August/September 2012
Travel Light, Travel Far
Alaska
Grizzlies and caribou in USA’s wildest state
Peru
The Inca kingdom
10 ary
n s! i l Cu rip T
y, ke ance r Tu , Fr re... dia o In nd m a
Sudan
Buried treasures
Poland
Europe’s last wilderness
French Polynesia
A WWOOFing experience: farming black pearls
+ Feast in Havana | Vanuatu in Photos | Zanzibar Cultural Trail
From the Road 28 | Just Back: Zanzibar
A walk back in time to uncover the mixed cultural heritage of Stone Town.
36 | Dispatches: Poland
Track down moose, boars and bisons in Europe’s last primeval forest.
54 | Feast: Cuba
Cuba’s culinary scene is set to evolve – we head into Havana’s paladares to see why.
70 | Under the Radar: Sudan
The alien nation of Sudan remains one of the least visited countries in Africa, we plunge in and find a world of surprises.
18 Alaska
Destination Features 18 | Alaska
Cuba p54
Get up close and personal with grizzly bears and North America’s highest peak.
44 | French Polynesia
We head to South Pacific for the most exotic working holiday: pearl farming.
60 | Vanuatu
A photo essay on village life in the archipelago of Vanuatu.
78 | Travel Guide: Peru
From the Andes to the Amazon, we expose every single detail on Peru in our 10-page travel guide.
Peru
78
Regulars
Insider
06 | Snapshots Feast on photo contributions from our
68 | Calendar A look at festivals and events happening
readers around the world. 16 | Trip Ideas Ten culinary trips for food-lovers– from making pizzas in Italy to brewing stews in Morocco. 92 | Travel Rant How to explore? Columnist Mike Sowden thinks the best way is to get lost. 93 | Travel Thoughts Our contributing editor Candace Rardon ponders over the concept of home. 96 | Sketches The Valley of Roses in Morocco, fresh from the canvas.
around the world this Aug/Sept. 90 | Stay Finding Shangri-la in a boutique hotel hidden within the mountains of Paro, Bhutan. 94 | Gear To help you pack for your RTW trip, we recommend a list of gear ideal for extended travel.
70 Sudan
Poland p36
Vanuatu
Zanzibar p28
44 Polynesia
60
6 | WildJunket August/September 2012
“
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
It was 4 a.m. when we boarded our bus in Siem Reap to one of the most magnificent temples in the world, Angkor Wat. It was dark and we were barely awake, but in order to see the sunrise over this UNESCO World Heritage Site, we were told the earlier we got there the better. And it didn’t disappoint. Watching the colors of the sun dance and dazzle above this stunning architectural marvel was one of the most amazing experiences for me. I left Angkor Wat feeling like a different person.
- Shelley Rattray
Send us your photos and the stories behind them to editor@wildjunket.com www.wildjunket.com | 7
The Wild Things
From exploring North America’s highest mountain to getting up close and personal with grizzly bears, Denali National Park in central Alaska takes adventure, literally, to a whole new level.
18 | WildJunket August/September 2012
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS BY CHERINA HADLEY www.wildjunket.com | 19
DESTINATION ALASKA
Dramatic Landscapes: The 600-mile long Alaska Range Bottom: A grizzly bear amidst the shrubs.
B
efore I can fully take in a view of the pristine mountain range outside my window, our plane lurches forward. For the third time in ten minutes, I pull out the paper bag from the seat pocket in front of me and hurl like a disgruntled baby. As we continue our bumpy ascent, my head swirls a dizzying 360 degrees – this certainly wasn’t how I had planned to spend my first day in this subarctic wilderness. But when I awoke to brilliant blue skies earlier that day, the thought of soaring over Mount McKinley and the 600-mile long Alaska Range was too tempting. You may hear it referred to as Mount McKinley – after thenU.S. President William McKinley – or by its indigenous Athabascan name Denali, the ‘High One.’ But to Alaskans, the highest peak in
20 | WildJunket August/September 2012
“Alaska is the size of France, Spain and Germany combined; if cut in half it would still remain the largest state in the US. ” North America is simply called ‘The Mountain’. And at a colossal 20,300 feet (6,187 meters), there is no confusion as to exactly which mountain one is referring to. Thankfully I’m easily distracted and am soon transfixed by the undulating landscape below me, thoughts of motion sickness quickly fading away. We rise even higher above the clouds, seemingly close enough to
reach out and touch the stark white peaks of the mountains. The textures and colors of the landscape are so defined from the air and the sweeping paths of the glacier-carved valley seem to move and curve along with the wind. I have no idea where to look first. For one blissful hour, we linger over the snow-capped peaks of the Alaska Range and finally approach and circle Mount McKinley, the palpitating heart of Denali National Park. Six million acres of unspoiled wilderness sprawl across the Alaskan plains, into the edgeless horizon. Alaska is the size of France, Spain and Germany combined; if cut in half it would still remain the largest state in the US. What we see before us is just a tiny fraction of the entire state – and it’s already tipping my scale out of proportion.
© gordon__shumway
DESTINATION ALASKA
www.wildjunket.com | 21
Leaving No Stone Unturned
At the crossroads of ancient Arabic, African and Indian trading routes, Zanzibar’s Stone Town pulls you in with its fusion of cultures. 28 | WildJunket August/September 2012
WORDS SANDIP HOR | PHOTOGRAPHS DENNIS JONES www.wildjunket.com | 29
A Walk on Poland’s Wild Side
Look beyond Gdansk and Krakow to the highly protected national parks in northeast Poland – home to elusive wildlife, back-country adventures and Europe’s last primeval forest. 36 | WildJunket August/September 2012
WORDS AND PHOTOS BY SASHA HESELTINE www.wildjunket.com | 37
Harvest Time in Polynesia We head to a remote corner of the South Pacific for the most exotic working holiday around – three weeks on a black pearl farm.
44 | WildJunket August/September 2012
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS BY CANDACE ROSE RARDON & FOTOLIA www.wildjunket.com | 45
Jewels in the sea: Shimmering pearls extracted from oysters. Opposite: Black pearl farm.
T
he knotted, grainy planks of the narrow wooden bridge swayed beneath my sandaled feet as I crossed the reef, turquoise hues glittering in the water beneath. Gentle waves danced in the sunlight that had just broken over the lagoon’s horizon, marking the start of another harvest day. After coffee and crackers, I joined nine others on the weathered deck of the black pearl farm, hauling in barnacle-covered baskets of oysters from the lagoon. As we set up our workstations, I paused to marvel at my surroundings: nothing but the dark blue sea all around us and clear aqua skies overhead. Chances are, I would never have found my way to this far-flung South Pacific island on my own. But with the help of WWOOF, short for World Wide Opportunities
46 | WildJunket August/September 2012
on Organic Farms, I did and I was soaking up every bit of the Polynesian life I’d dreamt of.
Down on the Farm When a month opened up in my travel plans, I took the empty slot in my schedule as an opportunity to get off the heavily beaten backpacker trail in Oceania. I wanted to invest my time in something more than a traditional beach holiday. To fully immerse myself and live in a local community, I turned to WWOOF for direction. With national organizations in fifty countries, WWOOF is a network of host farms around the world who offer travelers the chance to help out with small tasks for a few hours a day in exchange for food and accommodation. As soon as I bought my membership to WWOOF Independents, I started browsing
through each country’s hosts until a listing for a pearl farm on a remote atoll in French Polynesia had me saying: this is it. French Polynesia is comprised of five archipelagos, 118 islands and atolls scattered like marbles across an area of the Pacific nearly the size of Western Europe. The largest island is Tahiti, with the verdant, jagged folds of its mountains visible even from the streets of the nation’s capital, Papeete, and the luxurious resorts of Moorea and Bora Bora only a short ferry ride away. My pearl farm Kamoka was on Ahe, an island in the archipelago of the Tuamotus, northwest of Tahiti. On the flight over, I watched slivers of motu, the coral islets that form the ring of each atoll, wind through the water like a serpentine string of oases. I could only imagine what adventures they held.
DESTINATION POLYNESIA
“On the flight over, I watched slivers of motu, the coral islets that form the ring of each atoll, wind through the water like a serpentine string of oases. ”
www.wildjunket.com | 47
WORDS ESME FOX | PHOTOGRAPHS ESME FOX & DAN CONVEY 54 | WildJunket August/September 2012
Cuban cooking may be best known for its beans and rice, but it’s all set to evolve – thanks to the paladares that’s taking Havana by storm. www.wildjunket.com | 55
ay
s
Pho
to
E
s
Vanuatu: Above and Beyon WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS BY LIA BARRETT 60 | WildJunket August/September 2012
nd
A below-the-surface look at village life in the archipelago of Vanuatu.
S
taring down at the ship for the first time, I feel miniscule, like an insignificant dot in the vast Pacific Ocean. The resting vessel beckons my curiosity, and I am lured in to wander through its ghostly past. The SS President Coolidge was a military vessel during World War II, but after striking a mine, it sank peacefully to the seabed beneath Vanuatu. Today, scuba divers venture from all over the world to dive the famous wreck. Exploring the Coolidge is only an introduction to my Vanuatu adventure. I spend my first week on Espiritu Santo, the largest of Vanuatu’s 83 islands. With the nation’s location over one of the most volatile fault lines in the world, it’s little surprise that new islets are constantly created and added to the Vanuatu family. Sailing out to the islands of Ambae and Maewo, I encounter various tribal cultures rich in colorful history and tradition including cannibalism. At each anchorage, my sailing mates and I are greeted by small flotillas of canoes filled with inquisitive youths. With shy yet warm demeanours, they invite us into their villages for a visit and to trade clothing for fresh fruit and vegetables. We join in their kava drinking sessions, mingling with local folks and making lifelong friends. On Pentecost Island, we come across a nakamal or communal hut, where women are weaving baskets as part of a hundred-day long mourning ritual for their recently deceased village chief. Almost everything else is put on hold, mourning the chief trumps all concepts of priority. The vast majority of Vanuatu’s 230,000 inhabitants are Melanesians, whose descendants first settled here centuries ago. Over 120 indigenous languages are spoken throughout Vanuatu, the common language being Bislama, which originates from the 1800s. Some tribes in the outer islands still live a primitive existence untouched by modern civilization. Sailing away for the last time, the islands beckon me to stay longer. I don’t feel like a tourist here; I feel like a guest, a student, and most of all, a new friend. 1 www.wildjunket.com | 61
DESTINATION VANUATU
62 | WildJunket August/September 2012
DESTINATION VANUATU
Clockwise from top left: Respect: Loltong’s chief in front of the village’s nakamal on Pentecost Island. Sunken Wonders: Diving the Coolidge wreck. Island Splendor: A view of the bay at Asanvari, Maewo.
Mourning Weaving: On Pentecost Island, women weave baskets to carry food to funeral festivities for their village chief. Still Life of Artifacts: Remnants of life during World War II - from rusty glassware to pottery.
www.wildjunket.com | 63
Alien Nation As this month marks the one-year anniversary of Sudan’s division into two countries, we head into the little-known central Sudan to find a world of surprises.
70 | WildJunket August/September 2012
WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHS BY MELISSA SHALES www.wildjunket.com | 71
Australia
Exploring the outback
Palestine
Unchartered territories
Finland
Winter adventures
Galicia
Pilgrimage to the sea
Thailand
Loi Krathong festival in pictures
Cambodia
Raiding ancient tombs and temples of the Khmer empire