LUXURY AFRICAN SAFARIS
You’ve been there and done that. You’ve travelled well and you’ve travelled far. And now you want to do things differently. Well, our unusual holidays take you off the beaten path – and they keep on going.
Unusual – for us – isn’t about being a voyeur. It’s about really getting to grips with a very different way of life. Let a Mongolian nomad teach you how the eagle soars. Build your own igloo in Greenland’s endless North. Batten down the hatches as you sail across the arctic. This is all about the weird and wonderful.
Ultimately, these are truly tailored trips executed with flair, fun and flourish. Nothing is presumed. Least of all you.
In the far corners of the Bayan-Olgii region, Kazakh nomads traverse the plateau as their ancestors did before them. Goats wander, gers are packed and unpacked, milk is served, eagles sore, communities move to fresh pasture. The cycle continues. This is one of the most remote and unchanged communities in the world.
Local legend says that whilst a man trains the eagle, the eagle trains the man. On this trip you’ll live the legend – learning the struggles and the euphoria of this way of life. The highlight will come when you ascend the Altai Mountains themselves, where your Great Eagle Hunter host – and guide – will show you how the community supports and sustains itself. You’ll become truly embedded in this alternative way of life.
Open your eyes – and your heart – and step inside an ancient tradition that’s still very much alive and kicking. And soaring, of course.
It’s an early morning start. You’ve eaten breakfast, sipped bleary-eyed at your coffee. A last check of your bag and you head north, passing local communities where farmers are harvesting coffee beans and children run alongside you whispering with excitement about your destination and the mythical hosts you’ll meet.
There’s nothing usual, even to the locals here in Volcanoes National Park, about coming face to face with the region’s most unusual inhabitants. The jungle is dense and mysterious, everyone’s energy is high with anticipation. It’s one of those moments you can see coming but don’t know what to expect.
What does it feel like to look back 10 million years? How will you react once sitting within feet of the Great Apes as they peer back at you? You can’t be sure before you go. One thing that is for sure though: a single journey into the jungles of Virunga can change your life.
You’re traditionally dressed, trained and educated in the way of one of Japan’s most ancient ways of life. There’s your moment, the story you’ll bring back. Born from half-man, half crow, the history and presence of the Ninja in Japan is mysterious and at times otherworldly. For over a thousand years the Ninja have been deployed for their espionage and strategy, to infiltrate, understand and – when needed – assassinate.*
Today, their descendants continue in this meditative, progressive way of life. Without the killing. But they do know their way around a sword.
You’ll meet your Ninjutsu teacher at the sacred Dojo – a place of learning and peace. Here you’ll be taken on a journey through the history of the Ninja and learn to think, breathe and fight like these infamous warriors of ancient Japan.