the wexas travel magazine vol 45 » no 1 » 2015 £6.95 editorialissue 1 / 2015 PLACES

OF POETRYIt’s a fine tradition, the poetry of a place as well as poetry can, and place, and an ancient one. In his one of the most visually striking book Walking Home, Armitage features in this issue is a sultry AS I FINISHED WRITING UP MY refers to Homer’s epic poem, the photo essay about tango in the interview with Simon Armitage Odyssey, as one of the greatest Colombian city of Medellín, which for this issue, my mind was works of western literature, and has the strongest tango culture filled with a strong memory of one that ‘could also be described outside of . Medellín is an evening spent by the South as one of the first pieces of travel also gaining a reputation as the Bank. It’s a happy one. There writing.’ And although we don’t ‘world capital of poetry’ – declared were hundreds of us out there, Amy Sohanpaul run pieces written entirely in as such by the many poets that waiting for some helicopters considers the verse in Traveller – I’m thinking congregate there annually for to whirr into view. They arrived merits of verse now perhaps we should – we do The International Poetry Festival with the sunset, looking slightly over prose like it when a feature doesn’t use of Medellín. The festival was born sinister as helicopters of a certain ‘the language of information’ in 1991, when Medellín was the size sometimes do, ominous and instead conveys the essence most violent city in the world. harbingers. of a place. Articles that aren’t The festival was conceived as And then, in this part of , full of pointers about the best a form of cultural resistance, which was so heavily bombed place to eat, or featuring top ten a collective voice for peace, and during the Second World War, a tips, but tell us, through lyrical as words can change, as well different sort of bombardment language what a place feels like, as describe, atmosphere, it has fell from the noisy sky, a hundred sharing with us something of a helped to transform the city into a thousand poems in the shape of destination’s inner truth, are the calmer place, in a country that can bookmarks, swirling like confetti ones that make me happiest when still be tumultuous. over our heads. They felt like they arrive. Kashmir too, away from its a benediction of sorts, and all Fergal Keane’s pieces are the troubled border, harbours places around us, people were rioting, epitome of this, and that’s just of peace and astounding beauty, in the best way, laughing, some one of the reasons we’re all so a landscape that remains dreamy enough to cry, everyone jumping, delighted that he has agreed to and steeped in myth, and Simon running, arms stretched to catch join Traveller’s Honorary Editorial Urwin’s story about traditional them as they hurried and flurried Board, it is a privilege to welcome healers reflects a gentle side down to earth. Walking over a him. More often than not, Fergal’s of this magnificent mountain bridge some time later, when we pieces will feature a short poem region. Mountains loom large thought it was all over and done, – I remember one from years ago, in this issue as it happens – the a few more fell into our path out Michael Longley’s succinct and Atlas Range, the Julian Alps in of nowhere, they must have been perfect ode: Slovenia, a piece on the mighty hovering for some time, and I have Matterhorn. Between them, they them to this day, never far from The Weather in Japan have inspired any amount of the desk. poetry through the ages, much of The event, organised by Chilean Makes bead curtains of it as lofty as the peaks it celebrates. arts collective Casagrande, the rain, But I found myself turning instead marked the launch of Poetry Of the mist a paper screen. to a favourite by Simon Armitage, Parnassus, a global gathering Map Reference, which opens with of poets during the London There’s a poem in Fergal’s latest characteristic understatement: Olympics, the brainchild of Simon offering too, about childhood Armitage. When we met he told winters in Ireland, a poem written Not that it was the first peak in me that he felt that poetry was by his uncle and celebrated the range, particularly good at expressing playwright John B. Keane; and or the furthest. place, “What a place feels to you coincidentally, another article, It didn’t have the swankiest as an individual; and I think when Alex Robinson’s piece on , name it talks about locations, it’s very begins with a poetic reverie and it wasn’t the highest even, good at creating the atmosphere. and ends with a poem, so all is or the finest… The language of poetry is not dreamlike and slightly surreal necessarily the language of in southern Thailand from start It might not even be about information… but in terms of to finish. a mountain at all, but in the invoking the spirit of a place, it’s The best photographs can end, something bigger, an particularly good.” conjure up the atmosphere of inner landscape.

vol 45• no1 • 2015 traveller 3 HONORARY EDITORIAL BOARD Traveller is Britain’s original magazine for intelligent Kate Adie obe travel. Since 1970 it has reported on the real experience is a distinguished bbc foreign correspondent who has spent 30 years reporting from the world’s frontlines. of travelling the world, and many of today’s leading explorers and adventurers are on the Editorial Board. Publisher Professor David Bellamy obe frgs phd f ibiol f ls and Chairman is one of the world’s leading conservationists, an icon Traveller can be accessed at www.traveller.org.uk, which Ian M Wilson of wildlife television, and founder of the Conservation also displays contributors’ guidelines. Traveller is distrib- ma dphil Foundation. uted to the members of wexas travel. (oxon) frgs Colonel John Blashford-Snell obe frsgs frai is Britain’s best-known expedition leader and the founder of Operations Raleigh and Drake for young people. Editor Dr Jean-Michel Cousteau Amy Sohanpaul is a noted marine scientist and successor to the mantle of his father, the late Jacques Cousteau. Traveller is produced by Fifth Floor Publishing for Contributing wexas travel, Dorset House, Editors William Dalrymple ma fras frgs frsl Stamford Street, London, se1 9nt, uk Jonathan Lorie is one of Britain’s finest travel writers, winner of many prizes and an expert on and the Muslim world. Web www.traveller.org.uk Mark Reynolds Sir Ranulph Fiennes bt obe dsc Editorial enquiries can be emailed Staff Writer is a distinguished adventurer and expedition leader, respon- to [email protected] Guy Everton sible for the world’s first pole-to-pole journey. Tel 020 7838 5998 Robin Hanbury-Tenison obe dl ma frgs Design is a pioneering champion of rainforests and tribal peoples, Kelly Al-Saleh and the President of Survival International.

Fergal Keane obe is a bbc special correspondent who reported from South Africa for many years, and an acclaimed author.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston cbe frina is the first man to sail non-stop and single-handed around the world, and author of many books on sailing.

Sir Christopher Ondaatje cbe oc is chairman of the Ondaatje Foundation and author wexas enquiries of ten books including Sindh Revisited and Journey Tel 020 7589 3315 to the Source of the Nile. Email [email protected] cbe frgs Web www.wexas.com is the world’s favourite television traveller and a member of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. wexas Blue Membership: £85 per annum (£105 overseas) Professor John Prebble ba llb bcl jsd wexas Gold Membership: £165 per annum is an international barrister in tax law, and formerly Dean of Law at Victoria University, Wellington. (£172 overseas) Membership includes other publications and benefits Dr Christopher Roads ma phd frgs Traveller subscription: £20.85 per annum is an expert in the use and history of firearms and former (£30 overseas) Deputy Director of the Imperial War Museum. Jonathan Scott Advertising Dave Warne is a leading wildlife photographer and presenter of the Tel 020 7838 5818 Email [email protected] bbc’s Big Cat Diary. He is patron of a number of wildlife conservation societies. Printing Warners (Midlands) plc. John Simpson cbe is the bbc’s World Affairs Editor and has reported The views expressed in the editorial column are not necessarily those of from 120 countries during his 40 years with the bbc. anyone but the editor, and other editorial matter should only be ascribed to the authors concerned. The printing of an advertisement in Traveller does Colin Thubron cbe frgs frsl not necessarily mean that the publishers endorse the company, product or is Britain’s most distinguished travel writer, author of service advertised. The title Traveller is registered as a trademark in the uk. a string of award-winning books on Asia and Russia. The title The Traveller is registered as a trademark in the United States Patent Office, Washington dc, and in Canada. All rights to editorial material Sir Crispin Tickell gcmg kcvo are reserved throughout the world under the Universal International is an eminent environmentalist, leader of the Climate & Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Reproduction in any manner, Institute of Washington and Green College Centre. in whole or in part, in English or in any other languages, is strictly and specifically prohibited without the express consent of the publishers. Sir Hereward Wake bt mc dl Copyright © 2015, wexas Ltd. Traveller (incorporating Expedition) is a baronet and retired major who has been involved vol 45 no1, 2015, issn 0262-2726. in youth expeditions worldwide.

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Every issue we seek out today’s most distinguished and interesting travellers to contribute to the magazine THE PEOPLE BEHIND OUR STORIES © paul wolfgang webster wolfgang © paul

SIMON ARMITAGE has SIMON URWIN (pictured JONATHAN & ANGELA FRANCESCO LASTRUCCI is published ten collections outside the former us Embassy SCOTT are award-winning a freelance photographer of poetry including Selected in Tehran) is an award-winning photographers and authors based between Italy and Poems (2001) and Seeing Stars travel photographer and writer based in Nairobi and the Colombia, whose work has (2010) and is the author of and a passionate off-the- Masai Mara. Jonathan is been exhibited worldwide. two novels, the bestselling beaten-tracker. His portrait known for his many wildlife He is currently working on memoir All Points North (1998), of a Kashmiri shepherd, shot documentaries for the bbc. In long-term personal book Walking Home (2012) and the exclusively for Traveller, was a this issue they focus on the projects in Iraqi Kurdistan forthcoming Walking Away. He recent finalist in the prestigious plight of cheetahs in Namibia. and Colombia, and here talks to Amy Sohanpaul about Association of Photographers’ SEE PAGE 50 documents the thriving the poetry of travel. Awards. tango culture of Medellín. SEE PAGE 18 SEE PAGE 54 SEE PAGE 38

DERVLA MURPHY FERGAL KEANE ALEX ROBINSON is ALEX STEWART KEVIN PILLEY FREDDIE REYNOLDS is an Irish touring is a foreign an award-winning has been writing is a former recently returned cyclist and the correspondent for travel writer and about trekking professional to Cambridge from author of over bbc news, a widely photographer and outdoor cricketer and an extended tour 20 travel books, published author, specialising in pursuits for more chief staff of Europe, mostly beginning with and a member of Latin America and than a decade; his writer at Punch on foot. In Slovenia, Full Tilt: Ireland to Traveller’s honorary Southeast Asia. books include, The magazine whose he found remnants India With a Bicycle editorial board. He is the author Walker’s Haute travel writing is of the First World (1965). Her self- In this issue, he of Bradt and Route, a guide published around War during a storm propelled travels revisits the Dublin Footprint guides to trekking from the world. He in the mountains. have taken her to of his childhood. to , Belize, to the befriends the SEE PAGE 32 many intriguing SEE PAGE 20 Bahia and London. Matterhorn. In this proprietor of corners of the He reports from issue he marks the the best café in world, of which she southern Thailand. 150th anniversary Syracuse, Sicily, selects five of the SEE PAGE 26 of the first ascent SEE PAGE 22 most memorable. of the Matterhorn. SEE PAGE 86 SEE PAGE 46

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14 Steaming Across Manchuria 26 The Other Side of Thailand Julian Holland celebrates the fading glories of Alex Robinson discovers there are many hidden northeast China’s steam railways treasures in the south of the country

18 Guest Traveller: Simon Armitage 38 Tropical Tango Amy Sohanpaul chats to the poet, playwright and SIMON Francesco Lastrucci photographs the vibrant novelist about the poetry of travel ARMITAGE dance culture of Medellín on the poetry of 22 Portrait of a City: Syracuse place 54 Healing Powers Kevin Pilley finds an embarrassment of riches in page 18 Simon Urwin meets traditional healers and ancient Sicily matchmakers in Kashmir FRANCESCO 86 Death Threats and Diversions LASTRUCCI Dervla Murphy recalls the five places that have photographs changed her life the passion of tango 50 Fast Forward page 38 Jonathan and Angela Scott visit the cheetah’s precarious last refuge in the Namibian desert DERVLA 32 What Lies Beneath MURPHY talks Freddie Reynolds encounters some murky about the souvenirs in the mountains and lakes of Slovenia places that have changed 46 The Fall her life page 86 Alex Stewart recalls the first, triumphant, tragic ascent of the Matterhorn

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the wexas travel magazine vol 45 » no 1 » 2015 10 Noticeboard with the latest news from Traveller’s £6.95 60 Contemporary Mexican Art Honorary Editorial Board Examines vivid artwork by acclaimed Mexican artist Carlos Amorales 12 Events for spring, plus new film and music releases

20 My World Fergal Keane looks back in wonder at childhood winters 00 Cover_Traveller Vol45 No1 2015_FINAL.indd 1 09/01/2015 03:08

70 Inside Track with experts’ views on the South On the cover: Tango 64 A Moveable Feast goes to via London Pacific, Alaska, South Africa and Ontario in Medellín, by Francesco Lastrucci 66 Hotels reviews Casa Palacio de Carmona in Spain 80 Health & Safety with advice on avoiding Ebola On these pages and civil unrest, plus a round-up of global hotspots (clockwise from 85 Prize Crossword for the chance to win a copy of left): Lines of gilt Life Story, published by bbc Books. Buddhas, Thailand, 83 Industry Insider David Warne assesses the by Alex Robinson. potential impact of lower oil prices on airfares Marrakech at night by David Ward. Detail from a cathedral, Syracuse, Shutterstock. Keeping Cheetahs 62 Bookshelf with Philip Teir, Rory MacLean and safe, Namibia, by Nick Danziger, and reviews of new travel books Angela Scott. Fida Hussain, at Tailor Tom, an English- style tailor in Srinagar, Kashmir, by Simon Urwin.

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 7 8 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 dreammarrakech on

GO WITH THE FLOW THE OURIKA RIVER COURSES under a cloudless sky in the Atlas Mountains, the peaks that stretch across northwest Africa. The range nominally supports the world on its shoulders, while guarding the bazaars, fishing ports and ancient forts of the Mediterranean from the enveloping, creeping Saharan sands. This great barrier once pegged Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans tight to the shoreline – even local Arabs and colonising Frenchmen rarely ventured through the door at Ouarzazate into the desert. The frontier zone of the Atlas is a place of contrasts, where a vista can include icy glacial troughs and shimmering, dusty heat; where a north-facing valley slope can be encrusted in a hoary glaze while its opposite is an image of Martian desiccation. These slopes are home to goatherds and subsistence growers who tend their herds and plots around juniper trees, dressed in woollen robes with pointed hoods, resembling a pastoral scene from Middle Earth. Behind the front line of the mountains sits Marrakech, a jewel of Scheherazadian fantasy. It is a rendezvous: Africa’s largest market square, host for millennia to gold- and ivory-laden caravans that passed through the Atlas from that rumour of Timbuktu across the desert. That this mystical land is reached in just a few hours

© david ward © david from London is magic in itself.

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 9 Adventuring with Palin and Fiennes wexas Honorary President Michael Palin’s third volume of diaries, Travelling to Work, covers the years of his transition from actor and comedian to the nation’s best- loved travel documentary maker. His commission by the bbc to front their modern re-creation of Jules Verne’s fictionalAround the World in 80 Days was as accidental as it was inspired. Alan Whicker was first choice presenter, followed by Miles Kington and Noel Edmonds, but when each of them declined, the endlessly inquisitive and adventurous Palin, though in peak demand as an actor after the success of A Fish Called Wanda, embarked on a daily exercise programme, bought himself an inflatable globe, and set out on a defining journey that would shape his working life for the next quarter of a decade. Plunging with infectious enthusiasm into every opportunity that comes his way, including the follow-up series Pole to Pole and Full Circle, Palin deals candidly with the inevitable setbacks and clashes that accompany a prodigious slate of tv, travel, film and publishing commitments. Fellow Honorary President Sir Ranulph Fiennes, meanwhile, recently published Agincourt: My Family, the Battle and the Fight for France, a richly evocative account of a singularly epic and bloody event in Anglo-French relations in which his ancestors fought on both sides as Henry V registered victory against the numerically superior French. He also wrote an introduction to George Lowe and Huw Lewis- Jones’ The Crossing of Antarctica, a trove of previously unpublished images from the Lowe archives and the Fuchs family collection depicting the first ever crossing of Antarctica via the South Pole in 1957-58, together with the personal reflections of an array of polar experts and explorers including former Honorary President, the late Sir Wally Herbert.

Travelling to Work is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, priced £25. Agincourt is published by Hodder & Stoughton, priced £20. The Crossing of Antarctica is published by Thames & Hudson, priced £24.95.

Destinations Olympia Presented by , highlights of this year’s Destinations: the Holiday and Travel Show, at Olympia London from 29 January to 1 February, include a series of talks in the Stanfords Travel Writers’ Festival featuring Kate Adie, Simon Armitage (see our interview on page 18), Simon Reeve, , and Chris Stewart (left), plus food and drink events, photography masterclasses and exhibitions. wexas members who haven’t already received a complementary ticket (sent out in our December mailing) can claim one by quoting de5b at www. destinationsshow.com

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Left: View from Luna Lodge across the Osa Peninsular, courtesy of Lana SES NEWS Wedmore. Above: ses explorer 2014 Ryan Burke AND EVENTS on the trail of Gelada Monkeys Honorary President of the Scientific Exploration in the Ethiopian Society Colonel John Blashford-Snell is leading Highlands. an expedition to the Osa Peninsular of Costa Rica in July 2015. He is recruiting self-funded volunteers to join his team, particularly engineers and helpers for community aid projects. For details, email [email protected] or telephone 01747 853353. Applications for the Scientific Exploration Society Explorer Awards closed on 31 December, and Executive Director Sally Reid and the assessment panel are busy sorting through applications covering a diverse array of science and destinations to be explored. The awards will be presented by Sir Ranulph Fiennes at the Park Tower Hotel in Knightsbridge on Tuesday 5 May. Details of forthcoming Scientific Exploration Society lectures and events, including dates for ‘Exploration at the Frontline’, a collaboration between the SES and the Frontline Club in Paddington highlighting the similarities in risks and challenges faced by journalists, reporters and explorers, can be found at www.ses-explore.org/events.

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 11 Cairo to Constantinople, Queen’s Revisiting Romania: Dress & Gallery, Buckingham Palace Identity, Horniman Museum To 22 February To 6 September In 1862 the future King Edward An exhibition looking at traditional VII, as Prince of Wales, travelled Romanian folk art, from intricately around the Ottoman eastern patterned textiles to colourful Mediterranean for a four-month religious iconography, showcasing educational tour. In his entourage its importance in nascent was photographer Francis Bedford, nationalism in the nineteenth whose photographs form a century and its subsequent fascinating collection showing appropriation by politicians. the streets and people of old Cairo, www.horniman.ac.uk Damascus, Jerusalem and Istanbul. www.royalcollection.co.uk Andy Cave – Miner to Mountaineer: Travels in the and From the Forest to the Sea: Emily Beyond, Bristol University Carr in British Columbia, Dulwich 4 February Picture Gallery Part of the excellent Wilderness To 15 March Lectures season, Andy Cave tells One of Canada’s most celebrated stories of his past as a Yorkshire painters, Emily Carr was born in coalminer, and his subsequent British Columbia in 1871. Over her adventures ascending summits lifetime she was heavily influenced from Alaska to the Alps and the by the indigenous peoples of her Peak District to Patagonia. tours, British hiking, photography homeland, and many of her post- www.wildernesslectures.com and a retail zone selling a wide impressionist and modernist works range of adventure gear. Impressive depict intricately carved totem Marlene Dumas: The Image as guest speakers including James poles, canoes and sacred animals. Burden, Tate Modern Cracknell and Doug Scott, food www.dulwichpicturegallery.co.uk 5 February to 10 May stalls and temporary climbing walls Major exhibition of the South are among other attractions. My Siberian Year, 1914–15, Pitt African painter’s psychologically www.telegraphoutdoorshow.co.uk Rivers Museum, Oxford charged work on themes of To 31 March sexuality, love, death and shame, Ragas Take Centre Stage, A century ago, Oxford academic referencing current affairs, popular Southbank Centre Marie Czaplicka led a joint culture and art history. 26 February Anglo-American expedition to www.tate.org.uk A must-see for lovers of Indian Siberia, travelling almost two classical music, renowned vocalist thousand miles into the interior Telegraph Outdoor Adventure & Shashwati Mandal Paul displays to study the habits of the Evenki Travel Show, ExCeL London her expertise in the khayal, tappa reindeer herders. This exhibition 12 to 15 February and thumri styles, evoking pastoral commemorates the eventful trip A show for those seeking thrills Punjabi scenes and epic Bollywood and its fascinating and varied in far-flung places, the space is romances with her mellifluous discoveries. divided into six zones focusing on melodies. www.prm.ox.ac.uk climbing, watersports, adventure www.southbankcentre.co.uk

in focus... to 23 February POST POP: EAST MEETS WEST, SAATCHI GALLERY Widely regarded as the most significant art movement of the last century, Pop Art exploited identifiable imagery from mass media and everyday life to reflect in a new way on the nature of the world we live in. This exhibition examines the relationship between Western Pop Art and its lesser-known eastern counterparts including Sots Art in the Soviet Union and Political-Pop or Cynical Realism, which has flourished in Greater China since the turn of the twenty-first century. Including over 250 works by 112 artists, this is a vivid jumble of kitsch, commercialism and healthy cynicism from Basquiat to Weiwei via Vitaly Komar. www.saatchigallery.com

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Opposite page: Spoek Mathambo presents Arbutus Tree, 1922 by Fantasma, 100 Club Emily Carr. Courtesy Dulwich Picture 5 March Gallery Post-apartheid South Africa developed a unique style of Afro- ON RELEASE house-hip-hop, kwaito, which has Wild thrived since the 1990s. This is a Reese Witherspoon stars as Cheryl rare opportunity to see the Soweto- Strayed in a Nick Hornby-penned born MOBO nominee perform. adaptation of Strayed’s bestselling www.the100club.co.uk memoir about her 1,100-mile hike across the Pacific Crest Trail as WOW – Women of the World she tries to rebuild her life after Festival 2015, Southbank Centre catastrophic drug addiction, a 5 to 8 March messy divorce and the death of The annual festival celebrates her mother. Directed by Jean-Marc the achievements of women and Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club). girls and considers the obstacles uk release 16 January that prevent them from achieving their potential. With speakers and Trash performers from politics, the arts, Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) directs this delightful tale of three economics, fashion, science, health, teenage boys from a Rio favela who find a wallet among the rubbish sport, business and education. on their local dump and determine to unlock its secret. Assisted by a www.southbankcentre.co.uk disillusioned American missionary (Martin Sheen) and his assistant (Rooney Mara), they evade the corrupt local police and become The Folio Society Lecture: whistleblowers against citywide corruption. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, British uk release 30 January Library 20 March Pelo Malo (Bad Hair) A rare opportunity to hear from the A charming and energetic coming-of-age story about a nine-year-old internationally acclaimed author of boy on a Caracas housing estate obsessed with straightening his Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun stubbornly curly hair, – causing his recently widowed mother anxiety and Americanah. about his sexuality. Writer-director Mariana Rondón (Postcards from www.bl.uk/events Leningrad) tackles gender, race and identity issues with a light touch. Below (left to right): uk release 30 January Malevich – Black Coral Reefs: Secret Cities of the Sea, Square, 1987 Natural History Museum Selma by Alexander 27 March to 13 September Kosolapov. Two David Oyelowo stars as Martin Luther King at a pivotal phase of the Profiles (Stalin and A fabulous interactive experience American civil rights movement when a march across Alamaba to Marilyn), 1989 by exploring the ocean’s most vibrant campaign for voting rights was met by police brutality that gave rise to Leonid Sokov. Great and fragile habitat, including a critical court trial. Eva DuVernay’s film is stark and unflinching in its Criticism: Benetton, live aquariums, large-screen dive 1992 by Wang portrayal of injustice and violence, but uplifting even as it disturbs. Guangyi. simulators and breathtaking uk release 6 February All courtesy underwater photography. Saatchi Gallery. www.nhm.ac.uk to 23 February

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 13 In pictures (above): A freight service passes Liudaojiang village, Jilin. THE SIGHT OF A SNAKING TRAIN WINDING ITS (Right): Passenger way through the landscape, trailing a billowing train crossing the plume of smoke in its wake, is one of the most Hunjiang River en evocative images of the golden olden days, an image route to Wangdou. (Pictures by Gordon tied up in romantic nostalgia and childish excitement. Edgar) In China’s northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin, the age of steam is not so distant. The area, known loosely as Manchuria, saw railways built under the Japanese rulers in the 1930s and ’40s as they sought to maximise the territory’s mineral wealth, and when the railway network rapidly expanded in the 1950s under Mao, cheap coal prices and low labour costs meant that steam remained the technology of choice. The locomotives endured well into the twenty-first century in the resource- rich regions, where timber, coal and other minerals needed to be transported to major regional depots. Diesel has superseded steam on most of the freight lines since 2005, so these images of the trains carving their way through frosty, rugged landscapes provide a glimpse into a remarkably recent past. In spite of the official end of steam, the Jitong Railway operates selected special passenger services for steam enthusiasts, and a sprinkling of locomotives are still engaged in industrial service.

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STEAMING ACROSS MANCHURIA Julian Holland celebrates the surprisingly recent relics of China’s northeastern railways

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Clockwise from far left: A coal train climbs away from Shuangyashan, Heilongjiang All the photographs featured on Province, at these pages are taken from The Tudingshan Times Great Railway Journeys of the village. Crossing World by Julian Holland, published the viaduct by Erdi village, also known in hardback by Times Books, £30. as ‘Happy Valley’. Changlonggang, near Huanan, in the grip of an icy winter. Departing Wanjia Colliery in Sangagli village. (Pictures by Gordon Edgar)

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 17 IT AIN’T WHAT YOU DO… Simon Armitage talks to Amy Sohanpaul about the power of poetry

what poetry was for, or the way and buy the critical notes for. or why it had come about in their “If I think back to when I was lives. If you ask 220 poets to give at school, and that was the time I’M MEETING A POET UNDER I WAS A their definition of poetry, you’ll when I got into poetry, I needed the clock at a railway station, VERY SLEEPY, get 220 different definitions. It to read contemporary poetry, in which sounds like fun, in an old- ALMOST might be that every country gets contemporary language, about fashioned way, but as the station COMATOSE the poetry it needs, or deserves… contemporary issues, to start is Waterloo, is a more pragmatic KID, AND but that was another great thing understanding and enjoying what modern day matter. Simon I WOKE UP about Parnassus, you can get poetry was. And it was through Armitage is bang on the minute THROUGH quite settled about your own contemporary poetry that I ended hand, but with a scant hour to THE POEMS motivations and techniques, so up going backwards into more spare before his train. He’s just OF TED to be put on alert about those, established poetry. What I don’t finished speaking to somegcse HUGHES and to have some of your ideas like is when poetry is used as an students in London and is on his questioned, I think that’s always educational tool to understand way to give a reading in Dorset. useful for any kind of artist.” history, or geography – to me it’s a As we’re in the vicinity, I can’t I ask him whether he thinks the thing in its own right.” help but recall the excitement uk has the poetry it deserves. “I His own inspiration when he that surrounded Poetry Parnassus think it does, in the sense that we was at school was Ted Hughes on the South Bank during the still have this person here called “He was first and foremost. I was a London Olympics. It was a colossal the common reader, who I don’t very sleepy, almost comatose kid and genius concept, curated think exists to the same extent really, and I woke up through those by Armitage, who was poet in in a lot of other English speaking poems. They seemed like primitive residence at the Southbank Centre countries, in which poetry has acts of magic – if he wrote about at the time. At his suggestion become an obscure specialism. an animal I could smell it, I could they invited poets from every My feeling is – and I might just be see it. I didn’t know at that stage participating country to take being naïve, or naïvely optimistic, that I wanted to write, but I knew part in an unprecedented global that there are still people here who that I wanted to read and that poetry gathering, now generally don’t write poetry, and are not poetry would always be a place recognised as the biggest coming specialists in poetry, but if they that I wanted to go to.” together of international poets see a poem they will read it and “My early, first poems were in history. “I don’t know what they will appreciate it and engage sub-Hughes – they were about the specific objectives were,” he with it and maybe talk to other animals, which I had very little says now, “other than to get a lot people about it – Poetry on the experience of, they were about of people together and celebrate Underground is an example, it’s the moors, they were a form of poetry in its different cultures and proved incredibly popular. I think imitation and admiration. Then its different languages, but it was there is, there remains, a public I fell into a style of writing about crazily ambitious.” forum in this country for putting what was in front of me, the life And a logistical nightmare: “The poetry into.” I was living, the place where I politics of individual countries Armitage is indisputably one lived – particularly the place, West made it complex, those countries of the most significant figures Yorkshire. It’s not about living any that don’t allow freedom of in that forum and in our poetic kind of exotic life, it’s about how speech… and poetry is all about present, recipient of numerous you see things, even ordinary freedom of speech. Trying to accolades and prizes for his work things, right in front of you.” get people here who’d offended and awarded the cbe in 2010 for His poem It Ain’t What You Do, regimes… some poets who took services to poetry. He’s passionate It’s What It Does to You expresses part had barely seen their own – not in delivery, in conversation this perfectly: countries, because they’d been he’s as understated as his poetry exiled for what they had said or is surreal, softly spoken and I have not bummed across written. But in the end we had delightfully dry – about how America about 200 poets, and there was poetry is taught in schools. “I think with only a dollar to spare, one such a buzz. Everybody stayed at a the exam boards in this country pair hotel just around the corner from have done something very brave of busted Levi’s and a bowie here so I’m sure that somewhere and positive in the last ten to knife. in the world there are perhaps a fifteen years, which is to include I have lived with thieves in hundred kids all called Parnassus, an increasing number of poets Manchester. of mixed nationality.” who are relatively young. Well, not There were also, inevitably, dead is what I mean by young. And I have not padded through the exchanges of a more intellectual not canonical, people who when Taj Mahal, kind. “Everybody I spoke to pretty they were first included by the barefoot, listening to the space much had a different notion of exam boards, you couldn’t go out between

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cartographic point of view, it’s not to scale, but in terms of invoking the spirit, the nature, the atmosphere, the feel of a place… poetry is particularly good at that.” His prose isn’t bad at painting place either. Walking Home, the account of his journey along the Pennine Way (perversely back to front, or north or south, so he could head towards Marsden, the Yorkshire village where he was born, instead of tackling it the other way round as most people do, with the sun and other, less kind weather at their backs) was a top ten bestseller for week. It’s an acutely observant, amusing and trenchant tale, and brings to life that often sodden, frequently grim and grimly beautiful, but mostly glorious landscape so vividly that the book is as visual as a television programme but with all the nuances of character and mood that only writing can deliver. The chances are that the sort-of sequel, Walking Away, a troubadour’s traverse through Somerset, Devon and Cornwall will do the same, albeit through very different terrain. “On paper they are completely different. One walk was across an uninhabited upland, through terrible weather, the other was at sea level, along the coast through more touristy areas, and in the opposite… well not in the opposite direction, but walking away from home in a region I don’t know that much about. But there were similarities – walking, of course, to walk is to remind yourself of the actual nature of space and time, there is a scale and perspective which you can re-enter by walking each footfall picking up and at the day centre, and stroked In pictures: which you forget – but the other putting down his fat hands. Greenhead thing was meeting strangers and to Knarsdale, its print against the marble reproduced by kind sharing their stories. That’s what floor. But I And I guess that the tightness permission from proved to be the same… the in the throat Walking Home kindness of strangers.” skimmed flat stones across and the tiny cascading Black Moss on a day sensation so still I could hear each set of somewhere inside us are both ripples part of that as they crossed. I felt each sense of something else. That Simon Armitage will be taking stones’ inertia feeling, I mean. part in the Stanfords Travel spend itself against the water; Writers’ Festival at Destinations: then sink. That might seem more about The Holiday & Travel Show, internal journeys and slightly anti- Olympia London (29 January to I have not toyed with a travel, on the surface of it, but like 1 February 2015). See Noticeboard parachute chord travel, the poem presents a different (pp 10-11) for details and to claim while perched on the lip of a way of seeing the world. And in your complimentary ticket. light-aircraft; fact, Armitage says he finds poetry Walking Home is published by but I held the wobbly head of particularly suited to expressing Faber, who publish Walking Away a boy place. “It might not be useful from a in June (www.faber.co.uk).

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 19 Home fires burning

DUBLIN WAS THE CITY OF MY EARLY CHILDHOOD winters. I lived there until the age of eleven through seasons where the air smelled of coal fires and hops roasting in the Guinness Brewery. The character of the city changed dramatically with the onset of shorter days. It became the city of Joyce, all shadowy possibility behind its respectable facades, haunted by the whispers of its contested histories. Or so it seemed to a BBC Special boy who already read and dreamed too much. Correspondent I remember on a December day going to see the Fergal Keane Martello Tower at Sandycove where Joyce set the recalls winters opening scene of Ulysses and from where you can see past the strand at Clontarf where Brian Boru defeated an army of Vikings and Irish but was killed in the process. Words and deeds, old glories and stories endlessly re-told when the winter nights drew in. When my father said that Brian’s death ruined the chance of there ever being a High King of Ireland he seemed to take it as a personal loss. I am sure that most of our winter days in Dublin were grey and rainy or at least threatened by rain. But in memory I see none of this only a picture of a blazing red sky across Dublin bay and the lights coming on in the far-flung suburbs. If you didn’t make your peace with winter in Ireland you were doomed. There was a lot of winter. The chief joy of the season was our escape during school holidays to relatives in Cork and Kerry. As a child I remember once becoming lost in a bog in the middle of winter. I was with my parents, returning from my father’s home town in North Kerry, a place that was, for me, suffused with mystery. I look back now from a distance of more than forty years and try to conjure that world, a middle-aged man not entirely at ease with the present but too far from the past for it to seem entirely real. Can it really be that there was a world where I watched farmers taking milk to the creamery by donkey and cart on the frost-painted roads of the dawn? Or that I helped to hand-milk cattle on my cousin Willie Purtill’s farm, transfixed by the breath of the cows as In winter the Atlantic gales sweep brine across it formed a fog in the cramped barn. Such were the Lisselton where my grandmother was born, across winters of rural Kerry in the 1960s. Cnoc on Oir (the Golden Mountain where, legend has But back to the bog. The landscape of North Kerry is it, Fionn MacCool fought the King of the World) and all made up of bogland, pasture and mountains, traversed the way to Listowel, the market town where the Keanes by the River Feale. My uncle, John B. Keane, one of settled after migrating first from Tyrone in the north Ireland’s most celebrated playwrights, wrote a tender and then along the wild Atlantic coast of Clare. love poem set beside the river. In winter it is a country for hardy people. We became lost in the bog late one night returning from a party All over Feale River the shadows are falling, at the Purtill’s farm. I think my father was seized of the And deep in Shanowen the vixen is calling, notion that it would be nice to drive home by a wilder The sweet night is young love, the night is forever, Illustration by route. There was no drama when we got lost but I was And shadows are falling all over Feale River. Luke Walwyn enchanted. I remember only the sound of Moorhens

20 traveller vol 45• no1 • 2015 myfergal world keane

calling and in the distance the sound of the Atlantic. My In this part of the country there had been electric father told a ghost story until we begged him to stop, light for just over a decade. The winter nights half delighted and half terrified. lent themselves to storytelling around a large My father’s people were storytellers, masters of the WE BECAME open fire in the shadow of oil lamps. That world tall tale told with conviction and small but significant LOST IN has gone forever. Regret is pointless. I am glad to slivers of truth. So when he told us that you could THE BOG have known that life and to have spanned such hear the sound of Elizabethan cavalry racing across ONE NIGHT different worlds, from storytellers to the age of the fields in the night he was summoning up the real RETURNING Twitter. My winters nowadays are more comfortable. events of the Desmond Rebellion of the late sixteenth FROM A Gone are the draughty rooms of childhood, the century. Or when he spoke of an English soldier who PARTY. I WAS freezing journeys to the coal shed, the flickering haunted the bedrooms of my grandmother’s house ENCHANTED lights of the train carriages rolling south. But it was a reference to a policeman murdered in the I see it, smell it, hear it and feel it still, the Troubles of 1919–22 by the ira. returning season of the past.

vol 45• no1 • 2015 traveller 21 Kevin Pilley finds an embarrassment of riches in ancient Sicily J’ACCUSE SYRACUSE

THE PIAZZA DUOMO IS THE PLACE to dunk. Surrounded by Baroque showpiece masterpieces, Tina showed me how to dip my brioche in my granita. Tina Santacroce studied Behavioural Sciences at Melbourne’s Lafogue University before emigrating with her Sicilian husband Tino 33 years ago. She now runs the Caffe Minerva in the heart of Ortigia island, on the east coast of Sicily. Granita is a carbo-loaded lemon, strawberry, almond and coffee foamy slush –and a signature Syracusan energy drink. Tina recommends it. Because she knows it helps. It sets you up for a seafront stroll beside the Ionian or a giretto around the 2,700-year-old city. Syracuse (or Siracusa) was the most important city of Magna Graecia, and defeated the mighty in 413 bc. The very quotable Cicero thought it ‘The greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all’. TripAdvisor contributors concur. In the heart of the Città Vecchia, at a table outside the Minerva, opposite the 4-star Antico Hotel Roma 1880 (which offers free international calls and the best squid spaghetti in town) and the fifth-century Greek temple that

22 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 portraitsyracuse of a city

You need at least two granitas alone to walk through the city’s morning market on Via de Benedictis near the Greek Doric temple of Apollo. There you’re greeted by piles upon piles of saffron-flavoured Piacentinu cheese, basketfuls of finocchio (fennel), amaranth grains and pistachio as well as cured meats, unfeasibly large aubergines, ridiculously healthy-looking lemons, cassata sweets and fichi d’India (prickly pears). And slab after slab of fish, fresh from the Med. Provola cheese bulbs dangle everywhere. You dodge barrowboys, and give way to porters hernia-ising themselves carrying haunches of meat. You’re pursued by fisarmonica players playing the theme from The Godfather. In Sicily it’s hard to became a cathedral in Byzantine In pictures, escape Harry Connick Jr. It tests times – chez Tina is the best place clockwise from your accordion threshold. left: Palazzo to soak up Syracuse. Beneventano del Syracuse is a city of And the Pallazo del Senato, Bosco, Syracuse. catacombs, well-preserved Santa Lucia all Badia, the Palazzo Byzantine underground passages, basilicas, Beneventano del Bosco and all the residence in the medieval episcopal palaces, Gagni statues. And all the Doric Sicilian hinterland. sepulchres, naves, marble, Syracuse fishing columns. And nun’s choirs. And neighbourhood. majolica pavements, polished lace stonework. Former convents. flagstones, fountains, vast altars, And honeyed brickwork. statues, crypts, tombs, caskets, And that’s before you get up seventeenth-century rotondas, from your seat. sixth-century Capuchin friar- You need fuel in the form of inspired gardens, a sprinkling of Tina’s recommended sugar rush Gothic and Norman stuff too, and to wander Syracuse, although it’s a lot of Baroqued post-earthquake only one square kilometre. pallazi.

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walk through town. At 6.30 am. The dogs are better dressed than their owners. And pose and YOUNG smoke less. COUPLES And you know there’s more. KISS AND So much you can miss. CUDDLE Like the papyrus museum. AND THE And the Archimedes Museum. OLDER SWING And the Archimides pizzeria. HANDS. A And the hole-in-wall trattorias UNICYCLIST offering the best Sicilian VEERS PAST, wine. And the best zammu IPHONE (aniseed water) you ever tatsed. PRESSED INTO And then there’s the Castella HIS EAR Maniace. If you like your Swabian period. Thirteenth-century and bespoke. Custom-made for Emperor Frederick (number two). And the gallery of Palazzo Bellomo with another Annunciatio. So more art. And the Guidecca – Syracuse’s Jewish quarter before the expulsion of 1492. And the house of Mario Minniti, a long-suffering mate of the loony Caravaggio. And you go back to Tina and admit it’s all too much. And she gives you a toastie. And a beer. And she agrees: You can’t take it all in. You can’t metabolise Syracuse. Left: Daylight And you ask what I have streams into missed? Are there any facades I Syracuse Cathedral. Below: Fountain of have overlooked? Artemis, Ortigia, And the answer comes in the at night. form of a lovely and so-happy- to-see-Syracuse-at-last-because- The Archaeological Park, a we’ve-always-wanted-to half-hour bus ride away, has a American couple. Roman amphitheatre, the Ear The male asks: “Where are of Dionysius (a 20-metre-high arch you from?” carved out of the rock face and And you say, trying to catch named by Caravaggio in 1608), Tina’s eye for a top-up, “Guess.” latomie (stone quarries) full of And he says: “You gotta give flora, and the largest Greek theatre me more info than that, buddy.” in the Greco-Med world, where To which you have to say, in the you can fulfil yourself by quoting plainest English, “Put it this way. Aeschylus (even if you are unsure I’m not American. Or Canadian. of the spelling or pronunciation Or Californian.” of his name). And then, after considering and Or you can go low-brow and studying you, he hazards: “France!” low-rent and admire a great sign And you say, “Close.” at the tacky bus station: ‘Souvenir And then his wife, who knows Toilet Bar’. not-very-broad shoulders. And her geography and accents and Outside of town you have the young couples kiss and cuddle. pallor and is not a philistine by Euryalus Castle (the largest And the older swing hands. And any means, says: “Spain.” surviving castle of the Greek a unicyclist veers past them, his In the plainest of English again, period, built between 402 and 397 iPhone pressed into his ear. you say humanely, “Actually, I’m bc), and the Vendicari marshlands. And then? Food. Four courses. from Wales.” With birds (in season). Then you may wake early. They stare at you. You return – if the bus driver And smell the ancient but still “We ain’t got anything like remembers the route and turns working sewers and the Vespa Syracuse back home. Have you? In up – to watch the promenaders. exhaust. And hear the angry Wales?” The ladies looking lovely and going-to-work horns. And look And I shake my head. And the men thinking they should down from your balcony and admit, “Hardly.” look lovely with their cashmere witness the dog promenade. And Tina kindly puts sweaters draped chicly over their The locals take their dogs for a another beer before me.

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WHEN TO GO The best time to visit is from RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MED May to October, when average temperatures are well into the GETTING THERE, STAYING THERE, BEING THERE 20s. May to July also sees plays performed at the Ancient Greek amphitheatre. For those keen on skiing, the coldest months of January and February will see the deepest snows on Mount Etna; this time of year on the coast can still be pleasant if the sun is out.

HOW TO GET THERE The nearest airport is Catania, less than an hour north of Syracuse. Direct flights here are run by easyJet all year round, while British Airways and Norwegian offer a summer service. Plans are afoot to build a road bridge across on the site of the former Temple of the Strait of Messina, but these are Athena, while the Temple of Apollo continually stalled. and the Arethuse fountain are other significant Greek survivors. WHERE TO STAY One of the three short bridges des étrangers hotel & spa, linking Ortigia to the mainland syracuse takes you to an archaeological park, This magnificent 5-star hotel is home to one of the largest Greek housed in a baroque building amphitheatres ever built, which is overlooking the waterfront of still used for theatrical productions. Ortigia. Elegant rooms with high After Syracuse, head south to ceilings, Italic balconies and a roof Noto, another unesco heritage bar and terrace with amazing town and a classic example of views over the Mediterranean all Sicilian baroque architecture. add to the charm. The original town was destroyed hotel antico roma 1880, by an earthquake in 1693, and was syracuse rebuilt in the contemporary fashion Flanked by the Archbishop’s with flamboyant stonework and Palace, the Cathedral and streets laid out in a grid pattern. overlooking Piazza Minerva, this To the south of Noto is an old hotel is located at the heart of SUGGESTED HIGHLIGHTS Roman villa, Tellaro, home to some historic Ortigia. Rooms are cosy Just a few hours from London, beautiful mosaics. and modern with views out over Syracuse is a perfect destination Continuing westwards will crumbling rooftops, while guests IN A WORD for a weekend city break, but it’s bring you to Modica, another town may dine al fresco in the piazza, well worth extending your trip to completely rebuilt in the baroque watching the world go by. Campanilismo explore southeastern Sicily. style following the earthquake, relais antica badia, ragusa (Italian) Beginning in Syracuse, the but more famous for its chocolate, This eighteenth-century building Local pride, island of Ortigia forms the ancient said to be based on the original in the old town in typical baroque attachment centre of the city. Separated Aztec recipe for xocoatl. Just north, style boasts an array of unique to the vicinity from the mainland by a narrow straddling a hilltop, lies Ragusa, and opulent rooms, complete (literally, ‘bell- channel, Ortigia is the extension another stunning example of with chandeliers, Persian carpets, towerism’ of a headland that curves from the baroque architecture and well decorated ceilings and luxurious north into the Golfo di Siracusa, worth a visit – particularly for fans beds. Indoor and outdoor dining forming a natural harbour where of Inspector Montalbano as the

options are available as well as a Word by Adam Jacot Greek settlers first founded a series was filmed in Ragusa and welcoming spa. de Boinod, author of colony in the eighth century bc. The the surrounding towns of Scicli de stefano palace, ragusa The Meaning of Tingo eighteenth-century cathedral is and Punta Seca. Another fine example of the modern meeting the historical: spacious rooms with contemporary furniture and styling located in an expertly wexas Italy specialist Lisa Ayling recently visited Sicily and restored palazzo, where Syracuse and fell in love with Des Étrangers Hotel & Spa, its nineteenth-century frescos look cuisine and location. To discuss your Italy travel plans with Lisa or down at you from the ceilings. A another of our Europe specialists please call 020 7838 5958. wellness centre and a few hidden For more holiday ideas visit the new Top 50 Europe guide at patios and balconies also await. www.wexas.com/top50europe

24 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 Caption style is in here and will look like this. We can have as much or as little as is needed style is in here and will look like this. We can have as much or as little as is needed style is in here and will look like this. We can have as much or as little as is needed The Other Side of Thailand

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THIS WOULD BE PULL QUOTE TEXT THIS WOULD BE PULL QUOTE TEXT THIS WOULD BE PULL QUOTE TEXT THIS WOULD Alex Robinson heads south to discover secret spots and hidden BE PULL The Other Side pleasures. Pictures by the author QUOTE TEXT of Thailand

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 27 FOLDS OF EMERALD GREEN IT WAS IN past that glorious view and into the holiest and most opulent Buddhist mountains stretched before me to NAKHON SI heart of Khao Luang National Park. temples. And I joined a brightly- a misty-blue horizon. A line of trees THAMMARAT My journey to southern Thailand coloured parade of dancers, drum stood silhouetted against the sky, THAT A had begun with a bet in a London orchestras, blackened demons and high on a distant ridge. Below them GROUP OF pub. I was lamenting the lack of beauty queens on flower-covered was a wisp of falling water, which STUDENTS unspoilt country in Thailand’s once floats, as they celebrated the dropped into a pool, spilled over and TOLD ME beautiful south. festival of the Tenth Lunar month fell again into the forest. In the eerie ABOUT “It’s all tourists, tacky hotels under a baking November sun. stillness of the tropical air, I could WILD AND and spa resorts,” I proclaimed It was in Nakhon Si Thammarat just make out the far-off sound of UNTAMED pompously. “I won’t go there that a group of university students its cascade. KHAO LUANG anymore. I like to travel away from told me about Khao Luang. It was “A Chinese painting in motion,” the crowds.” one of the most beautiful stretches I thought, drifting into a Taoist As I rambled on about Smaui and of rainforest in Asia they said – so reverie. “Ripples, following ripples, Koh Phi Phi’s glory days, my Thai wild and untamed that tiger and fast or slow – the same yet not the friend giggled. I was wrong, she forest elephant still roamed its same…” said. Southern Thailand was empty. steep valleys and high ridges. “Tigerly!!” “Take the train from Bangkok to Bau and I reached the crest of A cry shattered the silence and Trang,” she said, “Get off anywhere our ridge and made camp by a sent my head spinning round, you like.” rushing stream in a forest glade scowling – at Bau who was So I did. And I hadn’t seen a coloured with dozens of creamy shouting at me from further down tourist since. I began in the royal orchids. I slept uneasily, dreaming the path. And gesticulating. retreat of Phetchaburi, set in hills of tigers. And tiger leeches. I woke What did he want? How could he pocked with effigy-filled caves repeatedly – at a rustle in the destroy this Zen-like moment? Did and steepled with Khmer-style undergrowth or a strange whirr the man have no poetic feeling? temples decorated with fang- or chirrup in the pitch black of “Tigerly?” the guide shouted toothed demons in stucco and the forest night. again, and rushed towards me, serene, gilt buddhas. A grand palace By the time we returned to deftly skipping over the buttress built by Rama IV sat sentinel on Nakhon late the following morning, root of a huge rainforest tree. He a rocky hill in the centre of the I was ready for some soothing was pointing at my lower neck. city. It was here that the English sun and sand. So I climbed back I ran my hand over the spot. It was schoolteacher Anna Leonowens on the train for the Andaman wet, sticky, and yeuch… bright red. taught the royal progeny English. coast in Trang and a boat to My God, I was bleeding! What I imagined her looking out over one of Thailand’s least-known was wrong with me? Ebola? No, the rainforest-covered hills that archipelagos. I saw just a handful I’m in Thailand. Haemorrhagic surround Phetchaburi and thinking of intrepid German backpackers fever, then? Vampire bats? Zen-like of her own daughter Avis – far from on my crossing from the mainland calm turned to panic. I felt faint. I Siam in an English boarding school to cliff-cragged Koh Muk island. And was miles from anywhere. I could – estranged from her mother by the they were sitting on crates of milk die out here in this godforsaken very job that paid for her education. destined for the island school. wilderness! From Phetchaburi I caught My beach villa at the Koh Muk “Tiger-ly!!” said Bau more softly, the train south to the capital of Sivalai sat right over the sand smiling. By now he was right next southern Thailand – Nakhon Si – with a magnificent view of to me. He brushed his hand over my Thammarat – founded as the limestone peaks and turquoise sea. dripping neck and plucked off what ancient capital of the seventh- I looked north to an empty horizon. In pictures looked like a fat, brown worm. (previous pages): century Tambralinga kingdom, An hour’s boat ride would bring Tiger-lee. Tiger leech. And it was Fishing boats which dominated much of the me to the beach bars of Ao Nang gorged with blood. moored off the Malay peninsula and traded with in Krabi – where tourists cram the Bau plugged the miniscule coast of Trang India and Tang-dynasty China. sand and aquamarine bays buzz wound with a piece of cotton province. Right: The city was steeped in history with long-tail boats. Here all was Khmer-style wool from the first-aid tin as my prang or stupa and littered with magnificent peace and stillness. And I thought blanched face quickly turned red. in the Mahathat monuments. I watched classical again of those lines from Edwin He handed me water, slapped Worawihan temple Thai dance performed under the Arnold: “Ripples following ripples, me on the back to ease my in Phetchaburi. crumbling old city walls and a fast or slow – / The same yet not Overleaf: Long- discombobulation. I recovered my tailed boat on a canopy of shimmering stars, and the same – from far-off fountain / composure, grinned apologetically deserted beach wandered round the giant chedi at To where its waters flow / Into and we set off again up the path – near Koh Muk. Wat Mahathat – one of Thailand’s the seas…”

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vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 31 travellerthailand facts

WHEN TO GO The hottest, driest period runs BANGKOK AND THE SOUTHERN TRAIL from March to May. Between May and October, Thailand is hit GETTING THERE, STAYING THERE, BEING THERE by monsoons coming from the southwest – however, the rains typically fall only for a few hours, so the majority of the time is still warm and sunny. November to February sees cooler temperatures and peak visitor numbers.

HOW TO GET THERE Thai Airways, British Airways and eva Air fly direct to Bangkok, with multiple domestic connections available through Thai, Bangkok Air and Air Asia. Emirates and Etihad offer flights into Phuket via Dubai and Doha. the famous bridge at Kanchanaburi WHERE TO STAY and other poignant war sites. Quiet anantara riverside bangkok contemplation is assured as you An oasis of tranquility in the witness spectacular waterfalls, middle of the bustling city. Set springs and gorges, riverside cave away from the markets, traffic and temples and inland temple ruins. noise and surrounded by tropical No trip to Thailand is complete gardens, the Antara has the feel of without an elephant experience, a remote luxury retreat. and great options exist in the south, sukhothai bangkok notably in Khao Sok National Park. Close to the business and At Elephant Hills Camp, you can entertainment district, the get up close to the residents of the Sukhothai offers a superb designer elephant sanctuary, learn the ways platform from which to experience of the mahouts, feed and bathe the modern Bangkok. The Celadon animals, and follow jungle trails to restaurant is one of the city’s best watch for wild elephants, rare Asian for traditional Thai cuisine. ox, gibbons, macaques and leaf anantara si kao, trang monkeys, a dazzling array of birdlife, Set on a private beach overlooking even tigers and leopards. dramatic limestone islets, local Elephant Hills’ Rainforest Camp excursions include fabulous SUGGESTED HIGHLIGHTS on Cheow Larn Lake is the perfect beaches and islands, waterfalls Bangkok is a buzzing metropolis base for a jungle safari combining and a countryside Buddha Trail of with plenty going on, so if this is canoe trips on the lake and its temples and caves. IN A WORD your entry point, take some time river channels with treks through pimalai, koh lanta to visit its floating markets and primary rainforest unchanged A luxury beach resort away from Pran pran intricate network of canals, which in thousands of years.After a day the typical buzz of the standard (Thai) teem with gondolas crammed with exploring, enjoy night safaris, Thai shoreline, offering excellent The sound of produce hawked by locals in wide- dance performances and cooking island, diving and snorkelling elephants brimmed straw hats. The city is also demonstrations. excursions and a variety of local home to some of Thailand’s most If flying in and out ofPhuket , you coastal treks. famous temples, including Wat may wish to add a beach resort rayavadee, krabi Pho, home to the Reclining Budda, stay at the end of your trip. Phuket Set amongst sheer limestone cliffs and Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of is known for its lively nightlife, but on the edge of Krabi’s National the Emerald Buddha. there are numerous quiet gems

Marine Park, Rayavadee is only Word by Adam Jacot Before you head south, consider with private beaches, sundecks and accessible by boat. Excursions de Boinod, author of a 4-day cruise on the River Kwai dipping pools that won’t interrupt include boat trips to outlying The Meaning of Tingo including land excursions to visit your off-the-beaten-track repose. islands and kayaking among the mangroves. elephant hills camp Thailand’s first luxury tented camp in Khao Sok National Park offers wexas Thailand specialist Alex Brossler has travelled extensively a wide range of jungle activities. in Thailand, taking in many of the islands and national parks of Be sure to spend at least one the south. To discuss your tailor-made Thailand travel plans with Alex or night in a luxury floating tent at another Asia specialist please call 020 7838 5958. the Rainforest Camp on the calm For more information and a wide range of holiday itineraries visit waters of Cheow Larn Lake. www.wexas.com/holidays/asia/thailand

30 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 WHATFreddie Reynolds refrains from swimming in Slovenia. LIES Pictures by the author BENEATH

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THE RAIN WAS HARD, SUDDEN. THUNDER SNAPPED loud and close and it reminded us that we were up so high that the electricity was around us, not just above us. Large drops in straight downward lines, not swirling but smacking, and the hard stone floor was liquid. No steam or wind. More thunder. Echoing sounds of a quarry. We sat on a wooden bench beneath the wide eaves of the hut and drew our feet in. “It will be short,” said a man with thinning hair leaning against the frame of an open door. “Over soon.” He was the owner of the hut and so spent most of the year up in the mountains, reading the weather. His gaze fell towards the ground: “Look!” he said. A toad, big enough to fill your palm, was climbing from a grating cut into the ground, out into the rain. Its head was raised, eyes wide and staring upwards, its pot belly resting on the grille and its fingers at the end of skinny arms trying to grip the metal. It blinked only when water hit its eyes, which was often. The hut owner took a seat at the end of the bench and the two of us shifted up and we all watched the toad. Occasionally one of us would laugh and it would echo down the line. It took a while for the excitement to drain. The rain continued. “Can you tell us about the lake?” I asked. The lake was in the next valley, a short walk from the hut, high on a pass near the white summit of Krn (2,244m), which is isolated from the other high peaks of the Julian Alps. From Krn you can see Triglav (2,864m) and the Adriatic. You could imagine Slovenia (“We’re not Balkan,” “We’re nostalgic for Tito,” “F*ck the Euro,” “Climbed Triglav?” “Of course. I am Slovenian,” “I am Slovenian, don’t talk to me about that mountain.”) in its many manipulations.

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 33 The lake lay in a bowl of summits that pushed at your back like night around a bonfire. We had just been there (returning as the clouds rushed in) and sat for a while and traced the edge of it, a thick blue darkness ringed by algae-green shallows. White scree piled in at the eastern shore, held by small tight- wound bushes and dotted with yellow or purple or sky-blue or red or red-and-white or brilliant white wild flowers. Other walkers came and stayed, sitting on the rocks dangling their legs or stretching out on the grassy beach at the northern edge. You could walk across the scree, and there a group of German hikers stopped by the water and took pictures and then just sat and looked with the rest of us. An eagle overhead. Blue dragonflies. Bugs in the grass. Hundreds of fish, similar shape and size, head into the shallows, looking like reeds all waving in the same direction and every so often jumping randomly, one or two kamikaze to the sky, bodies like straight dead floats (and how did they get here?). A ‘No Swimming’ sign. Thunder. Another toad pushed its bulk through the grate and the three of us sat and smiled in silence. “It’s the most beautiful lake,” the hut owner said finally and we agreed. “We really wanted to swim,” I said. “You can’t.” Yes, the sign. “Why?” we asked. “Just below the surface lie old munitions, barbed

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wire. Remnants from the First World War,” he said. milky. It sank into the valleys and clung to the pine The rain stopped. The toads prised themselves trees. My beard became damp. from the grate and hopped towards the trees and “The weather will be good today,” said the hut man the man lowered his voice, stretched an arm out THE MAN as we left. We’d been worried about the thunder. onto the table in front of us and patted the wood. LOWERED Lightning kills on mountaintops. “Blue sky,” he said. “This was a violent front,” he said. “This was a HIS VOICE. And so we left the lake behind, walked past a goat violent place.” ‘THIS WAS shelter where the animals bunched up beneath a Yesterday, we told him, we were in the Soca valley, A VIOLENT sloping roof on white rock and mud-caked ground. walking along from Trenta, where we’d camped FRONT,’ Behind the shelter was a whitewashed building with a in the green shadows of mountains we were now HE SAID. steeply pitched roof and white curtains in the window. among. You could drink the water from mossy ‘A VIOLENT A farmer in blue overalls walked past us with a collie springs. You could climb down into the riverbed PLACE.’ dog. He was covered in goat shit. and pick up white stones and throw them into the “Dober dan,” we said. stream and the current would carry the ripples away. A few miles on we came across a scattering of The water was clear, innocent. stone structures, each one with thick and pointed And now here. Kicking legs snagged on century-old walls, roofless. One was larger than the others, a long wire. mansion two storeys high, its symmetrical windows We had no idea, we said. blown out, stones littered around it. “Many people died,” he said. “And for what?” Previous pages: The fog was lifting and the blue was deep and He pointed through the door and into the hut. Morning in the swimmable. Sunshine shone through the open We leaned and followed his finger. Rusted bullets, mountains, 1,500 ceilings, illuminating piles of rusted barbed wire. helmets, badges and knotted clumps of metal sat metres up. Couldn’t be the farmers: no need. These pages (left on a shelf above the boot rack. “Found when we built to right): Old wood We looked back, over the high passes, down again the hut in 1984,” he said. “Dig a little down…” shed, near the River into the place where the taller pines grew and the We sat outside until the light was gone and it was Soca in the Trenta farmer stank and the toad waited for the afternoon’s very cold and when we left the hut early next morning Valley. Looking rain and we watched as three deer strayed into a south across the we were in thick jumpers and hats. We were heading Kensko Jezero, near puddle of sunlight. Their amber fur was barely visible towards Bohinj, which was somewhere to the east of the Krn summit in against the yellow grass and their black eyes us, several hours away. The morning fog was thick, the Julian Alps. were full and they shone, harbouring, concealing.

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WHEN TO GO Much like northern Italy, the ANOTHER SIDE OF THE ALPS Slovenian climate is temperate, with fine weather from May to GETTING THERE, STAYING THERE, BEING THERE September, and the peak holiday season running from June to August. Alpine regions experience heavy snowfall in winter, ideal for sports enthusiasts.

HOW TO GET THERE Direct flights operate daily from Stansted to Ljubljana with easyJet. Alternative routes into the country include flying with British Airways into Zagreb or Venice, both a short drive from the border.

WHERE TO STAY grand hotel toplice, lake bled With a pedigree dating back over From the capital, head northwest 150 years, the Grand Hotel Toplice to the Triglav National Park, remains one of Slovenia’s most where sublime mountain scenery renowned hotels. Beginning as a abounds. Many of the views spa hotel for visitors to the nearby will remind you of , thermal springs, the attractive although the beauty of Slovenia ivy-covered lakeside building is is that the crowds tend not to be perfectly placed to capture the so swollen, and visitors have more healing serenity of the area, with a peace and quiet in which to enjoy modern wellness centre bringing the scenery. Perhaps the most the ethos up-to-date. famous sight in all of Slovenia is hotel grad otoˇcec, otoˇcec Lake Bled, a stunning lake ringed A picturesque castle, complete by mountains, overlooked from a with limestone walls dating clifftop by a fairytale castle and to the thirteenth century and with a small island at its centre that circular towers with conical red- is home to a seventeenth-century tiled roofs. Located on a leafy church. Another lake, Bohinj, eyot in the middle of the Krka provides equally beautiful views of river, this is one of Europe’s truly the surrounding mountains, which special hotels, with rooms full of reflect perfectly in its glassy waters. historic opulence. SUGGESTED HIGHLIGHTS The final region of Slovenia to bohinj park eco, bohinj The principle sights of Slovenia visit is the Adriatic coast, home Found at the entrance to the revolve around three main themes: to relaxing Mediterranean Triglav National Park, the only IN A WORD picturesque historic towns, Alpine beaches, and attractive coastal such park in Slovenia, the Bohinj mountains and lakes, and surreal towns such as Portoroˇz and Piran is a 5-star eco hotel which chimes Razzvrkljati karst landscapes, and a break here which resemble the more noted perfectly with the conservationist (Slovenian) should encompass all pretty easily. Dubrovnik and Hvar further down nature of its surroundings. Preparing the Most travellers begin in the the coast. In the karst region, be The architecture and décor is egg for baking capital Ljubljana, where it is worth sure to visit some of Europe’s best unashamedly modern, and an spending a few days soaking in the cave systems, vast underground array of facilities are available on delightful ambience. A climb up to galleries such as Postojna, Skocjanˇ site, although the main attractions the medieval castle that overlooks and Kriˇzna Jama. lie in the gorgeous mountains the city is rewarded by a view of As Slovenia is so small, it’s a great visible from the hotel. the sublime snowcapped Alps, as idea to combine a trip here with its

alpine wellness resort ˇspik, Word by Adam Jacot well as the squares and red roofs of neighbours. , Croatia, Italy kranjska gora de Boinod, author of the old town that line the winding and Bosnia-Hercegovina are all The medieval town of Kranjska The Meaning of Tingo Ljubljanica river. within short drives. Gora, with its charming street scenes and a typical Alpine backdrop of meadows and mountains, is sandwiched in a gully separating the Julian Alps wexas Europe specialist Becky Davis recommends combining and the Austrian border. Boasting Slovenia with Croatia, Austria or Italy for a multi-country itinerary spectacular views, this resort featuring mountains, cities and beaches. To discuss your travel plans makes a great base whether with Lisa or another of our Europe specialists please call 020 7838 5958. you’re planning a winter skiing or For more holiday ideas visit the new Top 50 Europe guide at summer hiking holiday. www.wexas.com/top50europe

36 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 38 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 visionscolombia

Tropical Tango Words and pictures by Francesco Lastrucci

POPULAR MUSIC HAS ALWAYS BEEN AT THE forefront of Medellín’s lively popular culture, in which Argentinian tango has an important place. In fact, Medellín’s first appearance in international headlines was because of the tango. Carlos Gardel, the most famous tango star who ever lived, died in a tragic plane crash at the local airport in 1935, when he was at the peak of his career. The event became the cornerstone of a powerful myth that nourishes Medellín society’s enthusiastic adoption of tango culture. Local writers elaborated and strengthened connections between the city and the Rio de la Plata, birthplace of the tango, and Medellín now has the strongest tango culture outside of Buenos Aires. A picture of Gardel can be found on the walls of almost every tango club in Medellín, but his ghost is in good company. Tango is everywhere: in restaurants, corner shops, smoky pool halls in gritty neighbourhoods, and even young people join in the celebration of dance and song.

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THIS WOULD BE CAPTION TEXT CAPTIONS FOR PICTURES THIS WOULD BE CAPTION

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WHEN TO GO Columbia’s dry seasons occur from COLOMBIA UP CLOSE December to March and July to August, and are the most pleasant GETTING THERE, STAYING THERE, BEING THERE times to visit as more festivals and fiestas take place. National holidays around Christmas and Easter are best avoided, and Colombians also tend to go on holiday from mid- June to mid-July, so beaches will be busier at these times.

HOW TO GET THERE Avianca fly directly from Heathrow to Bogotá four times a week. American Airlines and United offer routes to Bogotá, Medellín & Cali via the usa, while Air France, klm, Iberia and Lufthansa all fly to Colombia via their European hubs. conquistadores inspired by stories of WHERE TO STAY the legendary El Dorado ceremony, sofitel legend santa clara, in which Muisca chiefs assumed cartagena power via rich offerings to the gods. Set in a restored colonial convent, From Bogotá, travel west to the Sofitel blends seamlessly with Pereira and coffee country. Coca the historic old town of Cartagena, aside, coffee is Colombia’s best- offering spacious rooms with high known agricultural export, and ceilings and classy period décor as well as sampling the delicious and first-class modern amenities. beans you’ll want to explore historic hotel boutique anandá, fincas and haciendas and enjoy the cartagena hiking trails and nature walks of El The Anandá is located in a Cedral eco-park. sixteenth-century house in the After Pereira, travel north to heart of Cartagena’s colonial Medellín, Colombia’s second city, centre, a warren of colourfully which is at the forefront of modern painted houses and picturesque Colombian culture. Modern squares perfect for eating out. architecture and art abound here. The hotel itself boasts a fantastic The city is set in an Andean valley restaurant with opportunities for and mountain views are ubiquitous. rooftop dining and sea views. SUGGESTED HIGHLIGHTS After the Andes, it is time for the sazagua hotel boutique, Despite its recent rocky reputation, Caribbean, beginning with the pereira Colombia has long been coastal colonial gem of Cartagena. The Sazagua offers visitors an IN A WORD recommended by travellers in The walled city is well worth a few ideal opportunity to explore the the know, enticed by its charming days’ stay, wandering streets packed hiking trails and coffee estates in Tragado como colonial towns, mysterious jungles with multi-coloured baroque the Andean foothills. Rooms are media de cartero and remote Caribbean beaches. houses and reliving tales of pirates large and decoration rustic, with a (Colombian Now is a good time to visit, as plundering along the Spanish Main. Bohemian twist. Spanish) the wider world wakes up to the Boat trips to the stunning Islas de sofitel victoria regia, bogotá Hopelessly in country’s potential. Rosario are not to be missed. Found in the upmarket La Cabrera love (literally, Colombian adventures typically If the history of Cartagena is district, the Victoria Regia has cosy, devoured like a begin in the capital, Bogotá, and not enough, the town of Santa contemporary rooms painted in postman’s sock) you should allow a day or two to Marta near the Venezuelan border bold colours that reflect typical acclimatise and visit the city’s is the oldest in the country and the

Colombian architecture. A spa and Word by Adam Jacot best museums, in particular gateway to the coastline of Tayrona gym add to the get-away feel. de Boinod, author of the Gold Museum. The precious National Park, with its unspoilt ecohabs tayrona The Meaning of Tingo metal was a major motivation for beaches and spectacular wildlife. The Tayrona National Park comprises a stunning stretch of Caribbean coastline fringed by jungle, and here you can stay in eco-friendly accommodation. The wexas South America specialist Rachel Mostyn recently Ecohabs are a range of private visited Bogotá, the Coffee Triangle and Cartagena, adding a bungalows situated along a Rosario Islands excursion. To discuss our Complete Colombia itinerary gorgeous beach, built in traditional or other Colombia travel plans with Rachel or another South America style with palm-thatched roofs specialist please call 020 7838 5958. For more information and ideas visit that blend into the leafy backdrop. www.wexas.com/holidays/south-america/colombia

44 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 46 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 inspirationsmatterhorn

After first reading Whymper’s account, I was sold on adventure and attracted by the setting. Years later, I found myself camping on the Matterhorn’s lower THE FALL slopes. The mountain soaring over us still seemed Alex Stewart recalls the first triumphant, tragic ascent of the Matterhorn impregnable, steeper than it actually is, towering in defiant isolation. One and a half centuries on from the first ascent, the Matterhorn still never disappoints. From our bivouac, we moved up to the climbers’ hut on THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO DIE IN THE MOUNTAINS: ONCE WE WERE the Hornli Ridge, the traditional start point for modern there is death by freezing, death by avalanche, death ON THE ARÊTE ascents. It snowed the night before our attempt. I lay by starvation, death by exhaustion, death by rockfall, IT EMERGED awake listening to the heavy flakes falling. In the small death by ice-fall and death by the invisible aggression THAT STONE, hours the snow stopped but when we stepped out of of altitude sickness. ROCK AND ICE the door at 4am there was still an ominous yellowish I have seen the victims of this gruesome litany all ARE FAR LESS storm light seeping through the clouds. We set off over the world. The climbing dead gather in graveyards AMENABLE TO apprehensively. in mountain towns, or in ad hoc cemeteries in base THE HAND’S Climbing above the hut on to the Hornli Ridge I camps. In Zermatt, the climbing dead congregate TOUCH THAN could see the route ahead in my mind’s eye; the Mosely in the English Church, or at the small church on THE MIND’S Slabs, the airy Solvay Emergency Refuge perched in a Kirchstrasse. Both are overlooked by the Matterhorn, EYE barely-big-enough notch and the daunting Red Tower. the mountain responsible for a great many of the The most historic landmark is the point on the ridge headstones here. leading up to the Shoulder, where Whymper and his In the English Church I found the remains of Charles party traversed onto the north face, the point where Hudson, interred in the altar. Ghosting about the the infamous accident happened. graveyard of the sister church I found memorials to Once we were on the arête it emerged that, in reality, Douglas Hadow, Lord Francis Douglas and Michael stone, rock and ice are far less amenable to the hand’s Croz; these three English aristocrats and their Swiss touch than the mind’s eye. It became clear that the guide died 150 years ago descending from the first cold and freezing temperatures had wreaked havoc successful ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865. They on the Matterhorn. What remains is a decaying rock slipped and fell 4,000 feet onto the glacier below. In that centuries of erosion have rendered unstable the mountains, death by falling is of course the ever- and which have created a guard of jumbled boulders present danger; gravity doesn’t ever forget itself or go around its base. Rocks cascade down it. Snow blankets off duty. its faces during winter. Ice clings to them in summer. Three other climbers, including the group leader And it was cold, too, violently cold. When my nose Edward Whymper, were only saved that day because ran, the liquid froze to my face. The wind made my the rope attaching them to the fallers snapped. Or, eyes water and the lashes on my right eye froze crueller contemporary critics suggested, was cut. together. I had to separate them by pulling my eyelids The rope is still on display in the Zermatt museum. apart. I could feel the cold chilling me deep inside. It is painfully thin: it doesn’t look more substantial Before long my brain too felt slower, more slurred, as than a sash cord. though the cold had congealed my thought processes. Whymper was in fact the reason I was in Zermatt. To either side the slopes fell away. The space felt I first came across his book, the gloriously unassuming vast and malevolently active, as though it was pulling Scrambles Amongst the Alps, describing his obsessive me off into its emptiness. Below my feet I could see pursuit of the seemingly impregnable Matterhorn a whole lot of nothing. I felt slight. My foot slipped. summit, as a teenager. The account with its detailed A chunk of snow lurched off from below my boot descriptions, wonderfully dramatic etchings and and cartwheeled away towards the glacier below, fold-out maps bearing unfamiliar place names, disintegrating as it went. I put my toe back where it mesmerised me. had been, with less confidence. As I read I was carried out of myself and to the Alps. The rock is like the surface of the sea, constant yet The images rushed over me. I could see the snowy never the same. Two climbers going over the identical mountains, sombre and solemn or glittering and route will each manage in a different way, reach, white, with walls, turrets, pinnacles, domes, cones and strength and agility all affecting their approach. The spires arrayed one after another; the Matterhorn itself classic decision though is always the same, whether like a dark pyramid; the knife-like arêtes and massive to retreat or go on. More skilled climbers might have walls on the north face, which the climbers scaled ventured higher. However, the conditions and an using ropes and ladders, like medieval soldiers laying unwillingness to join the list of uncompleted lives siege to a fortress; and finally the gory details of the commemorated in the churches below meant we quit dreadful fall that claimed half the climbing party. our ascent and turned back. The Alps are new mountains but have a long and Whymper himself later provided an epitaph distinguished history that has seen them go from for the Matterhorn disaster, ‘Climb if you will but terrifying places where people feared to tread to In pictures: Edward remember that courage and strength are naught Whymper’s original one of Europe’s most spectacular playgrounds. The etching depicting without prudence, and that a momentary negligence mountains here were initially perceived as precipitous, his fall on the may destroy the happiness of a lifetime. Do nothing cruel, cold and perilous places that inspired fear in the Matterhorn. in haste; look well to each step; and from the people living beneath them, yet this attitude changed Overleaf: ‘Fog-bow beginning think what may be the end.’ Sorely shaken seen on the dramatically when early British explorers turned Matterhorn on by the accident, he followed his own prescription and into an obsession, an art form and July 14, 1865’ by lived a long and enthusiastically cantankerous a competitive sport. Edward Whymper. life – many others have not been so fortunate.

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WHEN TO GO The Matterhorn and the Swiss MOUNTAIN OF MEMORIES Alps in general can be visited at any time of year. The mountain GETTING THERE, STAYING THERE, BEING THERE perennially sparkles with at least a little snow and ice, though during the winter months your entire vista will be dominated by white drifts. From May to October the valleys will be at their most verdant and temperatures most pleasant as spring sees the emergence of colourful flower meadows. The Glacier Express train operates throughout the year except for a short hiatus from late October to early December.

HOW TO GET THERE The Matterhorn is best served by the car-free town of Zermatt: From Chur, another picturesque drivers have to leave their cars medieval town in a mountain glen, a few miles down the glen at you can embark on a beautiful train Täsch, from where a 12-minute journey to St Moritz, a glamorous train ride takes you to the centre town known as one of the most of town. The nearest airport is exclusive and expensive ski resorts Geneva, two to three hours’ drive in the world. In St Moritz, pick up from Täsch. The fastest mode of the Glacier Express train, a service transport is a helicopter service that redefines the word ‘express’ offered by Air Zermatt from each as it chuffs gently through a of Switzerland’s main cities. Sound of Music landscape offering The most romantic way to fabulous views from its panoramic arrive is by train; either from cars fitted with glass ceilings for Geneva, running beside the lake to maximum visibility. Lausanne and through stunning In Zermatt the Matterhorn rises mountain scenery to Visp, or on from the surrounds like a crooked the Glacier Express from St Moritz, canine, its angular facets catching passing through the Goms valley. light in contrasting shades. After At Visp a smaller railway climbs a short stay sampling the delights 1,000 metres in an hour on its path of après-ski, make your way north to Zermatt. SUGGESTED HIGHLIGHTS to Interlaken, yet another charming The first image that Switzerland Swiss town set between two lochs. WHERE TO STAY conjures is its mountains, which Interlaken is a base for the alpen resort, zermatt IN A WORD can be viewed alike from the Jungfrau railway, a track that This cosy resort is the perfect place busiest cities and most remote ascends from the valley to to base yourself, whether visiting Torschlusspanik wilderness areas. traverse glacial icefields and the ski slopes or midsummer (Swiss Begin your journey in Zürich. mountain tunnels until it reaches meadows. The best rooms have a German) Like many other Swiss cities, it Jungfraujoch, Europe’s highest Matterhorn view, and all boast a The fear of is found at the end of a lengthy railway station. Take a lift to the balcony or a terrace with garden diminishing loch that provides a gorgeous Sphinx Observatory and from your access, meaning long summer opportunities foreground to the peaks rising lofty position you’ll have amazing evenings can be enjoyed in privacy as one gets behind. The city is well known views of the iconic peaks of the outside. Rooms are comfortable, older as a financial centre, but Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, and this spacious and have lcd tv and free instead of glittering glass towers should be the perfect pinnacle to cap

wi-fi. Visit the hotel’s Restaurant Word by Adam Jacot expect chocolate-box church off your tour – for after Interlaken, it’s Matterhorn for a fondue feast and de Boinod, author of spires and an old-fashioned time to make your way to Lucerne helpings of raclette (Italian and The Meaning of Tingo Germanic charm. for the return train to Zurich. other cuisines are also available, for the sake of variety). Be it sightseeing or skiing, hiking or biking, you’re sure to be active during your stay, and the hotel wexas Switzerland specialist Pippa McCarthy recently returned to is perfectly equipped to manage the country to explore the sights and attractions of Zurich, Lucerne your recovery, with two heated and the surrounding mountains. To discuss your Switzerland travel pools, Finnish and Roman saunas plans with Pippa or another Europe specialist please call 020 7838 5958. and plenty of luxury pampering For more holiday ideas visit the new Top 50 Europe guide at options. www.wexas.com/top50europe

48 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 changingnamibia world

NAMIBIA IS LIKE NO OTHER country in Africa, a desert land the size of Britain and France combined. When I think of Namibia, I think of the ravishing pastel colours of the Namib desert, with the towering dunes at Sossusvlei washed a surreal FAST orange and brown, soaring knife- edged to 300 metres against the bluest skies on earth. Tucked away in the depths of the dunes is a place called Dead Vlei, where the sculpted bones of 800-year- Jonathan Scott visits the cheetah-rich deserts of Namibia. FORWARDPictures by Jonathan and Angela Scott. old trees create a photographer’s playground on a mosaic of rock- hard white ground, with the sun-washed red of the dunes as super-abundance of ’s Masai backdrop. Mara Game Reserve or ’s To really appreciate the beauty Serengeti National Park. But then of Namibia, you need to fly over YOUNG, where is? ’s Okavango its dunes and along its sparkling WILD-BRED Delta perhaps? Yet Namibia is coastline of diamonds and CHEETAHS home to Africa’s largest cheetah shipwrecks in a light aircraft – ARE population, with perhaps 3,000 or in a hot-air balloon, as we did FREIGHTED of these elegant spotted cats early one morning for an hour TO THE GULF roaming the vast cattle farms and on an aerial adventure that quite STATES TO game ranches that dominate the simply took our breath away, while SUPPLY THE rural landscape. staying at Sossusvlei at Wilderness EXOTIC PET Worryingly, not so long ago you Safaris’ Little Kulala. But if the idea MARKET, AND heard talk of 12-15,000 cheetahs of a sparsely populated wasteland MORE THAN scattered across Africa, all of them of dunes and rugged mountains HALF DIE as closely related as brothers and fails to capture your imagination, EN ROUTE sisters due to inbreeding. This then spending time with the worrying trend was thought to Himba cattle people along the have been caused by a crash in the Kunene River, on Namibia’s worldwide cheetah population northern border with Angola, will 10,000 years ago, with a further soon have you reaching for your bottleneck little more than a camera again. The Himba surely 100 years ago brought about rival the Masai of East Africa by pressure from livestock farmers for the title of most photogenic and the trade in spotted cat skins. nomads, seemingly unfazed by the But today it isn’t inbreeding blistering heat of their homeland, that threatens the cheetah. It is with statuesque womenfolk the trade in live cheetahs, along adorned in glistening red ochre, with conflict with livestock long braided hair and tunics of owners and loss of natural prey cow skin. and habitat. Approximately 90 Namibia is not a wildlife per cent of the cheetah population destination to compare with the has vanished in the last 100 years,

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Clockwise from and figures of less than 10,000 left: Cheetah in full individuals are being spoken of. flight. Himba cattle herder. Dead Vlei. A particular concern today is the trade in skins and live cheetah cubs from the Horn of Africa to the Middle East. Cheetahs are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, hence the demand for young wild-bred cheetahs. These are transported by boat from Somalia to the Yemen, and then by road to the Gulf States including Saudi Arabia, to supply the lucrative exotic pet market. In Arab countries, the cheetah is considered the ultimate exotic house pet. Over half the animals being smuggled are estimated to die en route. Qatar, the Emirates and Kuwait have all recognised the seriousness of the problem and are committed to curbing the trade through better law enforcement. Elsewhere, the Iranian cheetah – the most threatened sub-species – now numbers just 40-100 individuals. Cheetahs in north and west Africa number fewer than 250, and are threatened by the demand Jonathan Scott visits the cheetah-rich deserts of Namibia. for skins for clothes, and bones Pictures by Jonathan and Angela Scott. and body parts for traditional medicine and magic rituals.

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Namibia might be a desert and killing hundreds of animals. land, but its robust network of Dr Marker came up with a plan all-weather roads reach out to all of action to try to work with the corners of the country, making ranchers and small-stockholders this a paradise for self-drive among the rural community, enthusiasts. We made two safaris to encourage better animal to Namibia this past year, and on husbandry instead of killing any each occasion made sure to visit cheetah they came in contact the Cheetah Conservation Fund with. This included encouraging (ccf) headquarters, a comfortable them to build more robust four-hour drive north of Windhoek. livestock enclosures and to practice The dynamic founder of ccf, seasonal calving in stockades Dr Laurie Marker, left her home (rather than letting cows calve in the usa 25 years ago, after out in the bush all year round). helping to establish the most One of ccf’s most innovative successful captive cheetah- initiatives has been the breeding breeding programme in North of Anatolian guard dogs to help America during her 16 years at protect livestock from predators. Oregon’s Wildlife Safari facility ccf breeds and trains guard dogs in the 1970s and ’80s. Having first that bond as puppies with the visited Namibia in 1977, Dr Marker livestock they are entrusted to realised that the priority had to care for, and this has proved highly be saving cheetahs in the wild. effective at deterring attacks She embarked on a one-woman from predators. campaign to combat the killing of cheetahs by Namibia’s farmers not cope.) The majority of cheetah Human visitors and game ranchers, who had cubs do not survive the first few and Namibia’s top predator watch over already shot, trapped and poisoned months of life in places like the the landscape from other large predators such as lions, Masai Mara and the Serengeti, on high. Jonathan and Angela Scott leopards and hyenas living on their due to the high density of lions are uk Patrons of ccf and land. The cheetah suddenly found and hyenas. But freed from the were honored by ccf at itself the top cat. competitive pressure of other large their annual Gala Dinner in It is not uncommon for a cheetah predators, cheetahs soon began Windhoek as the 2014 Cheetah to give birth to up to six cubs in to thrive on the ranchlands. Now Conservationists of The Year. If the wild. (The record is ten cubs, their greatest threat is humans. you would like to know more recorded in Nairobi National Park, Farmers and game ranchers about the important work that though the mother was forced to routinely set live traps at the base ccf is doing to protect cheetahs abandon her cubs at three months of the thorn trees that cheetahs in the wild, of age because she simply could favour as scent posts, capturing see www.cheetah.org.

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WHEN TO GO Namibia’s climate is generally THE DRIVE OF YOUR LIFE very dry and pleasant all year round. Game is easiest to see GETTING THERE, STAYING THERE, BEING THERE during the driest and coolest months from June to August, as animals congregate at water holes, although there’s still good viewing until the rains come in November. The rainier, more humid season, when the landscape is verdant, continues until March.

HOW TO GET THERE There are no direct flights from the uk, so the best routes to Windhoek are via Frankfurt (Air Namibia) or on one of the many carriers flying direct to Johannesburg, adding a connecting flight. Game Reserve on the lake’s WHERE TO STAY northeast side, or the Ongava olive grove guest house, Game Reserve to the southwest. A windhoek few days of nature walks and game This is the perfect luxury urban drives will show you the best of guesthouse, tucked away in a quiet Namibia’s fabulous wildlife. After part of central Windhoek,and a Etosha, head west towards the great place to stop over as you coast, stopping for a few days in arrive in the capital. Damaraland, immersing yourself damaraland camp in the desert landscape of rocky This beautiful retreat in Namibia’s peaks, sandy plains and scrubby northwestern desert wilderness wadis, while more game drives are consists of stand-alone thatched available in the Torra Conservancy. adobe huts that provide a rustic, Reaching the Skeleton Coast, light and airy place to rest. a long strip of desert coastline Elephants, lion, boks, giraffe and battered by Atlantic surf, travel much more can be seen in the south, passing shipwrecks surrounding Torra Conservancy. and seal colonies on the way onguma tented camp, etosha to Swakopmund, an oasis of national park civilisation on the otherwise Etosha is one of Africa’s most SUGGESTED HIGHLIGHTS sparse waterfront. Founded by famous parks, known for its Due to the vast distances covered, the Germans as a seaport in the vast salt pan. Onguma is built the best way to explore Namibia is nineteenth century, the town overlooking a water hole, so IN A WORD in a 4x4, which can be hired easily retains a quaint historic charm. animal sightings are easy near in Windhoek. While in the capital, Between Swakopmund and the romantic canvas tents with Kodhola relax and take in the European Windhoek lies the Namib-Naukluft private showers and baths. (Oshindonga, ambience of pavement cafes and National Park, where you can hoanib skeleton coast camp Namibia) colonial German buildings. pause and wonder at the rust- Hoanib is so remote it can only be To leave marks To the north from Windhoek lies coloured dunes of Sossusvlei. This accessed by light aircraft. Tented in the sand Okonjima, home to the AfriCat is the setting for many of the iconic accommodation with floor-to- when walking Foundation. This non-profit photographs of Namibia, where ceiling windows gives guests organisation is dedicated to the the steeply rising dunes provide great views of the stark landscape, conservation of Namibia’s big cats, an epic background to skeletal and game drives offer sights of the and offers a superb chance to see silhouettes of long dead acacias,

hardy animals that have adapted Word by Adam Jacot lion, leopards and cheetah up close. their withered branches as striking to the tough environment. de Boinod, author of Continue north towards Etosha as the thick, sturdy horns of &beyond sossusvlei desert The Meaning of Tingo National Park, and stay at Onguma abundant Oryx herds. lodge The premier spot in Namibia’s top tourist attraction, Sossusvlei. Rooms are luxurious but still evoke some of the arid landscape, wexas Africa specialist Allison Nicolle recently completed a self- with bone and dried branches drive trip encompassing Etosha and Sossuvlei, and spending time featuring prominently. Hot- at the AfriCat Foundation at Okonjima. To discuss your Namibia travel air balloon trips are available plans with Allison or another Africa specialist please call 020 7838 5958. for unforgettable photo For more information and holiday ideas visit opportunities. www.wexas.com/holidays/africa/namibia/

52 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 Simon Urwin meets the traditional healers of Kashmir. Pictures by the author Healing oPwers

“I WOULD LIKE TO THINK I AM THE HOLY and groom-to-be. Have they had he explains as we drive along helping to heal Kashmir with love,” MAN WROTE affairs? What do they really look the cramped medieval streets Shabnam Subhan Gani tells me SOME SPECIAL for in a partner? We are also good of the old town on our way to proudly as we sit on embroidered WORDS FROM judges of character, because we Friday prayers. floor cushions drinking cups of THE QUR’AN have been on a long, hard journey We enter the fourteenth- kehwa, a traditional Kashmiri IN SAFFRON to fully understand ourselves.” century Jamia Masjid, the main green tea infused with cardamom, INK, PUT THE Shabnam’s matchmaking mosque of Srinagar, where a forest cinnamon and saffron. PAPER IN A services are very much in demand, of wooden columns frames the “This is a beautiful part of the GLASS OF but there’s only time to forge some faithful in their white prayer caps world,” he continues, “but because WATER, AND six or seven marital unions in a as they kneel to worship in unison. of the conflict here between India I DRANK year. “It’s a very, very hectic job as it Like most Muslims in Kashmir, and Pakistan, it is also rather THEM can take up to three months to find Farooq is a Sufi, belonging to the broken. However, love is capable the perfect couple. It is especially mystical, esoteric branch of Sunni of changing all that, and I thank hard during the worst times of Islam which believes in purifying God that I can do it for a living – fighting, but I’m very proud to oneself and one’s spirit in order it’s what I was born to do.” still bring people together amidst to gain a closer relationship Sporting a mullet, a pot belly all the bullets. I feel real joy and with Allah. and a striking red dress, Shabnam happiness doing that.” “Praying to God and respecting is a hijra, a member of the so-called As Shabnam rushes off to track God is not the only reason I come ‘third sex’. In Kashmir’s summer down more prospective husbands here,” he adds. “Prayer also keeps capital, Srinagar, he is one of a and wives, I’m curious to find out me very peaceful and relaxed number who are highly sought from my taxi driver, Farooq, what – which is not easy in a place after for their unrivalled skills as the predominantly Muslim society like Kashmir. It’s like a form of marriage arrangers. in Kashmir makes of the hijras. meditation, which stills my “We are especially good at our In pictures: “They are accepted and respected, mind and allows me to stay in jobs, because we can relate easily A young girl certainly in Srinagar, because they good health.” to both men and women. We can receives treatment do a good job in helping people. For the firm believer, even when from the healing jump between the two, so to speak, hands of a peer Muslims here are not like in some illness does fall, there is comfort so are much better suited to ask for lethargy and other places. We are very tolerant in the surahs (verses) of the Holy personal questions of the bride- weight loss. of others and do not like to judge,” Book. “In the Qur’an you will find

54 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 visionskashmir

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 55 a cure,” Farooq informs me. “Once Clockwise from I was very sick with a terrible near right: Bashir Ahmad Bhat migraine, no medicine would writes a cure from get rid of it. It was so bad and so the Qur’an in painful I could barely see. So I saffron ink. Nawa went to visit a peer [holy man]. He Kadal Mosque in wrote some special words from Srinagar with Hari Parbat Fort in the the Qur’an in saffron ink on a background. Farooq piece of paper, put it in a glass of Ganie in the Jamia water and, once the sayings had Masjid, Srinagar. dissolved, I drank them and was immediately cured.” In the more remote corners of the region, such holy men are considered a godsend, notably for the Gujjar and Bakkarwal people, nomadic tribes of pastoralists who trek the lonely peaks and valleys of the Kashmiri Himalaya for up to nine months of the year. On the outskirts of the hill station of Sonamarg (meaning ‘meadow of gold’), I come across Kaneeza, an 8-year-old shepherd tending her 100-strong flock on one of the photogenic mountainsides made famous in the Bollywood films of the 1960s and ’70s. “We live a hard life, walking six to seven hours a day, every day with our animals, looking for fresh pasture. The days are hot and the nights are cold.

56 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 visionskashmir

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 57 visionskashmir

who told us a bad water spirit had inhabited her when she took a bath in a pond. He healed her on the spot and that’s when I decided it was what I should do with my life.” Bashir is a strong believer in the saffron ink treatment, but also swears by the phook. “This is when we mutter a healing surah from the Qur’an then blow those words straight into the patient’s face. With both these cures, I have stopped heavy bleeding, mended broken bones… I can deal with anything but life-threatening diseases.” I tentatively ask if some might consider what he does as superstitious nonsense. “Yes, some do, but in the Qur’an it is categorically written that there are good and bad spirits. That’s what I believe most strongly and therefore I believe you can find in the Qur’an remedies for When one of us falls sick, we go to a holy man at work, that it In pictures: those bad spirits.” the leech healer (who performs changed the course of his life. Houseboats on Dal I ask how much he charges Lake seen from blood-letting) or, more likely, “When I was 14, my sister was Zabarwan Hill. for his services, but Bashir the local peer. In Kashmir they very ill. At night she seemed Eight-year-old generously helps his fellow are cheaper and more reliable possessed – once she even shepherd Kaneeza Kashmiris for free. “So how do than doctors.” threatened to kill me with a knife. Khan at the Zoji La you earn a living?” I ask. “Oh,” Bashir Ahmad Bhat was so No medicine would cure her, so Pass near Baltal. he replies, “I make my money overwhelmed by witnessing we went to see a famous healer doing bathroom fittings.”

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 59 travellerkashmir facts

WHEN TO GO Kashmir can be visited at all CAPTIVATING KASHMIR times of year, as it boasts a diverse climate with four well-defined GETTING THERE, STAYING THERE, BEING THERE seasons roughly corresponding to those in Alpine Europe. The region is known for its tulip gardens, which flourish in early April, while saffron crocuses bloom mauve in September and October. A winter visit will guarantee snow on the ground, although high slopes have year-round cover.

HOW TO GET THERE The uk has no direct flights to the region, so it is best to connect to Srinagar via Delhi, which is served daily by British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Air India and Jet Airways. Air France, klm and Emirates also the opulent carved wooden offer good indirect options from houseboats to the many shikara airports around the uk. canoes used by locals not just for transport and fishing, but also as WHERE TO STAY shops, offices and even homes. vivanta by taj dal view, Away from Srinagar and into the srinagar mountains lies Gulmarg, a verdant Dal Lake, a stretch of serenity valley in the summer, with fir- and bound by snowcapped peaks pine-covered slopes guarding a and lush foothills, is one of the picturesque alpine meadow on iconic symbols of Kashmir, and the valley floor. Further carpets this gorgeous Taj hotel enjoys of wildflowers are found during a perfect vantage point. The spring at Khilanmarg, while in interior is both modern and winter the land is blanketed in local, with a minimalist theme snow, and the trees decorated with and contemporary materials seasonal icing. Ladakh is just as interwoven with traditional fabric. enchanting. Known as India’s Tibet, All rooms have a private balcony much of the population in this area, designed to maximise the high-altitude region is Buddhist, stunning views of the surrounds. and temples, monasteries, stupas The standout dining experience SUGGESTED HIGHLIGHTS and prayer flags spatter the sparse is the Wazwan, a traditional Kashmir’s dreamy landscapes, landscape, dominated by scree Kashmiri banquet served under magnificent mountain valleys, slopes and surreal lakes. a shamiyana, an Indian-style IN A WORD tranquil lakes and gorgeous It must be mentioned that at marquee strewn with carpets and gardens have often been described the moment journeys to Kashmir vast cushions. Gatâgati as Paradise on Earth. Because of have to be taken with extreme the khyber himalayan resort (Sanskrit) the long-running border conflict it caution due to ongoing border & spa, gulmarg Going and is best to stay on the Indian side of tensions, as well as an underlying Up in the snow-clad Himalayan coming; the region, where there is plenty to terrorist threat. Generally speaking highlands, Gulmarg is India’s dying and see and do. the cities of Jammu and Srinagar, premier ski resort. A cosy pine- being born Beginning in Srinagar, spend and the highway in between the built chalet-style hotel, the again some time in the countryside two, are seen as safe for travel, Khyber is nestled into the hillside admiring the mountain views and as is the region of Ladakh. The offering commanding vistas of the the Mughal Gardens, consisting fco currently advises travellers to

forested slopes below, with one Word by Adam Jacot of geometrically precise pools avoid mountain towns outside of the world’s highest ski lifts to de Boinod, author of and fountains, flanked by flowers. these areas, including Gulmarg, Mount Kongdoori just moments The Meaning of Tingo Dal Lake is a hive of activity, from Pahalgam and Sonamarg. away. Warmth and comfort are high on the agenda, and the quilts and cushions are delightfully decorated with typically Indian embroidery. In keeping with this wexas India specialist Krishna Ghosh worked in the travel warm, relaxing feel, the spa and industry in India for four years and has travelled extensively gym offer aromatic treatments, around her homeland. To discuss your India travel plans with Krishna or Jacuzzis and saunas to soothe another India specialist please call 020 7838 5958. tired skiers after long days in For more information including holiday ideas and itineraries, visit the mountains. www.wexas.com/holidays/asia/india

58 traveller vol 44 • no2 • 2014 Carlos Amorales adopts a multimedia approach to conjure fear and fragmentation Birdlife

‘NOIR’ IS PERHAPS THE BEST EPITHET FOR THIS In pictures selection of work by Carlos Amorales, the acclaimed (clockwise from top): From the Mexican artist known for similarly grim visions of Forest, Spider web swarming clouds of black butterflies. The crow is a and Bird Face regular harbinger of death across cultures, and in From the Forest we see a murder of them, silhouetted Hitchcock-like amongst troubled trunks rising from a delta of capillaries. The birds, displayed in awry suspension like paralysed aerialists, represent the culture of fear in the West in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, but could equally allude to the people who dived in despair from the towers to a symbolic river of blood below.

Images from Contemporary Art Mexico, edited by Hossein Amirsadeghi, with executive editor Catherine Petitgas, published by Thames & Hudson, priced £55.

60 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 artmexican of travel art

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 61 Walking the Nile Stamboul Sketches Stamboul Sketches Encounters in Old Istanbul By Levison Wood JOHN FREELY By John Freely Reviewed by Mark Reynolds Reviewed by Guy Everton Simon & Schuster, hbk, 320pp, Eland, pbk, 208pp, £12.99 £18.99 Lygos, Byzantium, Constantinople, Self-made explorer Levison Wood, Istanbul. All are names through partly inspired by his friend time for the city author John Freely Pete Meredith’s pioneering raft affectionately and archaically calls adventures on the Nile, hit on ‘Stamboul’. Taking his cue from the the idea to create a world’s first by following in the antiquated label, Freely tells tales of an older city from footsteps of various Victorian adventurers and traipse half a century ago, just before the onset of hygienic the full length of the great river from its southernmost neon modernity. Here is a city of post-industrial source in Rwanda to the Mediterranean. Due to some bustle, of hawkers and porters, chancers and thieves, very powerful events beyond his control, the journey a seething mass of humanity pouring into the Golden could not be completed to the letter, with major Horn from all corners of Eurasia. There is nowhere like diversions caused by civil war gun battles among the Istanbul and Freely captures it with poetic precision, vast Sudd Swamp in South Sudan, and an impassable rejecting discussion of grand tourist attractions and militarised zone protecting economic interests instead painting a picture of its inhabitants and their around Sudan’s Meroe Dam. Nevertheless, the 4,000- activities that is as grimy as it is vibrant. Amidst the km trek he undertook between December 2013 and evocative description, Freely juxtaposes his own August 2014 was a remarkable feat of endurance and observations with those of seventeenth-century doggedness. Ottoman polymath Evliya Çelebi, a caricature of the This is a swiftly-made book of that arduous journey, sensational, extravagant Eastern raconteur. This link bits of which were filmed for a 4-part Channel Four is highly appropriate, both in tying the sketches into TV series of the same name. Although spiked with the long history of the city, but also in that Evliya dramatic action and evocative terrain, the book symbolises the Stamboul so loved by the author. is curiously dispassionate for long spells. In his Anyone who has been seduced by this city will find acknowledgements, Wood credits the help of literary their passion articulated beautifully here. consultant Rob Dinsdale for helping to shape his ‘jumble of memories and scribbles’ into a coherent whole. Unfortunately, too much of that shaping involves adding Wikipedia-style potted histories of the expeditions of Stanley, Gordon, Speke & co., and of Young Lawrence: A Portrait of the countries and sites visited, along with some rather the Legend as a Young Man anodyne observations about the natural world and By Anthony Sattin more recent events. An encounter with hippos, and a Reviewed by Amy Sohanpaul warning about their surprising fleetness on land, is not John Murray, hbk, pp316 greatly helped by the note that the stumpy herbivore is related to the horse (as anyone with a passing Despite all the associated glamour, understanding of Greek or racetracks may surmise). all the fame and all the books Nor is it credible that Wood was ‘reminded suddenly’ about him, TE Lawrence has at Rusumo Falls, on the borders of Rwanda, Burundi remained an enigmatic figure. and Tanzania, that this was where thousands of dead We know what he did, but how and why did ‘the bodies from the 1994 Rwandan genocide flowed as a second son of a quiet, comfortably off, apparently continuous stream of refugees crossed the bridge into unexceptional Oxford family’ come to play a role in Tanzania. One suspects he knew where he was heading the Arab uprising? It’s a long way from a bungalow before he set off. in Oxford to archeologist in the Middle East, and The challenges faced by Wood and a succession of a longer way from archeologist to spy, to fighting colourful local guides (some less hand-picked than with the Arabs and immortalising their revolt against others) are not to be sniffed at, as he boldly negotiates the Turks in the epic Seven Pillars of Wisdom. rainforest, savannah, swamp, desert and lush delta. The Sattin is perfectly placed to trace that journey, given dangers plunge to tragic depths as a visiting journalist his own intimate knowledge of the region, its history swaps a frozen New York winter for ’s searing and its nuances. He also believes ‘there is a fascination, summer heat and succumbs to hyperthermia. But for a joy even, to be had in following a young man as he all the indubitable derring-do, the reader is left with falls for another culture, for another people, and for the unsatisfying feeling that in the era of Google Maps one person in particular.’ there is little in the world left for genuine discovery. That empathetic fascination, and Sattin’s own Wood coyly thanks his camera crew for cobbling travel writing experience, lends this detailed together a ‘watchable’ TV series from his exploits, biography of Lawrence’s early years an immediacy, which sails uncomfortably close to faint praise. With pace and sense of place that is as enjoyable as it is the help of Dinsdale, he has produced a readable book revelatory, as telling about Lawrence’s personal that would have benefitted greatly from more time for relationships and motivations as it is about Middle reflection and insight. Eastern history.

62 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 reviewsbookshelf

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vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 63 I’D HAD ANTICUCHOS DE CORAZON THE SIMPLE before. Years ago on one of my first CEVICHE nights in Peru, already overwhelmed WAS GIVEN Andean by the incomprehensible laminate A BRITISH menu in a cheap bistro, TWIST, someone had translated this as USING FRESH ‘beef-heart kebabs’. In a fit of CORNISH SEA curiosity, I ordered it; what followed BASS AND Appetites were a few skewers of tough, SAMPHIRE Guy Everton revisits Peru via London’s Pachamama restaurant peppery meat that took a minute’s mastication before I dared swallow. delicious, creamy and slightly can do to compare with a bustling My first experience of heart wasn’t spicy ají, so utterly superior to that South American street scene. In unpleasant, but I can’t remember cheap Peruvian incarnation I’d had this case, however, the quality of ordering the dish again for the before – so good, in fact, that I’ve the food was so good that setting remaining months I spent in the completely fallen in love with heart. didn’t really matter – and that’s not country. I order a similar one now These opening tastes, following to say that the atmosphere was in though, and to my surprise, the first on from a round of pisco-inspired any way a weak point. Segments of morsel to pass my lips at Mayfair’s cocktails, set the tone for a fabulous pillar are crudely chiselled to expose Pachamama elicited the sort of culinary experience. I often think brickwork and modern furniture is satisfaction usually reserved for that pleasurable eating is as much adorned with some choice rustic the finest steak. Succulent nuggets about the surroundings as the food ornaments – and it works. There of veal heart, lovingly marinated itself, but sadly there isn’t much are hints of Peru – the odd piece and grilled, served alongside a a London basement restaurant I recognised from the markets

64 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 thea moveable feel-good feast factor

and lomo saltado (essentially a beef In pictures (left dish offers, look no further than stir-fry), both owe much to its small to right): The bar Pachamama’s sea bass. at Pachamama, a but significant Asian community. selection of ceviche, It almost seems a shame to Perhaps using alpaca or llama lamb belly with eschew further ceviches and meat might up the authenticity green miso sauce. tender meat courses for the salad factor, but Pachamama is also options, but to do so would be about quality, seasonal British to ignore the huge contribution produce and the juicy lamb worked Peruvian vegetables have made beautifully with exotic Peruvian to world cuisine, in particular flavours. potatoes and quinoa, which make The seafood part of the menu up some sumptuous soups in the isn’t devoted exclusively to ceviche, Andean highlands. Pachamama’s but such is the diversity of the dish commitment to seasonal greens that it’s definitely worth trying meant slightly more European more than one. In its most simple options made the menu – form ceviche is a cool, light delight mushrooms and purple-sprouting – raw fish marinated in lime juice broccoli for us – but alongside and chilli (preferably the delectably were served maiz cancha (robust, aromatic ají pepper), with red nutty corn) and two different onion and coriander also common ají sauces. Quinoa features on of Puno, Cuzco and Aguas Calientes condiments. This simple ceviche the salad menu, but I was most – but generally the restaurant is the one I most associate with impressed by its employment in represents young, trendy London, Peru and was given a British twist, the dessert: a rich dark chocolate and this was mirrored by the using fresh Cornish sea bass and tart topped with ice cream, and in age and sartorial style of my samphire; it ranks among the best place of a typical crumble or biscuit fellow diners. I’ve ever eaten, although eating crunch, Pachamama used toasted The main menu is divided into ceviche on Máncora beach or with quinoa, which works to much three sections, corresponding to river fish in the rainforest rather the same effect, and was one of meat, fish and vegetable dishes, outdoes London for ‘experience’. many inspired touches throughout so my companion and I decided The second was slightly more the meal. to select two from each category complex and no less delicious – You don’t have to know and share, tapas style. The prawns in a sweet, mustardy leche about Peruvian cuisine to enjoy roaring success of the veal heart de tigre (tiger’s milk, the name Pachamama, which stands alone anticuchos was almost equalled by for the marinade combined with as a quality restaurant in its own some exquisite lamb belly with a juices from the fish). The beauty of right. But one thing is as certain as refreshing green miso sauce. This the marinade is you can be really the ceviche: a visit here will turn dish encapsulates much that is creative with the ingredients – I’ll thoughts to Lima-bound exciting about Peruvian cuisine, never forget sampling a sublime flights in no time. a fusion of local ingredients and combination of passionfruit and heavy foreign influences – in this curry powder in Panama – so it’s case Asian. Chinese and Japanese always fun to try a new blend. styles may on the surface seem Nonetheless, if in doubt I will out of place in South American always return to that basic Peruvian Pachamama is at: cuisine, but in fact the country’s concoction – and for anyone who 18 Thayer Street w1u 3jy two most prevalent mains, arroz wants an introduction to the fresh, +44 (0)20 7935 9393 chaufa (essentially egg-fried rice) zingy, perfumed delight that the www.pachamamalondon.com

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 65 SPANISH SOJOURN Amy Sohanpaul stays at the Casa Palacio de Carmona

THERE’S AN OLD ANDALUCIAN PROVERB THAT THE SMELL stuffy. It’s partly because each of the 33 rooms within states ‘The sky and earth are good – that which lies in OF ORANGES this palace dating back to 1561 is individually and between is bad.’ It comes from a time when life was DURING painstakingly decorated. It’s partly because of all these so hard for most people in this famously scenic part of THE DAY, OF matters of style and situation. Spain the only certainties were that the rugged earth JASMINE AS But mostly it’s because of the people, the charming of the region would provide just enough, and that NIGHT FALLS owner Felípe Guardiola Medina, his wife Reyes, elegant heaven would be better, hold real riches. And in some of enough to have walked out of the pages of a glossy Andalucia, even now, especially now perhaps, that still fashion magazine, both so hospitable, their children holds true. Yet there’s so much good to be found here so golden and sunny, flitting through with their in what lies in between, not least the travellers’ trinity friends; and Gonzalo, who does reception and bar and of Seville, Cordoba and Granada, so well known; and breakfast, deals with every query with courteous grace sitting prettily on a hilltop betwixt all of them, the not- and efficiency from seven to eleven and often later as-well-known little town of Carmona. than that. And during his weeks off teaches children in Carmona has something of a secret and enchanted Ethiopia and also happens to be a superb photographer feel, despite being so close to Seville, 25 minutes in and writer. At the end of four days, I feel like I’ve been a taxi, or 15 in a car driven by a Frenchman called staying with friends, in a home away from home. Francois. I met Francois after supper on the second And that is what makes this place special. It was night at Casa Palacio de Carmona, it’s that kind of originally a private residence, albeit a grand one, place, everyone talks to everyone. The hotel actually and it has retained that feel. And like all good homes, feels even more enchanted than Carmona itself. This it’s idiosyncratic too. What it’s not is your standard is partly because of the succession of courtyards filled 5-star. On the way to Carmona, the driver turned and with plants, the sound of fountains, frequent bursts of remarked with approval, “Ah, you’re staying at the birdsong, the movement of sun and shadow, the smell Palacio, 5-stars.” I think this billing might actually of oranges during the day, of jasmine as night falls. do the place a disservice, in that some people might It’s partly due to the sumptuousness of the public turn up expecting a bijou version of the Four Seasons, rooms, lined with art and fine books and finer round-the-clock room service, and shiny glitzy furnishings, inviting and comforting, not in the least trappings and a pool far larger than the charming little

66 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 thehotels feel-good factor

one, and a vast retinue of liveried staff and all those have anchovies, with tomatoes. Or I can make you a sorts of several-star things, when what’s on offer is risotto with fresh asparagus. And I have a sea bass. more individual, a different sort of luxury, and the rates But if you like, it’s so hot, maybe some clams?” I have here incidentally, are nowhere near 5-star. Those who those clams, and they turn out to be the best I’ve ever are expecting a standardised seamless experience tasted – so simple – a liberal amount of garlic, the right might not fall for the place, but most people who stay amount of chilli, parsley, cooked in white wine, the seem to love it. slightest squeeze of lemon – such briny, spiky, fresh I find out, over a late night conversation with Reyes in and at the same time intense flavours – the broth is so the main courtyard, the sort of conversation where you delicious I scoop up every last drop and want more. stop to look up at the stars in silence and then return I eat out all over the place in Carmona over the to, without changing the subject, that past guests have course of my stay, but no one serves me anything included BB King and an entire Bollywood cast, Mario as delicious as the dishes Felipe creates out of very Testino and George Lucas. We talk of Star Wars and few, but impeccable ingredients. There was griddled music and stop again to enjoy the night and the smell asparagus with a fried egg and truffles, simple yet of jasmine, and then she says, “But you know, the thing sophisticated and just a little decadent, a perfect steak, I’ll never forget is Yo Yo Ma, playing the cello one night a bowl of Gazpacho with a dice of fresh sardines… like this, here in this courtyard, not for a performance, none of it overly complex or accessorised. Every meal he just decided to… you could have cried from the is good enough though to make me remember it later, sound of it.” lying in bed, replete, and running through the day’s It’s quite hard to leave that courtyard actually, events in my head, the white walls of Carmona, its night or day, harder when I discover that Felípe is Roman gates and ruins, the hidden churches, how an incredibly talented chef. As one late morning pretty much every single person you pass along the segues into early afternoon and I’ve moved from this way smiles and nods, the streets that are silent all sunniest seat to the next, absorbed in a book, I realise afternoon, the square that explodes with birdsong I’m starving but am not in the mood for a walk that’s and children playing in the early evening, the going to interrupt the here and now, and wonder coming back to the courtyard at the Casa to hear what’s on the menu for lunch. Felípe says, “Today I another story or two under the stars.

vol 44 • no1 • 2014 traveller 67 We catch up with Hotel Director Jean-Paul Grepon to learn about life Over the next eight pages we get onboard the ms Paul Gauguin the low-down on four delightful destinations – the South Pacific, Alaska, South Africa and Ontario Tahitian temptations Polynesian demonstrations, a full- service bar, a floating lagoon bar and a delicious barbecue. We also Welcome offer complimentary access to a private beach in Bora Bora. Our aboard enrichment programme features a Paul Gauguin cruises provide a series of expert lecturers. In selected perfect way to explore Polynesia ports, our watersports marina can launch kayaking, windsurfing, or paddleboarding excursions, and we offer padi certification scuba diving.

What makes Paul Gauguin cruises Why would you recommend stand out from other cruise cruising around the South Pacific companies in the South Pacific? rather than picking a specific island The Gauguin is the highest-rated and spending the time relaxing in and longest continually sailing an overwater bungalow? luxury cruise ship in the South Cruising on the Gauguin allows Pacific. We sail year-round and guests to experience many islands infuse the welcoming, hospitable of the South Pacific in luxury. spirit of Polynesia in every sailing. Cruises are all-inclusive and provide Les Gauguines and Gauguins, great value, with spacious ocean- Named after the French post- our own troupe of entertainers, view suites and staterooms (nearly impressionist who relocated to perform and lead Polynesian 70 per cent of which feature private Tahiti over a century ago, the ms activities throughout the voyage. balconies), gourmet dining and Paul Gauguin offers guests some of Other South Sea exclusives include complimentary beverages including the vibrancy and exoticism of her complimentary access to Motu a choice of wines and spirits namesake’s paintings – as well as Mahana, a private islet where guests throughout the ship. For guests 5-star cabins, onboard watersports can enjoy swimming, snorkelling, who would also like to experience and a luxury spa far removed from the artist’s primitivist tendencies. The ship sails the South Pacific on year-round voyages ranging from a week to a fortnight, taking in Tahiti and the surrounding islands of French Polynesia and the Cook Islands, then in October and November cruises further afield to Fiji and Tonga. A shallow draught (relative to size) is specifically designed to allow her to dock in smaller ports, which means passengers have the opportunity to visit more remote and tranquil destinations. The atmosphere is one of warmth and informality, with native Tahitians serving as cruise staff, entertainers and storytellers on every sailing.

70 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 insidesouth track pacific Day by day A two-week cruise on the Gaugin takes in beautiful Bora Bora, the Tuamotus, the mist-covered Marquesas, Taha’a and Moorea.

an overwater bungalow, we offer where stunning Mount Otemanu itinerary pre- and post-cruise options at rises from the ocean surrounded InterContinental resorts in Tahiti, by a spectacular lagoon. I often day location depart Bora Bora and Moorea. During the hear that our guests find Moorea day 1 papeete, In harbour, sets sail after voyage, when the ship overnights the most magical. The island is tahiti dinner in Bora Bora and Moorea, we also graced with mountain peaks, day 2 at sea offer a romantic escapade package multi-hued lagoons, palm-fringed day 3 fakarava, A pink-sand island sanctuary to the resorts, where guests can beaches and incredible beauty. Our tuamotus for rare birds and plants enjoy an overwater bungalow for private island retreat Motu Mahana, day 4 at sea the night. off the coast of Taha’a, is a tropical paradise where guests can kayak, day 5 fatu hiva, A lush volcanic island where Which in your opinion is swim or snorkel in the lagoon, learn marquesas sheer cliffs meet the sea the most magical island the Polynesian activities, enjoy drinks day 6 hiva oa, Gauguin is buried here, and Gauguin visits? from our floating bar, and enjoy a marquesas Puamua boasts historical The romantic island of Bora Bora is sumptuous barbecue feast. stone sculptures built by locals huge draw for many of our guests, day 7 tahuata, The smallest inhabited island Do your cruise passengers marquesas in the Marquesas come from all over the world, day 8 nuku hiva, The stunning administrative or is there a specific nationality marquesas capital of the Marquesas that dominates? day 9 at sea The majority are from the United States, our second largest market day 10 at sea is Australia, and we also welcome day 11 huahine, A relatively undeveloped many guests from France, the uk, society island, home to the Fa’ahia Germany, Italy, South America, islands archaeological site Japan and China. day 12 bora bora, World famous island known society for its luxury overwater Have you ever been caught up in a islands bungalows violent storm while at sea? Is this day 13 taha’a, Private beach day at Motu ever a hazard for large cruise ships? society Mahana with barbecue lunch The weather in French Polynesia islands and local entertainers is beautiful year-round – generally day 14 moorea/ Explore Moorea and return warm and sunny, with fair winds, papeete to port and calm seas. The Gauguin, with day 15 papeete Disembark its shallow draught, was specifically constructed to sail in this region, and is able to the access stunning lagoons and islands that larger ships cannot reach. The Luxury Cruise Company (tlcc) is the specialist How would you sum up the ethos division of wexas focusing on expert knowledge of Paul Gaugin cruises? and independent advice in the luxury cruise sector, We have great expertise in this including all Paul Gauguin itineraries. Talk to our region and being a luxury, small experts about creating bespoke cruise holidays by ship with a maximum of 332 guests, adding pre- and post-cruise land extensions, flights we are able to provide an enriching and other tailor-made holiday options. and authentic Polynesian www.the luxurycruisecompany.com experience. 020 7838 5991

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 71 Travel there Alaskan Wildlife: HOW TO GET THERE There are no direct flights from A spotter’s guide the uk, but several carriers offer good connections. Icelandair fly to Anchorage via Reykjavík; United Airlines fly from Chicago while Delta and Alaska Airlines link up with hubs on the West Coast of the usa.

WHEN TO GO Mid-May to mid-September is best for long days, warm temperatures and wildlife spotting. December to March is the best (though busy) for skiing and other outdoor winter fun for those bold enough to bundle up. December to March are also the best months to spot the wonder that is the Northern Lights.

WHERE TO STAY wexas travel consultant Rachel Mostyn recommends... the hotel captain cook The towering Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage offers luxuriously appointed rooms with fabulous views over the bay and the Chugach mountains. north face lodge, denali national park This traditional A huge and unspoilt region with a related Polar Bear is also found in country inn is deep in Denali, human population density lower Alaska, typically on the Arctic coast offering a cosy, rustic retreat with than any country in the world, in the Far North. views of eight major peaks of the Alaska is a haven for wildlife. The Alaska range. All rooms are ensuite, vast tundra, mountain ranges, Moose and share a veranda leading to the forests and fjords are home to The Alaskan variety of these great lodge’s sitting room, fireplace and an extraordinarily diverse and antlered elk is also known as the library. abundant fauna, including the giant moose, and therefore well ultima thule, wrangell-st elias Northern version of the Big Five: worthy of a place on this Big Five national park A remote and list. Moose are found in forests award-winning luxury lodge, with Brown Bear throughout most of the state. comfortable cabins and fabulous There has to be a large, powerful They’re solitary beasts, so don’t food. A fleet of small planes is on carnivore at the top of every food expect to see a vast herd spread standby to transport guests to chain, and the king of the north out over a plain, but in late August unforgettable hiking and wildlife is definitely the bear. The most and September the rut brings local experiences. commonly found in Alaska is the males together to compete for brooks lodge, katmai national famous Grizzly, whose cuddly mates. Denali National Park is a park Brooks Lodge is situated appearance is at odds with its great place to witness the sights right on the Brooks River, perfect reputation, so fearsome that the and experience the powerful scents for fly fishing, but also famous Californian variety of Grizzly was and cacophonous sounds of this for bear spotting – as many as named as horribilis in taxonomy. clash of the titans. fifty live along the river during Numerous lodges offer bear safaris, salmon season. The main building and a good time for viewing is Caribou overlooks stunning Naknek Lake, during mating season in May and Known as reindeer in Europe, huge and has an immense circular June. Late summer and autumn herds of caribou roam much of fireplace, ideal for relaxing with are best for seeing bears gather by the Alaskan wilderness, constantly a cocktail. falls to fish at the annual salmon searching for food. Much like the tutka bay lodge, homer run, stocking up before their winter wildebeest, zebra and antelope Located on a peninsula striated by hibernation. One of the most of East Africa, caribou engage in deep fjords, Tutka Bay Lodge offers populous bear locations is the an annual mass-migration seen spacious cabins with commanding McNeil River in Katmai National in its most poetic form from the views over the bay to the Park, while a visit to Kodiak Island air, as hundreds of thousands of mountains beyond, as well as will afford opportunities to see beasts trek to summer pastures many adventure activities. the larger Kodiak Bear. The closely in the north. The migration runs

72 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 insidealaska track in stages, but its peak in terms eat mammals and live in smaller, of numbers is from mid-June to less developed groups. The best mid-July, just after the calving time to see them is from June The view from here season, as increased insect activity to September. in warmer climes becomes particularly bothersome to the Humpback Whale caribou and they flee north in Another massive marine animal search of cool breezes. that can be seen on summer whale-watching trips from the Killer Whale southern coast is the humpback, These large marine predators characterised by its huge pectoral are amongst the most enigmatic fins and, as the name would and iconic in the ocean. They’re suggest, its humped head. found worldwide, but such is their Humpback behaviour has long intelligence that different pods fascinated humans, and it is have developed unique forms humpback song that has found of communication and hunting fame as whale ‘music’. Other than techniques, and this observation this, humpbacks are known for John Quinley, Regional Communications Officer of the has increased their mystique. In being friendly with many other Alaskan National Park Service, explains why Alaska is Alaskan waters you’ll be able to whale species, even travelling such a special destination find whales in the fjords, straits together in diverse groups. and sounds of the southern coast, A whale-watching trip should also What would you say marks out Alaskan national with Kenai National Park and Prince offer chances to see another key parks as unique places to visit in comparison to others William Sound offering perhaps form of humpback communication, in the western us and Canada? the best and most accessible as they slap their giant tailfins Size is certainly one aspect that’s unique. Several of opportunities. Here you’ll be able onto the surface of the water, or, the parks are six million acres or more, or about three to see both the more common more impressively given their times the size of Yellowstone. And the vast mountains, resident killer whales, which live mass, a full breach as the whale tundra, glaciers and big undammed rivers are things in complex social groups and eat leaps right out into the air, you don’t commonly see down south. Related to that mainly fish, and the less frequently coming down with a huge are our intact ecosystems that include a full range of seen transient killer whales, which slapping splash. predators, vast herds of caribou, and incredible returns of wild salmon. And part of that ecosystem is the people who are a part of the landscape; Alaska’s parks continue to provide opportunities for both visitors and those who live in and near them.

What is the best way for visitors to get around in Alaska? Are all the reserves accessible by road? The Alaska Marine Highway System and local roads get you to six parks, and close to a couple more. For the remote parks, airplanes are the way to go, either to a gateway community or a landing site in the park. You can map out a trip on your own, and we have some 400 companies providing visitor services in the parks. There’s plenty of help available to plan the best way to move around and have the experiences you want.

You joined the nps in 1988. What have been the biggest changes in tourism to Alaska since then? The growth of the cruise industry has been the biggest change, especially for the parks in Southeast Alaska and three parks on the road/rail system – Denali, Kenai Fjords and Wrangell-St. Elias. The visitor season has also grown to include more of spring and fall, and lately more activities focused on winter visits. And in the parks, we’re so much better equipped in terms of our facilities than we were in the 1980s, and that’s true for the hotel and lodge operators as well.

The nps celebrates its centenary in 2016; is there anything planned to commemorate this in Alaska? We’re going to open a couple of new facilities, including a traditional tribal house at Glacier Bay National Park and the historic Soapy Smith saloon in Skagway. We’ll also focus on events in Anchorage and Fairbanks that centre on the arts, for instance exhibits and film festivals.

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 73 Travel there South African splendours HOW TO GET THERE Given the vastness of the country, each region has something different British Airways fly daily to Cape to offer. Here is our pick of some of the best Town and Johannesburg from Heathrow, while Virgin Atlantic fly daily from Heathrow to Johannesburg. South African Airways offer up to twice daily flights to Johannesburg, while klm and Air France fly from many regional airports in the uk via Amsterdam or Paris respectively. More cities in South Africa can also be reached via hubs in the Middle East.

GETTING AROUND Hiring a car is an easy, efficient way to get around – roads are well maintained and, like the uk, traffic keeps to the left. Domestic flights are good value and a great way of covering such a vast country, while trains and long-distance buses connect all the main cities, with Rovos Rail and the Blue Train providing the luxurious option.

WHERE TO STAY Mpumalanga African wildlife and is a must for wexas travel product manager The most obvious attraction in visitors. However, on the way be Katrin Rummer recommends… the province is South Africa’s sure to visit one of the world’s fugitive’s drift A range of largest, oldest and most famous largest canyons at Blyde River, in luxurious cottages overlooking national park: Kruger, accessed particular the Three Rondavels the sites of Isandlwana and Rorke’s through the provincial capital of (above), domineering spires of Drift in KwaZulu Natal’s Battlefields Nelspruit. The park offers unrivalled Drakensberg sandstone rising from – tours to key sites are available. opportunities for viewing iconic the verdant canyon below. The library and dining area offer magnificent spaces to relax in. ellerman house in Bantry Bay, about 20 minutes from central , is a superbly appointed Ask the expert Relais & Chateaux hotel with a Tolene Van Der Merwe from the South African Tourist Board tells Traveller private art gallery. Rooms offer a about some of the country’s key attractions touch of history and class, while villas have ocean views. Cape Town is Artists such as Spoek Mathambo madikwe safari lodge The three World Design have brought modern South lodges here offer families and Capital 2014. African music to a global couples the chance to see game This implies audience in recent years. Where intimately in a beautiful setting that there’s would you suggest is the best – all the major animals live in the much more place for visitors to see live park, with elephants, lion and wild for visitors to enjoy beyond homegrown music? dogs particularly prevalent. It’s a wildlife and wineries... malaria-free environment too. It is not easy to just suggest one, & beyond exeter river lodge South Africa’s arts and craft scene as South Africa has so much to offer With eight spacious suites set reflects the country’s rich cultural in terms of homegrown music. on the edge of the Sand River, diversity. We have no shortage The Living Room at the this lodge in the Sabi Sand Game of creative talent and this Maboneng Precinct in downtown Reserve is both exclusive and shows that as a country, we offer Johannesburg offers live acts and exciting. The game drives are a lot more than outstanding fashion designers coming together. superb, but there’s no need to wildlife and wine. You can go Maboneng is a wonderfully leave the lodge at all – an open- almost anywhere in South Africa regenerated area of Johannesburg air dining area and viewing and experience the ultimate showcasing what this vibrant city deck offer fine views of animals combination of nature, culture, has to offer. coming down to drink at the adventure, heritage and vibe. In Cape Town we have The water’s edge.

74 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 insidesouth track africa

KwaZulu Natal Best accessed through its capital, Durban, found on a stretch of coast known as the Golden Mile for its beaches and surf breaks, the main attractions are in the interior. The province’s rolling hills and rugged mountains were the stage for battles between the Dutch or British against the local Zulu hegemony, and today the Blood River Monument commemorates Voortrekker wagons; the nearby Ncome Museum showcases Zulu culture, while Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift were the sites of famous battles between the Northern Cape & North West Limpopo Zulus and the British. South Africa’s most sparsely Named for the Limpopo River, this populated provinces are explained province borders Mozambique, Western & Eastern Cape by its largely arid landscape, and Botswana in the These provinces stretch along which includes parts of the north of the country. Game reserves the coastline of two oceans, Kalahari Desert, the main home and parks abound, including much emanating from the European of the meerkat. Elsewhere the of Kruger, but there are also some entry point to southern Africa, region is home to the Orange more quirky activities available. the beautiful and bustling city of River and the impressive granite The Extreme 19th is an additional Cape Town. As well as enjoying the gorge at Augrabies Falls; Kimberley hole attached to the Legend resort city’s myriad cultural and culinary diamonds; Namaqualand, whose where the tee is only accessible by delights and the magnificent wildflowers in August and helicopter and the Africa-shaped backdrop of Table Mountain, it is September turn the landscape green is 400m below the tee and a also a sensible point to begin a fly- to a carpeted spectrum which must for golf enthusiasts. There’s drive. To the north is a region of reflects the rainbow nation’s also the Sunland Baobab, a huge picturesque vineyards boasting nickname; and up on the border thousand-year-old tree whose some of the world’s best wines, with Botswana, Madikwe game hollow trunk houses a bar. One of the while continuing further east reserve, a malaria-free and most talked-about experiences can along the coast to Port Elizabeth less touristy park of bushveld be found in Hoedspruit, where the is the Garden Route, a stunning interspersed with inselbergs, Roots of Rhythm dance troupe offer coastal drive sandwiched between and home to an impressive an all-encompassing traditional mountain and ocean. range of wildlife. experience at a cultural village.

Waiting Room which is an Would you say that South established Long Street haunt Africa is good value for money and features live bands, mainly for tourists? smaller acts and acoustic ensembles, bringing local music Yes, I certainly would. We have the to life in a retro lounge-style venue. exchange rate in our favour and more airlines linking from airports What role do you think diversifying other than London to allow easier tourism to South Africa can access. Once on the ground in have in community development? South Africa, experiencing the food and wine, the activities and Tourism to South Africa is very accommodation is excellent value important to employment for money. The range to choose development. With the tourists from in South Africa is very coming to South Africa being wide, allowing all budgets more interested in the diverse to enjoy our great country. And culture and offerings that the remember, there’s no jet lag country has, this is allowing involved – with night flights, communities that were never after dinner, a movie and sleep reached before to find a source you wake the next morning in of income and development. the most amazing country full of The country has grown extraordinary – and affordable tremendously in the past 20 years – experiences. into a key must-travel destination where our visitors can experience it all in one trip.

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 75 Travel there HOW TO GET THERE Raise a frosty glass There are direct flights to Toronto Stacey Mulholland from Inniskillin Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake shares from London with both British her tips on Canadian wine Airways and Air Canada, while the latter also flies direct to Ottawa. Flight duration averages around seven hours.

GETTING AROUND An extensive and well-maintained road network connects all the major settlements. Trains also connect Toronto to other major cities, with Montréal a hub for lines continuing into Québec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Air travel helps diminish the great distances in Canada, and a large number of regional flights are available. How long have wines been made the recipient of many top WHERE TO STAY in Canada, and who were the international awards – we recently ritz carlton toronto original pioneers? won the Canadian Producer of the Ideally located in the city’s central Canadian wine came onto the Year at the 2014 International Wine financial and entertainment district, premium wine scene in the ’70s and Spirits Competition in London, this is a perfect base for sightseeing. with pioneers such as Inniskillin, with the majority of the awards The building itself and the spa in Chateau des Charmes and for winemaker Bruce Nicholson’s particular offer grand views of the Hillebrand. The focus at Inniskillin Icewines. We produce Icewines Toronto skyline and Lake Ontario. was on varietal wines and the cool from Vidal, Riesling and Cabernet fairmont château laurier ottawa climate Riesling and Chardonnay, Franc and two sparkling Icewines Next to the parliament buildings, followed in the ’90s by Pinot Noir from Vidal and Cabernet Franc. this landmark hotel with stately and Cabernet Franc reds. Today Visitors from around the world French renaissance turrets offers varieties also include Pinot Grigio, come to Inniskillin year-round Ottawan opulence both indoors Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, to experience our Icewines, and out. Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon. and especially love to visit in prince of wales hotel, January to experience the annual niagara-on-the-lake What is it about the terroir of Icewine Festival. Two hours from Toronto, Niagara- southern Ontario that makes its on-the-Lake is a historic settlement wines special? What wines would you dating back to the Revolutionary Our terroir combines cool climate recommend drinking with period. The hotel’s elegant antique temperatures, similar to Burgundy traditional Canadian dishes, such décor ties into this history, while and New Zealand, with soils of as poutine? other attractions include winery clay and sandy loam. Our grape- Poutine is certainly a Canadian tours and local boutique stores. growing region is bordered by classic – we will be featuring it at the rosseau muskoka resort, Lake Ontario to the north and our Winter Market Grill during lake rosseau the Niagara Escarpment to the the Icewine Festival Weekends! A larger luxury alternative to the south and was at one point an old With its rich, full flavours I would many historic lakeside cabins that lakebed (Lake Iroquois). With clay suggest an oak-aged Chardonnay emerge from the pines fringing being predominant, our vineyards (Inniskillin Reserve Chardonnay or the Rosseau shoreline, with a range are all under-drained with no Montague Vineyard Chardonnay) of seasonal activities on offer irrigation needed. or a rich smooth Merlot or emphasising the year-round draw of Cabernet Franc (Inniskillin Reserve the region. Inniskillin is a leading Icewine Merlot, Reserve Cabernet Franc residence inn by marriott, producer. What made frozen or the full-bodied red blend kingston grapes attractive to local vintners? Meritage). Originally the site of a seventeenth- We are blessed with very cold Icewine is now thought of as an century French fort, parts of which Canadian winters – a natural iconic Canadian wine, and it pairs are still visible today, Kingston now reason to create Icewine. Icewine is well with more than just dessert. occupies an area of Lake Ontario made from grapes naturally frozen With its concentrated flavours and waterfront and is known for its on the vine. vqa regulations state it layered texture, it is also terrific grand limestone buildings. The must be harvested at a minimum with savoury dishes, Canadian hotel is right on the lakeshore, and of minus 8 degrees Celsius. cheeses such as blue-veined and offers modern luxury with large Inniskillin is the leading triple crème, salty prosciutto spacious rooms and excellent producer of Icewine, and and rich lobster or scallops. amenities.

76 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 insideontario track

made from grapes frozen while still on the vine (see opposite for an introduction to the wines of Inniskillin).. Beyond mountains, There’s much more to Niagara than vineyards and GRANITE falls, so stay at least overnight to make the most of lakes and glaciers GORGES CUT galleries, restaurants, shopping, outdoor activities and wexas travel product manager Terhi Millar explains THROUGH other attractions. After returning to Toronto, continue there’s so much more to Canada than the Rockies DENSE PINE around the northern shore of Lake Ontario to Kingston, FORESTS AND an attractive waterfront city, stopping through While tourists visiting Canada typically gravitate GLASSY LAKES Peterborough on the way to view the world’s highest towards the glaciers and lakes of the Rocky Mountains HEMMED BY hydraulic canal lock. Kingston sits at the start of the in the west, Ontario is Canada’s most populous HILLS THAT St Lawrence River, which flows from Lake Ontario to province, home to its capital city, its largest city, its TURN TO the Atlantic, and here also lie the Thousand Islands, an greatest lakes and most spectacular waterfalls. A TEQUILA archipelago consisting of well over a thousand eyots, A sensible place to start is Toronto, a large modern SUNRISE IN many designated as natural reserves, incredibly scenic metropolis on the northern shores of Lake Ontario. AUTUMN and understandably popular for boat cruises. The city is seen as the cultural focus of Anglophone Onwards is Ottawa, Canada’s capital and the home Canada and reflects the increasingly multicultural of many important state institutions. After a stay shape of the country, with many neighbourhoods here turn west and make your way to Huntsville, around the city such as Greektown and Chinatown through Algonquin Park, where you can marvel offering a diverse experience for visitors. Museums, at typically Canadian scenery of granite gorges cut galleries and eateries abound, plus there’s the through dense pine forests and glassy lakes hemmed enormous cn Tower from which to view the surrounds. by hills which turn to a tequila sunrise in autumn. Just south of Toronto is Niagara, a region known for Expect more of the same in the lakes of Huntsville. its spectacular falls – not the world’s largest or highest, Next stop is Lake Huron and Manitoulin Island, the but indisputably the widest, three separate falls close largest freshwater island in the world and a peaceful to one another in the Niagara Gorge, whose combined place of hiking trails, also known for its indigenous flow rate is the most powerful and voluminous in the culture. From here, a ferry to Tobermory and the Bruce world. They are best seen from below by boat on the For more Peninsula brings more scenic hiking, as well as an information or Niagara River – but make sure to cover up to avoid a similar itineraries opportunity for snorkelling in Fathom Five National drenching from the spray! The region is home to over see www.wexas.com Marine Park with amazing views of 22 shipwrecks. 90 vineyards producing table wines and sweet icewine /ontario Afterwards, return to Toronto.

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 77

WEST AFRICA , where it has conducted mass the continuing conflict between Almost 8,000 deaths from killings of religious minorities pro-Russian and pro-Western Ebola had been reported by the and security forces. The British interests that has seen almost end of December 2014, with Liberia, Embassy in Damascus has been 5,000 killed, despite a highly Sierra Leone and Guinea suffering inoperative since March 2012, so visible proliferation of loyal the majority of losses. is there is no consular support for Russian fighters on the ground also affected, while outbreaks British nationals. in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. in Nigeria, and the Sporadic battles continue Democratic Republic of Congo have PAKISTAN despite a September ceasefire been declared over. Médecins Sans Peshawar remains on high agreement. Crimea, Donetsk Frontières reports that facilities for security alert after the 16 December and Lugansk remain off-limits, isolating and diagnosing patients Taliban attack on the Army Public and all but essential travel to are inadequate throughout the School that killed 141 pupils and Kharkiv should be avoided. Kiev region, and awareness-raising and staff and injured hundreds more. A and western cities have calmed access to healthcare for non-Ebola country that has seen over 70,000 considerably, but any protests or patients are lacking. See Travellers’ citizens killed in terror attacks in 13 demonstrations should be given a Health panel below for information years, Pakistan’s civil and military wide berth. and advice about how best to leadership was abruptly driven avoid Ebola. to re-evaluate its ‘good Taliban, VENEZUELA bad Taliban’ approach, with army The Venezuelan economy SYRIA chief General Raheel Sharif holding is suffering from a toxic mix of Around 200,000 Syrians immediate talks with Afghan falling oil prices and revenues have lost their lives in the President Ashraf Ghani and his and an inflation rate of over escalating civil war between pro- security commanders to seek 60 per cent. Anti-government Assad forces and the democracy assistance in fighting the menace. protests are expected to continue movement, which has displaced The fco advises against all travel in the face of shortages of more than 9 million people from to Peshawar and other contested food and basic services. Drug their homes. Full-scale military territories, and travellers should traffickers, smugglers and operations have included the be aware of a heightened threat of illegal armed groups are active deployment of ‘barrel bombs’ on terrorist attacks and kidnappings. along the Colombian border, civilian targets in Aleppo, and the and international airlines have situation remains highly volatile. UKRAINE dramatically reduced the number Moreover, Islamic State has a The Kremlin continues to of flights entering and leaving the stronghold in northern and eastern deny any direct involvement in country.

contact with well people in West limitations apply to travellers TRAVELLERS’ HEALTH Africa should not pose any threat. arriving from affected countries. EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE Moreover, the long-standing The uk and other countries continues to devastate several AVOIDING friendly and tactile nature of the continue to revise their screening countries in West Africa, with EBOLA societies has shifted away from policies and methodology to try inevitable long-term effects on hugging and shaking hands when and improve their effectiveness their general economy. The rest of by Dr Nick greeting each other. The major risk without disadvantaging the world is slowly waking up to Beeching and to the local population continues too many people who have the need to support the affected Sister Carolyn to be close contact with body fluids other milder illnesses such countries both on moral and Driver of at traditional funeral ceremonies, as respiratory infections and humanitarian grounds, and in Liverpool which should be avoided. There is tummy upsets. order to reduce the risk of similar School of no vaccine to prevent disease, and However, air travellers can be tragedies occurring again and Medicine no proven antivirus treatment for reassured that there has never spreading outside Africa. infection, although the epidemic been a case of transmission of Much business travel to the has promoted research to try and Ebola virus or any of the similar region has been curtailed, and provide these for the future. viral haemorrhagic fevers (such many current visitors to Sierra Screening of travellers at as Marburg, Lassa or Crimean Leone, Liberia and Guinea are airports to identify infectious Congo haemorrhagic fever) healthcare workers who are carriers sounds logical. However, from passengers who have clearly at some risk of infection. it can only be partially successful travelled with symptoms on What about the risk to other as there is no test that identifies regular airlines, despite extensive travellers? The Ebola virus is only people who are incubating look-back studies to identify all spread by contact with body infection and do not yet have the exposed fellow travellers. fluids (saliva, blood, vomit, faeces, disease. Screening at departure is Although popular holiday urine and semen) of patients Travellers who are designed to identify people at risk destinations such as The Gambia and this may include sweat from considering going due to occupation (e.g. healthcare have not been affected by the patients with high fever in the to West Africa workers) and/or those who have current outbreak, tourist arrivals should check the late stage of illness. People are latest advice on a raised temperature or other have taken a sharp downturn not infectious before they display www.gov.uk and symptoms who should be denied because of anxiety caused by any symptoms, so ‘ordinary’ www.nathnac.org. travel. Similar considerations and news stories.

80 traveller vol 45 • no1 • 2015 expertsafety advice

of Han Chinese into the region, who are seen by the Uighurs as being favoured for the best jobs. In a horrific attack at Kunming railway station in March 2014, knife-wielding separatists hacked 33 people to death and injured 140. In May a bomb attack in a crowded market in Urumqi killed over 30, and in October actions spilled over into Beijing as a car crashed in Tiananmen Square in a supposed suicide attack. A crackdown on demonstrations and religious practices in Xinjiang has only fuelled the unrest. Although foreigners have not been targeted, travellers should be vigilant.

AUSTRALIA Visitors should be wary THAILAND policies exclude cover following a of seasonal bushfires in Victoria, Martial law has been military coup or the imposition of South Australia and New South in place since May 2014 and martial law, and your insurance Wales. The January 2015 blazes empowers the Royal Thai Army may be invalid. in the Adelaide Hills are the to take whatever action it deems worst since 1983 after Australia necessary to enforce law and order. CHINA experienced the hottest year on Before the military coup there The autonomous region record in 2014. Annual tropical were large-scale demonstrations of Xinjiang in the far west of cyclones also occur across and protests in Bangkok and other China has seen increased tension Queensland, Northern Territory cities, many of them violent. You between the indigenous Uighur and Western Australia between should avoid any protests, political population and state authorities. November and April, and the gatherings, demonstrations or Economic development has progress of approaching storms marches. Some travel insurance brought ever-larger numbers should be monitored.

By staying informed of local »» If you are in a car, never drive TRAVELLERS’ SAFETY events it is easy to avoid any through a crowd; turn down affected areas, the best and safest the nearest side road, reverse INCIDENTS OF CIVIL UNREST CIVIL UNREST option. However, if inadvertently or turn around and drive away in the form of protests, caught up in protest action, the calmly. If you cannot drive demonstrations and even by crisis following is advised: away, park the car, lock it and riots occur with a fair degree management »» If caught up in a group of leave it, taking shelter in a of frequency across the globe, assistance protesters, try to keep to the side street or doorway. If you and can be prompted by a company edge of the crowd and take don’t have time for this, stop range of political, economic red24 the first escape possible; seek and turn the engine off, lock and social reasons. While large- refuge in a nearby building the doors and remain calm. Be scale unrest that can affect the or find a suitable doorway or sure not to show any hostility stability and security of nation alley and stay there until the or anger. states is rare, smaller more crowd passes. »» If in a building in the vicinity localised protests can still pose »» If stuck in the crowd stay on of a protest, do not leave the a risk; these can occur with little your feet and move with the premises; if the location has or no warning, in both first and flow (if you trip, fall or are doors or windows opening on third world countries. pushed to the ground, try to to the roadside of the property, It is always recommended make your way to a wall and ensure that all of these are to research the conditions of roll yourself into a tight ball, locked and closed. your intended destination protecting your head with »» If the unrest appears to before travel: Are there any your hands). be of a broader and more current issues or grievances »» Try not to be identified as serious nature, return to your that have sparked civil unrest? one of the demonstrators by accommodation or another What exact areas are being keeping well away from the secure location. Once in a affected? Are protests a regular leaders/agitators. safe place, the situation can occurrence or very rare? Do »» When leaving the fringe of the be better assessed and a they normally turn violent or demonstration just walk away measured decision made on are they largely peaceful? Are – don’t run as this will attract the best course of action to certain areas protest hot-spots? attention. ensure your personal safety.

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 81 industrydave warne insider

agents, as most airlines only remunerate agents on the base fare. Either way, it was supposed to be a temporary WHAT measure. The average price of a barrel of oil in 2004 was around $37 – or $47 in today’s money to account for the effects of inflation. So, with oil prices virtually back to GOES UP… the levels they were at when the fuel surcharge was introduced, can we expect to see the end of the fuel surcharge any time soon? And will the price of the same New York ticket referred to above ticket drop bye £203? THE NEWS THAT THE PRICE OF A BARREL OF OIL Well, no. At the time of writing only a handful of has dropped to $50 per barrel – the lowest since 2009 – airlines have made significant adjustments to their fuel should bring some relief to hard-pressed consumers. surcharges. Like with government taxes, once a new The chancellor George Osborne was quick to charge has become the norm, it is tempting to keep it highlight that he is expecting the oil companies, energy there for as long as possible. At worst this could be seen companies and airlines to reduce their charges to as profiteering, but as fuel surcharges have increased consumers accordingly. He tweeted that it is “…vital this airlines have had to push down their base fares down is passed on to families at petrol pumps, through utility Dave Warne, to remain attractively priced in the ultra-competitive bills and air fares.” assesses the aviation market. We have even seen base fares as low as This is perhaps unsurprising in the run-up to the likelihood of £1 in recent years (not that a traveller would know this, election. The Conservative Party in particular will want lower oil prices as the many additional charges that make up the final the average voter to feel like their spending power is resulting in air fare disguise the base fare). improving – the cost of living will be a key battleground. cheaper flights I must stress I am not singling out British Airways For drivers, the price of fuel at the pumps drops and Virgin Atlantic here. Most major airlines work relatively quickly in line with oil price falls, but for flyers in the same way, albeit some airlines add their the benefit of lower oil prices can take longer. Airlines fuel surcharge to the base fare rather than show will point to the fact that they buy a substantial portion it separately. The notable exception is the so called of their fuel in advance, but cynics will note that fuel ‘low-cost’ sector, where airlines like Ryanair and surcharges increase quickly when oil prices rise and fall easyJet have never implemented fuel surcharges – slowly when the oil price drops – the ‘rocket up, feather but they have obviously found many other ways of down’ factor. getting their revenues up via a range of alternative The final price you pay for an air ticket actually additional charges. contains a number of elements in addition to the So, whilst the issue isn’t as black-and-white so-called ‘base fare’ including departure taxes – such as it may first appear it is certainly true that the as the uk’s Airline Passenger Duty (apd) – security and cost of flying is not falling as fast as oil prices. airport charges. As consumers, we should reasonably expect further To illustrate, the British Airways or Virgin Atlantic reductions if the oil price stays low, in the same way sale fare to New York at the time of writing starts at a that motorists would expect lower prices at the total price of £389. This is composed of a base fare of just pumps. Against a backdrop where the aviation sector £34. To this is added uk apd of £69, and other airport has become profitable again (for several years during charges, us departure taxes and security charges the past decade the airlines of the world collectively totalling £83. The remaining £203 is actually the so lost money), and with the arrival of the new breed called ‘fuel surcharge’. That this amount is more than of fuel-efficient aircraft such as the Airbusa 380 half of the total price in this example will undoubtedly and Boeing 787 Dreamliner, anything less would be surprise most readers. inexcusable. Stripping out and adding a fuel surcharge has been With an election looming the chancellor’s focus part of a much wider trend in airline ticket pricing. on the aviation sector is therefore timely and Writing recently in the Independent the respected coupled with reductions in apd for children and for travel journalist Simon Calder said, “It seems to suit [the ultra-long haul destinations that become effective airlines] to ascribe a large slab of the fare to a category in the spring the cost of flying mayindeed fall. that might be defined as ‘not our fault – we’re just collecting money for someone else.’” In some cases this is justifiable enough – charges like departure taxes are imposed by governments. But stripping fuel out was always a grey area as it is a basic cost of providing the service, and the airline does have a degree of control over how they buy fuel. Fuel surcharges originated as a separate item in 2004, when oil prices were rising and becoming increasingly volatile. Fuel surcharges have risen progressively ever since, with sharp increases 2011 as a result of the oil price spikes of the time. One of the reasons given to the travel industry was that it is much quicker to change one fuel surcharge amount than to recalculate and refile every airfare each time there is a change to fuel costs. Many in the travel industry believe it was actually a ploy by airlines to reduce the amount paid to travel

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 83 competitioncrossword

CLUES ACROSS 5 & 11 down] Famous Inca site perched high in the Andes of Peru (5,6) 7] The city of Faro can be found in this well-known region of (7) 9] Second biggest of the Canary Islands (13) 10] Urban green space in Vancouver occupying about 1,000 acres (7,4) 13] The North Pole lies in which major body of water? (6,5) 17] ’s state (3,5,5) 19] City state where the Sistine Chapel can be found (7) 20] The cities of Basel and Cologne lie on this European river (5)

CLUES DOWN 1] South Pacific island nation formerly known as the New Hebrides (7) 2] _ Mountains, Jamaican range famous for its coffee (4) 3] _ Island, remote Polynesian outpost which became a unesco World Heritage Site in 1995 (6) 4] _ Coast, home to the city of Abidjan (5) 6 ] Second largest of North America’s Great Lakes (5) 8] Australia’s Great Victoria, for example (6) 11] See 5 across 12] Capital of French Guiana (7) ANSWERS FOR LAST ISSUE’S CROSSWORD 14] The world’s largest country (6) 15] What Americans call economy class when Across 5] Dresden 7] White 8] Sinai 9] Beirut 10] Rhône 11] Twin 13] Town flying (5) 14] Irish 16] Sicily 17] Largo 18] Mecca 19] Anaheim 16] America’s Lone Star State (5) Down 1] Brest 2] Mexico City 3] Christchurch 4] St Lucia 6] San Francisco 18] us state bordered by Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, 9] Beef Island 12] Po River 15] Sofia Nevada and Arizona (4)

LAST ISSUE’S WINNER Congratulations to Georgina Sherry from Wiveliscombe, Somerset who wins a copy of Lonely Planet’s The Best Place to Be Today.

CROSSWORD PRIZE

This issue’s prize is a copy of Life Story from bbc books, an accompaniment to the bbc television series of the same name, narrated by David Attenborough.

The series continues in the same vein as its ‘Life’ predecessors, telling epic stories from the natural world using the latest and most innovative filming techniques, often chalking up many firsts in the process. This book is the consummate companion, adding information to the individual stories and illustrating them with fabulous photography, and a foreword from the great man himself: a perfect addition to any coffee table.

For your chance to win a copy of Life Story, send your completed crossword, marked ‘Traveller crossword’, to the Traveller office, Dorset House, 3rd floor, 27–45 Stamford Street, London, se1 9nt by 30 July. The first entry out of the office pith helmet wins.

vol 45 • no1 • 2015 traveller 85 five places that changeddervla murphy my life

Blood tests revealed a particularly virulent strain of brucellosis; Rachel was lucky to have recovered so expeditiously. Tirunelveli supported my ‘have trust’ Death threats argument. There we were, a delirious mother and her five-year-old, in an unlocked, empty dak bungalow (the staff were on leave), yet our possessions remained and diversions intact while Rachel’s solo doctor-hunt quickly succeeded because of helpful passers-by.

PHOENIXVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA LEGENDARY TRAVEL WRITER AND ADVENTURER Significant experiences can happen in the most unlikely Dervla Murphy’s first book, Full Tilt: Ireland to India with a places – like Dauphin County, pa where my writing Bicycle, was published in 1965. More than 20 others have career was radically changed by an ‘incident’ at Three followed, attracting worldwide praise. Now in her 80s, Mile Island nuclear plant. That happened in March 1979 she continues to travel around the world and remains as while journeying home, at this stage by Greyhound bus, passionate as ever about politics, conservation, bicycling after an Andean trek. During our stay with old friends in and beer. Here are five of her most memorable stops. Phoenixville, about 80 miles east of tmi, I was persuaded to postpone my Peru book and instead do an anti-nuclear SOMEWHERE ON THE SHORES OF LAKE TANA volume. I then knew as much about the production of Every square mile of inhabited territory is known Dervla Murphy nuclear power as a dog about a holiday. So that task took by name to the locals but not necessarily to passing recalls moments 20 months working seven days a week. It also deflected travellers, so I can’t say exactly where I had the most that have tested me from straight travel writing. Ever since, most of my frightening experience of my 60 years’ journeying and reinforced books have been mongrels, mixing personal narrative through quite remote regions. In 1967 I trekked with a her instinct to with considerations of some of those social, political, pack mule (Jock) from Asmara to Addis Ababa. On the trust strangers ethical problems encountered en route. shore of Lake Tana far from any town or road, three shifta (bandits) stole Jock’s load by the very edge of the MUANG KHAM water then, using graphic gestures, debated for what To find the small town of Muang Kham, I cycled down a felt like many moments whether or not to murder me. long wide valley, its paddies strewn with old landmines Lake Tana is 52 miles long, 40 miles wide and more than and overlooked by the aloof, blue-tinged Annamites. deep enough to permanently conceal a weighted corpse. According to the guidebooks, Muang Kham in 1998 Did they decide against killing me because one was offered no accommodation. But they were wrong. A a village priest? cheerfully energetic couple and their nine children Their long argument gave me time to reflect that I was ran the government hotel where my room in a tin- lucky I’d enjoyed 36 years on our beautiful planet and roofed hut was shared with three road workers in town that being dead causes one no problem if the dispatching for the Chinese New Year. Small communities allow is efficient. Several days later those shifta came to regret uncomfortably close-up views of social changes actually their benevolence. I accompanied the Bahar Dar police happening and Muang Kham remains in my memory as they pursued the trio in a small boat, eventually as a vivid illustration of destructive ‘development’. Here I recovering my sleeping bag and Jock’s pack saddle. saw the Free Market wolf-pack beginning to ravage rural Everything else was easily replaced. In retrospect it all Laos, attacking the traditional framework of everyday seemed worthwhile for the light it shed on my attitude to life, belittling many features of an ancient culture – my own death. its music, weaving, farming, trading, wood carving, wickerwork. By now much inherited knowledge and TIRUNELVELI many irreplaceable skills have been lost – or are being The Tana mini-drama didn’t weaken my conviction preserved merely to service the tourist industry. that a trusting disposition is among any traveller’s most valuable assets. It ensures security more than a gun SEVEROBAIKALSK does, something I learned in 1963 while cycling to India. Severobaikalsk reminded me that some misfortunes Friends had urged me to carry a small ‘lady’s revolver’ but Dervla have built-in compensations. In May 2002 I was on I sold it to a villager near Kandahar, thus becoming an Murphy’s my way to the Russian Far East on the Baikal–Amur arms dealer in Afghanistan. latest book, Mainline (travel snobs favour the BAM over the Trans- Ten years later I took my five-year-old daughter on Between Siberian). I’d planned not to stop en route, but a serious her first non-European journey, to south India. There, an River and Sea: knee injury forced me off the train at a small town on unscheduled stop at Tirunelveli reinforced my faith in Encounters the northern shore of Lake Baikal, founded in 1974 as the majority of human beings. On Christmas Eve 1973 in Israel and a camp for railway builders. The town’s drabness is an unfamiliar fever suddenly overcame us both at a Palestine, is countered at all seasons by its incomparably beautiful railway junction. There our guardian angels took up the published by setting. Most of the residents are of bam-builder stock, challenge. In the waiting room a young Swiss couple, Eland Books, recruited from every corner of the old Soviet Union. seeing how ill we were, led us to an empty travellers’ priced £18.99. They have evolved into a distinctive community, bungalow opposite the station. Two days later I emerged It follows proud of their contribution to an extraordinary from a delirium to realise that Rachel, also fevered but on from engineering achievement. They welcomed the disabled mercifully compos mentis had rehydrated us both from her highly foreign babushka so warmly that I came to think of our gallon water bottle. Now, finding me again coherent acclaimed A Severobaikalsk as a home from home, a place I eagerly though too weak to stand up, she proposed venturing Month by the returned to during subsequent Siberian journeys, out to seek medical aid and soon returned with a doctor Sea: Encounters simply to relax with those who had nursed me found in a nearby maternity hospital. in Gaza. back to activity.

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