Saddle up for Patagonia
ADVENTUROUS horsemen can cross the Andes on an epic eight-day ride across the Patagonian and Andean steppes. It certainly isn’t a picnic. Your mounts are packhorses and you’ll be in the saddle for up to eight hours a day, fording rivers and leading your horse up the steep terrain. You’ll camp overnight in two-person tents.
The rewards: the sight of magnificent gorges, canyons and volcanoes, glimpses of eagles and condors, sleeping under starry skies, and swimming in lagoons and hot springs. Two days will be spent riding at the Estancia Huechahue before the trek.
Fourteen-day packages with flights from the UK, transfers, and tented and estancia accommodation with some meals cost from £3,195.
Equine Adventures (0845 1306981, www.equineadventures.co.uk).
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At the sharp end
The search for a long-lost tribe of spear-carrying hunter-gatherers reputedly living in some of the world’s deepest limestone caves is among the objectives of a Scientific Exploration Society (SES) expedition this November to Meghalaya on India’s mountainous northeast frontier.
A team of self-funding volunteers aged from 18 to 70 will also undertake research into the strains of malaria suffered by members of the Lingum tribe in the remote village of Riangmaw, where a previous SES expedition installed a solar-powered water supply in 2003. Volunteers will pay £2,600 for the 16-day expedition, which leaves on November 8. The price is fully inclusive, except for flights to Calcutta.
Scientific Exploration Society (01747 854898, www.ses-explore.org).
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Grand Folie
CV Travel’s Morocco collection includes some of the country’s most luxurious properties. Most intriguing is La Folie, in Tangier. The 1940s apartment for two has been restored to its former glamour, with lavish colours, paintings, a candlelit garden and “magic door” above a beach. The weekly rental is £670-£940 — the price includes airport transfers, but not flights.
Farther south, the Kasbah du Lac at the water’s edge between the snowcapped High Atlas and the Sahara comes with a heated pool, tennis court and a chef who prepares Moroccan and French dishes from mainly organic produce. Sleeping up to ten, the property costs from £3,250 a week.
Morocco fans should also look out for the opening in February of the five-star La Sultana hotel in Oualidia, near Casablanca — the fishing village is described in one guide book as “stunningly picturesque”. Five nights’ B&B at La Sultana with flights start at £755.
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CV Travel (0870 0623412, www.cvtravel.co.uk).
Go west
Forget the Ryder Cup — for the moment. No teeing off, wedging or putting guaranteed on family breaks in the Emerald Isle from April. Instead there’ll be surfing, horse-riding, sea-kayaking, seal spotting and beach barbecues on the five-day breaks travelling by 4WD along the west coast’s beaches and hidden trails, and over the mountain passes. There’ll also be a boat trip to Bere Island, a drive around the little-known Beara Peninsula to explore the castles, and stops for a goat fair and several pints of Guinness (adults only). The minimum age is 5, the price £499pp for transport and B&B, but not travel to and from Ireland.
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Adventure Company (01420 541007, www.adventurecompany.co.uk).
Skye high
There are only two human residents on the remote Island of Rona, off the north coast of Skye, but there are countless otters, deer, seabirds and seals that call it home. The crofting population left in the 1940s and the island is owned by a Danish ecologist who is bringing Rona back to life by restocking it with a herd of Highland cattle and other wildlife and restoring the three ruined crofts around the settlement of Dry Harbour. You reach them on an hour-long boat journey from Skye and a 20-minute tramp over the hills.
The cottages, which sleep up to four, come with open fires and en suite bedrooms. They cost from £425-£550 a week to rent up to September 22, from £350-£425 from September 23 to October 20 and there is an additional charge of £50 per booking for the ferry trip.
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Ecosse Unique (01835 822277, www.unique-cottages.co.uk).
Plant finders
Horticultural enthusiasts are in for a treat if they head for Chiang Mai this winter. The northern Thai city will host a 92-day floral exhibition housed in the 80ha Royal Agricultural Research Centre.
The exhibition will celebrate the 80th birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest-serving head of state.
The floral statistics are awe-inspiring — with 2.5 million plants on display from 30 countries, including 50,000 plants representing 10,000 orchid species from all over the globe. The exhibition will run from November 1 to January 31. Pettitts can get you there on a 16-day Spirit of Siam tour costing £2,420pp for flights, B&B in first-class hotels and sightseeing.
Pettitts (01892 515966, www.pettitts.co.uk).