Locally-sourced adventure travel blog

Trekking in Morocco - in pictures

ben on 22nd April 2010 | 2 comments

Morocco is an incredible trekking destination boasting rich and unique culture, traditional Berber villages, soaring arid peaks and surprisingly verdant valleys. We've pulled together a collection of the most striking creative commons images of the Atlas Mountains and Rif Valley. Enjoy!

Toubkal in the High Atlas is perhaps the most accessible from Marrakesh. Treks tend to start out from Imlil, a charming Berber village. Toubkal is the highest peak in North Africa and makes for a challenging trek but the effort is justified by stunning views of the Atlas Mountains and Sahara Desert from the summit. Photo by Flickr user kassarar.

Toubkal by Flickr user Omer Simkha

 Berber village near Toubkal by Flickr user Jean-Baptiste Bellet

Imlil is the starting off point for most going trekking in Morocco, Toubkal and the Atlas Mountains. By Flickr user Jean-Baptiste Bellet. 

M'goun Massif

The M'goun Massif is the off-the-beaten-path alternative to the Toubkal region. Verdant valleys and stunning ancient Berber villages dominate the trekking on oh so quiet trails. Photo by Flickr user Ryan Kilpatrick

 M'goun Massif by Flickr user Ryan Kilpatrick

 M'goun Massif by Flickr user Ryan Kilpatrick

The Ourika Valley

The Ourika Valley is rich with greenery and attractive villages and is completely at odds with Sahara like preconceptions of trekking in Morocco. Located just 30km from Marracesh, it is a refreshing destination when the City boils in summer. Image by Flickr user Bryce Edwards

Berber Village in the Ourika Valley by Flickr user Bryce Edwards

The Dades Valley

The Dades Valley is reminiscent of Colorado and America's wild west. The Dades river marks a lush trail through the semi-desert region surrounded by wild shaped rock formations. Photo by Flickr user Punxutawneyphil.

Berber Villages

A highlight of trekking in Morocco is the colour vibrancy of the local people and Berber villages. Photo by Flickr user JohnRawlinson

Chef-Chaouen situated in the Rif Mountains is a striking contrast of blindingly white walls, striking blue doors and simple architecture set between mountains and water. Photo by flickr user rhurtubia

Chef-Chaouen by Flickr user rhurtubia

Erg Chebbi Dunes

The Erg Chebbi dunes are the highest in dunes in Morocco set amidst a vast flat plateau. The dunes give travellers a taste of the Sahara and are just about reachable from Marrakesh. Camel trekking is popular. Photo by Flickr user amerune

Camp at the Erg Chebbi dunes by Flickr user amerune

Volcano disruption: Discount for UK holidays

ben on 19th April 2010 | 0 comments

With the massive disruption caused by the ash cloud, we are all having to deal with a world without flights, albeit temporarily. For people at a loose end having had their holiday plans thrown into disarray for the coming month, we are now offering 10% off stays in our five luxury yurt and tipi sites in England and Wales* in May.  

Open wood fires and stunning settings have made glamping sites particularly fashionable of late. And with prices from £175 per yurt for a four night stay, they are more than affordable. Finding a yurt on a bank holiday weekend is nigh on impossible, but there is plenty of space during the rest of May. With the weather looking to stay fine for the time being, act soon as we expect availability to fill up quickly.

And if you are looking further ahead but don't want you holiday to be at the mercy of the ash clouds, we have come up with a selection of some of our favourite short haul holidays. They are all just a little adventurous, reasonably priced and easily reachable by train, bus or car.

1. Enjoy a week's holiday spent walking inn to inn along Hadrian's Wall from £435 per person. It is all booked up in April but if you are planning a holiday for later in the year you won't have a problem. 
2. Explore the coastline and wildlife of the Hebrides on a small boat cruise or by sea kayak.  Prices from £475 per person. The sea kayaking trip is available departing June 13th, July 4th, July 25th and various dates in August and September. The wildlife cruise is available departing 29th April and various dates during the summer.
3. For those looking for a little adventure with and great food, how about a week combining cooking classes, a relaxing spa and surf lessons on the French Atlantic Coast? Prices from E515 per person.

* To claim the discount on yurt and tipis stays, all you need to do is email us within 24 hours of booking through Tourdust (via our website or customer services) quoting "Tourdust-ash-offer". We will apply the 10% discount to your balance payment. Bookings must be made online on http://www.tourdust.com or through our customer services (0203 291 2907) by 26 April 2010 for Travel between 19 April 2010 and 31st May 2010.

What can ‘local travel’ learn from responsible travel’s chequered past

ben on 13th April 2010 | 5 comments

‘Local travel’ describes what many independent travellers have known for years - get off the beaten track, choose local, choose small and invariably you will choose well. But will the new ‘Local Travel’ Movement survive and prosper?

The concept of ethically responsible travel (deeply interwoven with local travel) has been around for many years now. Yet it is clouded in myth, misinterpretation, misunderstanding and tarnished reputations.  It has failed to go mainstream in anywhere near the same way as fair-trade tea and organic bananas have done in our local supermarkets. It seems responsible travel means different things to different people and is misunderstood by most. The problem has been partly caused by the media who over-simplify the issue, partly by companies who piggy back the movement without proper attention to standards and in the main due to a lack of international kite-marks by which consumers can easily judge operations.

As a result we have a situation where companies throw around terms like eco tours and ecolodge and community tourism initiative without ever being held up to real scrutiny – A lot is very much for show (including the hastily typed responsible travel policy). So as consumers, instead of being able to rely confidently on labels such as organic or fair trade, we have to to consider our own choices and make our own minds up, for instance:

1. Just because it is green we can’t assume it is good. A composting toilet doesn’t guarantee that the owners are paying fair wages to local staff.
2. Just because it isn’t green doesn’t mean it isn’t ethical. The social impact of travel is independent of the environmental impacts of travel and focussing on one is better than focussing on neither.
3. Volunteering isn’t always ‘good’. Short volunteering stays can sometimes do more harm than good. 
4. The same principles of independent judgement must be applied to ‘local travel’. Small, local and independent doesn’t guarantee quality nor does it guarantee ethics. There are many successful large international organisations offering thoroughly locally-rooted travel experiences that are better for the customer and better for the local community than the local alternatives.

The point is, travel is an experience without any hard and fast rules and not an easily defined physical product. In the absence of a common global standard (don’t hold your breath) travellers need to make their own judgements and companies need to do their best to make improvements.

Any companies that make efforts to provide or promote local travel or ethical or green travel experiences should be applauded. The net effect in most cases will be good, more operators will behave responsibly and more customers will choose responsibly. But there is a worrying danger when those same companies market their product or website as ‘responsible’ or ‘green’ or ‘eco’ or ‘local’ without thoroughly and fairly assessing themselves against these labels – it simply undermines the whole movement. 

We live in a complex multi-coloured world where white-washing, green-washing and blacklisting only serve to simplify a matter to banality. As a travel company, we should agree to treat the issue with respect, acknowledge the complexities of the issue and avoid the temptation to simplify for the sake of a good marketing slogan.

Travelling without a destination

ben on 7th April 2010 | 0 comments

Last week I wrote about Zeke's Ryannair mystery tour in a post titled The web is ruining Travel. Exploiting a unique quirk in the Ryannair website, he booked a flight not knowing where he was heading, thereby avoiding the information glut that the web provides. He managed to offend entire nations, confuse border guards and make a general fool of himself. In the follow up video, Zeke unveils the mystery destination, struggles to find a room, and sadly ends up craving a good session on the internet - but you'll have to watch it yourself to find out where he went.

In case you missed it, the first video can be watched in the original post 

10 Breathtaking Kayaking Destinations

ben on 2nd April 2010 | 2 comments

The tortured winding coastlines beloved of sea kayakers also happen to be some of the most beautiful places in the world with breathtaking vistas, dramatic wildlife and spades of wilderness. This set of simply breathtaking sea kayaking and canoeing photos from our collection of sea kayaking holidays are simply breathtaking.

1. The Twin Lakes, Alaska

The Twin Lakes are set in the heart of Lake Clark National Park, where turquoise lakes nestle beneath vast cirques of rock and ice and bears, caribou and Dall sheep wander the tundra.

2.Johnstone Straight, Canada

Johnstone Strait is an approximately 70-mile long expanse of water cut into Vancouver as a result of glacial activity millions of years ago, and is a physically beautiful place to explore. The channel is unique in its standing as the best place in the world to observe orcas (killer whales). 250 salmon-eating "northern resident" orcas congregate in Johnstone Strait each July through Sept to feast on salmon runs. 

3. Baja, Mexico

The Gulf of California (popularly known as the Sea of Cortez) was formed five million years ago as the result of tectonic activity, separating the Baja Peninsula from the mainland of Mexico. What is left today is a haven for marine and coastal life. Species found in the area include the gray, blue, fin and humpback whales.

4. The Broken Group Islands

There are over one hundred small islands in the Broken Group which can only be reached by boat, and, of course, sea kayak. This is a favoured site for kayaking since it is sheltered enough for beginners and offers unobstructed access to the Pacific for experts.

5. Milos, Greece

A Mamma Mia-like setting of turquoise blue seas, matching skies and pale golden sands taking in places like Tria Pigadia – a secluded beach with a natural spring, the Grandfather Cave – one of Milos’ biggest caves, and the beach at the old sulphur mine.

6. Bowron Lakes, Canada

Dramatic mountainous provincial park in British Columbia with a 116 km canoe circuit through the Cariboo Mountains.

7. Milford Sound, New Zealand

Milford Sound is a massive fjord formed over millions of years of glacial activity. It is the biggest tourist attraction in New Zealand, offering unequalled beauty, the scale and majesty of which sets it aside from anywhere else on the planet. The mountains are huge and lush with vegetation, waterfalls cascade hundreds of metres down vertical cliff faces and the seas coursing through the valleys are as clear as anywhere else on Earth.

8. Argyll & The Hebrides, Scotland

The West Coast of Scotland is home to a myriad of sea lochs, inlets and islands dotted amongst an achingly beautiful highlands panorama and it is hard to think of a better way of exploring the area than in a sea kayak.

9. The Amazon, Ecuador

The Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve in North East Ecuador is a protected area of Amazonian tropical rainforest. The reserve is a complex of rivers, lagoons and floated forest characterised by intense biodiversity and navigable waterways. The area encompasses 604,000 hectares of primary rainforest and boasts river dolphin, tapirs, caimans, anacondas, ocelot and piranha as well as 515 species of bird.

10. The Selinda Spillway, Botswana

The Selinda Spillway carves a path through the heart of this epic nature reserve. The area is home to about 300 species of birds, so there’s ample chance you’ll spot many on the four days you’ll be out here. But it’s not just birds that flock here. Because no hunting has taken place here since 2004, bigger creatures like elephants, buffalo and sable antelope are also often spotted.