Great People running Great Trips

January 27, 2014 Red Hunt Leave a comment

Over the last couple of years I’ve noticed more and more travellers starting to offer their own tours.

This is a great, natural progression for people who are experts in their travel destination or a specific skill set, such as photography. I wanted to give some of these people that I know a shout out, as their niche efforts and passion go beyond what some large-scale tour operators can offer. These trips are all about passion and sharing special experiences, without cutting costs to improve the bottom line. Now some of these people have been running tours for many years, while others are brand new.

I’ve worked with, travelled with or become friends with all of these people, so they all get my personal stamp of approval. Take a look at them all if you want to experience something different than the typical tour groups.

Photography Tours for Travellers

If you’re into photography, this first one is easy for me. I’ve travelled with many fantastic photographers and learned a lot over the years. Back in 2005 I spent a month overlanding in Africa. Photographing the wildlife was my passion (and still is). Before that trip, I’d known Ewen Bell by email as we worked with similar travel companies, so I knew it would be a treat travelling with him.

His style of photography goes beyond the landscapes and natural world, as he has an ability to connect with the people in places he visits. I’ve never been one to photograph people, but have often been amazed by his photos.

Oh, and if that isn’t enough he is a solid writer as well and has won numerous photography awards, including Travel Photographer of the Year from the ASTW.

Check out photos, tours and workshops by Ewen Bell at: ewenbell.com/tours and www.photographyfortravellers.com

Travel Blogger Hosted Tours

Typical Village in Kenya — The type of rural village you’ll see in Kenya on a tour with Dave & Deb

Switching gears a bit, there has been a rash of travel bloggers getting into the tour game recently. Among them all, the ones I like most are the trips being offered by Canadians Dave and Deb, known as The Planet D. What separates them from most other travel blogger trips I’ve seen recently is their level of professionalism and the range of skills they bring along as an added-value to your trip.

One problem with committing to a trip with a new company or individual is that you may not have have any guarantee of services if something goes wrong. Large tour companies are members of organizations like ABTA, IATA, TICO or PATA. You don’t need to know what these acronyms mean, but they’re essentially regional or international associations that often require members to be financially stable and responsible. In some cases funds from members go into a pool so that if a business goes bankrupt, you’re not stranded in some foreign country.

Why am I mentioned all of this now? Well Dave and Deb are based in Ontario, Canada. As such they need to have a licensed tour company that is a member of TICO running their tours. They teamed up with the good people at The Travel Society, to create their tours and adhere to all local regulations. Such safety measures vary greatly across countries, and even provinces or states within countries. If you’re going to book with a local / small company be sure to ask if they’re licensed to actually sell travel services and what happens if something goes wrong on their tour.

For Planet D, Thailand, Kenya and Switzerland are up first on their tour list. Their personable nature, great photography and ability to turn their blogging into a successful business with many great partnerships shows how dedicated they are to doing things right. You can expect no less from their tours.

Check out The Planet D tours at: theplanetd.com/travel-and-tours

Moscow scene — A touristy image in Moscow, let Masha show you the non-touristy highlights

Uncrowded and Untravelled Asia

I worked with Masha for many many years at one of the big, global tour operating companies. When I went to Russia in 2012 she was the first person I thought of when asking for some tips and advice. That’s her speciality – not just Russia, but Central and Northern Asia – oh and SE Asia too of course. But it is her passion, knowledge of, and experience in leading tours and organizing tours to places like Iran, Russia, Mongolia and the “Stans” that make her trips special.

She has been a tour guide and has also ran the operational / logistical side of things for tours in these areas for many many years, so she knows how to create the best trips out there.

I expect her new trips to be full of amazing meals, lots of laughs and local expert “inside” information.

To learn more, head over to itsjourneytime.wix.com/journeytime or visit her Facebook page.

Have to Add Some Local Flavour to this List

Tour Guy Jason guiding some beer lovers around Toronto

Local travel can be just as fun and rewarding as hopping on a plane and stepping foot on foreign land. When it comes to fun day tours and adventures around Toronto, look no further than Tour Guys Toronto.

I’ve taken their Beer Makes History Better tour and learned plenty of beer factoids, as well as some interesting Toronto history. It was fun, involved beer, and was led by a great guide. As these tours are short, that guide aspect really is a key component to their success. Having great, knowledgeable and enthusiastic guides makes a big difference. Now if beer isn’t your thing, other tours around Kensington Market, or their When Pigs Fry tour are great options.

If you’re visiting Toronto, or have friends coming into town and want to suggest some ideas for them, then send them to Toronto Tour Guys. The Tour Guys also run trips in Vancouver.

Check them out at: www.tourguys.ca

Bootcamp Challenges and Pure Travel

Starting a fire, Maasai Style — Aaron from Original Trails, starting a fire, with some Maasai help

From Ethiopia to Tanzania and Nepal to Cambodia, Original Trails offers up some of the most carefully crafted custom tours and ethical adventures out there. Aaron and Aparna who run the company are big supporters of helping local communities and giving back to the places they visit. They call it “Pure Travel” and it shines through in everything they do.

They also run great fundraising trips and bootcamp challenges for people to make it to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro or trek the Inca Trail. If you need a dose of inspiration and personal challenge with your travel, check them out.

Original Trails tours are found at: www.originaltrails.com

I’m lucky to have travelled with, worked with or become friends with the people running these tours. It really is worth seeking any of them out, as they all run specialized tours in places that they’re passionate about. It’s not just about making money for these guys and gals, it’s about making the most of your travel experiences.

Travel Photos

Wildlife Photo: Ruddy Mongoose

January 1, 2014 Red Hunt Leave a comment

This Ruddy Mongoose was seen one morning during breakfast, looking for it’s own meal in a field near the hotel I was staying at. The farmed area around the hotel created an ideal habitat for living and hunting for this mongoose.

Most mongoose are more common in foothills, fields and farmed lands, but this mongoose species generally prefers more forested and secluded areas. Along with the Indian Gray Mongoose and Striped-Neck Mongoose it is one of the most common species in Sri Lanka. What makes this one stand out as a different species is that the tip of it’s tail is black!

Endemic to Sri Lanka and India, the Ruddy Mongoose (full scientific name: Herpestes smithii zeylanicus), as with all other species, is carnivorous. It hunts mice, rats, snakes, scorpions, lizards, eggs and just about any other small creatures it comes across.

While not endangered, this mongoose is generally considered a pest animal in Sri Lanka, but tolerated as it helps control the population of unwanted rodents.

Travel Articles

I Went to Machu Picchu and Had a Good Time

December 29, 2013 Red Hunt 2 Comments

I finally caved in and went to Peru and Machu Picchu.

Happily, I must say that I enjoyed it and had a good time. The reason for enjoying my time in Peru? Spending it with good people, slowing down my travels to take more time for photography and avoiding the larger groups and crowds.

The required Llama at Machu Picchu photo

Avoiding Peru for 8 years

While most people put Machu Picchu high on their travel list, I aggressively avoided it for almost a decade. You see, 9.5 years before I finally went I started working for a (then small) tour company called Gap Adventures. The company grew every year and I watched more than 100 colleagues and co-workers over the years travel to Peru, show me their photos and exclaim how amazing Machu Picchu and the country of Peru were.

During those years I wrote tour itineraries, newsletter stories and website articles about Machu Picchu nearly every month. I answered phone calls from travellers and sold trips to people who were convinced that I’d hiked the Inca Trail, as I knew it all by heart and could envision the entire trip in my mind. Blah blah blah…start at Km 82, blah blah blah…Dead Woman’s Pass…blah blah blah…Sungate. I knew all the trails – The Lares Trek, Salkantay Trek, Classic Inca Trail and more. Peru was a permanent fixture around the office and as the company grew and stories kept pouring in, I lost all interest in visiting.

Cusco in Peru — Cusco, or Cuzco, was actually quite a bit of fun – tasty Alpaca steaks and craft beers

I felt like I had spent an eternity in Cusco and hiking in the Andes to see Machu Picchu. Visiting Machu Picchu became as exciting to me as watching an inch worm slowly make it’s way across a tree branch. (Actually inch worms seemed more interesting.) People I worked with started to simply assume I’d been to Peru and seen Machu Picchu – it practically became a requirement that your first work trip was to Peru.

The country, the experience, “Peru” itself had become a commodity over those years. I mean we used to brag about sending more people on the Inca Trail than any other company. We had trips laving every day, supported a weaving project for women in the Sacred Valley, we trained porters to guide tourists on the Inca Trail, our offices in Cusco and Lima had more staff than many other adventure travel company’s had at their head office – Peru was everywhere and everything.

Taking a break at Moray, Peru — Taking a break at the interesting site of Moray after biking around the Andes Mountains in Peru

Being freed from the daily Peru onslaught

Almost 8 years after selling those first Peru trips, I parted ways with the now not-so-small tour company called G Adventures and never made it to Peru.

After being freed of the incessant barrage of Peruvian information I slowly started to gain a bit of wonder about Peru. I mean it did create many life-changing experiences for travellers year after year, going by the emails and testimonials I used to receive. There had to be something special about Machu Picchu perhaps?

Alpaca yarn colours — Alpaca yarn. The bright colours are dyed with chemicals, whereas the duller colours are dyed naturally

Fast forward a year and, as fate would have it, I ended up winning a trip to Peru with another company called Intrepid Travel.

Heading to Peru, by way of the Galapagos

I had a new job and new freedom, life was good. So after living down in the Galapagos Islands for a while, a (free) side-trip to Peru seemed like a no-brainer. I could finally judge for myself what this Machu Picchu place was about, without actually having to spend much to get there. I was able to keep expectations low.

I had a great time in Cusco, eating Alpaca steaks and mountain biking around the Sacred Valley. I hooked up with two other travellers for a short 3 person tour to Machu Picchu and I think it was the ideal experience. It didn’t feel like a group trip, it was like we were just 3 friends who hired a guide to show us some towns and bring us to Machu Picchu. If I was going to like Peru, this was the way to do it.

Finally Visiting Machu Picchu

After about a week in Peru it was finally time to see what all the fuss was about. Time to head to Machu Picchu.

A drizzly, overcast day greeted us, which was actually great as it meant we didn’t have to get up quite so early to take the bus to Machu Picchu. (That “watch the sun rise” at Machu Picchu dream isn’t often a reality as the mountains are commonly shrouded in mist and clouds early in the morning.)

Wayna Picchu at Machu Picchu — View of Wayna Picchu in the clouds at Machu Picchu

My little group of three had a couple hours of touring around the Machu Picchu ruins before parting ways with our guide and having the place free to roam as we wished. We slowly walked around the site, visiting the Inka Bridge and many popular spots, waiting for the heat of the later morning sun to start to burn the clouds away and unveil Machu Picchu, Wayna Picchu and the entire mountain area.

I passed by a couple of G Adventures groups, and thought how lucky I was to be sharing this place with just a couple of new friends, for some reason the people in those groups weren’t smiling and didn’t seem as enthused about Machu Picchu as my two travel buddies. I think, perhaps, they must’ve hiked the Inca Trail and spent the past two days hiking in rain and sleeping in flooded tents. Any Inca Trail hikers I ran into that day told me they had wished they had skipped the Inca Trail as the weather had been terrible.

The Inka Bridge at Machu Picchu – looks safe, right?

And so, after a couple more hours it came time to head back to Machu Picchu Pueblo for a late lunch. I’d been satisfied with my time at MP. I took photos, I enjoyed what I saw and I was happy it happened. It wasn’t as magical as some people made me think it would be, but I imagine that is because I’ve been to many other amazing places and my preference has always leaned towards wildlife destinations.

My favourite part of walking around Machu Picchu? Spotting a couple of lizards, some llamas and small rodent things, similar to Chinchillas!

Still, I was super happy to visit Machu Picchu. Unlike the Galapagos Islands, it isn’t high on my list for places to return to – I can understand, however, that it has a big impact on many travellers who appreciate the history, culture and impressive setting of the “Lost City of the Incas”.

Feeding some Alpaca Huacayos in the Andes was even more fun than seeing Machu Picchu

Travel Photos

Wildlife Photo: Polar Bear

November 27, 2013 Red Hunt 2 Comments

Polar Bear in the Davis Strait — My first wild Polar Bear sighting, off the coast of Greenland

There are places in the world where Polar Bears are commonly seen, but they are few and far between.

Churchill, Manitoba during the right season in Canada, plus Wrangel Island in Russia and Svalbard, Norway are all known as terrific places for spotting Polar Bears. Still, a close-up encounter is rarely guaranteed, and sometimes not desired!

Polar Bears are smart, ambush hunters. The Inuit people I travelled with in the Arctic found it crazy that us southerners always wanted to get closer and closer to these powerful, dangerous animals. There are too many stories of Polar Bear attacks and “close calls” from the Inuit – they respect the bears and give them their space. I also learned from the Inuit that a healthy Polar bear will have a slightly yellow coloured fur, not white. So it was good to know this was a healthy bear.

With all that said, many people visit the Arctic without seeing a Polar Bear. Or, with a bit of luck you’ll get an encounter like this, with the bear at a safe distance. Called the “Ice bear” by some, Polar Bears are great swimmers, able to swim hundreds of km. It was a pleasure to spot this one in the Davis Strait after exploring the coast of Greenland for a few days.

Travel Articles

A Royal Resort in a Borneo Rainforest

November 25, 2013 Red Hunt 2 Comments

Royal Mulu Resort – this is the place to stay when at Mulu. It is right on the edge of the park and offers everything you need. Spa services, a pool and up-scale accommodations offer a surprising amount of comfort in a jungle location.

Now when I say it is the place to stay, it is pretty much the only place you can stay right near the park, with the exceptional of the actually Mulu National Park accommodations which include a dormitory room and some nice wooden cabins.

Royal Mulu Resort - Lounge Area — Royal Mulu Resort – Lounge Area

The resort is actually on the edge of the park and just a few minutes walk from a nearby town, where beers are much cheaper and snacks can be had for a bargain price, so you can splurge as much or as little as you want if you stay at the resort. Personally, I thought the buffet dinners at the Wildflower Restaurant in Mulu Resort were great. They had different options each night, including some unique specialities like sea urchin and manta ray. The manta ray was delicious, one of my 10 Surprisingly Tasty Animals selections!)

Gunung Mulu National Park - Pathway at Resort and Dorms — Gunung Mulu National Park – Pathway to Dorm Rooms near the Resort

There was a cafe here that had snacks and ice cream too, which go down really well when you’ve been hiking around in the humid forest all day! This is a muggy part of the world, where you can sweat simply by sitting. The resort has pretty much everything on offer from ATV rides to kayaking and caving adventures that can last for 15 hours. I was kind of sad that I didn’t have more time here as I was only able to choose a couple of the activities and chose mostly to explore the park by foot, which allowed more time for photography….at the expense of not doing some more exciting adventures.

The canopy walk was probably my favourite activity in the park, even more-so than exploring the famous caves. Overall, you need a few full days to explore the park and I’d suggest 4-5 days in case you get some bad rainy weather, which can happen.

It’s not the cheapest place to stay if you do hang out for 4-5 days though, so perhaps splitting your time between here and the park’s dorm accommodations is the way to go. That’s what I did (stay at the dorm first, then splurge at the end). There are tons of hikes around this part of the park, including the Head Hunters Trail and a challenging hike to the impressive Pinnacles – jagged limestone peaks carved out by rain and weather.

Royal Mulu Resort. Stilted Bungalow view. (Hazy picture due to extreme humidity!)

Mulu National Park - Dormitory Room — Mulu National Park – Basic Dormitory Room

I really liked visiting Mulu in Sarawak, Borneo but the only thing I was slightly disappointed about was the lack of wildlife. Aside from small creatures like lizards, geckos, butterflies and bugs, the most exciting thing I saw was some monkeys far away in the distance. If you’re going to Borneo for wildlife, I suggest heading over to the Kinabatangan River for your fix, instead of Mulu National Park.

Red Hunt Travel