Put your “Paws Up” and relax in Montana

by Tom Johansmeyer on

The Resort at Paws Up is among the most unique in the country, occupying 60 square miles along the Blackfoot River in Montana. The property boasts 10 villas of more than 3,000 square feet, not to mention smaller houses and canvas suites (i.e., luxury tents). This unusual destination, which offers a variety of outdoor experiences, is offering a few deals to the fall … as if you needed even more reasons to go.

Book a three-night stay by August 31, 2009, and you will receive three meals a day for two people and a $250 credit per room-night toward your choice of wilderness adventure (does not include spa services and some fishing programs). ATV touring, fly fishing, horseback riding and clay shooting are among the activities in which you can participate while enjoying Paws Up, and a stop at the spa, even though it’s not included in the package, isn’t a bad idea.

If you need to put the stress of the city behind you for a bit, Paws Up is the place to do it.

Unleash your underwater hunter on the Snake River

by Tom Johansmeyer on

When the pressure cooker of daily professional live is about to squeeze the last out of tolerance out of your body … go fishing. From what I hear, there are plenty of those meals-waiting-to-happen in the Snake River, and is there a better way to feel good than catching and eating a fish? Okay, you can probably tell that I’m not a fisherman (did it once 20 years ago and thought it sucked), but I can see how some people are into it.

The Teton Moutnain Lodge & Spa has teamed up with Grand Fishing Adventures to get you a kickass fishing getaway. It’s only good through October 15, 2009, so you’ll want to move on this. For just over $2,000, you get four nights in a King or Queen room at the lodge, two days of private guided fly fishing (with equipment and transportation), lunch for your fishing days, dinner for two and breakfast every day. So, even if you don’t catch anything, you’ll still eat like a king. And, if you need more to do, take advantage of a free seven-day pass to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone.

Even if you aren’t a fisherman, this is still a pretty interesting deal. But, if you like to take part in underwater hunting, this deal is a steal.

18 unique travel experiences for the well traveled

by Kraig Becker on

So you think you’ve been everywhere and done everything? Is their something missing when you travel these days? Is the sense of adventure gone? Never fear, because the Times Online has compiled an interesting list of 18 unique travel experiences that are designed to give us a special experience on our getaways.

The suggestions on the list run the gamut from adventurous to decadent to down right surreal. For instance, if you’re headed to southern Africa, then you might want to stay with the bushmen of the Kalahari Desert, where you’ll have the opportunity to go on an initiation hunt and spend the night in their village. If that seems like you might be roughing it a bit too much, than perhaps you’d prefer to spend the night on a private island and go sailing off the coast of Croatia. How about taking an exclusive tour of Nefertari’s Tomb in Egypt, where you’ll be one of just 20 visitors in the soon to be closed monument. Or, how about the workout of a lifetime when you’ll be training with the the toughest rugby team on the planet, New Zealand’s All Blacks, , for one very intense week.

Each of the travel experiences comes with a good description of what you can expect on your unique adventure. A link is included to the travel company that is offering the trip, along with expected prices, in this case listed in pounds. But be warned, these one-of-a-kind experiences don’t come cheap, but how do you put a price tag on this kind of excitement?

Work and play in Queensland, Australia: Aborginial Nature Tour

by Mike Barish on


Many things make Queensland different from the other Australian states, including its tropical climate, the presence of the Great Barrier Reef and the fact that its population is the fastest growing in the country. However, the aspect that intrigued me the most while I was there was its indigenous population. The size of the aboriginal population in Queensland is second only to New South Wales. However, unlike their counterparts to the south, many of the indigenous peoples in Queensland still reside in regional and rural areas rather than urban sectors. Therefore, Queensland offers some unique opportunities to meet aboriginal peoples who have opened their communities to guests in an effort to share their culture and educate others about their land and history.

One such group of aboriginal people, the Kubirri Warra brothers of Kuku Yalanji Cultural Habitat Tours, offer walks in their ancestral home in Cooya Beach. I walked through the wetlands and mangroves with our guide, Link’s family has lived in the region for more generations than he can track. Many believe that Australian indigenous peoples are the oldest surviving civilization in the world, so Link has more of a family forest than just a tree. As we fished for mud crabs, sampled native remedies and trudged through shin-deep mud, I found myself lost in the natural beauty of both the landscape and the aboriginal culture.

%Gallery-66208%

Cooya Beach is located just north of Port Douglas in North Queensland. The still waters and dense mangroves make the region feel even more tropical than the other lush areas of Queensland, and I very quickly realized why we were offered bug spray upon our arrival. Even during the “dry season,” the air (and mud) feels thick and sticky in Cooya Beach. Somehow, though, the quicksand-like nature of the mangroves and the unique flora only added to the sense of adventure that I felt as Link guided us through the land that his people have foraged and hunted for centuries.

As we walked, Link we point out plants that his people have used for medicinal purposes, including berries that excrete a solution so similar to saline that it is used as eye drops. Perhaps the most intriguing example of living off of the land that Link demonstrated was his people’s affinity for licking the rear ends of Green ants. Why lick an ant’s behind? Because they expel a tangy secretion that tastes refreshingly like a combination of lemon and lime. My curiosity piqued, I grabbed an ant off of a nearby tree and followed Link’s simple instructions: “Lick its butt.” It did, in fact, taste remarkably similar to the aforementioned citrus fruits. I’d happily create a line of Green ant excretion salad dressings if it wasn’t for the anticipated marketing difficulties.

We walked down the coastline and through the tidal pools that showed evidence of rays having been in the sand when the tide was in earlier in the day. Within these snow angel-shaped divots often reside mud crabs. Carrying long, slender wooden spears, we followed Link while poking in small pools and holes, waiting anxiously for a crab to grab a hold and challenge us to a game of tug-of-war. A large mud crab makes an excellent addition to any barbecue, and we were all anxious to find one of our own.

Gradually, we approached the beginning of the mangroves. The mud below us began to get wetter, looser and less stable. Our feet sank in deeper and, as we struggled to extricate ourselves from our sinking terrain, each step made the sound of a fork entering a bowl of creamy macaroni and cheese. The mangroves, unlike the tidal pools, were a serpentine maze of trees, above-ground root structures and mud that seemed clingier than some of my ex-girlfriends. Within the mangroves, Link pointed out mussels that, to our untrained eyes, were seemingly undetectable. I stared down at the ground, determined to find one and prove my hunting skills in some capacity.

After 30 minutes in the mangroves, our legs were covered in mud, we had all suffered a near slip and Link had single-handedly outscored us 6-0 in the mussel collection department. I couldn’t help but marvel not only at Link’s aptitude at distinguishing flora and fauna in this ecosystem, but the pride that he exuded as he taught us about fishing and hunting in these wetlands as a child. He explained that he was never formally taught any of the techniques that he was demonstrating for us. As a child, once he was old enough to keep up with his father, uncles, cousins and older siblings, he simply followed them out into the mangroves and mimicked what they were doing. As if through osmosis, he learned how to contribute to his family.

As my mind wandered to thoughts of what it must be like to grow up in this habitat, maintaining a close relationship with the same land that your ancestors hunted thousands of years ago, I was knocked back into the moment quite literally when I tripped on a root and had to grab hold of a nearby tree to keep myself from falling face-first into the mud. Serendipitously, however, that root was sheltering a mussel. As I looked down to see what had nearly caused me to become fodder for a humorous anecdote over drinks later that night, I saw my trophy mere inches from my foot. Victoriously, I grabbed the mussel and showed it off to the rest of the group. I had found sustenance.

We made our way out of the mangroves thanks to Link’s uncanny ability to distinguish differences in seemingly identical collections of trees and roots. One could easily lose themselves in the mangroves for hours, as disorientation seems to be the norm once you get a few feet inside the densely packed mud forest. We walked back down the coastline, poking at more holes in a desperate attempt to find a mud crab before our time with Link was over. Sadly, we would not feast on mud crab that day. I told myself that Link probably didn’t catch a crab the first time he followed his elders into the wetlands. I used that as my rationalization as I struggled once again to remove my foot from the ever-sinking mud below me.

We returned to Link’s home where he showed us various types of boomerangs that were used in different hunting environments. He also had a collection of shields and native artwork that he explained in great detail. There was something about hearing the stories from Link that felt very natural. It dawned on me that aboriginal history is steeped in oral traditions and storytelling. The indigenous people’s ability to speak in great detail about their heritage is magnificent, and we seemed to hang on Link’s every word. As day turned into night and the heat and humidity gave way to a gentle sea breeze, our time with Link drew to a close.

I’ve been on countless tours around the world and few have been as enjoyable as my time in Cooya Beach. This was more of a cultural immersion than a tour, and it is something I would recommend to anyone visiting Queensland.

To extrapolate that point into a more general sense, I would recommend that you always seek out tours that allow you to experience a way of life rather than just observe it. Learn a craft. Shadow a artisan. Or simply walk where people have been walking for thousands of years. Just make sure you don’t lose a shoe in the mud.

Mike Barish spent a week in Queensland, Australia on a trip sponsored by Backpacking Queensland to see how backpackers find employment and entertain themselves down under. He’ll be sharing what he learned about the logistics of working in Australia’s Sunshine State and the myriad activities that young travelers have at their disposal. Read other entries in his series HERE.

Adventures in the Amazon: Fishing for Piranhas

by Kraig Becker on

As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts, the Amazon Rainforest has an incredible diversity of wildlife. There are literally hundreds of different species of birds, amphibians, and mammals, and that doesn’t change when you go beneath the surface of the Amazon River, where more than 3000 species of fish dwell. Fish like the pirarucu, which can reach ten feet in length and weigh over 400 pounds, or the payara, which can also grow quite large, and have two distinctive fangs on their lower lip. Of course, the best known fish in the Amazon is none other than the piranha, which has a mean and nasty reputation, despite its relatively small size.

While that reputation is well deserved, it has also been highly exaggerated by Hollywood as well. The fish is definitely aggressive, and their sharp teeth can inflict plenty of damage, but attacks on humans, or larger animals for that matter, are a seldom occurance, and rarely fatal. One thing Hollywood did get right, however, is that Piranhas do tend to travel in large schools, which has only enhanced the idea that they are organized and efficient killers.

On one warm, and especially humid, morning while I was in the Peru, I found myself aboard one of La Turmalina‘s skiffs, along wtih a dozen others, edging our way deep into the Amazon backwaters. At times, the jungle was so thick that we had to break out a machete in order to clear a path for the boat. We were in search of a calm, open patch of water that would make for a good fishing hole, and since it was the high-water season, the fish had retreated far from the main channel.

%Gallery-63881%Eventually our guide indicated to the driver to stop, and they were soon handing out our sophisticated fishing gear which consisted of long wooden branches, which served as poles, with fishing line running their length and a medium sized hook on the end of that line. Chunks of beef were added to the hook, and would serve as bait for the hungry fish.

Our guide quickly demonstrated the process of attracing a piranha by dipping the end of the pole in the water and thrashing it about just below the surface. Apparently, this attracts the fish’s attention just before we drop the bait into the water, and it seemed to work, as it wasn’t long before several of us were getting tugs on the end of our line, tell-tale signs that the fish were biting.

The legendary aggressiveness of the piranha was on fine display that morning, as they were making it a habit of stealing our bait without having the common courtesy of joining us in the boat. The little fish would hit fast and often, and sometimes they would clean off the hooks without any of us even knowning. In fact, at one point, I drew my hook from the water to find that it was completely clean once again. This incited a round of chuckles from three of my fellow fishermen, whose lines dangled in the water right next to mine. I told them that they shouldn’t laugh until they had checked their own lines and upon inspection, all three of their hooks were clean as well.

Eventually we did start to get the hang of it, and began to haul the piranhas on board. Most were no more than six inches in length, but their razor-like teeth were constantly on dispaly, reminding us how they got that nasty reputation. I personally managed to catch three of the silver and orange fish, plus a “talking catfish” so named for the hisses and squeels that he made after I pulled him from the water. Over the course of the morning, nearly everyone else managed to catch at least one fish as well, much to their delight.

Later, back aboard La Turmalina, the ship’s cook would fry up the fish we caught and serve them as part of the evening meal. Most of my fellow passengers passed on trying the Amazonian delicacies, but those of us who opted to sample them, found the piranha to be quite tasty.

Our morning of piranha fishing turned out to be one of the most enjoyable of the trip. It was incredibly fun, and a bit surreal, to be fishing for the predatory fish while surrounded by the waters of the most powerful river on Earth. Afterall, how many people can say they caught, and ate, a piranha?

Next: Dolphins at the Confluence

Read more Adventures in the Amazon posts HERE.