Inspiration • March 2014
Six boast-worthy travel experiences
Want to impress your friends with tales from your travels? The Club journeyed far and wide to get this pick of ultimate “you’ll never guess what I did” adventures
Laikipia, Kenya
The boast: “I trained in the wild with Maasai warriors.”
You don’t “ooh” and “aah” over elephants and leopards from the comfort of a Jeep when you live with Maasai – you learn how to survive alongside them. At Il Ngwesi Community Conservancy, Kenya’s renowned warriors will show you how to hunt for your food using spears, forage medicinal herbs, track animals and take part in orpul, a holistic meat-eating ritual in the forest. Entertainment is key to the tribe, so get ready to sing and dance, too.
Boast rating: 4.5/5
Åre, Sweden
The boast: “I drove a Porsche 911 on a frozen lake.”
Driving an iconic sports car might be enough of a brag, but to crank it up, why not take to the wheel of a specially kitted out 300-brake-horsepower version and master slaloms on an ice-covered lake in Åre, northern Sweden with Below Zero? Fact alert: top racers like Kimi Räikkönen perfect their driving skills on frozen lakes.
Boast rating: 3/5
St Barts
The boast: “I recorded a track on a console used by John Lennon.”
Put the star in rock star at Eden Rock in St Barts. The butler-serviced, 16,000sq ft Villa Rockstar has a state-of-the-art recording studio that is home to the same vintage console that John Lennon used to record Imagine. Grammy-award-winning producers, who worked with Michael Jackson and Madonna, are even on hand to help get your creativity flowing.
Boast rating: 4/5
Nizhny Novogorod, Russia
The boast: “I flew at G-force in a MiG jet fighter.”
Sokol Airbase, a five-hour drive east of Moscow, offers one of the only commercial fighter jet rides on the planet. After a medical test, safety briefing and suiting up, you climb into a MiG-29, before a pilot loops and rolls the jet to 18,000 feet, travelling faster than the speed of sound. If you have a pilot’s licence, you can take over the controls for a few minutes.
Boast rating: 5/5
Baffin Island, Canada
The boast: “I went diving in the high Arctic.”
Swap coral reefs and tropical fish for icebergs and whales in Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada’s largest, northernmost territory. Under silent skies and 24-hour sun, Mantis eXtreme’s expedition is only available in the Arctic summer – you stay in an ice camp, taking daily dives to see narwhal whales, seal holes and the Arctic sea floor. An Advanced Diving certificate is required.
Boast rating: 4/5
Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
The boast: “I went to Cowboy College.”
Saddle up for a Western adventure at the Arizona Cowboy College, where you’ll learn how to be a cowboy (or girl) in Scottsdale. Real ranch-working cowboys will teach you how to lasso (note, the official term is “roping”), round up cattle, trek on horses and brand calf, with a chance to camp under the stars in the Sonoran Desert.
Boast rating: 3.5/5
This article has been tagged Adventure, Travel Tips