Amazing Destinations Magazine Autumn 2021

9CHANGE CHILDRENS
LIVES IN GUATEMALA
‘I’ve never seen anyone so pleased
to see two packets of Blu-Tack,’
Steph Thorns records in her online
diary about working with children
in Guatemala. The life of this
former hospital project manager was
transformed after she volunteered to
work with indigenous communities
near Antigua, helping in rural
schools where there would otherwise
be no formal education. Steph has
since retrained as a community
health nurse with a view to going
back. Her trip to Guatemala was
organised through the charitysupport
organisation Global Vision
International. Side benefits include
the chance to learn Spanish and
experience South American life. Also
worth considering other possibilities,
including working with a radio
station in Ghana and renovating
schools in Tanzania.
THE ROLLERS
IN HAWAII
Surfing might be a lifestyle, but it
10RIDE
often begins with a holiday. For
an idea of the way it can change
people and what it’s like to be a
newcomer, track down a copy of
Caught Inside: A Surfer’s Year
on the California Coast by Daniel
Duane (Lonely Planet). Hawaii is
where the best waves are, rising
off the coasts of Oahu and Maui
to heights of 70 feet. You’ll need
at least 10 years of regular surfing
before you can master the crazy
rollers of Waimea Bay. In winter
the waves have to be seen to be
believed but in summer, even
novices can try their luck. Other
destinations include Woolacombe.
20 JOURNEYS
A SAINT
TO THE ANIMALS
INTO THE TURKISH IN THE KALAHARI DESERT
WILDERNESS
Sitting in the Kalahari desert
11FOLLOW
12TALK
Follow in the footsteps of St Paul
counting meerkats is one of your
through the wilds of Turkey’s
options among the 140 scientific
Taurus and Sultan mountain
and conservation projects organised
ranges, with ancient ruins and
worldwide by the charity Earthwatch.
dramatic peaks and canyons
On a two-week expedition to the
along the way. A new 500km
Kuruman river in South Africa
footpath traces the apostle’s
you can help ecologists study the
missionary journey from Perge
exceptionally co-operative lifestyles
on the Mediterranean coast to
of these mongoose-like creatures.
Yalvac, near Antioch, overlooking
Volunteers stay in thatched huts,
the Anatolian plateau. It’s been
working in small teams, and there’s
created and waymarked by
plenty of spare time to appreciate
Englishwoman Kate Clow. Even
the wonder of the desert. Other
more ambitious is the 1,000
expeditions available include joining
mile Via Francigena linking
marine naturalists on a 39ft yacht
Canterbury and Rome. This
studying basking sharks in the Inner
is a DIY pilgrimage - no tour
Hebrides, helping conservationists
operators run packages - but you
monitor macaws in the Peruvian
can find route maps, information
Amazon, and tracking zebras by
on accommodation and support.
four-wheel drive vehicle in the
Samburu district of Kenya as part of
an initiative to limit their conflict with
human activities.
THE
TRIBES OF LOAS
Until recently the heart of Asia’s
14MEET
opium growing triangle, northern
Laos is the HQ for the Unesco
Namtha ecoproject to provide jobs
for cash-strapped farmers and ethnic
minorities, and many of Laos’s
68 ethnic tribes live in this area.
Himalayan Kingdoms was the first
UK tour operator to plug into the
project by pioneering a series of
trekking and meet-the-villagers
tours. From the towns of Luang
Namtha and Meung Sing you trek
with local guides up into the hills
and valleys to remote villages.
Among the tribes are the animist
Akhas, whose teenage sons sleep in
their own huts, to which the girls are
brought for trial sex and marriage;
the Black Hmong, identified by their
black clothing, who build stilted
villages on high mountain ridges;
and the Lenten people, who wear
indigo and settle in longhouses in the
valleys.
YOUR HOUSE
FOR A LUXURY VILLA
‘Beautiful three-bedroom house
13SWAP
offered in the rural retreat of Mercatale
near Cortona in Arezzo. Comes with
1,000-year-old olive trees in the garden,
brand new pool, stunning panoramic
views, fantastic local restaurants ...’
Oh yes, all that could be yours by
just swapping homes with the owner.
If you dream of retiring to Italy or
downshifting to that Caribbean beach,
it pays to try a place out first. Holiday
exchanges for a fortnight or more are a
good way to do this. If you’re worried
about the Osbournes moving in, sign
up with a home-exchange agency that
will ease the matchmaking process
for an annual membership fee. The
basic premise is not unlike a TV reality
show - you swap your life, right down
to your bedsheets, for someone else’s.
The main advantage is that you slot
straight into neighbourhood life and
can save money when compared to a
conventional holiday, particularly if you
have children. Note that if you want the
Italian idyll listed above you’re more
likely to be in luck if you’re offering a
Mayfair penthouse than a Basildon semi.
A DESERT
NOMAD IN JORDAN
A BEACH
Forget fake ‘Bedouin’ feasts and
BUM IN GOA
15BECOME
phoney folklore. ‘Riding in Jordan
- The Bedouin Experience’ is a tour 16BECOME
With the average house in the UK worth
which will show you the desert as around £284,029, there’s a tempting
it really is: harsh, bleak, forbidding case to sell up and live like a king or
and magical. Setting out from Wadi queen elsewhere. Palolem, in Goa,
Rum on spirited Arab horses (riders India, is a palm-fringed crescent beach
should be reasonably experienced where you can rent a thatched hut with
and confident) you’ll head south bamboo beds, bathroom and veranda,
towards the Saudi border, exploring from around £15 a night. With meals
deep canyons flanked by immense next to nothing locally, you could sit
boulders and towering sandstone pretty for 30 years of yoga, curry and
rock fortresses, edging your way sunsets. Other dream-inducing options
along sheer cliffs and galloping include a guesthouse in the medina at
among the dunes and flats on the Essaouira, Morocco, or wooden
best racecourse in the world. En beach huts on Zanzibar.
route you’ll see Bedouin families
who still live as nomads in the desert
with their goats and camels, as well
as historic landmarks described by
Lawrence of Arabia in The Seven
Pillars of Wisdom. Tents for the sixday
trek are fairly basic, and most
holidaymakers prefer to sleep under
the stars with meals served from a
traditional large communal plate.
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