Welcome to the jungle
Thursday, June 22, 2017 METRO 29
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.In deep:.Peru’s Tambopata. .National Reserve is home to. .Inkaterra’s research station, where. .guests can help with projects such. .as ringing birds, below left.
Escape Escape Escape Escape
Good week
For... E-bikes
Calling them the ‘new normal’, cycling specialist UTracks has – in response to customer demand – revealed that it will be offering an electric bike option to more than 80 per cent of its 100-plus cycling tours across Europe this summer.
For... Bushrod
Welcome to the jungle
S
taying in the Amazon is fairly immersive as it is. An exotic cacophony of howls, clicks, whoops and whistles accompanies you to sleep each night, while the days can be spent kayaking chocolatey swamps or stalking predatory caiman. But guests of travel company Inkaterra in Peru’s Tambopata National Reserve can now get even more hands-on. Inspired by the UN declaring 2017 the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, the ecotourism pioneer has opened up its Inkaterra Guides Field Station (IGFS) to visitors. This is the base from which Inkaterra Asociación, the company’s NGO, protects some 15,000 hectares of extraordinarily biodiverse rainforest in Tambopata. Most tourists stay at one of two luxury Inkaterra lodges but those particularly interested in ecotourism can now try this new, privileged alternative. ‘While both our Tambopata
Conservation holidays don’t get more spectacular than a week in the Amazon, says Richard Mellor Ruined by gold One of the biggest threats to the Tambopata reserve comes from illegal gold mining, whose extraction process contaminates waterways with high levels of harmful mercury. The government has responded by increasing patrols in the region.
lodges educate travellers, guests at the IGFS will spend extra time with experts,’ says Adolfo Schmitt, Inkaterra’s conservation and sustainability coordinator. ‘They can go behind the scenes of various conservation projects – joining bird-monitoring surveys, say, or helping out with cameratrapping to track wildlife.’ You’ll also get to do all the amazing excursions that Inkaterra’s other Tambopata visitors undertake but with
additional insight. Take the Canopy Walkway, a series of seven bridges suspended 344m above the jungle floor. Rather than just slowly looping around, IGFS guests will be introduced to specific projects being carried out from there. The same applies to the Twilight River trip, offering an eerie, torchlit chance to meet the Madre de Dios river’s nocturnal species – including those log-like caiman. Another of the ten
possible excursions is to a farm where Inkaterra works with local communities. The IGFS was previously used solely for research and guide training but now contains four cabins, each equipped with two double beds, mosquito nets, a bathroom and a private terrace. There are also eight four-person rooms in a shared building. A communal dining restaurant serves healthy Amazon-region dishes while the adjacent bar majors in pisco sours. Also on site is an eco centre, the laboratory where soil, flora and fauna samples are examined. When to visit? ‘After rainy season from May to November,’ says Schmitt. ‘Otherwise full-day rains can limit activities and make it harder to find wildlife.’ From £290pp for a four-night itinerary, including full board and transfers, inkaterra.com
This tiny, three-block Oakland suburb, across the bay from San Francisco, has unexpectedly been named as the hottest neighbourhood in the US for 2017 by property site Redfin, having experienced soaring demand in 2016.
Bad Week
For... the Little Mermaid
After been daubed red by animal rights activists last month, Copenhagen’s famous and much-suffering statue was painted blue and white in a new act of colourful vandalism. Police identified a ‘petite blonde girl’ as the prime suspect.
For... Selfies
Yesterday might have been National Selfie Day but that didn’t stop gap-year firm Oyster Worldwide launching its #DitchTheSelfie campaign and hoping to convince everyone to better enjoy the destinations they are in. Pledge allegiance at ditchtheselfie.com
News | Deals | Round-ups
.In deep:.Peru’s Tambopata. .National Reserve is home to. .Inkaterra’s research station, where. .guests can help with projects such. .as ringing birds, below left.
Escape Escape Escape Escape
Good week
For... E-bikes
Calling them the ‘new normal’, cycling specialist UTracks has – in response to customer demand – revealed that it will be offering an electric bike option to more than 80 per cent of its 100-plus cycling tours across Europe this summer.
For... Bushrod
Welcome to the jungle
S
taying in the Amazon is fairly immersive as it is. An exotic cacophony of howls, clicks, whoops and whistles accompanies you to sleep each night, while the days can be spent kayaking chocolatey swamps or stalking predatory caiman. But guests of travel company Inkaterra in Peru’s Tambopata National Reserve can now get even more hands-on. Inspired by the UN declaring 2017 the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, the ecotourism pioneer has opened up its Inkaterra Guides Field Station (IGFS) to visitors. This is the base from which Inkaterra Asociación, the company’s NGO, protects some 15,000 hectares of extraordinarily biodiverse rainforest in Tambopata. Most tourists stay at one of two luxury Inkaterra lodges but those particularly interested in ecotourism can now try this new, privileged alternative. ‘While both our Tambopata
Conservation holidays don’t get more spectacular than a week in the Amazon, says Richard Mellor Ruined by gold One of the biggest threats to the Tambopata reserve comes from illegal gold mining, whose extraction process contaminates waterways with high levels of harmful mercury. The government has responded by increasing patrols in the region.
lodges educate travellers, guests at the IGFS will spend extra time with experts,’ says Adolfo Schmitt, Inkaterra’s conservation and sustainability coordinator. ‘They can go behind the scenes of various conservation projects – joining bird-monitoring surveys, say, or helping out with cameratrapping to track wildlife.’ You’ll also get to do all the amazing excursions that Inkaterra’s other Tambopata visitors undertake but with
additional insight. Take the Canopy Walkway, a series of seven bridges suspended 344m above the jungle floor. Rather than just slowly looping around, IGFS guests will be introduced to specific projects being carried out from there. The same applies to the Twilight River trip, offering an eerie, torchlit chance to meet the Madre de Dios river’s nocturnal species – including those log-like caiman. Another of the ten
possible excursions is to a farm where Inkaterra works with local communities. The IGFS was previously used solely for research and guide training but now contains four cabins, each equipped with two double beds, mosquito nets, a bathroom and a private terrace. There are also eight four-person rooms in a shared building. A communal dining restaurant serves healthy Amazon-region dishes while the adjacent bar majors in pisco sours. Also on site is an eco centre, the laboratory where soil, flora and fauna samples are examined. When to visit? ‘After rainy season from May to November,’ says Schmitt. ‘Otherwise full-day rains can limit activities and make it harder to find wildlife.’ From £290pp for a four-night itinerary, including full board and transfers, inkaterra.com
This tiny, three-block Oakland suburb, across the bay from San Francisco, has unexpectedly been named as the hottest neighbourhood in the US for 2017 by property site Redfin, having experienced soaring demand in 2016.
Bad Week
For... the Little Mermaid
After been daubed red by animal rights activists last month, Copenhagen’s famous and much-suffering statue was painted blue and white in a new act of colourful vandalism. Police identified a ‘petite blonde girl’ as the prime suspect.
For... Selfies
Yesterday might have been National Selfie Day but that didn’t stop gap-year firm Oyster Worldwide launching its #DitchTheSelfie campaign and hoping to convince everyone to better enjoy the destinations they are in. Pledge allegiance at ditchtheselfie.com
