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J U LY 2 0 1 8

THE ADVENTURE ISSUE

HAWAII
BY SEA

CA N A DA’ S
UNTOUCHED
WILDERNESS

THE ISLAND OF
O R A N G U TA N S

GOING WILD
IN PERU
Snorkeling nearMala Wharf, in Maui.
FAST AS
THE LEXUS HYBRID LINE
Climb behind the wheel. Strap yourself in. Bury the pedal.
Feel the roar. Then tighten your grip as the LC 500h’s
lightning-fast Multistage Hybrid Drive system propels you
from zero to 60 in a mere 4.7 seconds.1,2 Lexus Hybrids.
There’s more to h than just hybrid.

INSTANT ACCELERATION3 COMPARABLY PRICED TO


BOLD STYLING GAS MODELS3

LC 500h

Options shown. 1. Ratings achieved using the required premium unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of 91 or higher. If premium fuel is not used,
performance will decrease. 2. Performance figures are for comparison only and were obtained with prototype vehicles by professional drivers using
special safety equipment and procedures. Do not attempt. 3. 2018 Lexus Hybrid base models compared to 2018 Lexus gas base models. ©2018 Lexus
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J U LY 2 0 1 8

THE ADVENTURE ISSUE 19 COUNTRIES


17 WRITERS
33 PHOTOGRAPHERS
130,000+ MILES TRAVELED

p. 74
Torngat Mountains
National Park, Canada
p. 13 p. 30
Yellowstone The Burren,
National Park p. 13 p. 20
Richmond, Virginia Ireland Durminskoye
Reserve, Russia
p. 52 p. 13 p. 42
p. 52
Coastal Maine Provence, France Republic of Georgia
Western
p. 52 Colorado
California p. 42 p. 13
p. 13 p. 88
Washington, D.C. Kii Peninsula, Japan
p. 32 Mallorca, Spain Jordan
Missouri Ozarks p. 20
p. 46 Musandam, Oman
p. 96
Hawaii Cuba
p. 108
p. 20 Lalibela, Ethiopia
Puerto Rico p. 27
Masai Mara National p. 82
p. 27, 67 Reserve, Kenya Sumatra, Indonesia
p. 20 Serengeti National p. 67
p. 67 Tambopata National Park, Tanzania Moyo Island, Indonesia
p. 20
Sacred Valley, Peru Reserve, Peru
Tsavo National Park, Kenya
p. 67
Arnhem Land, Australia
p. 27 p. 27
Okavango Delta, Gonarezhou National p. 39
Botswana Park, Zimbabwe Uluru, Australia

DEPARTMENTS FEATURES YOUR BEST SHOT


10 EDITOR’S NOTE 39 DISPATCH Australia’s 74 PLACE OF SPIRITS 108 Lalibela, an ancient town
13 REASONS TO TRAVEL NOW
Aboriginal people are Discovering Arctic in Ethiopia’s Amhara
A fleet of new cruise shaping the visitor fjords, polar bears, highlands, by T+L reader
ships, a super-scenic experience at Uluru, one of and indigenous culture Carly Arnwine.
TV debut, and more the country’s most iconic in Canada’s Inuit-run
wanderlust-worthy news. natural wonders. Torngat Mountains
ON THE COVER
42 THE DISH Deep in the National Park. Snorkeling near Mala
20 THE EXPERIENCE Tracking
Republic of Georgia, a team 82 KEEPERS OF THE Wharf, on the Hawaiian
some of Peru’s most island of Maui. Photograph
colorful creatures on a of chefs finds inspiration for JUNGLE Sumatra is
by the Ingalls.
citizen-science expedition their signature bread. one of Indonesia’s least
in the Amazon. 46 PILGRIMAGE Angling for traveled islands, but its
bonefish in the saltwater flats dense forests—and their
27 CHECKING IN A movable resident orangutans—
camp in Botswana of southern Cuba, where
the waters are bountiful make it worth the trek.
brings mobile safaris
to a wider audience. and the crowds sparse. 88 CROSSING JORDAN

52 ROAD TRIP Inspired by the This Middle Eastern


30 WORTH FLYING FOR
oasis is home to stunning
Ireland’s rustic charm is cool kids of Instagram, one
family jumps into a vintage landscapes, ancient
on full display at a remote history, and a welcoming
perfumery in the Burren. camper van for a journey
around California. desert culture.
32 THE EXPERIENCE Cycling 96 HAWAII, HERE WE COME
the Missouri River on the 67 UPGRADE The fundamentals
of responsible travel, An unorthodox cruise
Katy Trail, with small- with a flexible route
town warmth and natural including low-impact
itineraries and ways to offers a fresh perspective
beauty at every stop. on the archipelago.
mitigate overtourism.

4 travelandleisure.com
LILY KWONG
Landscape Designer
Royal Laurel | Seat 5K
JFK > TPE

Your mind is clear for takeof. | CreativityIsInTheAir.com


R
T+ULB D
RIC
G I TA L

Plan an Excellent
Adventure
While this issue
focuses on adventure,
we know that, for many
travelers, adventuring
is a year-round pursuit.
At travelandleisure.com,
you’ll find active travel
It’s hard to think of a advice and off-the-
more scenic place to beaten-path trip
tee up than the Lodge ideas: coverage of the
at Kauri Cliffs, on New world’s best wildlife
Zealand’s spectacular destinations, new
North Island. properties at the
ends of the earth,
gear recommendations
for serious outdoor

OPERATION VACATION types, and more.


tandl.me/adventure

At Travel + Leisure, we want every American to join us in a commitment to use up all our
vacation days in 2018. That’s why we created Operation Vacation, a program of exclusive travel
deals designed to inspire your next trip. Whatever experience you’re looking for, you’ll find
dozens of terrific discounts on flights, hotels, cruises, and more at travelandleisure.com/ Daily Travel Fuel
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EDITOR’S NOTE

My husband, Charles,

M
jumping for joy upon
reaching the Salinas
Grandes salt flats in
northern Argentina.

E ALL TRAVEL FOR DIFFERENT REASONS. While putting together this issue,
I was struck by the rationale expressed by writer John Wray in his
story about visiting the Peruvian Amazon (page 20) to try out “citizen
science,” in which travelers assist researchers in the field. For John,
travel is about being “knocked back to the person I was at eight years
old, when I hadn’t a doubt that the world beyond our fly-over town was as action-packed
and strange as adventure novels made it seem.”
What a wonderful sentiment this is, and it’s one that I share. When people ask me why
I love safaris so much, how I can do 10 days straight of getting up at 5 a.m. for bush drives
without tiring of it all, I answer that safaris make me feel like a kid again—wide-eyed, eager
to learn, and open to the possibility that something exciting or strange or even scary could
occur. I love being given the chance once again to ask a million questions, to take in new facts,
to make sense of the unfamiliar. It’s about reconnecting with a feeling that is innate in
children but that adults, too, often lose sight of: wonder.
My husband and I were recently in Argentina, tooling around the country’s northern
reaches, and one day, after a stop at the touristy but charming town of Purmamarca, set at
the base of an extraordinary formation of multicolored rocks, we realized we were not far
from the Salinas Grandes salt flats, which were said to be pretty great. Although it wasn’t on
our agenda, we decided to give it a go. Looking back, I expect if we’d known when we started
out that the trip would require us to drive right over the Andes—reaching almost 15,000 feet
via a seemingly never-ending series of sinuous switchbacks—we might not have gone.
But if we hadn’t gone, we would never have had that euphoric
feeling of driving over the top of the world, we would never have
stopped to take those photos of llamas crossing the road at the
summit, and we would never have driven into that totally empty
blinding sea of white. It was an adventure. A contained adventure,
perhaps, but one that was exciting and fun and beautiful. And
we’ll always remember it.
There are many different kinds of adventures in this issue,
but I think what they all have in common is an unexpectedness
F ROM TOP : N ATH A N LU MP ; B RI A N D O BE N

that can provoke that childlike sense of wonder. Here’s to more


of that in all of our lives.

@nathanlump
nathan@travelandleisure.com

10 travelandleisure.com
IS IS
TH
Alabama
From the McWane Science Center in
Birmingham to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center
in Huntsville, you can take it all in.

Alabama.Travel/Discovery

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the draw of exploration
and discovery

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J U LY 2 0 1 8
REASONS
TO

T + L’ S M O N T H LY S E L E C T I O N O F T R I P - W O R T H Y P L A C E S , E X P E R I E N C E S , A N D E V E N T S .

N o.

This TV series offers fresh inspiration to


visit America’s most famous national park.
In June, the Paramount cable network (formerly SpikeTV)
debuted Yellowstone, which follows a rancher (Kevin
Costner) fighting to protect his land from developers
and claims by a reservation and the nearby national
park. Filmed in Montana, the show captures the beauty
of some of the nation’s wildest landscapes. July is
Yellowstone’s busiest month, so wait out the masses
and start planning a fall getaway now. Autumn brings
A BL E I MAG ES / GA LL E RY STOC K

dramatic colors and abundant wildlife-spotting as


animals prepare for the winter. Embrace the crisp
weather with a day hike (rangers can recommend
the best route for your skill level and preferred sights)
or a soak in the Boiling River, a natural hot tub near The Grand Canyon
the Wyoming-Montana border. — John Scarpinato of the Yellowstone,
in Wyoming

travelandleisure.com 13
R E A S O N S T O T R AV E L N O W

N o.

A new museum in Virginia’s capital is a reminder of Richmond’s cultural cachet.


With its striking design courtesy of Steven international art world.” The ICA’s inaugural
N o.
Holl Architects, Virginia Commonwealth exhibition, “Declaration” (through Sept. 9),
University’s Institute for Contemporary Art explores art’s power to spark change: one
(icavcu.org) is not your average collegiate piece lets visitors record their own This writer’s final
gallery. Its debut this spring has given art “declarations,” while another invites guests work will reignite
and architecture buffs new cause to visit to bring in clothing in need of repair, which your Provençal
the institute’s hometown. “Richmond has an a volunteer will fix on the spot.
incredibly vibrant cultural scene,” says ICA If you’re in town in the coming months, wanderlust.
chief curator Stephanie Smith. “We hope catch “Monumental: Richmond’s Monuments If you’ve dreamed of
to connect that community with the (1607–2018)” at another noteworthy escaping to the south
museum, the Valentine (July 4–Jan. 2, 2019; of France, you’ll find
thevalentine.org), which highlights the city’s a kindred spirit in
history and culture, and “Howardena Pindell: author Peter Mayle,
The Institute for What Remains to Be Seen,” a survey on the whose move to
Contemporary Art, a new activist-artist at the Virginia Museum of Fine Ménerbes inspired a
museum on the campus of Arts (Aug. 25–Nov. 25; vmfa.museum). Book series of best-selling
Virginia Commonwealth a room at the Quirk Hotel (destinationhotels. memoirs, starting
University, in Richmond. with A Year in Provence
com; doubles from $169), a cheerful, cheeky
hideaway built in a 1916 department store, in 1989. Mayle passed
and snag a souvenir at menswear destination away in January, but
Jackson & James (jackson-james.com) or not before completing
clothing and housewares shop Need Supply one last book, My
Co. (needsupply.com). The latter is just a Twenty-Five Years in
short drive from Maymont (maymont.org), Provence ($25, Knopf),
a 100-acre Victorian estate that’s home to a warm recollection
Japanese gardens and a 33-room mansion. of the pleasures of life
Sample Chesapeake Bay oysters and Virginia in the region—a bowl
brews at Rapp Session (rroysters.com), but of bouillabaisse at
save room for dinner at L’Opossum sur la Restaurant Peron, in
Colline de l’Orégon (lopossum.com; entrées Marseille, or market
$22–$36), where the playful names (one dish day in Lourmarin—
is called “C’mon Simone, let’s talk about your and a reminder of its

F ROM TOP : C O URTESY OF A L F RE D A. KN O PF ; I WA N BA AN ; C OU RT ESY O F D U VI NE CYCLING & A DV E NTU R E CO.


big halibut”) belie a seriously sophisticated enduring appeal.
approach to food. — Siobhan Reid

N o.

Changing your perspective can make even familiar


destinations feel like uncharted territory.
Why drive when you can float, pedal, or just wander? The latest offerings from
several veteran tour operators let you go beyond the well-trod sightseeing circuit
for a more active, immersive experience. — Hannah Walhout

1 BY BOAT. With its just- 2 BY BIKE. Luxury cycling 3 BY YOURSELF.


launched Mallorca Flotilla, company DuVine kicks New self-guided tours
charter company Sunsail off its first Asia tour this from Exodus Travels let
allows experienced sailors fall, spinning through some you see Europe on your
to steer themselves along of Japan’s most stunning own terms. The company
the Spanish island’s striking, landscapes. From Kyoto, handles most reservations,
sun-dappled coastline, led follow the Uji River into tea routes, and transfers,
by a flagship manned by fields and the Kii Peninsula but instead of following
guides. Expect plenty of beyond. On the way: ryokan chipper guides and packed
stops for swimming, hiking, stays, historic temples, schedules, you’ll set the
pace and choose what to
A DuVine tour near
and drinking sangria on and post-ride izakaya meals.
see. exodustravels.com; Yoshino, Japan.
the beach. sunsail.com; duvine.com; seven days
seven days from $1,962. from $8,595. six days from $770.

14 travelandleisure.com
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N o.

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Macaws in the Tambopata
THE E XPERIENCE National Reserve, an area of
protected rain forest in Peru.

the scientists working there. I was


looking at a band-tailed manakin, a
bird the size of a teacup and the color
of sunset, putting on a show for a
prospective mate. It crossed my
mind, as I watched the manakin
displaying its plumage, that I’d never
seen anything more beautiful.
Then I caught the scent of the pigs.
The day before, I had traveled by
plane from Lima to the rain-forest city
of Puerto Maldonado, where I was
met by Silverio Duri, my guide. On
the four-hour boat ride from Infierno,
an indigenous settlement, to the
Tambopata Research Center, the lodge
where I would be spending the next
two nights, Silverio had cautioned
me about the pigs—white-lipped
peccaries, to be exact. “They’re
generally harmless,” he told me,
“but don’t get in the way of a herd.
Their tusks are sharp as razors.”
“Razors,” I repeated, trying to
sound casual. “Okay.”

Call of the Wild


Nature-loving travelers are making an impact by collaborating
“If they surround you, bonk them
on the nose.”
This tip should have made an
impression on me. I quickly forgot it,
however, dining on chicken in coca
with scientists in the field. On a visit to the Peruvian rain forest, sauce and sipping passion-fruit
John Wray collects tiger moths by moonlight, dodges fruit bats and nectar on my first night at TRC’s
giant beetles, and studies the world’s most beautiful birds—all while newly expanded ecotourism
enjoying the comforts of a simple but stylish lodge. accommodations. The spectacular
macaws for which this region is
famous distracted me as well, to say
I WA S ST UC K I N T H E M UD W H E N T HE WILD PIGS ARRIVED. nothing of the half-dozen species of
It wasn’t just any mud: it was Amazonian mud, in one monkey whose howls echoed through
of the wildest stretches of rain forest a boat can safely reach. the forest. Though great care has
I had come to the Tambopata National Reserve, more than been taken in the design of the center’s
a thousand protected square miles in southeastern Peru, thatch-roofed suites, which have
P HI L TO RR ES

on a visit organized by Rainforest Expeditions, a tour tropical wood floors and décor by
operator that owns and manages lodges where travelers indigenous artists, visitors come for
can experience the biodiversity of the region while assisting the wildlife, and the management

20 travelandleisure.com
       
    
Tailor-Made for Sipping by the Sea

Includes
snack recipes to
complement a sunset
view and satisfy
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BEACH COCKTAILS

Available wherever books are sold

©2018 Time Inc. Books, a division of Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.
THE E XPERIENCE

knows it. The mosquito netting of my canopy bed


was all that separated me from the jungle. Visions
of jaguars, which can occasionally be seen in
MORE CITIZEN-SCIENCE
Tambopata, danced in my head until dawn.
Peccaries, not so much.
ADVENTURES
Now, up to my shins in muck, I remembered STUDY ELEPHANTS IN KENYA MONITOR SIBERIAN TIGERS
Silverio’s warning. The smell of the pigs hit me On this expedition with There are only about 530 of
first: a musty pong that reminded me of certain EarthWatch Institute, an these animals left in the world.
New York subway cars in summer. By the time organization that supports For Natural World Safaris,
fieldwork around the world, conservationist Alexander
the first one came into view, the smell was so travelers study human-animal Batalov leads small groups
overpowering that I felt almost drunk. Silverio conflict, helping farmers to set and collect camera
whispered to keep absolutely still: he wanted protect crops while minimizing traps to document the
to see how close the herd would come before the impact of agriculture on animals’ movements.
native elephants. earthwatch. naturalworldsafaris.com;
we spooked them. Very close, it turned out. org; 12-day trips from $2,995. seven-day trips from $3,150.
Suddenly they were everywhere, hundreds
of them, grunting and clacking their tusks, MAP CORAL REEFS IN OMAN FIND TREASURE IN PUERTO RICO
flowing around us like a river. Musandam, a rocky exclave Para la Naturaleza manages
jutting into the Persian Gulf, is dozens of nature reserves on
home to a little-studied reef the island and books free

E ncounters with peccaries, monkeys,


capybaras, and other creatures are common
in Tambopata, but the reserve is particularly
ecosystem. With Biosphere
Expeditions, scuba-certified
travelers can stay on a research
citizen-science activities like
wildlife censuses and forestry
seminars. Travelers can help
renowned for its clay licks: areas of exposed boat, conducting survey dives unearth artifacts from a pre-
and synthesizing data that Columbian site in the Cabezas
earth, generally along a riverbank, where directly inform conservation. de San Juan nature reserve.
a variety of jungle animals gather to ingest biosphere-expeditions.org; paralanaturaleza.org.
clay. The TRC is the only permanent human seven-day trips from $2,770. —Hannah Walhout
habitation permitted in the reserve, having been
grandfathered in when the area became oicially
protected in 2000. Biologists had been studying a handful of other ornithologically minded guests, to
the ecology of the nearby clay licks for 16 years by a wooded bluff a stone’s throw from the reserve’s most
then, attempting to understand the significance famous lick. It wasn’t long before the birds started coming,
of the greasy pink clay to the metabolism of the in a trickle at first, then in a deluge. Gaudy though they
monkeys, parakeets, and macaws that risk their are, parrots and macaws are hard to see in the jungle,
lives to feed on it in broad daylight, in plain view generally keeping to the higher strata of the canopy,
of potential predators. The likely answer turns where they look black or gray against the sky. But at the
out to be fairly straightforward—the clay is high clay licks they crowded against one another like
in sodium and other vital minerals. At feeding commuters, jostling and screeching between greedy
time, the sight of hundreds of birds clinging mouthfuls. Sitting comfortably on a folding campstool,
raucously to the riverbank in a fluttering curtain feasting my eyes on the spectacle and my stomach
of primary color borders on the psychedelic. on passion-fruit pound cake, I felt as decadent as it’s
Silverio woke me before dawn on my first possible to feel in the middle of the wilderness.
morning at Tambopata, and we took a boat, with Impact-conscious tourism in the Amazon has seen
a boom in recent years, but Rainforest Expeditions
offers nature lovers an experience few competitors can
match: the opportunity to collaborate with a biologist
The lobby at Refugio
Amazonas, a 32-room
doing cutting-edge work in the field. Through the
lodge that is a hub for company’s Wired Amazon series of projects, visitors can
tourism-driven research. use camera traps to study nighttime jaguar movements
C O URT ESY OF R AI N FO REST EX P E D I TI ON S

or drone footage to track the reproductive status of Brazil-


nut trees, then follow the project from home and even
continue contributing to its database.
The term for this type of tourist-scientist collaboration,
which has been put into practice in regions as far-flung
as New Zealand and Norway, is citizen science, and the
experts are as excited about the possibilities as the guests.
“Research in the Amazon is expensive, and government
funding, especially in the U.S., is as endangered as the

22 travelandleisure.com
THE SPONTANEIT Y YOU CR AVE.

YOU FEEL LIKE A KID AGAIN.


I’M THE SUDDEN DESIRE TO LE AVE LOGIC IN THE WIND.
BECAUSE WHO NEEDS LOGIC, ANY WAY?
I’M COLOR ADO. AND I’LL SHOW YOU WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE TRULY ALIVE.

Get the guide at COLORADO.COM


From top: The red cracker butterfly is
THE E XPERIENCE found throughout South America; the
217-mile-long Tambopata River winds
through the heart of the Tambopata
National Reserve.

path. It’s a testament to his gift for arousing scientific


curiosity that I listened with a twinge of envy.

t’s a cliché that we travel to forget our mundane


I lives in exotic locales. But I, for one, travel to
recover the past: to be knocked back to the person
I was at eight years old, when I hadn’t a doubt that
the world beyond our fly-over town was as action-
packed and strange as adventure novels made it
seem. This inner time travel doesn’t happen often,
but my encounter with the peccaries was one
such moment.
animals we study,” Alex Borisenko, a VISITING THE The vast herd thundered past, but didn’t scare
Canadian biodiversity specialist I TAMBOPATA off the tiny birds above us. The jewel-like male
met at breakfast, told me. “Citizen RESERVE manakin continued its show on that low-hanging
science is looking more and more like branch, a dot of resplendent calm in all the tumult.
the future of fieldwork. It’s also fun.” Fly into Jorge Chávez I stood rooted in place, catching snatches of its song.
International Airport
At the Refugio Amazonas, a in Lima, then transfer
Suddenly a fruit bat appeared, its wingspan as
Rainforest Expeditions lodge located to Padre Aldamiz long as my arm, startled from its daytime sleep
just outside the reserve, guests can International by the arrival of the pigs. It circled us in silent panic,
assist Juan Grados Arauco, an Airport in Puerto close enough that I could feel the beat of its wings.
Maldonado.
entomologist at Lima’s Museum This was exactly how, as an eight-year-old, I’d
Rainforest
of Natural History, in collecting Expeditions imagined the rain forest: a continuous pageant,
specimens of tiger moth. They even (perunature.com) so teeming with life that there was barely space
have the opportunity, should one of operates both for one more living creature. Here was the jungle
the moths prove to be unknown to Refugio Amazonas of my childhood imagination, in all its fluttering,
(doubles from $578;
science, to give the new species its two-night minimum)
grunting, twittering, stinking glory. I may never
name. I felt slightly inclined to roll and the more wash that pink mud off my shoes.
my eyes at this, until I was informed remote Tambopata
that 11 new tiger moths had been Research Center John Wray’s fifth novel, Godsend, will be published
(doubles from
recorded in only the past 16 months. in October by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
$628; three-night
Then I wanted to find my own. minimum). The
The night I worked with Juan, cost includes meals,
we trooped through the twilit forest in activities, river

F R OM TO P: T H OMAS MA R E N T / MI N D E N P I CT UR ES / G E T TY IM AG ES; F R AN S L A NT IN G STU D IO /A L A M Y


clunky rubber boots to the collection transportation, and
transfer to and from
site. We hadn’t been there long before Puerto Maldonado;
a glossy black projectile hit me heavily alcoholic beverages
on the thigh as I was collecting moths cost extra. Your
from a “light trap,” which is basically luggage should
weigh no more than
a white sheet hung between trees with
33 pounds. Bring
a lamp behind it. I was startled to long-sleeve cotton
find a baseball-size bug preparing shirts and pants,
to wage war with my heel. hiking boots, a
“Rhino beetle!” Juan said, as broad-brimmed hat,
rain gear, sunblock,
wonder-struck as I was. He gingerly insect repellent, and
removed it from my boot and showed slippers or sandals
me the surprisingly delicate wings to wear around the
hidden under its shell. I’ve had a mild lodges. Vaccinations
for hepatitis, typhoid,
phobia of insects since childhood, but
and yellow fever
that night I was too fascinated to care. are recommended.
As we continued to gather specimens, Aracari (aracari.
some bound for the national collection com), a Lima-based
back in Lima, Juan described watching tour company,
can incorporate
from the branches of an ironwood tree visits to the lodges
as a stream of army ants flowed past, into a longer
devouring everything organic in its Peruvian itinerary.

24 travelandleisure.com
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• are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if Xiidra will harm about Xiidra with your health care provider or pharmacist. The FDA-approved
your unborn baby. product labeling can be found at http://www.shirecontent.com/PI/PDFs/Xiidra_
• are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. It is not known if Xiidra passes into USA_ENG.pdf or 1-800-828-2088. Do not use Xiidra for a condition for which
your breast milk. Talk to your doctor about the best way to feed your baby if it was not prescribed. Do not give Xiidra to other people, even if they have the
you use Xiidra. same symptoms you have. It may harm them.
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Active ingredient: lifitegrast
to use Xiidra. Use Xiidra exactly as your doctor tells you.
• To help avoid eye injury or contamination of the solution, do not touch the Inactive ingredients: sodium chloride, sodium phosphate dibasic anhydrous,
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at least 15 minutes before placing them back in your eyes. Manufactured for: Shire US Inc., 300 Shire Way, Lexington, MA 02421
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save any unused Xiidra for later. Patented: please see https://www.shire.com/legalnotice/product-patents Last Modiied: 12/2017 S34025
The lounge area of
Uncharted Mobile FIRST LOOK
Expeditions’ camp
in Botswana.

A Camp of
One’s Own
Until recently, mobile safaris—widely seen as the best way to get
close to Africa’s wildlife—were available only for large, private bookings.
Now anyone can get in on the action. By Jane Broughton

F IV E MIN UT ES after we set out from Uncharted Mobile safaris are typically offered on an
Mobile Expeditions’ mobile camp in the exclusive basis, meaning they have usually
Okavango Delta, Botswana, someone in our been the preserve of families or large groups.
vehicle yelled “Lion!” Everybody spun in their With the introduction of set-date departures,
seats to see a lioness in pursuit of a baby Uncharted Mobile Expeditions allows guests to
warthog hurtling toward us. Zigzagging book a single tent, rather than the entire camp—
frantically, the piglet was soon pinned to the opening up the experience to a wider audience
ground by a giant paw. There was a collective and making it considerably more affordable.
gasp as we steeled ourselves for the inevitable. I had begun by flying in a Cessna from
But seconds later, 150 pounds of protective Maun, northern Botswana’s hub, to the farthest-
mother bush pig hit the lioness at full speed, flung airstrip in the Okavango Delta. My
throwing up a cloud of dust. Released by the destination was NG12, a remote government-
impact, the squealing piglet sped across the dirt owned concession that, until recently, was
road and away to freedom. known only to safari insiders. In the Okavango,
Such thrilling encounters seem to happen as in Africa’s other iconic wild places, space is
with remarkable frequency on mobile safaris— the holy grail—the definition of luxury. There
a wildlife trip on which guests stay at a movable are no permanent lodges in NG12, despite the
camp. That’s because when it comes to the fact that, at 200,000 acres, it is more than 50,000
African wilderness, sleeping in a tent (whether acres larger than Vumbura to the south, where
it be a basic fly camp or a slightly more complex, Wilderness Safaris operates two luxury camps.
comfortable setup with flushable toilets) is the In four days of exploring, we saw only one other
best way to get close to the action. Deeply vehicle. The surrounding landscapes ranged
immersive, a mobile operation puts you in from open plains dotted with elephants, buffalo,
N ATU R A L SE LECT I ON

exactly the right place at the right time, which zebras, and giraffes to lagoons where hippos
is why it’s currently a big trend in safaris. If the jostled for territory and crocodiles cruised
animals travel or the weather changes, simple silently in between.
camps can be packed up after breakfast and set This part of the delta can be reached only by
up in a new location in time for dinner. a patchy network of dirt tracks and rudimentary

travelandleisure.com 27
FIRST LOOK

bridges, and this inaccessibility is precisely


what appealed to Uncharted’s Ralph Bousfield.
Bousfield is a fifth-generation Botswanan who,
in 1992, opened Jack’s Camp—a pioneering
Uncharted Mobile
lodge on the remote salt pans of Botswana’s Expeditions guests
Makgadikgadi region—with his late father, Jack, on a game drive in
a legendary crocodile hunter. During the early the Okavango Delta.
90s, father and son frequently flew over the delta
in the family’s small plane searching for a
suitable place to establish a base. They wanted
to offer their guests a circuit that combined the lanterns provided light, along with fireflies dancing in
wonders of the desert with the delta’s big game. the grass. For dinner, spiced butternut soup was served with
After decades of searching, Bousfield leased the rolls still warm from the oven. Next came steak, mashed
NG12 site at the end of last year. “The distance potatoes, and cumin-roasted carrots, followed by a rich
from Maun, the tricky logistics, and the lack chocolate tart. The meal seemed even more impressive after
of a road network might have been off-putting I visited the chef in his camp kitchen the following day and
to some, but it made this site more attractive saw his oven: an old metal trunk filled with hot coals.
to me,” he told me with a laugh. Sitting outside my tent on my last afternoon, perusing
Because the concession is not within an a bird book from the camp library, I looked up and realized
oicially designated wildlife reserve, where my tent was under an enormous sausage tree. What were
certain rules have to be followed, Bousfield is able the chances of one of its hefty fruits—some weighing as
to blur the boundaries between what usually much as 15 pounds—falling on my head? Sipping iced coffee
happens in camp and what takes place in the and listening to the rumble of distant thunder, I decided
wild. “It’s fun to set up a table in shallow water that it would be a fine way to go. naturalselection.travel;
for a surprise lunch, or to linger after sunset from $2,780 per person for four nights, all-inclusive. Mobile
drinks to take a boat trip through the reeds— safaris can be packaged with a stay at Jack’s Camp,
that’s when the delta really comes alive,” he said. as well as other experiences in the region.
Positioned under a canopy of fig and
jackalberry trees, the little camp of three guest Jane Broughton is a freelance writer based in Cape Town.
tents and an open-sided mess tent was everything
I’d dreamed of in a mobile site. Taking its cue
from Jack’s Camp, it channels the glamorous
East African safari style of the 1940s: vintage
furniture and a front porch decked out with a MOBILE CAMPS:
canvas wash basin, a copper water jug, and a THE BEST OF THE REST
mirror added serious Out of Africa appeal. Each 1 ZIMBABWE according to breeding and
kilim-carpeted tent has an en suite bathroom In untrammeled Gonarezhou weather patterns. Individual
with a hot-water bucket shower and a flushable National Park in southeastern tents are available to book;
toilet. It was hard to believe that when our group Zimbabwe, respected guide Ant groups of six or more are
Kaschula offers a wilderness allocated the camp on an
checked out, the entire camp would be packed up
experience that combines exclusive-use basis. legendary
and driven across the delta—a journey of almost wildlife viewing with guided expeditions.com; from $1,025
two days—to the Central Kalahari Desert. walks. Small, exclusive-use per person, all-inclusive.
Uncharted Mobile may have nailed the camps are run mainly during the
nostalgic aesthetic, but, more importantly, dry season (April to November) 3 KENYA
for a maximum of 10 guests. The Kenya is said to be where
it also employs some of the best guides in the solar-lit Meru-style tents each modern-day mobile camps
business—such as the legendary Super Sande, have a bucket shower and a started, and Royal African
who used to work at Jack’s Camp and now heads composting toilet. gonarezhou- Safaris continues the tradition
up the team in NG12. I shared the camp with an bushcamps.com; from $690 per with expert guides and elegantly
person, all-inclusive. appointed tents set up around
American family that ranged in age from a
the Masai Mara National Reserve.
preschooler to retirees, and the six-foot-seven 2 TANZANIA Locations vary from week to
Sande was as skilled at imparting bush lore to Legendary Expeditions sets week according to the
N ATU R A L SE LECT I ON

a four-year-old as he was at explaining the subtle up mobile camps in the path movements of the animals.
differences between a coppery-tailed coucal of vast herds of wildebeests Safaris fill up via word of mouth,
migrating through the Serengeti and as many as 65 percent of
and a Burchell’s coucal to me. Plain. The tents, each of which bookings come from repeat
On returning to camp after a game drive, has an en suite bathroom, guests. royalafrican.com; from
we found a table laid under the stars. Kerosene are moved around the park $1,500 per person, all inclusive.

28 travelandleisure.com
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W O R T H F LY I N G F O R

The Burren Perfumery


in Carron, Ireland
The country’s most dramatic terrain, the windswept Burren National Park, is the
improbable home of an enchanting family-run perfume shop. By Devorah Lev-Tov

in County Clare, Ireland, favorite fragrance was a bright, briny mixture of citrus
ON A GRAY DAY  I drove down a narrow road

F ROM L E F T: P E T E R M. M AYR ; RA L P H D OY LE / C OU RTESY O F TH E BU RR E N PE R F UM E RY


and the sea.
in the Burren National Park, a strange landscape where When the rain stopped, I stepped outside and headed
green grass and plumes of wildflowers grow between endless around a bend. Moss-covered trees loomed above the
swaths of steely limestone scraped bare by glaciers. At the slick stone path. I passed the soap room, where a gray-
edge of that world—close to the Atlantic, hidden among haired woman poured molten beeswax into tins. At
trees—sit a few small stone buildings clustered around the entrance to the herb garden, I paused at a round stone,
a courtyard. This is the Burren Perfumery, where owner set into the ground and surrounded by a circle of smooth
Sadie Chowen concocts fragrances, cosmetics, and candles rocks. Standing in its center felt eerie, like I’d stumbled on
inspired by the environment. The workshop was founded some talismanic Celtic monument. Down the path, herbs
in 1972 by a poet who’d studied in Grasse, the French and plants peeked over the low walls. Sage, mint, tarragon;
fragrance capital. Chowen fell in love with the place 20 wispy ferns and pale roses. And moss, so much velvety
years ago, while designing and planting in the garden. After moss. This was the Ireland I had pictured, but I didn’t
training as a perfumer, she bought the business in 2001. think it actually existed.
As it began to drizzle, I ducked into the main shop. The dreamlike moment gave way to easy comfort in the
Neat rows of oils, balms, and perfumes lined the shelves, bubblegum-colored tearoom. A smiling waiter in a pink
their bottles decorated with hand-drawn botanicals. apron served me tea and a slice of fruitcake soaked in Irish
Uncapping one bottle, I inhaled notes of orchid followed porter. I sipped and ate, savoring the scent of chamomile
by the woodsy damp of ferns and lichens; another, grassy shot through with whiffs of perfume from a workshop next
and sweet, transported me to a sunny meadow. My door. My Ireland, found. burrenperfumery.com.

30 travelandleisure.com
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WA N D E R

Clockwise from top left: A guest room at

Missouri in
Hotel Bothwell, in Sedalia; riding near
Rocheport on the 240-mile Katy Trail; South
Ohio Avenue, in Sedalia; barrels at Augusta
Winery, in Augusta; a cyclist takes a break

Slow Motion along the trail; bratwurst and schnitzel plates


at Hermann Wurst Haus, in Hermann; the
Missouri River as seen from the Katy; near
Rocheport, where the Katy overlaps with
the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.
On the Katy Trail, cyclists find
small-town warmth, pristine prairie,
and the surprising flavors of a
little-known wine region. By Clint Carter

RUNNI NG AC RO SS THE M IDDLE of Missouri,


along the state’s namesake river, you’ll find
the Katy Trail. It’s the width of a single-lane
highway, as flat as a griddle, and impossibly
straight—or maybe it just seems that way
from the seat of a bike. Gravel the color of
cappuccino foam stretches far ahead,
disappearing into a pinhole on the horizon.
In some places, you could close your eyes and
pedal for half an hour without crashing.

32 travelandleisure.com Photographs by Luis García


WA N D E R

Until 1986, the trains of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Owner Brett Dufur swung by with a six-pack.
Railroad (MKT, nicknamed the “Katy”) ran along this route. Because the Katy runs along a railway, he said,
A few years later, the rails were pulled up and the land “there are these quirky towns every few miles.
was repurposed, becoming one of the first major rail-trail You can push yourself, but you can always get
conversions in the U.S. Today there are more than 23,400 a cold beer just up ahead.”
miles of these paths across the country. At 240 miles, the Cold beer sounded great, so the next day we
Katy Trail is the longest—and it’s still growing. When the detoured to Columbia, my old college town. Flat
Rock Island Trail to the south is completed, it will link Branch Pub & Brewing (flatbranch.com) is a place
up with the Katy to form a 450-mile loop through Missouri. I used to visit often, but I’d never ordered the
Last spring, I rode the Katy with my pal Zach. He and Katy Trail Pale Ale. It was sweet and refreshing.
I grew up about 50 miles from the trail’s midpoint, but back Down the road in Hermann, a historically
then we’d been too preoccupied by adolescence for long, German town, we found the best meal of the trip.
multiday bike rides. Spurred by the completion of the first At Hermann Wurst Haus (hermannwursthaus.com;
48-mile spur of the Rock Island Trail, we decided to change entrées $9–$14), we sampled headcheese and a
that. On an overcast Sunday, we set out from the outskirts liver sausage called braunschweiger, then ordered
of Kansas City like kids on summer break, stopping to snap wursts with tight skins. We washed it all down
photos of grain silos towering over the trail and cows with rauchbier at Tin Mill Brewery (tinmillbrewery.
pushing wet noses through fences. Seventy miles later, legs com) next door. After dark, we flicked on our
heavy and faces caked with dust, we arrived in Sedalia at the headlights and rode to Joey’s Birdhouse (joeylos.
91-year-old Hotel Bothwell (hotelbothwell.com; doubles from com; doubles from $85), a homey inn run by Joey
$85), a 53-room spot with a posh veneer and free bike storage. Los, the mayor of McKittrick, Missouri. Last
year she took oice with four votes. Not
by four votes—four votes total. When
I marveled at the bluffs looming to we woke, the mayor cooked us breakfast
my left and the Missouri River moving with vegetables from her garden.
Katy Trail slowly to my right. My legs seemed The beer legacy of Missouri, home to
Anheuser-Busch, is well known. But
MISSOURI to match pace with the current. German immigrants also identified the
Missouri River Valley as an ideal spot for
In the morning, as we were about to head out, we heard a growing grapes. Augusta was the nation’s first
sudden pop. My front rim got pinched in the freight elevator. recognized wine region, and today, clustered
It would take two days to deliver a new wheel, but Sedalia, around the old German settlements, you’ll find
a colorful former brothel town, turned out to be the stopover more than 100 wineries. Dufur had advised us to
we didn’t know we needed. We ate cheeseburgers with approach their product with an open mind. “Our
peanut butter, a Sedalia delicacy, at Goody’s Steakburgers wines are good, and they win awards, but most
(660-826-2828; entrées $7–$13) and toured the Katy Depot people aren’t used to the varietals we have here.”
museum (katydepotsedalia.com). At Pro-Velo Cycle Sports, At Augusta Winery (augustawinery.com), Zach
owner Ebby Norman described the appeal of the Katy, as and I pushed through a crowded room for a
he saw it: “If you want to see the country, the eleven or twelve tasting. Sure enough, there were no Rieslings or
miles per hour you travel on a bike is just about perfect.” Merlots. Instead, we drank Vignoles, Vidal Blanc,
It was drizzling when my wheel arrived, so we threw on and Chambourcin, a dry nectar thick with spicy
rain gear and set out as droplets crackled against the leaves blackberry flavor. And it dawned on me: without
overhead. I marveled at the limestone bluffs looming to the Big Muddy, this wine wouldn’t be possible.
my left and the Missouri River moving slowly to my right, The water is brown because it’s rich with silt and
skirting the northern edge of the Ozark Plateau. My legs loam. The slow-moving current holds a potent
seemed to match pace with the current. When the rain punch of minerals that get deposited into the
stopped, bullfrog calls and birdsong filled the void. A harrier floodplain, from which they move on to the vines.
hawk glided ahead, flying a couple of feet above the trail. Staring into my glass, the river’s pace and
When I lived here, I didn’t appreciate all this tranquility. color began to seem like marks of quality rather
I turned up my nose at the brown, lazy Missouri River. than flaws. You can take the good with the bad:
Locals affectionately call it the Big Muddy, but to me it a rainy day for every great wurst, a broken
looked like refried beans. After college, I moved to New York wheel for every mayor who cooks you breakfast.
and spent years living as fast as I could. Returning home, That’s easier to see when you slow down.
I realized how much I could gain from slowing down. Eleven or 12 miles an hour is just about perfect.
That night, we stopped at the Katy Trail B&B (katytrailbb.
com; doubles from $160), in the tiny town of Rocheport. Clint Carter is a Brooklyn-based writer and editor.

travelandleisure.com 35
Uluru, in the southern part of
Australia’s Northern Territory, D I S PAT C H
is considered sacred by the
Aboriginal people.

Taking Back Uluru


Since the birth of Australia’s tourism industry, visitors have flocked
to the monolith once known as Ayers Rock. Only now, however, have
the Anangu people—its true custodians—begun playing a role in
crafting the guest experience. By Amelia Lester

AMID THE FLAT, earthen landscapes of Australia, visitors ceremonies, often dating back
traditionally had one experience on their must-do list: thousands of years, within the geologic
climbing Ayers Rock, the immense sandstone formation at folds around its circumference.
the center of the country. In the 80s, i climbed ayers rock This past November, Australia’s
T-shirts were a necessary souvenir; a decade ago, almost National Parks board, which oversees
half of all tourists in Australia were checking the hike off Uluru, voted to ban climbing for good.
their bucket lists. But since 1993, when the government It was, the board’s director said, the
reinstated the rock’s local name, Uluru, and awareness “righting of an historic wrong”—an
began growing that the indigenous community considers acknowledgment that Aboriginal
it sacred, clambering to the summit has been controversial. people have lived on the continent for
Australia’s more than 500 Aboriginal tribes are like 60,000 years, and that their link to the
individual nations, each with its own language and customs. land is a birthright. The rule, which
But one belief unites them all: the idea of an ancestral tie will go into effect in October 2019, is
to Mother Earth. For the Anangu people who live around also evidence of the way the Anangu
Uluru, the rock is the place from which they came and are increasingly shaping the visitor
the place they will return to after death. For that reason, experience. As with tours of the
EWEN BELL

they do not climb it; instead, they perform rituals and Canadian wilderness tailored by

travelandleisure.com 39
An Anangu guide leads a tour of
native plants in the gardens at
Ayers Rock Resort.

members of its First Nations communities, travelers to


Australia now have the chance to understand the site not
just as an Instagram backdrop but as a living testament to
one of the world’s oldest cultures.
Uluru proved a challenging place for white Australians
to comprehend. When explorer William Gosse sighted it on
the horizon in 1873—the first white man to do so—he
wrote of his “astonishment” at its “peculiar appearance.”
From a distance, his view obscured by sand dunes, Gosse
thought he was looking at a series of caves, rather than the
remnants of a massive mountain range. exercise in half-hearted kitsch. When
The first tourists arrived in 1938, but it took 12 more a government body charged with
years for a dirt track to be constructed connecting Uluru to acquiring land for indigenous groups
the resort town of Alice Springs. A local man named Len bought the property from a private
Tuitt set up a basic camp at Uluru in 1953; in 1958, more company in 2010, the Ayers Rock
than 2,000 visitors drove for up to 12 hours through the Resort, as it is now known, underwent
desert to the site. That number climbed to more than substantial renovations. The
23,000 in 1968, after road improvements and the accommodations range from a
construction of an airstrip. serviced campsite and self-serviced
In the tourism boom, the Anangu were all but forgotten. apartments to four different hotels.
It wasn’t until 1985, two years after Princess Diana climbed The five-star option, Sails in the Desert
the dusty red rock face in a white cotton dress, that the (ayersrockresort.com.au; doubles from
Australian government oicially handed the site back to its $298), might remind you of an upscale
traditional guardians. After Meryl Streep’s star turn as a motel with its perpetually mobbed
mother whose child goes missing at Uluru in the 1988 film pool and boxy, walk-up units. Still,
A Cry in the Dark, “A dingo ate my baby” became a global this is central Australia, and
catchphrase. Growing up in Australia at the time, I was with powerful air conditioning and
conscious of Uluru as a popular destination for a buzzy restaurant, Sails makes for
international tourists, but didn’t know anyone who had a comfortable home base. Last
seen it themselves. Awareness of the country’s indigenous September, Longitude 131°
past was not what it is today, and visiting the mysterious (longitude131.com.au; doubles from

F ROM TOP : C O URTESY OF VOYAG ES AY E R S ROC K RESO RT ; G EORG E A P OSTOL ID IS /CO U RTESY O F BA ILLIE LO D G ES
rock was an expensive, far-fetched proposition. $2,266), a luxurious tented retreat
Even after the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park was that’s separate from Ayers Rock
listed as a unesco World Heritage site in the mid-90s, Resort, with views of Uluru,
the nearby collection of hotels and campsites was at best an relaunched after a lengthy makeover.

The Dune Pavilion


at Longitude 131°
has spectacular
views of Uluru.

40 travelandleisure.com
D I S PAT C H

The solitude there is absolute, and the attention


to detail is exquisite, but you might miss the A TOUR OF INDIGENOUS
energy of the main accommodation complex, AUSTRALIA
where guests can learn about the site’s
significance to Aboriginal people through daily Uluru isn’t the only Aboriginal site worth visiting. To learn more
storytelling sessions at the Mani-Mani theater about Australia’s indigenous past and present, consider this
suggested route from Camelback Odyssey Travel’s
and indigenous craft demonstrations at the Cassandra Bookholder, a native Aussie and longtime member
Wintjiri Arts & Museum. of T+L’s A-List of travel advisors, who specializes in bespoke
The Ayers Rock Resort is committed to itineraries. camelbacktravel.com; nine-day tours from $9,500.
training Aboriginal employees, who today make
DAY 1 Fly into Cairns Airport now extended to the end
up 39 percent of its staff. A job is guaranteed for on the northern coast of of 2020. In the morning,
any indigenous Australian who wants one, and Queensland and transfer take a tour of edible and
55 Aboriginal employees hold above-entry-level to Silky Oaks Lodge medicinal flora with the
positions. Chris Tannock, a 26-year-old from the (silkyoakslodge.com.au; Anangu community. This
doubles from $333), in the knowledge will be useful
Yimen tribe of Queensland, came to study at
Daintree Rainforest. at an open-air cooking
the on-site training academy seven years ago. class that evening.
Now the resort’s assistant manager, Tannock DAYS 2–3 Spend one day with
said he has developed a newfound pride in his the Kubirri Warra brothers, DAY 7 Fly to Sydney
heritage from working there. “It’s not something guides with a passion for Airport, and check in to
indigenous history. After the new Spicers Potts
to be put on a stage,” he said of Aboriginal tea at their mother’s house, Point (spicersretreats.
culture. “These are real people with real history.” they lead wildlife walks and com; doubles from
teach traditional fishing $302), a boutique hotel
and hunting techniques. The in the calm Potts
For the Anangu people who live next day, view native fish Point neighborhood.
and turtles on a snorkeling
around Uluru, the rock is the place tour in the Daintree River DAYS 8–9 See the city
from which they came and the place before enjoying dinner, through the lens of
storytelling, and music with Aboriginal history with
they will return to after death. members of the area’s Kuku an indigenous walking tour
Yalanji community. guide, or cruise Sydney
Harbor and the historical
Although Uluru itself is 550 million years in DAY 4 Fly direct to Uluru’s sites of Goat Island. After
the making, it can be toured in one morning: on Ayers Rock Airport for your lunch, visit Cooee Art
either a walk around the 5.6-mile circumference stay at Sails in the Desert, a Gallery or Aboriginal Art
luxury property in the resort. Galleries to see the best of
or, if you’re feeling adventurous, a dawn
today’s indigenous art.
motorbike ride. Perhaps the most memorable DAYS 5–6 Visit Kata Tijuta, On your last day, visit
experience at Ayers Rock Resort is a dinner the park’s other striking rock Ku-ring-gai Chase National
called tali wiru, which means “beautiful dune” formation, before a lesson in Park, home to ancient rock
in the Anangu language. It takes place on a Aboriginal dot painting back art. Native-led tour options
at the resort. End your first include river cruises, walks
viewing platform a few miles from Uluru where day with a walk through to find medicinal plants,
diners can watch the rock’s surface change from artist Bruce Munro’s and foraging for foods like
orange to a deep purple. As darkness falls, guests installation, Field of Light— witchetty grubs.
are served a feast of native ingredients like
wallaby, roselle (a type of hibiscus), and
quandong (a native peach).
For me, the real magic came after the meal,
when an indigenous guide revealed patterns
in the night sky. He explained that for some
C O URTESY OF VOYAGES AY E RS R OC K R ES O RT

Aboriginal cultures, constellations are depicted


not by the stars, but by the dark spaces between
them. Outlining the shape of an emu amid the
sparkling constellations, he pointed to its legs,
its plumage, even its beak. At first I had to
squint. But then, after a life spent under the
southern sky, I was able to see it, too.
Indigenous artists
depict Aboriginal
Amelia Lester is an Australian writer based in creation myths
Okinawa, Japan. in sand at Ayers
Rock Resort.
THE DISH

Bread of Life
During a culinary research trip to the Republic of
Georgia, the team behind Maydan, a new restaurant
in Washington, D.C., tour backyard bakeries—and
return with inspiration for their signature lavash.
By Hannah Walhout

“CHRIS BURNED ALL HIS ARM HAIRS OFF.” Rose Previte laughs, At Maydan, clay-oven
flatbread is often
recalling a memorable day of bread baking in Georgia’s paired with Middle
Racha highlands. The part owner of Maydan (maydandc.com; Eastern dips like
entrées $12–$48)—a new restaurant tracing a common muhammara and
beet borani.
culinary ancestry across North Africa, the Middle East,
and the Caucasus—visited Georgia last year as one leg of
a multi-country preopening trip with co-owners and
executive chefs Chris Morgan and Gerald Addison. Morgan,
for his part, notes that the Georgian women they baked
with never lost any of their arm hairs as they reached into
their scorching ovens with bare hands.
MAYDAN’S TONÉ ACTIVE TIME

The chewy, bubbly flatbread the chefs learned to make in FLATBREAD 50 mins

Georgia is now at the literal center of Maydan’s operation, INGREDIENTS


made fresh throughout dinner service in the Georgian-style 1 Tbsp. Active dry yeast TOTAL TIME
1½ Tbsp. Honey
tonés (massive, cylindrical clay ovens) blazing in the middle 3 cups Warm water (110°F) 2 hrs
of the dining room. Previte, who first encountered Georgian 1½ Tbsp. Canola oil * 40 mins

bread—and Georgian cuisine—while living in Moscow, had 6 cups Bread flour **


2½ cups Whole-wheat flour
already turned D.C. on to the country’s wine and cheesy, 2½ Tbsp. Kosher salt
TOTAL FLATBREADS

bready khachapuri at her first restaurant, street-food spot 18


* Plus more for greasing
Compass Rose. Now, she was excited to place the cuisine ** Plus more for rolling
in a broader, more global context.
Her chef-partners began nerding out about Georgian 1 COMBINE YEAST, HONEY, 3 PLACE A PIZZA STONE
bread right from touchdown in Tbilisi. The team swapped AND WARM WATER in the on bottom rack of oven;
bowl of a heavy-duty stand preheat oven to 500°F.
fun facts about the bread-baking diaspora they were
mixer fitted with the dough (Leave pizza stone in oven
exploring: Did you know that bread in Georgian is puri, like hook attachment; let stand while oven preheats.) Place
the Indian fried snack? That some have suggested a direct until foamy, 4 to 6 minutes. dough on work surface
lineage between the tandoor and the toné? That you can see Stir in oil. lightly dusted with flour.
hints of a clay-oven trail that stretches from India to Iran Punch down dough and cut
2 COMBINE FLOURS AND SALT it in half. Cut each half into
to Yemen to Tunisia? in a separate large bowl. nine pieces and roll each
While driving westward to the Black Sea, they would Run mixer on low speed and piece into a ball. Cover with
stop and study under the women baking along the road— gradually add flour mixture towel and let stand 10
learning to make the ubiquitous shotis puri (long, doughy to yeast mixture, until all flour minutes. Roll out dough balls
is incorporated, 10 to 12 into 6-inch rounds. Arrange
spears) and regional specialties like nazuki, sweetened
minutes. Increase speed to rounds on a floured work
with cinnamon and raisins. But the breakthrough came medium-low and mix until surface or on floured baking
late in the trip: behind a tiny winery in the Rioni River dough forms a ball and begins sheets; cover loosely with
valley, a woman in a small hut taught them how to make a to pull away from sides of plastic wrap. Let rise until
thinner lavash that looked a little like something they’d bowl, 6 to 8 minutes. Turn puffy, about 25 minutes.
dough out onto a lightly
seen in Lebanon and a little like the flatbreads at a Syrian floured work surface. Knead 4 USING A LIGHTLY FLOURED
falafel shop in Istanbul. a few times, about 30 PIZZA PEEL, slide three
For Addison, the woman’s bread, which inspired seconds. Form dough into a rounds at a time onto hot
Maydan’s recipe, was a missing link: utterly Georgian, ball. Lightly grease a large pizza stone and bake until
bowl with oil and transfer rounds have puffed up and
K I RA T UR N B UL L

but somehow a distillation of all the lessons and flavors


dough to bowl, turning to coat; bottoms are lightly browned,
they’d picked up during their travels. Morgan remembers cover with plastic wrap and 4 to 5 minutes. Serve hot,
it a little differently: “Gerald and I looked at each other like, let stand in a warm place until orwrap in aluminum foil to
Damn, this is the bread we’ve been looking for.” doubled in size, about 1 hour. keep warm.

42 travelandleisure.com
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PILGRIMAGE

Cuba, on the Fly


Sportfishing in the saltwater flats of southern Cuba was once
reserved for those with international passports and deep pockets.
Now American anglers are getting their shot—and discovering
the reward is well worth the wait. By Peter Kaminsky

scanning the water.


I STO O D I N T H E B OW O F O UR S K I F F,
Behind me, on a platform in the stern, our guide Felipe
Rodriguez poled us along, gondolier-style. It was sunny—
ideal for visibility—but what the sun gave, the 25 mile-an-
hour wind took, obscuring our view of the underwater
world. Fly-fishing for bonefish has an aspect of hunting,
but it always takes awhile before I can recognize my
quarry. Until I could make out the ghostly shadow of a
moving bonefish, Felipe would be my eyes. Every now and
then, I caught a fleeting glimpse of a few bonefish in the
lee of the low-lying mangroves. Ahead, all the way to the
horizon, was a windswept expanse of emerald green,
aquamarine, and sun-bleached white.
For fly-rod anglers, catching bonefish—silver-scaled change much for organized tours.
creatures that inhabit the sun-drenched tidal flats of the Orvis made the arrangements,
tropics—is supremely challenging and rewarding. You must hooking us up with a great guide,
stalk with stealth: a sudden movement or errant cast will Orlando Ochoa Méndez, a DJ who told
send the fish rocketing for deeper water. I’ve fished for us he’d learned English by listening to
them off the Yucatán and the Florida Keys, but I’ve long been Eminem. We started with a whirlwind
entranced by the story of baseball immortal Ted Williams, tour of Havana, a part of the trip I
who caught 40 bonefish one day in Cuba and called it the best thought would feel rote but wound up
fishing of his life. So last fall, when my old friend Tom being a hit. We roamed art galleries
Rosenbauer, now marketing manager at the Orvis Company, and a museum, attended a living-room
Above: Fly-fishing at called to tell me about a trip he had put together off Cuba’s concert by a folk singer, and marveled
Cayo Largo, an island
off Cuba’s southern southern coast with five other anglers, I was in. at a workshop where jalopies are
coast. Below: Fly Despite recent changes in regulations, U.S. citizens can restored to their shining 1950s glory.
rods strapped to a still travel to Cuba easily, provided they spend a couple of We drank mojitos copiously and had
car en route to Playa
Larga, an angler’s days engaging with Cuban culture and meeting locals. That a supernal suckling pig at Al Carbon
destination. makes it harder for individuals to plan a trip but doesn’t (53-78-639-697; entrées $14–$18).

F ROM L E F T: S I MO N P E RK I N S / C OU RT ESY OF T H E ORV I S C OMPA N Y; BRYA N G REG SO N


There was live music everywhere.
You couldn’t help walking around with
a mambo bounce in your step.
Our fishing destination was located
across the island, near the Bay of Pigs.
A decommissioned army tank marked
our turnoff to the Hotel Playa Larga.
Not a luxury hotel, but fine for a fish
camp: clean rooms, functioning air
conditioners, screens to keep the bugs
out, and plenty of hot water. From
there it was an hour’s drive to our
boat launch. Each day, our group of
anglers bumped along through a thick
coastal forest and past tidal lagoons
where pelicans and roseate spoonbills
gathered. We drove to Ciénega de
Zapata National Park, a unesco
Biosphere Reserve whose mangrove

46 travelandleisure.com
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S E E T H E W H O LE LI N E AT
B E D BAT H A N D B E YO N D . C OM /R E A L S I M P L E
An Orvis fishing trip in
PILGRIMAGE Cuba’s Ciénaga de Zapata
Biosphere Reserve.
Below: San Cristóbal,
a paladar in Havana.

forests and coral reefs are among the


few places in this hemisphere that
look virtually unchanged from the day
the first humans arrived there. No
more than 10 catch-and-release
fishing boats per day are allowed into
its 2,425 square miles—a far cry
from the crowded waters of the
Florida Keys and the Bahamas.
Our party set out in shallow-draft
boats. Tom was my fishing partner.
After a frustrating morning of trying
to make out fish in the wind-whipped
water, we came up on a sheltered
area, no bigger than a walk-in closet,
among the mangroves. I saw a fin cruised past saltwater flats and a string of
flicker. I cast. The fish took my fly. mangrove hammocks. Suddenly, Felipe cut the TRAVELING
It was all I could do to keep it out of engine. In front of us we saw a dozen bonefish TO CUBA
the mangroves before my line got nosing along the bottom, their tails wiggling
completely entangled. Not exactly your above the surface, reflecting the flaming-pink GETTING THERE
classic open-water bonefish run, but sunset. This was the peak of the bonefish game. Despite the recent
regulatory changes,
at least I’d put a score on the board. We tried a few shots. The fish ate our flies. It
JetBlue, American,
That night, we rehashed the events couldn’t have been more perfect. United, Delta, and
in the hotel bar, an alfresco affair After some early clouds on our final morning, Southwest are still
under a thatched roof. As we sipped, the sun came out and lit up the underwater world running service from
a quartet with a guitar and conga as warm and golden as a baby’s smile. Here and the U.S. to Havana.
Flights can be
drums played what sounded like a love there, we saw the silhouettes of bones eating their booked through the
song. When I listened to the words, way across the white and watery plain. I slipped airlines’ websites.
it turned out they were singing about into the shallows to stalk the fish on foot. I was
Commander Che and his “querida entranced, gauging the distance as I cast, trying PL ANNING A TRIP
Solo travel under the
presencia” (beloved presence). to lead the moving fish by a few feet, stripping
popular people-to-
Come to think of it, I suppose it was my fly, hooking up. A song bubbled up within me, people visa is now
a love song of sorts. “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms,” an old hymn restricted, but it’s
We had dinner at La Terraza de Mily that became the sotto voce soundtrack of the next still possible to go to
(53-45-987-376; entrées $8–$15), a hour. Why that? And why then? I have no idea, but Cuba under a different
visa category. For a

F ROM TOP : S IM ON PE R K IN S / C OU RTESY OF T H E O RV IS C OMPAN Y; MI C H E L E B U RG ESS /A L A M Y


paladar nearby. The specialty was local fishing will do that to you. When the bonefish hassle-free experience,
seafood: crabs, broiled rock lobster, finally departed the flat, I looked up, as if waking book through an
and grilled snapper, served with rice from a dream. Tom and I clambered back into the outfitter—they’ll
and beans, fried plantains, or crispy boat, lit a victory cigar, and headed for home. handle flights and
itineraries and ensure
yuca. On the nights that followed, we
you’re complying with
ate on the beach to the accompaniment Peter Kaminsky is a Brooklyn-based writer who current regulations.
of Afro-Cuban bands and some covers fishing and food. The Orvis Company
spontaneous mambo performances. plans weeklong
My favorite restaurant was Don Alexis fishing trips (orvis.
com; from $5,895) and
(53-53-660-928; entrées $10–$12), subcontracts with Cuba
where, because of a power outage, we Educational Travel
dined by the light of the owner’s (cubaeducationaltravel.
motor scooter. Our long table sat next com) for the Havana
portion of the trip. If
to a charcoal grill where the chef
you’d rather skip the
produced lobster, blue crabs, and red fishing altogether, CET
snapper—simply cooked and simply can arrange custom
served. They don’t do fancy in Cuba. itineraries according to
On our third day, Tom and I each your areas of interest.
Prefer to go it alone?
caught eight or nine good-size For a guide to navigating
bonefish, but soon it was time to the new rules, head to
rendezvous with the group. We tandl.me/cuba.

48 travelandleisure.com
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ROAD TRIP

Highway
to Heaven
Captivated by the vintage camper vans splashed across
social media, Tess Taylor sets out on a family journey through California
to discover the unfiltered reality of life in the slow lane.

inspired by a mix of real longing


THIS S P R IN G,
and Instagram-fueled nostalgia, I found myself
gripped by the desire to #vanlife it for a while.
And not just any van would do: I wanted a
vintage VW Westfalia, the cute pop-top camper
ubiquitous in the Berkeley of my youth. Maybe
I missed childhood, or maybe I’d been seduced
by the gauzy road-trip lifestyle pictured on social
media, but the dream held an allure I couldn’t
shake. I planned a loop of California and found
Out Westy, a rental outfit in Santa Cruz that
specializes in Westfalias. With our two kids,
Bennett, 6, and Emeline, 2, my husband, Taylor,
and I primed ourselves to hit the road.
As the trip drew near, I panicked. The pictures
I’d seen online tagged #vanlife captured toned
influencers doing sun salutations in front of their
vans or posing in the wilderness in understatedly
fashionable hats. They’d embraced minimalism
and a casual rootlessness. Their vans seemed
far sexier than mine. Life with two kids makes

52 travelandleisure.com Photographs by Jessica Sample


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T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E .CO M / P R O M O/C H E C K- I N /
ROAD TRIP N
EV
CA A
LI D
A
FO
R
N
IA

Santa Cruz

Death Valley

Big Sur

Limekiln
State Park

San Simeon
State Park
Red Rock
Canyon
State Park

Los Angeles

me a failed minimalist and decidedly rooted.


Within minutes of leaving our home, my kids
were yelling and throwing pretzels at each
other. I grimaced. Four people, one van, 1,200
miles? Was this really my idea of fun?
Still, arriving in Santa Cruz, I smiled as we
pulled up to Outwesty Camper Vans (outwesty.
From left: Badwater
com; vans from $195 per night) where we were Basin, in Death
greeted by the shop’s mellow owner, Dave, and Valley, California;
his terrier, Benny. Dave, a self-described the author’s son,
Bennett, at the
Westfalia addict who’s been restoring vans for Devil’s Golf Course,
a decade, introduced us to Georgia, a burgundy also in Death Valley.
’89 automatic. “Can we pop the top?” Bennett
called, swinging from the van’s crossbar.
Unfazed, Dave showed us the cubbies and the
kitchen, the fold-down bed and the pop-up
roof. We packed our not-so-minimalist life into
the tiny spaces, and Dave waved us off. Enlist the company hookups before
HOW TO to help you map out booking your
D AY S BIG SUR PLAN YOUR a loop that hits your campsites. Some
1–2
Pulling away, I felt a surge of joy. The OWN VAN TRIP ideal sights without companies retrofit
netting you any their vehicles with
van was sweet. “We’re inside a tiny time FIND AN OPERATOR overage charges. built-in batteries
machine,” Taylor said. I savored the retro feel Before renting and water tanks,
of manual locks, the trucklike steering, and the a van, find out what GET READY TO but for many you’ll
gear is included in SLOW DOWN need to find a
smell of vinyl. We’d been warned that Georgia
the cost—extras can Many vintage vans campground that
topped out around 65 miles an hour, so we add up. Also ask won’t go much offers RV sites for
prepared for life in the slow lane. We pumped about vehicle faster than 65 miles power and water.
up Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” which maintenance, an hour, so build in Popular sites fill up
would become our trip’s anthem. Another insurance, and a cushion when early, so book well
roadside assistance planning drive in advance.
Westy driver passed us, policies, especially time—what might
flashing a peace sign, and if you’re renting a map as a four-hour GO MINIMALIST
we caught a huge
100
M I L E S T R AV E L E D persimmon sunset beyond
vintage vehicle. For
a list of operators
route could take
five. Add an hour
Even in the
roomiest vans,
around the world, or two to GPS storage space
Monterey. It was dark and
go to vanagon.org. estimates, just to disappears fast.
4
NUMBER OF
moonless by the time we be safe. If nothing Leave extras at
TIMES WE hit Big Sur. The coastal PLAN YOUR ROUTE else, you’ll have home, and if you’re
P L AY E D Many operators extra time to traveling for more
“ON THE ROAD
hills blackened. The stars
AGAIN” above the ocean dazzled put limits on daily take pictures. than three days,
mileage or build in grocery
us. We drifted along
3
M E LT D O W N S
the dark highway, under
allowable travel
areas depending
CAMP SMARTER
Ask the operator
stops so you don’t
have to pack all
spangled grandeur. on the season. about necessary your food at once.

54 travelandleisure.com
we provide dogs the taste they love and ingredient for a reason to help give your
the nutrients they need. Complete and pet the nutrition they need.
balanced recipes for various life stages
that our customers have trusted for years,
carefully crafted with the nutrients your
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NO ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS,
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LOOK FOR US
IN THE PET AISLE
ROAD TRIP

That night in Limekiln State Park (see parks.


ca.gov for all state parks), we discovered that
making camp in a van is surprisingly easy.
We shuled bags, flattened beds, popped
Georgia’s top. The kids snuggled into the roof
bed, and we stretched out on the back-seat
bed, falling asleep to the waves nearby.
Waking the next morning, I gasped. The
whole gorgeous Pacific Ocean was there, just
From top: Dinner on
outside the door. The ravine we’d camped the grill at California’s
in was turning pink as the sun rose. Within Red Rock Canyon
seconds the kids were on the beach. Other Westy State Park; the author
and her family in the
owners came over to chat. I drank coffee at park; hiking the Hagen
the water’s edge. After some oatmeal, we were Canyon Nature Trail in
off on a hike. The day was warm, the beach Red Rock Canyon.
deserted. I hadn’t seen the news and I didn’t care.

D AY S
2–3
SAN SIMEON
As we left, we were diverted onto a tiny,
winding road. “Good job, Georgia,” Taylor
said, patting her dash before beginning to sing
“Georgia on My Mind.” Georgia was on my mind, D AY S
4–5
RED ROCK CANYON
too. After all, she was chugging on a side road After a brief detour to L.A. for
up a narrow cliff. We had no Internet, no map. sightseeing and showers, we waved farewell
We would have to embrace this particular to cosmopolitan glamour and headed for the
precariousness. Our fate was in her hands. desert. Forlorn and improbable developments
When we reached San Simeon State Park, the lay scattered among the Joshua trees. As we
sun was low. We pulled up and watched elephant entered the high Mojave, a windstorm picked
seals, laughing as their husky snorts filled the up. Taylor gripped the wheel, his knuckles
air. We checked out neon anemones in tide pools. whitening. The van shuddered. Our arrival in
Kayakers and surfers were wandering back to Red Rock Canyon State Park offered no peace: the
camp after a day on the water. We unpacked, and blowing sand was shrapnel-sharp. We watched
Bennett climbed trees while I cooked burgers. the sun set through the windshield, grateful
I felt happy—I’d joined a particularly lovely for our in-van dinner of boxed macaroni. We
subculture. The kids built a sleeping fort before played dominoes, listened to the howling wind,
conking out. As I drifted off, someone crooned and, blessedly, fell asleep. When I ventured
“This Land Is Your Land” in the distance. out later, everything was still. Oblong cliffs cut
eerie shapes against a starry sky. The desert
was cold and silent. Our van was a four-wheeled
cabin in a lonely universe.
The dawn was stunning. We ate bacon and
eggs in the sharp pink light, then headed out
to explore fabulous formations—red sandstone
mushrooms, top-hat turrets, crooked caves.
After the hike, there was
a big drive ahead, crossing
352
M I L E S T R AV E L E D
the vastness of remote
American space. Dirt roads
disappeared into distant
6
PEACE SIGNS
hills. Georgia felt like a
FLASHED TO small submarine trawling
FELLOW WESTY
DRIVERS an ancient seafloor. The
kids sang a few songs and
2
BEACHSIDE
then passed out in the
PICNICS
back seat. A lone coyote
crossed our path.

56 travelandleisure.com
Need to plan
the
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³Óä£n-Փ“iÀ*>˜˜iÀ*Àˆ˜Ì>LiÃ܅i˜ޜՍœˆ˜t
ROAD TRIP

D AY S
6–8
DEATH VALLEY
As we crested the ridge that leads into
Death Valley National Park (nps.gov/deva), my
jaw dropped. The landscape is pure geology,
a rift gashed between mountain ranges.
Everything is mineral and earth crust. The next
day we explored Death Valley’s highlights—the
enchanting one-way road called Artist’s Drive,
the rainbow-colored rockfalls at Artist’s Palette.
We hiked Golden Canyon, one of Death Valley’s
richly colored ravines. Bennett and I chatted
about books, and Emeline hiked a whole mile on
her own. I felt happy in my family and my body made us emblems of a happier America—more The beach
and the sun. That afternoon, I did yoga on the hopeful, joyful, and wayward. I felt exhausted near San Simeon
Point in San
warm yellow rocks outside the van. but alive. I also felt sure I could do without Simeon, California.
But here is a truth Instagram doesn’t show: hearing “On the Road Again” for a long while.
we were short on clean clothes, and when Our Subaru was blessedly modern and quiet.
I woke up cold in the night, even the crescent We were back in 2018, ordering groceries by
moon just out the door couldn’t quell my longing app from the car and takeout to meet us at home.
for a real mattress. So just after sunrise, we Even so, we splurged on a final adventure, an
rolled back toward Bakersfield, past the Central enchanted hour at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Valley’s cows, crops, and derricks. At the Tule Elk (beachboardwalk.com). On the roller coaster,
State Natural Reserve, just outside Buttonwillow, Emeline’s face was so full of light I could watch
we stopped to stretch, eat, and see elk. A few it forever. That night, I was supremely grateful
hours later, we pulled into Mission San Miguel for my bed, but I missed
(missionsanmiguel.org), a stunning 1790s Georgia. I’d gotten my wish,
Spanish mission that still holds original but now I had a new one:
frescoes. By midafternoon, we were back in
159
M I L E S T R AV E L E D I’d like to #vanlife it again—
Santa Cruz, saying hi to Benny and Dave. to get back in the slow lane,
“I don’t want to give the van back!” Emeline 4
COYOTES
and maybe even go slower.
said. I felt her pain. Our time with Georgia felt SPOTTED
intimate, unpretentious, full of songs. I loved Tess Taylor is a California-
driving a vehicle that made everyone from park 24
T O TA L P L AY S O F
based poet. Her most recent
rangers to fellow freeway warriors smile. I loved T H AT O N E
book, Work & Days, was
flashing peace signs to other Westy drivers and DAMNED WILLIE
NELSON SONG
one of the New York Times’
stopping for impromptu picnics. Being in the van 10 best poetry books of 2016.

WANT MORE TRIP IDEAS?

COASTAL and Vinalhaven SCENIC Denver


National Park
islands. Around for a full day and
MAINE Boothbay Harbor
COLORADO night on the dunes.
Camden Acadia
Rockland National you’ll get the classic The next day, stop
Park New England Buena Vista Colorado Springs/
Cheyenne Mountain
in Durango to
fishing-town feel Salida State Park grab a growler at
Portland Boothbay (hello, lobster rolls!) Great Sand Dunes
Ska Brewing before
Harbor Mesa
plus museums, Verde
National Park driving to Mesa
First stop: Acadia craft breweries, and National
Park
Verde National
National Park, a botanical garden. Park. On your way
Durango
Eliot the centerpiece of Plan a stop in back north, be sure
Mount Desert Portland, home to to swing by Salida
Island. From there, an über-cool food for rafting and
drive south to the and beer scene, and From Rocky then cool off in Cave Brown Dog Coffee
Drive from Maine Camden-Rockland a detour to hang out Mountain of the Winds. Camp in Buena Vista for
Campers in Eliot area, where you can at nearby Sebago Campervans, just in nearby Cheyenne the world’s best
to Mount Desert explore Rockland’s Lake before cruising outside Denver, Mountain State sticky buns. rocky
Island, then spend lauded Farnsworth back to Eliot. maine go to Colorado Park. The next mountaincamper
a week winding back Art Museum and campers.com; seven Springs to hike morning, drive to vans.com; four
along U.S. Route 1. sail to North Haven nights from $1,225. Garden of the Gods, Great Sand Dunes nights from $620.

58 travelandleisure.com For full trip itineraries and more, go to tandl.me/campertrips.


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J U LY 2 0 1 8

T R AV E L S M A R T E R

Exploring destinations like


Tanzania’s Great Rift
Valley takes on a deeper
meaning when you’re
guided by members of the
community who live there.

Seeing the
Bigger Picture
Beyond-the-guidebook itineraries remain immensely popular, and the
passionate travelers who seek them out have a vested interest
in choosing experiences that are ethically sound, culturally sensitive,
and environmentally sustainable. Operators have long referred to
the concept as responsible tourism, and now it’s entering the zeitgeist.
We can all easily adopt a more conscientious approach to travel in
ways both major and minor. Below, check out four new itineraries from
top operators, and in the ensuing pages, discover strategies to pack
lighter, connect with locals on a deeper level, and leave the places you
visit just as you found them—perhaps even a little better.

INDONESIA PERU itineraries to help travelers will embark on its second Cape
Peregrine Adventures launched During a nine-day journey that connect with the people of York & Arnhem Land Indigenous
five new tours this year to spans cities and archaeological Africa. These include the 10-day Australian Art itinerary, which
uncrowded coastal communities sites, guests on Classic Escapes’ Travel with Purpose excursion, begins in Darwin (the Northern
in Southeast Asia, including an Andean trips visit the Cuyuni during which tour members bike Territory’s capital) and ends
eight-day excursion to this people, who live near the Sacred to the agrarian Mayoka and in Queensland’s Cairns,
country. Guests travel on the Valley just an hour from Cuzco. Moya communities for a wildlife a hub for trips to the Great
company’s small, carbon- Over a light meal, the villagers drive and a conservation lesson Barrier Reef. The 11-night
neutral ships to the tiny port discuss how they embrace with students from a local voyage introduces passengers
MA R KU S MAUT H E / L A I F / RE D UX

destinations of Moyo Island modern farming and tourism secondary school. andbeyond. to Aboriginal heritage through
and Bangsal. There they meet while maintaining ancestral com; from $9,584 per person. visits to galleries and meeting
traditional sarong weavers, traditions. classicescapes.com; places, such as Bábbara
explore rice paddies, and from $3,495 per person. AUSTRALIA Women’s Center, where
often stay in locally owned Partnering with local women silk-screen and
accommodations. peregrine TANZANIA organizations is a key part of sell textiles. coralexpeditions.
adventures.com; from $3,170 In February, andBeyond Coral Expeditions’ philosophy. In com; from $8,290 per
per person. launched a trio of philanthropic October, the eco-cruise operator person. — Melanie Lieberman

travelandleisure.com 67
UPGR ADE

TA K E
FIVE

The Basics of
Traveling Responsibly
Leigh Barnes, the newly appointed chief purpose officer
of Intrepid Travel (intrepidtravel.com), oversees the
adventure-focused operator’s mission to base all of its tours,
in more than 120 countries, on responsible principles. He
offers tips for planning a conscious getaway. By Siobhan Reid Venice recently
installed turnstile
checkpoints
How do you define placed in orphanages to THE
to reroute some
responsible tourism? meet tourist demand. L EX I C O N
visitor traffic.
The term refers to a focus on
How can a traveler
how individual actions affect
determine if a trip is
individual locations and
executed responsibly?
businesses. It’s about
bettering communities and
bolstering local economies
Start by asking questions.
Does the trip or tour overtourism (noun)
activity bring real When the natural carrying capacity of a
through individual actions.
economic value directly to destination has been exceeded—whether permanently
The 2002 World Summit on
the community? Does it or temporarily— by the number of visitors.
Sustainable Development in
empower the people? Is it
Johannesburg, South Africa,
respectful of the natural
formalized the travel Tourism can be a financial boon for cities and an aid in the
and cultural heritage of
industry’s objective as preservation of natural wonders. But there’s a limit to the
that place? The answers
“making better places for volume any place can reasonably sustain before it (and its
will help you choose an
people to live in and better resources) are overwhelmed. During the past year, several
operator that supports the
places for people to visit.” national governments have started implementing
local economy. Also look
Why does it make a for businesses that are restrictions aimed at reining in all the traffic.
difference to travelers? making strides toward Authorities in Venice and other popular seaside
For one, you’ll have a more becoming carbon-neutral. destinations—including Dubrovnik, Croatia, and Santorini,
authentic experience. The Greece—now limit the size and number of large cruise ships
What are some small allowed to dock at their ports and encourage travelers to
better informed you are,
ways people can make seek accommodations outside of historic city centers. To
the easier a time you’ll have
their travels more cope with the nearly 5,000 tourists who go to Machu Picchu
connecting with locals and
responsible? each day, threatening the delicate mountain ecoystem and
immersing yourself in the
Any place that gets too the indigenous people who rely on it, the Peruvian
culture. You’ll probably
many visitors will have a government implemented new restrictions, including
make more friends and
deterioration in the natural specific ticket times and an overall cap on daily admissions.
discover cool local
environment and the quality Meanwhile, because trekking to the Inca site has become so
hangouts along the way.
of life for the locals. This is popular, there’s been a surge in demand for pack animals,
What are some vacation why off-the-beaten-path prompting some outfitters to use mules for heavy lifting.
experiences the experiences—like adventure Alejandra Arias-Stella, cofounder of the Llama Pack Project,
responsible traveler cruising, with smaller encourages visitors to seek out companies that use the
should avoid? vessels that travel to traditional but less stalwart llama, which is adapted to the
Steer clear of elephant destinations and ports that environment and consequently less destructive. She also
rides and other no other ships go to—are suggests alternative routes to the crowded Inca Trail, such
performative wildlife preferable. Intrepid just as the Lares or Salcantay treks.
activities. The animals are launched tours to Moldova, Travelers can also lessen their impact on popular
at risk of being mistreated Poland, and Finland as destinations by visiting during the low and off seasons,
by the host companies, and a way of providing when there will be fewer tourists putting stress on a place
C H RI S - MU E L LE R/ G E T T Y I MAG ES

training practices can be alternatives to more heavily and its people. For destinations specifically affected by
physically and mentally trafficked Croatia and climate change (think: the Dead Sea, the Maldives,
harmful to the animals. Iceland. But whatever Montana’s Glacier National Park), take the time to be a
Visits to orphanages can your destination, shop at careful steward of the land while you’re there. Doing that
also be problematic. In independent businesses to is as easy as not disturbing animals or their habitats and
some instances, the support the local economy not picking flowers or trampling on vegetation—or just
children do have parents, and refrain from single-use throwing away any litter you see. — Melanie Lieberman
but they’ve been removed plastics to help keep trash
from their homes and out of landfills.

68 travelandleisure.com
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UPGR ADE

6
3

5
THE

H E A D S HOT : N E IL MO C K FOR D / A L EX HU C K L E / GE TT Y I MAG ES . P R OD U CTS : K E V IN SW E E NE Y. PR O P STY LIST: SA B R INA G R A ND E


CA R RY- O N 4

How Adrian Grenier Lightens His Footprint


Since his run on HBO’s Entourage, the Brooklyn-based actor has focused more on activism than
screen projects, serving as a UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador and cofounding Lonely
Whale, an incubator for ideas and projects that lead to cleaner oceans. The lifelong
philanthropist explains how he goes the extra mile to minimize waste, rely on natural products,
and stay healthy on the road—and how you can, too. By Sarah Bruning

1 WORKOUT CLOTHING 3 A KINDLE packed in glass jars. I have in your bag. My Tumi is
“I always have to get a run in or “I like to use things to the eczema, too, so it’s good for great because it has a
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packing exercise clothes—that’s try to resist having a throwaway Isa’s Restoratives Blue Beauty so you can fold them up
a priority for me. Lately I’ve been mentality. I finally upgraded Balm, $60; isasrestoratives. and get quite a lot in there
wearing Reebok bottoms and to a new Kindle about a year myshopify.com. while still being nimble.
old T-shirts that I’ve cut the ago, but it’s still in the case for It’s all about not being
sleeves off.” Reebok running my old one.” Kindle Paperwhite 6 MASSAGE BALLS bogged down by excess.”
tights, $55; reebok.com. United E-Reader, $120; amazon.com. “When I get tight muscles Tumi International
by Blue x Lonely Whale T-shirt, up in the sky, I like to stretch Expandable Four-Wheeled
$36; unitedbyblue.com. 4 NATURAL TOOTHPASTE and use one of these. Carry-On, $725; tumi.com.
“Since glass containers are Don’t wanna get deep-vein
2 FACE CLEANSER better for the environment, I buy thrombosis!” Pro-Tec Orb 8 RESISTANCE BANDS
“The consistency of this one this alkalizing toothpaste, which Extreme Mini (black), $15; Dr. “A lot of times, I don’t have
from Isa’s line feels like you’re comes in a jar.” Uncle Harry’s Cohen’s AcuBall Mini (blue), the chance to go to the
giving yourself a little mud bath. Anise Toothpaste, $6; $20; Spiky Massage Ball (red), gym, so I pack these to give
All of her products are plant- uncleharrys.com. $10; pro-tecathletics.com. myself options. They’re
based, with very few ingredients.” versatile enough to use in
Isa’s Restoratives Travel Size 5 BEAUTY BALM 7 A STURDY SUITCASE a hotel room.” TheraBand
Liquid Clay Cleanser, $15; “All of Isa’s stuff is amazing— “When you travel as much CLX Consecutive Loops,
isasrestoratives.myshopify.com. handmade, organic, and as I do, you try to avoid checking $15–$25; theraband.com.

70 travelandleisure.com
UPGR ADE

The Australian government Many hotels and tour


estimates tourism of the companies offering wildlife-
Great Barrier Reef generates focused experiences elsewhere
almost $4 million annually. in the world are also giving back
to their regions. The Mexican
the National Wildlife Federation. eco-resort Mayakoba
“And paying for a quality tour (mayakoba.com) employs a
experience, which engages with team of on-site biologists to
and benefits local communities, monitor its impact on the bird
helps to ensure that these and wildlife species in the area.
places will continue to be In the Bahamas, Baha Mar
available for other travelers (bahamar.com) introduced
to experience.” B.E.A.C.H. Sanctuary, comprising
Africa-based operators have a just-opened aviary, with marine
led the way in developing and flamingo habitats debuting
forward-thinking initiatives. soon. Peru’s Delfin Amazon
Luxury safari group andBeyond Cruises (delfinamazoncruises.
(andbeyond.com), which runs com) takes guests to visit a local
29 lodges on the continent, manatee rehabilitation center. In
partners with Africa Foundation Australia, Lizard Island Resort
to work with the leaders of (lizardisland.com.au) maintains
villages around its properties. The an internationally recognized
A company also supports land and research station that studies the
DEEPER marine life by relocating rhinos Great Barrier Reef.
LOOK and other endangered species to
habitats with a low risk of No matter where you want to
poaching and, most recently, go for your next trip, you have a
secured three island properties growing number of resources at

The Hidden Value of where it can support monitoring


and research efforts. “Working
your disposal to help you make
more conscientious choices at
with community leaders helps us
Big-Ticket Trips give wildlife systems a fighting
chance while providing the
every stage of your journey.
The Center for Responsible
Travel (responsibletravel.org)
Today’s low-impact, small-scale, conservation-focused
communities with immediate provides a detailed checklist of
vacations can cost an awful lot—but you’re paying for much more
direct benefits,” says andBeyond’s guidelines to follow before,
than a bucket-list adventure. By Devorah Lev-Tov
founder Joss Kent. Meanwhile, during, and after a trip. Another
Time & Tide (timeandtideafrica. easy way to make a lasting
For many people, a safari is the operators use a portion of the com), a safari and conservation impact: donate funds to offset
trip of a lifetime. The experience fee to fund essential animal outfitter in Madagascar and the carbon dioxide you’re
certainly doesn’t come cheap, and nature conservation Zambia, has launched a lemur responsible for releasing during
but travelers should understand projects. “Contributing to the translocation project, while the transit. Environmental nonprofit
that the price often stems preservation of these natural Bushcamp Company Carbon Fund (carbonfund.org)
from more than luxurious wonders helps guarantee that (bushcampcompany.com) in offers a tool that does the math
accommodations, all-inclusive they will be sustained,” says Zambia is paying for scouts to for you based on your methods
dining, and wildlife drives. Many Bruce A. Stein, chief scientist of conduct anti-poaching patrols. of transportation.

B U R N I N G Q U EST I O N negatively affect the ocean’s many hotels, tour operators, To ensure your sunscreen is
coral reefs. Researchers have and destinations have begun eco-friendly, look for the Protect
Is your found that when corals are
exposed to the chemical, they
advocating the use of reef-
safe products. Aqua-Aston
Land + Sea Certification seal,
which confirms the product
sunscreen encounter an increased rate
of bleaching, DNA damage,
Hospitality, which operates
more than 40 hotels and resorts
was tested and found to be free
of problematic substances.
hurting the and, in some cases, death. throughout Hawaii, has installed You can also check the label
Even if you aren’t swimming reef-safe sunscreen dispensers for common ingredients
environment? near a reef, your sunscreen at several of its properties. like oxybenzone, octinoxate,
can still endanger coral. As a Additionally, the state’s octocrylene, and parabens—all
matter of fact, you don’t even legislators passed a bill banning of which harm the environment.
The short answer: most likely. need to set foot in the water the sale of sunscreens that For a rundown of chemicals to
The majority of mainstream to cause harm. Oxybenzone use oxybenzone and another avoid, visit haereticus-lab.org/
WAT E R FR A ME / A L A MY

sunscreens contain oxybenzone, can both stick to the sand and common chemical, octinoxate. If protect-land-sea-certification,
a chemical filter that protects wash off in the shower, which signed into law by the governor, and find a list of reef-safe
your skin from the sun’s means the chemical could the ban will take effect in options on tandl.me/reef-safe-
harmful UV rays, but can also end up in the sea. In response, January 2021. sunscreens. — John Scarpinato

72 travelandleisure.com
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T R AV E L A N D L E I S U R E .CO M / P R O M O/C H E C K- I N /
A fjord in
northeastern
Canada’s Torngat
Mountains National
Park, where some
rock formations are
almost 4 billion
years old.

74 travelandleisure.com
Among serious adventure-seekers, word is spreading about Torngat Mountains National
Park—a remote, Inuit-run reserve in Labrador, in northeastern Canada. Between polar-bear
sightings and brushes with icebergs, ADAM LEITH GOLLNER finds out why this
region of otherworldly beauty has such deep cultural resonance for its indigenous people.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN CULLEN
the buffer zone surrounding the base camp’s
fenced-in, electrified perimeter without being
accompanied by at least one of them. Several years
ago, I was told, a group of hikers who attempted an
overnight trip without notifying the guards were
attacked as they slept in their tents, and one was
mauled nearly to death. The lesson was clear: in
the Torngats, if it’s humans versus the wilderness,
the wilderness will win.

LIKE MANY CANADIANS, I’m fascinated by


the idea of the far north, and by the possibility of
connecting with and learning from the people whose
ancestors inhabited this land long before European
settlers arrived. Labrador borders my home
province of Quebec, yet no Quebecker I know has
ever been to the region. That’s partly because it’s
complicated and expensive to get there, but also
because, until the Torngat Mountains National
Park’s visitor-friendly base camp was upgraded in
2010, there weren’t many places to stay. The camp,
which doubles as a research facility, is open for just
four or five weeks of the year, from late July to late
August—the only time it’s warm enough to visit.
CANADA’S INUIT PEOPLE call the polar bear nanuk. Guests spend their days taking guided expeditions
In Torngat Mountains National Park, an Inuit-run nature into the wilderness: hiking is the way to explore
reserve in the northernmost part of Labrador, I lost count of by land, helicopter by air, and Zodiac by sea.
how many nanuks I saw, often just yards away, in the space The name Torngat means Place of Spirits in
of four days. As I skimmed the bottle-green depths of the park’s Inuktitut, the Inuit language. In the past, Inuit
spectacular jords in a Zodiac, they appeared everywhere: shamans would venture into this mountainous,
prowling the coastline, paddling through the shallows, 3,745-square-mile wilderness to communicate
surveying their dominion from the barren mountainsides. with the spirit realm. The park is located in the
My guides were three senior members of the Inuit far northern tip of the remote, rugged province
community: Jacko Merkuratsuk and cousins John and Paul of Newfoundland and Labrador, within the
Jararuse. They explained that polar-bear populations in autonomous Inuit region of Nunatsiavut. Inuit
northeastern Canada are not just healthy but may actually be lived there year-round until the completion of a
on the rise, thanks to regional conservation programs. They government-led relocation effort in 1959. One of
pointed out a mother and her two cubs swimming across a bay, the Inuit community’s guiding principles is defined
their snouts and little round ears poking out of the frigid waves. by the phrase, “You find what you seek.” Should you
We were able to get so close we could hear them hissing, a be the kind of traveler who seeks a profound sense
warning sound not unlike steam escaping from an engine. After of our planet’s majesty, you will find it there.
peering at us and huing a few times, the creatures chugged Some rocks in the Torngats are almost 4 billion
toward land, leaped onto shore, and began lumbering away over years old, making them among the oldest on earth.
the boulders at remarkable speed. I stared after them in Simply being on my feet felt like straddling
astonishment: I had never seen wildlife of such grandeur before. history—I could sense a kind of primeval energy
The nanuk commands serious respect among Inuit people, billowing up from the ground. The mountains are
and with good reason. On arriving at the Torngat Mountains geological mille-feuilles striated with ancient
Base Camp, every visitor has to watch a half-hour video about minerals in layers of ocher, copper, and taupe. In
staying alive in polar-bear country. The film makes it clear the park cafeteria one morning, I met a geologist
that the bears are highly intelligent and, as the alpha predator who told me about the origins of this extraordinary
in these parts, not to be underestimated. The recommended topography, explaining that, many millennia ago,
response to a surprise face-to-face encounter goes as follows: continental rifts caused the earth’s mantle to burst
aim desperate punches at the animal’s nose and, as the narrator through its surface. In a way, he said, this is what
shouted into our screen, “FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE!” the planet would look like turned inside out.
Fortunately, there’s a sizable team of rifle-bearing Inuit The park isn’t simply one of Canada’s most
guards in the park, and no visitor is allowed to venture beyond striking corners; it also embodies the nation’s efforts

Opposite, clockwise from top left: An iceberg off the coast of Torngat Mountains National Park; Paul Jararuse, an Inuit elder who works as a guide in the
park; fishing for arctic char at a mooring point in one of the Torngats’ many glacier lakes; arctic char drying in the sun at base camp.

76 travelandleisure.com
The northern lights
appear over base
camp, where guests
can stay in heated
geodesic domes.
at reconciliation with its aboriginal peoples. The Inuit and their
predecessors have inhabited Arctic Labrador for millennia, but
during the 1950s, the government forced those communities to
relocate southward, mainly to the towns of Nain, Hopedale, and
Makkovik, where they were cut off from their way of life and
underwent the notorious traumas of Canada’s residential school
system. As part of land-claim settlements signed in 2005, the
federal government agreed to hand control of this territory back
to the Labrador Inuit and, in 2008, delivered on its promise to
protect the Torngat region by granting it full national park status.
Flying there takes anywhere from a day or two up to a week,
depending on the weather. This is the Arctic: scheduling extra
days for contingencies is recommended. A fisheries researcher
I met on the trip told me he recently sat through 10 days of
storms waiting for flights to resume. “A week and a half late!
The wife back home was pretty furious, eh?”
I was luckier. Arriving at Labrador’s Goose Bay airport with
my friend John Cullen, who took the photographs for this story,
I found our flight was due to take off within a few hours of its
scheduled departure time. Once the conditions were right, a
Twin Otter took us to Nain, the province’s northernmost town,
and then an hour or so north to Saglek Bay, just outside the
park. The plane, though cold and cramped, delivered a series
of mind-blowing glimpses of the landscape below. I watched
a pod of porpoises skim through the turquoise surface of the
Labrador Sea and moose roam through the swaths of
coniferous woodland covering the rocky Canadian Shield. The
terrain was broken up by mirror-gray lakes, violet waterways,
and forest-green bays. Then the spruce trees began to get
smaller and sparser, until there were no trees anymore. We
were now above the tree line, in the Arctic tundra.
Soon, we were out over the ocean, a wrinkled cerulean
tapestry broken, here and there, by icebergs. Then we entered
a patch of cloud. The air in the plane grew colder. When the mist
began to part, huge shapes appeared in the distance, indistinct at
first. I couldn’t tell if they were mountains or some kind of low-
air-pressure-induced hallucination. These were the Torngats,
their glacier-capped peaks protruding above the clouds.
“What an incredible flight!” I exclaimed to the pilot as
we stepped out onto the gravel landing strip at Saglek.
“You haven’t even seen the really beautiful stuff yet,”
she said. “This is just the beginning.”

RRIVING AT TORNGATS BASE CAMP must feel


a little like arriving on the moon. Part of the reason for
that is the accommodation: a series of extraterrestrial-
looking green geodesic domes, each of which comes
equipped with propane heaters—crucial for getting
through the chilly Arctic nights. The outer-space effect
is compounded by the fact that the archaeologists,
naturalists, and other scientists who use the camp as
a research station, as well as many of the Inuit staff,
often walk around in full-body mosquito suits, moon
boots, and snow pants to protect themselves against
the elements and the bugs. You’re also cut off from the rest of
the world. There is a satellite phone for emergencies, and a weak
Internet signal can sometimes be accessed in the cafeteria, but
that’s it. Guests become part of a tiny human enclave set within
a vast, permafrost wilderness.

travelandleisure.com 79
On our first afternoon, we set off to explore the coastline by
boat. Within minutes, we came across a massive iceberg drifting
gently through the doldrums of the Labrador Sea like a blazing
white palace. Everyone knows that the majority of any iceberg
is actually submerged, but there’s something transformative
about seeing the mansion-size tip with your own eyes, and
contemplating what lies beneath. We could hear what’s known
as the “bergy seltzer”—a popping soda-like sound caused by
thousand-year-old air escaping from pockets in the ice.
Beyond all the polar bears, I was amazed at how much
wildlife we spotted from the water as we toured the park
coastline, from caribou on the tundra to bearded seals
frolicking off the ice floes. Looking down through gin-clear
water to the ocean floor, we could see colonies of sea urchins
everywhere—enough uni to last several lifetimes. At one point,
we rounded a headland to see a minke whale breaching right
in front of our boat, flashing its dorsal fin as if flirting with us.
I asked John Jararuse what went through his mind when taking
in such sights. “Home,” was his simple reply. Later that morning,
he steered our boat into another jord to show us a little plateau of
greenery just above the shoreline, with nothing but a soaring wall
of rocks as shelter. “This is where I was born,” he said. We all
bobbed there in silence for a moment, imagining the drama of
birth in such an open environment, so far from a hospital or
modern comforts of any kind. (Continued on page 104)

T O R N G AT
M O U N TA I N S
N AT I O N A L
PA R K

QUEBEC
NEWFOUNDLAND
AND LABRADOR

BASE CAMP

HOW TO VISIT TORNGAT


MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
Set aside a week for a trip to this icy, rugged wilderness. You’ll
need to plan carefully, but the experience will be unforgettable.

GETTING THERE It is also possible to camp within


Air Canada flies to Labrador’s the fenced-in property, in either
Goose Bay airport from major your own tent or one provided by
U.S. hubs. From there, Parks the park. In all cases, bathrooms
Canada will arrange a puddle- and showers are shared. The
jumper to Nain and, from there, four- or seven-night Tuttuk
a private charter flight to the package, available through the
Torngat landing strip. Weather park authority’s website,
delays are common and can includes lodging, meals, guided
last several days, so schedule excursions, cultural activities,
extra time for contingencies. and flights to and from Goose
Bay. thetorngats.com; from
$4,978 per person. Helicopter
TOUR OPERATOR
tours start at $750.
The park is open to visitors for
only five weeks a year, so book
well in advance. Base camp WHAT TO BRING
accommodations—huts and Pack wool socks, hiking boots,
fiberglass domes—can long johns, and rainproof gear; a
comfortably accommodate up down jacket and pants may also
to six people and come with come in handy. Sunscreen and
electricity and propane heaters. bug spray are essential.

80 travelandleisure.com
A polar bear on the hunt
off the coast of Torngat
Mountains National Park,
where the animals are
frequently sighted.
In a far-flung patch
of forest in Indonesia,
one of the planet’s
most endangered
primates clings to a
precarious existence.
Saki Knafo travels to
deepest Sumatra
for a rare encounter
with these wise,
watchful
Keepers
of the Jungle
82 travelandleisure.com PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEFAN RUIZ
A wild orangutan in
the Leuser Ecosystem,
a reserve in the jungle
of northern Sumatra.
A traditional Batak
house on Samosir
Island, in Lake Toba.
Left: Hiking
in the Leuser
Ecosystem. Right:
Wild orangutans
in the Leuser forest.

ONG AGO, THERE lived an ape. The ape

L had babies, and those babies grew up


and had babies of their own, and over
time their descendants drifted apart to the
point that they could no longer be considered
one type of ape, but five. All were highly
intelligent, but one was smarter than the rest.
With its gift of speech, this super-smart ape and nearby Borneo. The Sumatran orangutans, almost all of
gave the others names: “gorilla,” “chimpanzee,” the remaining 7,000 of them, live in the Leuser—a nominally
“bonobo,” and “orangutan.” protected stronghold of biological diversity that is growing
This intelligence, however, came at a cost. smaller and less biologically diverse each year. Logging,
Though this talking ape was capable of creating hunting, and the illegal pet trade have all played a part in the
wonders, it was also capable of destroying orangutan’s demise, but the main culprit is the global
them. Among the wonders it destroyed were demand for palm oil, a commodity often produced on
many of the forests in which the other apes deforested land.
lived. One such forest is on the Indonesian Conservationists warn that the Sumatran orangutan
island of Sumatra, where members of a unique could become the first great ape to reach extinction, with the
species of orangutan are clinging to what little Borneo species following close behind. Meanwhile, the slash-
remains of their native habitat. Last summer, and-burn conversion of their habitat into palm plantations
feeling less confident than usual in the merits is helping fill the earth’s atmosphere with excess carbon,
of my own species, I went to Sumatra myself, threatening the existence of us all. Travelers who don’t want
hoping to meet one of these survivors. My to spend their vacations contemplating such truths may want
destination was the Leuser Ecosystem, a to give Sumatra a miss. Bali is nice, I hear. But Bali doesn’t
sprawl of jungle in the north of Sumatra, have wild orangutans. Or tigers. Or flowers the size of truck
the westernmost of Indonesia’s more than tires. Or the vanishingly rare Sumatran rhino. Although
16,000 islands. Orangutans once lived Sumatra’s tourism infrastructure is improving, this vast,
throughout Southeast Asia, but today the only wild, jungle-clad island remains much less developed than
two surviving species are confined to the a place like Bali. For a certain kind of traveler, that’s precisely
scattered remnants of rain forest on Sumatra why it’s such an exciting place to go.

84 travelandleisure.com
supermarket aisles. Palm oil is the most commonly used
vegetable oil in the world, found in snacks, soaps, cosmetics,
and a good number of the other products on our shelves, and
Indonesia produces more of it than any other country,
accounting for about a third of the world’s supply. If there
is a money tree in Indonesia, it is the oil palm.
As we neared the forest, I asked our driver, Adi, who didn’t
speak much English, if he had seen a lot of wildlife over the
years. He started talking excitedly about something called
a “mina,” which I assumed was a kind of monkey, or maybe
a local word for orangutan. In fact, Mina was the name given
by researchers to one particularly notorious orangutan. As a
local would later put it, “she had mental problems.” There were
rumors that Mina had bitten tourists. It turned out she had a
troubled past: captured as a baby, she’d spent years in a cage.
Eventually, she was rescued and brought to a rehabilitation
center for orangutans in Bukit Lawang, a village on the
outskirts of the Leuser rain forest. But by then, her time with
humans had taken its toll.
The Bohorok Rehabilitation Center closed in the 90s, but
several of the orangutans that passed through it still live in the
part of the jungle closest to the village, and so do their progeny,
who tend to take after them. Considered “semi-wild,” they
generally aren’t afraid of people, and some of the guides
capitalize on this fearlessness, luring them closer to tourists
with fried rice.

Seeing a truly wild orangutan


does feel different from seeing one that has
grown up around humans.

O
N MY WAY to the Leuser I spent a night in Green Hill, a company that organizes jungle treks and runs
Medan, the capital of North Sumatra the village guesthouse where we stayed, doesn’t go in for that
province, before heading to the jungle kind of thing. Andrea Molyneaux, who manages Green Hill with
the next day. Riding out of town, I found her husband, is an Englishwoman with a master’s in primate
it hard to imagine that in less time than it takes conservation who did her fieldwork at Camp Leakey, on Borneo.
to drive from New York City to Boston, I would The camp was established by the pioneering Lithuanian-
arrive at the edge of one of the richest forests in Canadian conservationist Birutė Mary Galdikas, who is to
Asia. Medan was a crush of people and motorbikes orangutans what Jane Goodall is to chimps. Andrea’s motto is
and trucks and endless rows of street stalls filling painted on a big sign out front: keep wildlife wild.
economic niches I didn’t know existed. We passed For the most part, Bukit Lawang resembles the other towns
a stall selling only kitchen clocks, another selling in the region—humble concrete buildings with rusty corrugated
only birdcages, and a purse vendor who, lacking metal roofs. But at its far end, the road gives way to a footpath
a stall, had hung her wares from the sprawling that meanders through the trees, and if you follow the path along
limbs of a tree, prompting my travel companion, the river, past the shops selling orangutan T-shirts and
Stefan Ruiz, who took the photographs for this orangutan carvings, you’ll find yourself in the hotel district, a
story, to make one of his trademark observations: sort of fantasy of an Indonesian village filled with guesthouses
“It’s literally a money tree.” made with bamboo, jungle logs, and branches.
Finally the traic thinned and the city faded, That night, Stefan and I slept in rustic rooms overlooking the
and we were rumbling through the palm jungle. The next day, we planned to march right into that
plantations, acres and acres of them, the tall, seething mass of green. We were to spend the morning close to
spare trees stretching as far as we could see in the village looking for semi-wild orangutans, which we were
every direction, in rows as straight as practically guaranteed to see. Then our guides would take us

travelandleisure.com 85
One of the resorts
on Samosir Island,
a popular stop for
visitors to Lake Toba.

deeper into the forest, to an area rarely visited by people where The villagers who came over to look at us didn’t
the foliage would be thicker, the trails rougher, and the wildlife attempt to speak English, and no one tried to sell
truly wild. We planned to camp there for two nights. If we saw us orangutan carvings or anything else.
an orangutan in the deep forest, we’d be among the very few One of the villagers approached with a basket
people who ever have. of supplies. His name was Chilik, and he was
Early the next morning, as the sun rose above trees across the going to serve as an extra guide for the rest of our
river, we went into the forest. Stefan and I were joined by our trip. His training, as I’d later learn, had been
head guide, Anto Cebol, his assistant, Ipan, and a pair of college unconventional. Some years ago, he got lost in the
students from Colorado. Anto, a native of Bukit Lawang, is 38, forest while gathering medicinal plants and
with the long hair and philosophical outlook of someone who has sustained himself for five days by watching the
been exposed from an early age to the beliefs and customs of orangutans to see which fruits they ate. Chilik
stoned Australian backpackers. Sitting on a boulder, he said, “No didn’t speak any English. Unlike Anto, he wore his
one knows how much longer the earth will be.” He smiled hair short, and did not bother with the rubber
defiantly. “Maybe we go to the moon.” trekking shoes worn by the guides in Bukit
We’d been following him for only a few minutes when he Lawang. He led us through the jungle barefoot,
pointed out a troop of black-mohawked Thomas’s leaf monkeys scraping leeches off his ankles with a rusty
in the trees. Though we were still on easy, well-worn paths, machete, and he carried most of our supplies on
sweat started pouring out of me at a rate I’d never imagined his back in a basket made from rattan vines,
possible. Then we saw it: our first orangutan. This was exciting, which the Bukit Lawang guides had long since
of course, that flash of orange in the trees, but she clearly wasn’t abandoned for Western-style backpacks. During
wild. She was stretched out on a limb, unafraid and snack breaks, he would go off by himself and
unimpressed. Antol recognized her; he said he knew her mother. squat on the forest floor, chain-smoking until it
As we stood there staring, a long-tail macaque walked right past was time to leave.
us, not even bothering to glance in our direction. Then a group of That first day, we hiked only a short distance,
Homo sapiens approached in flip-flops, taking selfies. maybe a quarter-mile. Still, it was tough going, as
So by the time we got on the motorbikes and headed down the the rest of the trip would be. The trail rose and fell
road toward a more remote area, I was ready to go a little deeper. at such a steep incline that we often had to grab at
After a bumpy ride through palm plantations, we arrived at roots and vines just to stay upright. At times it
Bukit Kencur, a hamlet on the edge of the part of the jungle that disappeared completely, at which point Chilik
the Green Hill staff had described as untouched. It was clear that would move to the front of the pack and hack a
this place didn’t get many foreign visitors. Clusters of reddish path through the bush with his machete. At last
palm fruit sat in the dirt outside the sun-bleached wooden huts. we came to the campsite. It sat on a slope

86 travelandleisure.com
overlooking a picturesque river. As we rinsed off
in the cool, clear water, a pair of cooks showed up
out of nowhere and built a fire. They boiled a pot
SUMATRA
of rice, fried some tempeh, sautéed a sackful of
tapioca leaves, and whipped up a delicious dish of
Indonesia
dried anchovies with wild ginger and chili. Medan

We slept beneath a tarp stretched over a frame GUNUNG LEUSER


NATIONAL PARK Bukit Lawang

of lashed-together bamboo poles. The soundscape


La
was a layered mix of cicada, bird, stream, and k

eT
ob
rain, with a smattering of monkey howls thrown

a
in. We awoke early the next morning, at the first
hint of daylight. Toast, eggs, strong Sumatran PLAN AN ADVENTURE IN SUMATRA
coffee, then back on the trail, pausing every 15 Explore this unsung Indonesian island at the front end of a two-week
minutes so that Anto could pass out pieces of trip. Its extraordinary natural riches make an ideal prelude to the
leaves and bark, schooling us on the names and cultural wonders of Java or the beaches of Bali.
medicinal or culinary uses of each species. There
was the hot-pink flower of a tree he called assam
GETTING THERE to sample a grand more luxurious
kimchin. (A lemony herb; goes well with curry). & AROUND breakfast spread stay, try the Taman
The woody stalk of pasak bumi. (Bitter; defends Fly to Kualanamu that combined Simalem Resort
against malaria). The glossy leaf of the satykop International Airport American, Chinese, (tamansimalem.com;
bush. (Per Anto: “To make not broken the first in Medan via a and Indonesian food. doubles from $87),
baby when baby is still drinking from mama and regional hub such as Another comfortable a group of lodges
mama pregnant.”) On we hiked, our eyes lifted to Singapore. The best option is the JW and private villas
way to reach Gunung Marriott (marriott. overlooking the lake.
the treetops, when suddenly Anto saw something Leuser National Park com; doubles from I recommend a visit
that made him break into a sprint. “Mawa!” he and Lake Toba is to $58), which has a to the Huta Bolon
shouted, crashing through the foliage. “Lucky!” hire a car and driver lovely rooftop pool. Simanindo
Mawa, I knew by then, is the local word for (your hotel can easily (Jl. Pelabuhan
orangutan. make arrangements). BUKIT LAWANG Simanindo, Samosir
Seeing a truly wild orangutan does feel Although Sumatra’s This riverside town Island; 62- 813-
tourism at the entrance to 9672-1133), a
different from seeing one that has grown up
infrastructure is Gunung Leuser preserved historic
around humans. You see in his eyes that he is getting better, most National Park village of traditional
frightened, and in his innocence and awe, he roads remain rough (gunungleuser.or.id) wooden houses.
reminds you of a child. You feel a rush of and crowded, so is where most
nostalgia for your own childhood, when all the expect to spend a orangutan treks TOUR OPERATOR
world felt like this corner of the forest, day traveling to start. I stayed at ATJ’s Jarrod Hobson
each destination. Green Hill is known in the
mysterious and full of wonder. At the same time,
(greenhillbukit industry as “the
you can’t help suspecting you feel this way MEDAN lawang.com; Indonesia guy” and is
primarily because you come from the West, For most travelers, packages from a long-standing
where you and your compatriots, having Indonesia’s fourth- $240), a guesthouse presence on T+L’s
benefited from centuries of environmentally largest city is a where the staff A-List of top travel
destructive agricultural and industrial practices, gateway to the arranges trips into advisors. He can
natural attractions of the jungle. For create custom
have forgotten the hardships of forest life. This is North Sumatra. I optimum orangutan itineraries that
one of the reasons you can afford to look back at arrived after dark and sightings, those combine Sumatra
that bygone existence through a romantic lens, set out for the jungle willing to rough it with other islands,
much in the way you can afford to romanticize the next morning, should consider such as Java and Bali.
your childhood only after the pain of growing up skipping such sights booking a three- atj.com; from $350
has receded. You think these things, and you as Our Lady of or four-day trek. per person per day.
Velangkanni (velang
wonder what the orangutan is thinking. And then
kanni.com), an Indo- LAKE TOBA WHAT TO PACK
the screeching ape demonstrates his mastery of Mughal-style church, After an eight-hour You’ll need a
simple tools by breaking off a stick and throwing and the museum at drive from Bukit powerful insect
it at you. Knowing what you know about humans, Maimun Palace Lawang, I took a ferry repellent, sunscreen
can you blame him? (66 Jl. Sultan to Samosir Island in with a high SPF, a
Eventually the orangutan calmed down and Ma’moen Al Rasyid; the middle of the headlamp, a
62-61-452-4244). I lake. Lodging at waterproof wallet for
just hung there from the branches staring back
did stick around my Carolina Cottages your passport and
at us. Then we heard a rustling of leaves a little hotel, Aryaduta (carolina-cottages. papers, tough hiking
way off. “Another one!” Anto cried. Two, in Medan (aryaduta. com; doubles from boots, and light,
fact—a mother and baby. So that’s why the first com; doubles from $12) was basic but long-sleeved shirts
one hadn’t fled at the sight of us: he was $110), long enough comfortable. For a and long pants. — S.K.
protecting his family. (Continued on page 102)

travelandleisure.com 87
A bedrock in a famous region, Jordan contains ancient ruins and cultural
treasures that go far beyond the city of Petra. On an adventure-filled journey through the country,
Zander Abranowicz watches history unfold amid the alien beauty of the desert landscapes.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY WILLIAM ABRANOWICZ

Wadi Rum, or Sand


Valley, in southern
Jordan. It became widely
known thanks to the
writings of British officer
and archaeologist
T. E. Lawrence, the
inspiration for Lawrence
of Arabia, which was
filmed here.

travelandleisure.com 89
MY FATHER AND I DANGLED our bare
feet over the edge of a cliff, a column
of light broke through the clouds and
swept across the dunes of Wadi Rum.
In his book The Seven Pillars of
Wisdom, the British oicer and
archaeologist T. E. Lawrence, who often camped here
during the Arab revolt of 1916, described the place as
“vast and echoing and godlike.” We’d been discussing how
much this 300-square-mile wadi, or valley, in southern
Jordan reminded us of the canyons of the American West
as mythologized by Edward Curtis, one of our favorite
photographers. But we fell silent when the sun lit up the
red earth. So did a dozen other travelers scattered atop
the mount. My father, a longtime travel photographer
and the man responsible for these images, reached for
his camera. We all took in the view until a pickup truck
appeared, kicking up clouds of sand, to ferry us back
to our tented camps for sunset.
To travel in the Kingdom of Jordan is to be constantly Arabia, to the southeast, offers stability—
reminded of the ancient world. Four days earlier, as we though the ambitions of the crown prince,
explored the capital city of Amman, our guide had taken Mohammad bin Salman, could change that.
us up Mount Al-Qalah, one of the seven limestone hills A bastion of peace in a volatile part of the
that make up the old city. We stopped for an aerial view of world, Jordan has long relied on tourism, which
a Roman amphitheater, built in the second century, that is until the Arab Spring accounted for 20 percent of
now surrounded by low apartment buildings. The steep the country’s GDP. But foreign travel has slowed
rows still seat spectators for cultural events. A plaza at the since then, straining both the economy and the
base of the amphitheater hummed with gentle activity, as national psyche. One might argue that there has
locals enjoyed the cool evening. Floodlights cast shadows never been a better time to visit Jordan, since
against the Roman walls as the call to prayer echoed. sites like Petra are less traicked than they have
Jordan, it must be said, is in a diicult neighborhood. been in years. (The ancient Nabataean city saw
Hundreds of thousands (some say millions) of Syrian and 400,000 visitors in 2016, half of what it got a
Iraqi refugees have crossed the country’s northern and decade earlier.) My father and I avoid crowds
eastern borders during the past 15 years. (Earlier this year, when traveling, which is part of what drew us to
the kingdom even rescued Lula, a starving bear, from a visit Jordan with Wild Frontiers, a London-based
bombed-out zoo in Mosul, Iraq, resettling her in a wildlife tour operator that organizes tailor-made, off-the-
refuge in Amman.) Across the river Jordan, in the West beaten-path itineraries. We also wanted to go
Bank, Palestinians still live under Israeli occupation. To the because every traveler who chooses Jordan right
southwest, across the Red Sea, Egypt struggles to contain now is casting a vote of support for the country’s
an Islamist insurgency on the Sinai Peninsula. Saudi stability, and in turn, the stability of our world.

90 travelandleisure.com
Clockwise from left: Bedouin gather for
tea in Wadi Rum, a valley in southern
Jordan; Feynan Eco Lodge, an intimate
property located in the Dana Biosphere
Reserve, uses no electricity, relying on
tiny candles to illuminate the halls and
rooms; Greco-Roman columns in the
ancient city of Jerash.

ON OUR SECOND MORNING, Ahmed, our guide, and Wasfi, our


driver, met us in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt Amman. We all
loaded into a silver Kia and sped north along the eastern wall
of the Zarqa Valley, then west across the Zarqa River. Our
destination: the Greco-Roman city of Jerash. As we approached
a shuttered amusement park, Ahmed said, “Here we are!”
My father and I laughed. Then, moments later, a sandstone
gateway appeared, and we realized he wasn’t kidding. Shaded
by a red juniper, its central arch buttressed by two smaller
archways, the south gate stood tall, as it did centuries ago for
travelers who followed the King’s Highway from the Egyptian
city of Memphis to Jerash and, farther north, into Damascus
and Resafa, in modern-day Syria. Alexander the Great first
established Jerash as one of the great cities of the Decapolis,
a network of 10 settlements he built throughout the Levant. In
the ensuing centuries, it was occupied by Byzantines, Crusaders,
Mamluks, and Ottomans, but it was the Romans who made it
into the regal metropolis whose ruins we had come to see.
A broad road led us to the forum, an expansive oval commons
surrounded by an Ionic colonnade. The only other person there
was a merchant dozing at his souvenir stand. We trod carefully

travelandleisure.com 91
A cat plays near Ad Deir, or the Monastery,
in the ancient city of Petra. The structure
was built by the Nabataeans in the first
century A.D. Opposite: Mosaics in a
Byzantine-era church at Mount Nebo, a
ridge mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.
was mesmerized by the r ck
formati ns, sculpted by t e
win over millennia t resemble
delicate turtle shel s.
on the Roman road extending north from the
forum; deep grooves from centuries of traic
made footing treacherous. Carvings of acanthus
leaves crowned the high Corinthian columns
that lined our route. Starlings darted in and out
of nests wedged in the cracks between segments.
We lingered at the nymphaeum, an ornate
fountain that once dispensed water from seven
spigots. Earthquakes have rerouted its water
source, but other Roman-era basins around
Jerash fill up each winter.
Next, we rode south on the King’s Highway,
which has been adapted to modern needs.
Though slower than the parallel Desert Highway,
it is far more scenic. The tight folds of the
Ammani hills gave way to undulating valleys
dotted with olive trees and groves of prickly
pears. On our long push southward, we stopped
at Mount Nebo, where Moses is said to have died,
and Karak, a cliff-side Crusader fortress, both
of which left me again in awe of Jordan’s history.
We also saw girls in white hijabs walking home
from school and the blank faces of local
politicians staring from faded campaign posters.
By the time we approached the mountain a sweeping canyon. I now saw that our room at the RSCN-
village of Dana, darkness had fallen, interrupted run Dana Guesthouse was cantilevered over the edge of the
only by the flickering lights of Israel in the miles-wide basin, which on its west side funneled into a gorge.
distance. Closer to us lay a black gulf I knew to Eleven hiking trails snake through Dana. Malik, our
be the Dana Biosphere Reserve, set aside in encyclopedic local guide, led us through the center of the
1989 by the Royal Society for the Conservation valley along the most popular route. Not long into our descent,
of Nature. The late King Hussein, considered Malik grabbed my arm and pointed. My eyes made out a twitch
the father of modern Jordan, founded the RSCN of motion on the northern canyon wall. “Nubian ibex,” he
in 1966 to stem the extermination of the Arabian whispered. “There, another! And another!” Rapt, we tracked
oryx, an elusive, steppe-dwelling antelope that a half-dozen of these nimble mountain goats as they skirted
had been hunted nearly to extinction by oilmen the face. They stayed in a tight unit to guard against the threat
and Arab princes. Reintroduced to the wild in of eagles, whose preferred hunting method is to drag young
1980, the animal now safely roams reserves ibex from the cliffs, then let gravity finish the job. Malik
in other parts of the country, including Wadi explained that ibex venture from the highlands only in
Rum and Shaumari. Though there are no search of water. “It hasn’t rained for months,” he explained.
Arabian oryx at Dana, there are numerous Their bad luck, it seemed, was our good fortune.
other creatures, and the reserve is Jordan’s As we descended, scree gave way to soft sand that showed the
largest, covering 198 square miles on the edge tracks of a sand fox. Malik pointed to a trio of griffon vultures, a
of the Great Rift Valley, the tectonic trench species of old-world scavengers, who were using their nine-foot
extending from Lebanon to Mozambique. wingspans to surf the ridgeline thermals high above us. In the
I woke up the next morning to my father’s course of four hours and 4,000 feet we had passed through each
voice. “Come see this,” he called from the of Jordan’s four bioclimatic zones: Mediterranean (windswept
balcony. Pillowy masses of fog filled the walls of and dotted with juniper), Irano-Turanian (marked by sculptural

travelandleisure.com 93
rock formations), Saharo-Arabian
(parched, pure, cinematic), and
Sudanian (shaded by acacia and
stands of bamboo brought by
migrating birds). With the sun still
high, we crossed Wadi Dana’s final
escarpment, where a band of Bedouin
was camped in black goatskin tents.
A few young tribesmen emerged to
observe us walking to the lowlands of
Feynan. The Bedouin (from the Arabic
badawi, meaning “desert dweller”)
once wandered between North Africa
and Iraq, guiding argosies of camels
and taxing foreign caravans. As with
other indigenous populations from
the Americas to Australia, colonial
statecraft had a withering effect on
their traditional way of life in the
19th and 20th centuries, pushing
many into cities. Today, however,
the Bedouin enjoy significant
autonomy, both legal and cultural.
The Middle East is known for the
ritual welcoming of guests, but the
Bedouin have turned it into an art.
The next place we stayed, the
Bedouin-run Feynan Eco Lodge,
which sits between Dana’s highlands
and the desert of Wadi Araba,
exemplifies their knack for
hospitality. After passing through the
worn wooden doors of a large adobe
structure and into a tree-shaded
courtyard, we were met by the
lodge’s young manager, Hussein
al-Amareen, who handed us icy
glasses of fresh mint lemonade. He then showed us to our room, LIKE MANY WHO COME to Jordan, my father and
which had colorful glass embedded in the stucco walls. I were anxious to see the ancient city of Petra,
That afternoon, three of the hotel’s Bedouin employees led us and about a two-hour drive south of Feynan. Few,
a pair of intrepid young English women up a gentle rise west of the however, enter this network of sandstone cave
lodge. There they built a small fire and brewed sage tea. “It hasn’t dwellings and classical façades as we did.
rained here in many months,” said Suleiman, who spoke the strongest Following a Bedouin guide and his mule, we
English. It’s not the economic pressure of drought that most disturbs ascended a stone path along a harrowing valley,
the community, he explained, but the sense of cosmic misalignment circumventing the crowded route through the
it represents. Without rain, they had no way to practice their ancient gorge to approach Petra from the northwest: a
pastoral ways. Replace “rain” with “travelers,” and our conversation reverse commute, as my father described it. I was
reflected many I’d had, with street merchants and local guides, across absorbed by the rock formations, sculpted by the
the country in the past few days. The sustainability of Jordan’s winds over millennia to resemble delicate turtle
traditions relies, in no small part, on the health of the tourism business. shells, or the baleen of a whale. “The greatest
The mood grew lighter as the sun dropped behind the clouds, the artists pale in comparison,” my father said.
mountains glowing saffron and scarlet. We returned to a lodge lit by Around noon we reached a plateau edged
hundreds of flickering candles, all made on site. In the dining room, by long-abandoned cave dwellings. Turning
we heaped our plates high with stuffed eggplant, hummus, and fresh a corner revealed the sandstone façade of Ad
pita, then ate on the patio under the stars with our new English Deir, Petra’s Monastery, standing 160 feet above
friends. Later, my father retired to our room, glad to leave me in such a sandy plaza. Less ornate than the iconic
unexpected, pleasant company. The three of us relaxed on well-worn Treasury, the Monastery is also quieter and
sofas around a fire in the lodge’s common room with our guides, more meditative. That’s partly because it’s
sharing travel stories and asking questions about Bedouin life. shielded from tourists and Bedouin hawkers

94 travelandleisure.com
Guest tents at the Discovery Bedu Camp,
in Wadi Rum, a protected area in southern
Jordan. At the eco-conscious property,
experiences range from sandboarding dunes
to riding camels. SYRIA IRAQ

W ES T
BANK
Jerash JORDAN
Amman

by a steep one-hour hike, preceded by a half- ISRAEL


DEAD
SEA
SAUDI
ARABIA

hour approach through the gorge from the DANA


BIOSPHERE
R ES E R V E
Petra
nearby city of Wadi Musa. Ancient Nabataeans EGYPT

incised the structure deep into the mountain WA D I


RUM
sometime in the first century B.C. as Petra was
growing into a thriving city of 20,000. Later
expanded by Byzantine settlers, the Monastery A JOURNEY THROUGH JORDAN
consists of two stories; the top is a broken You’ll want to spend at least a week exploring the streets of the
pediment surrounding a grand tholos upon capital city Amman, the desert dunes of Wadi Rum, the mountains
of the Dana Biosphere Reserve, and, of course, Petra.
which a large urn sits. Some locals believe the
urn contains a pharaoh’s hoard of gold.
I ordered a Turkish coffee with cardamom
from the restaurant and settled onto one of
GETTING THERE com; doubles from com; doubles from
the padded benches facing the Monastery. $129), our base for $191). But the
Royal Jordanian
Two Bedouin sat in the mountain’s shadow Airlines (rj.com) visiting markets and highlight was our
brewing tea, shielding the flames of their fire offers nonstop heading out to the two-night stay at
from the occasional gust with their thick goat- service from New Greco-Roman city Discovery Bedu
York (JFK) and of Jerash. After two Camp (discovery
hair robes. The wind whistled through the
Chicago O’Hare nights there, we destinations.com;
pocked canyons as a column of goats marched to Amman’s Queen spent one night doubles from
across the empty plaza, kicking up dust. Alia International each at a $800), six well-
The following day, we cruised along a Airport. succession of appointed tents set
highway parallel to the Hejaz Railroad, the properties, amid the canyons
beginning with the of Wadi Rum. It is
artery that once linked Damascus to Medina. TOUR OPERATOR
Dana Guesthouse two hours south of
When Lawrence and his troops severed it in Independent travel (wildjordan.com; Petra, and a great
World War I, the Ottoman Empire bled to death. is possible, but by doubles from $140). base to go camel
booking with an riding in the desert.
In the village of Wadi Rum, the gateway to the A 2½-hour drive
operator such as south of Amman, For our last two
entire Wadi Rum area, we said farewell to Wasfi, Wild Frontiers,
and run by the nights, we returned
our driver, and swapped our trusty Kia for which arranged to Amman, a
Royal Society for
a four-wheel-drive pickup (with a Bedouin our trip, you’ll four-hour drive
the Conservation of
navigator) capable of handling the sand tracks gain a deeper north. From the
Nature (RSCN), the
understanding of Kempinski
that extend beyond the road’s end. The broad, property is a haven
the country. Jonny Hotel Amman
rusty plains set between towering granite and for hikers and
Bealby, the founder (kempinski.com;
naturalists on the
sandstone massifs could have been in Utah’s of Wild Frontiers, is
edge of the Wadi doubles from
Moab Desert (so named for the ancient Kingdom part of Travel + $143), we set out
Dana, in the Dana
Leisure’s A-List
of Moab, whose borders fall within modern-day Biosphere Reserve. to see the Jordan
network of the top Archaeological
Jordan) were it not for the wild camels grazing A four-hour hike
travel advisors. Our Museum (jordan
away is the Feynan
on brittle stands of the white saxaul tree. We custom 10-day museum.jo).
Eco Lodge (eco
paused by a cliff with other travelers, remarking itinerary combined
hotels.me; doubles
on the beauty of it all. time in Amman WHAT TO PACK
from $114), run by
with adventures in
As we crested a dune, we saw six white the desert. The
Bedouin on behalf You will need
canvas tents tucked in the ridge’s lee. At the of the RSCN and a sturdy pair of
price included an
still within the hiking boots or
compound’s entrance were three men wearing English-speaking
reserve. I loved the
guide and driver for sneakers to
red kaiyehs and navy parkas with the camp’s bird-watching. explore the Dana
the first seven
name, Discovery Bedu, stitched on the chest: From there, we Biosphere
days. wildfrontiers.
Muhammad (the camp’s diligent manager) and drove two hours Reserve, Petra,
travel; from $3,895
two porters. One conveyed our bags to the tent. south to the city of and Wadi Rum.
per person.
Petra, where we Light, comfortable
The other offered a tray of warm towels, cups enjoyed an clothing is good
of mint tea, and dates. Shielded from the wind LODGING AND afternoon at the for daytime; a
on two sides, Discovery Bedu was otherwise EXPERIENCES ruins before heavier jacket will
open, an opera box over a plain whose sands We began in spending the night come in handy for
Amman, at the at the Mövenpick chilly desert
faded from deep red to white.
Grand Hyatt (hyatt. Resort (movenpick. evenings. — Z.A.
As the sun went down, the temperature
dropped precipitously. We left (Continued on page 105)

travelandleisure.com 95
Hawaii,

96 travelandleisure.com
,
The island of Molokai
is a point of departure
for UnCruise
Adventures’ seven-
night tour of four
Hawaiian islands.
Opposite: Diving from
the top deck of the
Safari Explorer, a
36-passenger ship in
UnCruise’s fleet.

To explore Hawaii beyond the resorts, take to the sea.


When PETER HELLER joins a small-ship cruise
with stops at four different islands, he comes face-to-face
with the archipelago’s wilder side.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE INGALLS
is the name
of Hawaii’s
state fish.
It’s an elegant little reef triggerfish, with yellow chevron It was mid-November, and we were on a weeklong
pinstripes and a blue lip, but I think the Hawaiians selected voyage that took us to four of the Hawaiian Islands:
it because its name is fun to say. I pointed and tried to Molokai, Lanai, Maui, and Hawaii, a.k.a. the Big Island.
shout it into my snorkel. If the word is tough to pronounce The tour was operated by UnCruise Adventures, which
under normal conditions, it’s harder underwater. is an odd name for a 22-year-old company that runs cruises
My wife, Kim, and I followed the fish in and out of from Alaska to the Galápagos Islands, but the un comes
cauliflower coral heads, through a cloud of striped from an effort to be different from other lines. UnCruise
surgeonfish and swaying schools of bright-yellow tangs. prides itself on flexibility. It doesn’t tie itself to scheduled
We passed a parrotfish, which crunched its coral breakfast port calls, so the itinerary can be guided by weather,
so loudly we could hear it. The humu kept a dignified pace. wildlife, and whim. If the captain spots a pod of humpbacks,
We kicked along a coral cliff, which dropped into deeper he can follow it; if he wants to explore an intriguing section
blue, and out to a cluster of rocks where the surge broke into of coast he’s never seen, he can do it.
a blizzard of bubbles. When we lifted our heads into the UnCruise describes our ship, the Safari Explorer,
air, we saw the black lava cliffs of western Lanai, the green as a “boutique yacht”; it carries only 36 passengers. It was
slopes rising behind them, and the dark basalt columns designed for both comfort and adventure. It tows two
known as the Five Sisters strung across the sea. 24-foot skiffs, which can bring snorkelers close to shore,

98 travelandleisure.com
Clockwise from left:
The Safari Explorer
off the western
coast of the island
of Hawaii; a pod of
spinner dolphins
between Maui and
Hawaii; kayaking off
the coast of
Kailua-Kona.

and is outfitted with kayaks and paddleboards. The cabins


are cozy and paneled in cherry, and each comes with
a pair of waterproof binoculars. The food is superb, with
most ingredients locally sourced.
The trips are about engaging with the land and its
wildlife. They’re also about meeting locals, which we did
on our first night. At a hula performance on Molokai, the
sparsely populated island where many believe the dance
form was born centuries ago, we watched as 10 girls rotated
in unison to the music, painting pictures with their hands.
The littlest girl, who must have been seven years old, called
out “No ka pua,” which means “because of the flower.”
Then they shaped flowers with their fingers, reached for
the sun, and brought their hands to their hearts. It gave me
what locals call “chicken skin,” or goose bumps.

he next morning, after breakfast on board, we took

T the skiffs into port and drove to a high point


overlooking the spot where the Halawa Valley meets
the ocean. The valley cuts into the eastern end of Molokai;
it’s narrow and steep and covered in rain forest. A stream
wound out of the trees into a protected cove flanked by
sea cliffs. When we turned and traced the valley inland,
We passed
a parrot
fish, which
crunched
its coral Clockwise from above:

breakfast Ahi tuna and soba salad


aboard the Safari
Explorer; Anakala Pilipo
Solatorio, a farmer of

so loudly
Hawaiian descent,
blows a conch shell to
welcome travelers;
a hike overlooking the
Puu Pehe sea stack off

we could Lanai; sea turtles near


Mala Wharf, on Maui.

hear it.

100 travelandleisure.com
we could see it end in a wall of mountains and the
thread of a waterfall.
Polynesians reputedly first landed in Hawaii at this MOLOKAI
river mouth—a fire pit in the valley dates from A.D. 600. Kaunakakai
Halawa Valley

At a shelter near the river, Anakala Pilipo Solatorio, a farmer Lahaina MAUI

in his seventies who is a direct descendant of those first L ANAI UnCruise itinerary
settlers, blew the conch shell of welcome. Pilipo and his son (runs both ways)

Greg have embarked on a mission to keep the old ways and


language alive. Pilipo pressed his forehead and nose to each Kawaihae
visitor in the traditional greeting. He told us to inhale. In
this way, he said, two people exchange ha, the breath of life. Kailua-Kona HAWAII
Half the group stayed at a shelter near the sea, and the
rest of us hiked a couple of miles to the waterfall. We passed
towering koa trees, which have been prized by canoe
makers for centuries. White-rumped shamas sang in the
canopy. The trail was littered with passion fruit and kukui
nuts, which are so oily the early Polynesians burned them CRUISING THE
for light. Through the forest ran the stone walls of an HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
ancient seven-terraced temple. A weeklong sailing with
Dai Mar Tamarack, our expedition leader, pointed out UnCruise allows travelers ample time
a smooth stone Molokaians consider sacred; for more to experience Hawaii’s natural
environment by both land and sea.
than a thousand years women gave birth on it. This made me
think about how Hawaii itself was born from the sea. A crack
in the earth’s crust spewed magma in what geologists call THE CRUISE WHAT TO PACK
a “hot spot,” creating islands. The movements of the tectonic UnCruise Casual, sun-
plates carried the islands in a northwestward direction, Adventures protective clothing
and still do. This process is occuring 2,400 miles from the offers its all-inclusive and hiking shoes are
nearest landmass, and whatever has arrived here—plant, Hawaiian Seascapes recommended for
itinerary every on-land excursions,
animal, or human—has made a great effort to do so. week between and a brimmed hat
On the third day we reached Lanai, which is almost November 3 and and sunglasses are
wholly owned by Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison. After April 6, 2019. The a must. Bring
our snorkeling adventure with the state fish, we walked cruise is seven a swimsuit and water
around tiny Lanai City, which is set in a grove of Cook nights long and socks for snorkeling,
can be taken from a sweater or fleece
Island Pines and, at an altitude of 1,600 feet, is cool and Molokai to the for breezy evenings,
breezy. We stopped at a shop that sold art made by local island of Hawaii, and a light shell
schoolchildren and bought a sea turtle made from shells. or in reverse. uncruise. or rain jacket.
That evening in the ship’s library, Dave Simonak, com; from $3,995 UnCruise supplies
per person. masks, snorkels,
a 63-year-old doctor from Texas, played James Taylor songs fins, refillable
on an old guitar, as I talked about books with Lyn Bixby, GETTING THERE water bottles,
a retired journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner who lives For cruises departing
and sunscreen.
in northern Vermont. Lyn’s wife, Debbie Bixby, a nurse from Molokai, fly to
practitioner, was getting a complimentary massage Daniel K. Inouye FURTHER
International Airport ADVENTURES
on another part of the ship. Our fellow passengers were
mostly couples and ranged in age from their twenties in Honolulu, then UnCruise is the only
continue via Hawaiian small-ship cruise line
to their sixties. We made a game and adventurous group, Airlines to Molokai to feature itineraries
dedicated to spending as much time outside as possible. Airport. For cruises within the Hawaiian
The ship crossed the channel to Maui overnight, and we departing from the Islands. It also runs
woke to precipitous green mountains and the low red roofs island of Hawaii, fly to cruises to Costa
Kona International Rica and Panama,
of the little port of Lahaina. We grabbed our snorkels again Airport. UnCruise the Galápagos
and skiffed into the Mala Wharf, which was demolished provides transfers Islands, Mexico’s Sea
in 1992 by the devastating Hurricane Iniki. The long wharf between the airport of Cortés, Alaska’s
tumbled into the bay in a tangle of beams and concrete slabs. and your vessel if Inside Passage,
Now encrusted with corals, it has become one of Hawaii’s you notify it of your coastal Washington
flight plans at least State and British
most popular dive sites. Kim and I put on our masks and 60 days before Columbia, and the
swam over it. I gasped: five adult sea turtles rested 15 feet sailing. The company Columbia and Snake
down on a flat chunk of concrete. The largest must have also offers extended rivers in Washington
weighed as much as a linebacker. One eyed Kim as she swam land stays in both and Oregon.
Hawaii and Molokai. — Peter Terzian
above, then glided to the surface beside her with three easy
strokes of its long front flippers. Kim had (Continued on page 103)
Choose Jack lake, a stranger handed me a pocket
map. He turned out to be a mapmaker
from Java who had traveled all over
Indonesia for his work. He told me
Toba held a special place in his heart.
For years, he said, the Indonesian
government had done too little to
develop the tourism industry in this
provincial outpost, but that was
beginning to change. An airport had
(Sumatra, continued from page 87)
been built nearby, and there were
The mom and baby were moving plans to extend the highway from
slowly through the treetops, not Medan to the lake. “We want people to
leaping like monkeys but plotting a know the story of Toba,” he said.
careful course, shifting their weight The story of Toba is one worth
from foot to foot, and hand to hand. knowing. The massive volcanic
eruption that created the lake some
Y LAST FEW days in North 70,000 years ago nearly wiped out

M Sumatra unfolded at a
rambling hotel on the shore
of Lake Toba, eight hours
southeast of Bukit Lawang. At 436
square miles—about the size of Los
the entire human species—and
may have made us who we are today.
According to the “Toba catastrophe
theory,” originally posited by the
science writer Ann Gibbons, the blast
Angeles—Lake Toba is the largest plunged the earth into a six-year
volcanic lake in the world, and maybe winter, leaving as few as 3,000 people
the nicest. The water is sparkling and alive on the planet. Those survivors
calm. Soft green mountains rise all were the most resourceful of our
around it. The hotel, Carolina kind, and they passed on those
Cottages, is a collection of bungalows qualities to their descendants, our
with sharply peaked roofs and ancestors, planting the seeds of
ornately carved wooden façades, a human civilization.
tribute to the traditional building style It was perhaps because of Toba that
of the local people. A breeze blew onto our ancestors learned to make fire,
the hotel veranda, ruling the edges and grow crops, and cure diseases,
of the batik tablecloths. On the and come up with clever theories
beaches, the Coke came in glass bottles about human civilization. And it was
AWESOME ACTIVITIES and the coconuts came with straws. perhaps because of Toba that we
At the center of the lake lies learned to clear forests, and developed
Samosir Island, the heartland of the a habit of wiping other species off the
Batak, an indigenous group known for face of the earth.
their love of singing. One night, we As the ferry pulled into the dock,
UNEXPECTED DELIGHTS
partied with a crowd of Batak I said goodbye to the mapmaker and
........................................................
schoolteachers on their summer hauled my bags to the driver waiting
break. They fed us boiled eggs with onshore. Then we began the journey
chili paste and passed out cups of back to Medan, with its truck-
RESORT FEES FREE herbal liquor and brought out a guitar clogged streets, passing palm
and sang for us and begged us to dance plantations where there used to be
with them and laughed hysterically forest. With luck, you’ll get to visit
when we did. Even Stefan, who has one of the forests that remain. If
been everywhere and isn’t easily you do, keep your eyes raised to the
impressed, conceded that one of the treetops. You might see someone
guests had a solid case when he called you used to know.
Lake Toba “heaven on this earth.”
On my way back to Medan, as I Saki Knafo writes for the New York
boarded a ferry headed across the Times, the Atlantic, and GQ.

Content in this issue was produced with assistance from Hotel Bothwell; Katy Trail Bed &
Breakfast; Natural Selection, Rainforest Expeditions; Torngat Mountains National Park; UnCruise
Contact Your Preferred Travel Agent Adventures; and Wild Frontiers.

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102 travelandleisure.com
The following morning we arrived Choose Jack
on the western side of the Big Island.
We anchored in the lee of the dormant
volcanoes Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa,
each of which rises more than 13,000
feet. The guides broke out the kayaks,
and we paddled along lava cliffs and
through a lava arch. We saw pale
limpets clinging to the black rock.
White tropic birds, with long, trailing
(Hawaii, continued from page 101) tails, flew out of their nests on the
cliffs. Debbie and Lyn are old hands at
to arch herself to keep from touching kayaking, and they paddled in perfect
it. The turtle took a breath and sync, looking like a winged creature.
sailed slowly back to its bed. I tried to stand up and fell in. Back
I took a breath myself and dove at the ship, we inhaled a lunch of loco
down clumsily. Under the concrete moco, an unlikely stack of sticky rice,
slab, a five-foot-long whitetip reef beef, and gravy topped with a fried
shark idled and watched me. It egg. Afterward, Dai Mar dropped the
seemed that the aloha spirit extended gangplanks off the high decks and
to the ocean, because we greeted each some of us tried 20-foot backflips.
other and happily went our own ways. On the evening of our last full day,
Dai Mar told us to take a couple as dusk fell off the town of Kailua-
of hours of shore leave, just when we Kona, we tugged on wet suits and
needed it. Kim and I strolled hand skiffed close to shore. Kim and I
in hand through the shops of Lahaina jumped into the inky water and swam
and bought—what else?—Hawaiian to a surfboard that had a dive light
shirts and mother-of-pearl earrings. shining from its bottom. Six of us
clung to one board, and Mark, one of

O
ne of the unique things about our chefs, flippered us toward the
UnCruise is its open-bridge glow of submerged floodlights. These
policy. Passengers can wander lights rested on the ocean floor, and
up at any time and sit with the scuba divers sat around them as if at
captain or the oicers and learn so many campfires. Their plumes of
about the route. If the oicers bubbles rose in eerie columns.
need privacy, they shut the door. Schools of silver flagtails drifted in
At daybreak on the fifth day the beams that shone down from the GOURMET GRUB
I grabbed a mug of Kona coffee from surfboards. We could hear the clicks
the lounge and climbed to the bridge. of a pair of huge bottlenose dolphins
The famous northeast trade winds as they coasted through the murk.
had kicked up, and the ship was And then I saw why we were all
pounding through a quartering swell there. The lights, both on the boards SWEET SUITES
in the Alalakeiki Channel between and on the seabed, attract plankton,
Maui and the tiny, uninhabited island which manta rays eat like popcorn.
of Kahoolawe. Captain Winston Warr Something caught my eye, and
was at the wheel. We were heading I looked back at one of the flood lamps
southeast and could see the volcanic down in the rocks. I saw wings that INFINITE LIBATIONS
crater of Molokini ahead. The dark were much longer than any bird’s, but
water of the channel was whipped to moved just as fluidly. A flash of pale
whitecaps. “Humpback at one underneath. They reminded me of the
o’clock,” the captain said. A half-mile undulating arms of the hula dancers,
off our starboard bow, a cloud of mist whose motions are sometimes
blew off the waves. Then another. The inspired by the creatures of the ocean.
whale was running fast on the same The manta ray must have been 10
heading. And then, out of the chop, feet across. It sailed over the light and
it breached. A massive black missile blotted it out, then vanished in a sea
leaped and crashed down, sending as black and inscrutable as sleep.
up an explosion of white.
“That’s something that never gets Peter Heller is the author of the novels Contact Your Preferred Travel Agent
old,” the captain said. The Dog Stars and Celine.
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Choose Jack As we bounced around through
the waves, every new vista brought
a fresh astonishment, from the shock
of sudden color on a mossy hillside
to the tranquility of mist curling
through the opalescent bays. The
mountains seemed as imposing and
impressive as cathedrals of stone. In
places, erosion had caused some of
them to shatter apart into piles of
(Torngat Mountains, continued from page 80) scree deposits, which in turn had
gradually formed rivulets of what
Inuit livelihoods have changed look like crushed Oreo cookies. We
radically over the past half-century. saw Mount Razorback, ridged with
Hunting and fishing are still a way of jagged points, and Blow Me Down
life, but these days, Merkuratsuk and Mountain. “The name describes it, I’d
the Jararuses live in Nain year-round, say,” Merkuratsuk offered. “It’s windy
traveling to the Torngats for seasonal up there. People have gotten blown
work. John Jararuse spoke to us of the off mountaintops here and died.”
painful realities he had experienced
during the resettlements, being ON OUR LAST NIGHT, two
separated from his home and loved Inuit throat singers joined us
ones. But all the Inuit I met on this around the campfire, chanting in
trip shared a sense of optimism and transcendental tones. In the past,
relief that this place has been missionaries forbade these songs,
returned to its rightful custodians. branding them demonic. Fortunately,
“Now that this is a national park, it the tradition survived, and anyone
will be safe for other generations,” hearing the singers today can’t
Paul Jararuse said. help being transfixed by the way
As we navigated the coastline, they emulate the sound of wind
our guides talked about the old ways, coursing past rocks or water
how their families had thrived on this rushing along a riverbed.
land, of their own happy childhoods As they sang, the northern lights
here. They’d lived in the Torngats appeared overhead, bright green
year-round, spending winter in igloos vectors arcing through the firmament
and sod houses at first and, later on, like gigantic flashlights. As we stood
PRISTINE POOLS in homes they’d built in a now- there next to the bonfire, our heads
abandoned community named craned upward, it felt like something,
Hebron. To survive in such an or someone, was shining immense
extreme climate (it’s so cold that, tunnels of light through the sky in
SERENE SPAS in places, the ground stays frozen all order to survey its territory.
................................................... year) they relied on skills developed “How can you not believe in spirits
by their ancestors centuries earlier. in a place like this?” asked Evie Mark,
These included being able to identify a throat singer and cultural liaison
the medicinal properties of an array for the park. “I sing to them all the
ROOM SERVICE of fantastical-sounding indigenous time—to the spirit of the elements,
plants. Their pharmacopoeia included of the mountains, of the rivers.”
a medicinal cottony grass called These elements are perhaps at
suputaujak, whose fluffy white seeds their most breathtaking in the
can be inserted into ear canals to help corridor of cliffs rising above Tallek
with earaches or used to staunch a Arm, off Nachvak jord. We were
newborn’s bleeding navel. They’d lucky enough to take a helicopter
chew a tundra flower called the river ride to that part of the park and,
beauty to prevent nosebleeds and mix from above, got a sense of how
black crowberries with fish roe and the minerals leaching out of the
seal blubber to make suvalik, a kind mountains affect the surrounding
of Inuit ice cream. As kids, they’d rub waters. Some rivers were deep
the leaves of northern bunchberry black, while other bodies of water
Contact Your Preferred Travel Agent plants on their faces and giggle at the shimmered with iridescent tones
tickling sensations they caused. ranging from magenta to jade. Near
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104 travelandleisure.com
Little Ramah Bay, we spotted a lake Choose Jack
the pale blue of milky sapphires.
On my final afternoon, I joined
a group of the staff on a fishing
excursion. After casting for a
while, I sat down on the shore next
to Andrew Andersen, the park’s half-
Inuit, half-Australian visitor-
experience coordinator. “Guests
want to hike and see polar bears and
icebergs—all that’s super, but we also (Jordan, continued from page 95)
like it when visitors want to engage
with us Inuit,” he told me. “A lot of the warmth of our guest tent to enjoy
people come here without knowing a communal dinner. The chef had
that this culture—our culture—is prepared a main course of chicken,
here. Many of them say that coming lamb, and vegetables, heated in a
here changed their life, that it made barrel under the sand by fragrant,
them think in different ways.” smoldering olive-wood coals. We ate
Andersen’s father, William like emirs alongside the only other
Andersen III, was the president guests, a couple from Boston.
of the Labrador Inuit Association Some time into the meal, we
during the nineties and early aughts, realized it was Thanksgiving. As if
and he played a key role in the talks we didn’t have enough to be grateful
that led to the national park status for already, we emerged from the
for Torngats. Andersen told me how main tent to find that the clouds had
his father spoke of this region as the parted, exposing an infinite network
Inuit gift to the rest of Canada and, of constellations. After sharing
by extension, the rest of the world. For this extraordinary evening, we four
travelers lucky enough to come here, Americans so far from home
that gift brings with it the chance to wished one another a good night,
see this place as the Inuit do: as a land and returned to our tents. After
alive with elemental forces. my father showed me the day’s
When I mentioned this to photographs, I picked up Lawrence’s
Andersen, he said that the Seven Pillars of Wisdom to read
relationship goes both ways. “Seeing once more about his adventures in
this place the way you see it—the Wadi Rum and to contemplate how OUTDOOR FUN
way newcomers react to things they had foreshadowed my own.
we’re familiar with—is also a gift for The following day, as we drove
us, because it constantly allows us to north to Amman, I thought of my
see our homeland through fresh eyes new Bedouin friends at Feynan.
and to be reminded of how special In the days since we had left those GOOD VIBES
this place is,” he said. “Like all true parched lowlands, rain had fallen, a
gifts, it benefits the giver as much signal of hope for their community.
as the receiver.”
Zander Abranowicz is a writer based
Adam Leith Gollner is author of The in New York City. William Abranowicz CAMP JACK
Book of Immortality and is a frequent is a longtime contributing
contributor to Travel + Leisure. photographer to Travel + Leisure.

Travel + Leisure (ISSN 0041-2007). July 2018, Vol. 48, No. 7. Published monthly 12 times a year by Time Inc. Affluent Media Group, a subsidiary of Time Inc. Time
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YOUR BEST SHOT

“WATCHING THE SUN SET


FROM THE MOUNTAINS IN
ETHIOPIA WAS THE PERFECT
END TO A LONG DAY.
I was in the northern town of Lalibela for four months building a school.
When this photo was taken, we were only halfway through construction. Carly Arnwine was a
contestant in our 2017
The days were long and hot, and the work was grueling. But watching the photo contest. Submit
sun bathe the mountains in golden light and cast long shadows over your best shots at
the valley filled me with a deep sense of serenity. And when the shepherd travelandleisure.com/
and cowherd appeared, I couldn’t help but grab my camera.” photos/photo-of-the-day
for the chance to be
featured on this page
—Reader Carly Arnwine on her photograph, shot with a Canon EOS 5D Mark III, March 2016. in a future issue.

108 travelandleisure.com
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