Wild Frontiers Blog

Below you find on-the-road blog entries from our intrepid staff and tour leaders. This exciting, new idea will give you day-to-day updates on everything from best hotel bedrooms, eclipses in Mongolia to life on the streets of Pakistan and Tibet! So read, enjoy and be inspired to join them...

Displaying blog entries 1 to 5 of 89

I write this while sitting in the Saharan back of beyond under a nearly full moon.  Now day four and we’ve already seen some magical sites having just flown down from Tripoli last night.  Leptis Magna – the best preserved Roman city outside of Rome – provided a mesmerising insight into the lavish lifestyles of those commanding an empire. Then we headed off to the second of the three ancient cities Sabratha, well known for its intricate mosaics.  After various outings into the souq of the old city, searching for Gaddafi posters and the less interesting Libyan flag, we flew last night down to the southern town of Sebha.  While travelling, we quickly realised the big ‘G’ didn’t write a chapter on airport efficiency in his Green Book – written to aid the command of any socialist empire.  We have now set up camp, are sitting around in our Tuareg dress – Ashuersh head dresses looking a little more like a turban with a chin strap – waiting for our presumed Libyan dinner of local soup, meat with couscous and fruit salad.  There are excited whisperings from the group as rumours circulate that dinner will follow the same format as all our other meals.  Food is being delivered as the temperature drops and I need to get more clothes.  Soon I have the luxury of snuggling up under the stars next to Stanley.  Fortunately there’s lots of space, as those who know Stan would realise.  Updates shall follow, adventures in the Sahara still to come. 

Well, It's all happening here!

Having flown past the panarama of the Himalayan snowline and then weaved our way in through the mountains to touch down at Paro Airport, we made straight for Thimpu, the capital, to catch the last day of the young King's coronation celebrations and were rewarded with a wonderfully colourful display of masked dancing and other displays in the new stadium built for the occasion. The performances were rounded off with the Labay Labay dance, the arena filled with hundreds of beautifully clothed Bhutanese chanting, stepping and swaying to this very atmospheric traditional ending of festivities, the newly crowned King amongst them as well as the magnificently attired ladies of the royal household.  Then there was archery to watch, the teams competing  with both traditional cane and extremely modern high tech bows, and again the very handsome and charismatic young King was present.  So one way and another everyone in our group ended up with a photo of the world's youngest monarch.

The next excitement was tackling the climb up to the famous Tiger's Nest monastery perched on it's precarious rock face; the weather was wonderful and the photos should be brilliant.  We were a very happy band of Wild Frontiersmen-and-women that evening, some surpassing all their expectations by making it to the top.

And today we are back in Thimpu, again surrounded by colour and festivities to celebrate the 5th King's birthday.  Visiting the Dechenphodrung monastery this morning (where Wild Frontiers helped the Shuxiong Tibetan Schools Fund to clothe and robe 500 little monks) we spent some time in the temple attending the annual service held on this day.  It was again a  highly colourful occasion, the monks wearing their festive orange robes, chanting to the background sound of the great horns, trumpets and bell-ringing.

The nights are chilly, the mornings glistening with frost which rapidly melts in the glorious hot sunshine, not a cloud in the sky.  It was interesting to note the amazement of other travellers, whilst talking to them up at the Tiger's Nest, when they discovered that we travel all the way through Bhutan; it seems that Wild Frontiers are still pretty much ahead of the game out here!

So onwards tomorrow to Punakha, crossing over the Dochu la Pass where we have every chance of seeing the snow capped Himalayan range in this beautiful clear air.  Almost too good to be true!  Thanks for making it possible.

Right now I am sitting on the platform at Kota railway staion awaiting the Golden Temple Mail that will carry me back to Delhi. A sweet chai in hand I watch the hustle bustle of india going about its daily routine: hawkers  advertising their wears in load shrill voices, porters struggling beneath unimaginable loads, excited children running to and fro and lying like the dead amongst it all sleeps a row of  sadhus. How good it feels to be back.

I am actually here to lead a new horse trek from Jhalawar to Bijaipur, our favourite haunt in these parts. On the night of the full moon the fish god, matsya, will be reborn  thus giving India's holy rivers and venerated lakes cleansing powers. At Jhalawar, as at Pushkar, a huge festival occurs to celebrate the event with thousands of traders bringing their wares - camels, horses, and cows - to sell and barter in the town square.

But with a few days to kill before they arrive I decided to travel down to Bundi with JP Sharma - our award winning guide and main man in India. A remarkable person in many ways JP has just opened his own hotel here which he wanted to show off... And for good reason. Converted from a derelict haveli, situated just below the palace walls, it is now one of the prettiest boutique hotels I have ever seen. Last night we sat on the rooftop terrace and drank a few beers listening to the sound of the mischievous maacac monkies playing on the palace battlements high above. Frustrated by some agencies' lack of ability to grasp our brand of true off the beaten track tourism, JP has helped us open our own office in Delhi and we had much to discuss. With it we aim to offer a better service at a better price... Exciting times we feel.

Our train has just pulled into the station. So a seven hour journey beckons, back to Delhi and work. I am looking forward to it; I can imagine nothing better than two weeks' riding through the beautiful Indian countryside, camping at night in luxury tents or staying in palaces with yesterday's royals. This is where India really comes alive, and I love it.

As it was often pointed out to our little group of five friends, we were incredibly lucky to have been granted permits to visit the Nagas in the Tirap region of Arunachal Pradesh, north east Assam.  But on arrival in Guwahati we first headed for Ziro in northern Arunachal Pradesh, to visit the Apatanis and were blessed by an invitation to a marriage ceremony early the following morning.  I had imagined we would be fortunate to see one or two older Apatani ladies still wearing noseplugs and was thus thrilled to be enveloped in a procession of over 100 colourful ladies carrying baskets of rice as gifts for the married couple, nearly all of them with noses splayed out by noseplugs and many tattooed.  There followed a party which became ever wilder as quantities of rice wine was consumed and we were obliged to join in the dancing!  The feast included fried hornets and other very interesting local delicacies!

We then had rather a time of it trying to cross the great Brahmaputra River which was hugely swollen by recent rain, so the ferries were not running, and eventually managed to hire a boat to carry us and our two vehicles - leaving thousands of poor locals still sitting on the bank - for fear of sinking under their weight.  A night in a tea garden bungalow set us up for the rigours of Kohnsa, from where we visited various Naga villages and were privileged to be shown the skulls of their head-hunting days. Although mainly Christian, their way of life in that area remains very simple, their culture pretty much intact and a great atmosphere of harmony prevailing in the communities.  Log drums, tattoos, a variety of shapes and styles of bamboo houses,  all quite fascinating and worth the hours of bumping around on very rough roads and pretty basic accommodation.

Down in Nagaland the situation was vastly different; the further south we went, the more modern the lifestyles.  The morungs have mostly disappeared and the logdrums look oddly out of place amongst brick-and-mortar houses with pretty gardens, the hilltop villages crowned by enormous Baptist churches and the younger members of the communities making good use of their mobile phones.  But here too the Nagas maintain their traditions through their festivals.  Out come the cane and bearskin helmets decorated with boar's tusks and magnificent headdresses supporting great arcs of hornbill feathers.  The drumming, the chanting and the ritual dancing means much to them and they wear their forefathers' armbands and baskets decorated with the hair of their trophies with pride.

Arriving back in Addis feels like a warm embrace and fills me with promises of seeing old friends, drinking (too much) whiskey in jazz clubs, and indulging on some excellent local cuisine and a few cups of the ‘black gold’.

Ethiopia is without doubt one of the most amazing countries I have visited and worked in.  Despite the decades of bad press and realities of poverty and environmental issues – being a traveller here offers so many positive and great experiences. Even better – tourism is one of the fastest growing components of economic development.

I am leading some of the many great Wild Frontiers trips in this amazing country– the Northern Explorer, Christmas Explorer and finally culminating in witnessing the annual Timkat Festival in January.  Ahead of us awaits some great adventures: trekking in Simien Mountains, exploring the historic site of Axum (homestead to the Legendary Queen of Sheeba and final resting place for the true Ark of the Covenant), visiting remote rock churches of Tigray and finally mule trekking in Lalibela.
 
Mesay (local guide), Anwar (driver) and I (tour leader) are ready to hit the road and share our enthusiasm and knowledge of this great country with the 12 WF travellers arriving in the morning. Cant wait to get back in the field!