From whale-spotting to desert glamping: Luxury travel experts share their most unforgettable adventures
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CNA Lifestyle
From whale-spotting to desert glamping: Luxury travel experts share their most unforgettable adventures
Plus: tips for thrill-seeking jet-setters on how to alive in the moment and set for the unexpected.
Exploring Namibia'southward Skeleton Coast. (Photo: Nico Heath)
12 Sep 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 09:31PM)
Over the last few years, discerning travellers take turned their backs on guidebook itineraries, ferreting out pristine locations unsullied by commercial tourism instead.
The idea was to immerse themselves in the local civilization, sample authentic, i-off experiences, appoint in socially responsible activities, and return home to tell the tale.
Venturing off the beaten track has a sure entreatment amid intrepid travellers. For some jaded globetrotters, veering off-piste brings with it the chance to feel the occasional brush with danger. No risk, no reward, goes the mantra. Adrenaline surge aside, information technology is an opportunity to learn or enter a new realm of understanding.
CNA Lifestyle quizzed the head honchos of five bespoke travel agencies on their most unforgettable experiences abroad, also equally handy tips for thrill-seeking luxury travellers.
ANAND PEREIRA, MANAGING Managing director, AMALA DESTINATIONS
I accept had a number of unforgettable experiences on my travels, and if I had to pick 1, information technology was in Sep 2018, when I was travelling on my ain in Mongolia, exploring some off-the-beaten-path areas of the land.
This led me to Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve, where I spent iv days in this alien looking environment, located in the E Gobi. Getting here was an adventure that involved a six-hr train ride into the center of nowhere, followed past a 2-hr bulldoze further into the center of nowhere.
The area was unlike anywhere I have been, with rocky outcrops that seemed to stretch all the way to the horizon, and driving to our camp was like driving through a maze. I arrived in the camp to an amazing sunset and moonrise simultaneously, which was quite the sight.
What made the experience unforgettable was the days we spent hiking in the area, spotting the local wildlife. The park is home to the rare Argali Sheep and Siberian Ibex, which are extremely skittish and a challenge to spot. But with my guide, a pair of binoculars, and well-timed runs from one rocky outcrop to another, we managed to become pretty close to these animals.
It was a nice change from being in the urban center, going completely off the grid and searching for wild sheep.
For more information, visit Amala Destinations
JOSS KENT, CEO, ANDBEYOND
If you take not been to the Lower Zambezi National Park in Zambia then yous simply have not been exposed to one of the finest safari experiences on the planet. And to explore it past canoe is the ultimate way to get upwards close and personal with the remote landscape, its magnificent wildlife and this majestic river.
Guided by 1 of the finest guides of his generation, Gavin Ford, my wife Sacha and I spent a few audacious days canoeing down the river with a special mission to navigate the infamous Kazungula Channel. This particular department of the river is where the river guides choose to spend their days off … ever a good sign. And it certainly did not disappoint.
Hippos slid underneath us and grazed the canoe as they plunged from shallow areas of the river to the condom of deeper channels. And lo and behold, around one bend we heard the most incredible boxing being fought past two large herds of elephants right in the middle of the river.
Equally we tucked into the reeds to spotter from a distance, imagine my shock when a bull elephant charged u.s. from the banking company, bellowing and roaring his displeasure at having his afternoon siesta disturbed. To this mean solar day, I call back being astounded by the size of his toenails (which were at centre level to me in the canoe) and the smell of his breath every bit he roared expletives at me from such short range!
For more information, visit andBeyond
NICO HEATH, CO-FOUNDER AND Manager, LIGHTFOOT TRAVEL
Having spent a lot of time living and working in Africa, I have been lucky plenty to get on multiple safaris, stay in fantastic luxury lodges and see incredible wildlife. However in May this year I experienced a completely different type of safari, searching for desert-adapted animals in the Namib Desert.
My married woman and I left the children at home and spent a few days at Hoanib Skeleton Coast, a tented campsite located in a remote area of the Skeleton Coast. With simply eight tented camps in this remote function of Namibia, you truly get abroad from it all.
Gravel-strewn plains and dry riverbeds draw fascinating wildlife, and we went on daily game drives along the riverbed to spot desert-adapted animals. Guests are encouraged to learn more well-nigh the wildlife and how they be in these unforgiving conditions.
The army camp has a team of researchers who are oftentimes in the camp and are fascinating to talk to, specially virtually the vital work conducted by Dr. Philip Stander and his team studying the unique desert-adjusted lion. That was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had: Spending time with the desert lion in a remote oasis on the Skeleton coast."
For more data, visit Lightfoot Travel
CHANG THENG HWEE, ASIA CHIEF EXECUTIVE, SCOTT DUNN
In 2022 my family and I went on holiday to Antarctica, a destination I've e'er been drawn and ane that I wanted my children to have the opportunity to experience.
One solar day we went whale-spotting on a zodiac gunkhole. My three children decided to explore on kayaks and it was and then that they experienced something others could but dream of – a pod of three whales frolicking in the water close to them, splashing about and showing u.s. their tails.
What made the whole experience so exceptional was that this encounter lasted for about xxx minutes, so the kids got out their hot chocolate and just sabbatum dorsum and took it all in. Seeing them and then excited at being able to witness something so spectacular, and for my wife and I to watch all this happening from the zodiac, is something that volition always stay with me.
For more information, visit Scott Dunn
HAJAR ALI, FOUNDER, URBANE NOMADS
In one case, in western Mongolia – a place where well-nigh people are ethnic Kazakhs – I was mistaken for a Mongolian the first night I was out for dinner with friends. I was flattered but the post-obit evening I realised that this wasn't a good affair, especially for a girl walking alone.
One evening afterward dinner, I was out on my own. On my way back to the hotel, a car trailed me. The driver flashed his flashlight before rolling down his window, speaking in a language I assumed to exist Mongolian. A niggling lost, I asked him for directions to the hotel I was staying at. That was when he did a u-turn and, from the other side of the road, leaned over and shouted, 'Sorry!' That was when I realised that he assumed I was a streetwalker!
Later on, another guy whom I had asked for directions tried to follow me to a quiet, unlit stretch of route. I tried to shake him off past shouting at him. That was when another commuter pulled over and tried to have me by the elbow and pull me within his automobile.
I later joked to friends about this being "Borat-mode", but and then learnt well-nigh the practice of helpmate kidnapping in Central Asia. I realised that this was a serious consequence and stopped making that joke."
For more than information, visit Urbane Nomads
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TOP TIPS FOR LUXE TRAVELLERS
"Be a traveller and non a tourist." – Anand Pereira
"Become your children travelling early, expose them to the people, the nutrient, the real civilization of your destination. Don't airbrush the experience. Travel can change their lives by opening upward a new universe of learning. And through travelling at that place is ameliorate understanding." – Joss Kent
"Book in advance, especially over pinnacle periods. Nosotros have guests coming to us in October wanting to spend Christmas on Safari in South Africa or Chinese New Twelvemonth in Niseko, only for us to have to tell them the lodges were booked upward a year before." – Nico Heath
"Remember to take fourth dimension to run into things with your own eyes. I run across so many people who are transfixed on getting the perfect photo and as a result spend near of their time looking through a camera viewfinder. Holidays are precious, and we should cherish the time we're given to spend with loved ones or friends. I believe you should come away from a holiday with amazing memories of the things you've seen, not necessarily a photo album." – Chang Theng Hwee
"When it comes to gamble travel and off-the-beaten-rails destinations, prepare for the unexpected. There volition exist frequent changes in the itinerary, and sometimes, even the dates of travel. Airport closures, civil unrest, inclement weather… the works. It's very important to communicate to your travel designer your priorities and constraints – if you absolutely need to exist back at piece of work past a certain date, if you're going to need a reliable wifi connection for the entire period of your stay etc." – Hajar Ali
Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/lifestyle/luxury-bespoke-travel-adventure-glamping-asia-africa-antarctica-238311
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