Articles tagged “adventure travel”

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New 650km trail set to open in South Africa

by Kraig Becker on

A major conservation effort is underway in South Africa, where a new trail is set to open in 2010 that will become the first truly epic, long distance, hike on the continent, stretching from the West Coat of the country to the Outeniqua Mountains, covering 650km in the process.

Known as the Rim of Africa, this new trail follows a natural route through the mountains of South Africa, and has been designed to integrate with the natural surroundings, while protecting the local plant and animal life. The hike will pass through several nature preserves that are currently seldom visited, and will wander across privately held property, giving backpackers access to areas that have seldom been seen by outsiders in years.

Based off such long distance hikes as The Appalachian Trail and the The Continental Divide Trail, the Rim of Africa will eventually take roughly 48 days to complete. The plan is to offer four distinct stages, with each stage requiring approximately 10 to 12 days. But when it opens in October of next year, it will take a more modest 11 days to hike the first section. The first three treks will run from October 4th to October 15th, October 11th to the 22nd, and finally October 18 to the 29th of 2010. These will be used as fundraising hikes to help complete construction of the trail, and you can sign up to take part in one of those inaugural treks on the trail’s official website.

It looks like adventure travelers and backpackers will soon have a new item to add to their life list. This looks like it has potential to be an amazing hike, but you have to wonder though, will there be lions and other African predators around? That would make it even more challenging!

[via Best Hike]

The Longest Climb: from the Dead Sea to the summit of Everest

by Kraig Becker on

Many adventurers are driven to go to extremes. They visit remote places and seem to revel in the challenge and suffering that goes along with those expeditions. Back in 2006, a team of climbers from the U.K. took that philosophy to new limits, when they set out on an expedition that began at the Dead Sea and ended on the summit of Everest.

The team began their adventure at 1385 feet below sea level on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan, where they climbed aboard their bikes and proceeded to ride all the way Everest Base Camp on the Tibetan side of the mountain. The journey took more than six months to complete, and they faced about every type of weather imaginable along the way.

Upon reaching Everest, their challenges were just beginning of course. They still had to face the tallest mountain on the planet, and all of the difficulties that that entails. In the end, they reached the summit, located at 29,029 feet, having chalked up 30,414 feet of elevation gain along the way.

To get a taste of their journey, check out the video below, as the team goes from the lowest point on Earth to the highest, completely under their own power.

Virgin Galactic preps SpaceShipTwo

by Kraig Becker on

Virgin Galactic continues its march toward bringing space tourism to the (wealthy) masses and is reportedly putting the finishing touches on SpaceShipTwo, the vehicle that will take adventurous, and well heeled, travelers into sub-orbit. According to this story from the Telegraph, test flights are scheduled to begin in early 2010, with regular flights getting underway in 2012.

SpaceShipTwo is the second stage of a planned orbital delivery system. The first stage, dubbed WhiteKnightTwo, has been conducting test flights for a year, and will carry the smaller craft up to 50,000 feet. Upon reaching that altitude, SpaceShipTwo will detach and engage its own rocket engines, which will propel its passengers up to the edge of space at speeds exceeding Mach 3. Once there, the rockets will cut out, and those on board will have the opportunity to experience true weightlessness for s a brief time.

According to Virgin Galactic, more than 300 people have already payed the $200,000 ticket price to take the flight. Presumably that will include luggage fees that are all the rage with the airlines these days. Another 82,000 have expressed interest in taking future flights as well.

It appears that 2012 will be a milestone year for space tourism, as that is when the first space hotel is scheduled to open its doors too. Of course, the combined cost of hopping a flight on Virgin Galactic and spending a few days in that hotel will set you back a cool $4.6 million, but the view will be spectacular.

Coming Attractions: Iran

by Sean McLachlan on

My first night in Tehran, reeling from a 55 hour bus ride from Istanbul, I staggered into the closest restaurant I could find for some dinner. The waiter was very curious to see me and we chatted a bit. I quickly found my mediocre Arabic was useless in this Farsi-speaking nation and we got by in what limited English he could muster. After dinner I went up to the register to pay and the cashier said, “Never mind, your waiter paid for you.”

“Wow, that was nice! Where is he so I can thank him?” I asked.

“He’s gone home already.”

That was my first sample of Persian hospitality.

It’s a casual, instinctive form of hospitality. They don’t make a big show of it like in some countries. Instead the Iranians have an intellectual curiosity about the outside world and feel a genuine warmth to outsiders.

Wait. . .Iran? That country with the leader who denies the Holocaust and wants to build nukes? Yeah, that Iran. I’ve been to more than 25 countries and I’ve never seen such a difference between a people and their government. The regime is crap, no doubt about it (there goes any offers of a press trip) but the people are something else. In a month I never got an ounce of attitude, not even in the mosques and madrasas (religious schools). One director of a madrasa even confided, “I wish the government didn’t force Islam on people. It turns people away from the faith.”

To anyone brought up on Western television, Iran is a constant series of surprises. It’s quite safe and is home to ten UNESCO World Heritage Sites, easily accessible via an efficient system of clean, modern buses. Top sites include the old Persian capital of Persepolis (where the guard gave me a tour in Italian because it kinda sounded like the French I tried on him), medieval Armenian churches, and the mosques of Isfahan, simply the most beautiful Islamic city I’ve seen.

There’s a saying in Persian, Isfahan nesfe jahan, “Isfahan is half the world”, and it certainly gave me half of my best memories of Iran. The mosques, with their cool blue tiles and sleek minarets, are as soothing to the eye as the city’s lush gardens. Perhaps it’s because so many Iranian buildings are made of bare concrete that Isfahan creates such an awesome contrast, but I spent days admiring the architecture. Isfahan is also home to many traditional crafts, their stores divided into separate streets in the customary fashion of the Middle East. The carpet bazaar was as much of a visual treat as the mosques, but the coppersmith’s street, while having traditional appeal, is not a place to go while nursing a headache. A hundred guys hammering away at metal lacks any cultural interest at that point.

Oh, and the food’s good too, especially if you have a sweet tooth. The Persians are big on desserts. I wish I could remember the name of this one concoction made with ice cream topped with honey and walnuts, topped with whipped cream, and then another layer of ice cream topped with honey and walnuts and whipped cream. . . and on and on to the top of a dauntingly tall glass.

Get there

While there are no direct flights from the U.S. or Canada to Iran, there are numerous flights from all major European hubs. Or you can try that horrible bus route I took from Istanbul. It’s grueling, but you get to see many long miles of rugged Anatolian and Persian scenery on the way, and meet lots of dodgy money traders too. One guy offered me $7,000 cash for my Canadian passport. I have to admit I was tempted, but the idea of being without a passport and having to lie to Iranian cop kept me honest. It’s even possible for U.S. citizens to get visas to Iran from the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Pakistani embassy in Washington, DC. Read the website carefully, though, as there are lots of restrictions.

Coming attractions: Tomorrow’s next big destinations

by Grant Martin on

Don’t you wish that you would have gotten in on that vacation rental property in Barcelona before the Euro and the depreciated dollar? Or jumped in on that investment in Costa Rica before the cruise ships brought the Central American country to its tacky, souvenir-decorated knees?

Hindsight at 20/20 is a cruel, cruel mistress, and as one gleans the profits that savvy investors can make in an up-and-coming country, it’s hard not to think about destinations that are at their respective tipping points of tourist attention.

Oracles we are not, here at Gadling, but we have spent a fair amount of time on the road visiting those off-the-beaten path destinations — those places to where few westerners travel and where many can still score a great deal on a dirt cheap vacation. As many of us believe, these are the true gems of the road — where it’s still possible to grab a beer in a restaurant surrounded by locals, buy trinkets really made by indigenous artisans and stay in a stranger’s guest house for free.

Starting with Sarajevo, Bosnia yesterday and Iran today, we’ll take you on a brief tour through lands not far off the radar — places where not too long ago it was forbidden or outlandish to think of a visit. Hopefully with our help you’ll consider them for your future travels. You can follow along through next week at this link.