel
o
p
s
e
b
R
staina
and su e heart of
is at th thing
every
we do

8 February/March 2024

After years spent developing her
website about sustainable travel,
TiltedMap.com, Ketti joins us as our
new Sustainability Editor at Large.
Her tip for 2024 is El Salvador: “A lot
has changed there in recent years,
with gang activity practically
eliminated. This is a perfect time to
visit this small country, where locals
appreciate tourism – and you’ll
appreciate the Maya archaeology,
volcano hikes and delicious pupusas.”

Since 2020, Wanderlust has committed to working on commissioning at least
20% of its content from travel writers from underrepresented backgrounds and
historically underrepresented groups. These include members of Indigenous
communities, people of colour, LGBTQIA+ activists, people with health conditions
or impairments, and people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
We want everyone to share their passion for travel with our readers!

© Wanderlust Travel Media Ltd, 2024, ISSN 1351-4733 Published by
Wanderlust Travel Media, Capital House, 25 Chapel St, Marylebone, London NW1
5DH. All rights are reserved. Reproduction in any manner, in whole or in part, is
strictly forbidden without the prior written consent of the publishers. All prices
are correct at time of press. No responsibility for incorrect information can be
accepted. Views expressed in articles are those of the authors, and not necessarily
the publishers. Wanderlust is a registered trademark. US distribution Wanderlust
(ISSN No: 1351-4733, USPS No: 23718) is published six times per year by Wanderlust

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ROBIN-LEE FRANCKE

SEAN CONNOLLY

PHOEBE SMITH

Cape Town, p68

Senegal, p198

Canada, p78

Robin-Lee is a journalist
from Cape Town. This issue,
she was excited to delve
into the history of her
hometown as South Africa
celebrates 30 years of
democracy: “While I know
about the history of our
country, listening to my
grandmother explain how
apartheid affected her and
seeing the pain etched on
her face made me feel
thankful we had people like
Nelson Mandela, who never
gave up on the fight for
freedom and democracy.”

Travel writer and author Sean
wrote the first Bradt Guide
to Senegal back in 2014.
This issue, he revisits the
Casamance region to learn
about the traditions of the
Diola: “On my first visit here,
a man dragged me inside his
shop, slamming the shutters
behind – ‘Can’t you see
there’s a masquerade
[traditional Diola dance]
coming? They’ll corner you!’
With the menacing spirits
passed, we tiptoed out,
knowing I had found a new
favourite corner of the world.”

Former Wanderlust editor,
travel author and host of
the Wander Woman travel
podcast, Phoebe heads to
Canada’s High Arctic region
this issue in search of
narwhal: “The floe edge – or
sinnaq – looks to the naked
eye like a crack in the ice, but
after climbing into the -2ºC
water, I could see the orange
dots of tiny microorganisms
beginning to form. Scientists
call this place the ‘Line of
Life’, and when submerged
in the water I could finally
understand why.”

General Enquiries:
UK: +44 (0)20 8185 0958
USA: +1 64 6844 8718
info@wanderlust.co.uk
EDITORIAL CONTENT
Editor-in-Chief George Kipouros
@georgiostravels
Founding Editor Lyn Hughes
@wanderlust.lyn
Associate Editor Gareth Clark
North America Editor Jacqui Agate
@jacquiagate
Special Features Editor
Rhodri Andrews
Special Features Editor
Rosie Fitzgerald (maternity leave)
Special Features Assistant Editor
Laura Field
Sustainability Contributing Editor
Karen Edwards
@KarenNEdwards_Writer
Sustainability Editor at Large
Ketti Wilhelm
Contributing Editors Lynn Brown,
William Gray, Juliet Rix,
Sherry L Rupert & Mark Stratton

Cover image: ‘Alconarian and gorgonian coral with schooling anthias dominate this Fijian reef scene’ by David Fleetham © Alamy

DESIGN
Art Director Graham Berridge

DEBBIE WARD

MIHIR SHAH

SUE WATT

British Break, p202

Health, p44

Malawi, p200

Travel journalist Debbie
heads to the bohemian
corners of East Sussex this
issue, where she meets an
idol: “I’ve been a fan of the
late Vogue-model-turnedphotographer Lee Miller
since seeing her work at the
Imperial War Museum. Her
home didn’t disappoint and
was filled with Surrealist
quirks. It sits perfectly
among other arty attractions
in East Sussex – an area
important to the Modernism
movement and current host
to the Turner Prize.”

Award-winning Battersea
dentist Dr Mihir Shah
spent most of his Kenyan
childhood on safaris in the
Masai Mara, avoiding run-ins
with hippos and cobras!
“My parents owned a luxury
expedition company, so I
am a seasoned traveller and
well-qualified to advise on
how to look after those
pearly whites while abroad!
For me, preparation and
anticipation have always
been the key to preventing
any major dental disasters
when travelling.”

An award-winning writer
on African travel and
conservation, Sue gives us
her tips for wildlife safaris in
Malawi – a country whose
wildlife has bounced back in
recent years: “I reported on
elephant translocations in
Malawi in 2016. When the
elephants were darted, they
flopped to the ground. I
monitored the breathing of
one of them, cupping my
hand on her trunk and
counting every breath,
hoping she’d be OK. I had no
idea it would be so intense.”

Assisted by
Lisa Duke (design),
Scott Jessop (maps)
DIGITAL
Digital Creative Director Anil Karwal
Digital Editor Jessica Reid
COMMERCIAL PARTNERSHIPS
Chief Commercial Officer
Adam Lloyds
(adam.lloyds@wanderlust.co.uk)
VP Brand Partnerships David Read
(david.read@wanderlust.co.uk)
Senior Creative Partnerships Manager
Simon Bryson
@_bryos
BUSINESS
Chief Executive George Kipouros
Chief Operating Officer
Elliot Wellsteed-Crook

SUSTAINABILITY
Wanderlust is printed on paper from sustainable forestry and produced using suppliers who conform
to ISO14001, an industrial, environmental standard that ensures commitment to low carbon emissions
and environmentally sensitive waste management. The paper can be widely recycled.

Please recycle this magazine

Official partner of the FCO’s
Know Before You Go Campaign

Marketing & Social Media Manager
Christina Wildman Mullett
Wanderlust Club Manager
Maria Manta
In memory of Co-founder & Publisher
Paul Morrison

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 9

34

41

98

154
CHECK IN
12 Viewfinder
Tradition and modernity in Qatar
and Mexico City, plus Canada’s
parks and saving the baobab

58

10 February/March 2024

41 Interview: Simon Reeve
The TV travel icon tells us about
his time in the ‘wilderness’

42 Sustainable Travel

We find inspiration in 2024’s joint
World Design Capital, San Diego

With airlines pinning their hopes
of greener travel on ‘Sustainable
Aviation Fuel’, we ask: how
sustainable is it really?

24 Your Photos

44 Health

You send us your top travel shots

21 Just Back From…
50

176

JOURNAL

Dental care isn’t a priority for
most people when they travel –
until they have an emergency

29 Grapevine

46 Departures

All the latest travel news, views
and stays – hot off the presses

Find inner peace and ancient
cultures on these pilgrim trails

34 Travel Trends 2024

50 World Food: Oman

Discover why we’ll all be taking
trains and going solo this year

Why the flavours of Omani
cuisine are rooted in its diaspora

37 Set-Jetting

53 Dream Sleep: Colorado

How the Dune films built new
worlds from the sands and tombs
of the UAE, Jordan and Italy

Savour a century-old resort on
the edge of Colorado Springs

38 Armchair Travel

The eco-stays and retreats
making West Sweden the king
of climate-smart escapes

The latest travel reads and
podcasts to get your feet itching

194

58 WanderSleeps
198

TRAVELOGUES
68 Cape Town
As 2024 marks 30 years since
South Africa’s first free election,
our Cape Town writer traces the
legacy of apartheid and how
the city found hope in it’s most
famous inmate: Nelson Mandela

78 Arctic Canada

68

Spring on Baffin Island sees the
sea ice break up, creating a ‘line
of life’ that draws seals, polar
bears and… narwhal – one of the
Arctic’s most prized sightings

126

140

176 Reader Travel Awards
Some 91,000 of you wrote in to
tell us your travel picks for 2024.
Here are the results…

88 Japan
A scheme set up to link travellers
with homestays in the coastal
town of Hagi offers a chance
to see a side of Japan far from
Honshu’s neon-drenched cities

DISCOVER
194 World Heritage
How the descendants of
enslaved Africans left their
mark on Brazil’s original capital

98 Rhode Island, USA
With a burst of TV shows eager
to depict the dramatic lives of
America’s high society during the
Gilded Age, we head to their old
summer playground of Rhode
Island, where its mansions and
mills record an era of change

198 Indigenous Culture
Senegal’s Diola offer a glimpse
of a life and culture far removed
from the rest of the country –
and a chance to meet their king

200 Wildlife Encounters

112

112 Fiji
Many of Fiji’s traditional iTaukei
communities adopt an age-old
way of living with nature. But
as the old ways die out, does
cultural tourism hold the key to
keeping them going and more
sustainable travel in the islands?

We look at how Malawi turned
parks ravaged by poachers into
some of Africa’s safari gems

202 British Break

140 Tobago

126 Malta

While large chunks of the
Caribbean and its forests have
been lost to development, tiny
Tobago hides a conservation
secret dating back to the 1700s

As a major new exhibition on
Caravaggio’s final work prepares
to exhibit in London, we head to
Malta to trace the Italian artist’s

Explore the lives of East Sussex’s
20th-century bohemian set

154 Hot List 2024

fruitful time on an island where
he was on the run for murder

It’s 24 for 2024! From tracking
gorillas in the Congo Basin
to chasing K-culture in South
Korea, our editors pick their
dream destinations for the year
PLUS Our Hot Shots offer an
escape for every season

209 Wanderlust Quiz
How well do you know your
islands? We put you to the test…

210 Top Guide
Nepalese guide Phurba Sherpa
on why the mountains are
always calling his name

78 Baffin Island
58 West Sweden
East Sussex 202
154 Kazakhstan

154 Mongolia

46 Italy
Colorado 53
San Diego 21

Spain 46
98 Rhode Island

154 Arizona
198 Senegal

12 Mexico City
Costa Rica 176

140 Tobago

126 Malta

South Korea 154
210 Nepal

37 Jordan
50 Oman
46 India
Saudi Arabia 176

88 Japan

154 Taiwan

Republic of Congo 154
200 Malawi

Map illustration: Scott Jessop

SUBSCRIBE
TODAY!

And get exclusive
access to offers,
competitions and
events. See p66
for details

Peru 154
Chile 154

194 Santiago da Bahia

68 Cape Town

Fiji 112

South Australia 154

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 11

VIEWFINDER

Mount Seymour,
British Columbia, Canada
Photographer: Blake Randall
It isn’t said enough, but the provincial
and state parks of Canada and the USA
hide some of North America’s finest
natural wonders. While national parks
tend to hog the attention, the likes of
Mount Seymour – barely a 40-minute
drive north of downtown Vancouver
– is one provincial gem among many.
It was here that Blake Randall, winner
of the ‘single image’ category of
the 10th International Landscape
Photographer of the Year award,
stumbled on this shot of ghostly birch
trees rising out of the lake. This park
attracts lots of locals but remains little
seen by travellers. And it’s not alone.
Anyone who has spied the crashing
falls of Wells Gray or the serene waters
of Joffre Lakes knows that there are
plenty more great shots to be found in
British Columbia’s provincial parks.
© Blake Randall. Winner of the
10th International Landscape
Photographer of the Year award for a
single image. internationallandscape
photographer.com

VIEWFINDER

National Museum of Qatar, Doha (left page)

Mexico City, Mexico (this page)

Photographer: Jason Schmidt
In a country like Qatar, where its wealth has created a
capital few could have imagined before the first barrel of oil
was filled here in 1939, how do you balance heritage with
ambition? It’s a question Jason Schmidt’s new book, Qatar:
Our Home, wrestles with as he flits between skyscrapers,
the rituals of coffee shops and the sight of camels penned outside Souq
Waqif. Tradition still tugs at a city that was little more than a fishing
village a century ago, and squaring this has been a challenge for the
architects of its cultural buildings. Yet, for travellers, the chance to gaze
on the pale exterior of IM Pei’s Museum of Islamic Art, Rem Koolhaas’
diamond-shaped National Library or Jean Nouvel’s National Museum of
Qatar (pictured), whose curves draw on the crystallisation of a ‘desert
rose’, is as joyous as the culture they contain. Wandering these buildings
is like watching a city thinking out loud about its place in the world.
© Jason Schmidt. Qatar: Our Home by Jason Schmidt (Assouline; £150)
is out now. assouline.com

Another capital with tradition in its bones is Mexico City.
From on high you wouldn’t think so. Its urbanisation almost
overwhelms you, as conurbation unfolds into suburb like
old blankets being shaken out. Nearly 21 million people live
here, but contained within this are myriad traditions and
cultures, as Aleph Molinari and Anfisa Vrubel explore in
their new book, Mexico City. These range from Plaza Garibaldi’s busy
mariachi bands to the Día de los Muertos parades that fill streets built on
the bones of an Aztec city with the skeletal forms of a thousand La
Catrinas. Against all this you’ll find a backdrop of Spanish Colonial
architecture, etched out in Baroque palaces such as the 18th-century
Casa de los Azulejos, as well as the more modern fruits of the city’s
homegrown stars, in the likes of local architect Fernando Romero’s
silver-coated Soumaya Museum. But it’s only when you glimpse all these
worlds side by side that you see how magical this sprawling city can be.
© EyeEm/Alamy. Mexico City by Aleph Molinari and Anfisa Vrubel
(Assouline; £85) is out now. assouline.com

Morondava, Madagascar
Photographer: Frederick Stenstrom
You never forget your first sight of
a baobab. For those who grew up
surrounded by swaying oaks, its
bloated trunk looks almost comical.
Little could shift it – in fact, the
widest ever recorded was over 10m
in diameter. It’s this girth (filled with
water) that allows it to survive Africa’s
driest climates, but even this is no
guarantee of a future. In Madagascar,
home to three times as many baobab
species as the rest of the continent
combined, 4,000 hectares of forest
are lost each year. Sights like the
Avenue of Baobabs (pictured), a grove
of towering Adansonia grandidieri,
could soon disappear. The impact
on the island’s biodiversity and the
people who rely on these trees has
prompted NGO One Earth to develop
a project that works with rural
Malagasy communities to create two
nurseries of 50,000 trees. For the
island, the replanting of its baobabs
offers hope for the future of a tree that
means so much to the present.
© Frederick Stenstrom/Alamy

VIEWFINDER




 
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JUST BACK FROM...

Reflected glory (above and below)
The ornate monuments of Balboa Park
aren’t just outstanding examples of
early 20th-century Spanish Colonial
architecture – they also house an
impressive array of museums

San Diego, California, USA

Shutterstock

Wanderlust digital editor Jessica Reid had design on her mind in southern California,
where art and architecture vie with whalewatching and waveriding for attention
Highlights: Perched at the southernmost
end of the Californian coast, sunny San
Diego is a tapestry of unique and colourful
neighbourhoods. From the hipster haven of
North Park and the Mexican vibe of Barrio
Logan to food-fuelled Little Italy and laidback La Jolla, these vibrant communities
reflect the city’s diversity and fusion of
cultures. And this year, San Diego is reaching out across the Mexican border to partner with Tijuana – which shares the same
natural and cultural landscape – as joint
World Design Capital (WDC) 2024.
Must see: Visit Balboa Park (balboapark.
org) for your museum fix. This historic
urban park’s Spanish Colonial Revivalstyle architecture houses 18 world-class
museums, many of them involved in WDC
2024. Design enthusiasts should visit
Mingei International Museum to explore

temporary exhibitions focusing on folk
craft such as weaving and beadwork. The
San Diego Museum of Art (sdmart.org) is
another cultural highlight, home to around
32,000 pieces – some dating from 3,000 BC
– including Spanish Old Masters by the likes
of El Greco and Francisco de Zurbarán.
In La Jolla, the Salk Institute for Biological
Studies (salk.edu) was founded more than
60 years ago by Jonas Salk, famed for
developing the first safe and effective polio
vaccine. Architecture fans flock here to
admire its iconic Brutalist design, featuring
a spacious travertine courtyard flanked by
six-storey concrete structures. Natural light
was an important element in Louis Kahn’s
design, crucial for nurturing scientific
research – especially in below-ground levels.
The Salk has even provided the backdrop for
a Louis Vuitton fashion show.

Barrio Logan, the city’s epicentre of
Mexican-American culture, is also one of
San Diego’s most artistic neighbourhoods.
At its heart is Chicano Park Museum and
Cultural Centre (chicanoparkmuseum.org)
– a curious park with more concrete than
trees. On its construction in the 1960s, ⊲

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 21

JUST BACK FROM...
Top tip: Don’t miss the opportunity to spot
incredible marine wildlife off San Diego’s
coast. On my two-hour tour with San Diego
Whale Watch (sdwhalewatch.com) I encountered a megapod of some 1,000 dolphins,
and even a humpback whale.You can expect
to spot different whale species across the
seasons – these waters welcome mostly grey
whales in winter and spring, blue whales in
summer and autumn, all migrating to and
from Baja California’s warmer seas.
Cautionary tale: You can’t visit the Californian coast without catching a wave, and surf
culture is huge in La Jolla. Beginners should
book a lesson (try surfdiva.com) before tackling the breaks, not only to learn surfing skills
but also for vital ocean safety tips, such as
how to spot and avoid riptides.
I wish I had known: Balboa Park is vast,
spanning nearly 500 hectares. Set aside ample
time to explore its many museums, theatres
and botanical gardens at your leisure; I’d
recommend allowing at least a day.
Anything else: Learn about the San
Diego Tijuana World Design Capital 2024
programme of events at wdc2024.org. For
more information about San Diego, visit
sandiego.org.

Design of the times (clockwise from top right) Various styles of art and architecture have flourished
in San Diego over the two and a half centuries since it was founded, including the colonial touches
at the recently renovated Lafayette Hotel; Mexican and Hispanic influences in the early 20th-century buildings of Balboa Park, including the San Diego Museum of Art, packed with art ranging from
Modern pieces to Spanish Old Masters such as El Greco; the mural-daubed concrete pillars of the
Coronado Bridge, rising from Chicano Park since 1969; the inspiring Brutalist Salk Institute in La Jolla

22 February/March 2024

LETTER
OF THE
MONTH
Growing up with Wanderlust
Though I didn’t have a difficult
upbringing, as the daughter
of a newsagent, money wasn’t
abundant when I was growing up.
We lived in a modest maisonette
above our shop, and I delivered
dailies and magazines for free on
my paper round. It was here that
I first came across Wanderlust,
pulling it out of my fluorescent
bag one Saturday morning while
delivering it to a customer. On its
cover, along with its classic logo,
was a picture of what looked like a
Hunza village similar to one I had
visited a decade earlier in Pakistan.
The contrast between this and
other, glossier travel magazines
was clear: its authentic approach
resonated with me and sparked
an interest to explore the world.
Eager to delve into its pages, I
recall running back to the shop to
grab a copy and dive in. This ritual
would persist for years, nurturing
a deep, growing wanderlust that
inevitably led me to where I am
now. I have launched my own travel
business guiding families with
curious children – like I was then –
to explore the world, in the hope
of instilling empathy in little hearts.
Congratulations on your recent
30th anniversary [issue 230]!
Basum Qureshi
Drop us a line with your stories
and travel tips at fromtheroad@
wanderlust.co.uk and help others
find their way. Also follow us on
Facebook (wanderlusttravelmagazine),
Threads (@wanderlustmag),
X (@wanderlustmag) and
Instagram (@wanderlustmag).

Wanderlust reserves the right to edit all submissions; images: Alamy; Shutterstock

the tendrils of Coronado Bridge unfurled
right above, thrusting down roots into the
park. To claim back their community, locals
began painting the bridge’s pillars with
street art depicting stories of their struggles and activism. Now it’s an expansive
open-air gallery of vibrant murals depicting
icons such as Frida Kahlo. Chicano Park is
a National Historic Landmark and a sacred
space for the community, hosting festivals
and events throughout the year.
Over the decades,The Lafayette (lafayette
hotelsd.com) – a 1946 Colonial-style hotel
and club in North Park – has welcomed such
glamorous figures as Frank Sinatra and Ava
Gardner through its doors, and scenes from
the original Top Gun movie were filmed here.
Even if you don’t book a room, the hotel’s
restaurants and bars are now the trendiest
hangouts in the city. A recent multi-milliondollar refurbishment reinvigorated its
speakeasy chic with loud jungle patterns,
animal prints and silk fringes. Today
you can grab an American breakfast at
Beginner’s Diner, throw bowling balls at
The Gutter, and quaff mescal and tuck
into tacos at the atmospheric, Oaxacaninspired Quixote restaurant.

YOUR PHOTOS

#wanderlustmag
You’ve been sending us images of your latest trips and favourite
adventures – tag us at #wanderlustmag on Instagram or email
them to us at fromtheroad@wanderlust.co.uk

“This shot was taken on an afternoon game drive from Chitwa Chitwa Game Lodge in
Sabi Sands, South Africa. The guide told us that it was normal for leopard mothers to hide
their cubs while they went hunting. It waited there until its mum returned.” Philip Highy

“There’s nothing quite like hot air
ballooning outside Alice Springs for your
daughter’s birthday.” Gunilla Roberts

“On a walking holiday in Italy’s
Dolomites, I noticed these rowing boats
leading nicely into the lake.” Martin Killey

“After a humid hike, my girlfriend and
I finally got our moment at Singapore’s
Fort Canning Park.” Caroline Soons

“We visited the Library of Celsus in
Ephesus during the day and then returned
for dinner at night.” Bruce and Geri Haney

“A trip to Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge in
Churchill, Canada, gave me wonderful views
of polar bears at close quarters.” Jan Land

“Jordan’s Wadi Rum is a giant climbing
playground packed with interesting rock
formations.” Cécile van Werveke

24 February/March 2024

     
 

 
 
 
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Grapevine

29

Travel Trends for 2024

34

Set-jetting

37

Armchair Travel

38

Interview: Simon Reeve

41

Sustainable Travel

42

Health

44

Departures: Pilgrimage Routes

46

World Food: Oman

50

Dream Sleep

53

Wandersleeps: West Sweden

58

Alamy

Sleeping easier Gothenburg has
a reputation for being one of the
greenest cities to spend the night,
with 92% of its hotels having some
form of eco-certification; see p58



    
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GRAPEVINE

What’s New
All the latest stays, exhibitions, new openings and
cultural events that have us digging out our passports

Exhibitions
& galleries
After a £27 million redevelopment,
Perth Museum in Scotland opens its
doors once more in spring 2024. At the
centre of its impressive collection is
the Stone of Destiny, an ancient
symbol of Scotland’s monarchy that
returns to the region for the first time in
over 700 years. perthmuseum.co.uk

Return of the Grand Master
Malta’s capital, Valletta, is a masterpiece of medieval
architecture, built by the Knights of the Order of St John after
fending off an Ottoman invasion in 1565. At its centre lies the
Grand Master’s Palace, from which the leader of the Order
once ruled. It was the first building constructed here, and for
decades it even housed Malta’s parliament. Now, 450 years
after it was built, following a £35 million renovation, it has
reopened to the public. A new centre helps visitors to unravel
its importance and explore sights like the armoury, which
has now been restored to its original site. This is an incredible
piece of history, resplendent in Baroque frescoes and many
of the treasures that the Knights accrued. heritagemalta.mt

Shutterstock; Yale University Art Gallery

A global vision
Traveleyes, the specialist tour operator
for blind and partially sighted travellers,
has launched a new collection of UK and
international adventures in partnership
with HF Holidays. The company, founded
in 2004 by blind entrepreneur Amar
Latif, welcomes sighted travellers on its
tours alongside those with restricted
sight. New itineraries include enjoying
horseback rides and meeting the
‘Big Five’ in Eswatini; discovering the

smells, tastes, sounds and heritage
of India’s Golden Triangle; and even
hiking the final 100km of the Camino de
Santiago in northern Spain. “By joining
forces with HF Holidays, Traveleyes
continues its journey post-pandemic,”
says Latif, “enabling visually impaired
people to travel the world again on their
own terms, whilst offering enriching
experiences for sighted travellers, too.”
traveleyes-international.com

After closing in 2005, Egypt’s
iconic Graeco-Roman Museum in
Alexandria underwent nearly two
decades of restoration work before it
soft-launched to the public late last
year. With 27 exhibition halls, its 10,000
artefacts date from the pre-Alexander
period and up until the Byzantine era.
All eyes are on southern India for the
launch of Hampi Art Labs in February
2024. The arts centre’s design was
inspired by the nearby temple town of
Vijayanagar and it opens with the Right
Foot First exhibition, featuring works by
the likes of Andy Warhol, Annie Morris
and Atul Dodiya. hampiartlabs.com
To celebrate what would have been
the 100th birthday of the artist Roy
Lichtenstein, a key figure in Pop Art,
Vienna’s Albertina Museum is hosting
a major retrospective of his work
(pictured top; 8 Mar–14 Jul) featuring
over 90 pieces, including paintings,
sculptures and graphics. albertina.at
Built on an active research site in New
Jersey, USA, the Jean and Ric Edelman
Fossil Park Museum is a £60 million
project that transports visitors deep into
the state’s past. The museum – open in
spring 2024 – is perched above a giant
quarry that is home to fossils dating
back 66 million years. Expect lots of
immersive exhibits as well as fossilhunting experiences. rowan.edu
⊲

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 29

GRAPEVINE

Mardi Gras in
New Orleans
The Big Easy’s sassy pre-Lent festival
is much more than just jazz, bourbon
and extravagant cavalcades

13
February
New Orleans’ boisterous Carnival
culminates on ’Fat Tuesday’, known
in the UK as Shrove Tuesday.

78

Travellers to the East African safari hotspot of Kenya can now
visit visa-free – and more cheaply – thanks to the introduction
this January of an Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA) system
similar to that used by the USA and Australia. Previously, visitors
from outside the region typically needed to apply for a visa
in advance, with a single-entry costing US$50 (£40). Now
travellers can apply online for an eTA costing just US$30 (£24),
with processing expected to take under 72 hours, though you’ll
still need to supply advance passenger information. Dreams of
snorkelling the reefs off Watamu or Mombasa, climbing Mount
Kenya and tracking the great migration across the Masai Mara
just got that bit closer to fulfilment. etakenya.go.ke/en

Crowning glory
Following an ambitious 16-year restoration, Greece’s Palace of Aigai –
where Alexander the Great was crowned king of Macedonia in 336 BC
– has officially reopened. It was from here that Alexander launched his
unrivalled campaign of conquest, sweeping across the Near East as far
as Egypt and the Himalaya. Now visitors can once again wander the
colonnaded courtyards and mosaic-adorned banquet halls of this
15,000 sqm palace, which was built by Alexander’s father, Philip II, and
then later razed by the Romans. Despite once being the largest palace
in classical Greece, it was lost for generations and was only
rediscovered in the 19th century near the small town of Vergina in
northern Greece, about 50km south-west of Thessaloniki. Extensive
renovation work has included raising huge marble columns and
repairing the intricate mosaic floors. aigai.gr/en/1253-palace-of-aigai

30 February/March 2024

1699
The first Mardi Gras in North America
was celebrated 325 years ago, on
3 March 1699, by French-Canadian
explorers at a landing site near
what is now New Orleans.

$0
Commercial sponsorship of floats is
prohibited by a city ordinance,
so all costs are covered by the
krewes and riders.

168
years old
The oldest continuously operating
Carnival outfit is the Mistick Krewe of
Comus, founded by a secret society
of 21 businessmen in 1856.

39 days
Though the most raucous events
take place on Mardi Gras itself, the
Carnival season kicks off on Twelfth
Night (6 January), so celebrations
can run for over five weeks.

⊲

George Kipouros; Shutterstock

Easier access to Kenya

Today, the New Orleans area is home
to some 78 krewes – Mardi Gras
clubs, many led by Kings or Queens
from long-established, old-money
families – that organise parades
and, in some cases, private balls.








 

GRAPEVINE

Keeping
it surreal
Travellers in Europe
might spy melting
clocks, lobster
telephones and
faceless men in
bowler hats during
this year’s centenary
celebrations for the
Surrealist movement.
The genre took off in 1924, when rival Surrealist groups
issued manifestos outlining their artistic rationale – or lack of.
Locations including Tartu (Estonia), Lausanne (Switzerland)
and Paris will showcase key pieces, but the biggest events
are in Brussels (Belgium), former home of René Magritte and
a fertile surrealist hub. From 21 February, you can admire work
by the likes of Max Ernst, Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Man Ray
and Magritte in exhibitions at the city’s BOZAR and Royal
Museums of Fine Arts. 100yearsofsurrealism.be

New sleeps
Elephants take centre stage at
Angama Amboseli lodge, set in a
fever tree forest in Kimana Sanctuary,
Kenya’s first community-owned
conservancy. This is among the last
havens for Africa’s ‘super tuskers’,
whose tusks weigh over 45kg, and the
lodge’s ten expansive suites have
grand terraces from which to spy any
passing pachyderms. angama.com
The Leinster is Dublin’s newest luxury
lifestyle hotel and a defiantly modern
bolthole from which to explore the
Irish capital. Its 55 bedrooms, suites
and public spaces include some 300
artworks by the likes of Damien Hirst,
while Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s
rooftop restaurant offers views over
leafy Merrion Square. theleinster.ie

The new and luxurious Riviera
Maya EDITION at Kanai resort rises
up among mangrove forests in a
250-hectare reserve south of Cancún.
It’s both secluded and handy for the
white-sand beaches, circular cenotes,
sealife-rich reefs and ancient Maya
monuments of Mexico’s Yucatán
Peninsula. editionhotels.com

32 February/March 2024

With a new year comes thrilling new
flight routes. From 31 March, Virgin
Atlantic (virginatlantic.com) will
begin operating daily flights from
London Heathrow to Bengaluru, one
of the largest cities in southern India.
Bengaluru is a well-known tech hub
– often described as ‘India’s Silicon
Valley’ – but it also attracts travellers
seeking cultural treasures, such as St
Mary’s Basilica and Bengaluru Palace.

In May, Jet2 (jet2.com) are launching
a new service from both Manchester and
Birmingham airports to Bergen, one of
Norway’s more fascinating historic cities
and gateway to the fjords. The same
month also sees WestJet (westjet.com)
begin flights from Edinburgh to both
Toronto and Halifax (Canada). It’s the first
time Edinburgh will be linked to Nova
Scotia, which is known for its lobsters
and beautiful Bay of Fundy.

Alamy; Shutterstock; Visama Mae Chan

In something of a first, you can now
join a luxury houseboat on Rwanda’s
Lake Kivu. The ten-cabin Mantis Kivu
Queen uBuranga offers two- or threenight cruises connecting the national
parks of Volcanoes and Nyungwe
Forest, both known for their primates.
Trips include guided wildlife watching
and kayaking. mantiscollection.com

New flight routes

The best aspect of the new Visama
Mae Chan retreat (pictured) in
Chiang Rai isn’t the luxurious tented
accommodation, northern Thai Lanna
cuisine or long menu of activities, it’s
the retreat’s community focus. The
hotel supports the Friends of Thai
Daughters foundation, empowering
girls from local hilltribe communities.
maechan.visamalodges.com




   




 



 

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GRAPEVINE
announced a raft of new rail services,
including the luxurious Orient Express
La Dolce Vita. And in Mexico, the
much-anticipated Maya Train, which
runs for 1,500km across the Yucatan
Peninsula, finally launches in spring.
Tour operators are also responding
to the public’s desire for flight-free
options with epic and imaginative itineraries; for instance, we love Discover
the World’s Arctic Rail Odyssey.

OFF-SEASON TRAVEL
Wanderlust readers have long travelled
year-round; now the rest of the world
is catching up. A recent ABTA survey
showed a move towards travel in the
European ‘shoulder’ seasons, with
May, June and October now more
popular months than the traditional
summer peak. Avoiding crowds,
high-season prices and the effects of
climate change are likely factors, and
it is a trend that looks set to continue.
This is good news for destinations,
as off-season travel is a more sustainable form of tourism, which helps
businesses and livelihoods during the
traditional slow periods. It’s good news
for travellers too, with more places and
activities open for business during
times when they would usually close.

The top travel
trends for 2024

SOLO SOJOURNS

How will we travel in 2024? From solo sojourns
to volcanic adventures, Lyn Hughes predicts the
trends that will take off in the year ahead...
A GOLDEN AGE OF RAIL
Before the boom in affordable flights,
trains were synonymous with travel
adventures; thereafter they were
mostly relegated to the horrors of
commuter journeys. But as a new era
of night trains, high-speed intercontinental routes and luxury services
dawns and more people seek out
low-carbon alternatives to flying, it’s
time to hit the rails again.
The options for night trains are
growing fast, and include Austrian
Railways’ Nightjet sleeper services
linking Austria, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. Then there’s the European
Sleeper, the overnight service between
Brussels, Amsterdam and Berlin that
extends its route to include Dresden
and Prague this March. There is also
a ‘Canopus’ sleeper service running

34 February/March 2024

from Prague to Zurich via Dresden,
Leipzig, Frankfurt am Main and Basel.
On the luxury front, the Eastern and
Oriental Express – the launch of which
was announced in the very first issue of
Wanderlust, over 30 years ago – restarts
this year having paused when the
pandemic hit. Meanwhile, Italy has

Going solo
(this page; top to
bottom) Travelling
alone is a trend
that tour operators
are increasingly
beginning to cater
for; the Eastern
and Oriental
Express returns to
the tracks in 2024
for new routes
between Malaysia
and Singapore

Solo travel has always mattered to
Wanderlust. In a major guide to the
topic in our August/September 2023
issue, we reported that Google Trends
showed searches for the phrase were up
761%.This is borne out by many travel
companies reporting a spike in bookings from solo travellers. Some operators offering small-group tours report
over half their bookings are now from
solos, while self-guided walking-holiday specialist Macs Adventure claims
it has seen a 30% increase year on year.
It is noticeable that the word ‘solo’
is now widely used at last, rather than
‘single’. As travel industry news site
Skift reports, the surge in solo travel
is led by older, married women who
want to get out and explore the world,
and are doing it without their spouses.
Expect a corresponding increase in
exciting and innovative solo-friendly
holidays from tour operators in 2024
as they tap into this market.

SLEEPING IN NATURE
Our passion for wild yet comfortable
sleeps is growing. Stays in treehouses
first became a trend a decade ago, and

JOURNAL Travel Trends
it shows no sign of abating. New properties are launching all the time, ranging from the rustic to the chic, but it’s
not just treehouses that we love.While
cabin stays have long been popular in
North America, here in the UK we’re
just catching up, with Google reporting a huge increase in cabin-related
searches for a ‘log cabin with hot tub’.
Yes, nature is glorious, but if cabins
come equipped with an outdoor bath,
hot tub or sauna, then all the better.
Elsewhere, some African safari
camps now offer ‘star beds’. These
open-air bedrooms let you hunker
down in a comfortable bed encased by
a mosquito net while you listen to the
sounds of nature and indulge in a spot
of stargazing as you drift off.

LOOK TO THE SKIES
We’re currently going through a
period of intense solar activity, with
2024 and 2025 expected to welcome
the most impressive aurora borealis in
over a decade. Last year alone, aurora
sightings were made as far south in the
UK as Cornwall. Of course, you’ll still
need clear skies, and it helps if you’re
away from too much light, but this is a
fine year to start studying the heavens.
It’s not just the northern lights which
are fascinating us. Interest in stargazing
is at a high, with lots of apps available
to help spot constellations. The darksky movement is also gaining momentum, and Dark Sky International has,
to date, certified over 200 sites globally.
But many countries have their own way
of designating areas away from light
pollution, so look out for these too.
Travelling to experience a solar
eclipse has also caught our imagination. The big one for 2024 has been
dubbed the Great North American
Eclipse (8 April), and it will be the only
total solar eclipse in the 21st century
where totality will be visible in the
United States, Mexico and Canada.

Alamy

VOLCANIC VENTURES
With volcanoes in the news so much
recently, it may feel as if the number
of eruptions is increasing globally,
but the Smithsonian Institute’s
Global Volcanism Program refutes
this. What has happened, though,
is that reporting on volcanic activity has increased, while spectacular
drone footage on social media now
showcases the full power of eruptions like never before. It is therefore
not surprising that there has been

Fire and stars
(this page; top
to bottom) Java’s
Mount Bromo
might not have
erupted since 2016,
but a sunset walk
up to its crater rim
is an unforgettable
experience; the
UK is filled with
great star-gazing
sites, though
few are more
beautiful that of
Northumberland’s
1,483 sq km Dark
Sky Park

an increase in interest in visiting
volcanoes, whether erupting or not.
Iceland is the obvious destination benefiting from this newfound
love of lava-chasing, and it leads the
way on Google searches. It has even
designated a new Volcanic Way driving route – a 700km trip on paved
roads that focuses on volcanic sites
and the communities that live in the
surrounding villages. As well as taking
in eight major volcanoes, it features
hot springs, lava fields, black-sand
beaches and volcanic islands.

Other spots to consider for a bit of
volcanic drama include Lanzarote
and La Palma in the Canary Islands,
Sicily and the Aeolian Islands in Italy,
Mount Bromo in Indonesia, Hawaii’s
Volcanoes National Park, and the
Avenue of Volcanoes in Ecuador. Just
remember to do so safely.

RESET RETREATS
In a world getting ever faster, noisier
and brighter, and with so much bad
news bombarding us daily, it’s no
surprise that people are looking for
an escape that allows them to relax.
Whether longing for a digital detox,
craving some headspace or dreaming
of serenity, we’ve become more aware
of how important our wellbeing is.
A reset retreat doesn’t always have
to be a full-on detox complete with
yoga classes and guided meditation.
It could be somewhere we can curl
up in front of a fire with a book, or
a quiet place outdoors where we can
sit luxuriating in nature. This is a year
for wellbeing and wellness, in whatever
way you like. And breathe…

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 35

sands, Italian tombs and Norwegian isles that give life to the Dune films

Alamy; © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved/Warner Bros. Pictures

V

isitors to south-west Jordan can expect plenty of
incredible sights. For starters, there’s the Nabataean spectacle of Petra to admire, jet-black
night skies and the never-ending tide of desert
above which Sinai rosefinches twist in the air.
Now, alongside these wonders, we can add film crews.
Hollywood filmmakers have seized on the Wadi Rum area
in particular. Its otherworldly aesthetics have become cinematic shorthand for ‘alien world’, with recent blockbusters
shot here including The Martian, Prometheus and a couple of
StarWars flicks.The latest to join their ranks is the new Dune
franchise, the second instalment of which is out in March.
Together with Abu Dhabi’s Liwa Desert, whose vast
Empty Quarter dunes must have lit up the eyes of director Denis Villeneuve, Wadi Rum stands in for the spiceladen, sandworm-infested planet of Arrakis in the films.
Given space operas have a habit of rallying the passports
of fandom – especially to desert regions – if it does for
Jordan and the UAE anything like 1977’s StarWars: A New
Hope did for Tunisia, both can expect a deluge of pilgrims
clutching sandy copies of Frank Herbert’s original books.
The sequel opens up Dune’s universe further, introducing the imperial House Corrino and their home planet of
Kaitain, with one particularly arresting filming location
being Italy’s Brion Tomb. Located in the village cemetery
of San Vito d’Altivole, an hour’s drive from Venice, this
outrageous dash of Modern architecture by Carlo Scarpa

is the resting place of a family who, rather fittingly, made
their money in TV manufacture. It also lies close to Treviso,
whose waterways, frescoes and far fewer tourists make for
a more chilled alternative to ‘the floating city’.
Elsewhere, Norway’s coastline gave shape to the fictional
planet of Caladan, home of House Atreides, in the first film.
The epic views off Myresanden on the Stadlandet Peninsula (six hours’ drive from Bergen) provided the location
for our hero’s last glimpse of his world, and eager operators
were quick to include it on itineraries, along with established travel spots such as Runde island and Geirangerfjord.
Further along the coast lies Kinn Island, whose cliffs make
a memorable cameo in the series. Departing from Florø,
a 45-minute boat ride drops you off on an island where
rugged hikes and the gapped crest of Kinnaklova await. It’s a
striking end to a journey that spans continents and galaxies.
Dune: Part Two is out in cinemas from 1 March

Let the spice flow!
(clockwise from
top) Jordan’s Wadi
Rum takes centre
stage as the desert
planet Arrakis in the
Dune films; Javier
Bardem as Freman
leader Stilgar in
Dune: Part Two;
film stars Timothée
Chalamet and
Zendaya do their
best to out-simmer
the scenery in the
new Dune sequel

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 37

ARMCHAIR TRAVEL

Read this!

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Find inspiration for your adventures, as the
experts at Stanfords pick the latest travel
reads to whet your appetite for the road
Local
by Alastair Humphreys
Eye Books; £13
Stanfords Book of the Month
for January 2024
After years of
expeditions all over
the planet, British
explorer Alastair
Humphreys turns his gaze on
the area in which he lives. In
doing so, he ends up learning
more about the natural
world than in all his years of
travelling. The resulting story
prompts a revelation we can
all relate to: that the wildlife
around us needs protecting.

Saudi Arabia
by Grace Edwards
Bradt; £20
This book is perhaps
most notable for
being the first
English-language
guide from a major travel
publisher written exclusively
on Saudi. It will surely be one
of many to come and offers
great advice on a remarkable
region that travellers are
still just learning about.

The Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World
by Bettany Hughes
Orion; £25
While all but Egypt’s
Great Pyramid have
been lost to history,
the Seven Wonders
of the old world still enthral
us today. Historian Bettany
Hughes brings her trademark
intelligence and enthusiasm
to bear as she traces their
stories and realises that they
all share one thing: humanity’s
capacity to dream big.

Terrible Maps
by Michael Howe
Harper Collins; £15
Stanfords Book of the Month
for December 2023
Drawing on the
popular social
media feed of the
same name, this
book sits firmly on the side of
the editorial fence labelled
geographical dad jokes. But
we love cartography in any
form, especially if it points
out how similar the shape of
Oklahoma is to a thumbs-up.

Readers get 10% off by using the code ‘Wandering’
on the Stanfords website (www.stanfords.co.uk).
Wanderlust members can get 25% off.

Love from Venice:
A Golden Summer
on the Grand Canal
by Gill Johnson
Hodder & Stoughton; £25
Charting a summer
of rebellion in 1950s
Venice, this memoir
recalls a time when
the author swapped a comfy
gig at London’s National
Gallery for teaching English
to an aristocratic Italian
family, drawing on the letters
she sent to her admirer. In
embedding herself in the
city’s high society, she also
bears witness to the dying
days of the Grand Tour, when
Europe’s young socialites ran
wild across its old cities.

Black Ghosts:
A Journey Into the
Lives of Africans
in China
by Noo Saro-Wiwa
Canongate; £15
Author Noo SaroWiwa looks beyond
the usual historical
or political subjects
that take the focus of most

books on China and instead
looks at what she calls ‘Black
ghosts’: the large numbers of
African economic migrants
living there. In doing so, she
explores a little-documented
world, meeting everyone
from drug dealers to cardiac
surgeons, and looks at
how these often cloistered
communities intersect with
the wider Chinese society.

Walking Scotland’s
Best Small
Mountains
by Kirstie Shirra
Cicerone; £17
The popularity of
munro-bagging
– climbing all
the mountains in
Scotland over 914m – has
meant that many of the
country’s smaller peaks are
often overlooked. This book
proves that what they lack in
stature, they more than
make up for in character,
offering a series of routes
that are aimed at providing
day walks with ascents
accessible to non-climbers.

If you enjoyed delving into our Hot List 2024
this issue (p154), then look out for our special
episode of Wanderlust: Off the Page in which
OFF THE PAGE
we do a deeper dive into some of the top
picks featured. And if our article on Tobago
(p140) has your feet itching, download our popular Tobago
special from last year, in which three locals give their insights
and highlights. Other episodes to catch up on include Happy
Birthday Wanderlust, California Dreaming and the awardwinning Exploring the Amazon through Indigenous Eyes. ⊲
38 February/March 2024

Shutterstock

PODCASTS: OFF THE PAGE





ARMCHAIR TRAVEL
London who finally encountered the
wild and felt the change it brings. And
I think I saw that amongst the people
we encountered on these journeys.

What are some other highlights
we should look out for?
The Coral Triangle is probably the
most important patch of ocean on the
planet.You’ve heard of rewilding? Well,
we met a young female conservation
scientist who’s re-sharking the seas.
She’s beginning a world-first project
with universities to release critical
sharks back into the ocean. So, we’re
not just talking about problems; we’re
witnessing some unique projects and
hopefully providing solutions as well.

Simon Reeve
Simon Reeve’s new series sees him head into the
wilderness. But what did he find, asks Lyn Hughes?
What was the big idea behind
Wilderness with Simon Reeve?
I think it’s just about the most important series I’ve ever made because we
are highlighting areas of the planet
that are fundamentally connected to
us. They govern and help to shape a
climate on this world that affects us
all. Unless we know about these areas,
and unless we care about them, we will
ultimately lose them. This isn’t just
a glossy travelogue; hopefully, we are
showing a bit of light and shade.

BBC/The Garden/Simon Reeve; BBC/The Garden/Piers Leigh

Will this inspire people to travel?
It is only a good thing if people learn
about somewhere they might go.
Generally speaking, these places need
wealthy Western travellers turning
up and putting money into the local
economy. I’m still a big believer in

“I really believe
we need a
more profound
connection
with Mother
Nature”

the power of responsible, careful and
sustainable travel.

What did you find that gave you
hope for the future?
We have not destroyed all of Mother
Nature. There is still a planet worth
learning about and caring for. What
I saw gave me more hope than I
expected. Sitting in the UK, we don’t
get how enormous these wilderness
areas are or the treasures they hold.
We also met the most magnificent
range of characters in this series, such
as Adams Cassinga [in the Democratic
Republic of Congo]. He risks his life
every day running an undercover
organisation that takes down poachers
and wildlife smuggling gangs. Meeting
a local conservationist like him gave
me massive hope. These are people
who recognise they’ve got something
vitally important and want to protect it

A wild life
(top to bottom)
Simon takes a selfie
in the rainforest of
the Congo Basin,
where he meets
conservationists
risking their lives
to battle poachers
in his new series,
Wilderness; in the
second episode,
Simon treks across
the mountains
and ice fields of
Patagonia to ride
with gauchos

What was your standout moment?
Crawling along the ground with two
San trackers in the heart of the Kalahari. One was called Old Tweed; he
was one of the most epically magnificent humans I’ve met anywhere in the
world. He was warm, welcoming and
had an encyclopaedic knowledge of
the natural world. We were crawling
to get up close to a herd of wildebeest,
and it sends a proper shiver down my
spine now to think that I’ve done that.
It was a privilege, and I hope people
will resonate with the struggle of the
San to find food and live their lives.
I hope people will recognise and
respect their existence more as a result.

And what did you learn while
filming this series?
There is still a wild planet out there,
and it’s huge, enormous, beautiful
and life-affirming to understand it
and be amongst it. In these places,
I found it very moving to have that
sense of being in raw nature.
Wilderness with Simon Reeve is
currently on BBC Two and iPlayer

What was the biggest surprise?
That the people we encountered in
ludicrously remote areas were so
pleased to engage with us. I really
believe we need a more profound
connection with Mother Nature. I
speak as someone who grew up in West

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 41

SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL

Can flying ever
be sustainable?
After the world’s first long-haul flight by a commercial airliner
was completed without using fossil fuels, Karen Edwards
digs into the complex world of sustainable aviation fuel

W

hen it comes to
debate around
sustainable travel,
there is one sector
that comes under
particular scrutiny. Despite research
(published in the Global Environmental Change Journal) stating just 11% of
the world’s population travel by plane,
and only 1% fly frequently, aviation
currently accounts for around 2.5%
of global carbon emissions. What’s
more, it contributes to as much as
5% of climate change attributed to
human activity. And as things stand,
these figures are only set to rise.
At the current trajectory, emissions
from commercial air travel have been
predicted by the United Nations aviation body to triple by 2050. It is for
this reason that many governments
– including the UK – are investing in

“Aviation contributes
to as much as 5%
of climate change
attributed to
human activity”
alternative fuels, in the hope of reducing carbon emissions and tackling this
major contributor to climate change.
Biofuels, green hydrogen and
synthetic e-fuels are just some of
the substitutes being researched and
tested as potential replacements for
traditional jet fuel, but it’s currently
‘sustainable aviation fuel’ (SAF) that
is getting the most attention.

What is SAF?
While traditional kerosene-based jet
fuel derives from fossil fuels (primarily crude oil), SAF is typically created
using waste oils (such as used cooking
oil), animal fats and ethanol derived

42 February/March 2024

from corn production. Like traditional
jet fuel it is a hydrocarbon, refined via
a three-stage process, and produces a
similar amount of CO2 when burned.
So, where does the name come from?
The ‘sustainable’ tag arises from
the life-cycle of SAF emissions, which
considers its origin (from plants and
livestock rather than fossil fuels) as
well as its renewability. There are also
significant practical benefits, in that the
use of SAF requires little alteration to
current aircraft and could, in theory, be
introduced quickly and efficiently in a
heavily diluted form. Current regulations only allow airlines to use up to a
50% blend of SAF and regular kerosene fuel without special permission.

Is SAF truly sustainable?
Unfortunately, SAF isn’t as ‘sustainable’ as its name makes out. A 2023
report by The Royal Society states
that to meet the commercial aviation needs of the UK, more than half
the country’s farmland would need
to grow SAF-purposed crops. Even
if this were possible, monoculture
farming is a huge driver of deforestation, land degradation, freshwater
pollution and biodiversity loss.
“Biofuels and SAF are simply not
sustainable, as we need our crops for
food,” explains Helena Bennett, head
of climate policy at Green Alliance.
“There are people living in poverty,
so transforming land used for food
crops into fuel crops isn’t tenable.”
Added to this is the fact that the
majority of recycled oil stocks is
currently used to reduce emissions in
ground transportation. If it were to be
primarily used in aviation, the scarcity
elsewhere might push other industries
into using less sustainable fuels.
It’s understandable why the airline
industry wants to get behind SAF as
an idea. The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) recently pulled

Taking off?
(below) SAF is one
alternative fuel
among many, but
it has caught the
imagination of
both airlines and
governments,
despite doubts
that its production
could ever be
sustainably scaled
up to produce the
amounts required
for widespread use

up airlines for promoting its use as
a means of ‘protecting the environment’. But there are lots of issues to
be addressed first.
One of the more concerning is that
the CO2 emitted by aircraft in flight
is not reduced by using SAF. “These
emissions are also more potent than
at surface level,” adds Helena. Indeed,
CO2 has a larger heat-trapping effect
in the cooler temperatures found in the
upper atmosphere, and it is a problem
for which there is no obvious solution.
The use of SAF also doesn’t
change aircraft emissions of other
greenhouse gases, such as nitrous
oxide – which has a Global Warming
Potential (GWP) 273 times that of
CO2. However, studies carried out
by NASA and the German Aerospace
Center do suggest SAF use may at
least produce fewer contrails (icy
clouds formed from water vapour),
which are a large contributor to aviation-induced warming – though this
is still under investigation.

JOURNAL Sustainable Aviation Fuel
What travellers need to know

Last year, the British government
proposed that SAF should be a
major source of fuel in UK commercial aviation by 2030 – its Jet Zero
strategy demands at least 10% of fuel
used should be SAF. It also aims to
build a minimum of five UK-based
commercial SAF plants by 2025. The
bare facts, however, are that even if
production could be proportionately
scaled, biofuels currently represent
less than 0.1% of total jet fuel used
today, so widespread use of 100%
SAF would takes years to implement.
“The only way to build a fully
zero-emissions flight is to create
new ways to propel planes,” believes
Helena. For many people, green
hydrogen (made from water using
renewable energy) looks to be the best
future alternative, but even this would
require huge supplies, airport infrastructure and for planes and engines to
be redesigned, which is both a timely
and expensive process.

We’re on an evolutionary journey
with alternative fuels. SAF has gained
traction because politicians and the
industry are getting behind it, but the
general scientific consensus is that it
currently doesn’t have the potential to
be a genuinely sustainable fuel source.
The good news is that there are
scientists, engineers and experts working hard to build true zero-emissions
flights, but they need government
investment and industry support to
make that happen in the next decade.
In the meantime, travel is a £6.07
trillion industry on which many
nations depend, so the answer isn’t to
travel less but to find alternatives to
flight. Taking the train more regularly and embracing overland
travel for short-haul trips are
currently the most powerful ways to reduce
your carbon footprint.
It’s just one step in
what will be a long journey for us all.

100 not out!
(right) Virgin
Atlantic recently
became the first
commercial airline
to complete a
long-haul journey
using 100%
SAF, though its
Flight100 aircraft
still produced a
similar amount of
CO2 in flight as if
it were propelled
by fossil fuels

Case study:
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
FLIES ON 100% SAF

Alamy

Investment and innovation

In late November 2023, Virgin Atlantic
became the first commercial airline
to complete a long-haul flight from
London Heathrow to New York JFK
airport using 100% SAF.
At the time, Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai
Weiss announced: “Flight100 proves
that sustainable aviation fuel can be
used as a safe, drop-in replacement
for fossil-derived jet fuel and it’s the
only viable solution for decarbonising
long-haul aviation.”
However, as reports show, the availability of the feedstock from which SAF
is derived is simply not at the levels
needed for this alternative fuel to go
mainstream. Transforming land used
for food crops into fuel crops will only
transfer the problem, putting pressure
on the global food system and risking
more environmental degradation.
What Flight100 does demonstrate
is how innovative technology can be
built – providing there’s large investment from both industry and government – and that gives us all hope
for change.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 43

HEALTH

TOOTHCARE BY
THE NUMBERS*

39%
Almost two in five UK adults
don’t go to the dentist regularly

6
MILLION
adults in the UK have had longlasting pain (over two weeks)
caused by toothache over
the last year

31%

of British adults have
tooth decay

Keeping your smile

adults in the UK have never
flossed or cleaned interdentally

Dental problems can spoil even a dream escape,
but with the right advice they needn’t be the end
of your fun, writes head dentist Mihir Shah

T

ooth pain can ruin just
about anything. No matter
how spectacular the setting
or the experience, it’s
always there – throbbing
away in the background. But there are
also ways to prepare for and deal with
dental emergencies while on the move.
A common cause of toothache is
flying. The roots of some upper jaw
molars are intimately related to your
sinuses, and the pressure changes
during a flight can often manifest as
toothache. Any measure to relieve sinus
congestion can help, including overthe-counter medication. But this pain
can also be a sign of a cavity or crack in
a tooth (air enters the gap and expands
due to pressure), so visit a dentist if the
pain doesn’t disappear after landing.
The issue is which dentist. It pays
to carry out some research of the area
you’re visiting beforehand to identify medical clinics (not just for your
teeth). But most people don’t have the
time for this, so you can also contact
your dentist back home for advice or

44 February/March 2024

try your health-insurance provider,
who may refer you to a local centre.
If you’re far from medical help (or
even if you’re not), be sure to carry
a dental repair kit. These allow you
to temporarily fix lost fillings, caps,
crowns or broken teeth for up to 48
hours, and can be useful if you can’t
get to a dentist immediately. They are
not a solution but can buy you some
relief and take up little space in bags.
If you lose a crown, keep the abutment (stump in your mouth that the
crown covered) clean and avoid sugary,
acidic foods and drinks. Reattach if you
feel confident to do so, but it is vital that
the area is cleaned first (follow your
usual routine) and the crown is fitted
the right way round and fully seated.
If your tooth is knocked out, be careful to pick it up by its crown and not
the root, then store safe inside your
cheek to keep the root moist. Next, seek
immediate medical attention, as you
only have a short time to be able to reattach it. Like all dental troubles, at some
point you will need to see a dentist.

Teeth don’t lie
(top) It pays to get
a dental check-up
before you travel;
(below) if you
need treatment
while abroad, your
health-insurance
provider may be
able to locate a
reputable dentist –
some policies also
offer translation
services

5

TIPS FOR
TAKING CARE
OF YOUR TEETH
ON YOUR TRAVELS

Regular check-ups are the
best way to prevent any
potential dental emergencies.
Be wary of unusual foods that
may be different in texture to
those you’d normally eat, in case
you bite into something hard.
Carrying a tooth repair kit, such
as the Dentek Temparin, can
be a handy temporary fix, but take
care to properly clean any wound or
broken tooth first before doing so.
If you knock out a tooth, you
must keep the root moist for it
to be reattached. Either keep it in
the side of your mouth or put it in
milk or a saline solution.
If you suffer any dental trauma
– for example, losing a tooth –
seek immediate dental attention.
Don’t delay, as infection may set in.

1
2

3

4

5

Mihir Shah is the head dentist at
Battersea Park Dental, London

All content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, treatment or diagnosis. Consult a healthcare professional before taking action. *Stats taken from the Oral Health Foundation; images: Shutterstock;

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DEPARTURES

Pilgrimage routes
Discover historic marvels, wild landscapes, ancient cultures –
and a little more about yourself – on these journeys into the past
GO WITH THE FLOW IN NORTHERN INDIA
Spirituality flows through northern India just as the holy river
Ganges – sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists – snakes down
from the Himalaya to the Bay of Bengal. On Wild Frontiers’
Classic Northeast: Sacred Ganges & Holy Cities tailor-made tour,
you’ll be immersed in the ancient cultures and religions of this
kaleidoscopic region. From the Jain monuments of Kolkata,
venture to Bodh Gaya and the Mahabodhi Temple, built at least

46 February/March 2024

15 centuries ago on the site where the Buddha is said to have found
enlightenment. Next stop is Varanasi, studded with Hindu shrines,
for a dawn boat ride on the Ganges alongside the burning ghats
where the remains of the devout are cremated. Continue upstream
to the holy towns of Allahabad, where pilgrims flock to have their
souls cleaned, and Rishikesh, where the Beatles sought Nirvana.
Wild Frontiers (wildfrontierstravel.com). Tailor-made;
14 days from £4,545pp, excluding international flights.

Alamy; David Head; Shutterstock; Fotokon/Shutterstock

JOURNAL Pilgrimage Routes

CLIMB TO SACRED SHRINES IN JAPAN

FOLLOW FRANCE’S ORIGINAL PILGRIM TRAIL

The peaks of Japan’s densely forested Kii Peninsula have been venerated by Shinto, Buddhist and Shugen devotees for centuries. Take a
deep dive into the ancient beliefs and timeless customs of this World
Heritage-listed region by trekking its pilgrim trails on Inside Japan’s
Honshu Hiking self-guided adventure. Prior to that, warm up in the
Japanese Alps, slurping Matsumoto’s famous soba noodles, then strike
out along the Nakasendo Way, the ancient highway linking former
capital Kyoto with Edo (now Tokyo).You’ll explore both cities, as well
as savouring culinary epicentre Osaka, before finishing on the trails
of the Kumano Kodo network, where you’ll climb to the pagoda of
the Nachi shrine alongside the cascading Nachi-no-Otaki waterfall.
Inside Japan (insidejapantours.com). Best Mar–Nov;
14 nights from £2,660pp, excluding international travel.

Le Puy-en-Velay is quite the stunner. Built in, around and, in some
cases, on top of a mini-forest of volcanic pinnacles, its holy sites have
attracted pilgrims for over a millennium.They flock here to venerate
relics such as the Black Madonna in its extraordinary cathedral,
and to walk the Chemin du Puy (or Via Podiensis), the route taken
by Bishop Gothescalk in 950 AD on what is thought to be the first
French pilgrimage to Santiago. Macs Adventure’s Camino Le Puy
Way: Stages 1 & 2 self-guided hike heads 201km west via the eerily
beautiful moorlands of Aubrac, visiting impossibly picturesque medieval villages such as Estaing and ending at walled Conques, complete
with a Romanesque church boasting a treasury of sacred relics.
Macs Adventure (macsadventure.com). May–Oct; 11 nights
from £1,395pp, excluding travel. Other stages are available.

HIKE TO HOLY ISLAND IN NORTHUMBERLAND

CYCLE COASTAL TRAILS IN PORTUGAL

The 156km waymarked St Oswald’s Way, named after the feisty
7th-century king, takes in Northumberland’s historic and scenic
highlights as it winds across England’s northernmost county. Starting from Heavenfield – site of the pivotal battle at which Oswald
consolidated his vast medieval kingdom of Northumbria – HF
Holidays’ St Oswald’sWay Complete Guided Trail tour visits Hadrian’s
Roman border bulwark, market towns and the formidable castles at
Alnwick and Bamburgh. Finish up with a toast of mead on the Holy
Island of Lindisfarne, where you can explore the storied remains
of the medieval monastery founded by St Aidan on land granted
by Oswald, and watch for dolphins and grey seals in the roiling sea.
HF Holidays (hfholidays.co.uk). 2 Aug 2024; 7 nights from
£1,149pp, excluding travel.

Even pilgrimages have to keep up with the times, so pedalling
peregrinos (pilgrims) who cover the final 200km of any camino to
Santiago are now awarded the prized Compostela certificate. Exodus
Adventure Travels’ Cycle the Coastal Portuguese Camino guided tour
notches up the required kilometres while traversing the glorious Atlantic shoreline. Gliding north from Porto, you’ll take in historic marvels
such as the ancient port of Viana do Castelo, with its dazzlingly diverse
architecture, and the medieval fortress at Caminha that guards the
border on the Minho estuary. There’s ample time to feast on fresh
seafood in traditional fishing villages and cool off in the surf before
crossing into Spain for the final legs through Galicia to Santiago.
Exodus Adventure Travels (exodus.co.uk). 19 May, 9 & 23
Jun, 8 & 22 Sep 2024; 8 days from £2,099, excluding flights. ⊲

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 47

TRACE THE FOOTSTEPS OF SAINTS IN WALES

JOIN A SPIRITUAL HIKE TO SANTIAGO, SPAIN

Pilgrimages aren’t supposed to be easy, but sometimes they’re
plain impossible – as in 1123 AD, when the route to Jerusalem was
off-limits during the crusades, so the pope recommended the alternative trek to the shrine of St David in Pembrokeshire. As long ago
as the 6th century, Irish saint Aidan travelled here to study under
the titular Welsh sage; his route is now traced by the newly recreated
Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way.You can walk part of that trail
alongside a respected local leader on Guided Pilgrimage’s Way of St
David tour, absorbing legends and poems that reveal hidden facets of
this region, as you make your way to the UK’s smallest city, St David’s,
via burial chambers, seal colonies and beautiful coastal hamlets.
Guided Pilgrimage (guidedpilgrimage.co.uk). 13 May, 9 Jun,
12 Aug 2024; 5 nights from £825pp, excluding travel.

According to legend, after St James was martyred in 44 BC, his
disciples carried his remains from the Atlantic coast across northwest Spain to what is now Santiago de Compostela. The route they
followed, now known as the Variante Espiritual, isn’t only considered
by many to be the oldest of all the caminos, it’s also among the most
peaceful and diverse. On Inntravel’s Camino de Santiago: The Old
Way self-guided walk from the Portuguese border at Tui, you’ll follow
the distinctive scallop-shell markers between medieval monasteries,
sip Galicia’s finest Albariño wines among the vineyards of Meaño,
and board a boat for Europe’s only waterborne pilgrim route along
the Ulla River before joining peregrinos in Santiago’s cathedral.
Inntravel (inntravel.co.uk). Apr–Oct; 10 nights from
£1,465pp, excluding international travel.

AMBLE OLIVE GROVES TO ASSISI, ITALY

TREK THE CAMINO’S GREATEST HITS IN SPAIN

St Francis knew a thing or two about walking – he spent years roaming Umbria on foot, equipped only with a staff and his humility.
And the long-distance trail named after him is a corker, approaching his fresco-adorned hometown of Assisi via a string of medieval hilltop settlements. SloWays’ St Francis Way: Stage 3, Città di
Castello to Assisi self-guided tour explores one of the finest sections,
as you set out from an ancient city whose churches and galleries are
lavished with artistic masterpieces by Renaissance painters. Over
the following days your journey reveals the gastronomic glories of
the Umbrian hills, shaded by olive groves and orchards, while you
fill up on local specialities such as rocciata (Umbrian strudel).
SloWays (sloways.eu). Apr–Oct; 6 days from £504pp,
excluding international travel. Other stages are available.

A little like the Silk Road, the Camino de Santiago isn’t one route but
many, a network of trails spidering across Europe. Why tackle just
one when you can pick highlights from several Spanish paths? That’s
the idea behind Pura Aventura’s Three Caminos Inn to Inn Walking
Holiday, which splices together sections from a trio of classic trails.
From the French border, hike dramatic stretches of the Basque coast
along the Camino del Norte between fishing villages and curious rock
formations.Then explore the gleaming spires of the Picos de Europa
mountains along the Camino Vadiniense. Finally, join the popular
Camino Francés for the approach to Santiago’s soaring, russet-hued
cathedral through woodlands, farms and thatched hamlets.
Pura Aventura (pura-aventura.com). Best Apr–Jul, Sep–Oct;
12 days from £3,560pp, excluding international travel.

48 February/March 2024

Shutterstock

DEPARTURES

WORLD FOOD

The melting pot of Oman
Oman’s scattered diaspora and history as a trading hub is reflected in a
cuisine that takes its influences from across the world, finds Dina Macki
in her new book, Bahari: Recipes from an Omani Kitchen and Beyond

T

he sea covers 70% of the globe, connecting and
influencing most nations, but there is something
special about Oman’s relationship to it. Maybe
it’s the confluence of the Persian Gulf, Arabian
Sea and Indian Ocean nearby, or the presence of
the world’s largest ‘sand sea’ – an area known as the Empty
Quarter. It is for these reasons that Oman is often called
an island, surrounded as it is by oceans of water and sand.
This geography, coupled with the country’s history as a
trading hub, has long influenced its cooking. Merchants
from ancient Iran, Afghanistan and the Levant all travelled
to and settled here, as did Mesopotamians, Sumerians and
Persians. By the 16th century, the Portuguese had arrived
from their colonies in India and settled in the north, taking

50 February/March 2024

over parts of the coast and what is now the capital, Muscat.
These many influences can be tasted in the fish curries
that are an ever-present in Muscat homes, the street food
enjoyed on the Mutrah Corniche, the richly spiced, gheeladen dishes of Oman’s interior, and in the deliciously
varied seafood found in towns along the rambling coastline.
In researching my book, Bahari, I came to learn of all the
different worlds in which the inhabitants of each Omani
region live, from the Bedouin in the desert to the lively
communities of the coastal cities.They each have their own
foods and traditions, and generally seem uninterested in
what is not theirs. But as I began writing, I slowly realised
Omani cuisine is so rich and beautiful precisely because
of this mix of so many places with fascinating histories.

Hidden treasures
The souk in Nizwa
lies nestled in
a block behind
the old city walls
and is one of the
oldest in Oman. It
is also filled with
the myriad spices
and ingredients
that make up the
local cuisine

JOURNAL Oman

FIVE OMANI DISHES YOU SHOULD TRY (AND WHERE TO TRY THEM)

1 Bahraini tikka

Bahraini tikka is well loved among
our community in Muscat, but there
is only one place in the capital that
does a good one: Antalya in Al Hail.
It mainly serves shawarmas, but
nestled in the back is a man who
makes excellent tikka: succulent,
chargrilled skewers with a tender
tang. Cooking on hot coals helps to
bring a pleasing smokiness to the
citrus taste, but this meat is best
eaten with bread, as the dried lime
can be sharp if taken on its own.

2 Mutahfy

Mutahfy fish curry is typically
eaten by people from Muscat –
usually Shia Muslims who grew up
by the Mutrah Corniche. Though it
is traditionally made with tuna, the
sauce base is so full of flavour that it
can be made without fish as a vegan
alternative – I sometimes serve it as a
dip. Try this and a variety of different
Omani dishes (machboos, qabooli)
at Rozna on Al Maardih Street in
Muscat. You can’t miss it – it has
been designed to look like a fort!

3 Machboos

Across most of the Gulf and in
a few other Arab countries, this dish
is known as machboos (meaning
‘to compress’) because the ingredients are cooked in one pot and the
meat is packed tightly beneath the
rice. The traditional method takes
much longer, as you would fry each
element separately. While it is often
made with chicken, you can substitute this for vegetables or lamb.
Head to Al Angham at Muscat’s
Royal Opera House for a high-end
version; a more cosy neighbourhood
alternative is Machboos Kuwaiti in
the capital’s Al Khuwair South area.

4 Qashod

The concept of this dish,
which is usually made with tuna, is
confusing at first, as it uses similar
methods to a curry but has a very
different consistency – it’s thick
and has little excess liquid, so it’s
rather like a pâté. A good friend
taught me how to make it one
winter in Salalah and explained that
its thick texture was intended to

make it easier to transport on long
journeys. You’ll struggle to find it in
restaurants, but this is commonly
made in homes in Old Muscat, and
tour guides with connections can
usually hook you up with a homemade meal. Oman is small and this
is the type of hospitality we do!

5 Khaliat nahal

Qaranqasho is an Omani
celebration that takes place on the
14th day of Ramadan, mainly across
the north coast. Children dress up
in traditional clothing and mothers
prepare nibbles and sweet baskets,
then open up their doors to all. This
is also the only time of year that
you’ll see khaliat nahal, a sweet
bread known for its honeycomb
shape. It is found in both Oman
and Yemen and is always filled with
cheese, though the syrups drizzled
over it differ from family to family.
You’ll see it in a lot of bakeries, and
it is also often found at the sweet
shop Shahad Al Jazeera, which has
branches in Al Amarat, Al Ansab,
Al Khoud and across Oman.

1

4

AWL; Patricia Niven

2

3

5

This extract was taken from
Dina Macki’s Bahari: Recipes
from an Omani Kitchen and
Beyond (Dorling Kindersley;
£26), which sees the author
travel Oman and Zanzibar
unearthing regional delicacies
and recreating the food of
her heritage across some
100 recipes for meat, fish,
vegetables, homemade
breads and dips.

WANDERLUST
RECOMMENDS
If you want to know more
about Oman’s history, you can
still catch episode seven of
the second season of Bettany
Hughes’ Treasures of the World
on All4 (channel4.com), in
which she examines evidence
of a 5,000-year-old civilisation.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 51

DREAM SLEEP

The Broadmoor, Colorado, USA
Nestled at the base of Cheyenne Mountain, on the south-western edge of Colorado
Springs, The Broadmoor stands proudly as a century-old icon of luxury and adventure
Reviewed by Will Robinson

Kerrick James; Kevin Syms; The Broadmoor

S

ince it opened in 1918, The Broadmoor has captivated
rock stars, presidents and royalty with its harmonious
blend of historic charm and modern opulence. Around
every corner is evidence of the hotel’s storied past. Walk
down one hallway and you’ll even stumble across the
Penrose Trophy, the cup awarded to the winner of the Pikes Peak
International Hill Climb. Such treasures are displayed without fuss
or commotion, though should you ask staff the way to the Maxfield
Parrish painting of the hotel, for example, they’ll gladly show you,
armed with a brief history and explanation of its aspect en route.
Rooms and suites are similarly steeped in the hotel’s heritage
and exude a sense of timeless comfort, all without skimping on the
usual mod cons. Grand marble en suites and vast mahogany writing
desks topped with leather? Tick. Smart entertainment, high-speed
wifi and the comfiest mattresses this side of Nod? Tick. Rooms
carry echoes of a bygone era while still ensuring that you can always
change the temperature by half a degree if you want, or order room
service using nothing but your TV remote.
For those more interested in moving their muscles, the resort offers
an array of activities as expansive as its mountainous backdrop. It
sports two world-class golf courses and will be hosting the 2025 US

Senior Open.The adventurous can explore the surrounding Rockies
via itineraries that include zip-lining, hiking, biking, rock climbing and
horse riding. Those looking to soak in the views without breaking a
sweat can take the cog railway up to Pikes Peak or stay at the resort’s
all-inclusive mountain hideaway, Cloud Camp. And if none of the
above appeals, how about a bit of falconry, pickleball or fly fishing?
If you prefer pure relaxation, the internationally renowned spa
has a range of restorative treatments tailored to each guest. There
are also steam rooms, oxygen rooms, and dry saunas enclosed by
pink Himalayan salt walls. Each offers a hit of indulgence, although
the simple pleasures of a fireplace lounge aren’t to be overlooked.
Dining at any one of The Broadmoor’s many restaurants (including its own bowling-alley eatery) focuses on high-quality local and
seasonal produce.Wagyu steak comes from the owner’s private ranch,
much of the veg on the menu is from the hotel gardens and the 75
different types of bread are made on site by a ‘brigade’ of bakers.
It’s this heady mix of history, adventure, warm hospitality and
unadulterated luxury that makes The Broadmoor such a unique
stay, not to mention a truly unforgettable escape.
Doubles from around £195 per night, plus a daily resort charge of
£31.50; broadmoor.com

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 53

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

5

GREAT REASONS TO
DISCOVER TASMANIA

Often flying under the radar of travellers to Australia,
Tasmania is the country’s lesser-visited jewel and packed
with wild landscapes, fine food, unique wildlife and more

S

mall, remote and spilling over with wild and
unexpected landscapes, the island state
Tasmania has plenty to tempt travellers across
the Tasman. Isolated from the mainland for
12,000 years, this southern outpost abounds with
rare and unusual flora and fauna, much of which can only be
found here. Wildlife thrives in its vast tangles of temperate
rainforests, high alpine terrain and Southern Ocean-lapped
coastline. Tour operator Audley are the experts in helping
you uncover the island’s myriad marvels...

54 February/March 2024

Tasmanian echidna and the Tasmanian
devil are other top wildlife sightings.
Go on an expert-led walk and you
could glimpse platypuses at play in
rivers, seabirds nesting in dolerite
cliffs, Australian fur seals basking in
solitude, wedge-tailed eagles circling
overhead and maybe the odd whale.
Audley’s recommended experience

Guided wildlife walk on
Maria Island National Park

Daniel Tran; Shutterstock

A mountainous isle off the south-east
coast, Maria Island is a sanctuary
for remarkable animals. A guided
four-day hike explores the diverse
habitats of this wilderness, from
deserted beaches to grasslands and
soaring outcrops, spotting wildlife
such as wombats, wallabies and the
world’s smallest species of penguin.
Eat gourmet meals with top Tassie
tucker and end your adventure at the
heritage B&B Bernacci House.

wilderness going, with eye-piercing
glacial lakes, dramatic mountain
ranges, thundering falls hidden
deep in dense rainforests, towering
eucalyptus trees and white-sand
bays blazing with fiery-orange granite
boulders. A natural playground for
the adventurous, Tasmania is teeming
with wild escapes, from bushwalks to
cruises among wave-lashed isles.
Audley’s recommended experience

Walk to Wineglass Bay in
Freycinet National Park
Wineglass Bay is a curvaceous
crescent of sand in Freycinet National
Park on the east coast. A steep but
short trail leads up to a lookout where
you can admire the deep-blue bay in
all its eye-boggling beauty, framed
by the pink-hued granite Hazards
beyond. Carry on down the trail to
the sit on the beach and watch for
dolphins, or wade in for a paddle.

TOP TIP FROM AN
AUDLEY EXPERT

TOP TIP FROM AN
AUDLEY EXPERT

“I love the Maria Island walk
as it combines the great
outdoors with Tasmania’s
one-of-a-kind wildlife. Listen
carefully to your experienced
guides, as they’re experts at
spotting wombats, kangaroos,
wallabies and birds that you’ll
rarely see anywhere else.”
Josh, Tasmania specialist

“While it’s worth the climb to
see Wineglass Bay from the
hilltop viewpoint, very few
clamber down to the whitesand beach below, where you
can explore the bay. Trace the
10km circular walk that takes
you down to the beach and
back over the peninsula.”
Lee, Tasmania specialist

⊲
For more information, visit www.audleytravel.com/australia/tours/classic-tasmania

TO UNRAVEL THE
HISTORY AND
3
HERITAGE
In Hobart, Tasmania has one of
Australia’s hippest and most historic
cities. Its European history began in
1804 as a notorious convict settlement
and whaling port. Today its Georgianera warehouse and wharves house
indie stores, cafés and galleries.
Cobbled Salamanca Place is a great
spot to start your exploration, and
be sure to catch the ferry along the
Derwent River to the Museum of Old
and New Art (MONA) for a dose of
culture. All around Tasmania you’ll find
grand homesteads, old mining towns
and, of course, the haunting remains
of penal colonies like Port Arthur.
The national parks also abound with
archaeological sites too, revealing the
culture and traditions of Tasmanian
Aboriginal people, the Palawa.
Audley’s recommended experience

Devils, history and hiking
experiences
A brooding silhouette on a lonely
part of the Tasman Peninsula, Port

Arthur is the country’s best-preserved
convict site and a moving testament
to a brutal past. The site forms a vivid
backdrop for a history lesson on
Tasmania’s convicts, who were said
to have been the worst offenders to
find their way to Australia, but as you’ll
quickly discover, many crimes were
petty and born out of desperation. This
day tour takes the scenic route around
the region’s dramatic landscapes,
stopping for bracing coastal walks to
see impressive rock formations and
the highest sea cliffs in Australia.

TOP TIP FROM AN
AUDLEY EXPERT
“Get to Port Arthur early to
dodge the crowds. Try to take
an early cruise around the Isle
of the Dead, as these tend
to fill up once visitors have
explored the site. An earlymorning visit also allows you
to take in one of the many
walks here – Cape Hauy being
one of my favourites.”
Josh, Tasmania specialist

Culture
and cuisine
(this page; top to
bottom) Try some
of Tasmania’s
freshest shellfish
in Oyster Bay; the
Tamar Valley is
Tasmania’s oldest
wine-growing region; peel back Tasmania’s past at Port
Arthur, the historic
penal colony; Port
Arthur is a compelling document of
Tasmania’s often
brutal history

THE FARM-TOFORK FOOD
4 FOR

Briny oysters, sweet rock lobsters,
creamy cheeses – Tasmania is one of
the best places to eat in the country,
and a veritable larder of exceptional
produce. Head to Hobart and you’ll
be dazzled by the diversity and
quality of its dining scene, where
chefs champion local ingredients at
every turn. To the north, Launceston
is another stand-out food destination,
rivalling the capital with its acclaimed
restaurants and food markets. The
gourmet goodies aren’t limited to
the state’s cities, though. Tasmania’s
bucolic landscapes are cloaked in
vines, while state-of-the-art wineries
serve stellar cuisine alongside awardwinning wines. The Apple Isle is also
famed for its verdant pastureland, with
farm stalls selling orchard fruits and
cideries creating seriously good drafts.
Audley’s recommended experience

Wine tour of Tamar Valley
Tasmania is a fantastic place to take
a wine-tasting tour, with many of

56 February/March 2024

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

FOR THE WILD
WALKING
5
OPPORTUNITIES
Grab your walking shoes and
discover why Tassie is a hiker’s
dream. Bush tracks thread the
state, offering hikes that are often
as diverse as they are spectacular.
Follow in the footsteps of the Palawa
on Tasmanian Aboriginal-owned
guided hikes or set off on edge-ofthe-world coastal trails to secluded
coves and hulking headlands where
the next stop south is Antarctica.
Scale craggy peaks and circuit
mirror-like lakes as you breathe in the
alpine air or stroll along meandering
trails through luscious rainforest to
mossy waterfalls that form a crashing
backdrop. But wherever you go, tread
lightly – who knows what animals
you’ll spy along the way?
Audley’s recommended experience

Summit walk to Cradle
Mountain peak
The rewards are many for experienced
hikers who choose to take on the
12.5km Summit trail to the serrated

its world-class wineries and cellar
doors within easy reach. The fertile
Tamar Valley, which unfurls around
Launceston, is the oldest winegrowing region on the island and
has over 30 wineries. It’s a seriously
special spot for sipping cool-climate
wines, notably pinot noir, chardonnay
and riesling, among the vines. Along
with exceptional wines, you’ll also
enjoy tastings of locally sourced
Tassie produce.

Tourism Australia; Alastair Bett; Jasper Da Seymour; Alamy

TOP TIP FROM AN
AUDLEY EXPERT
“Hobart is my favourite spot
to enjoy local, innovative
and fresh Tasmanian cuisine,
from oysters to local wines.
I suggest visiting Aloft, whose
tasting menu focuses on the
island’s seasonal produce.
I was blown away by its crispy
chilli eggplant dish. Request
a table by the window for
views of the harbour.”
Haley, Tasmania specialist

top of Cradle Mountain, Tasmania’s
most iconic landmark. The sense
of elation as you complete the last
scramble to the summit is one to
remember; glimpsing the glaciercarved wilderness and verdant
bushland of the Cradle MountainLake St Clair National Park is another.
The sight of Dove Lake’s glassy
waters just below is magnetic. Drink
it all in before you descend for more
epic vistas and a welcome cuppa.

TOP TIP FROM AN
AUDLEY EXPERT
“Cradle Mountain National
Park’s dramatic peaks and
glacial lakes provide some of
the most spectacular scenery
on the island, no matter the
walk you choose. I recommend
enjoying the well-maintained
two-to-three-hour circuit
around Dove Lake before
taking an extended journey up
to Marion’s Lookout for a view
of the lake from above.”
Haley, Tasmania specialist

Wild walks
(this page; top
right) Maria Island
offers fine opportunities to walk
among mountainous scenery, as
well as some of
Tasmania’s most
diverse wildlife;
(bottom right) for
experienced hikers,
the glassy waters
of Dove Lake are
best spied atop
Cradle Mountain

MAKE IT HAPPEN

Ready to discover Australia’s wild island state? Audley’s Classic
Tasmania Tour offers plenty of trip inspiration. This itinerary idea has you
flying into Hobart to explore its cobbled streets, revelling in the blustery
scenery and marine life of Bruny Island before heading to the west coast
for a river cruise into the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.
Spot Tasmanian devils in Cradle Mountain National Park, go wine tasting
in Tamar Valley, then circuit east to the dazzling beaches of Freycinet
National Park. From epic escapes in untouched wilderness to up-close
encounters with wildlife, to gourmet experiences and indulgent stays,
Audley can tailor a tour of Tasmania to suit your needs.

For more information, visit www.audleytravel.com/australia/tours/classic-tasmania

WANDERSLEEPS

A forest of one’s own
In 2017, the 72-Hour Cabin project took
five burnt-out workers and monitored
their stress levels after three days in a
glass cabin in remote West Sweden. The
results were so positive that similar stays
have opened to visitors across the region

Climate-smart West Sweden

From remote glasshouse escapes to solar-powered island cabins, reduce
your footprint and commune with nature at these serene Swedish eco-stays
Reviewed by Sarah Baxter

58 February/March 2024

JOURNAL West Sweden

Agnes Malt; Jonas Ingman

SWEDISH COUNTRY LIVING
The accommodation at this smallholding in lake-dotted Dalsland is
green without sacrificing the gorgeous. There are three tiny houses
here, each one handmade using salvaged antique doors and windows,
and wood felled on site. All of them are off-grid – lighting is by
candle; heat by blankets, fireplaces and wool insulation. Ablutions?
Plunge into the lake or book the waterfront wood-fired tub for a bit
of rustic decadence. Alternatively, use your private bathroom, where

the showers are fed by lake water, which is then filtered via the orangery and run back into the lake. There’s also a permaculture garden,
free-range chickens and holistically managed sheep, all ensuring
low food miles. Owner David serves excellent dinners, including
slow-cooked lamb, or you can simply make a pizza in the outdoor
kitchen. It’s up to you. Cabins from around £408 per person for
two nights, full-board; swedishcountryliving.com
⊲

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 59

WANDERSLEEPS

NATURUM VÄNERSKÄRGÅRDEN VICTORIAHUSET
This smart 15-bedroom hotel is also a visitor
centre for nearby Djurö National Park, and
it was built to award-winning eco standards:
it features non-toxic building materials, solar
panels and a ventilation system that uses heat
from the restaurant to warm the rooms. The

on-site eatery itself is delicious, serving creative dishes that make the most of the lake’s fish
and the ecologically cultivated produce from
Läckö’s walled garden. Rooms from around
£137 per night, including breakfast;
lackoslott.se/en/the-victoria-house

LUGNÅSBERGET EKOHOTELL

ERIKSON COTTAGE

The average hotel in Sweden creates around 6.8kg of CO2-equivalent
per person per night. In contrast, a night at Lugnåsberget Ekohotell,
located within the newly designated Platåbergens UNESCO Global
Geopark, creates just 0.2kg. Owners Pia Åkesson and Jesper Persson
are committed to sustainable living. They renovated this 19th-century farm using recycled materials and hard graft. As well as solar
panels and a biomass boiler, it now has six cosy annex rooms and an
apartment in the old farmhouse. Hiking and cycling trails pass by the
door, and breakfast and dinner baskets feature produce from local
suppliers and the couple’s veg patch and livestock. Best of all, the
wood-fired sauna is well-placed for super sunset views. Rooms from
around £76 per night, including breakfast; lugnasberget.se

Before Erikson Cottage opened in 2021, there wasn’t much tourism
around quiet Lake Lagmanshagasjön. There still isn’t, really: just
three striking all-glass cabins dot this fourth-generation family farm,
two hours east of Gothenburg. This is a place to sink into nature,
away from the world. The glasshouses – two tucked into the forest,
one by the lake – are private, off-grid and utterly magical. Each has
a kitchen hut and access to a separating loo; there’s a shared shower,
or you can simply dip in the lake. Breakfasts, delivered by e-van,
include baskets of local cheese, jam, fruit and owner Elisabeth’s
sourdough, which is made in the café-bakery on site – she runs
pizza workshops too. Glass cabins from around £270 per night,
including breakfast and fika; eriksoncottage.com

60 February/March 2024

Alamy; Jonas Ingman, Melanie Haas

When this hotel was built ten years ago,
the brief was clear: don’t compete with the
17th-century castle next door. The result is
that the glass-and-wood-clad Victoriahuset
blends into Lake Vänern’s reed beds and trees,
leaving the Baroque Läckö Slott to shine.

HÔTEL EGGERS
The Global Destination Sustainability Index has ranked
Gothenburg the ‘World’s Most Sustainable Destination’
seven times in a row, and 92% of the city’s hotels have green
certification. That includes Eggers, Gothenburg’s grande
dame, which sits a minute’s walk from the central train
station. Opened in 1859, and a celeb hangout ever since,
Hôtel Eggers still oozes glamour: the lobby and restaurant

have a belle époque vibe, all deep reds, velvet sofas, candles
and jazz; rooms variously feature parquet floors, four-posters,
chandeliers and vinyl record players. Very old-school cool.
But it’s got eco-smarts too, from environmentally friendly
toiletries to green electricity, which is generated by the hotel’s
own wind turbine. Rooms from around £107 per night,
including breakfast; hoteleggers.se/en
⊲

INFOREST

DALSLANDS AKTIVITETER

Even if the sun stops shining, you’re all set here. Inforest’s Scandi-smart eco-cabins are not only solar powered, but their batteries hold enough juice to last two days. They also have big water
tanks too, plus there is a meter so that you can monitor your usage
as you cook and shower – here you’re encouraged to think about
your consumption while enjoying your time in nature. There are
four self-catering cabins in total, dispersed around the private
woodland of Jesper and Petra Uvesten and their family. The best
way to get here? Take a bus to the little trästaden (wooden town)
of Hjo on Lake Vättern, where Jesper can arrange bike hire – the
cabins are no more than a 10km ride. Cabins from around £352
for two nights, excluding breakfast; inforest.se

Stay in a lakeside glasshouse at Dalslands Aktiviteter and you may
not want to leave. There are four secluded glass cabins here, each
balanced on the forest-cloaked edge of Lake Iväg. The daytime
views are idyllic, the stargazing from bed spectacular. Each site has
access to a toilet, and there is a private deck by the water where you
can jump in for a swim, cast a line (there are rods for you to use)
or light up the barbecue. If you can drag yourself away, there’s a
whole menu of activities to try that edge on the wilder site, from
horse rides and river canoeing to bushcraft and beaver safaris.
Glass cabins from around £245 per night, including breakfast; £430 per person for a three-night full-board package;
dalslandsaktiviteter.se

LÅDFABRIKEN
This waterfront spot on the island of Orust
was once a factory producing wooden
fish crates. Now it’s a bijou B&B where
owners Johan and Marcel welcome guests
to their four bright, arty, individually
styled rooms; there’s also a brand-new

62 February/March 2024

tiny house in the garden, made entirely
from green materials and surrounded by
trees, with views over the sea. Dinners
here are exquisitely presented and champion the best local, sustainable produce;
depending on the season, you can expect

crayfish, fish soup, lobsters or oysters.
There’s a beach 30m away, and free maps,
kayaks and bikes are available to borrow,
for exploring the beautiful Bohuslän coast.
Rooms from around £277 for two nights,
including breakfast; ladfabriken.eu

Copenhagen Wilderness; Lådfabriken; Linus Bergman

WANDERSLEEPS

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Tease your taste buds with Singapore Airlines’

ONBOARD CUISINE
When it comes to satisfying the demands of your stomach, the sky’s the limit thanks
to Singapore Airlines’ authentic fine-dining approach to its mile-high dishes
ingapore Airlines
is taking its dining to
new heights – quite
literally. Passengers
can now look forward
to a fine-dining
experience at high altitude, offering
an authentic taste of Singapore
in the sky. With a wide array of
mouthwatering choices, what better
way to prepare for your adventure?

SILVER SERVICE
Singapore Airlines’ menu has been
carefully curated by a team of chefs,
taking in a range of international
influences. Which means you can sit
back and relax, safe in the knowledge
that the cabin crew are committed
to delivering a dining experience to
tempt even the most global of palates.

64 February/March 2024

In-flight flavours
(this page; top to
bottom) Meal times
on a Singapore Airlines flight deliver
inventive dining in
the sky; Singapore
Airlines’ menus are
the brainchild of
its ‘International
Culinary Panel’

Not sure whether to feast on the
Singaporean laksa or the braised
beef and mushroom ragu? You
can rely on the knowledge of the
cabin crew, who will attend to your
every need, ensuring all dietary
requirements are catered to while
offering a fine-dining experience
at 30,000 feet.

CULINARY SHOWCASE
International flavours
With cuisine inspired by the airlines’
‘International Culinary Panel’ of worldclass chefs – Georges Blanc, Matt
Moran, Sanjeev Kapoor, Yoshihiro
Murata and Zhu Jun – Singapore
Airlines’ hand-crafted dishes draw
their inspiration from every corner of
the globe.
Inspired by their travels, the
celebrated chefs behind this menu –
from China, Japan, India, France and
Australia – are constantly creating
new dishes and reinventing what
is on offer, so you can look forward
to fresh choices every time you fly.
What’s more, each dish is packed with
seasonal ingredients and carefully
curated and adjusted to be enjoyed
at high altitude, when our taste buds

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

WINE EXPERTS
Looking for the perfect glass of wine to
accompany your meal? Whether it’s a crisp
glass of chilled sauvignon blanc or a fullbodied malbec, Singapore Airlines’ panel of
wine experts (Oz Clarke, Michael Hill Smith
and Jeannie Cho Lee) have hand-selected
an impeccable list. This is a culmination of
blind-testing more than 1,000 wines every
year under cabin pressure to ensure only
the best is served on board. What’s more,
the selection of fine wines on offer – which
has won a number of prestigious Cellars in
the Sky awards – is drawn from some of the
most coveted vineyards across the globe.
When you take a sip, you’re guaranteed
something special.

SAMPLE MENU
This is what you might eat in Business Class
on a Singapore Airlines flight…

Mile-high sommeliers
Debating which wine is the ideal match
for your Singaporean laksa? Look no
further than the on-board air sommelier. If
you are travelling in Business Class, First
Class or Suites, you can tap into the expert
knowledge of the wine sommelier to find
the perfect pairing for your favourite dish.

Prawn wanton noodle soup
Noodle soup with prawn wantons,
shiitake mushrooms and pak choi

Grilled Angus beef fillet
Grilled Aberdeen Angus fillet of beef with selected fresh
market vegetables and chef’s potatoes

Singapore chicken rice
Poached chicken, sliced and served on long-grain rice
and cooked in chicken broth. Accompanied with dark soy
sauce, tangy ginger and fresh chilli and lime sauces

From left to right: Oz Clarke, Michael Hill Smith, Jeannie Cho Lee

undergo changes due to air pressure.
What better way to start your trip?

Singapore Airlines

Singapore staples
When it comes to celebrating
Singaporean flavours, look no
further than the in-flight menu. With
a plethora of dishes to choose from
– think gravy-rich mee siam (spicy
vermicelli) and congee with a pork
ball and century egg – you can enjoy
a taste of Singapore before you touch
down. Flying in Business Class or First
Class? Look forward to a selection of
bites inspired by Singapore’s hawker
markets. This includes hokkien mee,
a stir-fried noodle dish said to have
roots in post-war Singapore, when the
Hokkien sailors who worked at the
factories would gather on Rochor Road
to fry noodles over charcoal stoves.

Curated cuisine
(this page; clockwise from top left)
Grilled Angus beef
fillet is on Singapore Airlines’ Business Class menu;
a panel of experts
have created a wine
list to complement
the menu; the Book
the Cook service
offers dishes like
mee siam

CHOOSE YOUR MEALS
BEFORE YOU BOARD
Build anticipation for your journey
before you even set foot on the
plane with Singapore Airlines’ unique
‘Book the Cook’ service, available for
those travelling in Premium Economy,
Business Class, First Class and Suites.
Choose from a wide range of dishes,

For more information, visit www.singaporeair.com/WelcomeGB

inspired by Michelin-starred chefs,
up to 24 hours before your flight. The
menu features global flavours and
authentic Singaporean staples, from
seafood hor fun noodles to char siew
mee (Chinese-style barbecued pork).
Then just sit back and relax, safe in
the knowledge that you will soon
have a feast at 30,000 feet.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 65

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66 February/March 2024

Join the search for narwhals in Arctic Canada,
wander the glamorous mansions of the
Gilded Age in Rhode Island, meet murderers
and knights in Caravaggio’s Malta, and more…

Alamy

The road to freedom
Thirty years on from
the hard-fought
birth of democracy
in South Africa,
the story of Nelson
Mandela and his time
imprisoned in Cape
Town still inspires
visitors; see p68

Mandela’s Cape Town

68

The wilds of Arctic Canada

78

Homestays in Japan

88

Rhode Island’s Gilded Age

98

Island-hopping in Fiji

112

Caravaggio’s Malta

126

Protecting Tobago

140

Mandela’s Cape Town
Thirty years on from South Africa’s first free and democratic election,
visitors to modern Cape Town can still explore the legacy of apartheid
and walk in the footsteps of the man at the centre of its downfall
Words Robin-Lee Francke

Mandela’s
South Africa
Trace the life of Nelson
Mandela through the
places he knew…

1

Nelson Mandela
Museum, Mthatha
Mandela was born in the
Eastern Cape, where most
people still know him by his
clan name, Madiba. This
museum collects memorabilia
and photos from his political
life; it also has a second site
in Qunu (30km away), where
Mandela spent his youth,
which looks at his earlier years.
nelsonmandelamuseum.org.za
Liliesleaf Farm, Rivonia
Head to the suburbs north
of Jo’burg for tours of what
was the secret HQ of the ANC
(African National Congress)
between 1961 and ’63. Mandela
lived here under a pseudonym
before his eventual capture.
Capture Site, Howick
It was here in KwaZuluNatal province, on 5 August
1962, that Mandela was finally
arrested after a long pursuit.
A sculpture installed on the
site, made from 50 steel bars,
marks the spot and reveals
a touching portrait of his face
when viewed at the right angle.
Drakenstein Prison,
Western Cape
Mandela’s final months of
incarceration were spent in
the warder’s cottage of this
institution near Paarl, 60km
from Cape Town. It was from
here that he walked free. It’s
still a working prison, so there
are no tours, but the statue of
Mandela outside is iconic.
City Hall, Cape Town
The site of Mandela’s first
speech upon his release from
prison is marked by a statue on
the balcony on which he stood.
Wander Grand Parade below
and imagine the excitement of
the crowd that gathered here.
Mandela House, Soweto
Mandela first moved here
in 1946, then returned briefly
in 1990 following his release
from prison. Thereafter it was
preserved as a museum and
has some great family photos.
mandelahouse.com

2

3

70 February/March 2024

4

5

6

Previous spread: Alamy; this spread: Alamy; AWL

t’s a remarkable thing to leave colony as far back as the 17th century. Over
behind the hotels, shops and galler- the years, it operated variously as a maximum
ies of the V&A Waterfront and step security prison, a military base and even a
into the gleaming Nelson Mandela leper colony.Today this national monument,
Gateway. The redevelopment of museum and UNESCO World Heritage site
Cape Town’s quayside, a working symbolises for many South Africans a brutal
harbour that still runs alongside era of oppression under nationalist rule.
I bagged a seat on the upper deck and
what is now the city’s most prized real estate,
began in 1988. The idea back then that any watched the waterfront shrink behind me,
part of it would be
then refocused my eyes
on the island looming
named after a man
ahead, seeing it grow
who was at that time
“Robben Island
larger and imagining
living in a jail cell in
symbolises for many
the Tokai suburb of the
the countless poor
South Africans an era prisoners who must
city was unthinkable.
This gateway is
have done likewise as
of brutal oppression
they mentally sketched
where ferries depart
under nationalist rule” out their fate.
for the former offshore
prison of Robben
The Cape’s southIsland. It was there that
easter wind came out
the late Nelson Mandela and countless politi- to play and the fresh ocean air bathed my
cal prisoners spent decades of their lives while skin, filling my lungs. As the ferry aligned
the South African government continued its alongside the jetty, what struck me was how
policy of racial segregation, known as apart- ordinary the tall grey walls appeared.
heid. Thirty years after the country became a
A large sign still welcomes visitors to the
democracy and Mandela was elected its first island, announcing the old prison-service
president, the island seemed a fitting start for motto in English and Afrikaans: ‘We serve
exploring how this history still shapes Cape with pride’. A tour guide loudly announced:
Town and the experiences of locals and visitors. “From this point forth, history will unfold as
Ferries leave here throughout the day, we get to know more about Nelson Mandela.”
nearly always full. Queues snake beneath I couldn’t help but wonder how dented the
the hot sun as people wait their turn to learn prison’s ‘pride’ would have been had the
more about an island that was used as a penal authorities known back then that the main ⊲

TRAVELOGUES South Africa

Time served (clockwise from left page) This poster features a quote from the late Ahmed Kathrada, another political prisoner who spent 18 years on Robben
Island and went on to become a member of South Africa’s parliament; walking beneath the old motto of the prison service that hangs over the gates of Robben
Island; a portrait of Nelson Mandela at his home in Soweto taken shortly after his release in 1990; boats bob outside the Nelson Mandela Gateway on the V&A
Waterfront; (previous spread) the view of Table Mountain and Cape Town from Robben Island – the last glimpse of freedom that prisoners would have had

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 71

How times change (clockwise from top left) A photo of Nelson Mandela and political activist Walter Sisulu in the prison yard of Robben Island in 1966; a
bedroom set aside in Robben Island prison for children visiting their fathers who were incarcerated there; the sparse prison cell of Nelson Mandela barely
measures 2m by 2.5m; visitors take the ferry to Robben Island; the author’s grandmother, Helen Fester, recalls the day when Nelson Mandela was unconditionally released from jail; Table Mountain rises up behind modern Cape Town, a city almost unrecognisable from what it was 30 years ago

72 February/March 2024

TRAVELOGUES South Africa

Alamy; AWL; Robin-Lee Francke

reason people would come here in the future
would be to learn more about a man they
strove so desperately to keep locked away.

clean their buckets (used as toilets) for days.
The stench would have been unimaginable.
I squinted at appliances, letters and
prison records of Mandela and other
BEHIND BARS
political activists through glass casings as
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, born Rolihlahla we proceeded to walk through the prison.
Mandela, was a South African anti-apartheid The area where inmates could exercise was
activist and politician who served as the first barely larger than a backyard, and I thought
Black president of the country from 1994 to longingly of the kilometers of open land that
1999. As well as winning the Nobel Peace we’d spied en route from the dock.
Prize, he spent nearly 27 years of his life
Escaping the prison brought a sense of
incarcerated, 18 of them on Robben Island, relief. Outside, I spied one of the workers
where a maximum-security prison was put on the island getting water from a tap on
in place to house, isolate and punish polit- the gravel road opposite. He was short in
ical prisoners. This finally closed in 1991, stature and sweating heavily from the heat.
though the medium-security wing continued I was curious what Nelson Mandela and this
to operate for another five years.
building – which he must have seen every
The old prison occupies just a small day of his working life – meant to him.
portion of the island’s five square kilometres.
“I was much too young to have felt the
During the short, bumpy bus ride to reach it, brunt of apartheid, but within my family
I glimpsed seabirds swooping down on grassy we have lost many loved ones to apartpatches out of the corner of my eye. Robben heid-era hate,” he told me, adding that as
Island is home to 132 species of bird as well a Xhosa man like Mandela he relived the
as the largest colony of breeding bank cormo- greatness of a person he never knew daily.
The grim legacy
rants in South Africa.
But my gaze was fixed
of Apartheid took
on the walls that now
years to dismantle,
“Nelson Mandela
though its legislation
filled the windscreen.
spent nearly 27 years
was repealed just 14
Walking into the
prison and hearing the
of his life incarcerated, months after Mandela
was finally released.
key turn in the large
18 of them on
“My father has
steel gates that once
a scar he got after
kept Mandela and
Robben Island”
many others confined
he received a neardeath beating during
sent shivers down my
body. Five of us at a time were allowed to an uprising in Langa (a township in Cape
enter the cell in which he was held while Town),” the man added quietly, preferring
the guide explained the layout. During his not to give his name. “My family adores
incarceration, Mandela was not given a bed Nelson Mandela. He set us free.”
but instead had to rest on the cold concrete.
Likewise, there was no plumbing; all he had THE GREAT RELEASE
to relieve himself was a bucket. The condi- Back in the city, it is apparent just how much
tions were oppressive enough for just a few of Cape Town has been built or rebuilt over
moments; spending 18 years between these the last 30 years. The waterfront’s slick Silo
walls, which seemed to close in on you upon District, home to Africa’s largest contemporary art museum, is just one of the more
entering, would have been unbearable.
Like others, Mandela had to do hard recent additions. On the ferry, I also got a
labour in the quarry during his time on the clear view of Cape Town Stadium, which
island. It was backbreaking work. He was was built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and
allowed one visitor a year and could write or is now an iconic landmark in the city. Even
around the enduring figure of Table Mounreceive a single letter every six months.
“Many times, prisoners were subjected to tain, the tall buildings and houses hugging
harsh conditions, such as not being fed as its feet are all relatively new.
punishment for undermining the apartheid
Wandering the streets of the Central Busiregime,” our guide explained. Every letter ness District (CBD), I encountered people
received or sent by a political prisoner was from all walks of life. One thing that does not
scrutinised, and their families often received lack in the ‘Mother City’ is the friendliness
unreadable messages because most of the of its residents. The scents of delicious foods
words had been redacted for being “unsafe”, and stalls run by vendors of every culture and
a “danger” or an act of “collusion”.
ethnicity can be found on the pavements. It
Some prisoners were alleged to have been occurred to me that so many of these people
tortured during interrogation, or just held would not have been able to even walk here
in their holding cells without any chance to back when this was a ‘Whites Only’ area. ⊲

Need to know
When to go
December–March: Peak
season. Summer in the Mother
City is a busy period. Book ahead.
April–June: In April, Freedom
Day (27 Apr) marks when South
Africa held its first post-apartheid
elections in 1994. As the heat dies,
it’s also a great period for hiking.
July–September: Migratory
southern right whales arrive off
the coast of the Western Cape.
October–November: Spring
brings mild weather (24ºC) and
fewer crowds to the city.

Visas & currencies
Visas: Not required by UK
nationals for stays of up to 90 days.
Currency: South African rand
(ZAR), currently around ZAR23.69
to the UK£.

Getting there
& around
British Airways (ba.com)
operates regular direct flights
between London Heathrow and
Cape Town International airport
from about £830 return, taking
around 11 hours one-way.

Carbon offset
A return flight from
London to Cape Town produces
1,122kg of carbon per passenger.
Wanderlust encourages you
to offset your travel footprint
through a reputable provider.
For advice on how to find one,
please visit wanderlust.co.uk/
sustainable-travel.

Health & safety
Consult your doctor
regards any jabs, but diphtheria
and hepatitis A are typically
advised for travel in South Africa.

Food & drink
In Cape Town, immigrants
from the Portuguese island of
Madeira have made classic British
fish and chips their own, while
every corner café in the city has
a bowl of koe’sisters behind the
counter – it’s the spongier, spicier,
non-plaited Cape Malay cousin
of the Dutch koeksister. Similarly,
bobotie (curried mince and egg
custard) is a nationwide winter
staple with roots in the Cape
Malay community, and you’ll find
the finest versions in Bo-Kaap.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 73

On strolling the Grand Parade, my eye was
drawn to the statue of Mandela in front of
City Hall. The building holds a huge significance for South Africans, as it was from this
balcony that he addressed thousands in a
speech after his release from prison in 1990.
“Comrades and fellow South Africans,”
Mandela began, “I greet you all in the name
of peace, democracy and freedom for all. I
stand here before you not as a prophet, but
as a humble servant of you, the people.” His
opening brought hope to a nation that had
been fighting for freedom for too long.
I met my 77-year-old grandmother, Helen
Fester, at her home in Atlantis, a small town
66km outside Cape Town. She told me that
she wished that she could have witnessed
Mandela’s speech, but like most people here
she couldn’t make it to City Hall that day and
had been stuck to a TV screen instead.
My grandmother is a feisty woman who
has never shied away from telling it like it is.
She believes that we need to know our country’s history in all its good and bad points.
“When that man started his speech, it was
like reigniting the fight for what we believed in.
The sacrifice he made for this country could
never be repaid. He brought hope when we
were on the edge of letting go,” she explained.

For Helen, the law preventing marriages
between ‘whites’ and ‘non-whites’ meant
that she couldn’t be with the man she loved.
This had been among the first pieces of

“The sacrifice Mandela
made for this country
could never be repaid.
He brought hope when
we were on the edge
of letting go”
apartheid legislation to be passed following
the National Party’s rise to power in 1948. It
was even dangerous for the couple to be seen.
“Back then, my ex-husband and I could
not be together publicly. While I loved this
man, I could get beaten or arrested because
I was classified as a non-white – ‘Coloured’,”
she recalled with a tear in her eye.

THE SURVIVORS
One of the most damaging laws enacted
during the apartheid era was the Group
Areas Act of 1950, which was aimed at
enforcing a policy of racial segregation. It

reserved certain areas of the city for residence
and occupation by specific racial groups
within the population, often by brutal means.
Two of the most extreme examples of this
are District Six and Bo-Kaap, where people
were forcibly removed from their homes
and driven out of the area. Today, District
Six remains a barren neighbourhood with
many untold stories.
I dropped in at the District Six Museum,
which takes you back to when this was one
of the most colourful parts of Cape Town,
filled with good food, music and community.
One of the best things for me in the museum
was a map spread out on the floor depicting all the old street names and landmarks
(including stores, kiosks and vendors). Many
of these names I knew through stories told to
me by my family and people I’d met.
My grandmother had told me tales
of how she and her friends used to go to
Hanover Street and visit the bioscope (a
prototype cinema), then partied all night
long during annual street parties. Seeing
this map with my own eyes, I could plot
the routes that she must have taken on her
adventures during her younger years.
In 1966, District Six was scheduled to be
razed and rebuilt as a ‘Whites Only’ area under

The lost city (this page; clockwise from left) Standing on the map in the District Six Museum reveals what was lost to the Group Areas Act; the City Hall balcony
from which Nelson Mandela addressed South Africa on his release in 1990 now has a statue to mark that historic moment; a photo of prisoners arriving on Robben
Island; (right page; top to bottom) the colourful homes of Bo-Kaap, one of the oldest residential areas in Cape Town, survived the wrath of the apartheid era and
are an enduring record of its Cape Malay inhabitants, who were the first to paint them in bright colours; koe’sisters are spicy dumplings with a cake-like texture

74 February/March 2024

TRAVELOGUES South Africa

Fact file
Think you know Nelson
Mandela? Here are five
things about the great man
that may surprise you…

1

What’s in a name?
Nelson Mandela’s
birth name was Rolihlahla
Mandela, which literally
means ‘to pull a branch
of a tree’ in the Xhosa
language, though a more
accurate translation would
be ‘troublemaker’. He was
given the name Nelson by
his primary-school teacher
when he was seven years
old, as was common in the
1920s when African children
were often renamed under
British rule.
They seek him here…
After going underground
because of his ANC activities,
Mandela’s ability to evade
the South African security
services earned him the
nickname ‘The Black
Pimpernel’, a play on the
elusive and fictional hero of
the French Revolution. In later
years, Mandela also went by
his clan name, Madiba.
First ladies
Nelson Mandela was
married three times. His
last marriage was at the
age of 80 to Graça Machel,
who was formerly married
to Mozambique President
Samora Machel. By
remarrying, she became the
first woman to be First Lady
of two different nations.
Simple tastes
Although he was wined
and dined on his travels, the
meal that Mandela was said
to enjoy the most was tripe,
which his former personal
chef, Xoliswa Ndoyiya,
claimed to have “smuggle[d]”
to London on one trip
because he loved it so much.
A lesser-known legacy
While hundreds of
streets now bear the name
Nelson Mandela, you
can also find a nuclear
particle (the Mandela
particle), a prehistoric
woodpecker (Australopicus
nelsonmandelai) and an
orchid (Paravanda Nelson
Mandela) named after him.

Alamy

2

the Group Areas Act. By 1982, more than
60,000 people had been forcibly removed
from their homes. Houses and buildings were
bulldozed and residents were relocated to the
outskirts of the city, to an area now known as
Cape Flats. Wandering its streets today is a
sobering reminder of the power that apartheid
had to tear communities apart.
But not every story ended this way;
Bo-Kaap is a different matter entirely. This
area was built by the Dutch in the 1760s to
lease huurhuisjes (rental properties) to the
enslaved peoples later known as the Cape
Malay. They had been brought over from
Malaysia, Indonesia and East Africa, and for
generations this was called the Malay Quarter. Despite several attempts by the apartheid
regime to claim it as a ‘Whites Only’ area, they
were reluctant to bulldoze its many mosques
for fear of reprisals. Instead, it was declared an
exclusive residential area for Cape Muslims.
Today, the neighbourhood’s colourfully
painted terraced houses, nestled at the foot
of Signal Hill, have survived miraculously
intact. Their colours were originally an
expression of freedom. When the enslaved
people here were first allowed to purchase
their houses from the Dutch, they quickly
discarded the coloniser’s rule of painting
them solely white. It’s no wonder the area
was a favourite of Mandela’s, who openly
professed his love of visiting its bright streets.

Bo-Kaap is a great place to get a taste
of Cape Malay culture and cuisine. Walking here, I was soon seduced by the smells
coming from the local kiosks. I purchased a
Cape Town staple, koe’sisters – a spicy dumpling that is cake-like in texture and dipped
in sugar and sprinkled with coconut. This is
a celebrated Cape Malay delicacy for good
reason, but all the more special when you
know the history of the people behind it.
The same could be said of Cape Town.
For all the white-sand beaches, natural
wonders and world-class restaurants that
comprise most coverage of the city, it comes
with a history as difficult as it is, at times,
hard to hear. But like Bo-Kaap and those
who endured the brutality of the apartheid regime, exploring and acknowledging its survival isn’t about being
weighed down by the past but
celebrating the present.
Thirty years on from
South Africa’s
resurrection,
this city is
laced with
diversity
and inclusion. Something Nelson
Mandela would
be proud of.

3

4

5

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 75

FIND YOUR ADVENTURE IN

Barbados

Beyond its postcard-perfect beaches, this diverse Caribbean island
appeals to every type of traveller – but which kind are you?
ure, Barbados is blessed
with profuse pink and white
sands – but it’s far from just
another beach destination.
This beautiful island is packed with
tantalising experiences to thrill every
kind of traveller: foodies, explorers,
historians and more. Take a deeper
dive into this Caribbean gem to
discover a kaleidoscope of places,
people, flavours and wild wonders.

S

THE EXPLORER
Barbados is an adventurer’s dream.
On shore, verdant and undulating
landscapes provide a playground for
active pursuits. The windswept east
coast is famed for its rugged beauty
and wave-crashed, rocky shores
– ripe for exploring on foot. Hikers

76 February/March 2024

head inland to Coco Hill Forest, or
join cyclists on the evolving Barbados
Trailway, repurposing a disused
railway line that snakes through
fields south of The Valley, St George.
Delving into lush central rainforests,
you’ll encounter hummingbirds

Coastal drama
(above and below)
Chalky Mount’s
rocky outcrops
offer dramatic
hiking; Barbados’
shipwrecks attract
marine wildlife –
and keen divers

and other feathered species flitting
among shady gullies and waterfalls.
Meanwhile, beneath the waves you
can dive among sponge-encrusted
shipwrecks and reefs bustling
with dazzling marine life. All in all,
Barbados boasts ample activities to
enthral any activity-lover.

THE CULTURE SEEKER
Barbados is a true cultural melting
pot, with indigenous Taino and
Kalinago, West African and European
influences mixing to create a vibrant
tapestry of traditions and lifestyles.
That rich heritage is reflected in the
Bajan dialect, blending English with
African languages. Church is a focal
point for many, from local Sunday
services to the annual Gospelfest
music and arts festival; others
practice the Rastafarian religion.
Music is life in Barbados, spanning
a range of styles: you’ll certainly hear
the reggae and soca tunes so popular
across the Caribbean, but also local
specialities such as tuk and spouge
– a unique Bajan fusion of calypso
and ska. Don’t miss the chance to
absorb the island’s rich folklore, too
– stories of the mischievous spidery
trickster Anansi, or of the rolling calf,
a terrifying ‘duppy’ or evil spirit.

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
Bajans love dancing, of course;
watch for performances by the
Landship troupe, mimicking a British
naval vessel on land. To really take
the island’s pulse, though, head to the
Kensington Oval. At Barbados’ worldfamous sporting venue, you’ll begin
to understand that cricket is more
than just the national game – it runs
red-hot through Bajan veins.

House, where the first US president
reputedly stayed during a 1751
visit, now a fascinating museum. In
capital Bridgetown’s historic heart,
particularly around the Garrison
historic area and St Ann’s Fort, you
can roam among Georgian-era
houses and barrack buildings. In
short, you’ll find heritage stretching
back over four and a half centuries
waiting to be explored.

THE HISTORIAN
THE FOODIE
With more than 100 world-class
eateries across the island, it is hardly
surprising that Barbados has been
called the culinary capital of the
Caribbean. As you stroll around
Bridgetown, the aromas of sweet
breadfruit, spicy Bajan black pudding
and freshly cooked fish tantalise the
senses. Sustainable farm-to-table
dining is championed at Local & Co,
a tempting oceanside restaurant
also boasting an art exhibition and
marketplace. For romantic fine dining
head to Champers, perched on a
Christ Church clifftop. Just to the
west, top chef Barry Taylor conjures
up Pan Asian cuisine with
a Caribbean twist at Naru.
Typical Bajan food is an informal
fusion of American, European and

Recipe for
adventure
(this page; clockwise from above)
Barbados cuisine
blends African,
American and European flavours; hike
among more than
70 plant species at
Coco Hill Forest;
350-year-old
Nicholas Abbey is a
fine spot for tasting
Bajan rums; trot
along Bath Beach
on horseback; savour a Friday feast
at Oistins Fish Fry;
trade balls and banter with locals at
one of the island’s
rum shops

Asian flavours: try, for example,
the national dish, fried flying fish
with cou-cou (cornmeal and okra)
and spicy gravy. Each Friday night,
locals flock to the Oistins Fish Fry
for grilled or fried seafood and
lively entertainment. Other musttaste dishes include the spicy stew
called pepperpot, and jug-jug, a
kind of haggis with sorghum, pork
and pigeon peas. Finally, no visit
to Barbados is complete without a
tasting at Mount Gay rum distillery –
the world’s oldest, dating from 1703.

Visit Barbados

More than four and a half centuries
after Portuguese explorer Pedro
Campos landed here in 1536,
dubbing the island Los Barbados
(‘the bearded ones’) for its vinestrewn trees, it’s a treasure trove
of historical landmarks. Soon after
Barbados became an English colony
in 1625, sugar-cane plantations were
established; the early 18th-century
Morgan Lewis Sugar Mill is one of
only two working sugar windmills
in the world. Built in 1818, Gun Hill
Signal Station in St George played a
key role in defending the island from
attack; today it’s a popular tourist
attraction, affording spectacular
views across the whole island as
well as insights into Barbados’
military history. Another unmissable
landmark is George Washington

For more information, head to: visitbarbados.org

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 77

Legends of the ice
Every spring, the sea ice in the fjords of Baffin Island
begins to break up, creating a ‘line of life’ that attracts
seals, polar bears and even the mythical narwhal
Words & photographs Phoebe Smith

Vital Arctic
kit to bring
Parka
Take a warm jacket with a hood
that is both windproof and
waterproof. When riding on a
qamutik, the Arctic wind can
permeate most materials.

Muck boots
Walking on the ice requires
warm shoes with a good grip.
Winter hiking boots will work,
but your feet can get very cold
when sitting and waiting for
wildlife. Muck boots are ideal
because they are insulated and
waterproof. You can either buy or
hire these.

Insulated
trousers
Ski trousers will work fine; again,
the key is that the fabric is windstopping and waterproof.

Baselayers

T

here’s a legend told among the
Inuit of the Canadian Arctic
that all the animals in the sea
are controlled by a mermaid-like
goddess called Taluliyuk. The
story goes that she was thrown off a canoe
by her angry father and when she tried to
cling onto the side, he cut off her fingers and
they became the whales, walruses and seals
that populate these icy waters. It’s said that
if she is angered by humans not respecting
the environment, she will entangle all the
marine mammals in her long hair, helping
them evade hunters and thereby stopping
them from providing isolated communities
with much-needed food, clothing and tools.
On a cold day in early summer, while floating in the waters of Baffin Bay wearing a black
dry suit and lobster-shaped gloves, it occurred
to me how easily I could be mistaken for a
half-woman, half-fish sea creature. Thankfully, I still had all my fingers – though that
might not be the case if I’d stayed in the -2°C
water much longer. This wasn’t a pleasure
swim; I was on the search for a creature as
mythical as Taluliyuk herself: the narwhal.
The adventure had begun in Pond Inlet
after a three-hour flight from Iqaluit, the
regional capital of the Canadian Territory
of Nunavut. Myself and a party of 12 were
introduced to our expedition leader, Jaime
Sharp, a New Zealander who had just come

80 February/March 2024

from guiding visitors on a polar bear safari
in Churchill. He was accompanied by our
Inuit team, led by an elder and artist called
Billy Merkosak. On arrival, we were split into
groups and boarded our qamutiks – makeshift
wooden sleds pulled behind snowmobiles.
The sky appeared to become bluer as we
creaked over the hardened icy ground. The
mountains glistened in the distance, their
snow-encased ridges dazzling in the sunlight.
After two hours, we reached our base camp
at Eclipse Sound, a cluster of yellow tents
(our bedrooms) and white marquees (the
kitchen and dining hall). From here, the floe
edge – the part of the fjord where the sea ice
had begun to melt into narrow channels of
water, bringing with it hungry wildlife – was
a two-hour drive away, Jaime told us.
“We used to camp much nearer, but
the effects of climate change mean we
cannot anymore,” explained Billy later
that afternoon, as we finally arrived at our
narwhal-watching spot. “The season is
shorter and the ice forms later and melts
quicker, so we are always reading the ice.”
It was then that Billy told me the story of
Taluliyuk. I couldn’t help but think that we
humans had been doing a lot to anger the sea
goddess recently. We headed back to camp
without a sighting, though our spirits were
soon lifted by the feast of freshly cooked caribou steaks (or a cauliflower equivalent for 

Merino wool keeps you warmest
and can be worn for days on end
without becoming smelly (due
to the microbial qualities of the
wool). Wear on top and as a long
john under your trousers for
maximum warmth.

Gloves and hat
Go for two pairs of gloves: a
thinner fleece-lined pair and a
larger insulated and waterproof
pair. Mittens will warm your
hands fastest. Choose a hat
that covers your ears as well
as your head.

Binoculars
Spotting wildlife amid the
swathes of white is tricky;
good binoculars make it much
easier and allow you to enjoy
the spectacle.

Camera and tripod
While waiting for the wildlife to
emerge, set up your camera on
a sturdy tripod so that you’ll be
ready when it arrives.

A sense of
adventure
No two days are the same in the
High Arctic, and conditions are
always changing. It’s all part of
the experience, so enjoy nature
setting the itinerary.

TRAVELOGUES Canada

On thick ice (clockwise from far left) The author searches for narwhal amid the frozen water; the view from her tent at base camp, which was two hours by
snowmobile from the floe edge; one of the many sled dogs who live on the frozen bay of Pond Inlet; a mother polar bear and her cub wander beneath the mass
of Bylot Island; the colourful houses of Pond Inlet stand out against the icy surrounds; a frozen tree of ice juts out like an ornament on the iceberg Billy calls his
‘castle’; an inukshuk made by a hunter to mark safe passage around a crack in the ice; (previous spread) one of the giant icebergs washed up from Greenland

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 81

The long, hard road (clockwise from top left) The route from Pond Inlet to base camp is a tough one – a motorway of frozen sea ice that has been pockmarked by seal holes and is best traversed by snowmobile; this large male polar bear, spotted close to camp, was still sleepy after feasting on a seal; the
Inuit team could fix just about any problem with a snowmobile; the cracked jumble of ice left by plates of frozen sea ice crashing into one another and
then refreezing; Joe was the camp’s polar bear lookout – he said that he was not afraid of bears, though he was terrified of black flies!

82 February/March 2024

TRAVELOGUES Canada
the vegetarians), spiced veggies and rice that
awaited. And before we went to bed, Billy
told us the Inuit legend of the narwhal.
“There are different versions,” he said, “but
the one I was told is that an elder woman with
long hair was hunting for white whales with a
rope tied around her waist. She was suddenly
pulled into the water, and as they dived her
into the deep, she twisted her hair into a horn
and it froze. She became the first narwhal.”
The name narwhal itself comes from
the Norse word ‘nár’, which translates as
‘cadaver’, presumably given due to the creature’s mottled grey-and-white colouring.
The purpose of its horn, or elongated tooth,
however, is still a mystery to scientists. Some
believe it’s used to spear fish, others postulate
it’s for echo-location – though this wouldn’t
explain why many females haven’t got one.
Another theory is that it’s used for fighting.
Whatever the purpose, back in medieval times
it was harvested by seafaring Vikings and
sold to unsuspecting Europeans and Asians
as ‘genuine unicorn horn’. Danish kings are
even said to have grated it into their wine to
ensure a long life, though eating narwhal meat
was said to induce a corpse-like state.
In Inuit tradition, the value of the narwhal
horn is – as with any animal – judged by its
use in everyday life.

“We use the tusks as tent poles,” said
Billy. “The blubber is very high in protein
and vitamin C, which is vital to our diet.
The skin and sinew are dried out and can
be made into clothing and thread, and the
intestines can be packed with fermented
meat and dried out to last year-round. To
the Inuit people, the narwhal is everything.”
That night, my dreams were filled with
unicorns; only occasionally did I rouse to
hear the sound of melting snow slip down
the sides of my tent, or the footsteps of Joe –
the polar-bear patrolman – who kept us safe
from any unexpected ursine visitors.
A little after dawn, we went back to the
floe edge (or sinaaq) to look for narwhal
again. The 24-hour sunlight at this time of
year causes tiny microorganisms to energise and grow, attracting fish such as cod
and halibut – a much sought-after meal for
the narwhal.
“The floe edge is a safer spot for narwhal
to calve, away from predators such as orca,”

“With climate change
warming the waters,
the summer ice cover is
rapidly diminishing here”

explained Jaime as we spotted unidentifiable fins far away on the horizon.
While we watched a flock of king eider
come into the shallows, their multi-coloured
faces almost gaudy amid the monochrome,
Billy went to speak to some hunters further
along the edge. When he returned, he said
that some narwhal had been spied but they
were very far in the distance. With climate
change warming the waters, the summer
ice cover is rapidly diminishing here. Some
Inuit hunters say that the number of killer
whales being spotted is increasing noticeably, meaning that narwhal are being hunted
in larger numbers than ever before.
After a hot lunch of spicy soup, mist
began to spool across the water, so Billy led
us further inland to check out some of the
icebergs that had arrived here from Greenland. We spent the afternoon wandering
amid frozen sculptures. Some had been
carved by the wind and sun into chairs,
tree-like protrusions and slabs as big as
apartment blocks; others had been made
by humans, who had purposely created
inukshuk (marker cairns) from huge blocks
of ice. These lined a newly formed crack in
the ever-shifting ice as a warning.
The next two days saw us explore this
constantly changing landscape further. 

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 83

The waiting game (this page; clockwise from top left) The ice near the floe edge begins to break up in the relative warmth of the Arctic summer; the signpost
that awaits visitors to the lookout at Pond Inlet; the colourful bill of a king eider seems almost garish against the blue-and-white backdrop of the Arctic; sitting,
watching and waiting becomes your default setting on a polar safari; (right page) the search for wildlife amid the Arctic waters and floating sea ice – this was
taken just before a polar bear was spotted swimming between the kayaks

84 February/March 2024

TRAVELOGUES Canada

Need to know
Getting there
From the UK, flights to the
Canadian Arctic go via Ottawa.
Air Canada (aircanada.ca)
has daily flights from London
Heathrow to Ottawa via Montreal;
these cost from £528 return and
take around ten hours. Canadian
North (canadiannorth.com) runs
daily flights from Canada’s capital
to Iqaluit, the regional capital
of Nunavut (3 hours), and on to
Pond Inlet (2.5 hours) from £1,196
one way. From there you require
a guide and a snowmobile to
reach the floe edge. It takes about
two hours to get to Eclipse Sound
(where the camp is) and a further
two hours to get to the water.

We spotted little auks,
“Billy signalled all my visit with a kayak
terns and skuas, and a
excursion with Jaime.
the snowmobiles to We saw no narwhal, but
curious Arctic fox whose
cheeks looked as though
stop as a huge male we did spy a polar bear
they had been painted
leaping into the water
polar bear passed
with blusher. We saw
in front of us. We both
right in front of us” watched in silence as it
ringed seals of every
shape and size leaping in
swam away.
and out of ice holes. On
It’s always sad to leave
one ride out, Billy signalled all the snowmo- a place without seeing the species you’d
biles to stop as a huge male polar bear passed hoped to see, but I left with a sense of optiright in front of us. Another time, we stum- mism. Just a few months prior to my visit,
bled upon the footprints of a mother and her hunters and environmentalists had been
two cubs, after he had skilfully tracked them lobbying together for greater protection of
these waters and the creatures that live in
across the expansive frozen fjord.
On our final day, we resolutely made for them, following news that a nearby mine
the floe edge again, giving ourselves as much was looking to expand. Despite the mine’s
time as possible to spot our unicorns. We sat presence accounting for up to a quarter of
on foldaway chairs for several hours, drink- the territory’s GDP, a study showed that
ing warm tea, eating freshly made cookies sound from the operations was affecting
and talking about the narwhal encounters narwhal behaviour and numbers (disputed,
Billy and his team had enjoyed over the years. unsurprisingly, by the mining company).
For them, the idea of hoping to see one This partnership, momentarily, managed to
to photograph rather than hunt is still novel halt further development. And although the
but, as Billy explained: “We share your fasci- mine was recently given approval to increase
nation with them; they are, and always will its output until the end of 2024, the volume of
be, special to us here in the Arctic, and it’s protests against it showed the world that longterm gains from having a healthy wildlife
important that we protect them.”
Roughly 75% of the entire population of population (and the accompanying income
the world’s narwhal migrate to the waters from wildlife tourism) can win out against
around Baffin Island every year, making short-term profits. At least for a while.
As I looked back at the water from my
this the only place in the world you realistically have a chance of seeing them. But qamutik, still hoping to spy the arched back
studies now show that narwhal numbers of a diving narwhal glistening in the sunlight,
are decreasing, and by a lot. In 2004, the it occurred to me that the long-term secuestimated population was 20,000; this had rity of these creatures was far more precious
dropped to 12,000 by 2016; and in 2021, than seeing a whale with a horn on its head.
there were just 2,595 recorded.
Because when two groups on very different
In a final attempt to see one in the wild, sides of the table can work together to help
I allowed myself a narwhal’s-eye view by protect something, then there is still a chance
snorkelling the sea ice and checking out the that Taluliyuk may once again release her
endless dark ocean beneath my fins. I ended marine mammals to the surface.

What to expect
Everything in the Arctic
is governed by the weather and
ice, which is unpredictable. It’s not
uncommon for flights to Pond
Inlet (and even Iqaluit) to be
cancelled at short notice, or for
them to start flying and have to
turn around mid-air. Conditions
can change fast on the floe
edge; hours, or even days, stuck
at base camp are a possibility, as
are weeks of sunshine and blue
skies. You should be prepared
to expect anything and embrace
the unpredictable.

Further information
To learn more about
Baffin Island, be sure to visit
destinationnunavut.ca; for more
Canada inspiration, also check out
explore-canada.co.uk.

The trip
The author was a guest of
Arctic Kingdom (arctickingdom.
com) on its Narwhal & Polar
Bear, Floe Edge Safari, which
costs from CAD$27,500pp
(£16,255), including all food
and drink, return internal
flights from Ottawa to Pond
Inlet, snowmobile transfers,
accommodation in the Arctic in
hotels pre- and post-camp and
‘en suite’ tent accommodation
on the ice. The trip runs four
times a year, between May
and June.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 85

How to experience Anguilla:
from nature to gastronomy
Anguilla is not just about untarnished nature. Discover its
adventurous side, vibrant cuisine and exciting festivals too
f the ultimate reset is a tropical
beach escape, then Anguilla
can certainly help with that. It
has secluded coves that shelve
into turquoise seas and some of
the finest beaches in the Caribbean.
But this small, laid-back island is far
more than a pretty shoreline. With
restaurants that run the gamut from
Michelin-level cuisine to boho-chic
beachside dining, plus a deluge of
natural wonders and adventures that
range above and below the waterline,
there is plenty to spark your curiosity.

I

UNWIND ON THE SAND
Back to nature (this page; top to bottom) Enjoy a lobster
lunch on Sandy Island after a snorkel and a sunbathe;
take a hike on secluded Scrub Island

86 February/March 2024

Anguilla has some of the Caribbean’s
prettiest shores, with gin-clear shallows
that lap and roll onto acres of mounded
coral granules as soft as talcum

powder. Its 33 beaches range from tiny,
secluded coves like Little Bay, which is
reached either by rope descent or by
boat, to kilometre-long strands.
There are lively beaches, too. At
Shoal Bay East, backed by a handful
of hotels and beach bars, you can
hire snorkel gear to explore the reef.
On others you may find yourself
completely alone. Rendezvous Bay,
Meads Bay and Barnes Bay stretch for
over a kilometre apiece, so just walk on
if someone’s in your favourite spot.
For the active, there is always
something to do. Anguilla Watersports
offers glass-bottom kayaks for hire
and kitesurfing experiences. There
are also day sails to Sandy Island and
Prickly Pear that include snorkelling,
sunbathing and a lobster lunch.

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

TASTE EXQUISITE
CARIBBEAN CUISINE
Anguilla is known among the
Caribbean islands for its food. The
presence of a gang of French chefs
from nearby islands has also sparked
a legacy of gastronomy on the island.
For nearly 30 years, Blanchards on
Meads Bay has served top-notch
cuisine to a willing crowd, while
Hibernia, which overlooks an Asianstyle garden in Island Harbour, offers
delectable French fare with Thai,
Moroccan and Japanese touches.
Don’t miss the wave of Anguillian
chefs who have created a new style
of West Indian cuisine, reworking
traditional recipes and ingredients in
fresh and modern ways. Try Tasty’s
Point of View, which overlooks Sandy
Ground. Or go for a traditional West
Indian platter of grilled fish with rice ’n’
peas at Sharky’s, on the road to West
End Village.
The Anguilla Culinary Experience,
is also held each May, bringing with
it four days of chef’s dinners, beach
barbecues and cooking competitions.

GET ADVENTUROUS IN
UNSPOILED NATURE

See the island’s vibrant underwater
life at Little Bay and Shoal Bay, where
you can snorkel among schools of
angel fish, parrot fish and striped
sergeant majors. Scuba divers can
explore deeper reefs and a handful of
wrecks. The hotels also have kayaks,
paddleboards and sailing dinghies.
Anguilla’s national sport is sailing,
and during summer the locals buff up
their boats and race them around the
island. Spectators can follow along
in cars, but sometimes the boats are
short on crew, so for a truly authentic
time, ask around in Sandy Ground if
there’s a vacancy for a deckhand.

CELEBRATE AT VIBRANT
FESTIVALS
Like all West Indians, Anguillians love
a ‘lime’, which translates roughly as
a spontaneous party. If you come
across one, join in. Or simply just visit
the island during one of its festivals.
The liveliest event of the year is the
Anguilla Summer Festival, a carnival
held in early August (1–11 August
2024). Ten days of calypso singing,
beach parties and local sailboat races
culminate in the carnival pageant,
when costumed revellers dance
through the streets.
In May (23–26 May 2024), the
Anguilla Culinary Experience
celebrates the gastronomy of the
island. Events include a series of
beachside and formal dinners, tasting
menus by visiting chefs, as well as
cooking competitions.
Finally, what would life be in
the islands without music – soca,
merengue, reggae, calypso? The
music festival Moonsplash is held
each year in March (22–24 March
2024) and is staged by Bankie
Banx at his Dune Preserve. So, join
revellers in a bar of upturned boat
hulls and share a rum punch, as
reggae and soca rhythms thunder
across the tropical night air…

Anguilla Tourist Board

Anguilla has plenty of natural wonders
to explore. On land, the Anguilla
National Trust leads guided nature
hikes and historical walks, as well
as birding trips to its reserves and
wetlands. You can also hike to Goat
Cave, home to natural sunroofs and
plunge pools. Then, after a horse ride
with Seaside Stables, cool off with
your steed by riding into the sea.

Carnival colours
(this page; clockwise from top left)
Celebrate carnival
at the Anguilla
Summer Festival;
see the shipwreck
at Sandy Ground;
taste Anguillian
cuisine at Prickly
Pear, aka Agatha’s;
try the fresh lobster
at Sandy Island;
paddleboard on the
crystalline waters
of Little Bay

To plan your Caribbean getaway to Anguilla, go to: www.ivisitAnguilla.com

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 87

The warmest of welcomes
In the ageing city of Hagi, a new scheme connecting visitors with
homestays offers both income to its elder community and a way
for travellers to experience the little-seen side of small-town Japan
Words Emma Thomson

TRAVELOGUES Japan

O

ne of the things that’s easy
Sixteen families take part in Hagi’s
to forget about Japan is that homestay programme. We met some of
it only started welcoming them in a 300-year-old house in town where
foreigners openly 170 years samurai once practised their swordsmanship
ago. As a result, it could and martial arts on the patinaed wooden
be argued that many of its customs and floor. I was matched with Akiko Nohara,
cultural habits – even the modern ones – a bespectacled 78-year-old with an elfin
still seem remarkable to outsiders, from the crop of black hair. She shuffled straight over
faux flushing sounds on toilets (added to and surprised me with a hug around my
preserve the user’s modesty) to KFC being waist. After an icebreaker learning to paint
a popular place to eat
our names in Japanese
Christmas dinner.
calligraphy, it was time
Visitors are delighted
to go home.
“We met at a
and dazzled by the
Akiko drove us into
300-year-old house the countryside, past
high-tech dynamism of
Japan’s neon-lit cities,
thickets of bamboo
where samurai
but can often come
bowing over the Abu
once practised their River,
away feeling as though
to a valley of
swordsmanship”
they never really found
forested slopes. Her
the real pulse of life
single-storey home
stood next to a field of
here. Sure, they spent
time in a robot restaurant and replicated cabbages, and tucked beneath the overthe many social media posts of shuffling hanging roof was a rack of drying seaweed
across Tokyo’s super-busy Shibuya Crossing and buckets of fermenting plums.
sandwiched between thousands of locals,
“My husband and father built this house
but they only end up seeing exactly what together in 1960 using lumber cut from the
they’d expected and experiencing little else. mountains,” Akiko explained. She stepped
I’d resolved to seek out the less flashy side inside, showing me how to lever my shoes
of the country. To do so, I joined G Adven- off and leave them pointing away from the
tures’ new Back Roads of Japan tour, which house, to leave evil spirits at the door.
includes a two-night homestay in Hagi,
“Tea!” she gestured, walking off down the
a UNESCO-listed coastal castle town in hall. I hung back, feeling the tatami (woven
the far west of Honshu island that is known grass) mats beneath my feet and taking in
for its pottery. Some 44.4% of the town’s the calm, minimalist interior. She soon slid
population is over the age of 65 (compared back a pair of shoji (rice-paper room dividwith Japan’s already high national average ers) and placed the tea set down on a low
of 28.7%). And in an area where work has table with a blanket tucked into the wood.
become scarce, I was eager for a chance to “It’s a kotatsu,” she said, motioning for me
see how its elder population had turned to to sit on my heels and pull the throw over
tourism as an alternative source of income. my legs. It was heated underneath and 

Need to know
Getting there
British Airways (ba.com)
flies from London Heathrow to
Tokyo from £906, taking 13.5
hours. Reaching Hagi by train
requires multiple changes and
takes about eight hours.
Navigating the train and subway
network can be confusing, so
download the Japan Transit app to
help plan your journeys.
Government guidance
stipulates COVID-19 masks
aren’t required, but many still
wear them to protect others. It’s
respectful to follow suit.

A place in the country (clockwise from top right) Hagi has long been famous for a type of pottery known as Hagiyaki (Hagiware), and its reputation for
ceramics dates back some 400 years, to when the town’s feudal lord cannily began appointing local potters so that he had a constant supply of crockery
and gifts – word soon got out and the town began attracting the best artisans of the era; the homestay of Akiko Nohara; Akiko prepares to harvest her
flourishing cabbages for the upcoming home-cooked meal; the sun sets over the town of Hagi and the Sea of Japan

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 89

Home comforts (this page; clockwise from top left) A statue of Takasugi Shinsaku – the Hagi-born samurai who played a vital role in the defeat of the
Tokugawa shogun and the subsequent Meiji Restoration – stands in the town; Akiko announces that dinner is ready (via Google Translate); Akiko’s living
room, complete with cosy kotatsu blanket and a cabinet filled with the dolls that her daughter collected; (right page) spending time in the kitchen with her
homestay host afforded Emma a chance to learn different styles of Japanese home cooking

90 February/March 2024

Emma Thomson; Shutterstock

TRAVELOGUES Japan
warmed us against the growing cold. Akiko
poured the grass-green tea into a pair of
handleless cups.
“It’s grown locally,” she explained using
Google Translate. I passed her the packet of
fruit jellies I’d bought as a ‘thank you’ gift
and her eyes creased with delight.
I looked around the living room. In one
corner stood a black-lacquered glass cabinet
that housed ornate dolls – “They were once
my daughter’s,” explained Akiko – and in
the other stood a small shrine: a low wooden
table with a brass singing bowl, a framed
photo and a sand-filled bowl poked with
incense sticks.
Speaking into the app, I gestured with my
open hand: “Your husband?” She nodded.
I told her that I was sorry for her loss.
“Why?” she asked, bemused.
“You must miss him,” I replied.
“Oh no, I speak to him every morning and
evening,” she smiled, showing me that life
and death in her culture are separated only
by the thinnest rice-paper screen.
We moved to the kitchen, whereupon
Akiko started pulling fish and cucumbers
from the fridge and instructed me to cut a
pumpkin into slices. I asked her what it was
like to have guests in her home. She pulled
out her phone once more and murmured
into it softly.
“I started by giving city kids a sample of
life in the countryside, then opened to the
idea of hosting international guests. I was
worried about my English at first, but I like
meeting people from around the world,” she
nodded enthusiastically.
Being interested in outsiders runs deep
in Hagi. For more than 200 years, between
1603 and 1868, Japan was sakoku – literally
meaning a ‘chained country’ – where trade
was severely limited, foreigners were banned
from entering and travel to foreign countries carried the death penalty for locals.
This isolation was breached when US Navy
Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into
Tokyo Harbour to establish trade between
the USA and Japan in the summer of 1853.
Thirsty for knowledge, a Hagi-raised
samurai, Yoshida Shōin, and his disciple,
Kaneko Shingenosuke, tried to smuggle
themselves aboard Perry’s ship as it was
preparing to return to America. They were
discovered, returned to land and arrested.
Shingenosuke died behind bars, but
Shōin was released on house arrest in Hagi
and started teaching at his uncle’s school.
Two of his pupils became part of the Chōshū
Five – students who disguised themselves
as sailors to escape to England to study at
University College London (a monument
to the five still stands in its grounds). They
returned to become central figures in the

“An estimated 15% of
homes in Japan lie
empty as a result of the
shrinking population”
Meiji government that wrestled control
from the shogunate and transformed Japan
into a modern nation state. It is a continued
source of local pride that, to date, Hagi has
been the birthplace of three prime ministers.
“This was the starting place for the
new Japan – the Meiji Restoration, as we
call it,” explained a lightly bearded Koki
Sonoda. We nibbled on seaweed-sprinkled
rice crackers in his living room, where a

log-burning stove thumped out heat that
made us peel off our coats. “Their spirits and minds are still here – we remain
outward-looking in our hearts and curious
about everything international.”
I’d come to visit Koki, his wife, Rie, and
their year-old daughter, Ui, who had moved
into a 70-year-old home that they were
restoring (an estimated 15% of homes in
Japan lie empty as a result of the shrinking
population). “The homestay is a trigger for
a new ‘revolution’ in Hagi,” said Koki.
Joining us at the table was Miyazaki Takahide – nickname Zaki – the manager of the
homestay association. “I have a passion for
this programme because I want local residents to share ideas and keep the history of
Hagi and its traditions alive, and for locals 



www.wanderlustmagazine.com 91

Meeting the locals (this page; clockwise from top left) One of the joys of a homestay is that you’re made to feel part of a family; the group pose with their
homestay hosts; a cosy bed for the night; Rie [left] learned to make hats while she was in Ecuador, and now she puts her talents to good use in Hagi; (right page;
top to bottom) never underestimate the conversational lubricant of Google Translate; young couple Rie and Koki [right] pour out a welcoming tea and explain
that they began taking in international visitors as a way of making extra income and introducing their young daughter to different people from around the world

92 February/March 2024

TRAVELOGUES Japan
to be proud of living here,” he explained
through translator Akiyama Mitsunori (Aki),
whose hair was parted into neat curtains.
The freckle-faced Rie poured out some
tea and continued where her husband had
left off: “A precious side effect of hosting has
been that it has connected us more with the
older community members. They teach us
about the area’s history and how to host.”
The couple agreed that they had wanted
to welcome guests in order for their daughter to recognise different kinds of people.
“The money is a bonus,” added Rie, “but
it’s the exchange of ideas that’s worth
more to us. We cannot travel much, so it’s
nice for them to come to us. We see our
guests as friends. In big towns, you’re only
focussed on sightseeing; here it’s about
a deeper connection.”
Akiko returned me to the train station,
where I was reunited with the rest of the
group. They spoke excitedly of going fishing or foraging for mushrooms in the forest,
trying on kimonos and feeling the smooth

steel of a samurai sword, and of their hosts
crying when it was time to leave.
Canadian tour-group member Scott Dierick told me: “I found my hosts to be welcoming and warm, and even in the short time we
had together, you start to feel like part of the
family. I was emotional at leaving.”
Anna Hubbard, an American traveller with the group, agreed: “It’s a classic
stereotype that Japanese people are shy
and reserved. Some may act like that in the
public space, but this homestay showed me
that’s just not the case. At home, [my hosts
were] always laughing and tactile.”
I was reminded of a Japanese proverb
that I’d read: i no naka no kawazu taikai wo
shirazu (‘A frog in a well knows nothing of
the sea’), which warns against being quick
to judge or of seeing the world through
a limited perspective. What a remedy
homestays can be for any ‘frogs’ hidden
inside of us. Thanks to our warm-hearted
hosts, I would be leaving Hagi with a far
more nuanced vision of Japan.

Homestay
etiquette
Download…
GoogleTranslate. It’s invaluable in
the Japanese countryside, where
not many people speak English.

Study local customs
It’s rude to point with a finger (use
an open palm instead), and it’s
essential that you remove your
shoes before entering a home.

Bring a gift
Something from your country is
always popular. Sweets, flowers
and (if appropriate) alcohol are
appreciated. A small goodbye gift
is a kind gesture, too.

Learn a few phrases
Even if it’s only arigato (‘thank
you’) or sumimasen ‘(excuse me’),
making an effort is welcomed.

Offer to help
Whether it’s helping with cooking
or clearing up, the aim of a
homestay is to be like another
member of the family.

Emma Thomson

The trip
The author travelled with support
from G Adventures (gadventures.
com) on its 11-day Back Roads
of Japan trip, which costs from
£3,319pp and includes a two-night
homestay in Hagi. Transport,
accommodation and some meals
are included; international flights
are not. Departures run February
to December. Travellers require
proof of triple-vaccination or are
required to show a negative PCR
test before flying. UK nationals
do not require a visa.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 93

Have the adventure
of a lifetime with
Do you know the ingredients to create your ideal travel experience?
No matter what you want your trip to look like, Exodus does.
94 February/March 2024

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
o one does
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Few places are as synonymous with
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Indian Tiger Safari

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Trips that take
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Not sure how to discover the weird
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Everyone wants to see a Bengal tiger
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Dig into a
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(left page) Spy
Bengal tigers on
Exodus’ Indian
Tiger Safari
trip; (this page;
clockwise from
top) the Picos de
Europa makes
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mountain hike;
enjoy an alternative
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Mountains on two
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Discover more at exodus.co.uk or call 020 3733 6878

limits and open a whole new world
of adventures.

Atlas Descent
If hairpin bends, rocky tracks, and
rugged mountain trails are more your
speed, then this Moroccan thrill ride
is the perfect itinerary. Starting in
Agadir, you’ll put your pedal power
to the test across the Anti-Atlas
Mountains, which is home to some
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from the buzz of mass tourism, these
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indigenous Amazigh culture and
the chance to refuel with some tasty
North African fare.

Walking the Picos de Europa
This moderate-to-challenging
eight-day hiking trip gives you the
opportunity to test your thighs on the
limestone peaks and verdant valleys
of Spain’s third-highest mountain
range. The area comes alive with
vast carpets of wildflowers every
spring, and it is frequented by birds
of prey, bears, wolves and boars, so
the chances of making a sighting are
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There are also plenty of opportunities
⊲
to try canoeing and canyoning.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 95

Trips promising
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Do you know how to see revered
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Let the rhythm of Cuba take you
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Do you know how to make
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Cultural contact
(this page; clockwise from top left)
Geishas are an
iconic part of Japanese culture; meeting Cuba’s locals is
the key to seeing
the country’s soul;
Sigiriya is one of
Sri Lanka’s rocky
icons; the Amalfi
Coast is a dreamy
slice of Italy that
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Highlights of the
Amalfi Coast
Sharing stories over an aperitivo is
at the heart of life in Amalfi, so where
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the famous coastal route, soak up

96 February/March 2024

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
culture around the Bay of Naples
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Trips where local guides
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A guide can make or break your
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Cycling Vietnam
On this two-week cycling tour, you’d
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Pedal past fishing villages, rice
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enchanting as the last. Your guide
will find the most mouth-watering
Vietnamese cuisine en route (hello,
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you’ll also embark on a unique
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Discover the Canadian
Rockies: Jasper to Banff
Canada: where the only things
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Italian fishing town of Polignano a
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Hitting the coast and hearing those
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Cape Town &
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Canvas of colours
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clockwise from
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trace the sun-dappled wild coastline
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Jasper perfectly
reflect Canada’s
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in it as well. They’ll ensure you do just
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It’s hard to believe how much you’ll
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feel the wind in your hair as your
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evocative stalactites and stalagmites.

Exodus; Shutterstock

Puglia: Discover the
Heel of Italy
You’ll spend eight days in the sole (or
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villages and towns on a sensory
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the seafront aromas of the classically

Discover more at exodus.co.uk or call 020 3733 6878

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 97

The summer
capital of the
Gilded Age
As a slew of TV series tap into the
society dramas of America’s elite
during the late 19th century, we
head to their former playground
of Rhode Island, whose mansions
and mills recall an era of social
upheaval and impossible glamour
Words & photographs George Kipouros

icture 300 of
America’s wealthiest citizens showing off their finest
dresses, jewellery
and dance moves
right here,” smiled
Karen Filippo, resident guide at The Breakers, as she waved me towards the palatial
Great Hall. Stepping across the threshold,
I was taken aback by the 15m-high ceiling
with its impossibly realistic blue-sky fresco.
I also had a feeling of déjà vu – was I back in
one of Genoa’s Palazzi dei Rolli?
I was in fact touring the USA’s smallest
state, Rhode Island. We were in a Renaissance-revival historic mansion that was little
over a century old and I was left pondering why anyone would make such a grandiose architectural statement in a small
New England town.
“This was America’s Gilded Age showing off at its finest,” explained Karen as she
began the tour with a narration of the peculiar
era that incubated The Breakers.
The Gilded Age, a term originally coined
by Mark Twain for one of his lesser-known
novels, refers to the economic boom that
swept the USA roughly between 1877 and
1900. It was the period during which the
Second Industrial Revolution reached
North America, giving birth to a nouveau
riche oligarchic class of banking, mining and

100 February/March 2024

“The Second Industrial
Revolution gave birth
to a nouveau riche
oligarchic class in
North America”
railroad magnates, all impossibly hungry for
social legitimacy and grandeur.
Rhode Island’s oceanside town of
Newport would become the holiday
playground for this newly minted elite,
a dramatic showcase and stage for their
extravagant lives and society dramas.
“This was once the world’s most
sought-after resort area,” beamed Mark
Brodeur, a walking Rhode Island
encyclopaedia and state tourism
official. “Anyone from across the
USA who wanted to be seen in society needed to summer in Newport
– even coming in from as far out as
San Francisco.”
The summer ‘season’ here typically lasted for six weeks, I was
told, shocked that they would
build all this grandeur for barely
two months a year.
“The real wonder is that many
such spectacular mansions
were built during a period

spanning just four decades,” countered
Mark, “with The Breakers taking only two
years to build from inception to delivery.”
It was hard to believe such an extravagant
architectural feat was created in such a short
time. Its interiors are chock-a-block with
staggering artwork, furnishings and antiques.
“These are materialistic excesses brought
in from around the world to signify status
and superiority,” explained Karen. “It’s the
‘money is no object’ approach to getting
things done,” she conceded.
The guided walk took us through a
procession of rooms where the finest materials shone throughout: Carrera marble
floors, Baccarat chandeliers, Tiffany lights,
African alabaster tiles, Santo Domingo
mahogany furniture. If there was ever any
doubt that this ‘summer cottage’ – as the
era’s palatial mansions were rather facetiously called – was a child of America’s Gilded Age, it was soon lost in
a sea of finery.
I noticed that there were few
visitors during my late-afternoon visit in June, yet Karen
explained that The Breakers’
was very much in demand
again thanks to the attention
brought about by recent
TV period dramas such as
HBO’s The Gilded Age and
The Buccaneers on Apple TV. ⊲

Previous spread: David Gleeson; this spread: John W Corbett

TRAVELOGUES Rhode Island, USA

Living it up (this page; clockwise from top left) The Great Hall of The Breakers, with its trompe l’oeil sky fresco, was designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt
to echo the open-air courtyards of Italian villas; a portrait of Alice Vanderbilt, wife to Cornelius Vanderbilt and the enduring matriarch of the family; The
Breakers’ magnificent Beaux-Arts dining room; (left page; top to bottom) The Breakers was built in just two years; the bust of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who was
worth US$105 million on his death – about US$2.8 billion in today’s money; (previous spread) an aerial view of the cliff walk that wraps Newport’s mansions

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 101

Making an impression (clockwise from top left) The Elms’ theatrical entryway sets the tone for any visit; Newport isn’t a former yachting capital of the world for
nothing, and countless historic boats can found in its harbour; Rosecliff was built for Nevada silver heiress Theresa Fair Oelrichs; wandering the colonial buildings
of Newport’s historic centre; a visit to the kitchens of The Elms on the ‘Servant Life Tour’; William Vanderbilt gifted Marble House to his wife, Alva, on her 39th
birthday, little thinking that she’d divorce him several years later on grounds of adultery, scandalising the society of the day; admiring the Newport coastline

102 February/March 2024

TRAVELOGUES Rhode Island, USA
Television producers have not only used
mansions like this one as sets for their shows,
they also took inspiration from the real-life
personalities of the high society of the era.
The renowned Vanderbilt family, for whom
The Breakers was built, is reputed to have
been the inspiration behind the protagonists
of The Gilded Age TV series. As Karen began
narrating stories of the family’s real-life societal dramas, using the house’s public rooms
as backdrops to her tales, I could see why.
“Perhaps due to their extreme wealth, they
seemed to have lived more intense lives, with
many dramatic moments,” she concluded.
While The Great Depression and accompanying 1929 stock market crash brought to
an end many dynasties of the Gilded Age,
some prominent families continue thriving to
this day. Though the Vanderbilt heirs squandered much of the massive wealth built by
patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt, Karen shared
that there were descendants of the family still
living in part of The Breakers up until 2018.
She also revealed that it was not the only
Newport mansion associated with them.
Indeed, although The Breakers is arguably the grandest example of this era, I would
soon discover that it was one of many attention-grabbing mansions lining Newport’s
famed Bellevue and Ocean avenues.

HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVED
Just a short walk away, I left the Northern
Italian Renaissance behind and arrived in
Louis XIV’s Versailles, entering the grounds
of Marble House. The two mansions shared
not only the same architect – the most
in-demand man of the age, Richard Morris
Hunt – but also an association with the
extended Vanderbilt family.
William Vanderbilt commissioned Marble
House as a 39th birthday present for his wife,
Alva, who would become a central figure in
Gilded Age society. It was at Marble House
that I would understand just how pivotal a role
women played in this era of American history.
“While business was headed up exclusively by men, it was women that moved the
society of the Gilded Age,” explained local
guide Raymond Roy as he started narrating
the story of Alva Vanderbilt. As the lady of
the house, she was responsible for running
the household, both here and in the principal family home in Manhattan. She would
also meticulously plan and execute the most
important task of all: society entertaining.
Alva Vanderbilt famously said: “I know
of no profession, art or trade that women
are working in today as taxing on mental
resources as being a leader of society.”
Yet Alva did a lot more than host vain
society balls and picnics. “She was in fact
a pioneer of the American suffrage movement

and heavily involved in the National Women’s
Party,” Raymond announced proudly. The
on-site exhibition listed the many ‘firsts’ of
Alva in her pioneering work on women’s
empowerment. “She did all that while also
managing this most beautiful of Newport
mansions,” he remarked.
Named after the 14,000 cubic metres of
white marble that were used in its construction, Marble House is graceful, elegant
and modelled after the Petit Trianon de
Versailles. I enquired about the trend among
the Gilded Age’s elite to design these homes
in faux-historic European architecture.
“As America did not have its own artistic tradition at the time, European arts and
architecture lent an air of sophistication,”
explained Raymond, just as Mark interjected:
“Remember that among the newly wealthy
there was real hunger for legitimacy; a need to
confirm that new money does matter.”
For many historians, Marble House was
the mansion that started the societal competition that would transform Newport from
a summer resort of wooden colonial houses

“Interweaved with the
interiors were stories
taking in immigration,
employment and
labour disputes”
to the must-be-seen epicentre of opulence.
I was eager to see more of what it inspired.
Our next stop, The Elms, drew on the
18th-century French Château d’Asnières and
took its name from the expansive grounds that
were originally filled with towering American
elms – none of which survive to date, having
long succumbed to Dutch elm disease.
There is an impossibly grand entrance
to the main building, giving way to a rather
theatrical entry into the French-style Neoclassical grand ballroom. Inside, little of the original furnishings remained, unlike the ‘summer
cottages’ I had explored earlier.Yet The Elms
was an enlightening stop on my journey
across the remnants of Newport’s Gilded
Age, particularly after I had joined the only
‘Servant Life Tour’ among the mansions. It
started with a flight of 82 stairs that led from
a hidden basement-level servant entrance all
the way up to the third-floor staff quarters.
“The owners of The Elms went to great
lengths to keep its servants out of the sight of
residents and visitors,” noted Mark.
Over the next hour, I heard many moving
stories of butlers, cooks and maids – the
myriad support staff needed to run every
mansion in Newport. As we continued to the

basement kitchens, bedrooms and laundry
rooms, the difference between these and the
opulent public and owners’ quarters couldn’t
be more striking. Even back in 1901, the
Elms was fully electrified and had its own
generator, yet the conditions of the staff quarters were much more primeval.
Interweaved with the barren interiors were
stories taking in immigration, employment
and labour disputes as America wrestled
with its wealth imbalance during an era of
rapid economic change. It was a very solemn
reminder that this was a period of obscene
wealth for the very few, and of abject poverty
and inequality for many more.
Continuing our walk along Bellevue
Avenue, we came across a single mansion
that stood out but was purposefully difficult
to approach.
“This was once Mrs Astor’s Beechwood
house and the most sought-after invitation
in Newport,” smiled Mark.
Mrs Astor was perhaps the most prominent
societal figure of the Gilded Age. Receiving
an invitation to one of her balls signified that
you were part of America’s top echelon of
society. Beechwood was previously open to
the public as a museum, but today this palatial cottage is entirely out of bounds and is
now the private property of billionaire Larry
Ellison, co-founder of software giant Oracle.
Mark confirmed that Newport’s homes
are still changing hands for tens of millions of
dollars. I pondered whether Ellison is perhaps
part of a new generation of modern-day
American oligarchs, their immense wealth
now deriving from the tech industry. It also
followed that if the extremely wealthy are still
coming here, was the social side also alive?
“The theatricality of the Gilded Age society
may be gone, but the exclusivity remains in
different iterations,” Mark explained as we
headed towards Ocean Avenue. He pointed
in the direction of Bailey’s Beach, an exclusive club whose past members included the
Vanderbilts and the Astors – it is one of a few
in the area. “In a way, the society arena continues today, as getting a membership in one of
these is not easy and is much sought-after by
anyone who’s anyone,” he affirmed.
I was curious about the enduring appeal of
Newport to the extremely wealthy and how
they came to be here in the first place. The
mild temperatures and ocean-side climate
were important, explained Mark, as was its
proximity to New York City. The two were
traditionally well connected by both rail and
road, with the town having been a major shipping hub since the Revolutionary War.
“Newport was once one of the most
important colonial towns in America,” Mark
insisted, a history that became apparent as we
made our way to its historic centre.
⊲

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 103

THE POWER OF OLD MONEY
I was surprised to see the scale of Newport’s
colonial core – perhaps the best preserved in
all of North America – which featured dozens
of homes and civic buildings dating from
the 17th and 18th centuries. Indeed, it was
Newport’s maritime prosperity in the 1700s
that led to its first population boom.
Trade and society aside, the city has long
been tolerant and welcoming. In 1663, King
Charles II of England granted the Charter of
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,
which guaranteed Freedom of Religion to
the colony of Rhode Island. It was the very
first time a royal decree guaranteed respect
for all religions.
Proof of this lay in the city’s main plaza,
Washington Square, which isn’t dominated
by a single house of worship, as you might
expect. Instead, a Quaker meeting house, a
synagogue, a Baptist and an Episcopal church
are all within short walking distance of the
square, and all of equal size and grandeur.
“Newport and Rhode Island have always
been welcoming, without pre-conceptions or
prejudice. Perhaps this was an added reason
why the nouveau riche of the Industrial Revolution found an indiscriminate, open invitation to the city,” added Mark.

104 February/March 2024

Eager to find out more about Newport’s
origins, I visited the Historical Society
Museum on Washington Square’s southern end. On browsing its exhibits, I pieced
together the story of the direct links between
the Atlantic slave trade and the city’s
resulting economic wealth. It was a stern
reminder that so much of the beauty around
me, whether from the colonial era or the
turn of the century, was built on the sacrifice
of millions of exploited human lives.
Before leaving Newport, we took to the
ocean aboard a restored yacht from the
Gilded Age era, joining a dozen or so other
visitors. After all, I was in a city synonymous
with the America’s Cup and it seemed a
fitting testament to all that I’d seen. This
is a former yachting capital of the world,
and its rich sailing tradition had also been
embraced by the magnates of the late 1800s
as their sport of choice, complementing
their daily tennis rituals.
As we sailed across the glorious natural
port, it became clear why even grownups wanted to build castles on the beach
in Rhode Island. The dramatic coastline
around the city is quintessentially New
England, ranging from wild rocky coves
framing white pebble beaches through

to charming islets with picturesque and
lonesome lighthouses.
The Atlantic behaved well for our short
excursion. “It is pleasantly mild year-round
and yet fairly windy – ideal sailing conditions really,” explained Jason, the yacht’s
skipper. “Except for the hurricanes – when
they come, things get real bad!,” he smiled.
Thankfully, extreme weather events here
are of rare occurrence. This year marks the
70th anniversary of Hurricane Carol, the
most devastating tropical storm to hit the
town in modern times.
Leaving Newport’s mighty ocean behind,
I headed inland, where my next stop would
take me back to the very dawn of the megawealth that paved the way for the Gilded
Age – the site where the First Industrial
Revolution began in the United States.
Catching a glimpse of what is today a
serene stream of water, it was hard to believe
that Blackstone River was once the USA’s
hardest working waterway. It supported a
network of more than 100 watermills that
catapulted the economic fortunes of the
area – and of the USA as a whole – into
the stratosphere.
I paid a visit to Slater Mill, a National
Historic Landmark recognised as the ⊲

Alamy

TRAVELOGUES Rhode Island, USA

Preserving the past (this page; clockwise from top left) Anne Holst [sitting] often greets visitors to Clouds Hill Museum, which is entirely run by volunteers;
one of many colonial-era homes in Newport, whose historic centre is a National Historic Landmark; Alva Vanderbilt was a formidable figure and a shining
light in the women’s suffrage movement, which she donated large sums to – though even she, with all the money of the Vanderbilts, struggled to win over
the ‘old money’ set; the Clouds Hill Museum building dates from the 1870s; the servants’ call box in The Elms; (left page) more of Newport’s historic homes

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 105

Revolutionary times (clockwise from top left) The view of Newport’s quaint harbourfront from the yacht excursion; perched elegantly atop the bluff of
Watch Hill, Ocean House peers out over the beach below; Allison Horrocks, park ranger at Slater Mill, explains the cotton-milling process and how it was
revolutionised here in the late 18th century; you wouldn’t think that this mill and the rather serene Blackstone River that runs by it had been at the centre
of the First Industrial Revolution in the USA; Taylor Swift’s mansion in Watch Hill is proof enough that Rhode Island can still pull in the social elite of the day

106 February/March 2024

TRAVELOGUES Rhode Island, USA
birthplace of the American Industrial the house was selected as a filming location
Revolution. It was here that I met National for HBO’s The Gilded Age.
Park Service ranger Allison Horrocks, who
It was then that Mark stepped in to clarify
walked us around the well-preserved site of that Anne’s family would have been considthe first successful water-powered cotton ered ‘old money’ by the time of the Gilded
spinning mill in the Americas. Inaugurated Age and their ilk. Those making their wealth
in 1793, it signalled the dawning of a new in textiles in the First Industrial Revolution
era of textile production; one that would be were already established by the time of the
supercharged by modern machinery and second. However, many of these old families
which mirrored the advances that had been gained an upper hand by investing in mining,
made in England – albeit around 30 years railroads and banking, hence securing their
after the Industrial Revolution had started spot at the front end of the new wealth.
in the UK. It all began with the help of
Anne narrated stories in which Rhode
English émigré Samuel Slater.
Island’s ‘old money’ initially looked down on
The in-house museum’s exhibits narrate the nouveau riche of Newport and their flashy
how Derbyshire-born Slater, who is often behaviour. “But then, eventually, many ended
called the ‘father of the American factory up marrying into them, bringing the ‘old’ and
system’, was able to introduce English- ‘new’ together,” she laughed.
I finished my journey across Rhode Island
style textile manufacturing in the States.
They also acknowledge the darker side of with a stay on one of the state’s famed
this story, explaining the simple truth that beaches, at the historic Ocean House resort,
the growth of the cotton industry here built in 1868. While it has welcomed many a
was only made possible by the southern Gilded Age socialite, it’s a more private and
slavery system that allowed cotton to flow understated property, mirroring the character
cheaply to Rhode Island’s powerful mills.
of Watch Hill, the town it’s part of. Its hefty
price tag, however, means
Under these condithat it remains rather
tions, the new class of
“The Slater
textile barons of the First
exclusive and a special
Mill’s exhibits
treat for most travellers.
Industrial Revolution
“Watch Hill was always
was born. They would
acknowledge the
the more family-orienlater be joined by their
darker side of
peers across other industated, discreetly wealthy
tries during the Second
community compared
this story ”
with flashy Newport and
Industrial Revolution
its ostentatious displays
– the one that would
give birth to the fabulously wealthy family of wealth,” confirmed South County local
dynasties of the Gilded Age.
Faye Pantazopoulos.
Private though it may be, Watch Hill was
THE NEW GENERATION
still mansion-heavy territory and very much
Mark was eager for me to meet a Rhode a resort of choice for the well-to-do and celebIslander whose family history brings the rities. I drove past historic homes belonging to
whole narrative together. On arrival at the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Henry Ford.
From my hotel room window my attention
Clouds Hill Museum in Warwick, one of the
country’s best-preserved Victorian homes, was drawn to a palatial home perched atop
we were greeted by owner Anne Holst, who a hill opposite. It wouldn’t have been out of
place among the mansions of Newport, and
often personally welcomes visitors.
The museum is also Anne’s family home, it was uniquely fenced off with barbed wire.
“This is the holiday home of Taylor Swift,”
and it was originally commissioned in 1872
by William Slater for his daughter. It has smiled Faye as we drove past it the next day,
remained in the same family ever since, pass- cheekily disclosing the rumoured value the
ing from female to female until it reached star paid to acquire this historic property.
Anne, its fourth-generation owner, who in
More than a century after its Gilded Age
her own words has endeavoured to “look apogee, Rhode Island continues to attract
after this incredible place” ever since.
the newly wealthy, who swell its members’
The name Slater was no coincidence clubs and harbours. But there is still a glameither, and I discovered that she had ties to our to that earlier age, when even among the
the mill that I‘d visited. Apparently, Anne’s fabulously rich there was a desperation to
impress. It lends their stories a pathos ripe
great, great uncle inherited the business.
Clouds Hill is filled with treasures from for the TV shows that now draw on their lives.
around the world – I almost bumped an And even as you stand amid the marble floors
original Ming-dynasty vase off a side table and magnificent ballrooms, it’s a wonderful
as I walked around the perfectly preserved reminder there are still some things even railreception rooms. I was not surprised to hear way magnates and Taylor Swift can’t buy.

Need to know
When to go
All the sites mentioned are
open year-round. Visitor numbers
are highest between mid-June
and early September. The
shoulder season months of April,
May and October are great for
visiting. Winters are fairly mild.

Getting there
& around
British Airways (ba.com), Virgin
Atlantic (virginatlantic.com),
JetBlue (jetblue.com), American
Airlines (americanairlines.co.uk)
and Delta (delta.com) all fly from
London Heathrow to Boston,
Massachusetts, from £420 return,
taking from six hours. It’s a further
90-minute drive to Newport.
State capital Providence is a
stop on the Amtrak rail service
(around three hours from NYC). It
also has an airport that receives
limited internal flights. Car rental
is your best bet for in-state travel.

Carbon offset
A return flight from London
to Boston produces 565kg of
carbon per passenger. Wanderlust
encourages you to offset your
travel footprint through a
reputable provider. For advice on
how to find one, visit wanderlust.
co.uk/sustainable-travel.

Where to stay
Located on Newport’s
famed Cliff Walk, The Chanler
(thechanler.com; from £470pn)
has 20 distinct rooms decorated
in various period styles. Over by
Newport’s waterfront, the more
budget-friendly Brenton Hotel
(brentonhotel.com; from £300pn)
has large rooms and fine views
from its rooftop bar/restaurant.
And in South County, Ocean
House (oceanhouseri.com; from
£470pn) is as memorable a stay as
it gets, with lots of character, great
service and an inviting beach.

Further information
Visitrhodeisland.com
and discovernewport.org
The author travelled with
on-the-ground support
from Discover New England,
Rhode Island Tourism Division,
Discover Newport and South
County Tourism Council.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 107

UNCLOAK

KAZAKHSTAN
WITH

Despite its vast size and rich nature and culture, Kazakhstan flies
under the radar. Now, Air Astana’s regular flights and visa-free
entry make it ideal to visit before everyone else…

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

K

HOW TO GET THERE
Air Astana flies up to five times
a week between the UK and
Kazakhstan. Direct flights from
London connect with the oil-rich city
of Aktau, on the shores of the Caspian
Sea, and Almaty, the country’s cultural
centre and former capital; this offers
the perfect gateway to explore the
country’s remote eastern and western
corners. And thanks to Air Astana’s
partnership with British Airways, you
can now connect to their flights from
regional airports across the UK. It has
⊲
never been easier to visit.

Alamy; Shutterstock

azakhstan is the
same size as Western
Europe, yet despite its
breadth of cultures and
experiences, it still flies
under the radar when it comes to
travel in Central Asia. Now, thanks to
direct flights from London to Almaty
and Aktau with Air Astana, and visafree travel for British nationals, it is
easier than ever to discover the Great
Steppe and beyond, visiting cities
with vibrant cultures that reflect the
millennia of trade that once passed
through here on the Silk Road.

For more information, head to: www.airastana.com

Where epic nature
and culture collide
(clockwise from
far left page) The
turquoise-blue
hues of Big Almaty
Lake; Almaty
counts the Tian
Shan Mountains as
its neighbour; the
State Academic
Opera and Ballet
Theatre in Almaty;
nomadic culture is
easily encountered
across Kazakhstan

WHY FLY WITH
AIR ASTANA?
Air Astana is Kazakhstan’s
flag carrier and a leading
airline in Central Asia with an
extensive flight network of
more than 30 international
routes to destinations in Europe
and Asia. The airline has also…
 Received a five-star rating
from the Airline Passenger
Experience Association
(APEX) nine times, most
recently in 2023.
 Won APEX awards for ‘Best
Cabin Service’ and ‘Best
Entertainment’ in the Central/
Southern Asia group.
 Won Skytrax’s award for
‘Best Airline in Central Asia
and the CIS’ eleven times.
 Established routes that
carry more than 7 million
passengers each year. It is
also currently expanding its
flight capacity rapidly to meet
growing international demand.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 109

UNCOVER
KAZAKHSTAN’S…
COSMOPOLITAN ALLURE
Like New York or Rio de Janeiro,
Almaty may not be the capital but it
remains Kazakhstan’s second city,
politically speaking. It also thrives as
the country’s cultural and commercial
capital. Consequently, many visitors
tend to start their travels here,
using its attractive boulevards and
mountainous setting as their jumpingoff point for wider adventures.
The area around Almaty has been
inhabited for 3,000 years. Local rulers
once fought to control the lucrative
Silk Road trade that saw thousands
of caravans pass through the Ile
Alatau Mountains and continue on
to the Great Steppe. The city you
see today was formed around an old
Russian fortress, Verny, which was
built in the mid-19th century. In the
intervening years, Almaty blossomed
into a metropolis of more than 2
million people, but its setting remains
just as dramatic. Even today, you
can see the peaks of the Ile Alatau
Mountains from Almaty’s broad, treelined streets and squares. There are
also plenty of impressive buildings to
admire, from the colourful Ascension
Cathedral to the Abay Opera House.
Since 2017, Almaty has belonged to
UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network,
a programme that recognises the
value of culture as a driver of urban
development. Key to this is the city’s
thriving music scene. In addition to
opera, you’ll find Korean and Uighur
musical comedy theatres, as well as
concert halls, musical fountains and
plenty of intimate venues where you
can catch up-and-coming acts.

110 February/March 2024

The availability of live music has also
fuelled Almaty’s lively nightlife scene,
which is more extensive than in any
other Central Asian city. New bars and
clubs open almost every week.

NATURE
There is no doubt that Almaty is a
charming city and a great spot to start
and end a trip to Kazakhstan, but you
would be missing out if you remained
within the city limits. From downtown
Almaty you can see the mountains

Kaleidoscope
of colours
(this page; clockwise from top left)
The Ascension
Cathedral in
Almaty; the World
Nomad Games
is an opportunity for locals to
don traditional
dress; the gate of
Shakhristan at the
ruins of Otrar; spy
the sunken forest
at Kaindy Lake;
the Khoja Ahmed
Yasawi Mausoleum
in Turkistan

and the Sunkar International Ski
Jumping Complex tempting you
away from the urban interior.
Close to the city lies the Kolsay
Lakes National Park, which is part
of UNESCO’s World Network of
Biosphere Reserves. Just over 10%
of the area is open for tourism and
recreation; the rest of it is completely
untouched. The park’s most famous
sight is the turquoise Kaindy Lake,
where silvery tree trunks rise up from
the water like a ghostly mirage, but
the three other Kolsay lakes are no
less scenic.
Iconic Charyn National Park is a
three-hour drive east of Almaty. The
Charyn River has carved its way
through 80km of red sandstone,
creating a succession of five deep
canyons. There are plenty of
opportunities for wildlife watching
along the riverbank, so be sure to
keep your eyes peeled for steppe
eagles, turtles, rock ptarmigans, foxes
and gazelles.
Flying into Almaty and out from
Aktau provides an opportunity to
explore western Kazakhstan, too.
Natural highlights here include the
curious geological landscape known
as the Valley of Balls, as well as

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
Bosjira, a stark corner of the Ustyurt
Plateau where great towers of chalky
coloured rock soar above the desert.
This boundless place, too, has an
otherworldly feel.

CULTURE
Although Almaty is a regional hub for
the arts, Kazakhstan’s history is long,
its cultures varied, and you will learn
more about the country, past and
present, by exploring further afield.
When journeying between Almaty
and Aktau, be sure to spend a
few days in the ancient cities of
southern Kazakhstan. The substantial
archaeological site of Otrar attests to
the economic importance of this oasis
more than 2,000 years ago, and its
emptiness today is a reminder of the
historical impact of political turmoil
and climate change.
In nearby Turkistan, the far better
preserved Mausoleum of Khoja
Ahmed Yasawi is a UNESCO World
Heritage site and still a place of
pilgrimage for Central Asian Muslims.
According to local tradition, if a person
comes to pray three times in Turkistan,
it is the same as making Hajj to Mecca,
though Orthodox Muslims reject this
spiritual equivalency. Sufi pilgrimage
sites are also scattered throughout the
desert, and as you approach Aktau, it
is well worth visiting the subterranean
Beket Ata Mosque, set deep in a
desert canyon.
Kazakhstan’s identity is expressed
not only in buildings but also in its
intangible cultural heritage: music
and dance, art and handicrafts,
literature and food. If your schedule is
flexible, plan your visit to Kazakhstan
to coincide with the World Nomad
Games in Astana in September
2024. Nomadic communities will
come together not only to compete
in traditional sports like archery and
wrestling, but to showcase their lived
cultures to new audiences. It is a fully
immersive experience for competitors
and spectators alike.

Larger-than-life
landscapes
(this page; top to
bottom) Traditional Kazakh
eagle hunters at
the World Nomad
Games; the rocky
outcrops of Bosjira
look as if they’re
torn straight from
a sci-fi film

Alamy; Shutterstock

ADVENTURE
In Kazakhstan, your next adventure
is never far away, which is one of
the reasons it is such an appealing
destination for active travellers.
Rather than hopping constantly
between sites, it is worth choosing
a national park or other region of
interest, spending several days there
and getting to know it in detail.

For more information, head to: www.airastana.com

In Charyn Canyon, plenty of tour
operators offer whitewater rafting and
kayaking, especially at weekends.
There are also some well-marked
hiking trails that combine well with
wildlife watching and stargazing.
Most hikers, however, make a
beeline for Ile Alatau National Park.
Of its most popular routes, one is a
three-hour walk to a waterfall, the
other is a 25km multi-day trek that
crosses much of the park. Birders
will want to extend their stay, as Ile
Alatau is home to some 50 species of
birds, including cranes, bustards and
numerous birds of prey.
To reach the wildest parts of
Mangystau Region from Aktau, you
will need to take a 4WD. Allocate
at least two full days for visiting
Bosjira, as it means you can camp in
the desert and hike the huge rocky
buttes that rise above the otherwise
fairly flat landscape. If you are trying

to envisage what they look like, think
of Arizona’s Monument Valley but
picture it a chalky white rather than
red! There is a magic to sitting and
surveying the view as the sun sinks.
Finish by warming up next to the
bonfire and listening to a timeless
Kazakh folk song or fairy tale.

MAKE IT HAPPEN
Tour operator Wild Frontiers
(wildfrontierstravel.com) is
running multiple small group
departures to Kazakhstan in
September 2024 for guests to
experience the World Nomad
Games alongside the country’s
other gems. Active travellers
will enjoy KE Adventure’s
(keadventure.com) range of
trips exploring Kazakhstan’s
vistas, while Regent Holidays
(regent-holidays.co.uk) offers
a comprehensive Kazakhstan
Explored tour and a trip that
takes in the 2024 World Nomad
Games. For another time of
year, Jules Verne (vjv.com) has
a ten-day itinerary, Peaks and
Petroglyphs, to Kazakhstan
and Kyrgyzstan. Highlights
include Ascension Cathedral in
Almaty, plus a day trip into the
Ile Alatau Mountains.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 111

Living with
nature
Visitors to Fiji’s traditional communities
will not only see the ancient iTaukei
philosophy of working with the natural
world in action, but can help preserve
a way of life in danger of being eroded
Words Mark Stratton

114 February/March 2024

Pacific horizon, replaced by the heartbeat
of a thousand hidden frogs.
While every exotic preconception I’d had
about Fiji’s islands could be found here, I
was more excited by the idea that traditional
iTaukei life offers visitors a way of seeing these
islands more sustainably. Lara had offered
one example but I wanted to experience more,
so it was among Fiji’s mountain villages,
where the old ways thrive in self-sufficient
communities, that this story truly begins.

“Living with nature
has been the essence
of Fiji’s iTaukei
culture for more
than 3,500 years”
My immersion in iTaukei life began within
hours of touching down in Nadi on Fiji’s
main island, Viti Levu. My salusalu garland,
woven with hibiscus bark and placed on me
as a greeting, still dangled around my neck as
I started learning about two joys of traditional
island life: hot-stone cooking (lovo) and kava,
a drink celebrated across the Pacific and
ground from the roots of Piper methysticum,
which translates as ‘intoxicating pepper’.

Sam Soko and his Chinese-Australian
partner, Anna Chan, created Vavavi (meaning ‘to bake’) after the pandemic cost Sam his
boat-charter business.Their hands-on classes
teach how to prepare a lovo, and we were soon
placing large stones on a wood-fired pit. I
was instructed in preparing the food: peeling
cassava and halving coconuts with a machete
– a useful skill if ever shipwrecked on a desert
island. I made palusami, a dish of taro leaves
wrapped around vegetables and fish soaked in
coconut cream.This was placed inside woven
leaves on the hot stones and covered in soil.
“Lovo are popular at ceremonies like
weddings, but if you invite 20 people in Fiji,
seventy will turn up, as extended families are
huge,” laughed Anna.We unearthed the lovo
after 90 minutes, barbecued to perfection.
The quantity was so abundant that I would’ve
welcomed an extended family to help me out.
After dinner, it was kava time. In truth, it
always is in Fiji. “It’s a formal way to welcome
someone,” explained Sam. “It is also an act of
respect (sevusevu) to present a village’s headman with dried kava roots if you are visiting.”
Using a muslin cloth, Sam strained the
grated roots that he’d submerged in water,
filling a wooden tanoa basin with the brown
liquid Fijians call ‘grog’. We drank it from
coconut shells. Etiquette dictates clapping
three times, shouting ‘Bula’ and then downing it in one go.The drink is a mild sedative ⊲

Previous spread: Tourism Fiji; this spread: Alamy; Mark Stratton; Stu Johnson/Tourism Fiji

ike many tales of the South
Pacific, my talanoa – or
‘storytelling’ – begins on
the water, en route from
Vanua Levu to one of the
330-plus islands that sustain
the iTaukei, the Traditional
Owners of Fiji. Leone Vokai, dreadlocks
splayed in the breeze, was piloting our
wooden boat to a resort on the tiny island
of Nukubati. The staff of its six beachside
bures (cabins) joined Leone’s wife, Lara
Bourke, on the shoreline to sing a melodic
welcome. “Bula,” they shouted as one. It is
a greeting (meaning hello or good health)
that I would hear throughout my time in Fiji.
As I waded ashore, the sand felt soft
beneath my feet. In the wooden pavilion, a
barbecued tatavu feast was laid out before us.
We sat on the matted floor and ate taro leaves
with roasted yams, as well as fish caught on
the line from beyond the lagoon.The lime-leaf
tea had even been picked from the garden.
“We harvest 98% of what we eat from our
wild gardens,” said Lara, who explained that
living with nature has been the essence of Fiji’s
iTaukei culture for more than 3,500 years.
I settled into my bure surrounded by
views of the ocean. Within an hour I was
barefoot. Within two hours I’d swum amid
bright offshore corals. By late afternoon
the sun was finally extinguished across the

TRAVELOGUES Fiji

Bula! (clockwise from far left) Visitors to Nukubati Resort receive a warm beach-side welcome; kayakers splash through Beqa Lagoon, a stretch of water known for
its daring shark dives; kava and songs on Nukubati Island; the barbecued fish and locally picked veg served on Nukubati comes fresh from the seas, forests and
gardens of the island, making it thoroughly sustainable; the inhabitants of Fiji’s Lau Islands are well known for their traditional woodcarvings; coconut milk and
flesh is used throughout Fijian cuisine; (previous spread) Fiji is more than just its pristine sands – there is also 3,500 years of iTaukei culture to explore here

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 115

Nukubati Island
Vanua Levu
Laucala Island

Yasawa
Islands

Teveuni
Island

but it is a big part of socialising in Fiji, and
learning its etiquette stood me in good stead.
Drinking kava also created a relaxed environment for talanoa (storytelling), and Sam
was full of tales. “The lovo was once used by
chiefs to cook their enemies and absorb their
power,” he explained during one of his darker
stories. I would soon find out that it was far
from taboo to discuss cannibalism here.

Ovalau Island

FIJI
Viti Levu
Yanuca Island
Beqa Island
Lau Islands

Kadavu Island

Need to know
When to go
Fiji’s climate is warm
throughout the year, with highs of
around 30ºC. There are two seasons:
May–October: Sunny, clear skies and
peak holiday season. Prices are higher
and the beaches busier. The sea has
clearer visibility during this period, so
it’s the best time to dive or snorkel.
November–April: This is monsoon
season, with fewer crowds and lower
prices for those who don’t mind a few
heavy showers. Cyclones are more
common in January and February.

Health & safety
Fiji is a safe country. Cyclones
pose the biggest threat, although the
country’s alert system is effective.
There are mosquitoes with dengue
fever, but malaria is not reported.
As with many sea-based activities,
take care with the tides.

Cruises (southseacruisesfiji.com)
does offer reliable connections to
the islands. It’s around £60 each
way between Port Denarau and the
Yasawa Islands. An alternative is Sea
Fiji (seafiji.net), which operates small
powerboat transfers on demand.
On Viti Levu, the driving time
between Nadi and Suva is roughly
3.5 hours. Many bus companies ply
this island’s roads, and fares between
towns are typically inexpensive.

Carbon offset
A return flight from London
to Nadi (Viti Levu), via Hong Kong,
produces 1,732kg of carbon per
passenger. Wanderlust encourages
you to offset your travel footprint
through a reputable provider. For
advice on how to find one, visit
wanderlust.co.uk/sustainable-travel.

Visas & currencies
Getting there
& around
The author flew with Cathay Pacific
(cathaypacific.com) via Hong Kong to
Nadi, which costs from around £1,601
return and takes about 24 hours. To
avoid successive overnight flights, try
to break up the journey.
You can fly between islands with
Fiji Airway’s subsidiary airline Fiji
Link (fijiairways.com) or take a ferry –
although these can be unpredictable
at times. Many of the islands’ resorts
will include a boat transfer as part
of your package; if not, South Sea

116 February/March 2024

Visas: Not currently required
by UK nationals.
Money: The Fijian dollar (FJD) is
currently around FJD2.79 to the UK£.

Food & drink
You will find internationalstyle cuisine, such as fish and chips
(especially mahi-mahi), in just about
every resort. Yet it’s hard to beat
the organic traditional food you’ll
encounter here. Boiled taro (dalo) and
cassava are staples, rourou is a dish of
iron-rich taro-leaves, while kokoda is
the Fijian equivalent of ceviche.

Map: Graham Berridge; images: Mark Stratton; Tourism Fiji; Shutterstock

COMMUNITY SUPPORT
The next day, I drove up the west coast
towards Volivoli, passing the small trains that
ply the narrow-gauge railway to deliver sugarcane to Lautoka port for refinement. Soon the
canefields gave way to a coastline of volcanic
outliers, and it was here that I passed the grave
of Fiji’s most prolific cannibal, Udre-Udre, a
19th-century chief who allegedly consumed
872 people. This wasn’t even the most notorious example I came across; that honour
went to the story of the British missionary
Reverend Baker, who in 1867 was said to have
broken an iTaukei taboo by touching a local
chief’s head and then swiftly met his end.
These days breaches of protocol aren’t
nearly so consequential. Yet cultural traditions remain strong here, and on visiting
Nabalasere village in the mountains, I was
careful to follow the local custom of not wearing any head covering – that privilege was
afforded only to the village chief. I donned a
sulu (sarong) and, when entering the village,
presented my sevusevu of kava roots to the
Turaga-ni-koro (headman), Aminiasi Levatia.
My observance of etiquette did not,
however, stop villagers from pulling my leg.
“If you’d come here years ago, we’d be
eating you,” said Aminiasi, to uproarious
laughter during lunch. This was a joyful day
of hiking and cultural exchange, all in the
company of my guides from Talanoa Treks.
The village receives 60 Fijian dollars (£21)
per visitor, with the money going towards the
community. “Our culture across Fiji is eroding, so bringing visitors helps strengthen it by
feeling pride in who we are,” said Aminiasi.
The 200-strong settlement was immaculate and fertile. Sky-blue corrugated-iron
huts ranged the hillside amid soursop and
papaya trees. Pigs and chickens ran amok and
gardens of taro, cassava and kava intermingled with rainforest dashed by orange-flowered tulip trees. I swam in a plunge pool
beneath a 40m-high waterfall where Aminiasi claimed each rivulet marked the birth of
a village boy. After a lunch of home-grown
veg, we drank kava and our talanoa was rich.
Women all over Fiji take excess produce
from such villages to market, raising a little
cash to buy essentials. In capital Suva, I
dodged the rain and headed to an undercover
market heaped high with organic produce ⊲

TRAVELOGUES Fiji

A quick tipple (clockwise from top left) Drinking kava is typically a social experience in Fiji; Thurston Gardens was built in 1913 on the site of the original village
of Suva and was only later renamed after Sir John Bates Thurston, Fiji’s fifth Governor; the bridge of land linking Natewa Peninsula to Vanua Levu is so slight that
the area developed incredible endemic wildlife – the kind you’d normally find on a lone island; Lara and Leone take visitors out to the world’s third-longest barrier
reef; Suva’s early-20th-century cathedral was built using sandstone blocks imported from Australia; meeting the villagers of Nabaselere; a traditional bilibili raft

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 117

All the colours of the oceans (clockwise from above) Fiji is home to incredible expanses of coral reefs, with Cakaulevu alone covering some 202,700 sq km;
a guide on the Bula Coffee tour demonstrates the time-tested art of drying coffee beans in the sun; the private island Mociu, a protected nature reserve that
has been declared off limits to fishermen by the paramount chief of the Mamanucas, makes for a great day trip from Likuliku Lagoon Resort; alconarian coral
dominates this reef scene; Beqa’s firewalkers display their charred soles to prove this tradition is no sleight of foot; freshly pulled taro roots at a market in Suva

118 February/March 2024

Alamy; Brook Sabin/Tourism Fiji; Mark Stratton

TRAVELOGUES Fiji

and fronted by flower stalls where ladies sold
birds-of-paradise and wild ginger blooms.
“Guests say to me: ‘Those poor women
sitting there all day.’ But trust me, they’re
having a great time away from their husbands,
eating ice creams and chatting,” said Peter
Sipeli, a poet and gay activist who runs city
tours offering an alternative take on Fijian life.
“I want to show Fijian culture is more inclusive, with Indians, Chinese and gay people.
We’re portrayed overseas as dancing, smiling
Pacific islanders, but life is far more complex.”
It’s a complexity that deepened during
British rule (1874–1970), when 60,000
Indian labourers were brought in by girmit
(agreement) to work the canefields. They
were promised good wages but were mostly
enslaved. Nowadays, many of the Indo-Fijian community are established traders and
farmers, although under iTaukei custom their
rights to land ownership are limited.
Another legacy of the British is the city’s
architecture. Of all Suva’s colonial buildings, Thurston Gardens stood out with its
elegant clocktower and banyan tree full of
hanging fruit bats. Peter also opened my

“We’re portrayed
overseas as dancing,
smiling Pacific
islanders, but life is far
more complex”
eyes to how much the urban landscape
had been repurposed. As we strolled down
Cumming Street, the oldest street in Suva,
he explained how it had been reclaimed
from swampland and become a busy centre.
“It was full of brothels and opium dens
in the early 1900s; now it’s Gujarati-owned.
They came here as traders and look down on
other Indians, whose ancestors were indentured labourers,” said Peter above the Hindi
pop music that blared noisily down the street.
“It sells garments that no large Fijian – which
is most of us – could fit into,” he laughed.
Later we visited the town hall, which was
opened in 1905. This handsome, two-storey
building has a wraparound balcony and is
now home to Ashiyana Indian restaurant.

“I spoke with the owner, who goes by the
surname Morris. She told me that the bloody
British couldn’t pronounce her Indian name,
so she anglicised it,” explained Peter.

THE SAND WARRIORS
From Suva, it was a short flight north to
Vanua Levu, the stepping stone to Nukubati
Island.The superstitious local air carrier had
no row numbered 13, and I certainly felt
lucky to be joining Lara at her small family
resort – the most sustainably run accommodation I have every stayed in. Her father
had adapted it to run fully on solar power 30
years ago. All of its waste is treated naturally,
produce is home-grown in rainforest gardens
and guests drink collected rainwater.
They took me out on a boat to the
260km-long Cakaulevu, the third longest
continuous barrier reef system in the world.
“The reef is the identity of all coastal
people; we use its tides for transport and
marine life for food. Our lives depend on
protecting it,” Lara explained.
It was a buckarooing 25-minute boat
ride across the inky-blue Pacific swell to ⊲

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 119

Cakaulevu. This global biodiversity hotspot
is home to 74% of all known coral types and
half of Fiji’s fish species. In calmer waters,
we snorkelled among hard corals shaped
like brains, geisha fans and curly kale.
Purple and green corals and starbursts of
orange anemones surrounded me. Among
the myriad sea creatures, I saw octopuses,
moray eels, sea cucumbers and giant clams.
Later on, spinner dolphins raced our bow.
While heading back to land, we passed the
island of the chief whose clan maintain the
ancient rights of protection, called qoliqoli,
over the reef and have the power to declare
a taboo on fishing if stocks deplete.
“Nukubati translates as ‘sand warriors’,”
explained Lara. “They were the chief’s fishermen and gained a lot of prestige from protecting their fishing grounds. Their canoes were
always ready for war.”
Cakaulevu felt like something worth fighting for. Reluctantly, I departed Nukubati and
headed south, towards Savusavu, the more
developed southern coast of Vanua Levu, its
beach resorts popular with Americans and
Australians. The Hibiscus Highway wended
over mountainsides of sandalwood trees and
via Vuadomo, where I spied a whitewashed
church dedicated to Reverend Timoci, a man
said to have had the power to stop cyclones.
We dropped by KokoMana cocoa plantation, a two-hectare plot where agricultural
scientist Richard Markham produces bean-tobar chocolate beneath the rainforest canopy.
During a two-hour tour, he explained the
science of grafting cocoa varieties and that the
plant still grows wild all over Fiji. His mission
is to demonstrate how crops, including kava,
can thrive under canopy, without the need to
clear trees. He encourages local subsistence
farmers to get their wild cocoa back in cycle
and pays well to take their pods. I savoured
the fruits of this labour during a tasting at the
tour’s end. His chocolate was creamy, with a
high cocoa-butter content, and flavoured with
sea-salt, chai masala and ginger.
KokoMana’s chocolatier is Lina. “She
was the accountant,” explained Richard,
“but when the Love Island film crew came
here looking for generic footage, they weren’t
happy with a middle-aged man like me
demonstrating tempering chocolate, so Lina
stepped in. She turned out to be rather good.”

BRINGING THE FIRE
Leaving the cocoa forests of Vanua Levu
behind, I returned to Viti Levu for more
island hopping, embarking on the 30-minute
sail from Pacific Harbour to Beqa, a small,
rugged island to the south. At the resort,
I dropped my bags at a bure in a tropical
garden, and from the beach I swam out to the
reef and snorkelled among the seagrass ⊲

120 February/March 2024

Hotfooting it
(right) Firewalking has been
a tradition on
Beqa Island for
more than 500
years, where it
was said to have
developed in the
highland village
of Nakarovu.
Participants
begin preparing
many days before
the ceremony
and follow strict
protocols, even
going so far as
to abstain from
eating coconuts
or sex

TRAVELOGUES Fiji

Sleeps
Barefoot Kuata Island (Yasawa
Islands) makes the most of its
remote setting. This resort has
great snorkelling, beach-facing
bures and a laid-back restaurant.
Beachfront bures cost £190 per
night for two people sharing.
barefootkuatafiji.com
Beqa Lagoon (Beqa Island) is
a specialist diving resort with
both ocean-facing and garden
bures. Be sure to stick around
for the nightly performances of
firewalkers. Two-night full-board
packages from £206 per person.
beqalagoonresort.com

to the private nature island of
Mociu. Beachfront bures from
£1,060 per night for two sharing.
likulikulagoon.com

COMO Laucala Island is an
uber-luxurious private-island stay
with its own stretches of rainforest
and coconut groves. Villas cost
from £4,759 per night; three-night
minimum. comohotels.com

Nanuku Fiji (Viti Levu) spans
220 hectares of the main island’s
southern coast. Guests can even
help rehabilitate the resort’s
private reef by assisting in coral
and mangrove planting. Suites
from £590 per night for two
sharing. nanukuresort.com

Grand Pacific Hotel (Viti Levu)
is a stately grande dame in Suva,
within easy reach of Albert Park
and Thurston Gardens. It might
be over a century old, but it’s been
updated to include a modern
spa. Doubles from £145 per night.
grandpacifichotel.com.fj

Nukubati (off Vanua Levu) has
six beachfront bure cabins. There
is organic food, reef diving and a
sense that this property is in tune
with local customs and traditions.
Rooms from £430 per night fullboard with activities; three-night
minimum. nukubati.com

Jean-Michel Cousteau Resort
(Vanua Levu) is an ecologically
minded stay in the spirit of its
environmentalist namesake (son
of Jacques). The dive school, as
you’d expect, is well respected.
Bures from £930 per night for
two sharing. fijiresort.com

Shangri-La Yanuca Island (off
Viti Levu) is a high-end stay set by
a brilliantly turquoise lagoon. It has
a strong sense of sustainability
– the author even got to assist in
maintaining the reef by building
‘fish houses’. Doubles from £236
per night. shangri-la.com

Likuliku Lagoon (Malolo Island)
serves up a wilderness retreat in a
remote bay. It has both overwater
and beachfront bures, its own
restaurant, and runs day trips

Volivoli (Viti Levu) is a well-known
dive resort that lies on a cliffside
sloping down to the beach. Large
rooms with ocean views from
£212 per night. volivoli.com

Sustainable Fiji

IHG; Mark Stratton

Travellers who want to make ethical choices will love
the offerings of the Duavata Sustainable Tourism Collective
(duavatasustainabletourism.org). My highlights included:
• Vavavi – Learn how to prepare
a lovo feast. vavavifiji.com
• Bula Coffee – A communityminded coffee company
whose tours supplement village
incomes and support female
empowerment. bulacoffee.co

• KokoMana – Visit the plantation
to learn about making chocolate
and growing cocoa in the
rainforest. kokomanafiji.com
• Talanoa Treks – Join single- or
multi-day treks and book remote
village stays. talanoa-treks-fiji.com

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 121

Clear waters ahead! (clockwise from above) The welcome on Kuata Island is never less than spectacular; the Yasawa Islands span 80km of the Pacific Ocean,
off the north-west coast of Viti Levu, and achieved a small amount of fame in the early 1980s as the idyllic setting for the film The Blue Lagoon – these days
they are better known for their wild peaks, limestone caverns and manta-filled waters, and make for an adventurous escape on multi-day kayaking and sailing
trips; Beqa Lagoon is popular for its cageless shark diving, which brings fearless travellers up close to bull, nurse, tiger, blacktip and whitetip reef sharks

122 February/March 2024

TRAVELOGUES Fiji

Fiji’s best dives

1

Beqa Island tiger
shark dive
Dive manager Brandon
Paige has developed an
extraordinary dive where he
hand-feeds tiger sharks and
bull sharks as divers watch on.
Great Astrolabe Reef
A world-class dive among
the pristine corals off Kadavu
Island. Expect plenty of
mantas and sharks.
Rainbow Reef
This reef delivers
spellbinding corals and
tropical fish as you dive
Taveuni Island’s ‘Great
White Wall’.
The Suncoast
A major site for brightly
coloured soft corals that is
found off the north-eastern
tip of Viti Levu, within reach of
Volivoli Resort.
Drawaqa Island
A Yasawa dive where
manta rays come to cleaning
stations off Barefoot Manta
Island Resort.

2

3

4

Brook Sabin/Tourism Fiji; Shutterstock

5
and alongside a green turtle. At low tide, Reef for an extraordinary encounter with
women with baskets scoured the rock pools sharks. With the snorkel guide releasing fish
for shellfish, sending mud crabs scurrying scraps, I was soon swimming among a kaleidoscopic blizzard of brightly coloured fish. It
inland to the safety of their holes.
The island has a tradition of firewalking. wasn’t long before both blacktip and whitetip
The men of Rukua village built a fire and reef sharks came to investigate. Their heads
laid down stones to heat up. It was a bit like flicked from side to side, probing for food,
a lovo, except they were barbecuing them- sometimes close enough to touch, although I
selves. Dressed in skirts woven from pandanus returned to my bure with all my digits intact.
leaves, they walked
Throughout my
across the stones and
island jour neys,
“Five hundred years
showed their blackFijians explained to
me their concerns
ened soles at the end
ago, islanders were
of the display.
over the effects of
given a gift that
“Five hundred
climate change on
the
sea level and the
years ago, islanders
meant they could not
were given a gift that
increase in cyclones.
be burnt by fire”
meant they could not
For the conscious
be burnt by fire and
t r a ve l l e r , f l y i n g
had the power to heal
halfway around the
burns,” explained islander Yasiti Ratulevu. world to Fiji to do some good is perhaps
“A powerful chief was given the gift by a veli, counter-intuitive, yet my presence as a visia spirit god, in return for its life being spared. tor here had helped support inspiring pathWhen I was young, I ran into my mother’s ways for maintaining Fijian customs, which
cooking pot and got third-degree burns. My inherently protect these beautiful islands.
A tradition exists whereby departing
grandfather, one of the gifted, put his hands
guests are given a flower to cast into the
on the burns and now I have no scarring.”
By catamaran, I sailed westwards to the ocean so that it washes back ashore. It
Yasawas, 20 rainforested islands made up symbolises returning one day, and it stirred
of broken calderas with halos of white sand. in me a sense of unfinished travels. I hadn’t
I splashed ashore in the warm tide, taking my yet met the famous woodcarvers of the
first steps on Kuata Island, where my steep- Lau islands, nor tasted Fiji’s best kava on
Kadavu, or dived with manta rays, or seen
roofed bure touched the beach.
There was little time to unpack because Levuka’s ancient villages. I departed feeling
a boat was readying to venture out to Moya my Fijian talanoa had only just begun.

The trip
The author was supported
by Travel Nation
(travelnation.co.uk;
01273 917479), which offers a
16-night tour of Fiji for £5,695
per person. This includes all
the experiences featured in
this article, including three
nights on Nukubati, a Talanoa
Treks hike and stays on Beqa
and Kuata islands, as well
as international and internal
flights and transfers, with B&B
accommodation, several fullboard days and an overnight
in Hong Kong each way.
Further support was provided
by Tourism Fiji (fiji.travel) and
Fiji Airways (fijiairways.com).

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 123

SINGAPORE

FIND UNIQUE TRAVEL MOMENTS IN

No longer regarded as a stopover destination, Singapore is a
fantastically diverse country in its own right with something to
offer every type of traveller, from nature lovers to gourmands

S

ingapore is a place
that does things a little
differently. For example,
in the world’s greenest
urban destination,
gardens are found in airports and on
the sides of hotels; disused railways
are given a new lease of life as

incredible cycling routes; and some of
the finest Michelin-starred restaurants
are actually street food stalls found in
Singapore’s UNESCO-listed hawker
centres. Here are a just few ideas that
make the most of this wonderfully
diverse destination.

Go forest bathing
in an airport
You don’t need to be surrounded by
vast swathes of woodland to go forest
bathing in Singapore. The fact that
Changi airport alone contains around
200,000 plants, tended to by more
than 200 gardeners, says plenty.
And the horticulture there isn’t even
confined to a single place, because
Changi’s green spaces include a

124 February/March 2024

Garden city
(this page; top to
bottom) Few sights
in Singapore are
as iconic as the
Supertrees in the
Gardens by the
Bay; cycling is a
great way to soak
up the endless
greenery

Cactus Garden, Butterfly Garden
and a Hedge Maze (although we’d
suggest skipping the latter if you’re
short on time, for obvious reasons).
For the ultimate forest-bathing
experience, head to the iconic Rain
Vortex, the world’s largest indoor
waterfall, or Shiseido Forest Valley in
Jewel Changi, a glass-domed area
accessible from Terminal 1. Here
you can wander between fairylightadorned trees to a soundtrack of
soothing music. Trust us – every
other forest will look rather plain after
you’ve been immersed in this one.

Enjoy a food tour at night
through Geylang
Home to Singapore’s oldest Malay
settlements, it’s one of the island’s
most vibrant neighbourhoods, and
it’s also got some of the best street
food. Signing up for one of the many
food-themed tours here is a fine way
to start, or simply go it alone and see
where your nose takes you – Geylang
Road is the main artery, but you’ll
find some great street food in its
side alleys too. One dish to look out
for is crab bee hoon (crab noodles),

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
which the late chef Anthony Bourdain
raved about when he came here.
Feeling brave? Consider trying a
durian-based delicacy. Geylang is
where you’ll find Singapore’s freshest
durians – a spiky fruit that is known
for its strong, pungent odour.

Find your urban Eden in
Singapore’s gardens
Singapore has over 400 parks
and nature reserves, and its most
spectacular green spaces include
Singapore Botanic Gardens, home
to the world’s largest collection of
orchids (check out the VIP collection
to see orchids named after icons
such as Princess Diana). At Gardens
by the Bay, some 1.5 million plants
fill the gardens’ glass domes, which
contain, among other things, a cloud
forest, wetland area and thundering
waterfalls. And if you’re staying at
the Shangri-La Singapore, take time
to explore its gardens, where the
highlight is The Orchid, a greenhouse
filled with 32 orchid hybrids.

Slow down in Pulau Ubin
Singapore has several islands
packed with thrills – and we’re not
even talking about theme park-filled
Sentosa. Highlights of Pulau Ubin,
an island just 15 minutes’ boat ride
from the Changi Point Ferry Terminal,
include Singapore’s last remaining
kampong (traditional village) and
the Chek Jawa Wetlands, which
comprises six ecosystems, including
a seagrass lagoon, mangroves and
coastal forest. It’s best explored
by bike (these can be hired on the
island). Just as impressive is the
equally accessible Lazarus Island,
an uninhabited chunk of land with
golden beaches and a beautiful palmfringed lagoon.

See sunset from the Raffles
Marina Lighthouse
Singapore might be famous for its
historic Raffles Hotel, but not many
people know about the Raffles Marina
Lighthouse. Built in 1994 and open
from 8am to 10pm, it overlooks the
Tuas Second Link, a causeway that
connects Singapore to Malaysia.

Wander MacRitchie Reservoir
Right in the centre of Singapore lies
MacRitchie Reservoir, a jungle-fringed
lake that makes for an evocative
bucolic escape. Here, you can hire
kayaks, trace the 11km walking trail
and spy wildlife like long-tailed
macaques and monitor lizards.

Fusion of flavours
(this page; clockwise from top left)
Kampong Gelam
is the traditional
heart of Muslim
life in Singapore;
Lau Pa Sat is one
of Singapore’s
most renowned
hawker centres; try
authentic curries in
Little India; Raffles
Marina Lighthouse
is a fine sunset
spot; the Sri Veeramakaliamman is
an iconic temple in
Little India

Shutterstock; Singapore Tourist Board; Travelbag

Soak up Singapore’s eclectic
neighbourhoods
Singapore’s neighbourhoods are
fabulously diverse. Start with an
exploration of historic Chinatown,
the only area with a Buddhist temple,
Hindu temple and a mosque on the
same street. Little India, which dates
back to the 19th century, has the
fantastic Tekka Centre food hall (this
is where to go for Singapore’s tastiest

For more information, visit: www.travelbag.co.uk/holidays/asia/singapore

butter chicken) and the beautiful Sri
Veeramakaliamman Temple, while
historic Katong-Joo Chiat is known
for its colourful rows of Peranakan
shophouses, and it’s also got some
of Singapore’s best independent
restaurants. And don’t miss the
chance to walk along neon-drenched
Orchard Road, either. Yes, it’s one of
Singapore’s busiest arteries, but it
also harbours some of the country’s
most vivid public art installations.

Make it happen
Travelbag’s diverse range of trips,
including everything from epic
adventures to city breaks, makes it
easy to craft your own Singapore
escape. With over 40 years’ expertise,
a ‘Excellent’ rating on Trustpilot and
scooping 10 accolades at the 2023
British Travel Awards, you’re in safe
hands with Travelbag when it comes
to planning your trip to Singapore.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 125

In the brush strokes of

Caravaggio
Knights, murder, a prison break… As London’s National Gallery
prepares to exhibit Caravaggio’s final work, we head to Malta to
unravel the story of the crucial late period in the artist’s wild life
Words Juliet Rix

TRAVELOGUES Malta

128 February/March 2024

Phoenicians. Anyone trading or invading in
the Mediterranean has at some point coveted
this safe haven, and down the years it has
caught the eyes of Romans, Arabs, medieval
Europeans, Catholic knights, Muslim Turks,
Napoleon and the British, to name a few.
When Caravaggio sailed in, it had only
been a handful of decades since the harbour
had been thick with the blood and cannon
smoke of the Great Siege of 1565, in which

“Valletta, an elegant
but austere citadel
city, was said to be
‘built by gentlemen
for gentlemen’”
the outnumbered Knights nearly lost Malta
to the Ottoman Turks. The Order of St
John’s response was to construct a brandnew impregnable peninsula capital,Valletta,
an elegant but austere citadel city that was
‘built by gentlemen for gentlemen’.
Caravaggio, however, was not a gentleman
– not by birth or behaviour. In fact, when he
arrived here in July 1607, he was on the run
after killing a man in a brawl in Rome. But

Caravaggio had powerful friends, awed by
his art and willing to overlook his dissolute
lifestyle, and the Knights’ Grand Master was
in search of a top-quality painter to work for
the Order in Malta. So Caravaggio boarded
one of the galleys bound for Valletta.

A FRESH START
I chose to tour the Grand Harbour by
dgħajsa water taxi, a colourful, traditional
boat rowed standing up, though nowadays
assisted by an outboard motor. Like Caravaggio, I passed star-shaped Fort St Elmo,
guardian of the harbour mouth on the
Valletta side, and on the opposite bank I
spied Fort St Angelo, the Knights’ first base
in Malta and a key player in Caravaggio’s
story. Soon enough, we landed at what is
now Customs House Wharf, an area that was
known in the 1600s simply as The Marina.
Having disembarked, I was told by Keith
Sciberras, professor of art history at the
University of Malta and a world expert on
Caravaggio’s time here, that the artist would
have walked steeply uphill through Salvatore
Gate (since renamed Victoria Gate). From
there he would have slipped into the narrow
streets of Valletta, some of which are still
little more than stone stairways. I cheated by
taking the Barrakka Lift – not out of laziness
(it isn’t far), but to enjoy the glass-sided 58m
ride up the exterior of Valletta’s towering ⊲

Previous spread: Alamy; this spread: Alamy

ichelangelo Merisi
d a C a r a va g g i o
(1571–1610 AD),
one of the most
influential painters
in the history of
Western art, signed
only a single painting. He hid his name in a
splash of blood in a work that hangs in the
oratory of St John’s Co-Cathedral, in the heart
of Malta’s UNESCO-listed capital, Valletta.
The vast Beheading of St John the Baptist
– a striking, violent, revolutionary painting – still dominates the room for which
it was created, which now receives nearly
half a million visitors a year. It is at the
centre of the story of Caravaggio’s time on
this island, which was a “pivotal” period
in his life and work, explained Francesca
Whitlum-Cooper, curator at London’s
National Gallery, whose upcoming exhibition on the artist begins in April.This is a tale
of murder, religion, knights, prison escapes
and art theft, all played out across Malta’s
most important historic buildings.
I started my quest for Caravaggio where
he began his time in Malta, on the sparkling
waters of the Grand Harbour, still flanked
as they were then by the honeyed limestone
fortifications of the Knights of the Order of
St John Hospitaller. This harbour has been
at the heart of Maltese history since the

A brutal vision (left page) Caravaggio’s painting The Beheading of St John the Baptist secured his initiation into the Knights of the Order of St John, though his
violent temper soon saw him having to flee the island; (right page) you can hop on a dgħajsa water taxi and cross the Grand Harbour to the Three Cities for just
a couple of euros – it makes for a gentle tour and offers a chance to ride on a style of boat that was used here as far back as the 17th century; (previous spread)
the citadel of Valletta was founded in 1566, after the Knights had repelled a major Ottoman invasion and sought to reinforce their position on the islands

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 129

130 February/March 2024

Alamy; Shutterstock

The Great Siege (top to bottom) Malta’s Grand Harbour might be filled with yachts today, but back in 1565 this was the site of one of history’s bloodiest sieges,
as 40,000 Ottomans penned in the 700 Knights of the Order of St John and 8,000 regular troops. The battles were fraught. In response to the Turks floating the
headless corpses of slain knights across the water, the Order responded by firing the heads of their prisoners back at the invaders. But after nearly four months,
the Turks finally retreated and the Knights had their hard-fought victory; Caravaggio’s painting of Saint Jerome Writing was subject to a daring theft in 1984

TRAVELOGUES Malta
fortifications to the bastion-top, where the
Upper Barrakka Gardens reveal breathtaking
views over the Grand Harbour.
Caravaggio, explained Sciberras, likely
crossed town to the home of Ippolito
Malaspina, a senior knight and veteran of the
Great Siege. He had close connections to the
artists’ influential Italian patrons, and he was
probably instrumental in bringing Caravaggio
to Malta. History shows he gave him one of
his first commissions on the island, St Jerome
Writing, which is now displayed alongside The
Beheading of St John the Baptist in the Co-Cathedral, with Malaspina’s coat of arms clearly
visible in the bottom right-hand corner.
Some say that St Jerome is a portrait
of Malaspina. Certainly this is a very
human-looking saint, which was most
unusual at that time. His hands and face are
tanned by the sun, his bare torso pale, his
mature skin loose and wrinkled. The picture
first hung in Malaspina’s home, passing to the
Italian wing of the Knights when he died, who
then placed it in the Co-Cathedral.
In 1984, in a hard-to-believe heist, two
men stole the painting from the Co-Cathedral museum by putting up a fake ‘work
in progress’ sign, calmly cutting it from its
frame before rolling it up and throwing it out
of a window. The picture was only returned,
albeit somewhat damaged, after delicate
negotiations with the thieves.

A STARRY WELCOME
I followed in Caravaggio’s footsteps along
Malaspina’s street, known today as San Bastjan. It is now mostly made up of flats with
brightly coloured doors, yet is still scattered
with the painted wooden balconies (called
gallariji) that became popular here from the
late 1600s on. I looked out across the waters
of Marsamxett Harbour to Manoel Island
and its recently restored fort and lazaretto
(plague quarantine centre), and beyond to
the glass and steel of modern Sliema – a
far cry from the barren, rocky garigue that
Malaspina and Caravaggio would have seen.
Valletta is much less changed, despite the
17th-century craze for Baroque embellishment that added fancy porticoes, curlicues
and columns to many of the city’s plain
facades. Walking towards the centre of town,
I paused to visit Casa Rocca Piccola. This is
the only private 16th-century palazzo in town
that is routinely open to the public, and it is
full of historic furniture, lace and paintings.
Caravaggio may well have been entertained
here, I’d heard, or at least in places like this.
“He was a celebrity,” explained Sciberras. “It was like having Elton John around.
Caravaggio was changing the course of art
history, and that was recognised at the time.
He was probably invited by all.”
⊲

SLIEMA

MANOEL ISLAN D

Fort St Elmo

VALLETTA
Grand Master’s Palace

FLORIANA
Fort St Angelo
KALKARA
GRAND
HARBOUR

BIRGU
SENGLEA

COSPICUA

Need to know
When to go
Year-round. Summer is hot
and dry; spring and autumn are warm
and sunny. Winter, in particular, is mild,
cheaper for travellers and shorn of the
crowds that can cluster Valletta – plus
all the main sites remain open.

Visas & currencies
Visas: Not required by UK
nationals for stays of up to 90 days.
Currency: Euro (€), currently around
€1.16 to the UK£.

Getting there
& around
Multiple airlines, including
British Airways (ba.com), Air Malta
(airmalta.com), Easyjet (easyJet.com)
and Ryanair (ryanair.,com), fly from
London and regional airports to Malta.
Flights cost from around £60 return.
It is just a 9km drive from the airport
to Valletta. Buses are regular and
inexpensive; Malta also has Uber, Bolt
and various taxi companies. Water
taxis depart Customs House Wharf
(£1.50pp) across the Grand Harbour;
£9pp for a 30-minute harbour tour.

Carbon offset
A return flight from London to
Malta produces 360kg of carbon per
passenger. Wanderlust encourages

you to offset your travel footprint
through a reputable provider. For
advice on how to find one, visit
wanderlust.co.uk/sustainable-travel.

Further reading
& viewing
Art as Life: Caravaggio in Malta
(Midsea Books, 2023) by Prof Keith
Sciberras – The professor’s definitive
new book has just been published.
The Last Caravaggio at the
National Gallery, London – This
definitive exhibition will display the
painting The Martyrdom of St Ursula,
which has been loaned from Naples, as
well as its original 1610 commissioning
letter. Also on display is the gallery’s
own Salome Receives the Head of
John the Baptist. Free; 18 April–21 July.
nationalgallery.org.uk

GOZO
COMINO
Cirkewwa
St Paul’s Bay

MALTA
Mdina

St Julian’s

Valletta
Marsaxlokk

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 131

TRAVELOGUES Malta

“The Grand Master
petitioned the
pope for special
dispensation to allow
a murderer to join
the Knights”
but talented artist safely away from Rome,
agreed, and Caravaggio became an unlikely
novice of the Order of St John.
Recruits to the Knights – most of whom
were the ‘spare’ sons of Europe’s aristocracy – were expected to pay a substantial
fee upon joining. Caravaggio didn’t have
any money. Instead, he was commissioned
to create a huge painting of the death of
the Knights’ patron saint for the newly
constructed oratory, which functioned as
a combination courthouse, ceremonial
centre and novice school.
The exterior of St John’s Co-Cathedral
remains more or less the simple, unadorned
building it was back when it was built in the
1570s. As I entered, however, I was assailed
by an explosion of dazzling Baroque embellishment in bright paint, coloured marble
and sparkling 24-carat gold. Gazing up at
the barrel-vaulted ceiling depicting the life
of St John in colourful oils (by Italian ⊲

Look up! (clockwise from far right) Valletta’s colourful gallariji (enclosed balconies) echo the Arabic-style
mashrabiya and were designed to catch and trap cooling breezes; Caravaggio’s 1608 portrait of Grand
Master Alof de Wignacourt; the sand-coloured stone of the modern Parliament House helps it to blend in
with the old battlements; Victoria Gate is the only fortified gate that has survived from the original citadel

132 February/March 2024

Alamy; Juliet Rix

Further up the street, I came upon Valletta’s main square, a pleasant gathering place
dominated by the Grand Master’s Palace.
I wasn’t able to go inside on this occasion
because it was closed for refurbishment
(though it has since reopened to the public;
see p29). Having been home to the rulers
of the islands from the 1570s on, throughout the British era (1800–1964) and for
fifty years of independence, it was vacated
by the nation’s MPs in 2015, when they
moved to their new purpose-built parliament (designed by Renzo Piano, architect
of the London Shard), allowing the palace
to be restored to its historic glory.
I have been inside many times, however,
and recalled the statue of Neptune that
stands in the courtyard. Many believe
its face is that of Alof de Wignacourt, the
powerful Grand Master whom Caravaggio
came here to visit – and to paint. His striking
portrait of Wignacourt in full armour, his
page at his side, now hangs in the Louvre.
The original armour, along with the Grand
Master’s battle suit and stunning dress
armour, which is intricately embossed with
gold, can still be seen in the Palace Armoury.
The Grand Master was Caravaggio’s
meal ticket, and it was he who petitioned
the pope for special dispensation to allow
a murderer to join the Knights. The pope,
perhaps happy to keep this troublesome

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 133

the Papal States delivering his severed head.
Perhaps this was why he signed his name in
the Baptist’s blood. Either way, it’s telling
that he makes a point of writing ‘f ’, for fra
(brother), before it, perhaps in recognition
that he had finally become a Knight of the
Order of St John on 14 July 1608 in a ceremony held in front of his own painting. For
the artist, it offered hope of a fresh start.

artist Mattia Preti), and across to the golden
carvings crowding every arch and buttress,
then down at some of the 400 inlaid marble
tombstones beneath my feet, I had to remind
myself that none of this was here in Caravaggio’s day. These were only added from
the 1660s on; before then, the church was
almost as spartan inside as out.
As I stood in the oratory, in front of Caravaggio’s The Beheading of St John the Baptist,
I mentally stripped everything else away,
looking only at the painting (5.2m by 3.7m).
For an early 17th-century representation of
biblical martyrdom, it is utterly atypical: no
angels bear the saint to heaven, no ecstasy
soothes the afflicted. John lies with his
bloodless face to the ground, head almost
severed – but not quite. His executioner
leans over him, muscles taut, knife in hand,
ready to finish the job, while a gaoler points
at the plate held by Salome (or a servant girl;
her identity is disputed), awaiting the head
promised her by King Herod. Completing
the picture’s tight, dramatically lit central
group, an elderly woman holds her head in
horror, while in the background a couple of
prisoners watch through a grilled window.

134 February/March 2024

“A reward was
payable to anyone
in the Papal States
delivering Caravaggio’s
severed head”
Will they be next? Or, given the viewer is
carefully positioned in the space opposite
them, will we?
It was a reminder to the novices who sat
in contemplation before it what martyrdom
(to which they were signing up as ‘holy
warriors’) might actually look like, from a
man who knew about violence. Caravaggio punches the message home by placing
the scene not in some mythical landscape,
but amid the contemporary architecture of
Valletta, still recognisable in the streets I’d
just passed through.
The painting must have had an added
poignancy for the artist, too. Caravaggio
had fled Rome with a bounty on his head –
literally. A reward was payable to anyone in

JJ Chricop Photography; Juliet Rix

OLD DEMONS
“It was incredibly prestigious to be a knight,”
explained Whitlum-Cooper, “but he couldn’t
hold it together.” The following month,
Caravaggio got into a fight at the home
of an organist. He smashed a door, and a
more senior knight was also wounded. The
artist was arrested and imprisoned in Fort
St Angelo, the sturdy citadel on the other
side of the Grand Harbour that, only four
decades earlier, had withstood the might of
the besieging Ottoman army.
I took a water taxi over to Birgu (Vittoriosa), which is still a traditional area of
narrow medieval streets, filled with glimpses
of the Knights’ legacy and waterside relics
of Malta’s maritime history. I landed next
to the former British naval bakery, where
steam machinery once churned out nearly
1.4 tonnes of bread and biscuit daily to
feed the Mediterranean fleet. It’s now the
National Maritime Museum, which is due
to reopen in April following a long renovation. Walking along the waterfront, on my
way to Fort St Angelo, I passed the Knights’
old treasury (now restaurants) and the fancy
yachts of the modern marina.
As the nation’s oldest fort, St Angelo was
already established by the 13th century as
the base of the medieval Castellan, who ruled
Malta for his overlords in Sicily. When the
Knights arrived in 1530 (invited by the Holy
Roman Emperor following their expulsion
from Rhodes by the Ottoman Turks), they
had little interest in the islands’ then-capital, Mdina, which still stands as a remarkable citadel of ancient palazzi, convents and
churches atop a high plateau in the middle
of the main island. The Knights needed to
be near their galleys, so they settled in Birgu,
making Fort St Angelo their HQ until the
post-siege move to Valletta.
Revitalised under British rule, the fort
was a frequent target for air raids during the
Second World War. Nazi propaganda even
once claimed to have sunk ‘HMS St Angelo’.
The idea of this made me laugh as I climbed
the long, zig-zagging stone ramps between
its thick defensive walls, making my way
up towards the Fort’s expansive cannonfringed parade ground, which afforded
fabulous views back across the water to
Valletta. I stepped over the little grill in ⊲

TRAVELOGUES Malta

Shock and awe (above) The Baroque interior of the Co-Cathedral is at odds with its rather dowdy exterior. As knights progressed in the Order, they were expected
to donate gifts – these often took the shape of embellishments to the Co-Cathedral. The star of the building is arguably its barrel-vaulted frescoed ceiling portraying the life of St John, painted by the Calabrian artist Mattia Preti across six years; (left page) in 1615, to mark the completion of an aqueduct carrying water from
Dingli and Rabat to Valletta, Grand Master Adolf de Wignacourt commissioned a fountain topped with a statue of Neptune that is said to resemble himself

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 135

136 February/March 2024

Alamy; Juliet Rix

A work of art (this page; clockwise from top left) The oratory of Valletta’s Co-Cathedral, where Caravaggio’s painting of St John’s beheading hangs, was built by the
Knights between 1602 and 1605 as a place of devotion for the young novices; few relics of British rule on Malta stick out quite so much as its bright-red post boxes; the saluting battery in the Upper Barrakka Gardens is traditionally fired every day, except Sundays, at noon and 4pm as visitors crowd around; Fort St Angelo
on Birgu predates even the Knights’ arrival on the island; Caravaggio’s Martyrdom of St Ursula can be seen at an upcoming National Gallery exhibition in London

TRAVELOGUES Malta

“In Valletta, a ceremony
was held in front of
The Beheading of St John
the Baptist divesting
Caravaggio of his
knighthood”
the ground that tour guides will frequently
tell you marks the site of Caravaggio’s cell.
“It doesn’t,” remarked Sciberras categorically. “He was still a knight and awaiting trial.
He would have been treated better than that.”
He would, however, have been firmly
detained. So, on gazing down the long vertical drop to the tiny figures fishing from the
harbourside rocks below, it was clear to me
that Caravaggio must have had help when, a
few weeks after his incarceration, he escaped
by boat to Sicily, then on to Naples.
In Italy, the artist resumed his career and
found no lack of patrons eager for a slice

of his talent, whatever his crimes. Among
the surviving paintings from this period
is the London National Gallery’s Salome
Receives the Head of John the Baptist. A tight
close-up, it has the echoes of a sequel to his
Maltese work. The executioner places the
Baptist’s head on a platter held by Salome,
whose pose echoes that of the man who had
wielded the knife, while a distressed older
woman looks down at the same angle as the
severed head of the saint.
There is a suggestion that Caravaggio
sent a similar scene from Italy to the Grand
Master in Malta, but it was probably not this
version. If such a gift was delivered, we don’t
know how it was received. We know only
that the Knights did not pursue the artist
any further. Instead, in Valletta, another
ceremony was held in front of Caravaggio’s The Beheading of St John the Baptist
divesting the artist of his knighthood and,
in the words of a document that recorded
the events at the time, severing him from the
order ‘like a fetid limb’.

Violence and Caravaggio were never long
apart, and in 1609 he was attacked outside
a Naples tavern and severely injured. After
months out of action, he painted The
Martyrdom of St Ursula in the spring of 1610,
another deathly close-up. Having delivered
it to his aristocratic commissioner, Caravaggio set out for Rome, apparently expecting
a papal pardon. He never arrived, dying en
route in murky circumstances, thus turning
St Ursula into ‘The Last Caravaggio’ centrepiece of the National Gallery’s upcoming
exhibition and making the Maltese paintings
some of his final masterpieces.
I couldn’t leave Valletta without one more
visit to the Co-Cathedral. With a nod to
the graves of Wignacourt and Malaspina,
I headed back into the oratory. I stood
before The Beheading, in the presence not
only of one of the most powerful paintings in
European art but on the spot where once the
artist himself – the disturbed and disturbing
genius, Caravaggio – stood and signed his
name in blood.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 137

From world-class salsa dancing to
exceptional cuisine, Colombia’s
rich culture and history is one of its
biggest draws, though this is best
seen in the big cities.
Start with a visit to
capital Bogotá,
which combines

138 February/March 2024

At the heart of the capital lies La
Candelaria, a neighbourhood filled
with colourful cobblestone streets.
It’s blend of history and culture is
infectious, so be sure to visit the
16th-century Cathedral of Colombia
and the Botero Museum, whose
collection of works by the Colombian

(top) Cartagena is
renowned for its
brightly coloured
colonial-era
architecture

Further north lies Colombia’s
Caribbean-coast jewel, Cartagena,
whose lemon-yellow buildings
and crumbling city walls frame an
unmissable UNESCO-listed centre.
Elsewhere, south-west of the capital,
Cali is the country’s
salsa king. By night,

For more information, visit www.avianca.com/en

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

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www.avianca.com/en

you’ll find street parties and packed
salsa bars; by day, you can wander
colonial-era architecture, local markets
and art galleries. Or go north to Santa
Marta for a taste of the Caribbean.

Wildlife and landscapes
Colombia isn’t only about city life.
This diverse nation offers wilderness,
too; in fact, it is the most biodiverse
country on the planet in terms of
birdlife, home to around 19% of the
world’s bird species. The Amazon
basin also covers over a third of the
country, encompassing Amacayacu
National Park, home to over 5,000
plant species, and Cahuinarí National
Nature Park, known for its pre-Hispanic
petroglyphs and biodiversity.
For more off-the-beaten track
adventures, look to Los Llanos
(or the Eastern Plains). Bordered
by the Andes and Amazon, this
vast expanse of wetlands, rivers,
savannah and forest covers an entire

A country
of beauty
(this page;
clockwise from
top left) Cartagena
abounds with local
life; the Tatacoa
Desert looks almost
otherworldly;
avianca offers
domestic routes to
more than 25 destinations; brown Inca
hummingbirds are
one of Colombia’s
many bird species;
hike among the
beguiling rock
formations of the
Mavicure Hills;
Cartagena’s lemon-hued buildings

quarter of the country and is home
to pumas, jaguars, howler monkeys
and rich birdlife. It’s in Los Llanos that
you’ll also find La Macarena National
Park, home to the extraordinary Caño
Cristales – nicknamed the ‘liquid
rainbow’ for the kaleidoscopic hues
created by a mysterious native plant.
Further south, the Cocora Valley is
a mecca for birders. Hummingbirds,
parrots, parakeets and toucans all
reside among the misty cloud forests
and verdant slopes of the Andes.
Elsewhere, Tayrona National Park
on the Caribbean coast is a hotspot
for hiking and wildlife-spotting, with
rustic jungle trails home to howler
monkeys, sloths, jaguars and more.
On the lesser-visited eastern side, the
Mavicure Hills invite intrepid climbers
to scale volcanic peaks above the
lush jungle, or for a truly unique
experience, there’s the Tatacoa
Desert, where scarlet-red sandstone
rocks and otherworldly canyons invite
exceptional stargazing.

Shutterstock; Avianca/ProColombia

People
What really makes Colombia stand
out is the people. You’ll be met
with a warm, friendly welcome
everywhere you go here, with locals
keen to showcase the country’s
vibrant culture, food and music.

To learn more about Colombia, visit https://colombia.travel/en

As the second-most ethnically
diverse country in the Americas, it’s
something of a cultural melting pot,
with European, Afro-Caribbean and
Indigenous influences all found here.
For local life at its best, head to one
of the country’s many festivals. Part of
UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage
list, the Carnaval de Negros y Blancos
in San Juan de Pasto is among the
most popular (and unique) events.
Arising from Indigenous Andean and
Hispanic traditions, the five-day festival
is a celebration of the region’s diverse
ethnic heritage. Elsewhere in Medellín,
the annual Flower Fair in August
brings colourful floral exhibitions, live
performances and parades to the
streets across the city.
It’s Barranquilla, however, that
steals the show, hosting the world’s
second-largest carnival every year.
This iconic four-day fiesta sees
costumed dances, processions and
vibrant parades light up the streets
in the lead-up to Ash Wednesday,
bringing an explosion of colour,
energy and joy that is Colombia at its
most quintessential.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 139

The other
emerald isle

While much of the Caribbean has been lost to development,
tiny Tobago remains stubbornly resistant to change, thanks to a
history of rainforest conservation dating back to the 18th century
Words Lyn Hughes

TRAVELOGUES Tobago
soon becomes apparent that locals don’t
see things in these terms.
“We were never part of Trinidad or Venezuela. It was the British who put us together
with Trinidad,” I was later told by Desmond
Wright, the in-house guide at Cuffie River
Nature Retreat. “Tobago was always by itself
and different.” And that’s not just island
pride talking; there is history to back it up.

“This is rainforest
and it needs to be
respected… There is
no major logging of
trees here and no
quarrying”
A century before John Muir dreamed
up the idea of a government-sponsored
national parks system, the world’s first
legally protected forest reserve, Main Ridge,
had already been set up in Tobago. It’s a
strange quirk of fate that one of the earliest
examples of conservationism is to be found
on this tiny island, more so that it came out
of a history steeped in the brutal sugar plantations of colonialism. Yet this green spirit
continues today, with Tobago now also

home to a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve,
cementing its place as an unsung pioneer
among the Caribbean islands. It was something that I was curious to see for myself.

AN UNUSUAL HISTORY
“This is rainforest and it needs to be
respected,” I was told by William Trim,
former director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and now a
renowned birding guide. “The community
of Tobago are more aware of the importance
of the rainforest compared with Trinidad and
other Caribbean islands, so there is no major
logging of trees here and no quarrying.”
But the origins of Tobago’s forest reserve
struggle to live up to the noble sentiments
of the present. Historically, the combination of the island’s fertile soil, rainfall and
its geographical location made it one of
the most fought over pieces of land in the
Caribbean. It changed hands over 30 times
between the British, French and Dutch
from the early 17th century on, before
being finally ceded to Britain in 1814. It
only gained its independence in 1962.
The European lust for sugar saw plantations spread across the island. At the Tobago
Museum I gazed at a map covering the period
between 1807 and 1815. During this period
there were 86 estates (plantations) here and
a population of 16,613 enslaved Africans. ⊲

⊲
142 February/March 2024

Previous spread: Alamy; this spread: Alamy

hick gunmetal-grey clouds
coated the sky, a smudge
of a rainbow fighting to be
visible. I had a last sweep
of the ocean through my
binoculars, hoping to
spot dolphins among the
whitecaps – I had been told they passed by
Castara Bay most mornings. A pair of parrots
squawked overhead and a flash of blue in
my peripheral vision made me turn to see
a motmot land on the end of my verandah.
I looked back down the bay and spotted
a young guy, presumably a tourist, strolling
the golden beach, shoes in hand, happily
oblivious to the falling rain. It seemed to sum
up everything I was feeling about Tobago.
I can tell how much I like a place by how
I feel about it in the pouring rain, and Tobago
has charm to spare. It also has substance.
When the resort chain Sandals tried to open
its biggest ever complex here in 2019, such
was the local consternation about its effect
on an island barely half the size of the Isle of
Man that it stood little chance. The islanders
sent them packing.Tobago may have a handful of resorts over on its flat south-west side,
but they tend to be small, low-key affairs.
The overall message was clear: this place
isn’t for the masses.
Despite being the ‘second’ island in the
dual nation of Trinidad and Tobago, it

Still standing (above) The Gilpin Trace is a half-day hike that runs through the Main Ridge Forest Reserve, which is said to be the oldest legally protected forest
in the world. Its creation is thought to have taken 11 years, brought about by the persistence of a long-forgotten British MP who believed its preservation would
increase rainfall on the island. Even if his motives were far from pure, it helped preserve the rainforest for generations; (left page) the horseshoe-shaped Man of
War Bay was where Europeans settlers first arrived in the 1600s; (previous page) the idyllic Englishman’s Bay is capped by thick tropical rainforest

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 143

Charlotteville

Parlatuvier
TOBAGO MAIN RIDGE
FOREST RESERVE

Castara

Speyside

Merchiston

TOBAGO
Mason Hall
Black Rock
Buccoo

Goodwood
Mount
St George
Scarborough

Lambeau
Crown Point

Need to know
When to go
The dry season runs from
January to June; this equates with high
season. The rainy season is between
July and December, and it usually takes
the form of sharp, warm showers, so
it is still a good time to visit. The island
is south of the hurricane belt, so rarely
gets hit. Leatherback turtles nest from
March to May. Birdwatching is good
year-round, though January to April
sees the highest number of species.

Health & safety
Tobago is generally a safe
country. Check with your doctor for
any vaccinations you may require.

Getting there
& around
British Airways (ba.com) flies from
London Gatwick to Tobago twice a
week via St Lucia. Flights cost from
around £497 return and take 11 hours.
Alternatively, combine with Trinidad
and take a Caribbean Airlines
(caribbean-airlines.com) flight or a ferry
between the two. Taxis, local tours
and rental cars are easy to arrange. Try
hiring local guides/drivers (see p151)
to get the most out of your experience.

Visas & currencies
Visas: Not currently required by
UK nationals for stays of up to 90 days.
Money: Trinidad and Tobago dollar
(TT$), currently TT$8.6 To the UK£.

Food & drink
Seafood is plentiful, including
lobster. Many restaurants offer a catch
of the day, which may be snapper,
mahi mahi or kingfish. Dishes are often

144 February/March 2024

served with ‘ground provisions’ –
potatoes, sweet potatoes or cassava.
Dasheen (blue food) is a popular type
of taro that is served here, with both
the root and the leaves often used.

Carbon offset
A return flight from London to
Tobago produces 935kg of carbon per
passenger. Wanderlust encourages
you to offset your travel footprint
through a reputable provider. For
advice on how to find one, please visit
wanderlust.co.uk/sustainable-travel.

Where to stay
Castara Retreats is a fabulous
treehouse-style eco-lodge overlooking
Castara Bay. It’s self-catering but it also
has a good restaurant. Rooms from
£117pn; castararetreats.com
Cuffie River Retreat lets you relax
and recharge while being tucked away
and surrounded by nature. It has a
saltwater pool and good food. Rooms
from £121pn; cuffie-river.com
Adventure Eco Villas lets you
sleep among tropical forest at the
privately owned Adventure Farm and
Nature Reserve. Villas from £110pn;
adventure-ecovillas.com
Blue Waters Inn, Speyside, is a
beach resort in north-east Tobago
overlooking Little Tobago. Rooms from
£155pn; bluewatersinn.com
Shepherds’ Inn is a small
hotel with garden and pool near
the airport. Rooms from £78pn;
shepherdsinntobago.com
Coco Reef Beach Resort sits near
the airport and some of Tobago’s bestknown beaches. Rooms from £214pn;
cocoreeftobago.com

You have to go back even further to
discover the roots of Main Ridge. It was in
1776, during one of the island’s spells under
British rule, when a member of parliament,
Soame Jenyns, advocated for the creation
of a forest reserve here. This was the age of
the Enlightenment, and he had read of a link
between trees and precipitation. The reserve
was described as being “for the purpose of
attracting frequent showers of rain upon
which the fertility of lands in these climates
doth entirely depend.” In other words: for the
continued success of the plantations.
Regardless of its roots, the value of the
forest was largely respected down the years
– a rarity in the Caribbean region, which
retains just over 10% of its original forest
cover. With the abolition of slavery, many
of the formerly enslaved workers gained
small plots of land where they could be
self-sufficient. And when the plantation
system collapsed, Tobago stayed very much
a rural economy, eschewing the overdevelopment of other Caribbean islands. Nearly
two-thirds of it is still smothered in evergreen rainforest today, attracting discerning nature lovers looking for a taste of the
unspoilt Caribbean. I was one of them.

INTO THE FOREST
Having arrived at the Cuffie River Nature
Retreat for a guided walk and lunch, I kicked
myself that I hadn’t booked to stay for a few
days. Every window looked out over lush
forest, the air was thick with the fragrance of
exotic flowers, and hummingbirds frequently
darted by, landing on the plentiful feeders.
The only sounds were of birdsong and rain,
and I just wanted to curl up on a sofa and stay.
“I tried to create a space in the middle of
nowhere that would be a retreat in nature,”
said owner Regina Dumas, a charismatic
Trinidadian in her 70s. After a career in rural
development, and with her children having
left home, she had been looking for what to
do next. Her family had owned a cocoa plantation here and it provided the perfect place
to set up a secluded small hotel. For labour,
she used local villagers, arranging training
where necessary, and when her maintenance
man, Desmond Wright, showed an interest
in birds, she was grateful at being able to add
a new experience for guests.
“When we started, I knew nothing about
birds,”Regina explained. “I found a local
hunter to teach me. But then Desmond
learned bird calls; now he’s been guiding
our visitors all these years.”
Birds are one of the highlights for travellers
to the island. While Tobago doesn’t have as
many species as Trinidad, it does have some
endemics not found there, and also attracts
⊲
birds from South America.

Alamy; Simon Chubb

TRAVELOGUES Tobago

Out in the wild (this page; clockwise from top left) William Trim [right] scrutinises the rainforest for birdlife on one of his tours; the Main Ridge Forest Reserve is filled with waterfalls and slices of wilderness that remind you just what a natural gem this is, particularly in the Caribbean region where widespread
logging has led to the deforestation of many of the islands down the years; the rufous-tailed jacamar, spotted in the forests of Main Ridge, is often mistaken
for a hummingbird; the visitor centre at Main Ridge has great views of the forest and ocean

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 145

TRAVELOGUES Tobago
“Twenty-two of the birds here are not
found in Trinidad or other places in the
Caribbean,” I was later told by William Trim
on visiting the Main Ridge Forest Reserve.
“And while some of the birds are found in
South America, it would be more difficult to
spot them there; it’s easier here.”
William and I met at the reserve’s visitor
centre, and no sooner had we stepped out
onto its verandah than he pointed out a Venezuelan flycatcher. “Some people spend days
looking for one of these,” he said, smiling.
“You’ve seen it within five minutes!”
I had been eagerly anticipating my first
real taste of Main Ridge. Together we
wandered a couple of the reserve’s walking
trails while he explained how we were following paths once regularly used by the islanders, either on foot or by donkey, before the
road was built over the ridge. He pointed out
that the nails in the remnants of a wooden
bridge were British and centuries old.
We were following the mountain streams,
and as we walked, the forest came alive with

146 February/March 2024

“Twenty-two of
the birds here are
not found in Trinidad
or other places in
the Caribbean”
birdsong. Every few metres there was something to stop and look at, whether it was the
burrow of a trapdoor spider, a secretive fish
or a plant with medicinal properties.
William was particularly excited at us
seeing at least five white-tailed sabrewing
hummingbirds, some of whom were displaying even though it wasn’t mating season yet.
Iridescent green and blue in colour, this is
Tobago’s largest hummingbird and it is only
found here and in Venezuela. There were
fears they could be extinct in Tobago after the
devastating Hurricane Flora in 1963, but they
have been recovering in numbers since.

Back at the visitor centre, there were
far-reaching views down to the coast in one
direction, but otherwise the scene was of thick
forest coating the spine of the island.
“North-east Tobago is of great interest
globally,” explained William, “and it was
declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
in 2020.” He explained that this reserve
encompasses not only Main Ridge but also
the surrounding marine environment, home
to coral reefs and mangroves, as well as local
communities. For such a tiny island, barely
300 sq km in size, the numbers are astonishing: 1,774 species, 19 habitat types, 83 IUCN
Red List species, 41 endemic species and 15
communities with a unique cultural heritage.
One of those communities is Castara,
a fishing village on the Caribbean coast with
just the right balance of local life and low-key
tourism. Its two sandy beaches were deserted
when I arrived, with just a few locals hanging
out – or ‘liming’ as it’s known here – by the
seafront.Vibrant soca music blasted out of a
bar but there were no customers. A couple ⊲

Alamy; Simon Chubb

Bay watching (above) Idyllic Blue Waters Inn lies on the site of a former sugar plantation; (left page; clockwise from bottom far left) a red-billed tropicbird
soars through the skies; the endangered white-tailed sabrewing hummingbird was thought lost to the island until it was rediscovered in 1974 and is now
growing in number; William Trim knows his island birds; red-billed tropicbirds nest on Little Tobago Island for six to eight weeks before returning to sea;
Regina Dumas turned her family’s cocoa plantation into a thriving eco-lodge; the motmot is one of the more striking birds on Tobago

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 147

148 February/March 2024

TRAVELOGUES Tobago

“Hundreds of red-billed
tropicbirds wheeled
through the air, some
harassed by frigatebirds
mugging them for food
and nesting materials”
of American visitors I met explained that
the village had been much livelier the night
before when a steel pan band had played.
“Some evenings there is music and a
bonfire on the beach. Otherwise, the noisiest
things here are the roosters,” they warned. I
had wondered what the earplugs in my room
were for; I found out in the wee hours when
a chorus of cockerels pierced the pre-dawn.

WILD SURPRISES

Alamy; Shutterstock

It was a wrench to leave Castara, but I wanted
to see more of the island’s north-eastern tip,
its communities and its nature, so I had
arranged a stay in Speyside, which is
reportedly where Tobago’s tourism started.
The Blue Waters Inn sits on a private bay
looking out to the island of Little Tobago,
previously known as Bird of Paradise Island.
It’s previous name comes from British politician Sir William Ingram’s attempt to intro-

duce a colony of the titular birds from New
Guinea in 1908, in a bid to conserve them.
After his death, the island was gifted to the
government as a nature reserve and, while the
birds of paradise have since been presumed
extinct, it remains an important breeding site
for seabirds such as the red-billed tropicbird.
I took a tour there with former Little
Tobago custodian Newton George, now one
of the island’s best-known birding guides. A
group of us took a glass-bottomed boat to the
island, where we were surprised to be met by
a chicken. Newton explained that unlike the
long-gone birds of paradise (he last saw one
in 1981), these non-native interlopers still
lived feral here, having been introduced when
Little Tobago was inhabited decades ago.
A walk to the top of the island brought us
to a viewpoint overlooking ocean, cliff and
woodland, where nature was showcased in all
its glory. Hundreds of red-billed tropicbirds
wheeled through the air, some harassed
by frigatebirds (the pirates of the skies)
mugging them for food or nesting materials. Newton trained his telescope on half a
dozen red-footed boobies perched in trees. A
short walk down a nearby path also revealed a
brown booby sitting on its nest, while the boat
trip back took us over the reef, offering views
of colourful parrotfish, angelfish and corals.
Tobago is known for its snorkelling and
diving, but I was keen to try some other ⊲

All at sea (left) Veronika’s rescued horses take visitors for treks down to the ocean near the coastal
village of Buccoo, where they swim across the bay while carrying travellers on their backs; (above) local
fishermen haul their nets onto the sands near the fishing village of Castara, a task that can take well
over an hour. It’s worth noting that any passing visitors wanting to lend a hand are usually welcomed

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 149

150 February/March 2024

Alamy; Simon Chubb

It’s over there! (this page; clockwise from top left) London Bridge Rock is found near St Giles Island, an important breeding site for frigatebirds; Newton
George points to the skies above Little Tobago, which soon become filled with swooping red-billed tropicbirds; the Main Ridge Forest Reserve is cut
through by trails that were primarily created by locals, who used them for getting around before the first road was built across the island; (right page)
Castara Bay is rich with marine life and I was told by locals that dolphins pass by it each day

TRAVELOGUES Tobago

Tobago highlights
Local culture
From harvest festivals to village
dirt ovens; ‘ole time’ wedding
reenactments to goat racing –
Tobago loves its traditions. Use
a guide/agency such as Phill
Williams of Trinbago Tropical
Tours & Excursions to really get
under its skin (tttexcursions.com).

Hummingbirds
Spot these beauties up close at
Shurland James Nature Park – and
don’t miss its homemade ice
cream. Also try the Hummingbird
Gallery (newtongeorge.com)
or Adventure Farm and Nature
Reserve (adventure-ecovillas.com).

Birdwatching

“It felt unreal to be
sitting in the
equivalent of
a warm bath and
watching the occasional
fish swim by”
ocean experiences. I headed back down to
Buccoo in the south-west to meet Veronika, a
German equestrian who had originally come
here as a tourist but fell in love with the island
and the man who would become her husband.
Within a few years she had rescued several
horses, mainly former race horses from Trinidad, and was now working with local children
and those with disabilities, providing therapy
through interaction with these animals. But
she also kept getting requests from tourists, so she now offers a holistic ‘Being with
Horses’ experience that includes swimming
in the ocean on horseback.
“We let the horses choose you,” she
declared as the four of us stood there, bridles
in hand, facing the animals. I had a quick
flashback to school sports teams and the
dread of not being picked. In this case though,
a handsome bay thoroughbred came straight
up to me and nuzzled my arm. His name was
Morning Calm, an 11-year-old ex-racehorse.
Having all been selected, we mounted and
made our way through the village, past the
goat-racing track (Tobago races goats rather
than horses), with several loose horses accompanying us. We had comfortable saddles but
no stirrups, and we were exhorted to just let
our bodies go with the motion of the horse,
“as if wining” – a gyrating local dance.
Walking along the golden sands of Buccoo
Bay, we eventually turned into the sea and

started to head back the way we had come,
keeping parallel with the beach. There was
quite a swell, more than anticipated.
“Most of the time it’s completely calm
here,” said Veronica. “It’s more of a challenge today. Look towards the waves; that
way, if a big breaker comes, you’ll have seen
it and you won’t be taken by surprise.”
Morning Calm was unfazed by the conditions, living up to his name, and when we
eventually emerged I felt a sense of triumph.
While swimming a horse in the sea was
exhilarating, I was keen to take to the water
again to experience a couple of Tobago’s
natural phenomena. We set off at dusk in a
small boat and headed first to Nylon Pool, an
offshore sandbar that provides the experience
of being surrounded on all sides by the ocean
yet being able to stand in metre-deep water.
I slipped into the still pool; it felt unreal to be
sitting in the equivalent of a warm bath while
watching the occasional fish swim by.
Much of the earlier cloud had cleared by
now and the stars were out. I was called back
to the boat, whereupon the captain declared
it dark enough for our next stop.We chugged
past a beach, whose pristine white sands I
could make out even in this light, and made
our way to Bon Accord Lagoon. At first there
was little to see: an expanse of dark water
to our left, mangrove to our right. But then
I was told to lower my hand into the water.
As we put-putted along, I trailed my arm and
a starburst of lights exploded around it.
I had the lagoon to myself and the only
sounds were of cicadas or the occasional
splash of a fish. I completely lost all track of
time as I floated in wonder in the water, every
movement producing a slipstream of bioluminescence. Stars twinkled overhead and
fireflies flickered in the mangroves. Nature’s
wonders don’t get much better than this.

You’ll find birds all over the island,
but for more insight you’ll need
a guide. Tobago has some worldclass ones, including Newton
George (newtongeorge.com),
William Trim and Zolani “Zee” Frank
(zeetourstobago.com). Good spots
include Main Ridge and the islands
of Little Tobago and St Giles.

Snorkelling
Tobago’s reefs are in better shape
than many other places, and
snorkelling is widely available. One
of the best spots is in front of Goat
Island. If you don’t want to snorkel,
try a glass-bottomed boat tour.

Bioluminescence Tour
Don’t miss out on a nighttime
bioluminescence safari by kayak
or paddleboard with Radical
Sports (radicalsportstobago.com)
or go by boat with Fish Tobago
Tours (fishtobago.com).

Swim with horses
Whether you have previous riding
experience or not, try a holistic
horse experience with Being with
Horses (being-with-horses.com).

Give back
The Environmental Research
Institute Charlotteville (ERIC)
offers reef-check experiences,
dive courses, turtle-nesting beach
patrols and other activities that
help support the organisation
(eric-tobago.org).

Further Information

Visittobago.gov.tt
Dreamplantobago.com
Wanderlust Off the Page – Our
Untouched Paradise in Tobago
podcast has insights into island
traditions, culture and nature.
The author was supported by
Visit Tobago.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 151







  
  
  
 
    
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2024
List
Our editors choose the hot spots and rising
cultural stars of the travel world for the
year ahead, as we pick 24 for 2024!

1

Arizona, USA

Why go? Hit the cities for local
history, dark skies and birthdays

Why go? Discover how the
earliest animal life evolved

Imagine being able to travel back
in time over half a billion years, to a
moment when animal life was first
emerging. In South Australia’s IkaraFlinders Ranges, you can do just that
– well, kind of – by walking among
relics of the Precambrian era on Fossil
Field Tours exploring little-seen parts
of Nilpena Ediacara, the country’s
newest national park. Roaming its
amazing fossil beds, scouring the red
earth and rocks for clues, provides
the opportunity to discover how
animal life evolved in a spot bidding
for UNESCO World Heritage status.
Elsewhere, you can mountain bike
the 39km Remarkable Epic Trail
across Mount Remarkable National
Park, join tours with Indigenous
Adnyamathanha guides at Wilpena
Pound and drift off beneath a canopy
of stars on a new ridge-top sleepout in
Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary. All
proof that even the oldest parts of the
world can learn new tricks.

Back on the prowl
(clockwise from
right) Conservation
of Brazil’s Pantanal
wetlands is boosted by income from
wildlife watching,
with jaguar ecotourism estimated
to bring in nearly
$7 million each
year; tours of the
fossils preserved
in the ancient sea
floor at Australia’s
Nilpena Ediacara
National Park
reveal the remains
of early animal life;
Tucson’s Barrio
Viejo is packed
with buildings that
evoke its past,
including Teatro
Carmen, built in
1915 and soon to
reopen afresh

Alamy; Robert Lang

Arizona may be known as the Grand
Canyon State but in 2024 all eyes are
on its cities – notably Tucson’s Barrio
Viejo (Old District), slated for recognition as a National Historic Landmark.
Its galleries, brewpubs and cantinas
are big draws, but the real jewels are
the 19th-century adobe buildings that
have housed families and businesses
down the generations.Today, the story
of Tucson is told through places such as
the Teatro Carmen, which once hosted
a cinema, meeting hall, boxing ring
and ballroom, and is currently being
renovated. In Flagstaff to the north,
a new Astronomy Discovery Center
opening at the Lowell Observatory
will launch visitors across the cosmos
from this International Dark Sky City.
And state capital Phoenix celebrates
a slew of anniversaries in 2024, with
events planned at the Desert Botanical Garden (85th), Heard Museum
of Native American art (95th) and
Phoenix Art Museum (65th).

2

Australia

154 February/March 2024

3

Brazil

Why go? Because good
news travels fast – and we
can’t wait to visit again
Brazil has been the focus of some
rare positive conservation stories in
recent months. Slashing deforestation rates by more than a third
in the first half of 2023 was a big
win, but equally encouraging is the
growing number of ways visitors
can engage with cultures that call
the Amazon region home. Increasingly, operators are offering meaningful encounters with Brazil’s
Indigenous peoples, from boating
the tea-coloured Río Negro with
a Munduruku guide to homestays
in the jungle-set villages around
Manaus, channelling tourism funds
to local communities. Just as important has been efforts to put the wild
back in the Pantanal, the world’s
largest wetland. Tours with conservationists not only offer chances to
spy jaguars in their natural habitat,
but also to hear the remarkable
story of how the cats returned. ⊲

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 155

2024
List

4

Capitals of Culture

Why go? Squeeze three
distinctively different cities
into one incredible cultural journey

hostilities with Serbia that sparked the
First World War. Finish your cultural
odyssey in Estonia’s ‘spiritual capital’,
Tartu, which dodged Brutalist Soviet
interventions to retain its classical
centre; events this year will encompass
communities on its fringes, too.

5

Chile

Why go? To see how national
parks and communities are
working together to save Chile’s wilds

Few countries have focused on conservation as much as Chile lately, with
over 20% of its land now protected and
three new national parks established

A new bloom
(clockwise from
bottom left) Chile’s
new Desierto Florido National Park
showcases rare
superblooms; folk
singers grace the
steps of Tartu Town
Hall as the Estonian
city gears up for its
year as European
Capital of Culture;
Mobile’s Dauphin
Street offers an
alternative take
on the US South;
Honfleur harbour in
Normandy inspired
Impressionist
artists such
Eugène Boudin

in the past year alone. First was Salar
del Huasco, sandwiched between
Andean peaks, its salt flats home
to flamingos and other birds. Then
came Desierto Florido, high in the
northern Atacama desert, created to
protect a superbloom of 200 wildflower species that paints the desert
lilac in August. Finally, Glaciares de
Santiago National Park is a community-led effort safeguarding 368 glaciers
in hills south-east of the capital.

6

Deep South, USA

Why go? Visit Mississippi,
Alabama and Louisiana on
the resurrected Gulf Coast train line

Back in 2005, Hurricane Katrina
tore up swathes of the USA’s southern coastline – and the area is still
recovering even today. One casualty
that should finally be back on track
this year is Amtrak’s Gulf Coast train
route, chugging between the jazz bars
and French Quarter of New Orleans,
Louisiana, and Mobile, some 200km
to the east in Alabama.The latter city’s
Mardi Gras – reputedly the country’s
oldest official Carnival – offers an
alternative to the bourbon-fuelled
hedonism of NOLA, while its oyster
houses, antebellum homes and
boutique-lined Dauphin Street reinforce its ‘quieter cousin’ vibe. Between
them, the track skirts the Mississippi
coast with stops in Pascagoula, Gulfport, Bay St Louis and lively Biloxi.
Be sure to drop in at that city’s
museum dedicated to ceramist
George Ohr, the ‘Mad Potter of
Biloxi’, for a more cultured take on
the neon-lit ‘playground of the South’.

156 February/March 2024

Alamy

We’re not saying you need to visit this
year’s European Capitals of Culture –
Bodø (Norway), Bad Ischl (Austria)
and Tartu (Estonia) – in one trip…
but wouldn’t it be fun? First up is
Norway’s gateway to the red-andwhite rorbuer (cod fishermen’s cabins)
of the Lofoten Islands. Spare time for
the city itself, though; its Modernist
architecture and entrepreneurial spirit
make Bodø more than just an aurorawatching pit stop. Next up is the
Austrian spa town where Habsburg
emperor Franz Joseph I liked to spend
his summers. In Bad Ischl’s Neoclassical Kaiservilla, you can see the room
where he signed the declaration of

7

France

Why go? To explore the birth of
the 19th-century Impressionist
art movement all over again

Today, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir
and Edgar Degas are recognisable by
their surnames alone, yet in the 19th

century they were part of the ‘Anonymous Society of Painters, Sculptors,
Engravers, etc’ for good reason. Finding
themselves artistic outcasts in Paris, in
1874 they responded by staging the first
Impressionist exhibition, thus changing
the course of art history. In the 150th
anniversary year of that moment, explore

their work and legacy at events in Rouen,
Dieppe and Giverny, Monet’s adopted
hometown, during Normandy’s Impressionist Festival (Mar–Sep). Meanwhile,
the Musée d’Orsay headlines the capital’s
offerings with its Inventing Impressionism
retrospective (Mar–Jul).You’ll never look
at a sunset in the same way again.
⊲

2024
List

Why go? Celebrate the life
and works of a Romantic master

August marks 250 years since the birth
of one of Germany’s most influential
painters, Caspar David Friedrich. A
pioneer of the Romantic movement,

drawing on emotion and the power of
nature, many of his pieces reimagined
the landscapes around Dresden, where
he lived and died and where some of
his works are being showcased this
year. A major exhibition at Berlin’s
Alte Nationalgalerie is among other
shows across the country, including at

Hamburg’s Kunsthalle. A fitting tribute
would be to explore the UNESCOlisted Elbe Valley on foot, hiking the
Painter’s Way between historic villages
still hinting at the Industrial Age, and
the distinctive sandstone outcrops
that inspired Friedrich’s masterpiece
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (pictured).

Alamy

8

Germany

9

India

Why go? Follow in the
footsteps of Rudyard
Kipling to explore the tiger
reserves of Madhya Pradesh

One literary landmark this year is
the 130th anniversary of the first
publication of Rudyard Kipling’s
The Jungle Book.Though the Indiaborn English writer penned these
tales while living in leafy Vermont,
USA, he was inspired by an 1831
report of a child raised by wolves
near Seoni in the Wainganga Valley
– where the villainous tiger Shere
Khan meets his fate in the book.
Seoni sits between the tiger reserves
of Kanha, Satpura and Pench, and
it was the latter that inspired the
setting of Kipling’s classic book.
Evoke his tales on a walking safari
along the dusty jungle trails of
Satpura (pictured), tiger spotting
in less-visited Pench or on a night
safari in the forested Satpura Hills,
where you might encounter a black
bear (Baloo’s descendent?). If you’re
wildly lucky, you might even spot
the area’s resident black panther,
fittingly named Bagheera.
⊲

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2024
List

10

Japan

Why go? Ride the rails in
a special year for Japan’s
shinkansen… then take it slow

AWL

Sixty years ago, Japan’s first shinkansen
(bullet train) was rolled out in record
time for the 1964 Summer Olympics,
hurtling between Tokyo and Osaka. Even

today, there is no better way to explore
the hill country of central Honshu than
on that original Tokaido service. But you
needn’t end there. This year, an extension to the line from Tokyo to Kanazawa
will continue along the north coast to the
scenic port city of Tsuruga. There are
also plenty of new ways to take it slower
in Japan this year. JR East has mooted the

launch of sightseeing services exploring
the historic castles and cherry-blossomscattered hills of the southern Tohoku
region in spring 2024. And in autumn,
JR West has plans for a train traversing
the ‘Middle Country’ of western Honshu
that is set to change its route depending on the season – so time your visit
according to your interests.
⊲

11

Peru

Why go? It’s now easier to
reach the world’s hippest food
destination and Inca sites

Peruvian gastronomy has long wowed
food-lovers, for whom Lima’s inventive
takes on traditional dishes and ingredients are rightly lauded. The capital’s

culinary scene blew up last year when
Central topped The World’s 50 Best
Restaurants list. So LATAM Airlines’
new direct flight between Heathrow and
Lima couldn’t have launched at a better
moment – in time for dinner. Also hitting
the headlines are plans to raise the daily
cap on visitors to Machu Picchu to 4,500.
Yet the country’s network of Inca trails

extends far beyond the Sacred Valley,
stretching thousands of kilometres.
Whether trekking the Lares Trail to hilltop Andean communities, hiking through
jungle to the remote citadel of Choquequirao or climbing to the Chachapoya
settlement of Kuélap – conquered by
the Inca in the 15th century – there is far
more to see here beyond Machu Picchu.

⊲

2024
List

12

Kazakhstan

Why go? For the wildest
sporting event this side of
the Tian Shan Mountains

If you’ve ever longed to see someone
firing an arrow using their feet while
doing a handstand, the World Nomad
Games might just be your Woodstock.
Now, ten years after the first edition
was staged in Kyrgyzstan, the games
come to Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana,
featuring events ranging from wrestling to bone throwing. The sight of
trained eagles hunting stuffed toys is
one you won’t soon forget, but you’ll
also find classes on traditional crafts,
a Kazakh food festival and a museum
exploring the nomad cultures gathered
here. Direct Air Astana flights between
London and Almaty also open up the
wild south-east, a land where the singing sand dunes and painted rocks of
Altyn-Emel National Park are by no
means the most mysterious sights.

13

Midwest, USA

Why go? Chase an eclipse
while exploring the USA’s
little-seen flyover states

Alamy

With more and more people travelling
for astronomical phenomena, North
America is surely this year’s hottest
ticket. A total solar eclipse will track
diagonally through the continent on
8 April – the last here for 20 years –
crossing the USA between Texas and
Maine.The path of totality bisects the
Midwestern states of Indiana, Illinois,
Missouri and Ohio – where Cleveland’s lakeside will offer front-row

seats and plenty of context during a
three-day festival, and cruises on the
Great Lakes will allow you to enjoy
the eclipse in serenity. The phenomenon itself lasts only four minutes,
but it provides the perfect excuse to
explore a region too often overlooked.
From kayak tours beneath the bridges
of Cincinnati to treks across the
Cuyahoga Valley, in Ohio alone there’s
plenty to do that’s out of this world.

14

Mongolia

Why go? New flights,
cultural attractions and
luxury stays in wild settings

If the ongoing Chinggis Khaan (Genghis Khan) exhibition in Nantes has
whetted your appetite to learn more
about the largest contiguous land
empire in history, then the recently
opened Chinggis Khaan National
Museum in Ulaanbaatar will blow
your mind. Mongolia is now easier
to reach than ever since the capital’s
new international airport opened in
2021. More direct flights from the
US and Europe, plus the easing of
visa restrictions, have opened up the
country further still. Now an array of
stays – such as Three Camel Lodge in

In the pink
(clockwise from
left page) The Inca
citadel of Choquequirao could be
three times larger
than Machu Picchu;
in April, a total solar
eclipse will darken
North American
skies; hunters
wield golden eagles in Mongolia;
exquisite lakes
stud south-eastern Kazakhstan’s
Almaty region

the Gobi, and Yeruu Lodge in the far
north – are adding a dash of luxury to
the wild steppes and arid desert. And
that’s aside from such unique experiences as the Golden Eagle Festival of
Bayan-Ölgii and exploring the taiga
of Khövsgöl Nuur NP on horseback.

15

New Caledonia
Why go? New flights,
museums and stays

Watching the South Pacific sun glint
off the pellucid lagoons of New Caledonia, you might reflect that you’ve
arrived in paradise. The UNESCOlisted waters, reefs, lagoons and atolls
of this remote French territory in the
South Pacific, home to manta rays,
humpback whales (Jul–Sep) and pristine coral, are a playground for visitors
and wildlife alike. And the opening of
the InterContinental Lifou Wadra Bay
Resort, slated for April 2024, provides
a luxurious new base from which to
explore the Loyalty Islands and outer
archipelago. The reopening of the
expanded Museum of New Caledonia promises more insights into the
indigenous Kanak people who make
up nearly half the country’s population, while a new flight connection to
Fiji through the latter’s national airline
enables smoother access.
⊲

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 163

2024
List

16

Pesaro, Italy

Why go? Get your opera
glasses out for Italy’s
beach-side culture capital

17

Republic
of Congo

Why go? Come face to
face with gorillas in the forested
wilds of the Congo Basin

Ben Fogle’s new three-part Into the
Congo documentary, airing in 2024
on Channel 5, is sure to pique interest in a region of Central Africa that
receives few travellers yet offers
huge rewards to those making
the effort to visit. In particular,
the Republic of Congo’s OdzalaKokoua National Park – one of Africa’s oldest – catches the eye, offering
the chance of encountering critically
endangered western lowland gorillas
in the world’s second-largest rainforest.
Barely 1,000 people visit the park each
year, typically using Kamba’s junglebased lodges as bases from which to
launch gorilla-tracking safaris through
its tropical rainforest, also seeking out
bongos and forest elephants in its
swampy bais (forest clearings). In 2025,
Kamba plans to open two new stays in
the even less-visited Nouabalé-Ndoki
National Park – the first accommodation to be built there – with access
available only on foot or by boat.

Alamy

It’s fair to say that infinitely more
people have heard Gioachino Rossini’s William Tell overture than ever
saw the opera it introduces – US
TV series The Lone Ranger has a lot to
answer for. One place where perhaps
the reverse is true is the seaside town
of Pesaro, Rossini’s birthplace in 1792
and the Italian Capital of Culture for
2024. To celebrate, the annual opera

festival (Aug) – during which works
by the town’s favourite son, along
with the best of his contemporaries,
are performed in the magnificent
Teatro Rossini – will be pulling out
all the stops, including a revival of the
composer’s most famous work, The
Barber of Seville. In between shows,
drop by his birthplace, Casa Rossini,
and the immersive National Rossini
Museum. Then roam the city’s alluring Adriatic shores and turquoise
bays – a breezy contrast to the city’s
medieval sights and cathedral, with its
striking Romanesque facade.

Capital ideas
(clockwise from
top left) The
Renaissance-era
Palazzo Ducale
stands in the
centre of Pesaro,
the Italian Capital
of Culture 2024;
the magnificent
Château Frontenac, looming over
downtown Québec
City, was built
in the late 19th
century by the
Canadian Pacific
Railway company
as part of a plan
to attract tourists;
barely 1,000
visitors a year
get the chance
to track western
lowland gorillas in
Odzala-Kokoua NP
in the Republic
of Congo

164 February/March 2024

18

Québec, Canada

Why go? Enjoy music, art
and winter fun in Canada’s
epicentre of Francophone cool

If you’ve ever wanted to feel the spray
of chipped ice brushing your cheeks
during a canoe race across a frozen
lake, or to submerge yourself in a snow

bath, now is the time to head to Québec.
The annual Winter Carnival that enlivens Québec City in late January and
February is bigger than ever, celebrating its 70th anniversary. Combine with
a trip to Montréal, whose own winter
festival of lights will pull out all the
stops for its 25th anniversary. That
city is fast becoming Canada’s answer

to Portland, thanks to long-running
events such as MUTEK (Aug) – the
music and digital arts festival also marking its 25th edition – plus the Parisian
vibes of Quartier Latin and the boho
buzz of the Plateau and Mile End
districts. Explore deeper to find a slew
of new museums, plus vibrant restaurant and LGBTQ+ scenes.
⊲

2024
List
cabins en route. Keep your eyes and
ears peeled for chimps chattering
raucously up in the forest canopy.

20

San Diego,
USA/Tijuana,
Mexico

Why go? A year of celebrating art and
design that (literally) pushes the borders

Why go? Explore chimpbustling forests and tea
plantations on a brand-new trail
Guided day treks to meet the mountain gorillas of Rwanda’s northern
highlands tend to dominate travel
agendas here. Far rarer are multi-day
hikes into the orchid-strewn foliage of
Nyungwe Forest National Park in the
south-west, so we’re especially excited
about the launch of the new Cyinzobe
Trail.This three-day guided hike traverses a park that’s home to numerous primate species, of which the
chimpanzee is king. Setting out from
Uwinka Visitor Centre, tramp 25km
through jungle, swampland and tea
plantations to Gisakura Park Headquarters, overnighting in wooden

Wild encounters
(clockwise from
top left) Some
500 chimps live in
Rwanda’s Nyungwe
Forest National
Park; South Africa
celebrates 30 years
of democracy in
2024 – a time to
remember the
people who made
it happen, notably
Nelson Mandela;
Sungnyemun, one
of the original four
gates of Seoul’s
Fortress Wall, is
among Korea’s
National Treasures;
San Diego’s Balboa
Park encompasses
the epitome of the
Spanish Revival
architecture
that swept the
west coast of the
USA in the early
20th century

166 February/March 2024

21

South Africa

Why go? Celebrate
three decades of freedom
by exploring the story of an icon

This is a special year in South African
history. Freedom Day (27 April) will
mark 30 years since the end of apartheid and the birth of real democracy
in the country – a time for both locals
and visitors to reflect on that troubled
past and its resolution. One of the
preludes to that momentous change
was the release of the late activist
Nelson Mandela in 1990. There are
few better ways to explore the history
of modern South Africa than by
tracing the former president’s story
(see p68), from the Nelson Mandela
Museum in Mthatha and his home
in Soweto to the site where he was
captured at Howick in KwaZuluNatal and Robben Island, where he
was incarcerated for 18 years. It’s a
reminder of just how far this country
has come in three short decades.

Alamy

19

Rwanda

More than 100,000 people commute
across the USA–Mexico border daily
between San Diego and Tijuana.
These are two cities with much in
common – and in 2024 both take
centre stage as the joint World Design
Capital (WDC). In April, street entertainment, concerts, workshops, exhibitions and open houses will mark
this highpoint in the arts calendar
during the WDC Design Festival. But
to enjoy a taster of San Diego’s rich
culture at any time, head to museumfilled Balboa Park to admire Spanish
Revival architecture that’s among the
many joys of the city. And you need
only stroll Tijuana’s historic centre
to see how entangled the two cities
are. Its murky past as a cross-border
gambling hub in the 1930s brought
the same West Coast style of architecture to downtown, where a bustling
arts scene now graces the passages off
Avenida Revolución.

22

South Korea

Why go? Get a taste of
K-Culture (and everything
else Korean) where it all started

The Korean Wave is nothing new. It’s
been washing over Europe since BTS
first dropped a mic and K-pop swept all

before it. Now BLACKPINK are MBEs
and Squid Game is the most-watched
show ever on Netflix, it’s time to visit
K-Culture ground zero. Tour operators
are even catching on – Contiki is launching its first K-Wave tour in 2024 – but
Korea is more than just pop music and
TV. There’s plenty more to discover

here, from the cherry blossom festivals
of Gyeongju and Jinhae in late March to
autumn’s Muju Firefly Festival, not to
mention the growing number of temples
offering stays. In the north, Seoul has
the palaces and museums; in the south,
Busan has the beaches and markets – and
in between you’ll find culture galore. ⊲

2024
List

23

Tainan, Taiwan

Why go? Discover
old-world Taiwan just
as its 400th anniversary kicks into gear

The heritage of Taiwan’s oldest city
is pretty much unmatched on the
island. Traditional culture continues
to thrive in Tainan, notably in temples
where jiaobei (moon blocks) are still
cast in front of the statues of deities
to seek divine guidance, just as they
were when the city was founded 400
years ago. To mark this anniversary,

24

Valencia, Spain

Why go? To stroll
a European city that’s
green in every sense of the word

ellated medieval walls – or indeed
wandered any of Valencia’s swathes
of parkland, then the award of European Green Capital 2024 comes as no
surprise. The city is currently expanding its green space with the aim of
becoming climate neutral by 2030. It’s
a philosophy that influences even the
dining scene, its reputation built on

Old gold
(top to bottom)
Fort Provintia, now
called Chihkan
Tower, was built in
Tainan in the 17th
century during the
Dutch colonisation
of Taiwan; greenery swathes much
of Valencia, even
its historic centre

seasonal produce from urban gardens
and the surrounding fields of the
fertile Huerta area. Huge strides are
also currently being made in improving accessibility in public transport
and beaches, and in expanding the
cycle network. It’s all part of making
Valencia one of Europe’s greatest
cities to explore on two feet.
⊲

Alamy; VisitValencia

If you’ve ever ambled through the
9km-long Turia Gardens, past
16th-century bridges and the Torres
de Serranos – survivors of the cren-

Taiwan’s Lantern Festival (Feb–Mar)
comes to Tainan for the first time in
16 years, sparking a riot of fireworks,
spitting firecrackers and glowing
lanterns. Events will likely spill over
into the boat parks and canals of
historic Anping district, where a 17thcentury fort – one of two in the city
built by the Dutch – recalls a time
when Tainan was one of East Asia’s
most important trading hubs. For
just a taste of old Taiwan, take a stroll
down Shennong Street, an old meeting point for the city’s merchants.

168 February/March 2024

 

  

 
 
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Texas, USA
The total eclipse sweeping across
North America on 8 April will be celebrated all over the continent, but one
of the biggest events will – of course –
be in Texas. Specifically in Burnet, just
outside Austin, which hosts the Texas
Eclipse Festival (5–9 Apr) with music,
art and speakers exploring the science
of the cosmos.

Germany
The 300th birthday of German philosopher Immanuel Kant (22 Apr) is
being marked with a major exhibition
at Bonn’s Bundeskunsthalle (Kant:
Unresolved Issues; until 17 Mar) looking at his contribution to the Enlightenment. A new museum in Lüneburg
dedicated to his life and work is scheduled to open this year, too.

Northern Ireland
The new Peacemakers Museum in
the Bogside district of Derry-Londonderry, a community heritage site
exploring the turbulent history of the
Troubles through the stories of local
people, is due to open in late Spring.

Shots

New trails, inaugural events,
museum openings and important
anniversaries – here are our hot
tips for your 2024 calendar

Spring
Dominica
This year sees the launch of one of
the world’s longest cable-car rides in
Dominica, whisking passengers 6.6km
from the Roseau Valley up to the
steaming waters of the Boiling Lake,
a gigantic flooded fumarole in Morne
Trois Pitons National Park. It’s a thrilling intro to a nature-packed island.

Khiva, Uzbekistan
In March, the Silk Road city of Khiva
dons the mantle of 2024 Tourist Capital of the Islamic World. It’s a great
time to visit this storied city, not least
because it’ll be linked to Bukhara and
wider Uzbekistan by high-speed trains
this year. Look out, too, for dance and
food festivals in coming months.

Georgia
Spring is a fine time to discover the
eclectic architecture, historic wine

170 February/March 2024

culture and ornately decorated bathhouses of Tbilisi, as Georgian Airways
restarts direct flights between London
Gatwick and Georgia’s capital following a hiatus caused by the pandemic.

Malta
Between March and May, the inaugural Malta Biennale showcases contemporary art, with the Grand Master’s
Palace (newly reopened following
an ambitious five-year restoration
project) in Valletta serving as the main
venue. Exhibitions will grace historic
sites across the islands, offering ample
reasons to explore further.

Brno, Czechia
From March, visitors to Brno’s Žlutý
kopec neighbourhood can again
wander its vast subterranean water
tanks – breathtaking ‘underground
cathedrals’ reopened after renovation.
Combine with a descent to the macabre ossuary beneath St Jacob’s Square.

Ancient splendour
(this page; top
to bottom)
In centuries past,
trade caravans
crossing Uzbekistan rested at the
oasis of Khiva,
whose walled inner
town, the Itchan
Kala, is now a
spectacular World
Heritage site; the
glories of ancient
Egypt – such
as this colossal
statue of Pharaoh
Ramesses II – will
be displayed at
Cairo’s new Grand
Egyptian Museum

Summer
Cairo, Egypt
Following a series of false alarms,
Cairo’s vast, long-awaited Grand
Egyptian Museum looks set to open
by mid-2024, offering the chance to
admire all of the glittering treasures
from Tutankhamun’s tomb, among
countless other ancient artefacts.

Madagascar
The midsummer launch of the luxury
Namoroka Tsingy Exploration Camp
in Namoroka National Park opens up
a formerly little-visited, isolated part

2024
List
of the island home to diverse lemurs
and the forests of extraordinary karst
pinnacles known as tsingy.

Winter
Colombia

Newfoundland &
Labrador, Canada
WestJet launches direct seasonal flights
from London Gatwick to provincial
capital St John’s (May–Oct) in time
to catch the Iceberg Festival (Jun) in
St Anthony. Spot giant ’bergs drifting
down from the Arctic and enjoy whalewatching, live music, puffin tours,
Viking feasts and more.

Hokkaido, Japan
Japan’s newest long-distance walk,
the 370km Hokkaido East Trail,
is set to open in time for a summer
adventure. The route snakes through
Akan-Mashu, Kushiro-Shitsugen and
Shiretoko national parks, across a wild
region spanning marshlands, volcanoes and primeval forest.

Normandy, France
A host of events commemorate the
80th anniversary of the D-Day landings on 6 June, along the coastline
where Allied troops stormed the
beaches during the Second World
War. Make time to visit the renovated
D-Day Museum at Arromanchesles-Bains, which opened last year.

Lucca, Italy
Concerts at venues across the world,
from Abu Dhabi to Berlin, will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the
death of Italian composer Giacomo
Puccini. Perhaps the most striking event is this year’s edition of the
Puccini Festival (Jul–Sep) in his hometown, Lucca, where a series of his most
famous operas will be performed in
the Gran Teatro open-air auditorium.

ner will be marked in his hometown
of Linz by performances throughout
the year. Fans can absorb all 11 of
his symphonies in one cycle for the
first time at this year’s International
Brucknerfest, opening on his birthday
(4 Sep) and running to mid-October.

South Island,
New Zealand
The new 61km Tuatapere Hump
Ridge Track, looping high into Fiordland National Park, is set to become
New Zealand’s 11th Great Walk in
October following major upgrade
work. For a more leisurely experience, drive the Pounamu Pathway
along the west coast between Haast
and Westport, studded with four new
visitor centres. Explore Māori history
through immersive storytelling experiences at these hubs, designed by the
Poutini Ngāi Tahu community with
Wētā Workshop – the effects studio
behind The Lord of the Rings.

Brisbane, Australia
Following the much-anticipated
redevelopment of Queen’s Wharf into
a hot new shopping and dining area
in August, the first edition of Melt
OPEN – a new annual festival celebrating LGBTQ+ art and culture
– premieres in October, providing a
platform for underrepresented voices.

Chords and
carnivores
(this page; top to
bottom) Austrian
composer Anton
Bruckner, whose
200th birthday
is celebrated this
year, was once the
organist at Linz
Cathedral, the twin
towers of which
loom over the old
city; watch for
alligators in the
primal swamps
of Okefenokee
National Wildlife
Refuge, home to
some 15,000 of
these prehistoric
toothy reptiles

The country’s kaleidoscopic story
unfolds on AmaWaterways’ new cruise
between Cartagena and Barranquilla
along the Magdalena River, launching
in November. Voyaging upstream on
waters immortalised in the writings
of Gabriel Garcia Márquez, passengers encounter the Caribbean coast,
colonial history and the stately plazas
and flower-festooned balconies of the
UNESCO-listed city of Mompox.

European railways
The first services run by new sleeper
operator Midnight Trains are due to
launch in late 2024 – probably first
departing Paris for Venice – attempting
to recapture the allure of the golden
age of rail travel with a ‘hotels on
wheels’ concept. Book us a berth!

The Balkans
Bikers: saddle up for the launch of the
Trans Dinarica Cycle Route across
the western Balkans, due by the end
of 2024. Pedal some 2,000km through
eight countries, experiencing Slovenia’s forests and peaks, the rich and
tumultuous histories of, Serbia, North
Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Kosovo, and the glorious coasts of
Albania and Croatia. Expect incredible scenery without the crowds.

Okefenokee,
Georgia, USA
We’ll know by the end of the year if
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge
– a land where ‘swamper’ settlers first
arrived in the 19th century, and encompassing 200km of ancient, alligatorcruised waterways – has made it onto
UNESCO’s World Heritage site.

New South Wales,
Australia
Lace up to hike the 39km Gidjuum
Gulganyi Walk, a new trail launching
this summer traversing the Tweed
Byron hinterland between Jerusalem
National Park and Minyon Falls,
through rare surviving swathes of
ancient Gondwana rainforest.

Autumn
Linz, Austria
The 200th anniversary of the birth
of Austrian composer Anton Bruck-

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 171

Discover the highlights of
Dubrovnik’s cultural heritage
Here’s how to experience the best of Dubrovnik’s rich culture

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
inged by medieval and
Renaissance walls,
Dubrovnik’s Old Town
is a thing of beauty. As
it celebrates 45 years
since being declared a UNESCO
World Heritage site, Dubrovnik
never stops beguiling you with its
captivating culture and architecture.
Against an enchanting backdrop of
the Adriatic Sea and the dramatic
mountains of the Dinaric Alps,
Dubrovnik draws you in with a packed
calendar of festivals and cultural
events throughout the year. Music,
art, theatre, dance – they’re all part
of the rich fabric of one of Croatia’s
most exquisite cities. Here are some
of the ways to discover Dubrovnik’s
cultural soul.

Explore the annual
Dubrovnik Summer Festival

Julien Duval; Dubrovnik Summer Festival Archive

Celebrating 75 years as one of the
most important events on Croatia’s
cultural calendar, the Dubrovnik
Summer Festival returns in 2024 with
an impressive programme showcasing
classical music, theatre, dance, opera,
jazz, film and folklore. The festival
runs for more than six weeks from 10
July to 25 August, giving you plenty of
chances to time your visit to coincide
with this cultural extravaganza.
Because the festival takes place in
numerous venues scattered all around
the city and surrounding region, you
might feel as if you’ve walked into the
largest open-air cultural venue in the
country. In fact, the whole city buzzes
with energy and excitement during
the festival.
It’s this extraordinary variety of
venues that makes the Dubrovnik

Summer Festival stand out. One
of the most popular performance
spaces is the atrium within the
15th-century Rector’s Palace,
where graceful stone arches,
staircases and columns frame
the chamber music ensembles
and their entranced audiences.
Among the highlights of the festival
are the annual performances of
several Shakespeare plays in the
atmospheric surroundings of the
hulking Fort Lovrijenac beside the
city walls. Watch film screenings in
a tiny open-air cinema surrounded
by 16th-century townhouses in the
heart of the Old Town. Then there’s
the open-air stage in the ruins of the
monastery on the island of Lokrum, a
15-minute boat ride from the old port.
A festival this prestigious attracts
international stars as well as
performers from Croatia and its
neighbouring countries. András
Schiff and Gregory Porter were just
two of the big attractions of the 2023
festival, and the actors who have
played Hamlet in Fort Lovrijenac – an
integral part of the festival – over
the decades have included Benedict
Cumberbatch, Daniel Day-Lewis and
Derek Jacobi.

To plan your cultural visit to Dubrovnik, go to: www.tzdubrovnik.hr

Paving the way
(clockwise from left
page) Dubrovnik’s
honey-hued Old
Town overlooks the
glistening Adriatic
Sea; the city’s Franciscan Church and
Monastery is home
to a 14th-century
cloister; enjoy a
piano recital in
the spectacular
Rector’s Palace
Atrium

Learn about the Libertas flag
and anthem
During the opening of the Dubrovnik
Summer Festival, the first thing you’ll
see is a ceremonial raising of the
red and white Libertas flag, while
the choir sings the Libertas anthem,
Hymn to Freedom. It’s one of the
most stirring parts of the festival,
and harks back to a profound part of
Dubrovnik’s history and culture.
Dubrovnik became the Republic
of Ragusa in the 14th century and
managed to keep its independence
for centuries – until the arrival of
Napoleon, who dissolved the republic
in 1808. Dubrovnik’s strong and
powerful spirit was matched by clever
diplomacy to keep its enemies and
occupiers at arm’s length – helped
in part, no doubt, by the massive
fortifications ringing the city.
The sense of freedom and
independence runs deeply in
Dubrovnik’s veins, which you’ll see
at the entrance to Fort Lovrijenac.
Here you’ll spot an inscription of the
city’s motto in Latin that reads: ‘Non
bene pro toto libertas venditur auro.’
‘Freedom is not to be sold for all the
gold’ is the English translation, and
it’s this freedom – libertas – that’s

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 173

of Momad highlights the vivid works
of three 20th-century Dubrovnik
artists, Ivo Dulčić, Antun Masle and
Đuro Pulitika. While you’re visiting
Momad, pop into the nearby Lazareti,
built in the 17th century to quarantine
visitors to Dubrovnik. Nowadays, it’s
a vibrant creative hub that is home to
art workshops, a changing roster of
exhibitions and lectures, as well as
crafts workshops and live music.
New Zealand photojournalist
Wade Goddard has been drawing
visitors to his War Photo Limited
gallery in the Old Town for more than
20 years. His experience chronicling
the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s led
him to set up this compelling gallery
of photojournalism, and it’s since
become one of Dubrovnik’s
must-see sights.
Discover another side of the
Rector’s Palace by visiting its art
collection. You’ll find more than 300
works of art from the 15th to the 19th
centuries by Croatian artists as well
as Italian Old Masters housed within
this splendid building. Then wander
the marble alleyways of the Old Town
and stumble across several small
galleries, including the Romana Art
Gallery run by local artist Romana
Milutin Fabris, and arty scenes of
Dubrovnik at Art Gallery Talir.

Get inspired at the
many art galleries
For a relatively small city, Dubrovnik
squeezes in some excellent art
galleries and exhibitions. Walk
outside the Ploče Gate and you come
to the handsome 1930s mansion
that houses the Museum of Modern

174 February/March 2024

State of the art
(this page; top to
bottom) Admire
the unique experience of an opera
gala in front of
the Church of St
Blaise; the Adriatic
Sea’s crystalline
waters surround
Dubrovnik’s Old
Town; marvel at
artwork like The
New Ring by Vlaho
Bukovac at the
Franciscan Monastery Museum

Art Dubrovnik (Momad). Behind its
cream-coloured Neo-Gothic façade
are nine exhibition rooms showcasing
Croatian and international Modern
and contemporary art, as well as
temporary shows. Look out for the
artworks by Cavtat painter Vlaho
Bukovac and take in wonderful
Adriatic views from the gallery’s
broad terraces.
If you’re walking the city walls
– which is a must-do on a visit to
Dubrovnik – you’ll see the Dulčić
Masle Pulitika Gallery. This offshoot

Experience the Dubrovnik
Symphony Orchestra
For about a century, the Dubrovnik
Symphony Orchestra has been
delighting audiences not just in
Croatia but around the world too,
carrying on a musical tradition dating
back to the Republic of Ragusa. It’s
had various guises over the decades
– Dubrovnik Philharmonic Orchestra,
Dubrovnik Festival Orchestra, for
example – but one thing hasn’t
changed: its place in the musical
heart of the city.
The orchestra has a varied
programme throughout the year,
with numerous musical festivals
that are worth putting in your diary.
Find a new soundtrack to spring
during April and May when the
DSO puts on the Dubrovnik Musical
Spring and concerts are held in the
Rector’s Palace Atrium as well as the
Franciscan church. Come in July and
August and you can feel the magic of
the Dubrovnik Summer Festival and
watch the orchestra perform under
sultry Dalmatian skies.

To plan your cultural visit to Dubrovnik, go to: www.tzdubrovnik.hr

Alamy; Dubrovnik Summer Festival Archive; Julien Duval

a driving force. In fact, Ragusa was
among the first European republics to
banish slavery – as far back as 1416,
more than 400 years before Britain
and its colonies followed suit.
The Libertas flag flutters all
throughout the festival in various
places around the city, including the
Minčeta Fortress in the city walls.
If you wander through the morning
market in Gundulić Square, you’ll see
a statue dedicated to Ivan Gundulić.
This 17th-century Ragusan was one
of Croatia’s greatest poets and
dramatists – and also wrote the lyrics
to the Hymn to Freedom that echoes
throughout the Old Town as everyone
sings, “Oh dearest, oh sweetest, oh
beautiful liberty”.

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
The music doesn’t stop there – the
season carries on into late August
and until the middle of September
with the Late Summer Music Festival
Dubrovnik, when chamber concerts
featuring the DSO String Quartet
and the Brass and Percussion Septet
perform as well as the full orchestra.
If you’re visiting in mid-September,
you can catch the Stradun Classic
Chamber Music Festival, with
concerts taking place throughout
the week in the Rector’s Palace. This
venerable building is the atmospheric
setting once again for the Autumn
Music Variety festival, which runs
throughout October.
When the Dubrovnik Winter
Festival arrives in December, you can
watch the DSO star in the Dubrovnik
Christmas Concert held in the
auditorium of the Valamar Lacroma
Dubrovnik Hotel. There’s also
another Christmas concert held in the
beautiful interior of the Franciscan

Celebrating
heritage
(this page; clockwise from top)
Be mesmerised
by the Chamber Orchestra
at the Rector’s
Palace Atrium;
Dubrovnik’s Old
Town is celebrating its 45th anniversary of having
been declared a
UNESCO World
Heritage Site
in 2024

Monastery before one of the climaxes
of the Winter Festival: a New Year’s
Day concert that fills the Stradun, the
Old Town’s main thoroughfare.

Celebrate at the
local festivals
The people of Dubrovnik know how
to make the most of the city’s rich
cultural heritage, especially during
its many festivals held throughout
the year. The city’s patron saint is
St Blaise, and his birthday in early
February is celebrated in colourful
style – as it has been for more than
1,000 years. It’s even been added to
UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural
Heritage. It kicks off on Candlemas
(2 February) with the symbolic
release of white doves in front of the
Church of St Blaise. On 3 February,
the saint’s birthday is marked by
lively processions and much feasting
– especially plates piled high with
šporki makaruli, a deliciously rich

beef pasta dish that warms up a
crisp February day.
Another notable spectacle worth
experiencing is the Linđo Ensemble,
which makes regular appearances
during Dubrovnik events such as
the Winter Festival. This renowned
folklore ensemble shows off
Croatia’s folk-dance traditions, and
its musical performances of Croatian
klapa (a cappella) singing are
captivating to hear.
Dubrovnik gets into the carnival
spirit every February with four days
of festivities, and its Winter Festival,
which runs from early December to 6
January, features an Advent market
and parties as well as a massive
New Year’s Eve bash. If you’re in
Dubrovnik in late January, join the fun
of the Night of the Museums, when
museums and galleries open their
doors for free from 6pm to 1am.
Dubrovnik’s season shows little
sign of winding down in October,
when the weather is still wonderfully
pleasant and the Good Food Festival
takes over the Stradun with food
stalls, wine tasting and a giant
communal lunch. It’s also the month
for the Dubrovnik Film Festival, which
draws children and young people
from around the Mediterranean and
inspires them to enter the world
of filmmaking.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 175

READER TRAVEL AWARDS

More than 91,000 of you voted for the places
that most inspire your future travels.
These are your dream destinations…

TRAVEL HOT LIST 2024

Australia
With the FIFA Women’s World Cup,
WorldPride and the inaugural SXSW
Sydney all thrilling Australia last
year, it’s hardly surprising that you’re
gazing longingly Down Under. The
island continent is having a moment,
culturally speaking: the revamped West
Bay Power Station turbine hall will
provide a spectacular new arts venue
for the 2024 Biennale of Sydney, while
Brisbane’s riverfront is being reimagined as the city gears up to host the
2032 Olympics.
More significant, though, has been
the increased focus on helping visitors learn more about Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander cultures. Nearly
20,000 sq km of land was returned
to Aboriginal peoples in Queensland,
Western Australia and Northern
Territory in 2022. And the launch of
the new Discover Aboriginal Experiences website collects together more
than 160 tours led by Indigenous
guides, enabling more travellers to
experience truly authentic Australia.
We’ve been similarly enthused
by positive news surrounding the
conservation of the Great Barrier
Reef. Tourism providers are helping
scientists monitor coral health, allowing travellers to play our part in saving
the world’s largest coral reef system.
In silver place, Japan is a perennial
favourite among Wanderlust readers.
Having reopened to all travellers only
in late 2022, we can see why you’re
so eager to return. And we’re clearly
not alone in our love of the USA, in
bronze. It’s not just the vast national
parks that enthral, showcasing spectacular natural wonders, but also its
vibrant history, museums and galleries to rival any in Europe.

Alamy; AWL

Your top ten favourites
Gold

Australia

Silver

Japan

Bronze

USA

4th

Canada

5th

Costa Rica

6th

South Korea

7th

South Africa

8th

Brazil

9

th

10th

New Zealand
Chile

Croatia
It’s a shore thing
(left) Over 10
million years of
coastal erosion
created Victoria’s
Twelve Apostles,
among the most
dramatic natural
marvels along
Australia’s Great
Ocean Road;
(above) Trogir’s
medieval island
heart is a reminder
that there’s plenty
more to discover
along Croatia’s
Adriatic Coast
beyond Dubrovnik

Having seen Dubrovnik voted top
city in last year’s awards, it was only
a matter of time before its country
followed suit. Increasingly, travellers
are looking beyond that storied citadel, where more than a million visitors
throng its marble streets each year.
A new road, via the quiet Pelješac
Peninsula, now circumvents the strip
of coastal Bosnia & Herzegovina that
divides Dubrovnik from the rest of
Croatia, making for a spectacular
drive along the Dalmatian Coast.
There is also growing awareness of
Croatian Istria, which is now drawing more visitors north-west to the
Byzantine walls of Poreč, end point
of the Parenzana Trail. Converted
from an old narrow-gauge railway
line, this route offers a great way
to explore the peninsula away from
busy ports such as Rovinj.
Indeed, there are many escapes to
be found in Croatia – as you well know,
having voted Hvar fourth in this year’s
Most Desirable European Islands
category. Isles such as Korčula, with
its UNESCO-listed town, offer far

more than pretty shorelines, providing a glimpse into the region’s medieval history, while the likes of capital
Zagreb and nearby Plitvice National
Park are evergreen draws.
Spain, in silver spot, has benefited
from the expansion of its high-speed
rail network that makes exploring its
hinterlands more enticing; a highspeed Madrid–Paris route could
open in 2024, too. Meanwhile, it’s no
surprise that Italy takes bronze, with
Matera, Puglia and Sicily stealing the
limelight in TV and films last year. ⊲

Your top ten favourites
Gold

Croatia

Silver

Spain

Bronze

Italy

th

4

Greece

5th

France

6th

Germany

7th

Slovenia

8th

Iceland

9th

Scotland

10th

Austria

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 177

The Greek Islands
It shocks no one to see the Greek
Islands top your list.You could spend
years happily exploring these diverse
delights, wandering Chios’ medieval
Mastichochoria (mastic villages), say,
or hiking the great gorges of Crete.
But what’s caught our eye in recent
times are the great steps being taken
towards sustainability.
We’ve seen it not just on lesser-known islands such as Spetses and
Hydra, which have banished private
cars. Across the country, the Pick the
Alien project is pushing for invasive
species to be added to menus to help
safeguard under-threat native marine
life. Even on Kos, still perhaps better
known for its beaches, an island-wide
cycling network is encouraging people
to venture away from the busy shoreline and discover resurrected ghost
towns and castle ruins inland.
Indeed, the ways we explore the
islands are evolving. Sailing trips offer
a slower, more sustainable way of
exploring in the off-season – and what
better season to visit historic Rhodes
and Corfu, which were ravaged by

178 February/March 2024

wildfires last year. Travelling outside
the busiest times is a great way to
support local businesses that lost out
on vital summer income.
In silver position, NouvelleAquitaine in south-west France
is a rising star, encompassing
a vast and varied area as well as incredible gastronomy, from the wines of
Bordeaux to the pintxos of the Basque
country. And in bronze, Spain’s Andalucía is a perennial reader pick, with its
Moorish heritage, whitewashed hilltop
villages and flamenco dance.

Your top ten favourites
Gold

The Greek Islands

Silver

Nouvelle-Aquitaine

Bronze

Andalucía

4th

Scottish Highlands

5th

Azores

6th

Bern region

7th

Normandy

8th

Catalonia

9th

Provence-Côte d’Azur

10th

Salzburgerland

We share your enthusiasm for Canada’s west-coast jewel. Even by North
American standards, British Columbia
(BC) is that bit larger than life, blessed
with cartoonishly wide expanses
of forest, the sawtooth peaks of the
Canadian Rockies and the humpbackcruised waters of the Johnstone Strait.
In recent years, more opportunities to engage with BC’s Indigenous
communities have emerged, from
cultural tours of the Ancient Forest,
co-managed by the Lheidli T’enneh,
to new longhouse cabins on the Haida
Gwaii coast, where the focus is increasingly on the history of the islands’ First
Nations people. The Tofino Wilderness Resort on Vancouver Island is also
now under Ahousaht ownership, and
you can join Indigenous-run eco-tours
of that people’s territorial lands.
There are countless more adventures to experience here, of course,
among them spotting white ‘spirit

Alamy

British
Columbia,
Canada

TRAVEL HOT LIST 2024
bears’ in the Great Bear Rainforest,
kayaking the Broken Group Islands
of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve,
and braving the world’s longest unsupported gondola ride between Whistler
and Blackcomb peaks. There really is
nowhere quite like BC.
Your silver pick isn’t short of big
moments, either: wildlife-watching
favourite the Galápagos Islands
continues riding high. A rising star,
however, is California, which takes
bronze. USA’s ‘Golden State’ is so
packed with sights that it’s hard to
know where to begin. Alluring winelands, world-class museums, goldrush towns, a dramatic coastline and
both mountain and desert wildernesses make it a worthy destination.

Your top ten favourites
Gold

British Columbia

Silver

The Galápagos Islands

Bronze

California

4

New South Wales

5th

Florida

th

6th

Queensland

7th

Deep South USA

8th

South Australia

9th

AlUla

10th

Sarawak

Seville, Spain
Water worlds
(clockwise from far
left) With its tiny
churches and mastic villages, Chios
is the perfect slow
escape; Seville’s
bid to become
more sustainable
involves luring
visitors away from
the busy streets of
its historic centre,
tempting them
onto the water or
onto two wheels;
Joffre Lakes
Provincial Park
is just one wild
adventure among
thousands across
British Columbia

With Andalucía also taking bronze in
the Most Desirable Region category,
Spain’s south is riding high. Regional
capital Seville certainly encapsulates
much of what makes this area special
historically, from the Mudéjar architecture of the Alcázar to neighbourhood
flamenco bars – but recent innovations
are the aspects really exciting us.
Seville’s stint as a European Capital of Smart Tourism in 2023 reflects
its efforts to become climate neutral
by 2030, and to limit the impact of
rising tourism. Eco-friendly trams and
car-free areas lighten the load on its
Casco Antiguo (Old Town), while bike
tours using the excellent cycle network
help spread out the crowds. And new
attractions are now enticing travellers across the Guadalquivir River to
less-visited districts such as Triana.
There remain few cities that balance
modernity and tradition as well as
Seville.When the Feria de Abril (April
Fair) erupts in spring, and decorated
carriages rattle along the streets, you’re
catapulted back in time. Coupled
with its vast array of old convents and

monasteries-turned-museums, this
storied city is finding clever new ways
to keep its history intact and relevant.
Silver winner Bordeaux cemented
its status as the epicentre of one of
France’s great wine areas with the
opening of the grand Cité du Vin
museum, followed by the regeneration of old canalside barracks into a
hip eco-zone. Bronze pick Lisbon is
an old favourite among readers for
its vibrant culture and heritage, fado
bars, Moorish districts and astonishing
palaces and monasteries.
⊲

Your top ten favourites
Gold

Seville

Silver

Bordeaux

Bronze

Lisbon

4

Dubrovnik

5th

Madrid

th

6th

Copenhagen

7th

Tallinn

8th

Tbilisi

9th

Ljubljana

10th

Istanbul

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 179

Cape Town, South Africa
Wanderlust readers are far from alone
in admiring South Africa’s oldest city
and joint capital. It regularly tops
‘best places to live’ polls, in part for its
incredible setting flanked by wilderness, winelands, wildlife-rich seas,
beaches and mountains. From the
historic old core to chic Camps Bay
beneath the Twelve Apostles, there’s
no shortage of enticing districts.
It’s hard to begrudge Cape Town its
success either. During the pandemic
it lost some £9.7 million daily in tourist income, yet seems to have revitalised rapidly, especially along the busy
quaysides of the V&A Waterfront. The
city’s dining scene and wine scenes
are also thriving – and no wonder:
it’s surrounded by the six viticulture
regions of the Western Cape, encompassing hundreds of wineries.
Between Table Mountain and the
penguin-bustling sands of Boulders
Beach, the mix of urban perks and
doorstep wilderness makes Cape
Town unlike anywhere else. But
there’s history here, too: visit Robben
Island, where Nelson Mandela was
incarcerated for 18 years, and the
old rainbow-hued Cape Malay

neighbourhood of Bo-Kaap for
reminders that there are more important stories here than just that of the
city’s recent rejuvenation.
In silver place, Singapore has
lately been at the vanguard of cities
weaving greenery into its urban
tapestry, from hotels overflowing
with plant life to scattered fragments
of preserved old-growth rainforest.
Taking bronze spot is the everpopular Tokyo, where palaces and
traditional gardens stand serenely
amid the hyper-hustle of one of the
world’s most electrifying, intriguing
and fast-changing megacities.

Your top ten favourites
Gold

Cape Town

Silver

Singapore

Bronze

Tokyo

4

Vancouver

5th

New Orleans

6th

Quito

7th

Sydney

th

8

th

Cartagena

9th

Perth

10th

Chicago

The Emerald Isle stole the limelight in
2023, so we can see why you’re eager to
explore. Central to this was the Oscar
success of The Banshees of Inisherin,
which showcased the desolate beauty
of the isles off the Republic’s west coast
– accessible to those following the Wild
Atlantic Way. Meanwhile, over on the
east coast, we’re excited about the new
Boyne Valley National Park coming
to County Meath in 2024, featuring ancient passage tombs, standing
stones and burial mounds.
Northern Ireland hasn’t escaped
attention, of course. The renovated
Titanic Belfast museum reopened
last year, with immersive installations
transporting visitors back to 1912.
Nearby, taste Ireland’s spirited heritage at new Titanic Distillers in the
historic Pumphouse, overlooking the
docks where the ill-fated ship was built.
That’s a good spot to wet your
whistle for the Northern Ireland Spirits Trail, mapping a route between

180 February/March 2024

Alamy; Shutterstock

Ireland

TRAVEL HOT LIST 2024

Cuba
Having celebrated the 70th anniversary of the start of the Cuban Revolution in 2023, it’s little wonder this
island is in your thoughts. In 2016,
when rules restricting visits by US
citizens were eased, many predicted
a deluge of tourists. Accommodation
upgrades were made in anticipation,
but the hordes never arrived, and now
travellers are reaping the benefits.
Visitors no longer rely on state-run
hotels. Instead, a slew of upmarket
branded and boutique stays have
opened – notably in Havana, where
once-jaded colonial buildings are
being revamped – while eco-ranches
and coastal escapes outside the capital are bringing the island’s rural
corners to life. Overall, though, Cuba
remains much as it was before: lush,
enigmatic and likeably lo-fi.
Public transport is as mercurial as
ever, but a boom in e-bike tours and
horseriding escapes in the Viñales
Valley and elsewhere provide energetic
access to the plantations and rugged
reserves of the wilder west. You could

ten family-run distilleries – including
the nation’s first craft-gin producer
at Rademon Estate. Combine with a
visit to the new UNESCO MourneGullion-Strangford Geopark, its
striking landscapes sculpted across
400 million years.
In silver spot is Malta, where
500-year-old monasteries in Valletta
and Mdina have started inviting in
visitors for the first time. Meanwhile,
Sicily takes bronze after its starring
role in the second season of TV’s The
White Lotus showed off the beaches
of Taormina – just one of the island’s
many captivating locations.

Your top ten favourites
Gold

Ireland

Silver

Malta

Bronze

Sicily

4

Hvar

5th

Crete

6th

Jersey

7th

Menorca

8

Madeira

th

th

9th

Gran Canaria

10th

Isle of Skye

also steam into the island’s history
thanks to resurrected railway lines to
old sugar mills. Whether sailing the
pristine Canarreos archipelago or birdwatching in Las Terrazas, new ways of
exploring Cuba are forever emerging.
Taking silver is Taiwan, an island
embraced particularly by cyclists in
recent years; it’s great to see its mix
of adventure, gastronomy and culture
recognised. Meanwhile, bronze goes
to Tobago, the crown jewel of which
remains its lush, bird-rich rainforest
reserve, established in 1776 – one of
the world’s oldest protected areas. ⊲
Gold

Cuba

Silver

Taiwan

Bronze

Tobago

4th

Palawan

5th

Tasmania

6th

Mauritius

7

Langkawi

th

8th

Sri Lanka

9th

Saint Helena

10th

Barbados

Go west!
(clockwise from far
left) The distinctive form of Table
Mountain looming
over Cape Town is
a reminder that the
wild landscapes
of South Africa’s
Western Cape start
right at the edge
of the city; the
beaches and isles
of the Republic of
Ireland’s Atlantic
coast were thrust
into the spotlight
last year, thanks to
the Oscar success
of The Banshees of
Inisherin; Havana’s
tuneful street life
proves that the
best things in this
colourful city are
often free

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 181

Always a likely winner of this new category, Costa Rica has set the pace for
sustainability in preserving and showcasing its natural bounty. Today, over
a quarter of its land area is protected
within parks, reserves and refuges
that are home to around half a million
plant and animal species – an astonishing 5% of the world’s biodiversity.
Adventures abound in this compact
jewel: strolling cloud forests in search
of shaggy sloths, say, or exploring the
Osa Peninsula, where jaguars prowl
and howler monkeys bellow across the
forest canopy. On the opposite coast,
meanwhile,Tortuguero National Park
offers the chance to spy endangered
green turtles shuffling ashore to nest.
The way we access and enjoy these
experiences is changing, too, not
least through the rise of sustainable
ecolodges. Stays such as Origins,
perched on a forested ridge in the
north-west, and jungle-set Pacuare
Lodge – where visitors can even raft in

Saudi Arabia
It has been five years since Saudi
opened to all travellers. Back then,
there were hints of what was to
come – but, following the country’s
post-pandemic re-emergence, the
dreams are now substance.
Though many major cultural
projects signalling the kingdom’s
shift towards tourism are ongoing,
there are already tantalising tasters
of what we can expect in future. In
Diriyah, for example, the history
of the first Saudi state is narrated
in evening light shows across the
mud-brick walls of Salwa Palace, and
new museums and restaurants offer
context and attractions beyond its
winding alleys of Hijazi architecture.
Elsewhere, Wanderlust has already
covered in depth the reopening of
Hegra in AlUla – the largest preserved
Nabataean site south of Jordan – as
well as the ongoing restoration work in
Al-Balad, Jeddah’s 7th-century core.
But just as thrilling is a project exploring new ways to discover the Red Sea
coast, lined with pristine coral. And,
though most tour operators currently

182 February/March 2024

follow a similar Riyadh-AlUlaJeddah loop, the hanging village of Al
Habala and the sands of the Empty
Quarter remain tourist terra incognita.
In silver place, Belize boasts
ancient wonders, being studded
with Maya ruins, but also exciting
new ways to encounter its Garifuna
community. Meanwhile, bronze
winner Greenland’s new airports
(due to receive flights in 2024) will
make this wild, ice-capped Arctic
island more accessible to a new wave
of intrepid visitors.

Your top ten favourites
Gold

Saudi Arabia

Silver

Belize

Bronze

Greenland

4th

Armenia

5th

Georgia

6th

Panama

7

th

8th

Azerbaijan
Mongolia

9th

Qatar

10th

Montenegro

Alamy; Shutterstock

Costa Rica

TRAVEL HOT LIST 2024
– bring travellers closer to nature while
reducing their impact.
In silver position is Brazil, another
destination of boundless biodiversity,
from the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests to the Pantanal, the world’s largest
tropical wetland. In the latter, we’re
particularly intrigued by an innovative
project returning rehabilitated jaguars
to the wild. Meanwhile, South Africa
is a more-than-worthy bronze winner,
with its wealth of national parks and
private conservation projects. One
such is the Samara Karoo Reserve, a
pioneering rewilding project aiming
to boost biodiversity in the semi-arid
Great Karoo region.

Your top ten favourites
Gold

Costa Rica

Silver

Brazil

Bronze

South Africa

4th

Canada

5th

Australia

6th

USA

7

Ecuador

th

8th

India

9th

Malaysia

10th

Kenya

Jordan
All about the
anticipation
(clockwise from
far left) You’re not
alone in feeling the
hairs on the back
of your neck stand
up when you lay
eyes on the Nabataean city of Hegra
– it’s one of many
Saudi Arabian sites
now whetting travellers’ appetites;
the red rocks and
sands of Wadi Rum
have starred in
films ranging from
Lawrence of Arabia
to Dune; after decades of deforestation, close to 60%
of Costa Rica is
now covered in
lush forest – and
home to perhaps
900 bird species

Long a Wanderlust reader favourite,
Jordan is also a go-to location for
filmmakers in search of otherworldly
landscapes and historic wonders, so
you can be sure you’re in for a visual
treat here. Visitors and directors alike
are drawn to the Mars-lookalike desert
of Wadi Rum, buoyant Dead Sea and
coral-fringed shores of the Red Sea.
It also has the Middle East’s most
tempting long-distance hike: the
Jordan Trail, snaking over 675km
from Umm Qais in the north to Aqaba
on the Red Sea coast. It really hits
its straps in the later sections: Dana
Biosphere Reserve not only encompasses spectacular parched escarpments and pitch-black skies perfect
for stargazing, but is also a centre for
community tourism. Stay off-grid in
a solar-powered ecolodge and learn
about Bedouin culture.
Whether it’s traversing Petra’s Siq
for your first glimpse of Al-Khazneh
(The Treasury), climbing the battlements of a Crusader-era castle or
splashing through a slot canyon in
Wadi Mujib, it’s not hard to see

why Jordan has fired up your spirit
of adventure.
Peru is a natural pick for silver.
It boasts some of the world’s finest
walks, including the Inca Trail to
Machu Picchu and the Lares Trail
linking remote Andean communities.
And what more is there to say about
bronze winner USA? Here you can
roam some of the greatest national
parks on Earth – vast expanses of
wilderness such as Alaska’s remote
Gates of the Arctic, or the wolfprowled valleys of Yellowstone.
⊲

Your top ten favourites
Gold

Jordan

Silver

Peru

Bronze

USA

4th

Philippines

5th

India

6th

Australia

th

7

New Zealand

8th

Saudi Arabia

9th

South Africa

10th

Chile

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 183










 
















    



 








 

  



  






  



 













 


  
 
 







 
  
 

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TRAVEL HOT LIST 2024

France
The Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, the castles of the Loire Valley,
the abbey-fortress of Mont SaintMichel, the prehistoric cave art of
the Dordogne, the Roman Arena
of Nîmes… the list of world-class
wonders in France is endless, even
before considering the advent of the
Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. But
if the world’s eyes will be on the capital this year, there’s ample reasons to
explore further afield – from the winelands of Burgundy to the UNESCOlisted citadel of Carcassonne.
Just as exciting as the sporting
highs is the 150th anniversary of the
first exhibition of the Impressionists
(see our Hot List 2024), with museums from Paris to Normandy charting the birth of an art movement
that produced some of the greatest
works of the 19th century. Meanwhile, in southern France, the first
major European museum dedicated
to the work of female artists opens
in Mougins in June. The Femmes
Artistes Musée Mougins is just one
step towards redressing the gender

imbalance rampant across many art
galleries in Europe and elsewhere.
Grabbing silver place is Italy, famed
for its rich history – not least in Pesaro,
birthplace of composer Gioachino
Rossini and home to a popular opera
festival, which dons the mantle of Italian Capital of Culture for 2024.Taking
bronze is Japan, another country
with a wealth of culture beyond the
big-name destinations of Tokyo and
Kyoto, from the thatched villages
of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama to
Nara’s UNESCO-listed shrines.

Your top ten favourites
Gold

France

Silver

Italy

Bronze

Japan

4th

Spain

5

th

South Korea

6th

Greece

7th

India

8th

Mexico

9

th

10th

Croatia
Egypt

Open for business
(below) There are
few more recognisable symbols
of French culture
than Paris’s Louvre
museum, which
reopens in March
2024 – in time
for the Olympic
Games – following a six-month
renovation; the
recent success
of Stanley Tucci’s
Searching for Italy
has shone a light
on the country’s
deliciously diverse
food culture

Italy
We all know our farfalle from our orecchiette these days, and now travellers
are increasingly discovering the rich
diversity of Italian food for themselves. Many of us found inspiration
in Stanley Tucci’s TV series Searching
for Italy, which has a wonderful way of
exploring regional connections.
Such geographical variety will
come as no surprise to anyone who
has devoured pizza in the backstreets of Napoli, mopped up pesto
in Genoa or munched chickpea
pancakes in Tuscany – nor will the
fact that Italian cuisine could soon
be recognised by UNESCO. The
truffle fairs of Umbria and marzipancoated cassata cakes savoured
during Sicilian festivities remind us
that there are just so many ways to
combine travel and food here.
Silver winner France is also no
stranger to admiration for its gastronomy, which is already UNESCOlisted. And there is far more to try
here than the heavy Lyonnaise style
of cooking that often dominates
French cuisine. We’re thrilled to
see Morocco taking bronze – we
applaud your recognition of its fluffy
couscous and fruity tagines.
⊲

Your top ten favourites
Gold

Italy

Silver

France

Bronze

Morocco

4

Japan

5th

Greece

6th

USA

7th

India

8
Shutterstock

th

Australia

th

9th

Spain

10th

Peru

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 185








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TRAVEL HOT LIST 2024

Alamy

Germany
It’s perhaps apt that Germany topped
your picks for this inaugural sustainability award. After all, it was the
German Romantic movement of the
late 18th and early 19th centuries
that promoted the idea of protecting
nature, long before the first modern
national park was created.
Today, this ethos is being widely
applied in Germany, from the 10,000
largely wooded hectares of the Black
Forest National Park and the car-free,
climate-neutral island of Juist to
the once-desolate pit country of Lusatia, now being transformed into the
largest artificial lake district in Europe.
In keeping with this approach,
low-impact escapes are everywhere.
You can roam a healing forest in

the Baltic resort of Heringsdorf,
explore the impacts of climate change
on a walk through Düsseldorf, even
kayak for free in Berlin and Hamburg.
Travel providers are set climate goals,
and you’ll find a host of sustainabilityassessed accommodation on the
website germany.travel.
The national rail network, which
aims to be carbon neutral by 2040, has
recently launched the DeutschlandTicket, or D-Ticket. This monthly
pass offers unlimited regional travel
on Deutsche Bahn trains for €49,
making it cheaper than ever to escape
to quiet corners of the country.
In silver position is Costa Rica,
whose green credentials – all that forest
and protected land – we’ve already

lauded (see p180). Lastly, bronze
winner Spain has more Biosphere
Reserves than any other country, and
a wealth of eco-stays and high-speed
rail links changing the way we travel. ⊲

Your top ten favourites
Gold

Germany

Silver

Costa Rica

Bronze

Spain

4th

Switzerland

5

Sweden

th

6th

Finland

7th

Denmark

8th

France

th

9

Scotland

10th

Ecuador

Green and clean
(top) Centuries-old
traditions thrive in
Germany’s Black
Forest region,
making this Biosphere Reserve the
perfect sustainable escape, where
much of what you
buy and eat is
produced locally

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 187

EMBARK ON AN EPIC HIKE ALONG THE

The Alpe-Adria-Trail is one of Europe’s great long-distance hiking routes, and a large
slice of it runs through Slovenia. Here’s everything you need to know before you lace up…
he Alpe-Adria-Trail is the
ultimate in slow travel.
Meandering between the
Alps and the Adriatic, it takes
in three countries – Austria, Slovenia
and Italy – and 750km of spectacularly
green landscapes. But the numbers
alone don’t do the experience justice;
it’s what the Alpe-Adria packs in along
the way that makes it unique, as you
hike epic scenery, explore boundless
culture and sample the best of the
local food and wine scene.

T

While you tread the
Alpe-Adria-Trail, keep
an eye out for its…
Culture
Slovenia has culture in spades, and
you’ll encounter plenty of it on the
Alpe-Adria. Make a stop at Šmartno, a
beautifully preserved medieval town
wrapped by stout walls. It’s instantly

188 February/March 2024

recognisable by its crenellated
church tower, which is visible from
far across the rolling hills of the Brda
wine region. Another typical mountain
village is Drežnica, which has a strong
Shrovetide carnival tradition. There
is also Dobrovo, centred around a
Renaissance castle, and Bovec, where
the Church of the Virgin Mary in Polje is
decorated in magnificent 16th-century
frescoes. At Lipica, you can even visit
the original stud farm of the Lipizzaner
horse breed, founded in 1580.

Emerald hills
(this page; top
to bottom) The
countryside
around Goriška
Brda is lined with
vineyards; the
picturesque hilltopped village of
Goriška Brda

The Soča Valley has modern history
too. It was the front line between
Austria and Italy during the First World
War and is scattered with monuments
and memorials to this conflict. There’s
an excellent museum on this era in
Kobarid, while up on the Kolovrat ridge,
an extensive network of trenches and
bunkers has been carefully restored
to create an open-air museum.
This history extends to the area’s
many beautiful churches, such as the
Russian Chapel on the road to Vršič
Pass, built during the First World War in
memory of the prisoners of war killed
during an avalanche. But perhaps the
most moving of all is the Memorial
Church of the Holy Spirit at Javorca,
near Tolmin, which was erected by an
Austro-Hungarian mountain division. It
is exquisitely decorated, with slender
columns painted in blue and gold, and
has oak panels that open to reveal the
names of the fallen soldiers.

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

Epic views

lies the country’s highest waterfall.
Past the village of Drežnica, the route
winds on through the rolling hills and
vineyards of the Goriška Brda wine
region. By the time you reach the
desiccated karst of the Adriatic coast,
you will have crossed a dizzying array
of landscapes – past waterfalls, caves,
forests, pastures and mountains
loaded with history and legends. All
these stories gradually unfold as you
make your way along the Alpe-Adria.

Map illustration: Scott Jessop; Images: Jošt Gantar; Alan Kosmač; Tomo Jeseničnik

The Slovenian sections of the AlpeAdria-Trail come with no shortage of
jaw-dropping views. The route enters
Slovenia by way of a ridge walk along
the crest of the Karavanke mountains,
which gifts a fine panorama of the
Julian Alps. Further on, you can gaze
over the Martuljek group of peaks
from Srednji vrh, whereas the wetland
area of Zelenci Nature Reserve, just
outside Kranjska Gora, presents
a very different picture entirely.
Beyond the unforgettable sight
of Prisojnik and Razor reflected in
the surface of Lake Jasna, hikers will
encounter sweeping vistas from the
Vršič Pass (1,611m), the highest road
in Slovenia. From thereon, it’s back
down to the rushing whitewater of the
River Soča, which the trail follows for
several days, pit-stopping at the vast
chasm of Soča Gorge.
Hikers will soon encounter
Bovec, wrapped by prominent peaks
including Mounts Kanin, Rombon and
Svinjak, while further down the trail

For more information, visit www.alpe-adria-trail.com/en/the-trail

Wild wanders
fuelled by food
(this page;
top left to right)
The Soča Valley
is veined by
turquoise-tinted
rivers; discover
Slovenia’s finest
restaurant along
the trail, including
the three-Michelinstarred Hiša Franko

Fine food
Slovenia is home to a rich culinary
heritage, and you’ll have plenty of
opportunities to sample it yourself
along the Alpe-Adria-Trail. This
egalitarian route passes traditional inns
and fine-dining venues alike. Indeed,
the country’s only three-Michelinstarred restaurant, Hiša Franko, lies
just off the trail in Kobarid, where it
makes the most of the foraging land
surrounding it, while the two-starred
Milka sits just beside Lake Jasna. Also
look out for Kobarid’s Topli Val, which
specialises in seafood – the coast is
only a short drive away after all.
The great thing about Slovenian
cuisine is its focus on local, seasonal
ingredients. It’s a country whose
dining scene makes fine use of the
abundance of locally grown fruit and
veg, as well as the wild mushrooms
and berries foraged in its forests.
It also makes some great cheeses.
Two stand-outs to taste along the AlpeAdria-Trail are Bovški sir (a sheep’s-milk
cheese from the area around Bovec)
and Tolminc (a cow’s-milk cheese from
the pastures above Tolmin). You should
also try the fermented curd cheese
known as skuta, which is often served
with potatoes (čompe an skuta).
The Soča Valley is famous for its
trout, not to mention frika (potatoes
fried with Tolminc cheese). If you love
pork, you’re also in the right place.
The Kras region has the country’s
best pršut (prosciutto), while Kranj’s
Kranjska klobasa sausage is an
icon. And then there’s wine. Slovenia
produces some outstanding grapes,
and one of the country’s finest growing
regions is Goriška Brda, known in
particular for its delicious Rebula.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 189

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

Claim your free Italy
walking guidebook
For more than two decades, SloWays has been the
expert at exploring Italy on two feet. Now they’re offering
their expertise to Wanderlust readers in the form of a
complimentary copy of their latest guidebook

190 February/March 2024

crayon-coloured houses of the Cinque
Terre region, as well as lesser-known
spots like the Cammino di Oropa in
Italy’s mountainous north. There’s
everything from epic long-distance
routes to shorter secret trails, plus
some of the country’s holiest caminos,
where you’ll be walking alongside
pilgrims and locals alike.
As well as highlighting some of
the country’s finest trails, SloWays’
guide ensures you’re equipped with
all the tools to do so in a way that’s
not only enriching but respectful to
the landscapes and places you tread.
It’s packed with plenty of practical
advice, from the best times to visit to
strategies for exploring more popular
destinations, as well as ways to
ensure your trip is sustainable every
step of the way. This guide finally
brings together SloWays’ years of
walking experience in one place.

HOW TO CLAIM
YOUR A-Z GUIDE
To get your complimentary
copy of SloWays’ An A-Z Guide
to Walking in Italy, simply visit
sloways.eu/italyguide or scan
the QR code (left).

For more information, head to: www.sloways.eu/italyguide

SloWays

T

o really see how majestic
Italy’s landscapes can be,
you need to head out on a
hike. The likes of the snowdusted Dolomites and the handsome
rocky fringes of Puglia’s Salento coast
were almost made to be walked.
What’s more, the experts at SloWays
know how to explore this country on
two feet better than most, as they’ve
been crafting walking holidays across
Italy for more than 20 years.
Now, SloWays has collected that
two decades’ of knowledge into a
comprehensive new book: An A to Z
Guide to Walking in Italy. Even better,
they are kindly making it available
for free to Wanderlust readers.
The guide leaves no stone unturned
when it comes to highlighting Italy’s
best walking routes. It covers trails
in iconic locations, such as weaving
through the craggy fringes and

Alamy

Brush shoulders with
Diola royalty in Senegal,
uncover East Sussex’s
bohemian past, head into
the wilds of Malawi, and
much more…

World Heritage: Salvador da Bahia

194

Indigenous Culture: Senegal

198

Wildlife Encounters: Malawi

200

British Break: East Sussex

202

Wander Quiz

209

Top Guide: Phurba Sherpa

210

Great taste The brightly coloured
clothes of Brazil’s Baiana women
have their roots in the enslaved
Africans who once sold acarajés
(bean patties) on the streets of
Salvador da Bahia to buy their
freedom. Today, this street food is
synonymous with the city; see p194

Explore the Rainbow Nation , from

CAPE TOWN

to beyond

Get to know South Africa on a unique journey with Llama Travel
country of enthralling
wildlife and fascinating
culture, South Africa
draws a vast array of
travellers eager to
experience its blend of safari magic
and sweeping vineyards. And thanks
to Llama Travel’s expertise, you can
choose from a variety of excursions
that uncover the Rainbow Nation’s
many riches. Providing a choice of
standard or superior accommodation
alongside customisable itineraries,
Llama Travel aims to help travellers to
have the best experience possible.
Here are just some of the ways that its
dedicated team can help you discover
this diverse and beautiful nation.

A

192 February/March 2024

GET TO KNOW CULTURAL
CAPE TOWN
With its artisanal markets, diverse
communities and buzzing food scene,
Cape Town provides a fantastic
start to any South African journey.
One landmark that plays a starring
role in the Mother City’s story is
the 1,086m-high Table Mountain
and its namesake national park.
Scaling this massif – via cable car
or a pulse-pumping hike – reveals a
unique fynbos-covered plateau and
sweeping views across the Atlantic.
On a clear day, Robben Island can
be seen from Table Mountain’s summit,
16 km away. Taking a boat trip to this
UNESCO-listed site, where Nelson

Over the rainbow
(this page; above)
Soak up panoramic
views, from sunrise
to sunset, of the
iconic Table Mountain and Twelve
Apostles range in
Cape Town

Mandela was imprisoned, is a powerful
experience. So too, are guided visits
to once-segregated areas like the
pastel-hued Cape Malay Quarter, or
Bo-Kaap, Cape Town’s oldest surviving
residential neighbourhood.
What often surprises people is how
wild the surrounding area can be. A
short jaunt beyond the city introduces
the wildlife of the Cape Peninsula,
where you can see African penguins at
Boulders Beach or cruise to the wellnamed Seal Island, home to a colony of
64,000 Cape fur seals.

EMBARK ON A SOUTH
AFRICAN SAFARI
Going on safari and seeing some

PROMOTIONAL FEATURE
of the Big Five is an eye-opening
and magical experience. With
Llama Travel, the options for wild
encounters are boundless, whether
embarking on a two-day trip to easierto-reach game reserves from Cape
Town or delving further into South
Africa’s more cinematic habitats in
the Kruger.
Gondwana Game Reserve, a 109
sq km park set within a landscape
of native fynbos, is an excellent
choice for first-time safari-goers.
There’s no need to take anti-malarial
tablets before your visit and its freeroaming wildlife – including Cape
mountain zebra, lions and the world’s
southernmost elephant herds – serve
up some spectacular moments. You’d
never guess you were just a 30-minute
drive from the Garden Route.
Those keen to set eyes on a
wider variety of big game should put
the game reserves around Kruger
National Park on their agenda. This
region lures the unlikeliest of early
risers out of bed with its thrilling
game drives. All but the unluckiest
will be able to savour some special
encounters, from giraffes and wild
dogs to Africa’s greatest predators.

BE INSPIRED ON THE
GARDEN ROUTE
Stretching for some 300km along
the rugged South African coastline,
the Garden Route provides one of
the world’s most inspiring road trips.
Whether you’re keen to explore
the markets of small fishing towns,
discover lagoon-filled coastal forests
or stride along gold-sand beaches,
Llama Travel offers a route that ticks all
your boxes.
While seafood fans can immerse
themselves in the eclectic restaurants
of Knysna, known for its annual
oyster festival, wildlife buffs can take
a 4WD drive escape to the pristine
Featherbed Nature Reserve, home
to South Africa’s national bird, the

blue crane. You can also navigate the
Outeniqua Pass (800m) and head into
the semi-desert region known as the
Klein Karoo. Here you can observe
watchful meerkats with trained guides,
visit working ostrich farms and step
inside the beguiling Cango Caves.
Elsewhere, spot whales in
Hermanus or soak up some
spectacular ocean views along the
coastal paths of Tsitsikamma National
Park. Showstopping features include
its centuries-old yellowwood trees and
the 77m-long suspension bridge.

ADMIRE LANDSCAPES
ON ROVOS RAIL
If you’re keen to discover a lesserseen side to South Africa while
experiencing the romance of rail
travel, you may be tempted by an
itinerary that features the one-of-akind Rovos Rail. Dubbed ‘the most

The wild side
(this page; clockwise from top left)
Admire fur seals on
Duiker Island; spot
Kruger National
Park’s rhinos ambling freely; stroll
along Cape Town’s
waterfront to see
how much the
city has changed;
admire landscapes
between Cape
Town and Pretoria
on a Rovos Rail experience; observe
African penguins
on Boulders Beach
in Cape Town;
spot leopards on
a thrilling game
drive in Kruger
National Park

luxurious train in the world’, this
vintage wood-panelled locomotive
has been taking travellers across the
African continent since 1989. Its plush
suites and dining carriages – complete
with seamless hospitality and five-star
cuisine – offer an elegant setting and
a considered, slow approach to seeing
the country’s remarkable landscapes.
The Rovos Rail experience
encompasses a 1,600km sojourn
between Cape Town and Pretoria, and
takes in everything from the rolling
Cape Winelands and bewitching Great
Karoo to the grasslands of the goldrich Highveld, with the option to leave
the train to enjoy day excursions. Large
windows and open-air balconies mean
nothing obscures the views of dramatic
valleys and mountain ranges, while
a choice of highly appointed suites
allows you to drift off beside some of
the most soul-stirring scenery on Earth.

Llama Travel

Llama Travel is offering Wanderlust
readers a discount of £60 per
booking on its South Africa tours.
Mention this article to redeem the
offer. Promotion ends 31 July 2024.

To plan your expertly tailored visit to South Africa with Llama Travel, go to: www.llamatravel.com

WORLD HERITAGE

Salvador da Bahia, Brazil
Brazil’s original capital has a difficult past, but in its UNESCO-listed centre
you can see first-hand how the descendants of enslaved Africans and
Portuguese migrants carved a home in their image, writes Alex Robinson

194 February/March 2024

yellows, terracotta palace roofs and
eggshell-blue bell towers.
Life is everywhere here. Parakeets
chirrup and caw in mango trees
around Praça da Sé square, and in
the shade of the branches, capoeira
martial-art dancers whip and whirl to
the twang of the berimbau. Afro-Brazilian women in cotton skirts fanned-out
with petticoats sit in front of cauldrons
of sizzling acarajé patties, sending wafts
of dendê-palm and coconut spice
through the narrow streets. And that
exuberant nature that Darwin loved
still tries to reclaim the city at every

“Life in the wealthiest
colony in Atlantic
South America was
one of excess ”

turn, in the vines that sprawl over the
walls of patio gardens scarlet with heliconia flowers that shake beneath the
thrumming wings of hummingbirds.
Above and below, Old Salvador
is stained a brilliant blue, whether
through the vastness of the sky or
the lapping of the sea. Here you can
spy frigatebirds silhouetted in delta
wing, yachts bobbing in the distance
and dolphins cresting the waves. It is
also where modern Brazil was born,
as a Portuguese encampment hacked
into a cliff. Back then, it was little
more than a semi-circle bitten out of
the great green carpet of the Atlantic
Forest; a cluster of log huts huddled
around a stockade and a church.
By 1549, the alluvial lands around
the Bay of All Saints had been planted
with sugar cane by the enslaved Tupi,
the region’s Indigenous people. As
they died from conflict or European

The first capital
(this page; above)
Founded in 1549
on a peninsula
that separates the
Bay of All Saints
from the Atlantic
Ocean, the original
city of Salvador da
Bahia still exists in
the shape of the
Pelourinho (historic
centre), which is
riddled with relics
of the past

Alamy; AWL

I

n 1832, when Charles Darwin saw
Salvador, now capital of Brazil’s
north-eastern state of Bahia, from
the deck of the Beagle, the usually
matter-of-fact naturalist found
himself transported into a ‘chaos of
delight’, his senses overwhelmed.
‘It would be difficult [to] imagine,
before seeing the view, anything so
magnificent,’ Darwin wrote in his
diary. Indeed, glimpsing the colonial
city shimmering under a dome of
blue sky, the brilliance of its colours,
the diversity and detail of the exuberant flowers, insects and birdlife in the
forests all around, had captivated him.
Darwin’s Salvador was tiny; the
21st-century version is now one of
the largest cities in South America.
Yet its UNESCO-listed historic
centre remains much as it was in
1832, and even today it still overloads the senses with its buttery light

DISCOVER Brazil
diseases, the Portuguese responded
by importing more enslaved Africans
to Brazil than any other nation in the
history of the Atlantic slave trade.
Sugar-rich Salvador was its first
capital for over two centuries. The
stockade became a vast, fortress-like
governor’s mansion with an even
larger cathedral beside it. Spilling
down the stone-flagged streets at
their feet, Portuguese merchants built
mansions, a university and administrative centres. Monastic orders settled
convents and abbeys, and Salvador
rose as a glittering rococo city.
Life in the wealthiest colony in
Atlantic South America was one of
excess. Merchants competed to sponsor ever more lavish church decorations for the city’s elite to admire on
Sunday. Perhaps they wanted to atone
for the cost of their sugar wealth in
African blood, sweat and tears – and
their lavish designs needed artisans.
Out-of-work Lisbon carvers and
painters arrived in dribs and drabs.
They, along with the enslaved Africans and Indigenous peoples, became
the city’s artisan underclass: the first
urban Brazilians. With few European
references, no stone or marble to
work, and only wood to hand, the art
they produced was unique.
The names of only a few of these
early artists are known today, such
as Bento dos Reis or Francisco das
Chagas (both children of enslaved
workers); most were never recorded.

NEED
TO
KNOW

Their work glitters in Salvador’s
historic centre and is most magnificent in the Carmelite and Franciscan convents, which are smothered
in carved gilt wood. Statues perch in
swirling shapes like fruits on a vine,
and star-shaped paintings show scenes
from the lives of European saints
played out in neotropical landscapes.
Hidden high up in the astonishing
nave of the Convent of São Francisco
are African faces – perhaps even those
of the artisans themselves.The church
of Nossa Senhora do Rosário was built
by artisans in their spare time, for
their own ceremonies. It is the heart
of the Pelourinho (historic centre),
and is where Catholicism and African spirit religion meet. Inside, and
surely modelled on one of those first
Brazilians, stands a wonderfully serene
Saint Benedict – himself born to Ethiopian slaves in Messina – cradling the
Christ-child in his arms.

Take to the streets
(this page;
clockwise from
top) A female AfroBrazilian drumming
group bangs out
a rhythm as they
walk the streets of
Salvador’s historic
centre; the carved
rococo interior
of the Convent
of São Francisco
has some of the
most intricate
woodwork in the
city; acarajé are
black-bean patties
that originated in
West Africa and
are stuffed with
spicy fillings; the
figure of Saint
Benedict stands
in the Convent of
São Francisco

Location: Salvador is the capital of
the Brazilian state of Bahia. It sits on
the southern Atlantic coast of Brazil’s
Nordeste (North-east) region, which,
at 1.56 million sq km, is about the size
of the UK and South Africa combined.
Getting there & around: Direct
flights connect Salvador with São
Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and most other
Brazilian state capitals at least once
daily. There are no direct flights from
the UK; international routes usually
connect via Lisbon or Madrid.
The historic centre is easy to
explore on foot. You will need taxis to
reach other parts of the city; these are
safest when taken from a taxi rank.
Accommodation: The hotels and
guesthouses with the most character
sit in the Pelourinho. The Casa do
Amarelindo (casadoamarelindo.com;
B&B doubles from £105pn) is a lovely
old Portuguese colonial house with
views of the Bay of All Saints. The
Fasano (fasano.com.br; doubles
from £350pn) sits in a luxurious
Neoclassical-meets-Art Deco tower.
Further Information: Alex
Robinson’s Bahia (Bradt, 2010) is still
one of the only major standalone
guides to Salvador and Bahia state.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 195

a flotilla sailing
holiday in Croatia
with Sunsail
Explore Dubrovnik from a unique perspective
with experts Sunsail, as they turn 50 years old…

ver dreamed about
learning to sail or
chartering a yacht? An
extraordinary flotilla sailing
holiday with Sunsail is
the way to go. Sailing holiday expert
Sunsail is celebrating a very special
anniversary this year: 50 years of
arranging exceptional sailing holidays
worldwide, tailored for anyone. With
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than 20 sunny destinations, from the
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Sunsail is committed to creating
unforgettable memories at sea.
Enter our competition to be in with
a chance of setting sail on a dazzling
one-week Sunsail yacht charter on
a three-cabin monohull within the
Korčula flotilla in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

E

Suited to everyone, from non-sailors
and first-time charterers to the saltiest
yachties, the beauty of a flotilla is
that it couples the support of a lead
crew – including a skipper, technician
and a host – with the freedom and
flexibility of a private holiday at sea.
Each day, your lead crew briefs
you on the destination, weather
forecast and what not to miss along

196 February/March 2024

Sunsail

What is a flotilla holiday?

COMPETITION
the way. While there is a set route to
follow, you decide how you wish to
explore each cruising area before
reaching the next stop. Drop anchor
in a secluded cove for a dip or take
advantage of wind conditions and
head straight to the next destination
to maximise time ashore. Just a VHF
call away, your lead crew serves
as an ever-present backup team.
If you need help with mooring, they
will be there to lend a hand.
With such formidable support,
even those with little experience can
build up confidence and practise
sailing skills. Even if you have logged
hundreds of nautical miles, a flotilla
allows you to connect with likeminded lovers of life at sea.
Socialising is not compulsory, but
there are plenty of opportunities
to get to know your fellow sailors
as the days drift on. Your flotilla
host arranges events like beach
barbecues, punch parties and
regattas. Alternatively, you can
simply gather with your crew for
a quiet dinner or drinks on board.
Whatever floats your boat.

Sailing in Croatia
Many a sailor daydreams about
navigating the blue-green waters of
Croatia’s captivating Dalmatian Coast.
Soaring cliffs, pebbled beaches

Sail away
(clockwise from
left page, top) Set
sail from magical
Dubrovnik; a flotilla
sailing holiday
combines the support of a lead crew
with the freedom
of a private sailing
holiday; navigate
the turquoise
waters of Croatia’s
Dalmatian Coast;
flotilla sailing is
ideal for couples,
groups, families or
solo travellers

and centuries-old walled cities have
contributed to Croatia’s evolution
as one of the world’s most enticing
sailing grounds. But when cruising
these scintillating seas, there is no
need to rush. Croatians call it pomalo,
which means to ‘take it easy’. So, be
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The lucky winner will join the
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sail from the Ombla River, taking
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the Dalmatian Coast. Experiences
along the way include discovering the

magnificent beauty of Mljet National
Park and its unique tidal lakes,
relaxing on Lumbarda beach and
snorkelling in the Adriatic to discover
its vibrant marine life.
There will also be an opportunity
to savour the taste of Plavac Mali
wine and fresh oysters, as well as
punctuate nature-fuelled days on the
water with cultural visits to historic
towns like Ston. Whether you’re a
seasoned sailor or dipping your toe
in for the first time, a Sunsail flotilla
sailing holiday can leave you feeling
inspired and refreshed.

ENTER TO WIN:
Sunsail is offering the chance
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Croatia. For a chance to win,
please answer the following
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The city of Dubrovnik lies
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a) Aegean
b) Mediterranean
c) Adriatic
To enter and for full terms, conditions and
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co.uk/competitions. The closing date is
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Begin your sailing journey with
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or by visiting their website:
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For more information, head to: www.sunsail.co.uk/sailing-holidays

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 197

INDIGENOUS CULTURE

Diola of Senegal
The Diola have long lived apart from the rest of Senegal,
but insights into their culture and traditions are freely given
to visitors of Lower Casamance, writes Sean Connolly

T

dents say they’re “going to Senegal”
when it’s time to make a trip to Dakar.
The Diola have their own king,
Sibilumbaï Diedhiou, who can only
wear red, uses no technology and is
enthroned by a community council
responsible for interpreting the spirits’
will. His accession is something akin
to choosing a new Dalai Lama and
he reigns from the town of Oussouye,
living in a sacred forest that outsiders may only visit under
strict, and strictly respected, conditions. He is considered
a medium between this world and the Diola’s creator god,
Ata-Emit, and is responsible for distributing land, declaring
holidays and mediating disputes, both political and personal.
While talk of rebellion down the years might be off-putting to travellers, the reality is that the Casamance region
is the safest it’s been in a generation. Its countless creeks
and forests may have been a nightmare for outsiders bent
on imposing their will, but they are a joy for visitors with
a more peaceful outlook. Today, the countryside is scattered with dozens of rootsy tourist camps, often built using
traditional techniques. From these, the fields and féticheurs
(spiritual guides) of Casamance are right on your doorstep.
All the while, the Diola are busy getting on with their lives
as before – living on no one’s terms but their own.

Going it alone
(this page; top–
bottom) Diola
communities
scatter the coast
of West Africa,
where they are
found in villages
and towns across
the Casamance
region of Senegal,
The Gambia and
Guinea Bissau; you
have to be in the
right place at the
right time to catch
a traditional Diola
masquerade dance

Alamy; AWL

he Diola people of Senegal traditionally live in
small villages widely dispersed throughout the
winding mangrove creeks of the Lower Casamance region, deep in the south of the country.
Such was their isolation, they were among the last
communities here to be either Islamised or Christianised
– and indeed, many of them avoided conversion entirely,
or are only nominally religious, continuing to follow traditional practices while also professing a more ‘modern’ faith.
The Diola’s resistance to outside influences extended
to the colonising French, who mounted a full invasion of
Senegal in the 19th century. Their military had little luck
in these swamps, though. The Diola homeland was the
last place here to be declared ‘pacified’ by France – and
not until the 1920s, decades after the rest of the country.
Paddling the creeks or walking the earthen dikes between
the Diola’s traditional rice crops and palm-wine trees, you
will see shrines dotting the countryside.They’re hard for an
an outsider to identify, but look for a cluster of sticks and
bones, a smear of palm oil or a slick of dried crimson.These
indicate a place where spirits are thought to dwell, and
where they can be reached for adoration or intercession.
The Diola typically see themselves as apart from the rest
of the Senegalese, and the 40-year insurgency for Casamance independence is proof. While the rebellion has
largely fizzled out these days, it’s still common to hear resi-

198 February/March 2024

DISCOVER Senegal
modern banjo. Daniel LaemouAhuma Jatta of The Gambia’s
Akonting Center in Mandinari
(+220 959 9393) is among the
most important conservators of
this musical tradition, and he is
happy to teach visitors’ lessons.
You can also find players in Mlomp.

a royal
audience
5Receive

If, and only if, approached through
the correct channels – start by
asking at your guesthouse in
Oussouye – it’s not unheard of for
the Diola king to grant visitors an
audience. You’re expected to visit
in keeping with all the decorum
and protocols of the royal court
(don’t wear red), and you may
ask questions about Diola life and
culture. Be sure to bring a French
speaker (and a camera!) along.

Six ways to experience traditional Diola culture

1 Visit Oussouye

The most important centre of
Diola culture today is the town of
Oussouye, where the resplendentin-red king has reigned since 2000.
He’s honoured at the Xulam festival
every September. Beyond the
royal pomp and pageantry, Xulam
is a red-letter day for traditional
wrestling, where the region’s
beefiest boys, slicked down in oil
and piled high with gris-gris amulets
(said to give good luck), square off
in the sand. The palm wine festival
in March/April is another ideal time
to visit, when feasting, toasting and
the beating of the bombolong slit
drum is guaranteed.

the
architecture
2 Admire

There are low-key ethnographic
museums in the villages of
Kafountine, Boucotte and Mlomp,
but Diola tradition is on display
in houses in every village. The
doughnut-shaped case d’impluvium
is the most popular Diola building
style (for local guesthouses, too),
in which a green, rain-fed garden
sits right in the middle of the
home. The two-storey case à étage,
built from nothing but mud and
mangrove, can be seen in Mlomp
or Affiniam, or you can even sleep
in one in Oussouye.

3 Take in a masquerade

Diola life and ceremony
is typically a rather egalitarian
affair, where the line between
audience and participant is
consistently blurred. But there’s no
mistaking who’s in charge at their
masquerades, when a charging
Koumpo or Essamaye spirit enters
the crowd shrieking. Covered
head-to-toe in a mesmeric mass
of leaves and fronds, these spirits
contort and spin themselves
into impossible shapes while
the surrounding women beat
out a deafening clang on dozens
of metal claves. It’s hard to say
where and when you’ll find one of
these performances, but you’re
guaranteed to hear it coming first.
You can more reliably find Diola
music and dance in the tourist
centre of Cap Skirring.

The eternal
struggle
(this page;
top–bottom)
Oussouye is
a hotspot for la
lutte, the style
of wrestling
that is central
to Diola culture
and September’s
Xulam festival; the
Diola king will take
audiences with
guests, so long
as you go via the
correct channels

6 Hit the water

Until recently, getting around
Casamance’s dreamy tangle of
land and water was much easier by
river than by road, and for many
communities it still is. Take a public
pirogue from regional capital
Ziguinchor to one of the far-flung
Diola hamlets dotting the riverside,
such as Niomoune or Pointe
Saint-Georges, where you’re likely
to make some friends and maybe
even spot some manatees along
the way. Kayak trips can also be
arranged through Casamance VTT
(casamancevtt.com).

Diola music
in The Gambia
4 Catch

The Diola also live next door in The
Gambia (counting ex-president
Yahya Jammeh among their
number), where they are known
as Jola. But cultural traditions
transcend borders (and spellings),
and one of the most iconic Diola
symbols in either country is the
akonting, a stringed instrument
known as the ancestor to the

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 199

WILDLIFE ENCOUNTERS

Malawi
Having battled back from the brink, Malawi’s wildlife parks and reserves
offer not just incredible encounters away from the thunder of mass
tourism, but hope for the future of conservation in Africa, writes Sue Watt

K

nown as the ‘warm heart of Africa’ for its friendly
welcome and people, Malawi has added another
string to its bow in recent years. This sliver of a
country is the setting for one of Africa’s most
inspiring conservation success stories, and it
now punches well above its weight as a wildlife destination.
For the past 20 years, a remarkable renaissance has taken
place here, transforming once eerily empty parks into thriving sanctuaries. Two of them – Majete and Liwonde – are
now also home to the ‘Big Five’ (elephant, rhino, leopard,
lion and buffalo) that are so coveted by safari-goers.
In the past, Malawi lacked the resources to protect its
wildlife, and by the late 1980s and ’90s it had become a
poachers’ paradise. In 2003, the government took the bold
decision to restore Majete Wildlife Reserve to its former
glory in a pioneering 25-year partnership with conservation
organisation African Parks (AP), which was then a fledgling
non-profit harbouring big ideas to revive the continent’s
depleted wild habitats.Today, the renowned NGO manages
22 parks in 12 countries. And it all started with Majete.
After fencing the entire reserve, AP translocated some
2,500 animals, including elephant, buffalo, rhino, leop-

200 February/March 2024

ard and antelope. They reintroduced tourism, bringing
much-needed income along with classrooms and health
clinics to local communities, garnering their support for
conservation. Following on from Majete’s success, African
Parks took on both Liwonde National Park and Nkhotakota
Wildlife Reserve in 2015, both then struggling with poaching and in dire need of TLC. They too are now thriving.
Nine national parks and reserves make up Malawi’s
tapestry of habitats, spanning mountains, plateaus, grasslands, wetlands, lakes and rivers, attracting over 650 avian
species. The best birding destinations are the forests and
grasslands of Nyika Plateau, the wetlands of Liwonde
and Lake Malawi, and Nkhotakota. Other wildlife isn’t as
prolific as in big-hitter safari destinations such as Serengeti
or Kruger, but nor are the tourists.There’s no mass tourism
here: game vehicles never crowd around sightings and you’ll
soon start to feel like you have these wild places to yourself.
Malawi operates at a gentle pace. Don’t bring a tick-list;
do bring an open mind and a sense of curiosity. Enjoy the
warmth of the people you meet and the feel-good factor in
knowing that just by being here, you are part of the remarkable rewilding story that makes a safari in Malawi so special.

Life in the Shire
(this page; top
to bottom) The
Shire River runs
through a number
of Malawi’s wildlife
parks and reserves,
offering up-close
encounters with
bathing hippos and
thirsty elephants;
this lilac-breasted
roller in Liwonde
National Park is
just one of the
650-plus bird
species that you
can see in Malawi

DISCOVER Malawi

Need to know
When to go

Majete Wildlife Reserve

Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve

The granite hills, miombo woodlands and riverine landscapes of Malawi’s flagship reserve host
all the ‘Big Five’, with elephant and buffalo the
easiest to spot. Some 12,000 animals share this
home, among them reintroduced giraffe and
antelope species such as waterbuck, impala,
nyala and eland. The Shire River offers great
wildlife sightings, especially in the dry season.
Explore via guided game drives, boat trips and
walking safaris, or even on 4WD self-drive trips,
taking a community guide to make the most of it.
Best for: Predators, which have made a comeback here. Some 70 to 80 lions roam the 700 sq
km reserve, along with cheetah and wild dogs.
Stay at: Game Capture Campsite or Thawale
Tented Camp, which are both run by African
Parks (visitmajete.org). For a touch of luxury,
try Mkulumadzi Lodge (robinpopesafaris.net).

Having been almost poached dry, Malawi’s largest (1,800 sq km) and oldest reserve has a starring
role in the country’s renaissance, thanks to African Parks’ translocation of 500 elephants from
Liwonde and Majete, along with some 2,000
other animals, including sable, kudu, buffalo and
zebra.Wildlife isn’t as easy to spot as in Liwonde,
but with over 320 avian species, birding is especially rewarding. Look out for myriad kingfishers,
palm-nut vultures and even Pel’s fishing owls.
Best for: Adventure. Trips range from gentle
nature walks along the riverbank to watching for
hippo as you kayak the river, to rigorous hikes
up Mount Kasukusuka and Chipata Mountain.
Stay at: Livezi Wilderness Camp, run by African
Parks (visitnkhotakota.org); Bua River Lodge
(buariverlodge.com); or the beautiful Tongole
Wilderness Lodge (tongole.com).

WHERE ELSE?
Nyika Plateau and Vwaza Marsh
Malawi’s largest national park, Nyika Plateau, is
best known for hiking and sensational vistas, and
you may well spot antelope and zebra as you go.
Nearby Vwaza Marsh Wildlife Reserve is home
to nearly all of the ‘Big Five’, except for rhino.

Alamy; Shutterstock

Liwonde National Park
Studded with bulbous baobabs, Borassus palms,
towering mopane woodlands and fever-tree
forests, Liwonde is Malawi’s most attractive
park. The Shire River, curving gently through
the floodplains, is its soul. Of the ‘Big Five’, leopards are particularly elusive but the floodplains
teem with wildlife, particularly antelope species
(including rare sable) and buffalo, which are best
seen on game drives (self-drive is possible).Walking safaris in the early morning light are a joy.
Best for: Boat trips. With 400 bird species to
spot, you can spy everything from tiny malachite
kingfishers to huge Goliath herons from the water
as you pass elephants slurping from the riverbank.
Stay at: African Parks’ self-catering Chimwala
Camp (visitliwonde.org), the longstanding Mvuu
Camp and Lodge (cawsmw.com), or the upmarket Kuthengo Camp (robinpopesafaris.net).

Kasungu National Park
Kasungu once teemed with wildlife, including
2,000 elephants, but a dearth of resources and
extreme poaching saw it struggle for years until
the International Fund for Animal Welfare and
the government stepped in. Nearly 700 animals
were reintroduced last year, with 263 elephants
translocated from Liwonde.
Around Lilongwe
The highly regarded Lilongwe Wildlife Centre
(lilongwewildlife.org) offers tours of its forest
reserve, home to 200 rescued animals. Just 60km
away, Dzalanyama Forest Reserve is a great birding area that is best explored on foot or by bike.
Lake Malawi NP
Lake Malawi, the world’s ninth-largest lake, is
known for its varied birdlife and is home to more
types of fish than any other lake on Earth, including 875 species of tiny, multi-coloured cichlids
that are mesmerising to spot while snorkelling.

The best time for
wildlife viewing is the dry
season, which runs from
April to late October. It’s
particularly good between
July and October, when
there is little water and the
animals come to the rivers
to drink. Birding is possible
throughout the year, but
November and December
are better for migratory
and colourful species.

Getting there
& around
Kenya Airways
(kenya-airways.com)
and Ethiopian Airlines
(ethiopianairlines.com) fly
to Lilongwe or Blantyre via
Nairobi and Addis Ababa
respectively. New flights
are also available to both
cities from Johannesburg,
South Africa, with Airlink
(flyairlink.com).
Car hire can be found
in Lilongwe and Blantyre
or via local tour operators
such as Land & Lake
(landlake.net). There is a
good transport network of
minibuses and coaches.
Tour operators offering
tailor-made safaris to
Malawi include Expert
Africa (expertafrica.com),
Safari Consultants
(safari-consultants.com)
and Wildlife Worldwide
(wildlifeworldwide.com).

Visas &
currency
Visa: UK nationals can
get a visa (evisa.gov.mw;
US$50/£39 single-entry)
in advance or may buy
one on arrival (US$75/£59).
Currency: Malawian
kwacha (MWK), currently
MWK2138 to the UK£.

Further
information
Malawi (Bradt Guides,
2019) by Philip Briggs
Africanparks.org
– African Parks website.
Malawitourism.com
– National tourism board.

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 201

BRITISH BREAK MINI GUIDE

East Sussex

“T

hese were Lee’s knuckledusters,”
explained our guide, pointing to
a shelf: “bronze for daywear,
silver for eveningwear.” It’s the
kind of fact that you just accept
about Lee Miller, the late Vogue model-turnedwar photographer. She wore these “accessories”
for protection during the Second World War;
now they decorate Farleys House & Gallery, her
former home near Chiddingly, East Sussex.
In the study next door, I spied a photo of Miller
bathing contemptuously in Hitler’s Munich
apartment on the day of the liberation of Dachau
concentration camp, her boots having stained the
dictator’s bathmat with mud from the camp. It’s a
scene that has been recreated by the actress Kate
Winslet, who plays Miller in Lee, a new film about
the photographer’s life that comes out in 2024.
Miller’s own images, some exhibited in a farm
building alongside the house, show an eye for the
surreal: the latest fashions set against bomb-damaged buildings, a barrage balloon that looks like
it has been hatched by a goose. She married the
Surrealist artist Roland Penrose, whose mural
– based on the nearby ancient chalk figure the
Long Man of Wilmington – graces the huge
dining-room fireplace.The pair entertained notable friends from the art movement at their Sussex

home, including Pablo Picasso, whose own work
crops up in the kitchen and garden. I did a double
take when I recognised his distinctive style in a
face painted on a fat-splashed tile above the stove.
But even by the time Miller moved here in
1949, bohemian 20th-century creatives were
not new to this slice of Sussex. Decades earlier,
artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and
writer David Garnett had moved to another farm
building nearby, Charleston House, where they
entertained fellow members of the Bloomsbury
Group, the literary set that included Vanessa’s
sister Virginia Woolf. Its highly decorated walls
and furniture are worth a visit alone, as is the
starry line-up at its annual cultural festival in May.
East Sussex’s further links to Modernism are
celebrated in a series of contemporary art galleries linked by a charming coastal cycle path.
I followed its trail from Eastbourne – host of
the Turner Prize exhibition until mid-April –
then pedalled past the kite surfers of Pevensey
Bay and called in at the Grade I-listed De La
Warr Pavilion, a Modernist wonder in Bexhill.
After a hilltop pause above a beach where an
18th-century shipwreck is uncovered at certain
low tides, it was a fast descent towards Hastings,
to browse the galleries and independent shops
⊲
of a whole new generation of creatives.

50.9086° N, 0.2494° E

With Eastbourne hosting the Turner Prize exhibition and the
region about to hit the big screen in a new film, arty East
Sussex is having its moment in the sun, writes Debbie Ward

Ask a local

“Berwick Church is a
little-known Sussex
gem, just a short
walk from Alfriston.
The ancient church
is lovely in its own
right, but it’s a
landmark of national
importance because
of the murals painted
by members of
the Bloomsbury
Group just before
the Second World
War. These are
colourful, respectful
of religious tradition
and feature models
drawn from local
farms, making
them a part of
social history. It’s
free to visit and
wonderfully joyous.”

Alamy; Debbie Ward; Lee Miller Archives; Roland Penrose Estate; Shutterstock

Nash Robbins, co-owner
of Much Ado Books
in Alfriston

202 February/March 2024

DISCOVER England

Boho paradise (this page; clockwise from top left) The Modernist De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill dates from 1935; the late Surrealist artist Roland Penrose at work
in his home; sculptures dot the Coastal Culture Trail; Pevensey Bay was part of England’s Napoleonic defences in the early 1800s, when Martello towers were
erected between Eastbourne and Hastings; Charleston House was at the heart of the Bloomsbury Group, a set of early-20th-century intellectuals who counted
Virginia Woolf among their number; model-cum-war photographer Lee Miller; the charming Much Ado Books; (left page) the eclectic studio at Charleston House

www.wanderlustmagazine.com 203

BRITISH BREAK MINI GUIDE

4 TOP
THINGS
TO DO

DAY 2
Enter the surreal world of Farleys House
& Gallery (farleyshouseandgallery.co.uk;
pictured) at Muddles Green, Chiddingly,
where the late photographer Lee Miller and
her Surrealist artist husband Roland Penrose
once lived. Its traditional exterior belies a
wealth of wall murals, Picasso sketches and
eclectic objet d’art, including a giant silver
King Kong table ornament. Picnic in the
grounds if warm enough, or grab a simple
lunch at community-run Chiddingly Village
Shop & Café next door (chiddinglyshop.org).
Next, continue on to another boho escape,
Charleston House (charleston.org.uk), near
Firle, where you can admire the decorative
flourishes left by its former Bloomsbury Group
inhabitants. If that’s not enough culture, time
your visit to catch an opera at Glyndebourne
(glyndebourne.com). Look out too for the
pop-up Charleston Gallery in Lewes, which
has been given a permanent green light. Finish
in pretty Ditchling, a village that produced
many Modernist creatives, including Edward
Johnston, whose London Underground
typeface is still used today. Amid the many
cafés and pubs lies Ditchling Museum of Art
+ Craft (ditchlingmuseumartcraft.org.uk). End
your day at The Rows & Vine (ridgeview.co.uk)
restaurant, which serves a seasonal menu
at the nearby Ridgeview wine estate.

Getting there: Charleston House, Farleys House & Gallery and
Eastbourne are clustered around the A27; Bexhill and Hastings
are on the A259. The 29km Coastal Culture Trail connects
Eastbourne, Bexhill and Hastings, as does Southern Rail’s train
lines (the route connecting London also services Brighton and
Lewes). Lewes is the closest major station to Chiddingly and
Firle. A Sussex Art Shuttle bus service (sussexmodern.org.uk/
artshuttle) links Lewes, Charleston and the Towner.
Stay at: Alfriston is the perfect base for village charm. Here, the
15th-century beamed inn The Star (thepolizzicollection.com; from
£240pn) has been magnificently revamped, while the villa-style
Wingrove House (thewingrove.com; from £155pn) overlooks
the village green. Above the village, B Corp vineyard Rathfinny
(rathfinnyestate.com) also offers B&B doubles from £100pn.

204 February/March 2024

SHOP at Much Ado
Books in Alfriston, which
has driftwood sculptures
and free-range hens in
its yard. Inside, you’ll find
antique, used and new
volumes on its shelves,
along with collage kits
and notebooks crafted
from old book covers. The
owners also run literacy
charity Prospero’s Project.
muchadobooks.com
LEARN a new skill at
the Ditchling Museum of
Art + Craft or Charleston
House. Both run
workshops year-round,
teaching everything from
lino cut and letterpress
printing to natural dyeing,
lampshade making and
life writing. Charleston
also runs art appreciation
classes, while Farleys
House & Gallery even
offers the odd surrealist
cookery lesson. Cauliflower
breasts, anyone?
EAT AND DRINK
in the South Downs at
some of England’s most
acclaimed vineyards.
One of the best picks is
the lofty Rathfinny Wine
Estate, above Alfriston,
which has a fine restaurant
overlooking the vines; it
sometimes offers glimpses
of hovering kestrels nearby.
rathfinnyestate.com

Alamy; The Star

DAY 1
Start with a visit to the Towner gallery in
Eastbourne (townereastbourne.org.uk), which
is free to enter. You can catch the Turner Prize
exhibition here (until 14 April), but don’t miss
the large collection of works by Eric Ravilious,
known for his Modernist watercolours of
the South Downs and wartime Britain. On
the seafront, look for a series of unusually
designed beach huts, among them the
rotating Spyglass, which has been created
to resemble pier binoculars. Grab lunch and
sea views at The Beach Deck (thebeachdeck.
co.uk), a great pit stop for moules frites and
chowder, then cycle the Coastal Culture Trail
(coastalculturetrail.com), or just take a train,
to reach Bexhill. Here you’ll find the seafront
De la Warr Pavilion, one of the UK’s first major
Modernist buildings. Its 1930s curves now
house a gallery and gig venue. From Bexhill,
Hastings is a further 9.5km pedal east; this
is the most rewarding part of the journey if
you’re cycling. Close to the tall net huts of the
largest beach-launched fishing fleet in Europe
is another sea-view gallery, the Hastings
Contemporary (hastingscontemporary.org;
pictured), formerly known as the Jerwood. It
includes works by its patron, the illustrator Sir
Quentin Blake. Finish with fresh fish (opposite
the boats that caught it) at Webbe’s Rock-aNore Restaurant (webbesrestaurants.co.uk).

WALK the South Downs
Way, which runs pleasingly
close to East Sussex’s
Modernist attractions –
Ditchling and Firle Beacons
are favourite viewpoints.
The route, which can be
accessed from Alfriston,
also ends with a glorious
descent into Eastbourne
across the Seven Sisters
cliffs. southdownsway.org

The Wanderlust Club
has a great range
of exclusive offers,
competitions and events
for our members – here
are just a few. Already
a member? Head to
wanderlustmagazine.
com/your-wanderlust
to find out more.

Monos; Stanfords; Water-to-Go

25% OFF! Purchases on the
Stanfords website
Stanfords, the UK’s leading specialist
retailer of maps, travel books and
accessories, has been beloved by
explorers and keen travellers since 1853.
Members can get 25% off all purchases
of the books featured in ‘Read This’
(see p38), and 15% off any other
purchases from the Stanfords website.

WIN! A copy of The Seven
Wonders of the Ancient
World by Bettany Hughes

WIN! A Monos Carry-On

WIN! A copy of Bahari: Recipes
from an Omani Kitchen and
Beyond by Dina Macki

25% OFF! Water-to-Go
Sugarcane water bottles

Historian Bettany Hughes has a knack
for inspiring you to explore the world
through its layers of history, and her
latest book succeeds again in doing
just that. It’s an engaging and revealing
read that will have you wanting to travel
in time as well as the modern day.
We have three copies to give away.

Dina Macki’s new cookbook not only
unravels the cuisine of Oman and its
diaspora in Zanzibar, but delves into the
history of a region that few may know
about. It’s a great way to expand both
your tastebuds and your knowledge,
plus we have three copies to give away.

Canadian company Monos is taking
the travel world by storm with its
beautiful, sturdy and well-thoughtout premium luggage. It’s Carry-On
is dent-resistant, has whisper-quiet
360-degree spinner wheels, vegan
leather details, a luxe interior and
is virtually unbreakable. We have
two Monos Carry-Ons in olive green
(worth £260 each) to give away.

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this revolutionary plant-based bottle
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www.wanderlustmagazine.com 205


        


$ 




 


$ $ $ !"!
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$ $ $ !#! $

Next issue on sale 28 March 2024

Austria Trip Planner
The hills are calling! The best routes for exploring Austria’s
cultured cities and boundless mountains

Alamy

Alamy

Plus
Music Cities USA Capitals of Culture Indigenous Saskatchewan
Kate Humble in Tanzania Albania New Caledonia Nepal

WANDER QUIZ

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Islands travel quiz
Think you know your islands? Take our quiz and find out
if you really can tell your atolls from your archipelagos
This pictured primate
can only be found on
which African island?
a. Réunion
b. Mafia Island
c. Madagascar
d. Zanzibar

1

Which of the
following islands
was not visited by
Charles Darwin during
his five-year voyage
(1831–36) aboard the
famous Beagle?
a. Tasmania, Australia
b. St Helena, UK
c. Santiago, Cape Verde
d. Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
The most populous
island in Canada
lies at the confluence
of the Ottawa and St

3

Which Canary
Island is home to
the towering Mount
Teide, a 3,715m-high
volcano whose summit
is the highest point
in Spain?
a. Tenerife
b. Lanzarote
c. La Gomera
d. Gran Canaria

4

Which remote
Australian island is
famous for its annual
mass migration of
millions of red crabs?

5

Answers: 1C; 2D: 3A; 4A; 5B; 6C; 7B; 8A; 9A; 10C; 11D; 12C

Words: Gareth Clark; images: Shutterstock

2

Lawrence rivers. What
is it called?
a. Île de Montréal
b. Vancouver Island
c. Newfoundland
d. Baffin Island

a. Kangaroo Island
b. Christmas Island
c. Rottnest Island
d. K’gari (Fraser Island)
This pictured
Neoclassical
residence on the Italian
island of Elba was once
the home of which
famous French exile?
a. Voltaire
b. Victor Hugo
c. Napoleon Bonaparte
d. Louis XVIII

6

The Aran Islands are
found off the west
coast of which country
in the British Isles?
a. England
b. Republic of Ireland
c. Wales
d. Scotland

7

Which island in
Lake Titicaca is
said to have been the
birthplace of the Inca?
a. Isla del Sol
b. Taquile
c. Isla de la Luna
d. Amantaní

8

The Church of
Hallgrímur is the
largest place of worship
on which Nordic island?
a. Iceland
b. Faroe Islands
c. Åland Islands
d. Greenland

9

The dragonblood
tree can only be
found on which island in
the Indian Ocean?
a. Mahé
b. Mayotte

10

c. Socotra
d. Mauritius
The explorer
Ernest Shackleton
is buried in Grytviken
Cemetery on which
sub-Antarctic island?
a. Bouvet
b. Elephant Island
c. East Falkland
d. South Georgia

11

The film and book
Papillon is about
the alleged escape of
Henri Charrière from
which prison island?
a. Rikers Island, USA
b. Robben Island, South
Africa
c. Devil’s Island, French
Guiana
d. Pianosa, Italy

12

For more travel quizzes, go to: wanderlustmagazine.com 209

TOP TOUR GUIDE
to that, but I’d never had to deal with
high altitude before. The local people
who live at over 3,000m or 4,000m
– they’re used to it. But not me. It’s
about experience. If I don’t follow the
guidelines, I also get sick. That’s the
thing about altitude: it never asks how
many times you’ve done this before.
How do you keep up your fitness
between trips?
I run. I’ve competed in the Everest
Marathon a few times, which starts at
over 5,000m. It always takes place on
29 May, the date Tenzing Norgay and
Sir Edmund Hillary summited Everest
in 1953. My best finish so far is fifth,
and I’m planning on doing it again in
2024 to raise money for charity.
What treks do you love doing?
I guide visitors to Everest Base Camp
about six times a season. It takes eight
days to reach, four days to return, and
every time it’s different – the weather,
the conditions, but mostly the people.
Yes, it’s challenging, but without challenge there’s no added value. I recently
guided a 77-year-old woman on this
trek. There were no issues along the
way and it was just a great experience
to help her achieve her dream.

Winner of the ‘Walking and Outdoor’ category at
Wanderlust’s 2023 World Guide Awards, Phurba
talks to us about life on the mountains of Nepal
What made you want to guide?
I was born and raised in Lukla, in
Nepal’s Everest region. For years I’d
watched tourists pass through here,
then I told my friends that I wanted to
try trekking. I had a month’s holiday,
so I tried out as a porter with Intrepid
in 2012. I was 17 when I started. After
six years of working my way up, I began
leading trips. It takes a while because
there’s a lot of courses you have to take.
It’s tough work being a porter at
17. Was it a shock to begin with?
I come from an area where you grew
up carrying things. If you needed to
get wood, you’d walk to the jungle to
collect it and carry it back. I was used

210 February/March 2024

On top of the world
(top–bottom)
Phurba typically
guides treks in
the Everest and
Annapurna regions
of Nepal; he has
also competed in
the Everest Marathon, which starts
from the Base
Camp, making it
one of the world’s
highest (and
toughest) races

How do you prepare on trips?
Every night, when I finish my planning
(the water we’ll need, equipment, food,
how far we’ll walk), I give my guests
different chapters to read about life
in Nepal, ranging from education to
agriculture. A long time ago, tourists
would just come here, take a picture
of the mountains and go home. They
never used to get what Nepal really is.
What do guests often ask you?
Because I was born in the mountains,
people ask me if I’ve climbed over
7,000m or higher. Not yet, I always
say, but maybe I’ll do one of the big
peaks one day – for the experience.

Phurba Sherpa, Intrepid Travel
(intrepidtravel.com)

Phurba Sherpa

Phurba Sherpa

Where would you hike in Nepal if
you wanted to avoid the crowds?
It’s quieter in late October and
November, as well as during winter,
but I’d try the Manaslu Circuit or Base
Camp treks. It’s a beautiful, remote
area where you can’t get a wifi or phone
signal for days; there’s just villages of
people getting on with their lives.