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Khaudum National Park is in the North East of Namibia on the border with Botswana. It is a fantastic wilderness with not many visitors as it is quite remote and anybody going there will have to make sure they have everything they need as the facilities are very limited. A 4x4 is a must! This is all made worth while by the abundance of wildlife and birdlife. Large herds of elephant roam the park and we even spotted wild dogs one morning. Some photos on our trip can be found on www.wildlifephotoandart.co.uk
The Blackhouse village is situated on the Western Coast of Isle of Lewis in Scotland and consists of a few refurbished houses. You can rent one of the houses equipped in a wood burner stove, shower and bedrooms with old wooden bunk beds. The house is soaked with a rustic and traditional atmosphere. The village melts with the beautiful and wild Atlantic Ocean coast landscape. Built from local stones, grass and wood, Blackhouse village is an amazing example of sustainable touristim accommodation. Everyone who loves natural wilderness, the wind smelling of salt and misty pure mornings will fall in love with the place.
Scotland, Outer Hebrides, Isle of Lewis. Take a ferry from the mainland to Stornoway, then drive West to Gearrannan. Stornoway TIC: 01851704500
Stornoway car hire: 01851702658
www.gearrannan.com/
Google map: tinyurl.com/ybtmnow
Big Bend national park was a real eye opener, pretty far from the beaten track and despite its beauty, relatively unknown. Real John Wayne country with a single access road through a wide rift valley. Smoking volcanoes to your left, mountain lions in the distance, cowboy cacti all along the way. Stunningly beautiful, remote and there on the Mexican border near the bottom of the 'bend' is a real oddity... the small town of Lajitas. This is not the place you'd expect to find a town where the mayor is an elected goat (apparently the other candidate was so unpopular they jokingly elected a goat in his place) and the President plays golf at an exclusive, lush green private club.
Loads to do including Kayaking, horse riding, exploring, climbing, camping... an amazing experience that you'll never forget, I'd recommend to anyone and everyone.
Spending a few impromptu September days in this relatively remote surf spot has to be one of my most memorable travel experiences.
Precariously strapping two surfboards to the roof of a taxi, driving some distance south of Essaouira and asking the driver to pick us up in a couple of days (and he showed up on time!) was a true adventure.
The surf was choppy with strong undercurrents, but we had the beach and dunes literally to ourselves. Keep a keen eye out for each other if you attempt this because there are no lifeguards!
We stayed on the "campsite" - a patch of stony ground with trees for cover and a tap. Sidi Kauki doesn't have much by way of facilities, but eating delicious tagine in a hut by the beach was a simple pleasure.
20km south of Essaouira
One of the largest marine parks in Indonesia, consisting of four major islands along with atolls and reefs. High quality diving, uncommercialised so far and given its location, unlikely to be developed hugely in the future. Bring your own dive gear, or just come out, snorkel, relax and experience rural Indonesian island life. Worth every minute of the very long journey.
Take the Pelni ferry out of Makassar. Go for first or second class - for an extra 50,000Rp or so you get a decent and secure cabin. 12 hrs later you're in Bau-Bau. Local ferries run to the Wakatobi, journey time around 16-20hrs: erratic, unsafe and all the rest. The place barely gets a paragraph in Rough Planet type guides, so check out www.wakatobi.org for a good introduction.
Foula wears its five-thousand-year history on its sleeve, and has survived centuries of depopulation and underpopulation until today it is one of the most isolated communities to be found anywhere in Europe.
Located about twenty miles west of Shetland Mainland, in the wilds of the North Atlantic, Foula is THE ideal getaway spot for people who love landscapes, flowers, birds, cetacean life - and who don't hanker for crowds or pubs or fancy restaurants or even shops (because Foula has none of those!)
As well as the highest cliffs in occupied Britain (over a quarter of a mile of vertical rock!), Foula is a delight to walk and explore, and its tiny population of under 30 residents make you feel very much at home. I've been travelling for over thirty years, have visited more than forty countries - and would go back to Foula again in a heartbeat.
For general information go to the Shetland Tourist Board:
www.visitshetland.com
More specific Foula information is here: www.foulaheritage.org.uk/
For a wonderful croft B&B in the stunning north part of the island, contact Isobel Holbourn at 01595 753233; Isobel also has a delightful little cottage available for self-catering holidays.
You have to make an effort to get to mythical Bardsey, dangling off the tip of Wales's Lleyn Peninsula. It's so remote there are no full-time residents, just a summer-time community of farmers and holiday makers. Visitors stay like hermits in long-abandoned cottages with no running water or electricity, and you have to stand in the sea to pick up a mobile signal.
But you also get rare birdlife, fresh lobsters delivered by local fishermen and the kind of deep, utter peace you're hard pressed to get anywhere else in the UK.
Bardsey is about two miles off the tip of the Lleyn Peninsula in north Wales.
The blue cave on the small island of Bisevo, not far from Vis. At midday, sunlight enters the cave through a submarine opening and makes the water glow the most beautiful shade of blue.
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