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 near unforgettable adventures
Plus: tips for thrill-seeking jet-setters on how to alive in the moment and set for the unexpected.
Exploring Namibia'south Skeleton Coast. (Photo: Nico Heath)
12 Sep 2022 06:30AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 09:31PM)
Over the last few years, discerning travellers accept turned their backs on guidebook itineraries, ferreting out pristine locations unsullied past commercial tourism instead.
The thought was to immerse themselves in the local culture, sample accurate, i-off experiences, engage in socially responsible activities, and return dwelling to tell the tale.
Venturing off the browbeaten rails has a sure entreatment among intrepid travellers. For some jaded globetrotters, veering off-piste brings with it the take chances to experience the occasional brush with danger. No risk, no advantage, goes the mantra. Adrenaline surge aside, information technology is an opportunity to learn or enter a new realm of agreement.
CNA Lifestyle quizzed the caput honchos of five bespoke travel agencies on their most unforgettable experiences away, as well as handy tips for thrill-seeking luxury travellers.
ANAND PEREIRA, MANAGING Manager, AMALA DESTINATIONS
I have had a number of unforgettable experiences on my travels, and if I had to pick i, it was in Sep 2018, when I was travelling on my ain in Mongolia, exploring some off-the-beaten-path areas of the country.
This led me to Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve, where I spent iv days in this conflicting looking environment, located in the East Gobi. Getting here was an adventure that involved a six-hour railroad train ride into the middle of nowhere, followed by a two-hour bulldoze further into the centre of nowhere.
The surface area was different anywhere I have been, with rocky outcrops that seemed to stretch all the manner to the horizon, and driving to our camp was like driving through a maze. I arrived in the camp to an astonishing sunset and moonrise simultaneously, which was quite the sight.
What made the experience unforgettable was the days nosotros spent hiking in the surface 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. Only with my guide, a pair of binoculars, and well-timed runs from ane rocky outcrop to another, we managed to get pretty close to these animals.
It was a nice change from being in the metropolis, going completely off the grid and searching for wild sheep.
For more information, visit Amala Destinations
JOSS KENT, CEO, ANDBEYOND
If you have 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 by canoe is the ultimate fashion to become upwards close and personal with the remote landscape, its magnificent wild fauna and this majestic river.
Guided by one of the finest guides of his generation, Gavin Ford, my wife Sacha and I spent a few audacious days canoeing downwardly the river with a special mission to navigate the infamous Kazungula Channel. This particular section of the river is where the river guides cull to spend their days off … always a good sign. And it certainly did not disappoint.
Hippos slid underneath us and grazed the canoe every bit they plunged from shallow areas of the river to the safety of deeper channels. And lo and behold, around one bend we heard the most incredible battle being fought by two big herds of elephants right in the middle of the river.
As we tucked into the reeds to watch from a altitude, imagine my shock when a bull elephant charged us from the bank, bellowing and roaring his displeasure at having his afternoon siesta disturbed. To this day, I remember being astounded past the size of his toenails (which were at heart level to me in the canoe) and the smell of his jiff equally he roared expletives at me from such brusk range!
For more data, visit andBeyond
NICO HEATH, CO-FOUNDER AND Managing director, LIGHTFOOT TRAVEL
Having spent a lot of time living and working in Africa, I have been lucky plenty to go on multiple safaris, stay in fantastic luxury lodges and run into incredible wildlife. All the same in May this twelvemonth I experienced a completely different type of safari, searching for desert-adjusted animals in the Namib Desert.
My wife and I left the children at dwelling house and spent a few days at Hoanib Skeleton Coast, a tented camp located in a remote area of the Skeleton Coast. With only eight tented camps in this remote part of Namibia, you truly get abroad from it all.
Gravel-strewn plains and dry riverbeds depict fascinating wild fauna, and we went on daily game drives along the riverbed to spot desert-adapted animals. Guests are encouraged to learn more than nearly the wild animals and how they exist in these unforgiving atmospheric condition.
The campsite has a team of researchers who are oft in the camp and are fascinating to talk to, especially virtually the vital work conducted by Dr. Philip Stander and his team studying the unique desert-adapted lion. That was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had: Spending time with the desert panthera leo in a remote oasis on the Skeleton coast."
For more data, visit Lightfoot Travel
CHANG THENG HWEE, ASIA Primary EXECUTIVE, SCOTT DUNN
In 2022 my family unit and I went on vacation to Antarctica, a destination I've always been drawn and one that I wanted my children to have the opportunity to feel.
Ane 24-hour interval nosotros went whale-spotting on a zodiac boat. My three children decided to explore on kayaks and information technology was then that they experienced something others could only dream of – a pod of three whales frolicking in the water close to them, splashing almost and showing usa their tails.
What fabricated the whole experience then exceptional was that this encounter lasted for about xxx minutes, so the kids got out their hot chocolate and just sat back and took it all in. Seeing them and so excited at being able to witness something so spectacular, and for my wife and I to scout all this happening from the zodiac, is something that will always stay with me.
For more information, visit Scott Dunn
HAJAR ALI, FOUNDER, URBANE NOMADS
In one case, in western Mongolia – a place where nearly people are indigenous Kazakhs – I was mistaken for a Mongolian the offset night I was out for dinner with friends. I was flattered but the following evening I realised that this wasn't a good thing, especially for a daughter walking alone.
One evening afterward dinner, I was out on my own. On my style back to the hotel, a car trailed me. The commuter flashed his flashlight before rolling down his window, speaking in a language I causeless to exist Mongolian. A little 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, 'Pitiful!' 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 by shouting at him. That was when another driver pulled over and tried to have me by the elbow and pull me inside his car.
I later joked to friends most this being "Borat-mode", but and so learnt about the practice of bride kidnapping in Primal Asia. I realised that this was a serious outcome and stopped making that joke."
For more information, visit Urbane Nomads
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Height TIPS FOR LUXE TRAVELLERS
"Be a traveller and not a tourist." – Anand Pereira
"Get your children travelling early, expose them to the people, the food, the real culture of your destination. Don't airbrush the experience. Travel can modify their lives by opening up a new universe of learning. And through travelling there is better understanding." – Joss Kent
"Book in accelerate, particularly over peak periods. Nosotros take guests coming to u.s. in Oct wanting to spend Christmas on Safari in South Africa or Chinese New Yr in Niseko, but for united states of america to have to tell them the lodges were booked upward a year earlier." – Nico Heath
"Recall to take time to see things with your own optics. I see so many people who are transfixed on getting the perfect photo and as a result spend most of their fourth dimension looking through a photographic camera viewfinder. Holidays are precious, and we should cherish the fourth dimension we're given to spend with loved ones or friends. I believe you should come away from a vacation with amazing memories of the things yous've seen, not necessarily a photo album." – Chang Theng Hwee
"When it comes to take chances travel and off-the-beaten-track destinations, gear up for the unexpected. There will be frequent changes in the itinerary, and sometimes, even the dates of travel. Airport closures, civil unrest, choppy weather… the works. It'south very important to communicate to your travel designer your priorities and constraints – if you absolutely need to be back at piece of work past a sure appointment, if yous're going to need a reliable wifi connection for the entire period of your stay etc." – Hajar Ali
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Source: https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/lifestyle/luxury-bespoke-travel-adventure-glamping-asia-africa-antarctica-238311
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