Don’t try this at home… (Pt 2)

 Adventure Holidays, Costa Rica Holidays, Nicaragua Holidays, Self drive holidays, Tailor Made Holidays, Travel musings, Walking Holidays, Wildlife Holidays  Comments Off
Oct 012012
 
canopy Dont try this at home... (Pt 2)

Dave is hard at work in Costa Rica, testing out the canopy

 

Unleash your inner Tarzan

Zip Wire. Zip Trek. Zipline. It goes by many names, but it basically involves wearing a rather undignified (and rather uncomfortable to certain areas) harness by which you get attached to a steel cable in order to sail through the upper reaches of the forest. Costa Rica (and, increasingly, Nicaragua) are nuts for it – here it goes simply by the name of “Canopy.”

Depending on your appetite for heights and adrenaline, this is either one of the most fun and exciting things you can do on your trip, or something not to be touched with a bargepole. In Costa Rica you can literally find this everywhere you go, often having been extended to incorporate abseiling / rappelling / hanging bridges / “Tarzan Swing” (you swing attached to a rope hanging vertically) / and sometimes even climbing.

Having tried this out once before (in British Columbia, the home of the concept), I was delighted to see this on offer all over the place. Certainly surprised though to see it even at Tortuguero, given its absolutely flat, sea level location! As Tortuguero is often featured at the start of a Costa Rica trip though, it’s a great chance to have a first taste of the fun for those a little unsure of the benefits…

Don’t try this at home… (Pt 1)

 Adventure Holidays, Costa Rica Holidays, Nicaragua Holidays, Self drive holidays, Tailor Made Holidays, Travel musings, Walking Holidays, Wildlife Holidays  Comments Off
Sep 282012
 
ashboard Dont try this at home... (Pt 1)

Now that's just showing off...

Unless you happen to have a suitably sized volcano in your back garden.

In this Central American realm of mountains, rivers and jungles, it seems there’s no limits to the ways people will dream up to hurl themselves up / down / along / over and through the natural terrain. While some people may look up at an active volcano and admire its form, others feel that the best thing they could possibly do would be to climb to the top. However, what goes up…

But how to come down? For most of us, the logical thing to do would be to walk / scramble back down as best as our feet can carry us. At Cerro Negro Volcano just outside Leon though, they have a different idea in mind – “ashboarding” (aka sandboarding in some places).

This, fairly obviously, involves something akin to snowboarding the descent, although most people invariably end up taking a rather more “posterior-centric” approach – volcanic sand and rocks not being quite so easy to turn on as fresh powder!

So if you’re looking for a speedier way down after having slogged up the volcano, make sure you remember the ashboarding option. They’ll give you some great protective gear, consisting of knee and elbow pads, goggles – and a really fetching boiler suit.

Do take a look if you’d like to hear about more of the Nicaraguan adventures you could have with Pura.

Coming soon to a 3D TV near you

 Adventure Holidays, Cruise holidays, Ecuador Holidays, Galapagos Cruises, Galapagos Islands, honeymoon, Small Group Holidays, Tailor Made Holidays, Travel musings, Wildlife Holidays  Comments Off
Jul 262012
 
boobies Coming soon to a 3D TV near you

You may find the blue footed booby's mating dance more interesting than this particular female did

 

We had a visit this week from a good friend, who represents a range of excellent products across Latin America, including some of our favourite hotels and lodges. He came by to tell us about a new client, the Galapagos Safari Camp, which is a pretty unique offering on the main island of Santa Cruz. Based on the African Safari model, think luxury tented camp with hot running water and an infinity pool.

While looking at his slides, it was a shot of the infinity pool which caught my eye, as there was a familiar figure standing next to it. The distinctive and distinguished silver hair, combined with the destination, proved me right: the great Sir David Attenborough was back in town! (Town, in this instance, being a 9 tented camp in the remote highlands of a volcanic archipelago in the Pacific).

We were delighted to hear that he was in the islands shooting a new Galapagos documentary, to air later this year. A little digging found that this will be a 3D series, proving Sir David is always one to keep at the cutting edge, even in his 80s. So, you heard it here first (unless you follow Sky press releases).

This was terribly exciting news, and I can’t wait to see the show. The only slight problem being I don’t have a 3D TV, or indeed a Sky package. Time to call in some favours…

If you’d like to see the Galapagos and their fearless inhabitants in the flesh, take a look at our handpicked selection of cruises and land-based holidays.

 Older Entries