We pick 20 new expedition cruises for the year ahead that put the adventure back into the high seas
FOLLOW IN THE WAKE OF ARCTIC EXPLORERS
The Northwest Passage was once a test of the mettle of any polar explorer worth their sea salt.These days, the legendary High Arctic sea route is far more accessible, as Quark Expeditions’ Northwest Passage to Newfoundland proves by following in the wake of history’s great polar explorers, picking its way down Canada’s eastern section of the passage, from Qausuittuq in Nanavut to Newfoundland.Yes, you’ll see incredible wonders such as the toweringTorngat Mountains – you can even taking flightseeing trips on the ship’s helicopter – but what is remarkable is just how much history and life there is to discover in this frozen land, with stops including the archaeological sites of Beechey Island, the millennia-old Norse settlement of L’Anse aux Meadows and the tiny Inuit community on beautiful Baffin Island. Quark Expeditions (quarkexpeditions.com). 18 Sep 2025; 16 days from £6,380pp, excluding international flights.
GO ON A LITERARY MEXICAN ADVENTURE
Combine literature and the wildlife of Mexico’s coast on UnCruise Adventures’ In Steinbeck’sWake: An EpicVoyage Through the Sea of Cortez. Inspired by the American author’s Log from the Sea of Cortez, this voyage goes in search of marine wildlife on a course similar to the one followed by John Steinbeck himself on his 1940 expedition.A visit to Isla Catalina offers the chance to see the largest barrel cactus on the planet, as well as the island’s rattle-less rattlesnakes, but it’s the waters that occupy your attention as you scour for blue and fin whales off Isla Roselie or look for leatherback turtles in Bahia de los Angeles. But perhaps the grandest sight is found in the trenches off Isla San Esteban, where sperm whales return yearly to feed on its Humboldt squid. Uncruise Adventures (uncruise.com). 8 Dec 2024; 5, 15 & 25 Apr 2025; 7 nights from £4,955, excluding international flights.
EXPLORE REMOTE FRENCH POLYNESIA
At nearly 500km from Tahiti, it doesn’t get much more remote than the Austral Islands, the southernmost tip of French Polynesia.What you’ll find here is far-removed from most experiences in this vast region, with Aranui Cruises’ Austral Islands trip departing Tahiti for an archipelago that sees few visitors. Bask in the twinkling crystal-clear lagoon ofTubuai, boat the fjordlike coast of Rapa and explore the rugged Rurutu, whose waters witness the return of migrating humpbacks in August and September – in time for the September cruise.The jewel of the island is still arguably Raivavae, whose emerald lagoon is wrapped by 28 reef islets known as ‘motus’, but the real joy is in meeting the islanders, who welcome you with smoke ceremonies, feasts and traditions dating back millennia. Aranui Cruises (aranui.com). 5 Apr, 6 Sep & 1 Nov 2025; 12 nights from £4,438pp, excluding international flights.
EXPLORE JAPAN’S TINY ISLANDS
What makes Coral Expeditions’ Through the Heart of Japan cruise between Tokyo and Fukuoka exciting are not the big-city stops (Kyoto, Osaka) but the small islands and coastal towns in between. It’s a chance to try noodle-making classes on rural Shodoshima, visit the limestone caves of Karatsu and explore mountainousTsushima, which was once a single island until a canal dug in the 17th-century split it in two.The route even loops to South Korea’s volcanic Jeju island before circling back to the Goto islands, off Kyushu, which were a hideaway for Japanese Christians when religion was banned here. Today they offer incredible volcano walks, pristine bays and a glimpse of a quieter side to this neon-drenched nation. Coral Expeditions (coralexpeditions.com). 21 Sep, 4 & 18 Oct & 2 Nov 2025; 14 nights from £8,055pp, excluding international flights.
Malta with a dash of history
With its crusader-built citadels, elegant palazzi and historic towns, where you stay in Malta can often add a whole new slant to the island’s eventful past
Reviewed by Gareth Clark
Phoenicia nights
The Phoenicia set the standard for luxury boltholes in Malta, becoming the first five-star stay when it opened in 1947, and leading the charge ever since. But these days, it’s far from being the only luxurious escape on the islands...
PALAIS LE BRUN, VALLETTA
Slightly removed from the well-trodden end of Valletta, this 17th-century palazzo perches near the tip of the peninsula, deep among the oldest residential part of town, where progress has yet to creep and it still feels like a neighbourhood. The building dates back to 1606, making it one of the earliest residences in the capital. It was also the childhood home of Malta’s first post-independence Prime Minister, George Borg Olivier, whose father extended the house across the street via a sky bridge. Today, its 39 rooms make fine use of the space; their marbled floors, vintage furniture and the odd gallarija tick every boutique box. But the rooftop is the real lure, with a plunge pool and views across to Fort St Elmo or Marsamxett Harbour the highlight of any stay. B&B doubles from £151pn; palaislebrun.com
THE PHOENICIA, FLORIANA
The islands’ original five-star hotel has its design roots in the Art Deco of the 1930s, though the building wasn’t finished until after the Second World War. Since then, it has remained the capital’s calling-card, keeping up its Anglophile take on the high life with high teas in the Palm Court lounge and strolls of its three hectares of gardens. The grounds are the finest on the islands, with picnic areas, a bar and a pool lounging beneath the bastion walls. Craning around wedding parties for views of Marsamxett Harbour is the only chore, while Valletta’s gates lie a stroll away. Best of all, staff can arrange some great perks, including a private tour and dinner at Birgu’s 18th-century Inquisitor’s Palace. B&B doubles from around £256pn; phoeniciamalta.com
Glimmers of ice and tomorrow
In the remote landscapes of West Greenland, where towering icebergs drift through ancient fjords, a delicate balance is being struck between the allure of its untouched beauty, the stark realities of climate change and the imminent rise of tourism
Words and photographs George Kipouros
On the edge of the world,where the Arctic’s silent whispers carve ancient secrets into ice, I found myself seated before nature’s grandest stage. Ahead, towering icebergs, sculpted from millennia-old snow, drifted with solemn grace through Ilulissat’s UNESCO-listed icefjord.
They moved with a deliberate, almost reverent, pace, as if acknowledging their role in a timeless play where winds and currents, rather than human hands, directed their fate.
The icebergs, luminous in the Arctic glow, revealed a breathtaking spectrum of blue, turquoise, sapphire and, occasionally, streaks of deep, shadowy grey, before dissolving gradually into the crystal-clear waters below.
“This is Greenland’s artistic nature for you,” remarked my local guide, Michael, with a knowing smile, his eyes tracing the path of a colossal iceberg as it continued its slow journey towards eternity.
The spectacular scenes unfolding before me were the result of the mighty Sermeq Kujalleq glacier. This is one of the fastest-moving and most productive glaciers in the world; it travels at more than 40m per day and produces around 10% of all the icebergs in Greenland.
“Sermeq Kujalleq is one of the fastest-moving and most productive glaciers in the world”
For a moment, I wondered if these monolithic sculptures might have been the work of some ethereal artist, perhaps channelling the surreal genius of Salvador Dalí or the bold minimalism of Constantin Brâncuși.
“We’ve heard that the ’berg that sank the Titanic started right here,” added Michael. Even the area’s name, Ilulissat, means ‘icebergs’ in Greenlandic.
We hiked around the southern end of the fjord, and I was surprised to hear that this icy, rocky and seemingly inhospitable outpost had been settled by humans as far back as 2500 BC.As we visited the historical Sermermiut settlement, Michael explained this was one of the reasons given for justifying the area’s World Heritage designation.The modest remnants of the Saqqaq, a nomadic Paleo-Inuit people
who arrived here from Siberia via Alaska, may pale beside the surrounding natural beauty, yet the area has yielded rich archaeological finds that greatly enhance our understanding of Greenland’s human history.
As I travelled slowly across West Greenland, I was eager to understand humanity’s journey here and its impact on the world’s largest and most unforgiving island.The more I saw, the more I realised that its story is written all across the magnificent landscape.
THE POSTCARD-PERFECT TOWN
Following an easy half-hour walk, we were back in Ilulissat’s historic centre.The town’s heart is dotted with colonial-era buildings, many still standing from 1741, when the Danes first began colonising this area.
This was the postcard-perfect Greenlandic town of my imagination.Vibrantly coloured houses sat perched on the cliffside, seemingly under siege from an armada of never-ending icebergs approaching from almost every conceivable angle.
Michael explained how these wooden houses – which had to be shipped in from Scandinavia since there are no native forests in Greenland – had once been painted in colours according to their function.These days, life
Through the generations (this page; clockwise from top left) Sculptor Joorut carves traditional Greenlandic figures known as tupilaks; Disko Bay is a mecca for whale-watchers, with humpback, minke and fin whales drawn to its waters to feast on the large groups of krill; the decreasing numbers of Greenland sled dogs are a result of their expensive upkeep, climate change and an influx of other forms of transport; the Ilulissat Icefjord moves at a speed of 40 metres per day; (opposite page) gazing out on the icefjord; (previous spread) Ilulissat old town and its historic church – which was the largest building in Greenland when it was built in 1782
The call to mālama ‘āina
The land, and the need to protect it, is an inseparable part of Native Hawaiian culture, as visitors to the islands of Maui and Kaua‘i quickly discover
Words Jacqui Agate
“Eala e, ka lā i ka hikina, I ka moana, ka moana hohonu, Pi‘i ka lewa, ka lewa nu‘u, I ka hikina, aia ka lā, e ala e…”
Nan Cabatbat stood at the edge of Haleakalā crater and sang from her stomach. Each note of the traditional Hawaiian chant seemed to take on its own life, echoing across a craggy expanse of chestnut-coloured rock.Tendrils of cloud crept over the landscape, as ethereal as the melody. A small crowd had gathered around us, but there was silence save for the song.
This chant, or oli, celebrates the rising sun as it climbs from the ‘deep ocean’ to the ‘highest heaven’; in English, e ala e means ‘awaken’ or ‘arise’. It was a fitting ode to Haleakalā, a dormant shield volcano whose name translates as ‘House of the Sun’.
We were at the soaring Kalahaku Overlook in Maui’s 13,878-hectare Haleakalā National Park, which protects its eponymous volcano.This behemoth ranks among the tallest mountains on Earth, though some two-thirds of its 9,053m bulk lies below sea level. I’d joined Nan, a respected Native
Hawaiian Elder affectionately known to all as “Aunty Nan”, on a brand-new excursion with Unique Maui Tours.
The trip combined a journey through the national park with an introduction to traditional Hawaiian crafts. At every turn it highlighted the symbiotic relationship between Native Hawaiian culture and the land –a theme of my week-long adventure on Maui and Kaua‘i, two of the major islands in the Hawaiian archipelago.
Earlier on, we had passed a sign reading ‘mālama ‘āina’, so I’d asked Nan what it meant.
“Mālama literally means ‘to care for’,” she had explained as the grassy meadows gave way to twisted lava rock outside the window of the van. “You could mālama your mother or father, for example. But in this case, ‘āina means ‘land’.We take care of the Earth; it’s part of who we are.”
AFTER THE FIRES
“This is a really special tour,” said Wendy, the manager and naturalist guide at Unique Maui Tours, who co-led the excursion. “We led our first one last year and we were hoping that it would take off, but then the fires happened last August, so tourism stopped.”
In August 2023, Maui made international headlines as wildfires, caused by downed power lines during exceptionally high winds, engulfed the historic town of Lahaina.
“Haleakalā is among the tallest mountains on Earth, even if twothirds of its 9,053m lies below sea level”
As I’d learn time and again here, this type of mālama – a respect and care for Mother Earth and the people who call her home – was a fundamental part of the Hawaiian spirit.
More than 100 people were killed and the former capital of Hawai‘i was razed to the ground.
Tourism halted as the community mourned its devastating losses and rallied to rebuild itself.
My late-spring visit came less than a year after the fires, and reminders of the disaster were still visible. On my drive to meet Nan and Wendy, I’d seen trucks clearing debris from Lahaina, while temporary road signs reminded drivers not to stop. Flowers and photographs of the deceased lined the road and ‘Lahaina Strong’
Alien worlds (opposite page) Whizzing past lava-rock outcrops and black-sand beaches is par for the course on Maui’s dramatic Hana Highway; (this page; clockwise from top) the Sliding Sands Trail begins near the summit of Haleakalā and weaves its way through the park’s colourful landscape; such is Haleakalā National Park’s cultural importance, parts of it are still used for Native Hawaiian rituals; the silversword plant is an oddly delicate-looking sight amid such a rugged land; on horseback is just one way to explore Haleakalā’s slopes; (previous spread) the Haleakalā shield volcano forms more than 75% of the island of Maui
Through the
ages
Words Phoebe Smith
Multi-generational travel may be one of the fastest-growing travel trends, but it doesn’t have to mean all-inclusive resorts, as this train journey across South-East Asia proves…
We must have been a bizarre sight to behold: me running up the ramp to the train station, pulling my wheelie luggage with one hand and pushing a stroller with the other, while my three-year-old son ran ahead yelling, “Stop the train!” He was followed closely by my 75-year-old dad doing his best to keep up as I bellowed “Platform 5” at him because he had forgotten his hearing aids; meanwhile my partner, laden down with the rest of the bags, moved as fast as he could.
“The sleeper train leaves at 5pm,” I was told when I reached the information counter. I looked at my watch crestfallen. It was already 5.02pm. As I turned to break the news to my family that we would have to find somewhere to stay in the Malaysian border town of Padang Besar for the night, the ticket clerk added the magic words: “Thai time”. I looked back to see him gesturing at the clock behind me. Beneath the round face was written the word ‘Thailand’ in friendly Helvetica font. It meant that, barely a few metres from where we were standing, it was only 4.02pm.We had just gained an hour. I could have hugged him.
“Another rule of multi-generational travel is to know your audience”
Welcome to the world of train travel in South East Asia. It’s a wonderful and enriching way to see the continent, if at times a little baffling to navigate. And as if that wasn’t enough of a challenge, I had also eschewed my usual method of solo travel and decided to take my entire family along for the ride.
I hear how that sounds – scary! – but my reasons were not entirely from left field. Since the pandemic, my father had never truly come out of the bubble in which he had entered, which had affected his memory. During that period, I had also given birth to my son, who he has seen infrequently. So, when my brother announced his wedding in Thailand, I saw an opportunity to give my dad a mind-shifting experience, and allow my toddler time to bond with his grandad.
After appealing to my family’s pragmatism – the flights were cheaper to Singapore than Bangkok, and my son lovesThomas theTank Engine – I convinced them to fly 2,000km from the wedding venue, giving us two weeks to cover the distance using local trains.
THE ART OF COMPROMISE
Singapore was the perfect entry point to Asia for us: it’s small enough to easily get around by public transport, we didn’t have to worry about a language barrier and
there were enough food options to satisfy everyone’s different demands. But there were hurdles too. One of the first that I encountered with multi-generational travel was finding the right accommodation. My son is too big for a cot but still rolls out of a normal bed, while my dad wanted some space and didn’t want to share with a small child. Options were limited: it was either budget or high-end. Naturally, we began at the £50 per night Ibis Budget Singapore Pearl. This afforded my dad the luxury of his own room, complete with a double bed; we, however, crammed into a triple that had two single beds pushed together and a bunk bed above them. The result was that my partner slept on the bunk bed while I topped and tailed with our son. Thankfully, there was plenty to keep us out of our rooms. I had made the canny decision to pre-book a GoCity Explorer Pass for us all, meaning picking suitable activities was easy. Multi-gen travel is more often than not a codeword for compromise, and I soon found that I had to give up my preference for pavement-pounding exploration in exchange for taking everyone on the hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus. I never would have done something so ‘touristy’ on my own, but as we weaved the streets, breathing in the scent of cumin and coriander in Little India, sesame and ginger in Chinatown, and taking in mosques, churches and skyscrapers covered in vegetation, I found that I actually enjoyed every minute of it, and learnt a lot.
We opted to get off at a Hawker Centre. It was my first opportunity to get both my father and son to experience an array of dishes – from Malay to Indonesian.We shared them at a communal table, much to my son’s delight.The experience left both him and his grandad feeling brave enough to try foods they would never have ordered otherwise.
Another rule of multi-gen travel is to know your audience. My dad is a keen gardener, so we headed to the city’s Gardens by the Bay on the second day, where we spent many hours wandering amid the biodomes (our passes gave us free entry), enjoying views of the Singapore skyline and cooling off in the free water playground for kids.We finished beneath the Supertrees – man-made structures covered with growing bromeliads, ferns and orchids – and we watched as they were lit to music in the nightly light show.
“It looks like a helter skelter,” said my son as we lay in a row on the ground staring upwards.“I feel like I’m in a Pink Floyd music video,” quipped my dad. Both had fallen asleep by the time the display finished.
Phoebe Smith
found Lost and
Ten years after the Wild Atlantic Way driving route was created along Ireland’s west coast, there are still places where heritage and culture outshine even the views
Words and photos (unless stated otherwise) Yvonne
Gordon
There were separate kings on the North Island and the South Island,” explained Micheál Keane of Blacksod Sea Safari as we approached the Inishkea Islands. “It was the old Gaelic order: Rí an Oileáin (the King of the Island) was the elder in charge – usually an older man with experience – he made the decisions about things like fishing or buying goods.”
I was on a RIB driven by Micheál as part of a larger trip exploring the lesser-seen corners of Ireland’s west coast. As we neared the island of South Inishkea, I could see a whitesand beach curving around a turquoise bay. This could almost have been the Caribbean, except that at the edge of the sands stood a line of stone ruins and cows grazing on the lush grass. It was most definitely Ireland.
The mysterious islands of Inishkea (Inis Cé in Irish) lie around 4km off the Mullet peninsula, a remote and windswept corner of County Mayo that not even many Irish people have visited. They had been abandoned in the 1930s, and beyond the shore lay the ruins of cottages which still contained the outlines of windows and doors, but no roofs. Remote and quiet, it is places like these, with their mix of history and beauty, that I come to the west of Ireland to experience.
While visitors on the Wild Atlantic Way, the 2,600km driving route along Ireland’s west coast, flock to well-known sites such as the Cliffs of Moher or the Ring of Kerry, these hidden places – and the small adventure tours run by locals that bring people to them – offer a deeper insight into the country’s history and cultural legacy. Away from the tour buses and crowds, I wanted to delve more into the stories of the coast and its islands, rather than just skipping between viewpoints in a car. Taking one of the daily trips to the Inishkeas from Blacksod Pier seemed like the perfect place to start.
Reaching Inishkea South takes just 35 minutes, but it felt like a world away once we’d landed, with no other visitors in sight. It was easy to imagine how these islands became like independent states, each with their own monarch.
I explored the abandoned ruins and found piles of sand had blown into the houses from the beach. Afterwards, I wandered the island’s grassy interior and listened to the seabirds above, while the cows briefly interrupted their grazing to stare with curiosity at my presence.
The islanders had relied mostly on lobster, mackerel and herring fishing to ⊲
Lost records (this spread) The inhabitants of the Inishkea Islands left few records of their time there; (previous spread) tours of the abandoned village on Inishkea South reveal the remains of stone cottages from the 19th century
The best new
Rail Routes for 2025
With 2025 marking the 200th anniversary of train travel, we look at the new and future rail routes opening up the world, one stop at a time
Compiled by Gareth Clark
It’s amazing how often world-changing events begin with inconspicuous moments. The dawn of rail travel, for instance, can be traced back to 1825 and the unfashionable heartlands of England’s Tees Valley, up in the North-East. It was then that the Stockton and Darlington Railway became the world’s first-ever steam-powered passenger rail service, lighting up the Industrial Age. Its inaugural run crammed in between 450 and 600 people on a route that would eventually stretch 40km when completed, from the collieries of Shildon to the port of Stockton. The Orient Express it was not!
Fast-forward two centuries, and as rail travel marks its 200th anniversary in 2025, we’re getting excited about trains once more. The return of sleeper services and vintage-style ‘hotels on rails’ (including a slew of exciting new Orient Express services) has made rail a luxurious and greener alternative to flying. And one thing never changes: the experience of watching landscapes, towns and lives scroll by is every bit as captivating as during the golden age of rail. It also feels like the dawn of something special. Although Japan had the original high-speed trains back in 1964, China was among the first to embrace a new generation of ultra-fast rail, building a network that spans more than 40,000km, ten times more than anywhere else. Now, other countries are catching up. Spain has the second-largest number of high-speed rail lines in the world, Chile just launched the fastest rail service in South America, and Portugal’s upcoming Evora-to-Elvas route (2025) is the first link in a new high-speed network that will eventually connect Madrid to Lisbon in just three hours. India, Egypt and the USA are all working on super-fast rail routes set to open over the next
couple of years, while the new Budapest-Belgrade line should be rolling by 2026. For travellers, it’s the dawning of a new era of rail: one where you can speed across entire continents overland in the blink of an eye, or while you sleep. At the same time, budget rail services and rivals to national operators offer more choice and, theoretically, lower costs, as we’ve seen in Europe with the rise of Ouigo, Avlo, Lumo and Iryo in recent years. The launch of the new ‘easyJet of the rails’ GoVolta in 2025 promises to shake things up even further, while South Africa got its own low-budget Shosholoza Meyl service back up and running this year.
Governments are even getting on board, with France having recently copied Germany by launching a short-lived version of its own €49 (£41.50) regional and intercity monthly pass for this summer gone. Hopefully, more and more countries will follow this example.
Two centuries after George Stephenson’s Locomotion No 1 pulled out of a colliery in Shildon, it makes you wonder what the ‘Father of the Railways’ would have made of his legacy, or indeed the first ‘round the world’ rail tour. It’s an awful long way from Stockton!
52 travel SECRETS of the
The USA is filled with billboard attractions, from big-hitting national parks to landmark-packed cities. But in a country as vast as this one, the opportunity for outdoor adventure and cultural discovery is near endless. You can hike or stargaze in off-the-radar national parks, hear rarely told histories in little-known museums or discover second cities rich in art, music and literature. You might find solitude on far-flung road trips, explore remote islands or connect with Indigenous communities ready to share their time-honoured traditions. This is a side of America you’ve yet to see. Here’s how to take the road less travelled in the USA…
Curated by Jacqui Agate
Alabama
1Darron Patterson on the legacy of Africatown, Mobile
“The importation of enslaved people to the USA was abolished in 1808. But, in 1860, wealthy landowner and businessman Timothy Meaher made a bet that he could bring a ship loaded with Africans to Mobile, right under the noses of the authorities.That was when he commissioned the Clotilda
On arrival in Mobile, the 110 people onboard were enslaved until Abraham Lincoln established the Emancipation Proclamation (1863) and the 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865.The survivors asked to return home – they were told no. Instead, they worked for little to no money for Meaher in Mobile and established Africatown.There they built schools and churches, carried on their customs, and the community thrived.
My great, great grandfather, Kupollee, was on the Clotilda, and I grew up in Africatown. But a lot of polluting industrial facilities were built here in the 20th century and the community was in decline by the time a local writer discovered the remains of the ship in 2019.That’s when things began to change.
The Africatown Heritage House museum opened in 2023.Visitors can see pieces of the ship,West African artefacts and videos of the Clotilda descendants. We’re working to bring the community back to what it was, and doing work on the cemetery where our ancestors are buried.We don’t ever want to forget the plight of the 110.”
Darron Patterson is a Clotilda descendant and the former president of the Clotilda Descendants Association. clotilda.com
Alaska
2Gina Kalloch on the World Eskimo Indian Olympics in Fairbanks
“The World Eskimo Indian Olympics (WEIO) is a cultural and sporting event that celebrates and protects our Native Alaskan games. It began in 1961, after a pair of non-Native airline pilots witnessed these games and traditional dances.They were concerned that these customs were under threat, so they established the WEIO with the help of people from the Indigenous communities.
Today, the WEIO is run by Native people. That helps keep it as traditionally and culturally ‘correct’ as possible.To compete, you must be Indigenous to the Circumpolar Arctic North, or to North or South America (including Pacific Islanders from Hawai‘i and the US territories).This year, we had about 140 athletes taking part.
Most of the games come from skills you’d need to survive a subsistence lifestyle in Alaska and the Arctic.There are strength games, agility games, endurance games…We’ve got things like the Inuit stick pole, where two people sit opposite each other, both holding a dowel, and you see who can pull it away first.That comes from the strength you’d need to pull a seal from the ice.There’s also the four-man carry, where one man will pick up four other men (usually about 150lbs [68kg] each) and carry them as far as he can. The record is over 300 feet [90m].That replicates the experience of carrying large game.The premier event is the Alaskan high kick, which comes from traditional signals used while out hunting. It’s like a big, friendly family gathering. We have Iñupiaq dancers and Athabascan dancers; we’ve even had Hawaiian dancers. We also have one of the state’s largest craft bazaars. If you’re from a culture that’s been overrun by a dominant culture, it becomes a spiritual survival skill to hold on to as many of your traditions as you can.That’s why theWEIO is so important.”
Gina Kalloch, of Koyukon Dena descent, is a current volunteer and former chair of the WEIO Board of Governors. The WEIO takes place in July at Fairbanks’ Big Dipper Ice Arena. weio.org
Arkansas
3
Dig for jewels in Crater of Diamonds State Park
About 100 million years ago, a volcanic eruption spawned a crater in Murfreesboro that has eroded over time.This area is now a park and a veritable jewel box, thick with diamonds, garnets and amethysts. It’s one of the only places in the world where you can hunt for diamonds at their source – across a 15 hectare field – and some 75,000 have been plucked from its soils over the past century. Orient yourself at the visitor centre and its interactive exhibits, before renting your equipment (shovel, bucket and saruca – a gravel-sifting tool) directly from the park and getting to work. arkansasstateparks.com
Shining jewels (this page; clockwise from top left) The Africatown Heritage House’s Clotilda exhibition looks at the history of the descendants of the enslaved people brought to Mobile on the last known slave ship to have docked in the USA; Gina Kalloch says Alaska’s World Eskimo Indian Olympics (WEIO) is about “hold[ing] on to as many of your traditions as you can”; the WEIO is not just a sporting event, but also a cultural one; 75,000 diamonds have been found at the Crater of Diamonds over the last century; (opposite page) Arizona’s Cardiac slot canyon is every bit as impressive as the state’s more famous Antelope Canyon
Next issue on sale 21 November 2024
BRAZIL TRIP PLANNER
Escape the beaches to discover colonial cities and Amazon wilderness
The world’s best Indigenous travel experiences Origin The List +
PLUS Kazakhstan’s World Nomad Games Scottish wildlife KwaZulu-Natal Costa Rica by locals Cognac & Bordeaux Andalucia by rail
