Wanderlust issue 153 (February 2015) sample

Wanderlust Issue 153 (February 2015) Top 50 trips for 2015 ♦ Haiti ♦ Okavango Delta, Botswana ♦ Jordan: photo special ♦ Kumbh Mela, India ♦ Top travel resolutions ♦ Pocket guides: Miami, Laos, Thessaloniki (Greece)

W i n!

t r av e l m ag a z i n e

Trips to: Can ad Rwanda and a, South-East A sia..

See pg 4 .

www.wanderlust.co.uk February 2015

top 50 trips 2015

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Including: Burma, Vietnam, Colombia, Chile, Norway, Cuba, Cambodia, Iran, Zimbabwe, Montenegro, USA, China, Greece, Peru, Iceland, Japan, Sri Lanka, Nicaragua, Italy, Uganda & more...

plus: haiti, botswana, Jordan, India, Miami

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Contents

Issue 153 February 2015

360˚ – Need to Know

6 Viewfinder to know this month...

14 Need Go now 16Eat this...

18 5 minutes with... Sir David 20Books Attenborough UK events 21 Know&your...

Waitangi Day, NZ 22 An different perspective on Oktoberfest, a huge walrus and Namibia Why Africa needs you in 2015 For lava landscapes, whales and walks – make for Madeira Beef up on picadillo – the ultimate Cuban comfort food

Hear from the legend The best new releases and happenings this month The lowdown on the Kiwi celebration

▲ Cover story

■ Special features

24Travel resolutions

Ditch the phone, travel solo, use local guides: just three of the 12 travel resolutions that will inspire your globetrotting in the new year

82The masterclass

E-book or hardback? Amazon or Smashwords?

Got a corking manuscript to share? Here’s how to self-publish your book Ask the experts This month: trekking Peru, Dubai stopovers and travelling solo

86Take better travel photos 88 Travel clinic 90Traveller’s to...

93three-seasonguidesleeping bags

Steve Davey focuses on the little things, revealing the secrets behind macro photography Dr Jane helps you diagnose your ‘flu-like’ symptoms The best bags for (nearly) all weathers

WIN!

26Top 50 Trips for 2015

Stuck for where to go next? We have the answer. Whether you fancy an active jaunt, a wildlife close-up, a festival-focused trip or an offbeat adventure, we’ve scoured the travel brochures to find the best trips on offer in 2015

Travel Masterclass

A trip to Atlantic Canada, worth over £8,000! p110 A Cambodia & Vietnam trip p136 7 days of culture, wildlife & gorilla trekking in Rwanda p80 SmartWool socks p92

“Suddenly there was an explosion of sounds. In front of me a priestess yelled and chanted, her feet kicking up dust as she beat them down on the ground.”

Phoebe Smith

Miami, p139 Haiti, p50

50 137

“On warm, tropical evenings, you can wander between salsa clubs, eat empanadas, hear whispers of vodou ceremonies and listen to the locals speaking a blend of Spanish, French and Creole.” Phoebe Smith

They’re beautiful, and sometimes they’re just plain odd – Laos’ mysterious Plain of Jars

139 4|

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GO TO DESTINATIONS TRAVEL SHOW...

Speakers include Kate Adie and more, p21 FEATURES

FROM THE ROAD

50Haiti

Vodou worship, French flavours, the omnipresent beat of drums... Five years on from the devastating earthquake, we discover the Caribbean’s ‘odd one out’ Okavango, Botswana Plan your trip to the UNESCO-listed wetland with our expert guide to the best lodges, camps, canoes and hidden corners Jordan Photo special: join 2013’s Travel Photo of the Year winners as they explore Petra, Wadi Rum and beyond Kumbh Mela, India Overwhelming?

Yes. Worth it? Definitely. We dive into the planet’s biggest gathering

BBC Pictures; Circle image: Hodder Publishing

66 98 116

POCKET GUIDES

112Your Story

Where are you from when you’re an eternal expat?

Our world-wandering reader mulls on the meaning of ‘home’ Letters In our mailbag: the closing argument on the clothing debate; swooning over Swaziland; getting truly off-the-beaten-track

114

Icon: Plain 137 Travel of Jars, Laos

Amid bomb craters and bruise-coloured hills lie these confounding stone vessels – here’s a guide to exploring the giant jars

139 First 24 Hours: Miami

Look beyond the Florida city’s malls and beaches to find ethnic neighbourhoods and a great gateway to Latin America

115This Month You Have Been... 141 Short Break: Thessaloniki, Greece Seeing the aurora in Iceland; getting excited about our Travel Photo of the Year competition; giving tips on South America; praising Kendal Mountain Festival; stargazing in Monument Valley

Ancient ruins and one of the largest student populations in south-east Europe make Greece’s second city a good spot for a hip yet historical city break

“Even before we touched down, Jordan’s desolate, reddish landscape seemed to radiate a strange charm.” Sandipan Mukherjee

98 Greece, p141 Madeira, p16

“Clouds of dragonflies drifted over the newly forged wetland mosaic, and the air was filled with the exuberant castanet clatter of countless frogs – it was almost as if they were celebrating the miracle of the Okavango in flood.” William Gray

Jordan, p98

India, p116 Laos, p137

Okavango, p66

66

116 “The Hare Krishnas had been subsumed into a distant cacophony of devotional singing, trains, gridlocked buses, beating tabla drums and the flute-trill of snake charmers.” Mark Stratton

TALKING HEADS David Attenborough, p20 “In the 1950s people thought filming a lion catching an impala was impossible. Within 15 years of course we had. After that we knew how to do it. Now we can almost do anything: film at night; at the bottom of the sea; slow things down, speed things up.”

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50 new trips 2015

Stuck in a travel rut? Need some inspiration for your next trip? Then look no further: we’ve uncovered the very best new adventures, from Armenia to Zimbabwe, and everywhere between

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⊳

new frontiers Be a travel pioneer on these truly fresh tours – and then brag about it afterwards

HAITI

Be Caribbean curious

£50 Few tour operators venture to Haiti, off but Exodus is one of them, and its

Wilpattu (for a private safari) and the ancient capital of Anuradhapura before reaching Jaffna’s temples and islands (pictured below), to discover a culture quite distinct from the rest of Sri Lanka. On the return south, hit other highlights including the rock-top fortress of Sigiriya.

WHO: Bamboo Travel (020 7720 9285, bambootravel.co.uk) WHEN: Flexible HOW LONG: 15 days HOW MUCH: From £2,195 (incl flights)

Previous spread Getty

ICELAND Haiti Revealed trip will uncover some of the Delve into a new ice cave pristine beaches, colourful art and mysterious cultures that the offbeat £50 The Langjökull Glacier is Iceland’s off second-largest ice cap and, from 2015, it Caribbean nation has to offer. Stay in will be home to the world’s largest manmade charming hotels, explore Unesco-listed ice structure. The new Langjökull Ice Cave forts and take part in a vodou ritual. See p50 (pictured) reaches 300m into, and 30m for more Haiti inspiration. below, the surface, permitting an WHO: Exodus (0845 863 9600, £50 intimate look at glaciology and exodus.co.uk) off the effects of global warming.

WHEN: 25 Jan, 8 Mar, 31 May, 8 Look out for this sign and you can use your Discover the World is offering Nov, 6 Dec 2015 subscriber £50 voucher HOW LONG: 12 days towards the cost of the trip. Ice Cave in Langjökull Glacier Find more inspiration excursions; these include HOW MUCH: From £2,399 with Wanderlust’s tripfinder tool a monster truck ride over the (incl flights) mytripfinder.co.uk mountains before you enter the SRI LANKA cave to see its wonders – from its blue Blaze a trail north ice to the layer of ash remaining from Eyjafjallajökull’s 2010 eruption. £50 Sri Lanka’s north was isolated for 25 off years during the country’s Civil War. WHO: Discover the World (01737 214250, Now the fighting is over, Bamboo Travel is discover-the-world.co.uk) going in: its The Undiscovered North of WHEN: Daily departures, Jun-Oct 2015 Sri Lanka trip explores the previously HOW LONG: From 2.5hrs off-limits region. Journey from Colombo to HOW MUCH: From £100 (excursion only) ⊲

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50

New trips 2015

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Haiti

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Haiti is like nowhere else in the Caribbean, fashioned by revolutionary slaves, vodou worship and artistic flair. Recent times have been tough, but – five years on from the devastating earthquake – the nation is rising from the rubble

BLEND WORDS PHOEBE SMITH PHOTOGRAPHS NEIL S PRICE

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Wanderlust Issue 153 (February 2015) Top 50 trips for 2015 ♦ Haiti ♦ Okavango Delta, Botswana ♦ Jordan: photo special ♦ Kumbh Mela, India ♦ Top travel resolutions ♦ Pocket guides: Miami, Laos, Thessaloniki (Greece)

W i n!

T R AV E L M AG A Z I N E www.wanderlust.co.uk February 2015

TOP 50 TRIPS 2015

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Subs 153v2.indd 48

Trips to: Can ad Rwanda a a, South-East A nd sia..

See pg 4 .

Including: Burma, Vietnam, Colombia, Chile, Norway, Cuba, Cambodia, Iran, Zimbabwe, Montenegro, USA, China, Greece, Peru, Iceland, Japan, Sri Lanka, Nicaragua, Italy, Uganda & more...

PLUS: HAITI, BOTSWANA, JORDAN, INDIA, MIAMI

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*Special offer*

Try five issues of Wanderlust for only

£5

*

+ Receive a FREE £50 travel voucher towards your next trip Visit www.WanderlustVoucher.co.uk for more details

Details online at: www.wanderlustoffer.co.uk/WL153 Call us on: 01753 620426 and quote WL153 * TERMS & CONDITIONS: This offer is not available in conjunction with any other promotion. Offer only available by Direct Debit. To pay by Direct Debit both the billing and postal address must be in the UK. Subscriptions are continuous; after the first payment of £5, a payment of £15.00 will be collected every six months unless cancelled. No minimum term. Please allow up to four weeks for delivery of travel voucher.

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Pole positions

Getting punted around the waterways is one of the most intimate ways to experience the Okavango’s wildlife

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Okavango Delta T r i p

P l a n n e r

Botswana’s Okavango is perhaps Africa’s most aspirational safari destination. But with its 15,000 sq km of sinuous wetlands and raft of remote lodges, where do you start?

Words william gray

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TRAVEL PHOTO OF THE YEAR THE WINNERS RETURN

JORDAN Last year we sent the winners of our 2013 competition on a photo commission to Jordan – and here are the spectacular results

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Kumbh Mela, India

The greatest show on earth

Fancy joining a party of 100 million people? India’s Kumbh Mela is a festival like no other – a mass of ritual bathing, naked sadhus, flashing lights and spiritual cleansing. We enter the fray...

Words & photographs Mark Stratton

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