update | September 2018 tel & fax 01837 840640 email [email protected] [email protected] ADVENTUREScreating See what we can tailor-make for you at www.farfrontiers.com and www.arcturusexpeditions.co.uk

ith summer now almost Wbehind us it’s good to have an exciting winter holiday in the diary. In this issue I’ve showcased trips you can make this Christmas and New Year, particularly with families or groups in mind. As you know I’m always happy INDIA, SRI LANKA AND MYANMAR to chat through ideas. Opulent camping, jungle lodges, heritage houses and beach resorts – pages 2 and 3 In addition to new offerings and discounts for early birds and late bookers I hope you’ll enjoy our two trip reports. The first is the result of my very educational voyage in April on Sea Spirit. I learned so much more about the ins and outs of polar expedition travel that it inspired me to jot down some tips for clients, especially those new to polar voyaging, which you can read in full in my trip report on the Arcturus website. The second report on page 5 is a trip my husband Rahul made recently to revisit Ladakh, high in the mountains of the north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, which he found still uniquely special and which touched his heart. BE THE FIRST Do get in touch if you’d like Cruise the east coast of the any more information on Andaman Islands on this classic anything you see here, 1960s motor yacht in 2020 or if you have your own trip – page 4 in mind!

Fiona Brijnath, Director Ninestone, South Zeal, Devon EX20 2PZ Taylors Hill And now for some cricket…

Fancy combining a holiday with the Sri Lanka v England matches this autumn? Let me take the hassle out of planning where to stay for the test Fiona’s trip report: matches and one day internationals! A seminar at sea on Sea Spirit KANDY April 2018 » matches « 17 and 20 October (ODI), 14-18 November (Test) » stay « The Kandy House, an ancestral manor My recent journey from the Cape Verde Islands house only 10km from the Pallekele stadium or to the Canary Islands aboard the 114 passenger adventure voyage ship Sea Spirit historic Taylors Hill up in tea country. We’ll arrange }took the form of a ‘seminar at sea’, and what a fascinating one it was! all the transport to and from the ground for you.

During my three days, on what would traditionally be a polar travel brochure gives an overview of the COLOMBO repositioning voyage, I learned itinerary options, but hopefully this will give some » matches « Maniumpathy a great deal more about the finer more ‘behind the scenes’ detail 23 and 27 points of polar expedition voyaging, on what you might expect to October (ODI), immersing myself in the discussions see and do in the various 23-27 about the many opportunities a regions together with general November (Test) polar voyage presents. facts and tips – in the hope » stay « My experience has inspired me to you might join Sea Spirit or Maniumpathy, share some of this wisdom with 50 Years of Victory on an a stately heritage house within walking distance of clients, especially those new to adventure of a lifetime! the SSC stadium for the test matches and 5km from polar travel, so you can get the The greatest revelation from the Premadasa Stadium for the ODIs best from an Antarctic or Arctic my voyage concerned the More ideas for Sri Lanka for the rest of your voyage. You’ll find my notes and suggestions in my North Pole. I hope the trip on page 3! latest trip report on the Arcturus website. Our annual excerpt below will whet your appetite!

Heading North of North!~ The North Pole is often misconstrued as a ‘bucket heading south, all the while in 24 hours of trip’ voyage and completely underestimated. You daylight. The added bonus is a couple of days in are on a nuclear icebreaker (50 Years of Victory) equally magical and unique Franz Josef Land on and this spine-tingling experience starts with the the way back, where the magnificent ship can extraordinary atmosphere of the sealed nuclear reach right up to glacier faces. facility of Murmansk – you have very special This is an intensely emotional trip and the ship permission to be here! The next seven days are full itself is totally unique. It will give you goose- of the awe and wonder of travelling on this huge bumps just to look at it! and powerful ship, where hours can be spent at the bow watching the three metre thick ice crushed like a knife through butter or parked up for an » North Pole top tips « incredible wildlife encounter. » The best thing is there’s no seasickness on North Pole Day at 90 degrees North is board as the ship is so massive and stable unforgettable. There are overflights, celebrations, » The polar bear encounters will be quite ceremonies and usually a BBQ on the ice, and something – in many cases they come right eight to 10 hours are spent here before up to the ship on the ice edge and have been known to spend one or two hours close by » If you stand in the bow at any stage of the voyage you are the most northerly person on the planet!

I came away from this seminar feeling very personally connected to Sea Spirit, 50 Years of Victory and just some of the very special staff and with the North Pole firmly established as a place I must visit in my lifetime. See my trip report on the Arcturus website for more polar voyage tips! » INDIAN SUBCONTINENT Palatial camping Jaagir Lodge at Dudhwa, Uttar Pradesh, fiona’s near the border with Nepal, is a fantastic base CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR from which to discover the Terai, the marshy jungle between the Himalayas wish list and the great plains of India. Safari for tiger and leopard in the company of Lodge trained naturalists. Jaagir Experience mobile camping at its most luxurious at the new Kishkinda Camp in Hampi, mp Karnataka, with its sumptuous nda Ca Do away with the turkey and tinsel this year! Kishki tents, four-poster beds and Here are some of my perfect locations for a personalised butler service. Christmas or New Year getaway. Hampi’s sacred ruins, royal palaces, watchtowers and temples have earned it a UNESCO World » ANTARCTIC Heritage designation. Ross Sea Sangam Nivas Camp in the Leh Valley, North India will be a perfect base for the An additional expedition, Antarctica's Ross Sea, Kumbh Mela, 10 January to 6 March 2019. was recently added to Spirit of Enderby's 2018- Contact me for more information. 2019 calendar. You might still get on board when she sets sail on 8 January 2019 for a 30 day Chamba Camp at Thiksey, Ladakh is perfect odyssey quite unlike any other to the Antarctic. for any time between May and October. Contact me if you are interested in other late Our clients the Dampneys have just returned offers for the Antarctic 2018-19. from there (see back page).

» INDIA New Pandaw Lower Ganges cruise December 2018 will see a new seven night cruise on the lower Ganges and Hooghly rivers on board the Orient Pandaw. It will operate weekly every Sunday, in and out of Kolkata, and we do have very Camp good rates on these departures. Chamba Pandaw also has family offers on various river cruises in Asia for selected dates during the school holidays. An Asian adventure on the water is a Christmas present in which you can all share. For the first cabin two adults pay full price, » SRI LANKA and for the second, one or two children between New hotels, stunning locations five and 18 travel free. You’re never short of superlative Another exciting accommodation in Sri Lanka – as I f ound development is out when I toured there in September 2017. Pandaw’s new As well as these new arrivals and suggestions ‘combination’ we also have some wonderful private villas itinerary so you can that would be perfect for family groups, so make back-to-back do get in touch. expeditions on Goatfell is a new boutique hill country hotel their distinctive in a refurbished former estate manager's ships. Experience four countries residence at Kandapola, Nuwara Eliya, in by adding a Red River cruise in North Vietnam to Sri Lanka's Central Province. Another tea a voyage along the upper Mekong through Laos, country bungalow, Nine Skies, opens this Thailand and Myanmar! autumn near Ella, 200 km east of Colombo. The lovely Kahanda Kanda hotel set amid palm fringed jungle and the tea nda ge Kahanda Ka le lod plantations of southern Sri Lanka a jung Gal Oy has revamped its gym and is opening two new Plantation Pool villas in October. The authentically wild Gal Oya jungle lodge near Senanayaka Samudra Lake, and the luxury hilltop resort of Santani near Kandy are two more stunning properties we can suggest. I have so many more! » JAPAN In January I had a blissful trip to Japan in January 2017 – Hi tech Tokyo, snow monkeys, farm-houses in snow-clad mountain villages, bullet trains, chanting monks, noodle street stalls, bubbling NEW AND COMING SOON hot springs, Saki, Hiroshima and a meeting with a traditional Geisha in a private tea house in Kyoto. It’s a world of contrasts, » ATLANTIC ODYSSEY from ritualised Batto sword fighting, Wa Ale Island Resort vineyards and whiskey distilleries to Plancius revisits snorkelling among the corals of the Okinawa After completing an especially successful Atlantic Islands. For a non-Christian country, Odyssey in spring this year, Plancius will set off Christmas is a big event and the spectacular on 20 March – 2 May 2020 for another 45 day winter lights are a sight to behold. extravaganza. On this voyage from Ushuaia to St Helena and ending in the Cape Verdes (including the whale-packed waters of the Antarctic Peninsula) you’ll cross the Atlantic and the Equator and see some of the wildest, least touched, most visually stunning locations on the planet – plus an abundance of wildlife. Awesome! » MYANMAR New resorts in the Myeik (Mergui) Archipelago Set to open this November, Awei Pila is a secluded luxury beachfront eco-resort just two hours by private boat from Kawthaung on the northernmost beach of Pila Island. It is surrounded by virgin forest Awei Pila NEW ZEALAND with views over the Andaman Sea. AND THE Opening soon, Wa Ale » VIETNAM Overnight train SUBANTARCTIC Island Resort’s stunning The new luxury overnight ‘Lotus Train’ is a relaxing ISLANDS tented and treetop villas way to see more of Vietnam south of the capital are set in breathtakingly Hanoi on your way to Da Nang. We can book your Christmas Spirit wild scenery and the barefoot own private cabin (each has four berths). The train How about taking the family to luxury experience it offers will be similar to that leaves Hanoi or Ninh Binh in the evening, arriving New Zealand for Christmas and of a top end African safari lodge. in Dong Hoi, Hue and joining an extraordinary voyage We have some great itinerary suggestions for Da Nang City in the in the South Pacific? Spirit of Thailand and Myanmar for which these resorts morning. This will work Enderby has been refurbished would be a grand finale. Wa Ale is just 55 nautical well with our suggested and now boasts a fresh, miles from Kawthaung, just across the border from Vietnam’s Mekong Delta contemporary lounge, upgraded Thailand’s Ranong Airport. and beyond itinerary. cabins with USB charging points and an up-to-the minute lecture theatre. Join her for our » GALAPAGOS ISLANDS Subantarctic Islands – birding down under voyage 8 November New Theory – 1 December 2018 or ask me Cabins for March 2019 onwards are now about her Forgotten Islands of bookable for luxury expedition cruises around the South Pacific expedition the Galapagos on the new MV Theory, 1-13 January 2019. These identical sister ship to MV Origin. Named after voyages also run in the 2019-20 Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and the season after she’s explored some first and only vessel in the Galapagos to be fascinating locations in Arctic accepted into Relais & Chateaux, she too will and Far East Russia from May to bring environmentally responsible five-star September 2019. cruising to the seas around the archipelago. ANDAMAN ISLANDS New cruise Pandaw will be offering expedition cruises to the Andaman Islands from early 2020. Now governed from India, their ethnographically- distinct aboriginal peoples thrived for centuries without contact with the rest of the world. With pristine beaches and interiors bursting with plant and animal life, this is truly an unspoiled tropical paradise. Sail out or back from Thailand on a 10 night cruise on board the 10-suite Andaman Explorer or take a shorter seven night cruise flying in and out of India. Let me know if this interests you and I’ll be in contact as soon as the full itinerary and dates become available.

MV Strannik Small and perfectly formed

We’re really excited about this forthcoming new experience on a very small ocean going expedition ship. If you’re excited by the idea of authentic expedition voyaging with a less predictable and risk averse itinerary, then the custom designed and built MV Strannik may well ‘float your boat’! She can take up to 36 day passengers or sleep 12 in five cabins (double, twin or triple berth) with desk and en-suite with electric toilets. Run by Rodney Russ who has been involved in expedition travel since the early 1980s, Strannik’s expeditions will mostly be in support of science, research and conservation. You’ll be an involved and valued member of the team collecting data, recording observations and doing hands-on conservation work. Pictured here recently awaiting her mast, Strannik will make her ‘shake down’ cruise to South East Asia later this year. Not only will exclusive groups be able to join her advertised expeditions but she can be chartered for a private expedition or cruise. Perhaps she could help you fulfil your dream of a lifetime? FALKLANDS on Ortelius Late offer There’s a last minute special offer of 35 per cent off remaining cabins on Ortelius’ Falklands Exclusive voyage sailing 29 October – 7 November 2018 for a feast of birding, wildlife watching and hiking!

SinhaGiri

SRI LANKA Two contrasting properties

SinhaGiri in the heart of Nuwara Eliya overlooks the racecourse and Gregory Lake. This restored bungalow is filled with passionately collected arts and treasures and has two magnificent suites. Boutique 87 at Bentota on the south west coast is all tropical minimalism with two Boutique 87 suites, a secluded lap pool, magnificent gardens and a private lake. Stay two nights at either hotel and receive 50 per cent off your last night. Or, combine two nights at each hotel and get your final night's stay free of charge. Applies to room and whole house bookings until 30 November 2018.

» ARCTIC Sailing into the sunset Polar Pioneer will be sailing her final polar voyages to the Arctic and Scotland in 2019. If you hurry you might still have a chance to sail on her and benefit from some exceptional farewell savings. Her last voyage will be the Northern Svalbard Explorer 29 August – 9 September 2019 when she will explore some of the farthest reaches of the archipelago. Just for a change here’s a trip report penned by my husband Rahul! Ladakh is so amazing I have to share this!

LADAKH 2018 the globetrotter returns

Rahul Brijnath’s trip report June 2018

30 years ago I flew out of Leh on a rickety old (an initiative set up by the Snow Leopard turboprop after an exhilarating summer leading Conservancy) and marvelling at the peaceful }treks in the Ladakh and Zanskar ranges and valleys with their clear tumbling streams, chukor attempting to climb Stok Kangri. I vowed to return partridge, flowers and little stone ‘chortens’ to this mystical Indian frontier on the edge of the (Buddhist shrines). I then had the good fortune to Tibetan Plateau! visit the magnificent Hemis monastery during the Fast forward to June 2018 as I winged back, excited annual festival honouring the Guru Rinpoche. 32 metre statue of Maitreya yet apprehensive as to how changed I would find Masked performers danced to the clash of cymbals Buddha, Diskit Monastery this magical place. The starkly beautiful brown and and the wail of pipes that echoed against the stone purple hills surrounding Leh, the fluttering of the valley walls. The noise, the colour, the prayers and Tibetan prayer flags in the winds of the high the dancing, and the deep devotion of the local Himalaya and the soft cries of ‘Juley’ as the locals villagers held us all enthralled and made us feel a part of this ancient Buddhist festival. exchanged greetings were a nostalgic reminder that Rizong Monastery some things had withstood the passing of the years in these valleys steeped in gentle Buddhist beliefs. ~ I came back to Ladakh partly in search of my youth and also, as someone who studied big cats, to promote and help conservation of these elusive shadowy creatures. I spent a few wonderful days trekking to the area where we set up camp in winter as a base for our snow leopard trip, having tea and chatting with the ladies from Rumbak village who sold me little snow leopard dolls made from yak hair

Morning prayer hall, Thiksey Monastery Leh, venue for the 33rd Kalachakra Buddhist festival and teachings of the Dalai Lama

Prayer flags on a mountain road

Contact Fiona for our Discover Ladakh and other itineraries » snippets « See our websites for more client comments on trips that interest you – we’re always adding new feedback! your Scott 150 celebrations feedback }The wine area, including , the monastery and Tsinandali estate was probably our favourite experience. There was something magical about going for a swim, surrounded by vineyards that could almost have been in France or Italy, but knowing that beyond the hills the other side of the Alazani Valley lay Chechnya and . Gori is also a must. Restaurants were a bit hit and miss – the salads are divine and you can live on them alone, but meat/fish cooking didn't always hit the In June I attended the Scott 150 celebrations in spot, though somehow it never really mattered that much.~ Plymouth, including a wonderful service Graham and Sue Bell, , June 2018 commemorating the life of Captain Scott and the unveiling of a commemorative plaque on the site of his birthplace, after which a wreath was laid at the National Scott Memorial at Mount Wise. We were treated to fascinating talks on Scott and on marine }Great holiday: ten close, ten good and five distant science by specialists David Crane and Lloyd Peck, tiger sightings, exceeding our expectations.~ all topped off with a gala dinner. I made many new Mr and Mrs Ken Miles, India wildlife, March 2018 friends among the polar enthusiasts there, including from the Captain Scott Society in Cardiff.

New }A wonderful holiday that will live long in the memory. Fabulous skiing sponsorship experience followed by a taste of the culture that Japan has to offer.~ Mr Eoin Murray and family, Japan, April 2018 Great excitement for our family at our local cricket club’s end of season BBQ }Ladakh is gorgeous, on 27 July! Far stunning scenery with a warm welcome from everyone Frontiers Travel including the weather. Quality of camp staff and food both of sponsored a new the highest standard with nothing too much trouble.~ trophy for Chagford Hugh and Janet Dampney, Ladakh, August 2018 Youth Cricket’s team (where my boys play). The Spirit of Cricket award is a }Our favourite part of the trip was observing the walrus, least favourite, perpetual trophy and the dining area was too noisy during meal times. In all other respects was won for the first the trip was excellent and was hugely blessed by the quality of the time by Flo Hassell. lectures and lecturers.~ John and Beryl Bannister, Fair Isle, Jan Mayen, Spitsbergen, May 2018

}All in all China was very interesting with beautiful sites and lovely people. I always felt extremely safe. Angkor Wat is of course amazing, I’m so glad I went.~ Mr and Mrs Gene Howard, China and Cambodia, June 2018

Total eclipse 2021

Could there be anywhere better than Antarctica }Once I got north of the Baldur Ferry it was more like Scotland. My hire from which to view the total solar eclipse? It’s car was excellent and the weather was kind – a cool wind but sunshine. expected there on 4 December 2021 and Plancius, In the Westfjords, the Fisherman Hotel at Suoureyri is lovely as is Ortelius and the new ship Hondius will be in the the Breidavik.~ Martin Dawson, Iceland and Greenland, June 2017 Weddell Sea between the South Orkneys and South Georgia, right at the centre of the moon shadow at the edge of the sea ice! Did you notice the envelope? }What a place! Amy and James had the time of Let me help you plan your 19 night voyage to their lives swimming with sea lions and penguins Like many of you we’re trying to cut down our include this extraordinary phenomenon. and spotting whales. I even managed to snorkel! use of plastic, so recently we looked into the David was in life cycle issues and practicalities of alternatives seventh heaven Travel with confidence: All the flights and flight-inclusive holidays in this newsletter are to ‘polywrap’ for sending out our newsletters. on the boat and financially protected by the ATOL scheme. When you pay you will be supplied with an ATOL Certificate. Please ask for it and check to ensure that everything you booked (flights, We’re returning to good old envelopes for the I managed not hotels and other services) is listed on it. Please see our booking conditions on our website foreseeable future – not just any envelopes, to feel seasick for further information or for more information about financial protection and the ATOL Certificate go to: www.atol.org.uk/ATOLCertificate. ours are made of 100% recycled paper and are at all which Total Payment Protection (topp) Policy cover: In themselves 100% recyclable by you. Sorted! was great. compliance with The Package Travel and Linked Travel ~ Arrangements Regulations 2018 an insurance policy has David and Bryony been arranged with Travel & General Insurance Services Limited (t&g), to protect customers’ prepayments in the Lloyd and family, unlikely event of our financial failure. Full details are given Ecuador and the Galapagos April 2018 on both the Far Frontiers Travel and Arcturus websites under the Your Financial Protection section. Design: String concept and design 01323 647078