162 sampler

Wanderlust Issue 162 (Dec 2015/Jan 2016) Nepal: Trip Planner ♦ The Travel Hot List ♦ Atlantic Canada ♦ Vietnam’s Mekong Delta ♦ Peru ♦ Pocket guides: Seattle, New Forest & Viking Oslo

T R AV E L M AG A Z I N E www.wanderlust.co.uk December 2015/January 2016

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NEPAL

Travel Hot List Chile, Indonesia, Peru, Iceland, Costa Rica, Australia, Brazil and more...

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♦ Atlantic Canada ♦ Vietnam’s Mekong Delta ♦ 10 countries that don’t exist ♦ 24 hours in Seattle ♦ Norway’s Vikings 000_Cover_CMYK_SO.indd 1

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CONTENTS

Issue 162 December 2015 / January 2016

360˚ – NEED TO KNOW

nder 6 Viewfi to know this month...

12GoNeed 14 Eatnow this...

165 minutes with... Steve Backshall 18 Know your...

22Cross bordersCape Horn 24 Salmon-seeking bears, swirling starlings and Sossusvlei sands

National parks: are they under threat?

Feel festive in Laos as Luang Prabang revels in 20 UNESCO years Feast on falafel, the Middle East’s (healthier) answer to fast food

The explorer talks peaks and shark bites Celebrate 400 years of its discovery Nine multi-country trips that prove more is more!

▲ Special feature

28 Wanderlust Travel Hotlist

A week in Costa Rica, p3

▲ Cover story

60

74The masterclass 77Instant expert: Channel Tunnel 80Take better travel photos clinic 82Travel guide to...

85Traveller’s headtorches Embrace pedal power! Thinking of signing up to your first cycling trip? Read our expert guide first

It’s 25 years since engineers met halfway under the Channel – here's where it can take you

Snapper David Yarrow shares tips on how to add extra wow to your wildlife shots Dr Jane gives advice on how to nurture your noggin while abroad

Don’t be left in the dark!

Read our guide to the best hands-free lights

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WIN!

Want to know where to go in 2016?

Here’s our guide to the hottest destinations, from San Sebastián to St Helena, Costa Rica to Chile

TRAVEL MASTERCLASS

A 10-day trip to Nepal, p72

Back to Nepal

They may have been shaken by a huge earthquake in spring 2015, but Nepal’s peaks, parks and heritage sites are well and truly open for business – now is the time to go!

A £1,000 Ramblers Worldwide trip voucher, p136

“With the moon still high in the sky, sunlight filled the valley, warming the air and luring the birds into action.”

Graeme Green

“We found three huge hunks of ice, sticking out of the ocean like jagged molars. We circled them, marvelling at the variations in colour and texture.” Lyn Hughes

116

Seattle, p137

Newfoundland, p46

Peru, p116

“Sandwiched between salty Puget Sound and the fresh waters of Lake Washington, and overlooked by snowcapped Mount Rainier, few cities are as splendidly located as Seattle.” Phoebe Smith

4|

137 Cape Horn, p22

Wanderlust December 2015/January 2016

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PICK UP SOME FESTIVE INSPIRATION...

Christmas Gift Guide, p20 FEATURES

46Atlantic Canada 88Mekong Delta 102Countries that don’t exist

Adam White

Head to scenic, sea-salty Newfoundland for puffins, icebergs, whales, lobster and a warm welcome Slow travel is the name of the game in south Vietnam: explore the river’s untouched banks and isles

Transnistria? Murrawarri? Lakotah?

Never heard of them? Fear not: we profile ten of the globe’s most curious non-nations, and consider if they’re worth a visit Peru Swap well-trodden Inca trails for a delve into one of the world’s deepest canyons and a trip to the Amazon’s source

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FROM THE ROAD

POCKET GUIDES

110Your Story

Our readers’ tales from the beaches ofJordan, Scotland and Australia – inspired by last issue’s sandy South-East Asia article.

Letters In our mailbag: Lapping up South America’s UNESCO wonders; visiting Libya 50 years on; discovering the meaning of wanderlust through poetry; yearning after Yosemite National Park

114

24 Hours: 137 First Seattle, USA

Eclectic neighbourhoods, a thriving art and music scene, a standout tower, wilderness on the doorstep: Seattle is a must-see

139Short Break: New Forest

Mingle with ponies, hike across heath, see the seaside and gobble in gastropubs – all on a quick trip to traditional Hampshire

115This Month You Have Been... 141 Travel Icon: Oslo’s Vikings 4WD-ing across the UAE’s dunes; marvelling at Mandalay; experiencing Ecuador beaches; booting up in the Scottish Highlands and much, much more...

Fearsome pirates, pioneering ship builders, icons of history: learn more about the seafaring Scandinavians – and visit a Christmas market – on a trip to Norway’s capital

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“When you start looking, you soon discover that the world is full of wannabe states, would-be countries and micronations yearning for recognition.” Nick Middleton

Oslo, p141

102 “Not only could travellers be enjoying one of the most enticing cities in the world completely crowd-free, but every rupee they spend in locally-run bars and shops helps the city in more ways than the bill’s amount.” Robin Boustead

New Forest, p139 Nepal, p60

Luang Prabang, p14

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Mekong, Vietnam p88 “I lolled in a shaded hammock gazing listlessly at faraway riverbanks – now impenetrable with water coconuts – as the boat, weighed down with fruit and rice sacks, ploughed the treacly brown flow.” Mark Stratton

TALKING HEADS Steve Backshall, p18 “Even in the UK you can still get your butt kicked. Mountains give us that ability to experience somewhere extreme.”

Wanderlust December 2015/January 2016

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Horsing around in Latin America The sharded peaks of Torres del Paine overlooks the national park that shares its name

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travel

hot list

2016

The most exciting cities.

The newest trails.

The most wallet-friendly destinations. Here’s what will be on your to-do list for 2016

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1

Jordan

Why it’s hot... This Middle East marvel needs you!

Why is Jordan hot? Because it is. No clever hook – we just love it, plain and simple.

And right now, it could do with the love. Despite being safe-as-houses itself, Jordan still suffers from its proximity to troubled neighbours, with

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visitor numbers dismally down; in mid-2015, the Jordanian government even waived visa fees (on certain provisos) to try to encourage visitors.

But, really, the greatest encouragement is the country itself. For just 4.5 hours on a plane from the UK you get a surfeit of exotic. The country has surprising diversity, from tropical diving in the south to hot, otherworldly desert in the middle to unexpected lushness in the

north. And, of course, it has some of the world’s most astonishing historic sites: Mount Nebo, where Moses glimpsed the Promised Land; Jerash, one of the best-preserved Roman cities of the east, where chariots raced (and still do); and Petra, where, 2,000 years ago, the Nabateans carved a city out of solid rock. Better still, go now and there’ll be few other travellers around. What’s not to love?

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travel

hot list

2016

Previous spread Dreamstime This spread Alamy; Dreamstime

Why it’s hot... It’s one of the world’s best new hikes

It wasn’t so long ago that a trek through the Balkans would have been utterly unthinkable.

Albania was all-but closed off from the world until the 1980s; the 1990s saw war rage across the former Yugoslavia.

But in recent years, this chunk of eastern Europe has become one of the hottest tickets – mention the likes of Kosovo and Montenegro among the travel trade and there’s a palpable buzz. Those dark days had one travel positive: the mountains here remain some of the leastexplored and most untouched on the continent.

Hikes pass villages and shepherd huts like time warps; the landscapes are spectacular.

The Via Dinarica, which runs across the Dinaric Alps from Slovenia to Macedonia via Bosnia & Herzegovina, Kosovo, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, was launched in 2013, encompassing around 2,000km of trails. There are three strands: the main White Trail traverses the highest peaks; the Blue Trail is an easier route along the coast; the forest-andfoothills Green Trail is designed for cyclists.

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US National Parks, USA Why they’re hot...

They’re 100

Comprising over 339,935 sq km, there are 408 areas – including national parks, historical parks, monuments, lakeshores and battlefields – that come under the jurisdiction of the US National Parks Service. It’s a diverse collection, ranging from the high-profile fizz of Yellowstone (the world’s oldest national park, designated 1872) to Alaska’s vast Wrangell-St Elias (the US’ biggest), Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial (the smallest, reopening in April) in Pennsylvania, much of American Samoa and even the White House.

The US NPS was created by an act signed by President Woodrow Wilson in August 1916, so celebrates its centenary this year. Parks will run a range of events, geared towards inspiring people to have fun in these wild, historic, momentous locations. Within the general centenary, special mention should go to Haleakala NP (Maui), Hawaii Volcanoes NP (Big Island) and Lassen Volcanic NP (California), which were all designated in 1916. Visitors considering doing a multi-park roadtrip should investigate an annual park pass (US$80) for the best value.

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Via Dinarica, Balkans

Wanderlust December 2015/January 2016

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Eye on high

Kathmandu Valley’s Swayambhunath Monkey Temple largely withstood the quake, and restoration is underway

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b a c k

t o

nepal

Shaken but still stirring: Nepal was hit hard by the 2015 earthquake but remains astonishing. Make this the year you explore its peaks, parks and heritage sites. Here’s how...

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mekong

When it hits Vietnam, the Mekong slows to a crawl, creating a spectacular landscape of islands, paddies, stilted villages and unique cultures.

And if the river isn’t hurrying, neither should you‌ Words & photographs mark stratton

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Mekong Delta

meander

River rays

The haze of sunrise slowly warms the Mekong

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Soaring views

A large juvenile condor flies high above the Colca River in Colca Canyon, close to the Cruz del Condor viewpoint

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Peru

flight of the

condors Delve into far-south Peru: a land of ice mummies, misty volcanoes, the Amazon’s source and one of the world’s deepest canyons, where mighty birds rule the roost Words & photographs Graeme green

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