Gear

KEEN OAKLEY DARN TOUGH

Drift Creek, £80 Whether you’re splashing through rockpools, trying a bit of SUP, pounding city streets or walking a coastal trail, the Drift Creek is built with performance in mind. It offers incredible traction on wet or dry surfaces and is available in either a Closed Toe model with toe protection or a sporty Two-Strap edition. keenfootwear.com CMDN sunglasses, £121 Look effortlessly cool in this new range mixing progressive design (apparently inspired by Camden Town) with a nod to the brand’s heritage. These unisex glasses have a wide field-of-view lens and a strong but light and durable frame. They’ll take you from people-watching in a city square to exploring Wadi Rum. oakley.com Decade Stripe Micro Crew Hike Sock, £23 Socks are one of the most underrated travel items, saving you from blisters and worse. We love the Darn Tough range with their unconditional lifetime guarantee. The Decade Stripes are lightweight, cushioned and moisturewicking, designed to be used with any shoe, at any time of year, in any location. trekitt.co.uk

TWELVE SOUTH

AirFly Pro, £54.95 A nifty gadget for travel, AirFly Pro allows your devices to connect wirelessly to other systems that don’t have built-in Bluetooth. For instance, enjoy in-flight entertainment on your favourite headphones. It can also send audio from your iPhone to the sound system in your rental car; you could use it to stream directions from a navigation app. www.apple.com/uk

RAB

Infinity Microlight, £240 Rab may be synonymous with mountain apparel but this newly upgraded Microlight jacket would be just as brilliant on a windy country walk or exploring a chilly city. Versatile, lightweight, wind resilient and filled with 100% recycled down, it comes in both men’s and women’s versions. rab.equipment/uk/

RED WING

Heritage GORE-TEX Classic Moc, £329 Red Wing’s Classic Moc is a much-loved brand and this new waterproof limited edition version with GORE-TEX adds to its versatility making it a great travel companion. Crafted in a waterproof Russet Taos Leather and paired with a GORE-TEX membrane, its iconic rugged construction remains untouched. redwinglondon.com

6 versatile bits of kit for your next trip

It’s that awkward time of year when we may be exploring close to home or equally jetting off for winter sun, so these all-rounders are just the job

Time travel

(clockwise from this) Hegra is the largest preserved site of the Nabataean civilisation south of Petra; trekking across the desert landscape; the oasis is home to over two million palm trees; AlUla Old Town

ALULA,ARABIA’S HIDDEN GEM

4 incredible adventures

Many ancient civilisations have been thrilled by AlUla’s treasures, but modern travellers have yet to truly discover it. Now’s your chance to explore this gem’s rich culture and adventure before everyone else does…

GO BACK IN TIME

AlUla’s terracotta-hued landscape is dripping with heritage and there are few places where that’s more true than Hegra, the southern principle city after Petra. Carved out of stunning rocky outcrops, the Nabataean Kingdom’s second city is arguably more dramatic than its better-known cousin. A tour by vintage Land Rover with a rawi (a local story teller) is the best way to explore its 110-plus atmospheric tombs. AlUla isn’t just a one-hit heritage wonder. One of the most significant discoveries is the ancient winds past millennia-old rock art whose drawings are like living storybooks, while the Oasis View Trail’s finale serves up a palm-filled panorama from atop Alfath mountain. For a triathlon AlUla-style, the Twisted Maze Hike has you trekking, climbing and swimming through the canyons of Madakheel. That’s not all: in AlUla you can take to two wheels and explore the desert landscape by bike, or try your hand at camel trekking in the Ashar Valley.

Abrabian city of Dadan, built meticulously from stone and boasting the Lion Tombs, more than a dozen tombs cut high into the red-rock cliff. Nearby, Jabal Ikmah has fine rock art and the stone and mud-brick structures of AlUla Old Town is one of the most impressive examples of time-honoured northern Arab architecture.

HAVE AN ADVENTURE

AlUla is also a haven for adrenalin-seekers. Its sandscapes are ripe for every type of adventurer. The 8km-long Adventure Trail GO WILD

AlUla’s unspoilt landscapes are well worth protecting. To help conserve its native species, Sharaan Nature Reserve was established as the region’s first protected area. A fine way to explore the reserve is on a 4X4 safari tour which will take you past the copper-tinged canyons and wildflower-freckled valleys, following designated paths to minimise the impact on the environment. But nothing says classic Arabia like camel trekking in the Ashar Valley with Bedouin guides who will share their culture with you such as falconry displays.

HAVE AN EXPERIENCE OF ALIFETIME

For somewhere still remarkably undiscovered, AlUla has many pinch-me moments. A helicopter flight offers a fresh perspective of AlUla’s richest treasures, including Hegra and Elephant Rock, with the latter enchanting at dawn or dusk with its colour-changing rocks. But in AlUla, it’s after dark where the magic begins, as the region’s remoteness lends itself to ink-black skies and ethereal stargazing. Gharameel’s bewildering rock formations provide the perfect setting for the ultimate after-dark experience, where you’ll sit on a woven carpet with the bright stars above as a rawi shares cosmic tales à la Arabian Nights, an evening you won’t soon forget.

Go wild in Uganda

From seeing chimpanzees and mountain gorillas in their natural environment to bumping across Uganda’s whitewater rapids and watching a captivating traditional dance, there are so many life-affirming travel experiences to have in this African country.

You’re invited to explore this fascinating part of the world during a very special evening of virtual travel. The event will give you first-hand access to our panel of experts who will bring to life the huge biodiversity, local culture and space for adventure in Uganda, and you will have a chance to ask them your burning questions. Expect a thrilling evening filled with the images, video and sounds of Uganda, where the travel experiences are as diverse as the country’s unspoilt landscapes.

23 February 2022, 6:30 PM