In praise of Scottish Sun!

A few weeks ago I wrote about the delights of walking in sunnier climes at this time of the year. On the evidence of my recent week in the far north, Scotland can be added to the list. 

Ben Stack

Handa Island Bird Reserve

I was staying at Kinlochbervie, just a few miles south of Cape Wrath. It's a great area for walking, with Foinaven, Arkle and Ben Stack on your doorstep.   For me the particular attraction of this area is the constant presence of the sea, with sea lochs penetrating far inland.
There are excellent coastal walks, islands to visit and several good bike trips, including the bumpy track to Cape Wrath.

This area is worth visiting at any time, but you usually get more than your share of wind and rain. So in April, with record rainfall for most of the country and widespread flood warnings, the unbroken sunshine for a week was remarkable.

Self Drives in Costa Rica and Namibia

In the past two years, Footloose has seen an increase in our tailor-made self-drive trips to Costa Rica and Namibia. Both countries are perfectly safe to travel around independently, when there are two or more people travelling together. And even though some may be initially hesitant when we mention self-drive, people are usually persuaded by the flexibility and independence a trip like this can offer. You can start the day whenever you want, stop wherever you want, chat to local people, or just sit in the sun for while. 

Costa Rica Central Highlands

Most of the Footloose clients who visit Costa Rica fly to the capitol San Jose, visit the turtles in Tortuguero and then pick up their 4WD car. The standard hire car is a Bego and big enough for two people, whilst the roomier Rav offers more space for larger groups.

 Coming from a country where everyone drives on the left, you will have to adjust to driving on the right hand side, but many people will have had some experience on the European continent or in the States.

 All the roads are well sign-posted and the drives should not be longer than around 3 hours a day, depending on the stops and detours you make. The one major road, the busy Interamericana,  from Nicaragua to Panama runs right through the middle of the country. The only road that can be a bit hairy is the last stretch up to Montverde in the cloudforest, where you will have to navigate a few boulders, but as you will be driving a 4WD, this shouldn’t be any problem.

 Although the driving instructions you are given are very clear, good road maps are hard to come by, and a GPS is highly recommended. There are no exact street addresses, and the locals usually refer to landmarks to point you in the right direction – and just to make things more confusing they sometimes refer to landmarks that no longer exist. 

Namibia Landscape 

 In Namibia you can either go on a lodge or camping (pop up tent on the roof) self-drive. Namibia is a lot more rugged and desolate than Costa Rica, but you drive through amazing scenery. The only surfaced roads are the ones that link the major towns so for most of the time you will be driving on dirt roads. Sunglasses are highly recommended because of the glare and you can spot the big potholes more easily - and driving with open windows is not a good thing unless you want to be covered in dust at the end of each journey.

 The driving distances can be long, but the scenery is breathtaking and it’s highly likely that you will encounter some wildlife as well. Ostriches, giraffes and warthogs are the most common ones, but finding elephant and rhino dung in the middle of the road can also add to the excitement.

 You will always be given a Nissan Hilux 4WD or similar vehicle, a big beast which will easily cruise over potholes and the sand in Sossussvlei. In a country like this where you can easily drive for a few hours without seeing anyone, people always ask what happens if they break down in the middle of nowhere. Strangely enough, you’re never alone though, because passing cars will stop and assist you, or someone will appear out of nowhere to see if you need help. You’ll have been provided with a local mobile phone so there is 24 hour back up.

 If you like independence and flexibility, this is a great way to travel. All your accommodation is booked, so all you have to do is to turn up at the right place on the right day. Lunch at an interesting roadside restaurant, a few hours quietly watching wildlife, a walk for a few hours to see what’s over the hill – all this can be done because you are in charge!     

How safe is your money?

The world of air travel has changed unrecognisably over the last few years. Budget airlines, the internet, climate change and fuel prices have all played a part. One immediate effect of this is that there are no fixed fares – every fare is the best deal you can find on the day. Passenger numbers have not increased by much but fares have gone up as airlines have reduced the numbers of flights. Taxes and charges (which include fuel supplements, airport charges, UK taxes and destination taxes) have all increased so that they are often more than the basic fare. The ease with which tickets can be bought on the internet, and the deals available, mean that getting flight tickets through a travel agent is becoming uncommon.

At Footloose we now usually only sell flights as part of our packages. All these changes mean that there is much confusion amongst the public about whether their holidays are protected if their travel company fails. The whole area of holiday protection is very complicated, with different bodies covering different types of holidays. To add to the confusion, the Civil Aviation Authority (the main regulatory body) has introduced a new type of cover – Flight Plus, which “is designed to offer the consumer greater financial protection, as well as improve clarity on which elements of their booking are protected”.

Whether the public will understand this is a moot point, but the CAA is committed to a big educational programme to get the changes across to the consumer. The single biggest improvement is that travel companies will have to issue a certificate to their customers to show clearly how the protection works for each booking.

Improvement it may be, but there is still confusion. In their wisdom the CAA will not cover people who just buy a flight, so if the airline goes bust you lose your money. There is also no cover under this scheme for those who buy their own flight and then buy the tour or hotel from another company, which is a very common way of doing it these days.

Footloose covers all this with a combination of a trust account and insurance, so our clients are totally protected. If you are booking this sort of holiday remember to ask some very specific questions about this!

In Praise of Winter Sunshine

Tenerife,Costa Blanca, Mallorca are all great holiday spots, and the aspects that make them great – sunshine and cheap flights – together with fantastic mountains, make these wonderful areas for out of season walking. You can add in a few other places as well like Morocco, Madeira and Crete and there is enough winter sunshine to last a lifetime.

Arriving in Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands, you are greeted by the expected sprawl of hotels along the coast but with glimpses of high mountains rising beyond. The highest, Teide, is technically the highest in Spain and often has a snowcap. The whole island is volcanic, so the landscape is dramatic and unique with recent lava flows, spectacular rock formations and sand deserts. Pine forests cover the middle slopes, giving an unexpected softness to the landscape. If you’ve been to Iceland it will be familiar, but there are trees and sunshine!

On my recent visit we had great walks among the lava and on some of the lower peaks,
following marked paths. There are reasonable maps and several walking guide books with route descriptions that sometimes need a little imagination, but generally it’s all straightforward. Car hire is cheap and you can reach most parts of the island in an hour. There are two airports, North and South, which have relatively cheap flights from many UK airports. A huge range of accommodation is available in these two areas, but with a bit of searching you’ll find pensions and small hotels in some of the mountain towns and villages.

The island adjacent to Tenerife is La Gomera, probably better known for its walking. Most visitors follow an inn-to-inn circuit of the island and, for my money, this is
always the best way to organise a walking trip. La Gomera does not have the same dramatic landscape as Tenerife, but it does have far, far fewer people, so this is the place to head if you are after some peace and quiet.

Footloose has many group walking trips to all the Canary Islands, Southern Spain, Mallorca, Madeira, Crete and Morocco, so please contact us if you would like more
information.

Spitzbergen Cruise

Coming in to land in Longyearbyen, Svalbard’s bleak main town, we were swallowed up by the thick damp mist. After the incredible blue and white vistas as we flew over the mountains of Svalbard, the town looked dismal and grey. It’s not exactly attractive at best – a sort of wild west shanty town, but I soon began to understand the fascination of life just a few hundred miles from the North Pole.
The access by sea, the wildlife, the mineral deposits and the nearness to the north pole has given a long history of whalers, hunters, explorers, miners and speculators and their marks are everywhere, from lonely hunters cabins, cairns on isolated headlands to the vast Russian coal mines. Uniquely, the archipelago is designated international territory by treaty and many countries have established a foothold, often as a research centre. The Indian Polar Institute may only be a large shed, but it’s probably the coldest part of India!
The warm welcome as we boarded our ship, the Academik Vavilov, a Russian ice hardened research ship, cheered us up and we looked forward to brighter weather next morning. There was no dawn as it never got dark, and the mist hung as heavy as before. We headed out of the fjord and turned north, with snow capped peaks appearing and then tantalisingly disappearing again. Several hours later we turned up a fjord and took the small zodiac boats to a glacier snout. In the mist this was extremely impressive, with a surreal atmosphere of menace.
The next day we celebrated crossing 80 degrees north and the clouds began to lift. With the sky now intense blue, we took several walks along the shores and into the hills, astounded by the natural beauty of snow peaks, glaciers and bays full of sea ice. The rich wildlife of the area became apparent, with whales, polar bears, walruses and seals making daily appearances. The Gulf Stream pushes warmer water north here along the west coast of Svalbard’s main island, Spitzbergen, bringing life-giving food and making this area by far the most northerly open water in the world.
The ship itself was one of the stars of the trip, workmanlike but comfortable and supremely good for this type of exploration. The travel company Exodus, who had invited me on this trip, have used this ship for years in the Arctic and Antarctic. Next year will be its last, as it is being replaced by a newer more efficient ship. The crew were multinational but mainly Russian and together with the mix of the expedition staff and the eighty tourists, we managed more than twenty nationalities. The diversity prize was probably won by the expert in Polar history who came from Argentina. The depth of knowledge of the expedition leaders was remarkable, and their evening talks were some of the highlights of the trip.
I was expecting the trip to give me some amazing wildlife experiences and it did – sitting beneath cliffs teeming with birds, looking into murky water at a whale’s skeleton, the iconic polar bear – but what I had not expected was the truly stunning landscape and the fascinating culture and history.

There's more information about this trip and others here: http://www.footlooseadventure.co.uk/polar.html

Wildlife and development

The Serengeti is perhaps the most well known of the great African game parks. The sight of the great herds of wildebeest and zebra as they move in search of new grass has enthralled people for years. This migration has been possible because of the huge size of the Serengeti, extending north into Kenya and the Masai Mara National Park. Here the seasons and the vegetation are different, giving year round grazing.
The spectacle of the migration and the sheer number of animals has made the Serengeti world famous and underlined its importance, so when the Tanzanian President announced last year that a road was to be built across the reserve there was a huge outcry. The road is to improve access to the west of Tanzania to help trade and development in a poor part of the country, but it cuts across the middle of the reserve, and more importantly, across the route of the migration.
Thus began the classic standoff between a country trying to look after its people and the world wildlife community trying to look after animals. Battle lines were drawn with the President staking his reputation on it, aid agencies threatening to withhold money and wildlife experts warning of the end of the Serengeti.
Compromises have begun to appear as the aid agencies promised help with a road to the south of the reserve and the President promising that only essential supplies would use the new road. The Government then announced that the road would be downgraded to gravel – this despite the fact that it never stated that it would be tarmac.
The solution must be some sort of compromise – would you be happy on safari knowing that it was only possible by keeping the people of West Tanzania in ongoing poverty? The problem was summed up well by Paula Kahumba, Executive Director of Wildlife Direct: “ I think we need to re-frame our approach if we are to win the hearts and minds, and the involvement of Tanzanians must be genuine and fair. If we are to save the Serengeti from the threats that it faces, we need good science and we must listen to the voices of Africans. So maybe it’s a wild idea but why don’t we start thinking creatively about building a road that serves both the wildlife and the development needs.”While this dispute rumbles on in the north, a similar confrontation has started in the south. On the far southern edge of Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve, one of the biggest in the world, uranium and other valuable deposits have been found. Since mining is not allowed in the reserve, the simple solution has been to move the reserve boundary. UNESCO has been very upset by this and has threatened to remove the reserve’s international status. So again it’s a question of valuable income for a poor country or protection of wildlife – a question which will be asked frequently around the world in the future.

http://www.footlooseadventure.co.uk/tanzania.html

Traveller's Attitudes

Traveller’s Attitudes

A recent survey has shown a small but significant shift in attitudes to travel and holidays. A few years ago the reasons given for travelling were usually along the lines of “personal challenge” and “so that I can impress my friends”. This is now more likely to be “to enrich my life” or “to give something back”. The main reason for this shift seems to be an increasing awareness of environmental damage and global warming, leading to a greater sense of community. The recent global financial meltdown has also played a part. Hopefully this is a sign of the end of the “grab it for me” attitude of the last decade.

These results do not come from a lightweight survey. The result came from 256 travel companies in 51 countries representing 10 million travellers. This is one of the issues we are discussing here at the Adventure Travel Summit in Brazil. I was invited as a tour operator by the Brazilian Tourist Board as part of their programme to develop tourism in Brazil. There are huge opportunities for interesting and rewarding trips here, and you’ll see some of them on a new Brazil page which will be added to our website soon.