JanuaryBe amazed by what the world has to offer!

It’s a heavy climb, but very worth your while!

Ever dreamed of soaring through the Jungle like Tarzan?

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Machu Picchu Peru

Gibbon experience Laos

and so much more

1E JAARGANG | 1E EDITIE

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Machu PicchuPeru

It’s a heavy climb,

but very worth

your while

PeruLanguage: Spanish

Currency: The Nuevo Sol

Visa: Tourist Visa can be obtained at the border

Capital: Lima

How to get there:

Get a bus or plane to Cusco from Lima

When in Cusco take a train to Machu Picchu or if you do

the Inca trail you will have a several day walk to Machu

Picchu

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The Inca Empire sure has left some

magnificent heritage. 2430 Metres above

sea-level stands the Historic Sanctuary

of Machu Picchu. It’s situated in almost

otherworldly environment, in the middle of a

tropical mountain forest nearby the Amazon

river. Machu Picchu inhabits a rich diversity

in flora and fauna an is seen as an ultimate

example of a good relationship between

humans and nature. Here we can find a

developed road and trail system, agricultural

areas but also signs of biodiversity

preservation.

Must ExperienceTrekking to Machu Picchu is an experience you’ll never for-get (in your head and your legs!). The Inca Trail is probably the most famous one. This tour is very popular, so earlybird booking could definitely be of benefit. You can take a 2 or 4-day hike, which takes you to the Andes Mountain Range and multiple well-preserved Inca monuments (alongside Machu Picchu itself, of course). See www.incatrailreservations.com for more information on

permits and booking.

Another famous route is the Salkantay Trek, incidentally named one of the 25 best treks by National Geographic Adventure Travel Magazine. Unlike the Inca Trail, the Sal-kantay Trek is open to everyone and does not require a permit. The trek guides you across the snowy mountains to the rainforest. The environment is a bit rougher, the paths a bit more untrodden. The perfect walk for a true adventurer, you might say!

It’s also possible to hike up the Machu Picchu mountain, but don’t forget to buy a ticket in advance. It’s a heavy climb, but very worth your while. www.salkantay.org

Want to protect your feet from soreness? Travelling by train is also an option. Make your reservations as far in advance as possible, as the train tickets can be sold out very quickly.www.perutreks.com/machu-picchu-by-train-1-day.html

Some place

Some other place

The Gibbon Experience is an adventurous

journey through the jungle of Northern Laos in

which you will search for the Gibbon (ape). The

Gibbon is an endangered ape species, which

lives in the protected Bokeo Nature Reserve.

Must ExperienceSoaring through the jungle

If you want to spot the Gibbons you can live like one for a few days by booking the Gibbons Experience. You can book two types of trips the Classic and Waterfall. With the Waterfall Experience you go deeper in the jungle.

With both trips you will meet at a small village at the entrance of the jungle and then you will enter the jungle. Once you get into the jungle you go soaring through the jungle on zip lines. From these zip lines you have stunning views, sometimes these zip lines are placed at a height of 60 meters. You can get a private tree house and sleep there for a few days. Local people will guide you and give you more information about the jungle. Every day food is provided which is made from local products.

Must SeeSpotting Gibbons

Early in the morning you can hear (and if you’re lucky spot) the Gibbons. The Gibbons produce a very unique sound which is beautiful to hear. A unique experience to wake up to! Guided by locals this is one to put on your bucketlist.

More information or booking can be done here:www.gibbonexperience.org

TIP: Book your trip well in advance since the tours are with relatively

small groups.

The Bokeo Nature Reserve was established by the Lao Forestry Authorities and Animo with a practical approach and no external funds. It consists of 123,000 hectares of mix-deciduous forest in a mountainous terrain ranging from 500m to 1500m in elevation.

The Bokeo Nature Reserve is rich in biodiversity, birds, insects, and mammals including populations of black gibbons, bears, tigers, and migrating populations of wild buffalo and elephants.

Animo was given a government mandate in 2004 to protect this rich asset of Northern Laos that borders the Nam Ha Protected Area.

Ever dreamed of soaring

through the Jungle like Tarzan? In Laos it is

possible!

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GIBBON EXperiencelaos

LaosLanguage: Lao

Currency: Kip

Visa: Required

Capital: Vientiane

How to get there:

Get a bus or a slow boat at Luang Prabang

Take a bus from Chiang Rai (Thailand)

TIP for Huay Xai:

Visit the Daauw Home a shelter for Women Empo-

werment. You can contribute to the local economy by

staying over night (for a few euro’s per night) and get to

know local people.

great place

great people

Some other place

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Eco-TouringFarewell Spit

The Farewell Spit lies at the northern end of

the Golden Bay and offers dreamlike beaches.

Situated at the extreme northern tip of the South

Island, Farewell Spit stretches more than 30

kilometres into the Tasman Sea and is an area of

outstanding natural beauty. The Maori name for

the spit is Onetahua, meaning ‘heaped up sand’.

Farewell Spit has been a bird sanctuary since the 1930s and provides a home for over 90 bird species. Bar tailed godwits, knots, curlews, whimbrels and turnstones fly around 12,000 kilometres every northern hemisphere autumn to spend the summer here in the south. The spit also has a gannet colony.To guide passing ships, Farewell Spit’s first lighthouse was built in 1869. In the early years the lighthouse site had no vegetation and windblown sand was an ongoing problem for the keepers. Then one clever keeper organised for small loads of soil to be delivered with the mail. He planted a windbreak of macrocarpa pines which are still there to this day. The pines protect the station from the shifting sands and provide a daylight landmark for passing ships.The best way to experience the spit is on an Eco Tour.

as the tide is rising, you

travel to the coastline

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Must ExperienceFarewell Spit Eco Tours

An Eco Tour of the area shows you all of what the Farewell Spit has to offer: stops include Puponga, Fossil Point and the Farewell Spit Lighthouse, as well as Cape Farewell (the most northern point of the South Island), where you’ll find seals and their pups basking on the rocks below.

More information: http://www.farewellspit.com/our-tours/farewell-spit-eco-tour/

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Must SeeWader Watch Tour (sept-apr)

The Farewell Spit offers what all the good spots in New Zealand offer: interesting wildlife. The Wader Watch Tour focuses on the migrant waders: you travel to the coastline as the tide is rising and spend time observing the birds flying in to roost.

Godwits, knots, turnstones and other arctic waders all come in on the Spit from late september until early april. More information: http://www.farewellspit.com/our-tours/wader-watch-tour/

New Zealand

Language: English

Currency: New Zealand Dollar

Visa: Tourist visa can be obtained at the border for most

countries

Capital: Wellington

How to get there:

From Takaka, follow State Highway 60 north to

Farewell Spit.

There is no public transport to Puponga.

Two DOC-approved operators run nature tours to

Farewell Spit Lighthouse.

GREAT SHEEP

GREAT BEACH

GREAT PEOPLE

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