National Geographic Traveler - September 2017 USA

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ROMANTIC

TRAIN JOURNEYS

Away SPECTACULAR ESCAPES

World of Wonders

BURMA & BEYOND Brilliant Adventures

BEST OF BRITAIN Himalayan High

HIDDEN NEPAL Wild on Safari

SOUTH AFRICA

®

EDITOR’S NOTE BY GEORGE!

Moorish arches frame the Alhambra in Granada, Spain.

Nat Geo Highlights TRAVEL ON THE TUBE

HOT SHOTS

Tune in to National Geographic every Thursday night from 6 to 8 p.m. to catch an inside look at some of the most enticing travel destinations on television.

Check out winning images from National Geographic’s annual Travel Photographer of the Year contest, which showcases exceptional photographs of cities, people, and nature. Head to natgeotravel.com to see this year’s entries and download spectacular wallpapers.

MAP MAKEOVER National Geographic’s Visual Atlas of the World debuts on September 19. This hardcover, secondedition book includes more than 200 detailed maps and 350 dramatic documentary photographs from around the globe. Visit shopng.com/books to order your copy.

SUBSCRIBE NOW! Our goal is to inspire our readers to explore the world. For ideas about where to go next, subscribe to National Geographic Traveler at natgeotravel.com.

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hen I’m asked who reads Traveler, I say, “Curious people.” “Curiosity” is our favorite word on the editorial team, and it guides our mission to empower our readers to explore the planet. Curiosity is shorthand for caring about the world and our place within it. And it’s an optimistic quality, because behind every good question is the hope of an answer. Could there be a better expression of curiosity than to embark on a journey? This issue is all about seeking discoveries that bring depth and perspective to our lives. Why? Because when we let our curiosities guide us, we open ourselves to the transformations that travel promises. HOW TO SEE THE WORLD is about capturing meaning when visiting marvels such as the temples of Bagan or the archways of the Alhambra. In this issue, we find spiritual connection on a trek in Nepal, wild wonder along Scotland’s moors, myths and poetry on a traipse through Wales, history (and Jane Austen aficionados) in Bath, creative spark in London’s Shoreditch, and friendly encouragement in Nigeria. To dispel the notion that safaris are beyond the reach of the average traveler, we feature a do-it-yourself drive in South Africa and Swaziland that gives hippos the rare opportunity to observe you in the wild. Curiosity is cross species! It connects us to the world and to one another. Thank you for joining us on our journey. Tell us what piques your curiosity at [email protected]. —George W. Stone, Editor in Chief

CONTENTS AUGUST/SEPTEMBER VOLUME 34, NUMBER 4

In This Issue HOW TO SEE THE WORLD Visiting some of the globe’s most iconic places is easier than you think. We’ll show you how. p. 34 BRITISH ACCENTS From the trendy streets of London’s Shoreditch to the timeless Scottish moors, here are five brilliant ways to explore the U.K. p. 42 DRIVE YOURSELF WILD Take charge of your own South African safari by putting yourself behind the wheel. p. 58 HIMALAYAN HEART The peaks of Mount Everest are Nepal’s big draw, but it’s the people who truly elevate the Himalayan nation. p. 70

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Period costumes are stylish attire for miniature golf in Bath, England (page 42).

COVER: BAGAN, MYANMAR, PHOTOGRAPHED BY MATTEO COLOMBO

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OUR FAVORITE ROAD TRIPS

T R AV E L W I T H PA S S I O N A N D P U R P O S E

EDITOR IN CHIEF

George W. Stone Andrea Leitch DESIGN DIRECTOR Hannah Tak DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Anne Farrar EDITORIAL PROJECTS DIRECTOR Andrew Nelson FEATURES EDITOR Amy Alipio ASSOCIATE EDITOR Hannah Sheinberg SENIOR PRODUCERS Christine Blau, Sarah Polger EDITOR/PRODUCER Lindsay Smith ASSOCIATE EDITOR/PRODUCER Gulnaz Khan PRODUCER Marie McGrory MULTIMEDIA PRODUCERS Adrian Coakley, Jess Mandia ASSOCIATE PRODUCER Caity Garvey DEPUTY ART DIRECTOR Leigh V. Borghesani ASSOCIATE PHOTO PRODUCER Jeff Heimsath CHIEF RESEARCHER Marilyn Terrell PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Kathie Gartrell EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Alexandra E. Petri INTERN Kevin Johnson COPY EDITORS Preeti Aroon, Cindy Leitner, Mary Beth Oelkers-Keegan, Ann Marie Pelish

SENIOR DIRECTOR, TRAVEL AND ADVENTURE

Taking in the beauty of the West Coast down the Pacific Coast Highway to Big Sur, California. My ideal day is an afternoon on Pfeiffer Beach, followed by a cliffside stay at the Post Ranch Inn. —L.B.

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My favorite family road trip has always been our spring break ski trip to Breckenridge, Colorado. The route there from my home in Texas showcases the best of rural Southwest America. —T.S.

EDITORS AT LARGE AND TRAVEL ADVISORY BOARD

Costas Christ, Annie Fitzsimmons, Don George, Andrew McCarthy, Norie Quintos, Robert Reid Heather Greenwood Davis, Maryellen Kennedy Duckett, Margaret Loftus, Carrie Miller, Jerry Sealy

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Aaron Huey, Michael Melford, Jim Richardson, Krista Rossow, Susan Seubert CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

My dream road trip begins in France’s artful Saint-Paul-deVence, threads through green hillsides to the coast, then follows the blue Mediterranean to Saint-JeanCap-Ferrat, where the air is as effervescent as the champagne. —D.G.

Carrie Campbell JoAnne Schultz

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Anywhere along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The slow pace is so relaxing, and there are breathtaking views everywhere you turn. You’ll want to keep driving, but there are too many reasons to stop. —R.S.

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What are your favorite road trips? Tweet us at @NatGeo Travel

FURTHER LO U I S I A N A ROA D T R I P O M O N T R E A L O A ZO R E S O RO M E O EC L I P S E S O M E D E L L Í N O JA PA N O B E ST T R A I N T R I P S

Early Birds PHOTOGRAPH BY RAVIKANTH KURMA

A flurry of avian activity is mirrored on the calm surface of Man Sagar Lake in Jaipur, India. Over time, these waters have overtaken the foundation of the abandoned Jal Mahal palace (far right), a 17th-century sandstone structure that is slowly sinking. Once a royal retreat and duck-hunting haven for Rajasthani elite, the edifice now seems to be living up to its name. Jal Mahal translates to “Water Palace.” Travelers flock to the lake, circling the manor by boat, dreaming of a bygone era of opulent leisure.

Q This photo was submitted to National Geographic’s Your Shot site. Join our international photo community at yourshot.nationalgeographic.com.

EXPLORER’S GUIDE WALKING SAFARI

As a biologist working for the Zambian Carnivore Programme, National Geographic Emerging Explorer Thandiwe Mweetwa tracks and identifies lions in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park using radio signals. Her work helps save the area’s animals as well as their natural bush habitat. Try these tips from Mweetwa on your own walking safari. —Kitson Jazynka

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Stay Safe

Must-Haves

Walking in an area where predators live can be dangerous, so go with experienced guides and follow their instructions. Always stay with your group. Wear clothing that blends in with the environment, and in most cases, don’t run if you encounter a wild animal. Just move away quietly.

Wear comfortable walking shoes, long pants, and a long-sleeved shirt to protect from mosquitoes and tall, scratchy grass. Pack a camera, water, sunscreen, bug spray, and a hat. Bring a walking stick when exploring hilly areas.

2 Look Closely Patiently observe the bush around you. “It’s a different engagement of senses to be on the ground,” Mweetwa says. “You see things you would have missed in a vehicle.” Pay attention to tracks. Mweetwa once reconstructed the sequence of a hunt by following leopard tracks.

4 Study Up Learn about signs that animals leave behind, from an owl feather to dinner-plate–size elephant footprints. If you see fresh hippo dung along Zambia’s Luangwa River, where groups of the grass-eaters live, step away from the water. Hippos are best seen from a distance!

HOUGAARD MALAN, GETTY IMAGES

Walk on the Wild Side

Trek the desert terrain of NamibRand Nature Reserve in Namibia.

G E T C LO S E R T R AV E L W I T H N AT I O N A L G EO G R A P H I C

V E N T U R E TO T H E W O R L D’ S W I L D P L AC E S W I T H N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C . W H E T H E R YO U ’ R E O B S E R V I N G W I L D L I F E O N S A FA R I W I T H O U R E X P E R T S, HIKING THE ANDES ON AN ACTIVE EXPEDITION, OR SHOOTING IMAGES I N M O N G O L I A A LO N G S I D E O N E O F O U R P R O S O N A P H OTO G R A P H Y E X P E D I T I O N , W E G E T YO U C LO S E R T H A N YO U E V E R I M A G I N E D.

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ROAD TRIP LOUISIANA

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Miles: 162

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Days on the Road: 5

If you’re hoping to hear the heartbeat of Cajun country, drive straight to Acadiana. Rooted in French and Canadian heritage, the region became a haven for French settlers who were exiled from L’Acadie (present-day Nova Scotia). Acadiana now encompasses 22 southern Louisiana parishes west of New Orleans. It’s prime road-tripping

Chow down on crawfish étouffée, a Cajun specialty, at Prejeans Restaurant in Lafayette, Louisiana.

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Best Byway Detour: Creole Nature Trail All-American Road

territory, inviting detours to smalltown attractions. Pull over to climb inside a retired oil rig or meditate at a 12th-century Chinese Buddha statue. Tune in to Cajun Radio 1470 AM (1290 AM as you head east)— the go-to zydeco and swamp-pop station—and let the Gulf Coast flavors be your guide. —Kelsy Chauvin

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Most Colorful Stop: Mardi Gras Museum

GUILLERMO TRAPIELLO (MAP). OPPOSITE: CEDRIC ANGELES (PLATE), TAMER KOSELI (ILLUSTRATION)

STOP 1

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STOP 4

STOP 5

In Good Spirits

Spice of Life

Bayou Country

Gone Shrimpin’

Follow the aroma of pepper mash southward to Avery Island and tour the Tabasco factory. Learn how founder Edmund McIlhenny concocted his magic formula in the 1860s, why it became the world’s most popular hot sauce, and the complex process that goes into producing 700,000 bottles of Tabasco every day. Visitors can check out the site’s pepper-stocked greenhouse, journey through a salt mine, and join a Cajun cooking class. Drive through the factory’s adjoining Jungle Gardens to spot birds and local wildlife (including an occasional alligator), and find a few moments of tranquility at the giant 12th-century Chinese Buddha statue enshrined in a pagoda.

Head east on U.S. 90 to Franklin, the seat of St. Mary Parish. On the banks of Bayou Teche, tour the sprawling 1830s-era plantation house of Oaklawn Manor, which offers a sanctuary for bird lovers in its dedicated Audubon room. You may even be greeted by the manor’s resident-owner, former Louisiana Governor Mike Foster. Feel at home in a similar style while lodging at the Fairfax House. Built in 1852 on a sugarcane plantation, it’s now a classic southern-style bed-andbreakfast, complete with restored antique furniture inside and wide porches outside that offer rocking chairs for guests to take in Acadiana’s breezy atmosphere.

Farther east in Morgan City—the site of Labor Day weekend’s annual Shrimp & Petroleum Festival—you can climb to the seawall’s elevated walkway and peek at the Atchafalaya River’s shrimp boats. On historic Front Street, browse boutiques on your way to tour a retired oil rig called Mr. Charlie, where you can see what life is like when you’re working in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. Wrap up your road trip with an overstuffed roast beef and gravy po’boy at Atchafalaya Café, or sample Italian-meetsCajun dishes at the upscale Café Jo Jo’s, serving specialties like crawfish fettuccine and seafood grits.

Kick off your road trip in Lake Charles, marking its 150th anniversary in 2017. First stop: Leonard’s Food Quarters to fill up on Cajun and creole dishes such as boudin, étouffée, and po’boys. Then catch live music at Rikenjaks Brewing Company or at Ember inside L’Auberge Casino Resort, where you can let the good times roll in spirit—or dice. To the east of Lake Charles, sip samples of rum made with local sugarcane at Bayou Rum Distillery, one of America’s largest, privately owned rum distillers.

STOP 2

Local Accents New Iberia is a bona fide hub of Acadian culture. Folks here have drawls as thick as the Spanish moss draping live oaks, and they’ll point you to Jane’s Seafood for crawfish and crabs. Main Street is home to an art deco theater and Books Along the Teche, an indie bookstore that stocks James Lee Burke’s famous Dave Robicheaux detective novels, all set in Iberia Parish.

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A D V E R T I S E M E N T

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES: KENNEDY SPACE CENTER T

here’s an active spaceport where you can let your imagination soar to the stars. A place where dreamers have become heroes, and men and women of courage have challenged the status quo. Inspiration lives at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. See where the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions launched American space travel and took us to the moon. Get close to the rockets that blasted free from Earth’s gravity. Stand nose-to-nose with Atlantis, a real space shuttle that helped build the International Space Station. Hear inspiring stories of NASA’s veteran astronauts at Heroes & Legends, featuring the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame®, an immersive experience about those who blazed trails to frontiers beyond the Earth. With two new programs at the new Astronaut Training Experience® Center, Astronaut Training Experience (ATX®) and Mars Base 1, Mars is closer than ever imagined. In the all-new ATX, participants train to live and work in the harshest environment through exciting and immersive simulation technology. Trainees will hone their docking skills, control exploration vehicles on Mars’ surface, and feel weightless in the frictionless microgravity simulator. Mars Base 1 allows teams of Rookie Astronauts the rare opportunity to manage the Base Operations Center on Mars, harvest vegetables in the Plant Lab, program robots to optimize solar energy intake, and work through challenges of living in such a harsh environment. Kennedy Space Center is where it all began and where the journey continues. The next generation of space explorers prepares for lift off as we reach for worlds beyond Earth’s orbit. History is being made, even now, as rockets are being launched more than ever. Plan a trip and possibly witness a rocket launch and feel the thundering excitement of the quest for human exploration of Mars and beyond.

Start exploring at KennedySpaceCenter.com

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is part of an active spaceport where immersive experiences get you closer to NASA than anywhere else on the planet. See legendary spacecraft up close, shake hands with an astronaut, watch rockets launch from Earth and see where we’ll depart for Mars.

SEE WHERE ROCKETS LAUNCH

MEET AN ASTRONAUT

LEARN WHAT’S NEXT FOR NASA

ALL NEW: AN ASTRONAUT

MiNi GUiDE MONTREAL

“

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I feel at home when I’m in Montreal—in a way that I don’t feel anywhere else.

—Leonard Cohen

View of Rue St. Paul and Nelson’s Column in Montreal’s historic quarter Montreal is on our mind right now. That’s because this year Canada marks 150 years of confederation and Montreal commemorates 375 years since its founding. It’s also the 50th anniversary of Expo 67, the world’s fair that was the city’s international debut. Even though Montreal is celebrating its past, the city is moving forward. The moments are being marked by the launch of a river-to-mountain walkway; the illumination of Jacques Cartier Bridge; and a 197-foot-tall observation Ferris wheel, the tallest in Canada. A certain joie de vivre has made this bilingual metropolis a magnet for artists, musicians (like the late hometown hero Leonard Cohen), and chefs. Creativity courses through the gastronomy that ranges from foraged foods to Haitian cuisine, the boutique hotels that mix modern aesthetics with a classic French flair, and the dozens of festivals devoted to the arts. Right now, this culture hub of Quebec is making noise. —Elizabeth Warkentin

The Hotel St. Paul’s colorful lounge

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n the Golden Square Mile, a downtown neighborhood once dominated by the 19th-century mansions of railway and fur-trading barons, the recently refreshed RITZ-CARLTON (O) has been a site of Montreal grandeur since 1912. Savor French cuisine at the hotel’s Maison Boulud, which overlooks a duck pond, or linger over afternoon tea in the lavish Palm Court. Farther down the street stands LE MOUNT STEPHEN HOTEL (O), a neo-Renaissance former residence. The luxury hotel, which opened in May,

boasts a tower with 90 rooms and sky-loft suites and the opulent Bar George, which specializes in contemporary takes on British cuisine. In Old Montreal an imposing beaux-arts landmark is home to the designforward HOTEL ST. PAUL (O). The minimalist decor is all airy spaces, exposed stone, and furniture upholstered in silks and velvets of golds, fuchsias, and greens. But the pièce de résistance? The lounge, where guests can warm up by the giant alabaster fireplace, built of backlit blocks of “ice.”

Where to Sleep in Montreal

Literary Travels: Montreal by the Book

Lullabies for Little Criminals

The Favourite Game

Black Bird

LEONARD COHEN

MICHEL BASILIÈRES

A young Jewish man roams 1950s Montreal in search of love. This is the singer’s Catcher in the Rye and a heartfelt evocation of the districts and cafés of the city he credited with his “neurotic affiliations.”

Set against the backdrop of the October Crisis, the civil unrest that tore Montreal apart in 1970, Black Bird is the bitterly funny story of a working-class family that symbolizes the city’s mixed cultural genes.

by Taras Grescoe, author of Sacré Blues: An Unsentimental Journey Through Quebec

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O CLASSIC O NEW O TRENDY

HEATHER O’NEILL The tween heroine of O’Neill’s debut novel somehow makes her life in Montreal’s red-light district—now filled with bike lanes and popular bistros—into pure poetry.

COURTESY DESIGN HOTEL (LOUNGE) , REBECCA HALE/NGP STAFF (BOOK); OPPOSITE: © SIMON ROBERTS; PREVIOUS PAGE: © SIMON ROBERTS (STREET), TAMER KOSELI (ALL ILLUSTRATIONS)

BOOK iT MONTREAL

SEE iT MONTREAL

Four Ways to Explore the City Make your way through underground tunnels, or savor a cold brew in a refurbished bank

Museums

Cafés

Parks

Markets

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In May the archaeological Pointe-à-Callière Museum unveiled an underground network that passes through a portion of the old collector sewer, now outfitted with a light installation. Until October the downtown McCord Museum will exhibit “Fashioning Expo 67,” a resurrection of fashion moments from the world’s fair. Leonard Cohen fans should visit the Musée d’Art Contemporain for the “A Crack in Everything” exhibition (opening November 9), honoring the troubadour’s life and work.

“Third wave” coffee bar openings in the past half decade have elevated Montreal’s java scene to new realms. At Crew Collective, in the former Royal Bank of Canada headquarters, patrons can savor a cortado or turmeric latte under 50-foot vaulted ceilings. East End’s Café Falco offers siphon coffee and Japanese eats in industrial digs. And the Lebanese-inspired Café Sfouf pours café allongé, chai latte, and “golden milk,” steamed milk infused with turmeric, black pepper, and honey.

The crown jewel of Montreal’s public parks is without doubt Parc du Mont-Royal. Designed by the landscape architect responsible for Central Park, the almost 500-acre oasis features 13.7 miles of walking and cross-country ski trails and is home to more than 145 species of birds and nearly 20 species of mammals. Parc Lafontaine has a culture focus, with an outdoor theater and Art Neuf, a cultural center/art school. And the forested reserve of Morgan Arboretum is a popular bird-watching spot.

Like most culinary cities, Montreal has plenty of great food markets. Marché Jean Talon, a favorite among chefs and restaurateurs, is a labyrinth of stalls in Little Italy known for its gritty, energetic thrum. Just off the Lachine Canal cycling path, in the Saint Henri area, the art deco–style Atwater Market has been a Montreal institution since 1933. And at the Old Port’s Marché des Éclusiers, an open-air farmers market that began last year, take a shopping break for the music performances.

Misty morning tai chi at the Parc du Mont-Royal

Tasty Trends and Savory Secrets What’s on the menu in Montreal? Tarts, creole ceviche, and lots of wine

Foraged Foods

Creole Cuisine

Worldly Wines

Patisserie Pride

Chef René Redzepi, of Noma fame, became known around the world for his use of foraged foods, but chef Normand Laprise was using foraged ingredients such as mushrooms and wild berries at Toqué a decade earlier. Menu items at Manitoba, in the hipster Mile End neighborhood, are created using foraged fare such as cedar, rose hip, balsam fir, green alder, and white pine. The restaurant’s duck entrée seems as if it’s just a few steps away from a garden in bloom, thanks to the flowering accompaniments of trout lily, daylily, and lavender.

With the largest Haitian community in Canada, Montreal abounds in creole restaurants. Yet apart from Chez Thony in immigrant-heavy Côte des Neiges, most are under-the-radar snack bars. All this changed last year with the opening of Agrikol in the Gay Village. The whimsically decorated restaurant serves creole classics like conch ceviche, maïs moulu (polenta), and accras (malanga-root fritters known as “Haitian beignets”) with pikliz (a spicy slaw), amid bottles of Barbancourt rum and the seductive rhythms of kompa music.

Wine bars are not a novelty in Montreal, but they’re really having a moment. Pullman, which is considered one of the best wine bars in the city, impresses not only with its extensive wine list but also with its chandelier made of wine glasses. At Le Vin Papillon patrons can nibble on vegetarian-friendly bites and order from the wide selection of organic and natural Old World wines created by small producers. Ambitious newbie M.Mme offers an array of more than 650 wines, many of them visible through a giant, glassed-in wine cellar.

Thanks to enterprising artisanal chefs, the city is enjoying a long-awaited pastry renaissance. At Patrice Pâtissier near Atwater Market, customers swoon over the kouignamann, a sugary Breton marriage of cake and croissant. In the Plateau neighborhood, Pâtisserie Rhubarbe is famous for its seasonal rhubarb tart. Master pastry chef Christian Faure’s four-story boutique and cooking school, Maison Christian Faure, in Old Montreal, serves up classics like Paris-Brest éclairs, swirled chocolate croissants, and mille-feuilles.

Artfully arranged dish of mackerel and foraged veggies at Toqué

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© HANS LAURENDEAU/SHOOTSTUDIO.CA

EAT iT MONTREAL

PLACES WE LOVE AZORES

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Geologically speaking, Portugal’s volcanic Azores islands are relative newcomers to the Atlantic. Their closest neighbor, Madeira, had a 60-million-year head start on them. But what the Azores lack in time they make up for in ecology. Over 60 species of plants are endemic to the archipelago, and a third of the world’s cetaceans have been spotted here. Whale-watching excursions out of Pico and Faial islands practically

guarantee sightings: perhaps a blue whale flashing its tail flukes or a rollicking pod of Atlantic spotted dolphins. For those willing to take the plunge, try the bucket-list dive at the Princess Alice seamount, 50 nautical miles southwest of Faial. Here the ocean floor dramatically surges up to 115 feet below the surface. Giant manta rays, schools of fish, and the occasional hammerhead shark treat the submarine peak as a veritable swim-up bar. The Azorean conservation mantra seems to be “layer, layer, layer,” with regional, national, and international programs creating a patchwork of protection. Four of the nine islands are UNESCO biospheres,

and two enjoy World Heritage status for wine and architecture. An all-island geopark protects more than 100 geologic sites, including hot springs, caves, and fumaroles. Each island supports a network of trails and parks. On São Miguel (pictured), postcard-perfect paths rim the island’s blue-green crater lakes, while Pico’s eponymous volcano demands a rigorous climb. The less visited island of Santa Maria is gaining traction as a competitive trail-running destination. Tread mindfully: One errant step could squash an endemic land snail or rare liverwort! —Sophie Massie

Q Places We Love: National Geographic Traveler celebrates the United Nations 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development. For more information on this global initiative, visit unwto.org.

MESSAGEZ.COM

Europe’s Greenest Islands

OFF-SEASON STRATEGIST ROME DECEMBER TO MARCH: No matter the season, there are plenty of reasons to visit the Eternal City. With temperatures well above freezing and relatively infrequent rain, winter is an ideal time to explore the Italian capital’s unparalleled museums, restaurants, and shops.

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CULTURE

DINING

LODGING

FLIGHTS

More Sights, Fewer Sightseers

Buona Cucina

Classical Chic

Getting There

“High season is getting busier and busier in Rome,” says Robert Allyn, Rome resident and founder of Through Eternity Tours. “Visiting in winter means fewer and shorter lines, the chance to see the Vatican Museums without thousands of other people, and visiting limited-access sights like the underground area of the Colosseum, or the Borghese Gallery, even at the last minute.” Allyn also suggests checking out lesser known gems like the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, housed in a private palace, “where you can view the works of masters like Caravaggio, Velázquez, and Bernini without the crowds.”

“There is a strong relationship between seasonality and traditional Roman cuisine,” says chef Fundim Gjepali of renowned restaurant Antico Arco, open every day of the year. His dishes showcase specialty ingredients from the Lazio region such as winter chicory, artichokes, lamb, and cheeses. But if you have to choose just one dish, order the spaghetti carbonara with seasonal black truffle.

G-Rough, a 1500s-era townhouse steps from the Piazza Navona, contains 10 suites with mid-century– style decor, and the staff helps tailor experiences such as Vespa tours and the chance to design a handbag at the Accademia di Costume e di Moda. Sleep like an emperor at the recently renovated, 98-room Hotel Eden, which opened in 1889 and has hosted heads of state and royalty for over 100 years.

Our insider tip for saving some cash on airfare for your romp in Rome? Consider flying on a low-cost carrier like Norwegian Air, whose transatlantic fares to hubs in both Scandinavia and the United Kingdom are regularly as low as $400 round trip (and often even lower during limited-time fare sales). Then book inexpensive flights from there to Rome on Norwegian Air, easyJet, or Ryanair.

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BY E R IC RO SE N

ALIYE UGUR (PHOTO), TAMER KOSELI (ILLUSTRATION)

The artsy scene in Rome’s Piazza Navona, as captured by Nat Geo Your Shot member Aliye Ugur

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All Aboard the Solar Express A rare total eclipse on August 21 is the latest milestone for avid astronomy buffs By Theodora Sutcliffe

I

n the annals of eclipse chasers, my interest in eclipses barely counts as an obsession. I have spent precisely zero dollars on specialized camera equipment and astronomical devices. I will travel to see total solar eclipses, but only within reason. You will not find me on a cruise to mid-ocean or a charter flight through empty skies in pursuit of those tantalizing few minutes of totality invisible from elsewhere

on Earth—although, boy, 2021 in Antarctica looks tempting! A total eclipse of the sun—that fundamental inversion of day turned to night as the moon blocks out the sun—has a primal mystique that is hard to match. For the star-obsessed Aztecs and their last king, Moctezuma, a total eclipse proved a harbinger of the end of their world: Hernán Cortés. Even in 21st-century America, fringe Christian

A time-lapse photo reveals the arc of the 2016 eclipse in Singapore.

BABAK TAFRESHI, NATTHAWAT (OPPOSITE)

OBSESSIONS ECLIPSES

groups are speculating that what some are calling the Great American Eclipse, which sweeps from coast to coast on August 21, will initiate the end-time. For my first total eclipse, back in 1999, an era before smartphones and Facebook, and almost before Google, I traveled from London to Munich, close to the centerline of the eclipse path, where totality lasts longest. But for the thousands of us clustered on the grass of the Englischer Garten, there was no contrast of blazing sun, black moon, and brilliant azure. The overcast skies shaded a deep gunmetal gray, the temperature dropped more than 10 degrees, the birds fell silent, yet the sun remained stubbornly, intractably hidden. Older, wiser, a mother, and living in Bali, I approached last year’s Indonesian total eclipse with lower expectations. Eschewing the charms of a five-day mountaintop rave, my son and I decided to travel to the Moluccas, the original Spice Islands, with friends from his school. Even from Bali, the Moluccas take two flights, so I figured we could make a week of it. We’d stop off at the world’s oldest cave art, in Sulawesi, on our way there, cruise down an underground river, admire a Dutch fort, and feast on seafood. On our way back, we’d see bug-eyed tarsiers, explore volcanic highlands, and visit one of the world’s goriest markets. After Munich, I was quite painfully aware that eclipses don’t always deliver—and with seven guests in tow, including four teens, I wanted to get this right. My first thought was to watch the eclipse from the summit of the volcanic island of Ternate, formerly the epicenter of an empire powered entirely by cloves. Yet that would leave us nowhere to go if the clouds rolled in. So our guide, Alex, found a rocky islet that looked promising, off the coast of wild and jungled Halmahera, the largest island in the Moluccas. As private islands go, the experience was more Fyre Festival than Necker. Locals had taken a sledgehammer to the rudimentary bathroom, which had apparently affronted a spirit sufficiently to cause an earthquake, and, further, the beach had disappeared. Yet we persisted. We camped. We cooked. We snorkeled with walking sharks. The day of the eclipse dawned with an ominously unclear sky. After anxious debate, we headed out to sea and a low-lying atoll with a shark nursery just offshore. We watched through our protective glasses as the moon, beset by clouds, slowly crept across the sun, first a shadow, then a dark arc blazing fire, and finally a pitch-black circle haloed in white. At peak

During the 2008 eclipse in Siberia, a woman holds a filter over the sun.

Dazzling Eclipse Events in the U.S. OREGON ECLIPSE With more than 300 acts across seven stages spread over an entire week, the Oregon Eclipse event counts as an eclipse superfestival. It’s at Big Summit Prairie, a 55,000acre ranch about 190 miles southeast of Portland. oregoneclipse2017.com ASTROCON Unleash your inner nerd at this gathering of amateur astronomers in Casper, Wyoming, right on the eclipse path. Learn tips on how to photograph an eclipse and how to better observe cool details in the night sky. astrocon2017 .astroleague.org CARBONDALE Not one but two total solar eclipses will pass over Carbondale, Illinois—the next in 2024. Eclipse chasers can watch close to the spot where their paths will cross, over Cedar Lake. carbondaleeclipse.com

eclipse, overcome with elation, we hooted, hollered, and jumped for joy: a pair of scuba divers shooting from underwater captured our celebration at the obliteration of the sun. Paul D. Maley of eclipsetours.com has seen more than 60 eclipses. A total eclipse, he says, is not just an excuse to visit a remote location and see a natural event that happens only occasionally, but an all-embracing visual and sensory experience. “The total eclipse is literally when the sun goes out,” he says. “You can see the planets, you can see the flames silhouetted on the edge of the sun, you may see some stars.” And it’s that raw excitement, coupled with a quest, that has me hooked. That eclipse in the Moluccas will not be my last, and each will come with a sense of place and purpose. I’d be remiss not to catch the next Indonesian eclipse, in 2023: How will the people of rural West Papua, some of whom had no contact with outsiders until the 1970s, react? The Egyptian eclipse of 2027 offers both ancient sites and guaranteed clear skies, with Luxor bang on the centerline. These are long time frames to think in, and the time frame that underpins them is longer still, the broad, hypnotic loops and sweeps of astronomical time. Some day in the future, I’ll be too old or too ill to look at the list of upcoming eclipses. And yet I know they’ll continue without me, without all of us, long after we are gone. THEODORA SUTCLIFFE (

@escapeartistes) also writes for BBC.com, CNN.com, and the Guardian.

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WHERE IN THE WORLD LITERARY TRAVEL

Beyond the Books Want to vacation like your favorite writers? Take a page from their travel itineraries by Hannah Sheinberg Illustration by Joe Ciardiello

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BIG ISLAND, HAWAII

CARIBBEAN

CAPRI, ITALY

Mark Twain

Zora Neale Hurston

F. Scott Fitzgerald

In his 1872 book Roughing It, Mark Twain wrote that Kilauea volcano, now part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, was “a scene of wild beauty.” Twain was touring the Pacific islands on a newspaper assignment when he stayed at the Volcano House in 1866. The 33-room lodge, which was rebuilt in 1941 after a fire, still offers views of Halemaumau Crater.

The Florida-based author of Their Eyes Were Watching God traveled to Haiti in the late 1930s and Honduras during the late 1940s for her anthropological fieldwork. In July 1949 she embarked on a five-month cruise on her friend’s boat around the bright blue waters of the Bahamas, where she could put her widebrimmed hat to good use.

The ideal spot to pass the time before the publication of your book? The island of Capri. In 1925, while waiting to introduce The Great Gatsby to the world, Fitzgerald spent two months at Capri Tiberio Palace, overlooking the Gulf of Naples. Travelers can still sleep over at this luxurious hideaway and start to plot their own best-selling books.

REBECCA HALE/NGP STAFF (BOOK)

PARIS, FRANCE

LYME REGIS, ENGLAND

HAVANA, CUBA

Oscar Wilde

Jane Austen

Ernest Hemingway

A former abbey, Hôtel du Quai Voltaire hosted the Irish author in early 1883. His stay took place years before he published The Picture of Dorian Gray, but his digs weren’t those of a starving artist; his suite looked out onto the Seine. The hotel’s prime location near both the Louvre and Musée d’Orsay makes this a smart spot for Wildean fans.

During the summer of 1804 Austen and her family vacationed in the seaside town of Lyme Regis, England. She took strolls along the Cobb, a stone wall around the harbor, and the site became the setting for a scene in her novel Persuasion. We recommend stopping at Roly’s Fudge Pantry for a slab of the local sweet treat, clotted cream fudge.

For a proper Hemingway tour of Havana, start with a daiquiri at Hemingway’s former hangout, El Floridita, which now features a statue of the catloving author at the bar. Sleep off the rum at Hotel Ambos Mundos, where Hemingway wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls in 1939 and lived for seven years. Visitors can see the room he stayed in, number 511.

Q FOR MORE LITERARYINSPIRED TRIPS, BUY A COPY OF NOVEL DESTINATIONS, AT SHOPNG.COM/BOOKS.

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SMART CITIES MEDELLÍN Colombia’s second largest city has been creatively shaking off the damage left from the eighties’ drug wars. Medellín’s improvements started with a sophisticated transit system praised worldwide, which features rapid buses, railways, and soaring gondolas that service mountainside neighborhoods. In 2014, the city launched Distrito de Innovación to foster innovation and the growth of tech, health, and energy industries. And in August 2016, the city debuted the first phase of a beltway project, Parques del Río, meant to reclaim Medellín’s river through green spaces and trails built over existing highways. Locals recognize Medellín isn’t a perfect city. It’s a city in progress, and that’s exactly why they love it. –Stephanie Granada

For a spectacular hillside view over Medellín, head to the Biblioteca de España.

Eat

Play

MARKET DAYS

LOCAL ART, ACTIVE ADVENTURES

Last fall, Mercado del Río opened as the first food hall in the country. The space honors the city’s ferrocarril (or railroad) heritage through its design, as well as the rising artisan movement in its lineup of coffee slingers, sushi makers, and paella mixers. In an effort to democratize dining out, the market regulates what vendors charge, and beer and wine are sold at prices akin to supermarkets ($1 glasses of wine). La Chagra, in the El Poblado district, highlights the flavors of the Amazon and the traditions of the jungle’s indigenous culture, from Amazonian fruits and veggies to a sauce made using leaf-cutter ants.

Stay

Museo de Arte Moderno showcases the best of the country’s modern art. Its recent eight million dollar expansion now houses the museum’s permanent collection, featuring artists such as local pioneer Débora Arango. For a hyperlocal perspective, the Comuna 13 Graffiti Tour tells the story of the formerly dangerous commune’s tragedies and victories through the street art of the people who live there. And multiple times a week, Medellín closes sections of its hilly roads so that walkers, joggers, and cyclists can enjoy the terrain sans vehicles.

Shop COFFEE AND CRAFTS

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: COURTESY PATIO DEL MUNDO (HAMMOCK), COURTESY ELCIELO (PLATE), JHON HEAVER PAZ, REDUX (FLOWERS), JESS KRAFT (STATUE), NG MAPS; OPPOSITE: HEIKO MEYE, LAIF/REDUX

SMALL HOTELS WITH BIG IDEAS Centrally located Patio del Mundo offers seven individually decorated rooms, each themed to a different dreamy destination, in a refurbished house with a lush backyard garden. Designed by a local architect, Terra Biohotel was built top to bottom on the notion of preservation and sustainability. The 41-room inn features a micro-perforated wall that cools the 10-story building by using mountain winds from the north, as well as room layouts configured to receive as much natural light as possible, with many building materials sourced close to home.

Nobody goes to Colombia without bringing back coffee. Started more than 40 years ago, family-owned Café Pergamino works with 500 regional growers to supply beans to craft roasters in other countries, as well as their own three stores. The country’s fashion scene doesn’t get much credit, but it’s exalted at Makeno, an El Poblado district boutique stocked with pieces made by regional designers. And in the small community of Sabaneta, 20 minutes south, vendors peddle religious icons and tchotchkes with local flair. 400 mi 400 km

PAN.

VENEZ.

Medellín Clockwise from top left: Patio del Mundo hotel, molecular-focused ElCielo restaurant, the Festival of Flowers, a Botero Plaza statue

Bogotá COLOMBIA

ECUA. PERU

BRAZ.

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GO WITH NAT GEO JAPAN Statue of a monk in the Okuno-in cemetery; Konpon Daito pagoda (right) at Koyasan

Travel beyond highspeed Tokyo to discover a slower, spiritual Japan By Don George

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okyo is renowned as the center of techno-innovation and cosplay geek chic, and Kyoto as the capital of garden marvels and graceful maiko, but away from these cities await extraordinary places that reveal an entirely different Japan. Two of these—Koyasan and Shikoku—are the focus of National Geographic Expeditions’ “Inside Japan” trip. An atmosphere of devotion distinguishes the Buddhist complex of Koyasan, high in the evergreen-robed mountains 60 miles south of Kyoto. Founded in 816 by scholar-monk Kobo Daishi, Koyasan boasts more than a hundred temples. On the journey, travelers amble through the Okuno-in forest cemetery, where thousand-year-old cedars tower over more than 200,000 mosscovered monuments, then stay at a temple, sleeping on tatami mats and sampling vegetarian shojin ryori; those who wish can also rise early to sit with the monks as they chant. Across the Inland Sea, an ancient kindness and gentle pace define the island of Shikoku, home to an 88-temple walking route established by Daishi, where travelers are welcomed as pilgrims. Pay homage to the founder at his birthplace, the majestic Zentsuji temple, then venture into the Iya Valley to enjoy a beautifully restored 300-year-old farmhouse, traverse a double-vine bridge, and soak in mountainside hot springs.

TRIP ESSENTIALS In addition to exploring Koyasan and Shikoku, our “Inside Japan” trip visits some of Kyoto’s most exquisite gardens, groves, and temples, as well as a ceramist’s workshop. To further enhance the journey, travelers also visit Hiroshima and the contemporary art on the island of Naoshima. BOOK IT To reserve your spot on “Inside Japan,” call 888966-8687 or visit natgeo expeditions.com/explore.

STUART BLACK/ROBERTHARDING (STATUE), GLEB TARRO (PAGODA)

Follow an Ancient Path of Zen

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Come See What Blooms in the Desert

It Never Leaves You

Take a break from the everyday and experience the effortless revitalization you’ll find only in Scottsdale. The remarkable clarity of our desert light, the exotic cactus blossoms and, the warm smiles of our people create a stirring beauty that leaves you inspired. Come get away and see what blooms in the desert. Learn more at AbsolutelyScottsdale.com

Beneath the shelter of century old live oaks lies the natural splendor of Palmetto Bluff. Within its winding rivers and ancient forests are tales of lives well lived. Stay for a little or stay for a lifetime, the Bluff stays with you. Visit palmettobluff.com and discover wonder.

Time Flies When You’re Having Sun

Here, a Picture is Worth a Thousand Years

Florida’s more than just 825 miles of white sugar sand beaches and home to the world’s best theme parks. With great shopping, beautiful resorts, and thrilling outdoor adventures, there’s always something new to discover. Find endless ways to play on your own Florida vacation at VISITFLORIDA.com.

The heart of the southwest beats with the rhythm of an ancient heritage. Stay in Albuquerque and immerse yourself in our vibrant traditions while exploring the rich cultural wonders of New Mexico. Unearth the secrets of our past, and discover a part of yourself you’ve never met before. Discover more at VisitABQ.org. #VisitABQ

BEST LIST 16 SCENIC TRAIN TRIPS

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The journey matters as much as the destination on these ultimate rail adventures

After three decades of riding trains all over the world—rural China, the Swiss Alps, Latin American jungles—I am still thrilled by a classic rail journey. Take The Canadian, where passengers can spend three days watching the countryside scenery from Toronto to Vancouver via

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dome cars. From the wheat fields to the jagged Rockies to the thickly forested Coast Mountains, it’s one of the world’s most amazing routes. Here are 15 more of my favorite journeys by rail. —Everett Potter Get a panoramic perspective aboard The Canadian.

Fresh Tracks NEW LUXURY RAIL TRIPS

TIMELESS TREKS

Rooms on the Belmond Grand Hibernian look like Georgian-era hotel suites, while cushy observation cars are ideal for viewing green fields and sheep on the way to Cork or Belfast from Dublin. Japan’s Train Suite Shiki-shima has just 10 cabins and serves up kaiseki cuisine created by Katsuhiro Nakamura, the country’s first Michelin-starred chef. The Shongololo Express pairs a safari with deluxe rail travel in Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Travelers on the Gotthard Panorama Express begin with a steamship crossing of Lake Lucerne; then they board a train that winds along the Alps to Lugano, Switzerland.

Black-tie glamour still rules on the century-old Orient Express from London to Venice, which passes through Paris while you’re having dinner and brings aboard fresh-baked croissants when the train stops in Switzerland. National Geographic Expeditions offers a 16-day excursion through Russia, from Vladivostok to Moscow, aboard the Golden Eagle TransSiberian, which rolls by Lake Baikal, the deepest lake on Earth. A mobile palace complete with onboard spa, Royal Rajasthan on Wheels highlights India’s temples, forts, and Taj Mahal on a seven-night passage. The overnight Blue Train from Pretoria to Cape Town showcases South African scenery and includes a station stop at the diamond mining town of Kimberley.

Affordable Rides FROM TOP: RICHARD JAMES TAYLOR, BELMOND GRAND HIBERNIAN, OLAF PROTZE, LIGHTROCKET/GETTY IMAGES, HUBERT FANTHOMME, PARIS MATCH/GETTY IMAGES (DINING CAR); OPPOSITE: VIA RAIL CANADA (CAR), TAMER KOSELI (ILLUSTRATION)

Classic Cars

COST-FRIENDLY VIEWS Pack hiking boots and binoculars to explore Alice Springs on The Ghan, which runs north to south in the “Red Centre” of Australia from Darwin to Adelaide. Rolling from the Windy City to San Francisco, the California Zephyr climbs both the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada before descending to the Pacific coast on its 2,447-mile traverse across the heartland of America. Depart from London in the evening on the Caledonian Sleeper in the dining car, adjourn to a cabin, and awaken to the mountains and lochs of the Scottish Highlands, arriving midmorning in Fort William.

From top: creature comforts on the Belmond Grand Hibernian, Alpine crossings on the Glacier Express, and the dining car on the Orient Express

Day-Trippers SHORT GETAWAYS The Train to the Clouds climbs to 13,800 feet in the rugged Andes on its way from Salta, Argentina, to the Chilean border on one of the highest train journeys in the world. The Glacier Express distills the Alpine experience into eight hours of snowy peaks, mountain meadows, and storybook villages between Zermatt and St. Moritz, Switzerland. In New Zealand, the TranzAlpine runs between Christchurch and Greymouth, racing alongside the Waimakariri River and through the Southern Alps on a nine-hour round-trip route. On Belgrade to Bar, riders experience 254 tunnels and 435 bridges on a 296-mile trip from Serbia’s capital to the shores of the Adriatic, at a bargain price.

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This whimsical shot of Bolivia’s salt flat was created by Dutch artist Scarlett Hooft Graafland. Read on for sweet secrets on iconic places like this.

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HOW TO SEE THE WORLD

TRAVEL HACKS FOR SAVING TIME, MONEY, AND SANITY BY KIMBERLEY LOVATO

At Damnoen Saduak floating market, in Thailand, it doesn’t cost much to sample coconut juice and sweet bananas, then take a canal rowboat tour.

DESIGN PICS/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE (MARKET), PIM VUIK/GALLERY STOCK (ULURU); PREVIOUS PAGES: SCARLETT HOOFT GRAAFLAND (SALT FLATS)

Uluru, in Australia’s outback, appears lit from within during sunrise and sunset. Overnight stays can be affordable.

SAVE MONEY

Whether you’re a frequent flier or the one-trip-a-year type, these tips deliver great value

AUSTRALIA

CALIFORNIA

GRANADA, SPAIN

RATCHABURI, THAILAND

Uluru

Napa Valley

Alhambra

The outback’s showstopper, this sandstone monolith sacred to indigenous Australians glows orange and red at sunrise and sunset, but its remote location (287 miles from the nearest town) translates to an overnight stay at a pricey hotel. Ayers Rock Campground, however, offers sixperson cabins with kitchenettes for just $133 during peak season. Have a tent? Pitch it for $32 per night. ayersrockresort.com.au

Limo and train tours are popular ways to visit the 500+ wineries in the verdant valley, but they’ll set you back at least a couple hundred bucks each. If you don’t mind a little sweat between sips, pack a picnic backpack, rent a bike for $45, and hit the recently inaugurated 12.5-mile Napa Valley Vine Trail connecting the tasting rooms of downtown Napa to foodie-friendly Yountville. napavalleybiketours.com

This Moorish palace and fortress built during the Nasrid dynasty (1238-1492) is beyond splendid by day, but skip the time-restricted $16 night tour and walk through Granada’s Arab Quarter to the hilltop plaza Mirador de San Nicolás. “I like to grab an ice cream at Helados San Nicolas and watch the sun set over the Alhambra,” says Lauren Aloise, owner of Devour Tours. “The view is unbeatable.” devourgranadafoodtours.com

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market The network of klongs (canals) crisscrossing Bangkok were major commerce routes during the 19th century and are still lined with floating markets. Damnoen Saduak, just outside Bangkok, especially lures tourists, but you don’t need to get there by expensive motorized boat rental. Roads go straight to the market, where you can browse canal-side stalls, then hop aboard a rowboat tour for much less.

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A visit to Myanmar can be chaotic. But to lift your spirits at temple-filled Bagan, float above it all.

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UPGRADE YOUR TRIP

In places with soaring popularity, these experiences go the extra mile to restore your sanity MYANMAR

Bagan The capital of the 9th-to-13thcentury Burmese kingdom of Pagan was once strewn with more than 10,000 Buddhist temples, pagodas, and stupas. Now roughly 2,200 remain across the vast Bagan Plains. While they can be explored by taxi, by bike, or on foot, nothing compares with the view from a hot-air balloon at dawn, when the gray morning mist clears and streaks of golden sunlight wash over the sacred landscape. balloonsoverbagan.com

SOUTH PACIFIC

INDONESIA

Fiji

Bali

The clear turquoise waters and powdery beaches of Fiji’s principal island of Viti Levu and the nearby Mamanuca archipelago may understandably draw travelers, but for a deeper understanding of Fiji’s natural treasures, visit the garden island of Taveuni. During rain-forest hikes, look out for waterfalls, some of the island’s 100 bird species, and the tagimoucia, the unofficial floral emblem of Fiji. fiji.travel

With temples and wellness retreats set in jungles and on beaches and mountainsides, Bali earns its title as a top spiritual destination. For a fully immersive experience, visit the sacred springs of Tirta Empul Temple, north of Ubud. Its curative cool waters are delivered via 30 stone waterspouts as you participate with locals in an ancient Balinese ritual of cleansing the spirit. balitourismboard.org

OMAN

Rub al Khali Less than 100 years ago, only the Bedouin experienced the profound silence and wind-sculpted beauty of the world’s largest sand desert. Now visitors can discover the so-called Empty Quarter with a camel ride at sunset, an Omani feast under the stars, and a stay in a Bedouin-style tent at Desert Nights Camp. omanhotels.com

You’ll want to savor every moment you have with the endangered mountain gorillas of Rwanda and Uganda.

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TOM MURPHY/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE (GORILLA), CHRIS SORENSEN/GALLERY STOCK (LOUVRE); PREVIOUS PAGES: METHEE LAOWATHANATAWON/500PX/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CREATIVE (TEMPLES)

The Louvre, in Paris, has been a fortress, a royal palace, and now reigns as one of the world’s busiest museums.

MAXIMIZE YOUR TIME

You can’t pack extra time in your carry-on. Use your precious vacation hours wisely with these suggestions

BOLIVIA

UGANDA/RWANDA

PARIS, FRANCE

KYOTO, JAPAN

Salar de Uyuni

Mountain Gorilla Country

Musée du Louvre

Daitoku-ji Temple

At the world’s largest salt flat, in southwest Bolivia, shutterbugs prefer the rainy season for capturing truly ethereal images. During December to March, a thin layer of water turns the 4,000-square-mile landscape into a giant mirror. A photo guide such as Sergio Ballivian can help maximize your time on-site, because he knows the light, the best time of day, and exactly where to go for optimal shooting. sergiophototours.com

Since only about 880 mountain gorillas still exist, seeing one up close in their habitats on the volcanic slopes of Uganda and Rwanda can be life changing. The Gorilla Habituation Experience in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park gives you four hours with the animals (compared with one hour on a traditional trek). Only four travelers join conservationists helping a gorilla family get used to humans. ugandawildlife.org

Exploring the 650,000+ square feet of the world’s largest art museum can be a daunting task, but the recently renovated Pavillon de l’Horloge is a good place to start. “You’ll get an overview of the permanent collection, and interactive touch screens help map your way from one masterpiece to the next,” says Hannah Seidl, a public relations officer at the Louvre who also suggests downloading its new smartphone app. louvre.fr

Built in the 14th century, the vast Daitoku-ji Temple is one of Japan’s most revered centers of Zen Buddhism, comprising numerous temples and subtemples. For more contemplation time, frequent visitor and National Geographic Traveler editor at large Don George suggests heading straight to the subtemple Koto-in. “In a complex that is extremely touristed, Koto-in is especially atmospheric, picturesque, and little visited.”

KIMBERLEY LOVATO (

@kimberleylovato) is a San Francisco–based writer who welcomes a good travel tip any day.

BRiTiSH ACC WE’RE UNITED IN OUR LOVE FOR THE U.K.: THE FRAGRANT HEATHER OF THE SCOTTISH MOORS. THE ART-SMART STREETS OF LONDON’S SHOREDITCH NEIGHBORHOOD. THE ELEGANCE OF BATH. AND THE TIMELESS TALES OF WALES.

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ENTS

In a quintessentially Scottish landscape, Corgarff Castle stands out amid the purpleheathered moors of Cairngorms National Park, the largest in Great Britain.

SCOTLAND Scottish Moors

U N I T E D K I N G D O M N. IRELAND

IRELAND Wales

ENGLAND Bath

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BY CATHY NEWMAN

lison Hester had told me that it is nearly always windy on a moor, and on a day scribbled with rain at the Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve in the Scottish Highlands, the point was neatly underscored by the brusque snapping of my long scarf. Hester, an ecology professor, grew up near moorland and remembers standing on a hill as a child, listening to a curlew’s trill, eating bilberries, and smelling the clean, fresh heather. “The wind would blow all troubles away,” she said. I’d taken the train north from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, the gray, brawny hub of Scotland’s petroleum industry, where Hester met me for a primer course on moors, subject of an assignment for National Geographic. The Dinnet Reserve, an hour’s drive west, was Lesson One. A moor—a minimalist, melancholy sweep of low-growing vegetation—is the signature Scottish landscape. About 40 percent of Scotland is moorland, from Shetland in the north to the Southern Uplands near the English border. Dinnet has 79 acres of lowland moor mixed in with forest and bog. It was early fall. The heather had started to fade, but at its peak a moor is a Rothko abstract of sulfuric

SCOTTISH MOORS

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London

yellow, sienna, and charcoal, with accents—depending on season and terrain—of maroon mosses and lichen, bog asphodel, and of course, a royal cloak of purple heather. Heather is to moor as a trout is to a Montana river. Revered. Beautiful. Iconic. It says something about Calluna vulgaris that the first Highland emigrants to Canada wept because the heather they had carried with them from their native country would not grow in the soil of their adopted land. Like most landscapes, moors are best experienced on foot; happily, the Scottish Outdoor Access Code gives the public right, with exceptions, to traverse private land. But suppose walking across a moor isn’t enough. Suppose, just suppose, as I did, you fall helplessly in love and crave a moor of your own. It so happened that real estate agent Strutt and Parker in Edinburgh had a listing for the 12,000acre Tillypronie Estate in Aberdeenshire, not far from the Dinnet Reserve. The property included an 11-bedroom stone manor. Perfect, except for the price: £10,500,000 (about $13.6 million). So much for improbable, unaffordable Plan A. Which led me to Lesson Two and Plan B, inspired by a chat with Andrew Hopetoun, chairman of the Moorland Group of Scottish Land & Estates, an organization of estate owners. Lesson Two is this: Because many large upland tracts are managed for grouse shooting, a heather moor is often embedded in a matrix of contention over class, culture, and conservation. The issues he described were a thorny, complex tangle of economics and politics. It was time for something more like the trouble-dispelling breeze Alison Hester had talked about, so I asked Lord Hopetoun to offer a simpler, more evocative thought on moors. “I love heather honey,” he said after a pause. “It has the heady, sweet scent of moorland on a warm day.” Which is why, when I saw a sign for heather honey on a Highland road, I asked my friend and designated driver, a Perthshire man, to stop. If owning a moor wasn’t in the cards, at least a jar of honey was in reach. “Wait,” he cautioned, as I started to exit the car. “We must ask if it’s real heather honey. Sometimes it’s adulterated with other flower honey.” “Is this pure heather honey?” he demanded of the young woman standing beside a table with jars that glinted gold in the sunlight. “Well,” she said in the musical burr of a Highland brogue: “Ye canna tell the bees where to fly.” I laughed and bought the honey. Later, when I opened the jar, the scent of heather was unmistakable. CATHY NEWMAN (

@wordcat12 ) is a former editor at large at National Geographic. She wrote about her fishing obsession in Traveler’s June/July 2017 issue.

JIM RICHARDSON; PREVIOUS PAGES: JIM RICHARDSON; NG MAPS

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Grouse shooting on the moors is a popular pastime for the family that owns Ardverikie, one of the great estates of Scotland. Visitors can rent self-catering cottages on the property.

LONDON ART-FUELED EVOLUTION IN SHOREDITCH Bewitched by Shoreditch (from top row, left to right): Shoreditch Grind café; a DJ at Shoreditch Platform, a co-working space by day that transitions to a nightclub; bubbly woman on Whitby Street; Mr. Doodle at pop-up mall Boxpark; the Hoxton hotel; Union Jack on Holywell Lane; Tube trains as art; Mini Coopers on parade; Lucas Malarky mural; open-air eatery Dinerama; emerging designers at Utter Couture; a mixologist at Street Feast

Any space in Shoreditch is ripe for creative makeover, including this 1877 factory that now houses sports bar Kick.

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LONDON BY EVE CONANT

QUENTIN BARGATE/LOOP IMAGES; PREVIOUS PAGES: SHOREDITCH GRIND & CO. (CAFÉ), LUKE FULLALOVE/SHOREDITCH PLATFORM (DJ), ONTHEROAD/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (WOMAN), KURT HANSEN (DOODLE ART), ANJA STUPAR FOR @BYANJAROOS (BED), QUENTIN BARGATE (UNION JACK), MALTE JAEGER/LAIF/REDUX (TRAINS), @VAPESHOREDITCH (CARS), CHRIS CHEADLE (MURAL) , @HUNGRY_ANJA (FOOD), @UTTER_LEBLACKUNICORN/@UTTERCOUTURE (CLOTHING), JOHNNY STEPHENS/STREET FEAST (COCKTAIL)

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horeditch starts with a wall of sound. It’s Friday night, and we’ve just rolled our bags and ourselves out of a black cab and into the raging party that is the lobby of our hotel, the Hoxton. I spot the reception desk beyond scores of revelers cupping giant wineglasses and a DJ mixing beats, and proceed through the coolest check-in ever. Just north of London’s financial hub, the gritty and industrial East End—an artists’ haven in recent decades— has been so transformed by hipster gentrification it’s become code for it. Exhibit A: “Shoreditchification” or (to be) “Shoreditched.” Exhibit B: the “Shoreditch Samurai,” defined by the Urban Dictionary as a floppy, “longer than average ‘manbun.’” With our two tween kids in tow, my friend Annie and I head straight back out into Shoreditch’s roiling, graffitied streets to see it for ourselves. We pass galleries with ironic signs offering “CA$H for your WARHOL” and lines to get into clubs. Finally we’re funneled into the Dinerama, a sort of food court on steroids inside a former armored truck depot. Trash-can fires warm the outdoor entrance to this street-food fest, from dumplings so good we keep reordering to Swedish barbecue and a crustacean dive called “Prawnography.” Later, Annie and I walk a few blocks toward Hoxton— a neighborhood once described by the Telegraph as the “grubbier end of Shoreditch”—to a bar called the White Lyan that’s known for what it doesn’t serve: anything perishable, including ice or citrus. The barman throws out words like “acid phosphate,” “minerality,” and “mouthfeel.” Annie gets the Beeswax Old Fashioned and I order something called a Stone Daiquiri. By the time I meet co-owner Ryan Chetiyawardana, I’ve learned my rum has been filtered through limestone for nine hours. I also learn that the bar is closing in a week—only to reopen, a week later, as the Super Lyan. I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up with all this shape-shifting. “It’s just the next stage of our evolution,” Chetiyawardana assures me. “London changes very rapidly.” In the lobby the next morning, a wave seems to have swept away the partyers, leaving just the introverts sipping their flat whites. We’re off to meet up with a company called Alternative London, for a group tour of the street art that makes Shoreditch so unique. Dressed in black, with dark bangs cut extra short, our guide, Emilie Houldsworth, advises us to “get forensic.” She says, “Art isn’t just in front of us. It’s above and below us.” The next two hours are a treasure hunt. We look down and I see intricate paintings on discarded chewing gum.

We look up and spy giant red mushrooms atop buildings. Across one wall is bright typography that reads “LAST DAYS OF SHOREDITCH.” Houldsworth, an artist herself, explains that while the area was once filled with abandoned warehouses, now there’s “gentrification and luxury apartments—it’s becoming incredibly difficult to afford properties in this area, especially for artists.” We walk on. Cyclops eyes look down from tall buildings. On other structures, casts of faces peer out—a critique of selfies? A head split in two seems to offer commentary on Brexit. Some pieces are spray-painted or installed with permission, others illegally—often with great difficulty, requiring artists to employ everything from acrobatics to cherry pickers to scale their urban canvases. For property damage, “some people get a two-year sentence,” explains Houldsworth. Then there’s Banksy. As for the world’s most famous—and secretive—street artist, “He gets a layer of Plexiglass!” she says, put up by the wall’s owners to keep it from being chipped away and sold off for millions. “He changed the mind-set towards street art. Now people want it, pay for it, hang it in their living rooms. Hats off to Banksy!” But the political timeliness and fugitive placement that breathe so much life into the art also guarantees its demise. Pieces are covered over by new construction, or “tagged” with the markings of other street artists in some kind of secret dialogue. “When art is on the streets it’s going to get tagged, it won’t be protected, and it won’t stay forever,” says Houldsworth. In the afternoon we amble along Brick Lane past one hyper-precise, bespoke shop after the next until we reach one just for breakfast cereal: The Cereal Killer Café. I had heard about a protest here in 2015 to “reclaim Shoreditch” from gentrification. A worker behind the counter says “that wasn’t a protest, that was a riot!” and blames it on “a load of Hoxton brats,” as he rings up our American Cocoa Puffs and British Weetos. While a line forms behind us, I think about how Shoreditch feels like a patch of earth under a kind of creative attack: tagged, criticized, praised, claimed, and reclaimed. One small stretch defined Shoreditch for me. As my son marveled at a Lamborghini stuck in traffic, I peered into a dusty construction site that will likely spawn some luxury lofts or a tech office. Behind a tractor was a mural of a wolf in a man’s suit, staring at me mischievously even as his concrete canvas crumbled. I’m not sure what he was telling me, but I really want to hear him before he’s gone. EVE CONANT (

@eveconant) is a staff writer for National Geographic.

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WALES MERLIN ON THE WIND Folktales, stories, and odes breathe life into Welsh ruins. William Wordsworth’s poem has helped to make 12th-century Tintern Abbey one of Wales’s most visited sites.

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BY T. A. BARRON

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WALES

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rampart, including the most westerly amphitheater in the far-reaching Roman Empire. Near Black Mountain in Brecon Beacons National Park, Llyn y Fan Fach, the legendary home of the Lady of the Lake, calls to any traveler’s imagination. What enchantments may still linger in that water, so cold it will make your teeth chatter? If your wandering takes you west of there, listen for the echoing cries of the birds of Rhiannon. Ancient Celtic lore celebrates this bold woman who galloped over the hills and vales on her white horse, accompanied by her magical birds whose songs had great power, including the ability to wake the dead. Take time to explore the four Welsh castles that compose a UNESCO World Heritage site: Harlech, Caernarfon, Conwy, and Beaumaris. Beaumaris Castle is known for its perfect symmetry. You might call it a fairy-tale castle— unless you happened to be an attacker centuries ago who passed under the murder holes of the main gateway. Then you were likely to get a barrel of boiling oil poured on your head. Wherever you go in Wales, you will find, as I have, that its most compelling bards are its people. Just order a pint of the local brew at any pub and you’ll meet some of these generous and affable folk. Ask them about their local life as well as their favorite tales. Maybe you’ll hear the tragic story of Blodeuwedd, a woman made of flowers, or the comical one of Twm Siôn Cati, the Welsh Robin Hood. Tintern Abbey is one of my favorite jewels in the Welsh crown. Built in the 12th century, it’s now a ruin. Yet those soaring Gothic arches, towering over the Wye River Valley, still ring with half-remembered chants and prayers. And with other sounds too. The poet William Wordsworth came to this haunting place and heard its “mountain-springs With a soft inland murmur.” So listen well as you roam Wales. Who knows what long-lost voices you’ll hear on the wind? T. A. BARRON has written many books inspired by Welsh

lore. His Merlin Saga is now being developed as a feature film by Disney. Visit tabarron.com.

GO WITH NAT GEO

Nat Geo Expeditions offers several itineraries in the United Kingdom. “Exploring the Coasts of England and Wales” is an eight-day trip via small ship from Dublin to London, with stops in Wales, the Isles of Scilly, and Sark. “Hiking England

Coast to Coast” is a 13-day adventurous trek from the Irish Sea to the North Sea. In Scotland, choose from an eight-day family expedition, a nine-day small-ship cruise, or an eight-day hiking adventure. natgeoexpeditions.com /explore; 888-966-8687

GUY RICHARDSON; PREVIOUS PAGES: LISA FINDLEY (ABBEY)

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tand on the ridge of Cadair Idris, in Wales’s Snowdonia National Park, and listen closely, and you can almost hear the calls of ancient voices carried on the winds, the chords of plaintive harp strings, and the names of legendary folk whose tales were first told here centuries ago—names like Merlin, King Arthur, Rhiannon, and the Lady of the Lake. Plus many more Welsh names, some seriously hard to pronounce. The name of this mountain was inspired by the mythological giant Idris, who was said to sit atop the summit, recite epic poetry, study the stars, and philosophize about the universe. Standing on that ridge, I could almost feel the giant’s presence, as if he were still sitting up there, watching me. And I could sense why some folks say that anyone who stays overnight on Cadair Idris will awake as either a raving lunatic or a gifted poet, if they wake at all. Legends about the great wizard Merlin have inspired many of my travels in Wales. For years I’ve swallowed those stories as eagerly as a hungry guest at a pub eats Welsh rarebit. I love to walk on the same paths as the many bards who have told those tales—and to feel for myself the enduring magic of Merlin. Sometimes on those walks, I’ve learned practical things not found in any legends. On one trek through the hills, I kept seeing signs to some mysterious destination called Llwybr Cyhoeddus. Practically every quarter mile stood another sign to that place. What was it? I wondered. A village, a castle, a waterfall? Finally, a friendly Welshman out for a stroll in his muddy boots answered my question. “Public Footpath,” he translated. One of my favorite walks is on Dinas Emrys, a hill rich with Merlin lore. Overlooking the village of Beddgelert in the Glaslyn Valley, it’s believed to be the site of the warlord Vortigern’s castle, which kept crashing down no matter how often it was rebuilt. It took Merlin to figure out why. Weak timbers or a leaky roof? No. Merlin revealed that two dragons, one red and one white, slept beneath the castle. Released from the castle, they engaged in an epic battle. Merlin correctly predicted the winner, inspiring the famous Welsh symbol of the red dragon. Adding to the allure, local folk will tell you that Merlin left some precious treasure (including a golden cauldron) hidden in a secret cave on Dinas Emrys. When just the right person searches for the treasure, the mouth of that cave will open at last. Another place where you can feel the wizard’s presence is Carmarthen, the oldest continuously occupied town in Wales, known at one point as Caerfyrddin—“Merlin’s fort.” History pulses in every side street and stone

Legends of Merlin and King Arthur provide the romance, while hiking trails and myriad lakes supply the adventure in 838-square-mile Snowdonia National Park, in northern Wales.

BATH

What would Jane do? Bath honors its beloved Austen with an annual festival complete with fans in period attire.

A GEORGIAN TREASURE TRAIL

Gems of Georgian-era England still shine in Bath. The Royal Crescent marks 250 years in 2017. “Gin” Austen winks from a bottle label at Canary Gin Bar. Regency architecture crowns the Roman baths for which the city is named. Bertinet Kitchen offers baking classes that include classic desserts such as the charlotte aux pommes.

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BATH BY TAHIR SHAH

AKABEI/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS (CRESCENT, BATHS), RACHEL JUAREZ-CARR/COUNTESSIAN.COM (GIN), JEAN CAZALS TAKEN FROM PATISSERIE MAISON BY RICHARD BERTINET (DESSERT); PREVIOUS PAGES: IAN TEH/PANOS PICTURES (FESTIVAL)

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ive years ago, while writing a novel set in the Regency era about the age-old quest for Timbuctoo, I came across a gothic romance entitled Vathek. Written by William Beckford, one of the most outrageous characters of early 19th-century England, the Oriental tale sparked an obsession with the author’s own life. Storyteller, collector, aficionado of the classical world, and reputedly the richest man in Georgian England, Beckford is a truly original figure—a man who followed his dreams like no one else. As my preoccupation for all things Beckfordian took hold, I began to seek out his delights and whims. It wasn’t long before I found myself drawn to Bath, the city where Beckford lived in grand and uproarious splendor two centuries ago. Nestled in the luxuriant landscape of England’s southwest, Bath was developed by the Romans at about the time of Christ, who called it “Aquae Sulis.” They dedicated the rarefied retreat for body and mind to Minerva, regarding the piping hot water source at its heart as a celestial gift. Steeping themselves in antique refinement, Georgians championed the city’s Roman connections, constructing the classical-inspired architecture for which Bath is still revered. Every inch of it was built from the glorious honey-yellow stone quarried a handful of miles away. Having recently taken up residence in a sumptuous Regency building, I find myself, as Georgian dandies once did, devoting inordinate amounts of time to the appreciation of the finer things in life—eau de cologne, starched muslin, strains of harpsichord, Chinese tea, and of course, the works of Jane Austen. Late each morning I stroll the short distance to the Royal Crescent, no more than a stone’s throw away from my apartment. Squint a little and it’s easy to imagine the expansive sidewalk awash with promenading gentlemen, the cobbled street beyond bustling with lacquered carriages and hand-carried sedan chairs. As though fatigued by the strain of merely existing, I like to pause at the fabulously understated Royal Crescent Hotel. Taking refuge in a low fauteuil in the drawing room, I stare into the brazier, its coals glowing and clicking. As an antique grandfather clock chimes the noon hour, I lounge back behind an ironed copy of the Times, the heady scent of magnolia flowers wafting in from the hotel’s extensive gardens. A favorite stop on my explorations is the former home of Mr. Henry Sandford, a well-heeled landowner, at No. 1 Royal Crescent. Restored to its original glory and open to the public, it provides a glimpse into the life and luxuries of the Georgian elite. In the dining room a curator

steps from the shadows and points out some features. I motion to the pineapple in pride of place on the table. The curator nods. “There was nothing quite so rare in Georgian times,” she says. “Newly discovered in the faroff Americas. Aristocrats would rent pineapples to wow their guests.” Having eased into the day at the Royal Crescent, I like to take a long zigzagging amble through Bath’s crescents and squares, musing upon the details as I go. The street names are high up so as to be at the level of the carriage drivers, seated on their raised benches. I imagine that the flagstones I tread are the same ones walked upon by William Beckford and the socialites, literati, and royalty who used to retreat to Bath for “the season.” The list is, in itself, a reflection of the city’s fortunes. Jane Austen lived in Bath for several years. (This year, the city marks the bicentennial of her death.) Mary Shelley completed Frankenstein here. William Wilberforce, who championed the Abolition of Slavery Act, resided in a well-appointed townhouse, as did naval hero Horatio Nelson, Charles Dickens, King Louis XVIII of France, and in more recent times, Hollywood actor Nicholas Cage. On some days I sample the mineral-laden waters at the Roman Baths before taking tea in its Georgian Pump Room. On other days I blaze a trail to the Assembly Rooms where, squinting again, I envision the gregarious formal balls and marvel at how wealthy Georgians must have suffered in the name of style. By losing oneself in Bath’s Georgian world, as I’m fond of doing, it’s easy to become a little separated from the present, and to forget that Bath is as vibrant today as it was 250 years ago. In the last few years the city has undergone a complete renaissance. Boutique hotels and restaurants are springing up; new galleries are opening their doors. In reverence to my hero, I make the pilgrimage out to Beckford’s Tower, a couple of miles from the city. As far as I’m concerned, it’s Bath’s greatest secret. Scaling the spiral staircase provides matchless views for miles around, and a connection to a past age. Last week another Beckfordian connection found me as I sought shelter from heavy rain in Bayntun’s. The most splendid Victorian bindery and book emporium in Bath, it’s still in the family’s hands. As I trawled the mahogany shelves, a pretty little volume caught my eye. Leaning forward, I coaxed it out and held it in my hand. An early edition of Beckford’s Vathek, printed in 1836. Thanking Providence, I saw it as a sign that Bath and Beckford had embraced me by rewarding my Georgian obsession with treasure at last. TAHIR SHAH ( @humanstew) is a filmmaker and author of 20 books, most recently Paris Syndrome.

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DRIVE YOURSELF ILD

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STORY BY

J. MAARTEN TROOST PHOTOGRAPHS BY

KEN GEIGER

Secretive and elusive, leopards such as this one at Sabi Sabi game reserve can be hard to spot on safari, guided or do-it-yourself.

TIP #1: “Getting off the blacktop and onto some of the wellmaintained dirt roads has its rewards: great vistas and a lot less traffic,” says photographer Ken Geiger.

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TIP #2: You don’t need a Land Rover to encounter giraffes and other charismatic megafauna.

IT PAINS ME TO SAY IT NOW, BUT FOR MANY YEARS I LIVED UNDER THE ILLUSION THAT ONLY THE VERY RICH COULD AFFORD AN AFRICAN SAFARI. THIS SADDENED ME.

My preferred strategy for wealth accumulation—Powerball— had yet to pay dividends, and sometimes I’d wonder if I’d ever see a lion without having to pay a zoo admission fee. Fortunately, as it turned out, I was profoundly mistaken. “Do you think South Africans spend $2,000 a night to see an elephant?” my friend asked. She had lived in Cape Town for many years—was even married to a South African—and knew what she was talking about. “If you really want to go on safari, travel like a local. Rent a cheap car and drive yourself. With airfare I bet it would cost less than $2,000 for a week of game viewing.” “Travel like a local.” The words were a revelation. Safaris, I’d always thought, were for men who referred to each other as “old boy” and for women who wore cravats. I did not realize there was another way—the South African way. Which is how I found myself in the town of Mkuze in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. I’d flown in to Durban ($750 roundtrip from Washington, D.C.). After an excursion to balmy South Beach, where, having noted the presence of shark nets, I went for an exultant swim in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, I rented the cheapest car I could find—a Ford Fiesta. Then I spent a lively day adjusting to driving on the left side of the road (apologies to the good people of KwaZulu-Natal). My plan was to visit Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, where I was confidently informed

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TIP #3: Early risers get the best sightings. This skirmish between three lions took place shortly after dawn at Kruger National Park.

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I’d see rhinos, before making my way through Swaziland to South Africa’s fabled Kruger National Park, an expanse of land nearly the size of New Jersey. Here one can reliably see the storied “big five”—the African elephant, the leopard, the Cape buffalo, the black rhinoceros, and the lion. Impulsive travel, of course, is the best kind of travel. What every traveler yearns for is surprise and wonder, and nothing beats following the bread crumbs of serendipity. This was my first time in South Africa, however, so I availed myself of the advice of locals. “Don’t drive at night” was the universal dictum. Be where you need to be by sunset and stay there. Crime, unfortunately, is an issue in South Africa, but for those who are amenable to common sense, a 500-mile self-guided safari tour should be as safe as a road trip to Florida.

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t was fall in the Southern Hemisphere, which meant warm, sunny days and temperate evenings. South Africa is one of the world’s most biodiverse nations, and as I threaded my way north on smooth two-lane highways, I noted the sweeping changes in the landscape, from the fields of sugarcane outside Durban to rolling hills of bushveld to the savanna of African lore. Occasionally I’d find a hulking Land Rover in my rearview mirror, urging me to move toward

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the shoulder—where a startling number of warthogs tend to congregate—and as the 4x4s raced by, I imagined they were ferrying the well-heeled tourists who’d booked luxury safaris at one of the innumerable private game reserves that ring the big national parks like orbiting satellites. I didn’t envy them—well, maybe a little bit, particularly when the Fiesta went hurtling over an unexpected speed bump. I had booked a room at the Ghost Mountain Inn near Mkuze, which turned out to be a lovely single-story hotel with an expansive lawn that unraveled toward a mirror-smooth lake. In the near distance the Lebombo Mountains reflected the light of the late afternoon sun. After checking in I sauntered toward the water. A troupe of vervet monkeys scampered across the grass. The colors began to melt across the sky, with flaring streaks of crimson merging into a darkening blue void. I headed toward a dock that stretched invitingly over the water. Perfect, I thought. That’s where I’ll watch the sunset. And that’s when I noticed the sign: BEWARE OF THE CROCODILES. For real? What to do? Should I make some noise, or should I be stealthy? I tiptoed my way toward the end of the dock, my senses attuned to every ripple, every rustle of grass, when suddenly, about 20 yards from me, there was an explosion of water

as a hippopotamus thundered above the surface, its gaping, toothy maw glistening with threat. I stood stunned, immobile, as I watched what many consider to be the most dangerous animal in Africa swim and belch a stone’s throw from my quivering legs. I was beginning to feel a little out of my depth. I thought of the Ford Fiesta. I was about to encounter elephants and rhinos and herds of Cape buffalo and God knows how many other creatures that could crush my subcompact rental like an errant bug. “SO WHAT DO I DO if I encounter an elephant inside the park?” I inquired. I was speaking with Jean, a matronly safari guide from Botswana who had moved to Hluhluwe more than 20 years earlier and never left. “You should back away slowly, particularly if it’s a male elephant in musth,” she said. This seemed like sensible advice. I had stayed up late the previous night bingeing on video after video on YouTube of elephants destroying cars in South Africa. “What about rhinos?” I pressed. “The thing about rhinos,” she said, leaning in conspiratorially, “is that they are nearly blind. So whatever you do, do not stop your car above a pile of rhino poo. A rhino could mistake you for another rhino. It will feel challenged. And then it might charge your car, which is not something you’ll want to experience.”

TIP #4: A self-guided safari amplifies the wonder of pure, unfiltered nature. There’s nothing between you and the snacking baboon at Kruger (opposite) or the more toothy creatures that reside at Lake Jozini (above), near Ghost Mountain Inn.

Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, the former hunting grounds of the Zulu kings, is the oldest game reserve in Africa. Today it is perhaps South Africa’s best kept secret. I saw not more than a dozen other vehicles—an occasional multistory safari truck full of camera-laden tourists, a couple of antipoaching ranger pickup trucks. As I slowly drove in, the first critter I came across was a baby zebra suckling at its mother’s teat. Aww, I thought, it’s like a Disney movie. That’s when the snake appeared. It slithered across the narrow, two-lane road. Sadly, I cannot tell you what kind of snake it was—Black mamba? Spitting cobra?—because I have an Indiana Jones–level fear of snakes and had to pull to the side of the road and take a few deep breaths and go to my safe place. The park is a rugged mix of topography with steep forested hills interspersed with vast savannas. I encountered scores of extraordinary animals—zebras and impalas and wildebeests.

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TIP #5: Sleep well, at places such as Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge, a National Geographic Unique Lodge, noted for its commitment to sustainability.

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KEN GEIGER/SABI SABI PRIVATE GAME RESERVE

I saw warthogs and baboons and monkeys. And then, through a clearing, about 50 yards distant, I spotted two black rhinos. Once upon a time there were but 25 rhinos in the park. Today there are roughly 1,800. If you would like to see a rhinoceros in the wild, this is where you go. I paused, making sure I selected a spot clear of animal droppings of any kind, rejoicing that I had found the first of the big five, and then drove onward to Hilltop Camp, where people who plan ahead can stay inside the park. Often booked months in advance for its accommodations, Hilltop Camp has a restaurant where I intended to have lunch. Alas, standing in my way on the narrow road was a herd of Cape buffalo. They seemed in no hurry to mosey on. Retreat and adapt became my safari motto. More. This is what I heard from my neurotransmitters. Once you’ve seen something as magnificent as a black rhino, you can’t help but yearn for sightings of Africa’s other charismatic megafauna. I headed through the Kingdom of Swaziland—which I found to be a surprisingly alpine country—on what was the most direct route to 7,700-square-mile Kruger National Park. Travelers with more foresight than I should reserve a bungalow in one of the park’s rest camps. I managed to snag a last-minute room at the Protea Hotel near Paul Kruger Gate. At breakfast a vervet monkey leaped on my table and stole my banana. Day visitors to Kruger should plan on being at the gate—in my case, the Kruger Gate near Skukuza—at 6 a.m., when most of the animals are up and about in search of breakfast. There is presently a drought in southern Africa, which is bad, but for someone on a self-guided safari it made spotting otherwise reclusive animals almost painfully easy. Elephants and giraffes walked among umbrella thorn trees. Wild dogs sheltered in the nook of a marula tree. A leopard cast a furtive glance from across the river. Hippos did hippo things, while enormous crocodiles sunned themselves on the rocks. I maneuvered the Fiesta onto the dirt roads that extend like tributaries throughout the park. I was beginning to feel at ease in my car. Perhaps too at ease. I pulled into a spot next to the Sabie River. A South African couple in a weathered SUV were staring intently at something through their binoculars. “It’s a lion,” the man informed me. “Want to have a look?” Yes. Yes, I did. I stepped out of my car and reached for the field glasses. There, a short distance across the river, was a lion, a male with a rock-star mane that suddenly perked up at the sight of a human walking freely in his domain. “You might want to get back inside your car,” the man said, as I returned his binoculars. That seemed like the prudent thing to do, and as I settled into the Fiesta, I felt giddy. I have seen a lion in the wild. I patted the steering wheel. Thank you, little car. J. MAARTEN TROOST is the author of four travel memoirs. He is

currently at work on a book about the future. Pulitzer Prize– winning photographer KEN GEIGER ( @kengeiger) had such a great time in Kruger for Traveler that he returned on his own.

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TIP #6: DIY safaris allow for impromptu stops at roadside stands, such as this one in Swaziland.

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Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve, part of National Geographic Unique Lodges of the World (natgeolodges.com/explore; 888-701-5486), has four lodges on-site. Earth Lodge is sculpted so cleverly into a hillside that it’s barely visible even to the animals. National Geographic Expeditions offers several trips to South Africa’s safari parks. natgeoexpeditions.com/explore; 888-966-8687

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In some places the best—and often only—option is the hotel restaurant. Inside the parks, day visitors can grab lunch inside the official rest camps.

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Protea Hotel Kruger Gate Conveniently located at the Paul Kruger Gate at Kruger National Park, this 96-room hotel is part of the Marriott network. From $120. protea.marriott.com

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Rest Camps Reservations are recommended at the rest camps inside the parks, including Hilltop Camp (hilltopcamp.co.za) in HluhluweiMfolozi Park and Lower Sabie Rest Camp in Kruger (sanparks .org). Accommodations range from basic camping sites to family cottages.

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South Africa’s Kruger National Park and KwaZulu-Natal Province are best visited in spring (September-October), when you will see newborn animals, or in winter (June-August), when it’s driest—vegetation is thinner and visibility is better.

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Ghost Mountain Inn This country inn near Lake Jozini in KwaZulu-Natal offers 50 rooms amid a five-acre indigenous garden, a spa, and two outdoor pools. From $100. ghostmountaininn.co.za

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Safari Smarts

WHAT A FIND

A COLLECTION OF HANDPICKED LODGES WHERE SUSTAINABILITY MEETS SPLENDOR Let us plan your dream trip. Visit natgeolodges.com or call +1-888-701-5486.

Photo: Lapa Rios Lodge, Costa Rica © 2017 National Geographic Partners, LLC. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC UNIQUE LODGES OF THE WORLD and the Yellow Border Design are registered trademarks of the National Geographic Society, used under license.

Buddhist monasteries, such as Neydo Tashi Choeling, are welcoming places to experience the diversity of Nepali culture. Opposite: A Tharu woman wears a traditional dress from southern Nepal. The country itself is a colorful tapestry of 124 ethnicities.

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H I M A L AYA N H E A R T Mighty peaks—including Everest—draw most visitors to Nepal, but a rich culture thrives in the shadow of these mountains

BY CARRIE MILLER

| PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALISON WRIGHT

On Yogbir Singh Marg street in Kathmandu, vendors sell vegetables, fruits, and spices on the road. In this buzzing capital of one million, daily life unfolds in the open.

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PLACES ON THE PLANET. Kathmandu, Nepal. Specifically Kathmandu’s Boudhanath stupa, one of the biggest in the world. Its whitewashed dome, tinged with saffron and crowned with a golden spire, is painted with the all-seeing eyes of Buddha. This is the sacred eye in a maelstrom of the profane. Just outside Boudhanath’s gates swirls the dizzying street scene of Kathmandu, as crazy and cacophonous as I remember from my first visit nearly two decades ago: a pressing sea of one million people, with vendors who pursue you for blocks down broken brick sidewalks to sell you a $5 lapis bracelet, past light poles wrapped with beehive-size bundles of gray wiring, the work of electrical wizards or madmen. But the stupa’s gates keep the city at bay. Prayer flags ripple in the breeze as hundreds of pilgrims circle the base of the fifth-century shrine, always clockwise. Sitting on the top platform of the three that encircle the stupa, I toy with the $5 lapis bracelet I’m wearing around my wrist, my throat dry from the raspy street air that tastes of dust and two-stroke exhaust fumes, and survey the city’s rooftop scene from my perch. Up here life plays out above the pandemonium: Tourists relax with beer and pizza at rooftop bars, while Kathmandu’s locals, drawn together from Nepal’s 124 ethnic groups, hang laundry and carefully tend potted trees and plants, their personal oases of green. Lifting my eyes even higher, I see the snowy Himalaya, pink in the dust and haze, climbing halfway up the sky. Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest, and these peaks are what draw most visitors here. On my first visit I was a peak pilgrim too, a restless, driven 26-year-old eager to test myself on those high trails. Now I’ve returned, with National Geographic Journeys, to experience a more hidden side of Nepal, a side often overshadowed by these mountains—the diversity of the people and landscape and the rhythm and respite of places like Boudhanath. This time I don’t want to go high. I want to turn my back on the mountains (and my ego) and go inside, hoping Nepal’s ancient culture will reveal itself to me, if only for a moment.

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To begin, we make our way to the Neydo Tashi Choeling Monastery Guest House, 14 miles southwest of Kathmandu, close to Pharping. The golden-roofed monastery sits on a dusty hill studded with prayer flag–draped pine trees. Home to 150 Buddhist monks, ages five to 27, the monastery also runs an austere 23-room guesthouse for travelers. Some come here to unwind, some to study Buddhism, others to experience a taste of monastic life. Visitors are encouraged to attend the monks’ morning and evening pujas, Buddhist prayer ceremonies. I ask Tsering Hyolmo, the 25-year-old manager of the guesthouse, if it’s strange, welcoming visitors to watch your daily devotional practice. “We enjoy sharing our practice,” Tsering says. “Maybe we have a beautiful place, and visitors want to know about Buddhism. Maybe they just want to get away from the city. Either way we can help.” At 5,577 feet the air temperature is much colder here than in Kathmandu, and I notice Tsering is wearing a down jacket over his burgundy robes. He unlocks the door to my room, which is sparse, simple, and everything I need: a sturdy bed, small wooden desk, and en suite bathroom. The next morning I hunch my shoulders against the predawn chill and hike up the hill to the monastery. Kicking off my shoes, I take my place among a row of visitors sitting cross-legged on cushions against the back wall, facing a one-story-tall golden Buddha and rows of monks in their saffron and red robes, which they’ve pulled tightly around themselves in the cold. The noise is deafening. The monks keep up a continuous chant, punctuated with the beating of deep bass drums, the blasts of horns and conch shells, and the metallic clashing of cymbals. I start to sense a rhythm underneath the chaos, although I don’t understand it. As Tsering promised, I do feel welcome, but apart. It’s as though the monks are opening a door and it is up to me to step through. Whenever I lose my focus (which happens frequently) during the puja, my eyes go to the young monks in the back rows, who are behaving like boys at school, stifling yawns with the long sleeves of their red robes, wriggling in their seats until a senior monk walks slowly and watchfully down the line. Until recently Nepal was one of the poorest countries in the world, relying heavily on aid money. Many children end up in monasteries like this one, or the Arya Tara School and nunnery down the hill, because of the free board and opportunity for education. Some children are sent by their parents; others choose to come. Dhekyid Dolma chose to come to Arya Tara at age 12. The 22-year-old nun wants to become a teacher of thangka, a type of Buddhist painting on cotton or silk known for its intensely bright colors and elaborate designs. “I just wanted to be a nun. I want to be a simple person with high thinking,” she tells me. In the rural area of Kurintar, 70 miles northwest of Pharping

Pokhara, like other cities in Nepal, reflects and bears witness to the majesty of mountains. The city serves as the end point of the famed Annapurna hiking circuit, with views of fishtail-shaped Mount Machapuchare (far left).

A gallery of faces reveals Nepalis' irrepressible spirit. A Newar woman wears red and saffron for a Hindu wedding; a villager in Kurintar returns home with fodder for animals. For a young Buddhist monk and a uniformed schoolgirl, life revolves around their studies.

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and my next destination, it’s clear that life is not easy, especially for young women who want to be high thinkers. Red dirt trails thread precipitous hillsides from one cluster of corrugated-iron-roofed houses to the next, with a narrow suspension bridge over a frothing river connecting the hillside to the main road. In these villages one man in every household works in Kathmandu or abroad to supplement the family’s subsistence farming, and education—particularly for girls—isn’t a priority. I’m spending the night at Summit River Lodge, a sprawling accommodation accessed only by foot, over the bridge. Before the sun has sent exploratory beams through the morning mist, I’m up and climbing the dusty paths behind the lodge. I pass a group of villagers crowded around an older woman carrying a large basket of cherry tomatoes. She has walked from a village an hour away to sell or trade her homegrown harvest. If she doesn’t sell them all, she’ll walk to the next village. I happen upon a woman grinding corn by hand. She stands up to greet me with a shy, warm smile, pressing her palms together in the traditional greeting, bowing slightly. I return the greeting. Namaste—I bow to you. Her daughter emerges from the house briefly, a baby on her hip, before ducking back inside. When she reemerges, she is carrying a cup of tea for me, and the three of us stand in the cool morning air, the cup of tea warming my fingers, smiling and talking with exaggerated gestures as chickens peck around the satellite dish that’s been placed carefully next to the house. I thank them for their hospitality and say namaste again, winding my way back down the red dirt trail, the sun starting to beat on my neck. Nepal compels you to confront the variety of human existence. There’s no escaping the poverty that throws my own life into stark relief. There is time, however, to consider the balance between poverty and simplicity and to marvel at friendly, gentle people who are willing to open their homes, to put their hardworking lives on pause, in order to share in a conversation. There is time to consider my own perception of what makes for a wealthy life. Nepal is one of those propitious places where you have time simply to be, where precisely constructed itineraries are shredded and you are forced to go with the flow. My Western mind tends to resist that—strongly at first, but I’m starting to let go. I’m in that halfway state when I reach Chitwan National Park, 45 miles south of Kurintar. Chitwan is a rare success story of government support, tourism, and local involvement working together to benefit everyone. Yet another one of Nepal’s UNESCO World Heritage sites (the country has four in all), the 579-squaremile former hunting ground for the royal family is the oldest national park in Nepal and home to greater one-horned rhinos, Bengal tigers, leopards, wild deer, crocodiles, and 550 species of birds. Determined to protect this wild resource, the Nepali government decades ago called in the army to police the park; only one incident of poaching has occurred in the past three years.

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Nepal Navigation Nepal’s infrastructure is up and running after the devastating earthquake of 2015, but the usual crowds of travelers have yet to return, which means the timing has never been better to visit. WHERE TO STAY

Kathmandu The Traditional Comfort boutique hotel is a small, centrally located spot with a basic restaurant on-site. From $138. traditionalcomfort.com

Pharping The Neydo Tashi Choeling Monastery Guest House is a simple guesthouse adjacent to a monastery, which guests are welcome to visit. The guesthouse also features a restaurant. From $87. neydohotel.com

Chitwan National Park The Barahi Jungle Lodge features 35 guest rooms overlooking the park, a restaurant, a swimming pool, and a wealth of safari activities. From $250. barahijunglelodge.com DINING AND SHOPPING

Kathmandu Fire and Ice pizzeria has been an expat favorite since 2005.

Neydo Tashi Choeling Monastery

10 km

Krishnarpan, the restaurant at Dwarika’s Hotel, serves traditional Nepali cuisine. Meals are six- to 22-course extravaganzas. There are plenty of souvenirs to be found in Nepal’s capital city, but for unique, quality pieces try NPI Collection (pashminas) and Buddha Thanka Treasure (paintings). Patan Museum in Lalitpur sells bronze Buddhas. INSIDER TIPS

Visas Tourist visas are available for purchase in advance or on arrival. They are cheaper to purchase on arrival, but it can take over an hour to get through the queue. Bring extra passport photos.

What to Pack Closed-toe, sturdy shoes are a must in both cities and rural areas. It’s a good idea to bring a basic first-aid kit. Always drink bottled water, including when brushing teeth. GO WITH NAT GEO

Carrie Miller and Alison Wright traveled on National Geographic Journeys with G Adventures’ “Nepal: Himalaya Highlights” tour. The itinerary includes Kathmandu, Pharping, Kurintar, Chitwan, and Pokhara. natgeojourneys .com/explore; 800-281-2354

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New Zealand–based CARRIE MILLER ( @carriemiller_writer) is a longtime Traveler contributor. Photographer ALISON WRIGHT ( @alisonwrightphoto) travels often to Nepal as the founder of the Faces of Hope fund.

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“The quality of life has improved with tourism,” Saket (Saki) Shrouti, my 27-year-old guide from the Barahi Jungle Lodge, tells me. “The communities here were totally dependent on the forest for food and shelter. They were using the wildlife. When the park was created, it put a lot of restrictions on the people. But when tourists started coming, there are roads and electricity here now. Doctors can now get here. Ultimately communities got to know that if we save the rhino, we show the rhino, tourists will come. Many tourists can see one rhino for 40 years. One poacher sees one rhino and it’s gone. And so the locals can see how wildlife conservation benefits everyone.” Chitwan is a Nepal I never could have imagined: lush and languorous, with hazy, fireball sunsets and the swish of the wind catching the 20-foot-high elephant grasses. The next morning I’m literally going with the flow, sliding down the wide, unruffled Rapti River on a boat. Mist skirts along the still surface, and the only sound comes from two poles dipping into the water, slowly propelling us forward. Aitaram Bote, 45, stands in the front of the boat; Som Kumal, 33, is in the back. Both belong to the local Boteh tribe, which Saki describes as “expert watermen who know every corner of this park.” Saki himself is full of knowledge about everything we’re seeing, from the egrets, to the pair of hog deer grazing on the bank, to the mugger (an Asian crocodile) floating as innocently as a log. Suddenly Saki taps me on the shoulder and nods at the opposite bank. A hulking gray figure blends in with the morning mist, but I can make out its fringed ears. The one-horned rhino pauses from its foraging, raising its large head, pinning us with a stare. More than 600 of these behemoths live in Chitwan, thanks to the antipoaching measures, and I count myself very lucky to be seeing one in its natural habitat. “The rhinos often come down to drink from the river,” Saki whispers to me. “One guest asked me what time they come. I tell her they come anytime they want. It’s their kingdom.” It is their kingdom, and by tearing my eyes from the mountains, I am fortunate enough to be granted this uncustomary audience with rhino royalty. I feel the same sensation—a rare peacefulness—that I felt on the sun-warmed steps of Boudhanath, with the women at Kurintar, and during the puja ceremony at Neydo Tashi Choeling. Som and Aitaram pole us over to the riverbank at the confluence where the Rapti meets the Narayani River. As I disembark for a waiting jeep, Aitaram shakes one of my hands with both of his and says a few words. Aitaram and I both look to Saki, hoping he’ll translate for us. “He says, ‘If you come back, remember us.’” I want to tell him that I will remember him, as I do the other moments when I glimpsed the hidden heart of Nepal.

One of two peace pagodas in Nepal, Shanti Stupa is a site for meditation atop a hill in Pokhara.

Heavy Lifting on the Road to Happiness A dusty gym in Lagos, Nigeria, was the last place I expected to learn a lesson in optimism

By Christopher Vourlias Illustrations by Jean-Manuel Duvivier

SUCCESS, I REALIZED, a few weeks after I’d arrived in Nigeria, was going to be the death of me. I noticed him my first day at the gym. He was impossible to miss, built as wide across as an armoire, with what looked like bowling balls straining the sleeves of his T-shirt. In a past life, Success had been an amateur bodybuilder on the Nigerian national team, participating in competitions across Africa before blowing out his knee. The setback had hardly slowed him down; he was still formidable, snarling as he deadlifted a weight, oh, about the size of a steam engine. Success had a surprisingly gentle side too. When he noticed me awkwardly heaving dumbbells in front of the mirror, he came over to rest his hands on my shoulders. “Make as if you wanna fly,” he said, moving his massive arms in slow, fluid motions. “Like a butterfly.” I looked around the gym, a grim sweatbox of rusty weights and archaic machinery that could’ve been designed for the Inquisition. Tucked into a dusty corner of the national stadium complex in Lagos, it probably packed more muscle per square inch than anywhere in Nigeria. Closing my eyes, I tried to imagine a butterfly in a fluorescent unitard doing 500-pound squats and lifted my arms. “Again,” said Success. Slowly I raised the weights. “Again,” he said, more fiercely. I went through a few reps until my shoulders burned. Watching me nearby, another bodybuilder tilted his chiseled jaw toward Success. “He is a wicked man,” he said. “This man’s name is Killer. He’s killed many people training.” IT WASN’T A DEATH WISH that had brought me to Nigeria. A few years back, I found myself broke, dejected, and no closer to the literary stardom I’d imagined for myself at 35 than I’d been at any point during my brief and miserable fling with adulthood. If I wasn’t clinically depressed at the time, I was still mired in an intractable funk. Sulking as the desultory months of my life unspooled from my home in Johannesburg, South Africa, I came across a flurry of news reports calling Nigerians the happiest people on Earth. Now, I wasn’t a total rube; I knew that happiness isn’t exactly one of the more empirical scientific fields and that Nigerians were maybe no more or less cheerful than the Bhutanese, the Costa Ricans, the Scandinavians, or any of the others topping some dubious annual survey like those on which the news reports were based. But still, their name had to pop up for a reason. Maybe there was a lesson I could take away from that. And it seemed simple enough, like go to the world’s happiest place, interrogate cheerful natives, learn their ancient wisdoms, become a better me. Reading up on the country wasn’t encouraging. “Only a masochist with an exuberant taste for self-violence will pick Nigeria for a holiday,” wrote Chinua Achebe. The U.S. State Department travel advisory included words like “armed muggings,” “assaults,” “burglaries,” “carjackings,” “piracy,” “kidnappings,”

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and “extortion.” Wait, what about Aruba? I thought to myself. Maybe I can find happiness there? Undeterred, I packed my bags. On my first morning in Lagos, I woke up to find my bank account cleared out, victimized by debit card fraud at the airport before my departing flight from South Africa. I spent my first few weeks in Nigeria grappling with my bank’s fraud prevention specialists in the States. Requests to get a new card shipped to me in Lagos were flatly denied. The bank, I was told, couldn’t send a replacement to a “high-risk state,” a list of which I imagined Nigeria sat atop like a king. I WAS STUCK IN LAGOS, killing time, worried that “death by inertia” might be added to the State Department’s next travel advisory. So I decided to join the gym at the national stadium down the road—at a buck and change per session, as cost-effective a diversion as I was likely to find in Lagos. The place was almost Buddhist in its simplicity, with its devotion to muscles and a masochism that would’ve done Achebe proud. If the neighborhood wasn’t hit by one of the periodic blackouts that rolled through as regularly as the tides, a tiny wall-mounted TV played soccer highlights. Sometimes there was music. On my gym visits, I got acquainted with bouncers, bodybuilders, bodyguards: a whole taxonomy of men whose livelihoods were built on muscle mass. While some of these bruisers’ incomes could no doubt cover the thousands of protein-rich calories they ingested each day, it was clear not all of them had prospered. One afternoon, I watched a man get into a shoving match over the dollar entrance fee, an argument that almost devolved into a full-on WWE extravaganza before cooler heads prevailed. At the gym, as in the other places my travels around Nigeria would take me, everyone seemed to be wrestling with the inequities of a country where the opposite poles of the economic spectrum suggested not just different tax brackets, but different galaxies. A few days before, in the swank Lagos suburb of Ikoyi, I visited a gym with standing AC units and a full-service spa whose services cost as much as a night watchman’s monthly salary. Had I mentioned the astronomical membership fee to one of the regulars at my gym, they wouldn’t so much have shrugged their sculpted shoulders. In Nigeria, no one argued for fairness; it was a given that life was a rigged game for which the price of entry was unfathomably high and the returns usually a bag of peanuts. Yet against all odds, no matter how crooked the math, people persevered. Or, as one man put it to me, straining to lift a weight twice his size: “Trying to make two and two go to five.”

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IN ONE OF THE COUNTLESS STUDIES charting the elusive happiness index, a 2010 Gallup poll determined that Nigerians were the most optimistic of more than 50 nationalities surveyed; a poll three years earlier found that more than six in 10 Nigerians believed they would be in a better place in five years’ time. If happiness were an achievable end, even the Nigerians who hadn’t yet found it believed it was there, just out of reach—that with enough hard work and faith, they’d be able to grab it as firmly as Success gripped the dumbbells. The greatest obstacle didn’t lurk on the potholed road to better fortunes, but in the dark, doubting chambers of the heart. “You’re not competing against anyone,” Success said. “You are competing against yourself.” This sense of personal agency is at the core of life in Nigeria, where in the Christian south, evangelical pastors promote a gospel of salvation and self-enrichment to audiences that often number in the tens of thousands. One afternoon in Lagos, I watched a street hawker selling books with titles like Think Big: Unleashing Your Potential for Excellence and How to Get What You Want and Want What You Have. No doubt he had his own blueprint for how to unleash his potential for excellence and get what he wanted. So did Success, with his blown-out knee and blown dreams of Olympic stardom, muscling his way through endless reps for the sheer sake of—what? Was there a higher purpose to all that sweat and self-flagellation? For a few weeks in Lagos, I pressed, lifted, squatted. I nursed my sore arms at night and, in the morning, went back to the gym with an exuberant taste for self-violence. Grimacing through my reps, thinking about my life, I pictured someone other than the 200-pound sad sack who’d spent six years schlepping around Africa like he was selling vacuum cleaners door to door. If six out of 10 Nigerians imagined themselves at the top of life’s ladder five years down the line, why couldn’t they scoot over and make a little bit of room for me? By the end of the month, when I finally got a new debit card, I prepared to leave Lagos on my ephemeral happiness search. After one of my last workouts with him, Success took me aside. “You see?” he said, rolling up my sleeves. “You have a different shape from when you came here.” He traced the outline of my shoulders, little bumps where I imagined actual muscles might someday be. I wasn’t sure if I could see the difference. But I believed it was there. Athens-based CHRISTOPHER VOURLIAS ( @postcardjunky) is working on a travel memoir about Nigeria. Illustrator JEANMANUEL DUVIVIER lives in Brussels.

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Connect with the Traditions of Coastal Alabama

Reconnect with Nature in South County, RI

Sugar-white sand beaches, charming downtowns, wildlife preserves, historic sites, and fresh seafood, connect to the culture of the Gulf Coast on Alabama’s Coastal Connection scenic byway. This nationally designated scenic byway is a great way to learn more about the waters, ways, and wildlife on the Alabama Gulf Coast. Visitors have the opportunity to experience the connection between the South’s deeply rooted traditions all while enjoying the laid-back coastal lifestyle. From museums and historic sites to birding sanctuaries and nature trails, Alabama’s Coastal Connection has attractions for everyone to enjoy and explore life along the Alabama Gulf Coast.

Renew your spirit and soothe your soul while relaxing on 100 miles of beautiful coastline, featuring 20 public beaches, and even a few secret ones. Unplug from the chatter of routine of daily life by hiking or biking miles of wooded trails. Catch a glimpse of rare birds before they migrate to warmer locations for the winter. Find your center kayaking, canoeing or stand-up paddle boarding our quiet, inlet waterways. And if you seek a thrill, try surfing the waves at Narragansett beach.

AlabamasCoastalConnection.com 888.666.9252

SouthCountyRI.com

Sacred Valley & Lares Adventure to Machu Picchu

Visiting New Zealand on Your Bucket List?

Explore the most iconic Inca sites in the Sacred Valley and travel among traditional weavers’ mountain villages on your way to Machu Picchu, with views of snowcapped peaks and remote valleys. Mountain Lodges of Peru offers accommodations in first-class lodges, with gourmet cuisine and full amenities (even Jacuzzis!). Throughout the trip you will be escorted by our experienced local guides, with daily à-la-carte activities including cultural and hiking experiences. Five-and seven-day all-inclusive programs from Cusco to Cusco. Explore your own sense of adventure.

Hi, we’re MoaTrek and since the 1970s we’ve been sharing our favourite spots on our small group tours. We’re proud Kiwis and grew up exploring New Zealand—now we’ve bottled a lifetime of holiday memories just for you.

sacredvalleylaresadventure.com

moatrek.com

877.491.5261

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Relax in the natural beauty of South County, Rhode Island.

800.548.4662

From North to South, you won’t miss a thing—Milford Sound, Queenstown, Abel Tasman, Rotorua, the West Coast, Mt Cook— plus a few more secret spots we loved as kids! Small friendly groups, all the comforts of home and your very own ‘Kiwi Guide’. Get in touch now, we’d love to chat about YOUR ‘Dream Trip’ to New Zealand!

877.796.0415

, contact Alex Sobrino at 212.822.7439 or [email protected].

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Yamhill County, Oregon—A Foodie’s Stomping Ground Oregon’s Yamhill County is rightfully known for our spectacular wines. But more than grapes grow in this fertile and scenic place. Our prized eats are shipped around the world and can be enjoyed locally in the culinary works of our talented chefs. Varieties of meats, tomatoes, hazelnuts, greens and berries are plentiful, as are olives, which happen to like the same growing conditions as wine grapes. Yamhill County. Small town appeal with big time tastes. At the heart of the Willamette Valley, named 2016 Wine Region of the Year.

TravelYamhill.com

800-316-3086

Go Expedition Cruising in the Peruvian Amazon Deep in the Peruvian Amazon, Delfin Amazon Cruises will take you into the world’s largest protected flooded forests, the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. Experienced guides will show you the immense biodiversity of the area. In this bird-watching haven, be ready to encounter howler monkeys, white caymans, sloths, iguanas, and many more. Voyages include visits to native villages, kayaking, opportunities to swim near pink river dolphins, fishing, daytime hiking, stand-up paddle boarding, and night safaris. On board, guests can enjoy exquisite Amazonian cuisine in an authentic, intimate setting with the right amount of elegance and comfort. The largest luxury fleet in the Amazon awaits you. Look online for our Special PROMO dates on our new Delfin III.

delfinamazoncruises.com

844.4.DELFIN

Luxury Vacations: 12-Day China & Yangtze River Enjoy our Imperial China & Yangtze River Gold Experience tour. Highlights: historic Beijing, ancient Xi’an, a scenic Yangtze River Cruise, cosmopolitan Shanghai, FiveStarPlus® hotels and luxurious amenities on board Victoria Cruises. Maximum 16 participants.

pacificdelighttours.com/T7YX12VD.aspx

800.221.7179

Explore the Real New Zealand with the Kiwis Enjoy authentic experiences in our backyard with the best local guides. We are a team of travel industry veterans who came home to share New Zealand with visitors in a physically active and uniquely Kiwi way. Keen to explore in comfort? Come walking in UNESCO World Heritage areas then relax in first class lodging with fine dining and wines after sunset on our popular World Heritage Walking Tour. Or if you'd rather go hard and earn the views, sample new experiences or squeeze it all into a week, we have an NZ trip to suit your travel style.

Florida Like You Wouldn’t Believe!

newzealandtrails.com/traveler

visitjacksoncountyfla.com 850.482.8061

877.796.0416

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Florida is known for sandy beaches, but the springs in Jackson County evoke a sense of wanderlust of their own. Paddle spring-fed Chipola River or take a refreshing swim in 202-acre Merritt’s Mill Pond, home of international dive hotspot Jackson Blue Springs.

, contact Alex Sobrino at 212.822.7439 or [email protected].

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Not Your Average Folk

Cuisine & Culture: Feasts in Georgia & Uzbekistan

America’s longest-running FREE celebration of heritage and culture, Greensboro hosts the prestigious National Folk Festival, September 8-10, 2017. With over 300 world-class artists on seven stages, this three-day event is an outdoor multicultural celebration.

Adventures in unconventional destinations: Taste your way through Georgia, overflowing with wine and hospitality. Celebrate the spring festival of Navruz in Uzbekistan with locals. MIR has specialized in handcrafted small group and private journeys since 1986.

nationalfolkfestival.com

mircorp.com/ngt

336.373.7523

800.424.7289

Cuzco, Machu Picchu Private

Explore Africa and Beyond

Come to discover the Inca Empire with private guides and services for six nights from US$2,293 per person/double occupancy, including local airfare, hotel (your choice of three-, four-, or five-stars), and tours.

We’re your experts. For over 15 years, our family-owned company has designed custom African safaris for discerning travelers. We take pride in our first-hand knowledge of destinations, lodges, and insider experiences. Now you can also explore Latin America with us!

taratours.com

Africansafarico.com

800.327.0080

800.414.3090

Experience the Real Cuba!

Mexico’s Copper Canyon Deluxe Coach /Train Tours

Join us for an authentic, off-the-beaten-path experience where you’ll get an insider’s view into the unique culture and nature of the island. Beaches, plantation visits, mojitos, classic cars, homemade meals, music & history await!

“The most dramatic train ride in the western hemisphere” (Reader’s Digest)—4 times larger than Grand Canyon, 90 tunnels, 40 bridges, longest aerial tram in the world, Tarahumara Indians, river cruising, birding, hiking, pottery. Tours begins/ends in Phoenix. From $1395.

GondwanaEcotours.com/Cuba

coppercanyon.com

877-587-8479

Experience Patagonia! Join us to discover one of the wildest places on earth: Patagonia. Hike amid towering granite spires and turquoise glacial lakes, overnight in fantastic lodges, and be among the first to experience Patagonia’s new national parks!

wildernesstravel.com

866.780.2813

To advertise in TRAVELER , please contact Alex Sobrino at [email protected] or 212.822.7439 To request additional information from TRAVELER advertisers, please visit ngt-travelinfo.com.

800.368.2794

To advertise in TRAVELER

, contact Alex Sobrino at 212.822.7439 or [email protected].

That Happy, Sunny Place In this new section, we share personal tales of how great hotels inspire memorable moments By Annie Fitzsimmons

I

told myself I came to Lake Como to reconnect with my Italian roots and delve into this magical region of Lombardy, where Italy meets the Alps. But who was I kidding? I was really here to have my Greta Garbo moment at the Grand Hotel Tremezzo. The actress called the lakeside, art nouveau gem “that happy, sunny place” in the 1932 Oscar-winning movie Grand Hotel. In the film she also delivered her famous line, “I want to be alone.” Even though I wasn’t alone, I was about as indulgent as you can get without being a movie star. I swirled my cheese at the hotel’s fondue bar, savored slices of torta Valentina by the floating pool, and gazed to my heart’s content over the lake to the dreamy town of Bellagio. Lake Como bubbles over with all good things, from romantic villas built into precipitous slopes to languid locals who sublimely stretch day into night. I came to realize it may be wonderful to be alone, but a paradise like Lake Como is best shared.

COPYRIGHT © 2017 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PARTNERS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER: REGISTERED TRADEMARK ® MARCA REGISTRADA. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. WEBSITE: natgeotravel.com EMAIL: [email protected] LETTERS: National Geographic Traveler, 1145 17th St. N.W., Washington, DC 20036. Please include address, email, or daytime

telephone number. MASTHEAD: natgeotravel.com/masthead. SUBSCRIBER SERVICES: ngtservice.com, 1-800-647-5463. Traveler also is available for the iPad through iTunes. Find Traveler at magfinder.magnetdata.net. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest. Volume XXXIV, Number 4. National Geographic Traveler (ISSN 0747-0932) is published six times a year (February/March, April/May, June/July, August/September, October/November, December/January) by National Geographic Partners, LLC, 1145 17th St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. $19.95 a year, $5.99 a copy. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and at additional mailing offices. SUBSCRIBER: If the Postal Service alerts us that your magazine is undeliverable, we have no further obligation unless we receive a corrected address within two years. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to National Geographic Traveler, P.O. Box 62134, Tampa, FL 33662-2134. In Canada, agreement number 40063649, return undeliverable Canadian addresses to National Geographic Traveler, P.O. Box 4412 STA A, Toronto, Ontario M5W 3W2. We occasionally make subscriber names available to companies whose products or services may be of interest to you. You may request that your name be removed from promotional lists by calling 1-800-647-5463. To opt out of future direct mail from other organizations, visit DMAchoice.org, or mail a request to: DMA Choice, c/o Data & Marketing Association, P.O. Box 643, Carmel, NY 10512. Printed in the U.S.A.

ROSALIND ALLEN ENCISO @ROSALIND923

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