The Ultimate Moroccan Adventure: Crossing the Atlas Mountains into the Sahara

 

Through the Atlas Mountains to the Sahara

It’s June now and my hopes that we could successfully speed from South Hampton, England to Morocco by train, bus and ferry, zipping past a quatrain of nations in four days to span the Strait of Gibraltar and beat the heat, has failed. Temperatures in Fez were routinely hitting the 90ºs, and now after our sweaty sojourn through Volubilis, it was time this morning to head south toward the Sahara.

At least we could enjoy one more petite dejuener with Said at the Riad Anata before departure. We had gotten used to his gentle ministrations each morning as he served our breakfast on the riad’s roof. Afterwards we would make for Merzouga through a portion of the Atlas Mountains where we would then bend east toward Algeria. The trip would take a full day. But for now we helped ourselves to Samira’s meals of jam and eggs, muffins, olives, yoghurt, crepes, juice, coffee and hot chocolate.

Before we said goodbye we met two remarkable travelers: Michel and Silke, both from Vevey, Switzerland. They were sitting nearby enjoying their own breakfast before their van — the one they had brought from Europe over the Straits to explore Morocco — headed north back toward Tangier. This couple, we quickly realized, were serious travelers, an early indication of the many people we would meet on our journey whose wanderings made us look like pikers. Previous versions of Michel and Silke’s vans had taken them over the Atlantic by cargo ship to travel throughout South America. On another journey, they departed Switzerland for New Zealand to buy a yacht and sail it across Polynesia to New Caledonia — just the two of them. Twice storms almost killed them.

When we found them, they had been traveling Morocco for months, hiking, camping, meeting local Berbers to get a true view of the country and its culture. This was generally their chosen way of getting around. They were delightful and we immediately connected. Later we’d meet them again when we passed through Vevey, Switzerland. (On day 576 and also on day 578 for more on those later meetings, and see the couple’s website here. Note, it’s written in French.)

With breakfast behind us, we grabbed our bags, and said our sad goodbyes. At the edge of the Medina stood a slim, dark-haired young man by a black Toyota Land Cruiser. This was Ismail, our driver and guide for the next few days, a man of immense energy and enthusiasm, possibly because, as we would see, he almost constantly sipped a full bottle of sweet, mint tea.

He would take us to Merzouga and the Sahara Desert (a redundancy since the Arabic word for desert is sahara) south through the low Atlas mountains. Once in our car, we passed quickly through the clean, empty boulevards of the newest sections of Fez versus the ancient Medina where we had been spending our time. You won't see any mules walking the streets here, though you will find your share of teens in clusters, talking excitedly as they walk to high school (called university here), with their brand new backpacks slung on one shoulder.

On we passed through the rising heat beyond countryside spread with acres of olive trees toward the mountains along a broad, paved highway.  I watched a single old man with his worn caftan, long, gray beard and hood, staff in hand, standing like a statue as we roared by. He looked as if he had been dropped from another time.

Outside of Fez, we first rolled though rocky landscape that reminded me of Baja and our 1000 mile journey down that long peninsula. But soon as we rose into the hills and found ourselves surrounded by pine, apple, apricot, almond and cherry trees, those views disappeared.

Lions and Monkeys

The land Cruiser was taking us into the steep Moyen Atlas mountain range. Ismail pointed out every sight in his excited Arabic accent. At nearly 9000 feet elevation we arrived in the town of Ifrane, an Alpine Village directly out of Switzerland but somehow located in the mountains of Africa. Every building we saw was made of timber and masonry with steeped terra cotta roofs designed to handle the winter’s heavy snows.  Nowhere else had we seen such buildings in Morocco. The town is placid, surrounded by small lakes fed by babbling creeks and stands of Mediterranean oak and cedar. Near the Hôtel Chamonix, Ismail walked us to a remarkable sculpture of a lion carved out of an large stone.

“A local man,” said Ismail, “carved this lion. His name was Absolom.” He had found and raised a lion cub in the Atlas Mountains and this was his way of memorializing it. That’s one story. Another is that it was carved by a German soldier during WWII, when Ifrane was used briefly as a prisoner-of-war camp when France controlled Morocco and Germany controlled France. Supposedly he exchanged the carved lion for his freedom. Or it may commemorate the last wild lion that wandered the Atlas Mountains, shot near the village in the early 1920s. Whatever the case, the stories are good ones so we posed, at Ismail’s insistence, before the beautiful creature, thanked whoever had given the world this gift and moved on.

We had hardly driven a mile when we passed a troop of Barbary macaque monkeys running amok in Morocco’s Ifrane National Park, the country’s largest forest. Ismail immediately stopped the car and hopped out, pulling us with him. The troop seemed to be everywhere and perfectly friendly. Ismail passed along handfuls of peanuts and the monkeys helped themselves as if they were a couple of country cousins. One day, when Ismail had stopped with the monkeys, he said one of them broke the passenger side window of his Land Cruiser.

“I say hello to take some pictures,” Ismail said, “and I give him some food, and then he breaks my mirror! I say you are not nice! I don’t like you anymore!” Ismail feigned anger and then grinned, and tossed the last of the nuts to the troop before we headed off and down the other side of the mountain.

Zaida

By the time we entered the town of Zaida, population 4968, we were looking for lunch. Since Ismail said the town was famous for its BBQ, Zaida seemed like the right place to stop. The town was all dust with squat one or two story buildings made of brown dried wood that ran along the powdery streets. Except for the cars and bicycles, Zaida reminded me of scenes from the old American West; movies like Tombstone or Carson City or Deadwood. I half expected a gunslinger to round the corner.

Ismail knew just the place for lunch, and soon we were walking up its wooden steps to a clapboard restaurant with big open and glassless windows. In no time plates of fresh BBQ beef with rice, salad, tea and cold water appeared. Really delicious.

You could feel the heat again now that we had descended a few thousand feet. We chomped while Ismail explained that each city in Morocco has a color. Marrakech is yellow. Casablanca is red, Chefchouan and Fez, blue. Others are rose or pink or white. Though there seems to be no clear explanation for the origin of these colors, each stands for an idea. Ochre represents the Sahara’s sandy dunes, green is the color of Islam, blue inspires reflection and introspection, black represents the land’s dark-skinned people and white is the color of purity.

While we rolled these ideas around, tearing into the BBQ, Ismail outlined the next part of the journey. We would head next through the Middle Atlas mountains, past the land of a thousand Casbahs and finally into the Sahara. I was eager to see this magnificent desert after all of the hair raising travel stories I had read, and the movies and TV shows I had watched as a kid about the French Foreign Legion and the exploits of Lawrence of Arabia. At last I’d see this unearthly (at least to me) place where it was you or the sand and the heat. How, I wondered, had members of the human race survived, even flourished, in a place like this for so many millennia?

We bid our proprietors good-bye, grabbed some big bottled waters at the bodega across the street and hopped into the Land Cruiser.

We were now in Morocco’s high desert. Ahead I could see the Middle Atlas Mountains and their black, battered peaks. On the way out of town, I watched Ismail toss a bottled water to a begging man sitting by the road. Just a simple kindness. The man snatched the bottle from the air and nodded to Ismail as he twisted it open and drank. Ismail said nothing. Simply kept driving and never missed a beat.

The Land Cruiser snaked us through the high flatlands. We were at 6000 feet elevation, passing through a series of small and mid-sized towns. Fresh infrastructure was being built everywhere. Morocco seemed to be growing like a weed; moving into the 21st-century as quickly as its current King Mohammed VI would allow, even as some lived in shacks and lean-tos.

The king has changed more than the infrastructure of the country. While polygamy is legal (for men), it was all but outlawed by the current king in 2004 with laws that make it it economically prohibitive for a man to marry more than once. Nevertheless, the country remains a work in progress. The particular roads we travelled were so pocked and bumpy, I couldn’t make sense of the notes I was scribbling as we bounced in the back of the Land Cruiser.

1000 Kasbahs

After a while all of the cranes erecting new buildings disappeared. We had entered, Ismail explained, the Road of a 1000 Kasbahs (forts). The land was rugged and red. Immense buildings of adobe, peaked with spires and turrets, battered by time and weather sat among the rock against the massive backdrop of the Atlas Mountains. Clustered the way they were, I imagined they looked something like Bethlehem might have when the Christ child was born. In fact this area was settled mostly by Jews in the 5th century BC, but not before the original inhabitants from the south made their way from the interior of Africa and then were subjugated by the Amazigh or Berbers. The region bustled 2500 years ago with a hodgepodge of immigrants. There was good reason. These river valleys run like great stripes of green surrounded by scrub, rock and desert so barren all of it would shame a Navajo living in Utah or Arizona. But 2500 years ago, the region was more lush. These green valleys now are only an echo of what once was.

The Sahara

It was late afternoon by the time we made it to Et-Taous near Merzouga and Erg Chebbi. We were at the lip of the Sahara now, a mere 30 miles from the Algerian border. The plan was to camp among the dunes and take camels deep enough into the dessert to enjoy a Saharan sunset. Temperatures had now topped 100º F as we passed through Rissani and watched a caravan of camels loping along. In another time they might have been merchants heading with their goods south into Timbuktu (now in Mali), but today their location was a mystery.

 

This is a tourist area for people looking for exactly the experience we were planning, but it wasn’t always this way. In between glacial maximums, the Sahara was often lush with palm trees, lakes, rivers and wildlife. There are ancient drawings in the Sahara of forests and savanna, lions and giraffes. Morocco’s largest underground body of water supposedly exists beneath the dry beds of Merzouga. Legend has it that the village was once a tropical jungle but God turned it into a desert for refusing to provide a poor woman with food and drink.

In the early 20th century, the French Foreign Legion set up fortresses to keep the Berbers at bay. We saw nothing of fortresses as Ismail took us bouncing through the dust into mountains of sand and our desert camp.

 

Camp might give you the impression that our living quarters were rough. They weren’t, and far more accommodating than we expected.

Our tent was not an inch bigger than Montana, complete with King-sized bed, full baths, toilets, closets, electric lights, lounge chairs AND air conditioning! This was the height of glamping, and had we known it, we would have stayed several nights, not the one that had been suggested. “It will be too hot to stay longer than a day,” we were told.

We unpacked our bags, but there little time for lounging. The sun was setting and we could see and hear the camels, snorting outside, eager no doubt to have a couple of tourists hop on their humped backs and take us west. Soon we were in our saddles loping along with the help of two guides who would take us into the desert’s high dunes for a once-in-a-lfe-time trip into a Saharan sunset.

Rocking on a camel feels good. You kind of roll with the animal’s lollop and it all gives you a sense of lordliness, the feeling that you, not the strange, knock-kneed creature beneath you is under control. Of course this is completely wrong, nevertheless the flat-out grandness of everything around us made me feel kingly. I seemed to be involuntarily absorbing the colors of the setting sun and shifting sands — tans, browns, reds and golds against the bight blue sky that encompassed us. Ismail had given both Cyndy and me a pair of kufiyya, or head scarves, before our arrival, so neither the heat nor wind bothered us. Maybe this too made me feel Sultan-like, or for a moment, just a little like a T.E. Lawrence, a lily white man somehow embedded within this forbidding part of the world for a glorious moment.

In time we slid off our camels and hiked up steep dunes to see the sun sinking into the sand-rimmed horizon. We lay on great beds of the granulated rock, mesmerized, trying somehow to capture and hold the moment when, for one day, we could watch this magnificent golden ball disappear like a molten mountain into the darkening sands.

Afterwards it was time to return to our meager camp where a fire was set, and food prepared, so we could sit in luxury with the Sahara at our feet, a land so vast that it extended clear from us to the pyramids of Egypt, thousands of miles away. I wondered about the man from another time we had passed, and the beggar Ismail had given water, and the old carved lion and the broken pillars of Volubilis and marveled at what a world we live in. How complex, how rich, how unfair, how spectacular and horrible, and tried to make sense of it. I couldn’t. Instead, Cyn and I both sat before the sands, beyond relaxed, beyond amazed and humbled until finally a small group of local musicians sat to serenade us with their music. Eventually, it was time to retire into our palatial bed to imagine tales of sultans and bedouins and flying carpets, and finally sleep.

In the morning, we awoke and for a moment I wondered again, where the hell was I? And then I walked out to see it was nothing more the mightiest desert in all the world, drenched in sun, its unnumbered, ancient sands slowly drifting this way and that, almost saying, “We will be here, long after after you have fled this world.” I smiled. Humbled again. And then we drank coffee and ate fresh fruit, eggs and pita until Ismail appeared like a genie to lead us through the serpentine highways of the High Atlas Mountains and into Marrakech.

This is Dispatch XXXII in a series about a Vagabond’s Adventures - journalist and National Geographic Explorer Chip Walter and his wife Cyndy’s effort to capture their experience exploring all seven continents, all seven seas and 100+ countries, never traveling by jet.

If you’ve enjoyed this adventure, please take a look at Chip’s other adventures (and misadventures) … and don’t forget to check the Vagabond Journal and our Travel Recommendations to help you plan YOUR next adventure.

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Resource: https://vagabond-adventure.com/library/heading-into-the-sahara-moroccan-excursion

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Killers, Gunfighters and Calamity: Stories from the Wild West

 

Cyndy and I rolled into Deadwood, SD in a rental car, not on horses, and we didn’t carry even a single revolver on our hips. We paid the fee for parking and headed to Main St. to explore one of the Wild West’s most notorious cities, and citizens …

Jack McCall was having a bad day at Nuttal & Mann's No. 10 Saloon. It was August 1876 and hot, and he was drunk, losing at Five Card Stud, almost out of money.  William Butler Hickok gazed across the game table at McCall and suggested it might be best to stop playing and cover his losses. Hickok may have twirled his substantial mustache and pushed back his long head of brown, wavy hair before he offered to give the stranger some money for breakfast. McCall didn’t like it, but took the advice, and the meal.

The next day Hickok was playing poker again at Nuttal & Mann’s. Mostly that’s the way he passed his time. His days as a gunslinger were over. He wasn’t yet 40, but had already developed advanced glaucoma. That rendered him not nearly as useful as he had been as a soldier and spy in the Civil War, and then marshal and sheriff in Kansas where he had “restored order” to the towns of Hays and Abeline; where he had worked as a wagon master, and scouted with General George Custer, become known as the “Prince of Pistoleers,” and survived hand to hand combat with a bear that crushed his chest and shattered an arm. His killing pedigree in a murderous land was long, and he was still the most famous gunfighter in the American West. Earlier in his life a few people had called him Duckbill Hickok for his long, straight nose and protruding lips, but for some time now everyone knew him as Wild Bill. He hadn’t killed the hundreds of men that dime novelist George Ward Nichols had written he did, but several had fallen at the other end of his twin, ivory-handled, Colt Navy pistols — the revolvers that seemed to appear like magic in his hand before he fired.

Generally people gave him a fair degree of latitude.

“Boys, I’m Killed”

One of his most famous gunslinging exploits happened in Springfield, Missouri on a July day 1865, when Hickok was barely 18. He and a gambler named Davis Tutt had gotten into it over a woman and a watch Hickok had lost in a card game. Both men decided to face off in a duel in the town square. They stood sideways 75 yards apart. Tutt's shot missed. At 75 yards most men’s would. But Hickok's struck Tutt through the heart. “Boys,” Tutt called out, “I’m killed.” It’s considered the first quick draw gunfight of the American West.

There were plenty of other killings too, all of them quick and lethal, until in an 1871 gun battle in Abilene he accidentally killed his partner as he came to his aid. After that he never killed another man.

When Hickok played cards at Nutall and Mann’s, he always faced the doorway. But the day after his brief talk with Jack McCall, the only seat available was a chair facing away from the door. Wild Bill asked Charles Rich to change seats with him, twice, but Rich refused. So Hickok took a seat with his back to the saloon entrance.

Cards were being dealt when McCall walked into the saloon. He was drunk again, and nursing the insult he felt Hickok had inflicted upon him the day before. Standing behind Hickok, McCall pulled his Colt .45, barked, "Damn you! Take that!" and shot the west’s most famous gunfighter through the head. On the table lay the hand he held, two aces and two eights, known forever afterwards as the dead man’s hand.

Deadwood, South Dakota

You could write volumes about Deadwood and its checkered past; maybe even create a TV series about its wild days as a gold rush boomtown where vice seemed more at ease than virtue. Cyndy and I wandered along Main Street. The sky was the color of periwinkle. Here and there a tourist passed, but the streets were otherwise ghostly. In 1961 the entire town was designated a National Historic Landmark because so many of its buildings had survived the 150 years since its emergence. They had the look of a classic Hollywood set, except for the cement sidewalks and parking meters. The wood facades and big glass windows were still there waiting to be shot out by Steve McQueen or John Wayne.

In 1989 the state legislature legalized gambling in Deadwood, and for a while it was the only place you could do such a thing legally outside of Las Vegas and Atlantic City. You can still gamble in Deadwood, but there wasn’t much of it going on that we could see. Covid hadn’t helped according to the waitress we talked to when Cyn and I walked into the Mineral Palace Hotel and Casino for lunch. A determined woman with graying hair,  jeans and a half empty beer sat alone playing at a row of empty slot machines.

Upstairs we ordered lunch and gazed at the street where guns had been slung, claims jumped and drunk men murdered over the love of the prostitutes at Madam Dora DuFran’s brothel. Pictures of Deadwood’s Chinatown, and a portrait of Wild Bill Hickok hung on the walls along with framed sepia tones of Deadwood saloons, cat houses and the very hotel where we were eating lunch.

We consumed a roast beef sandwich.

It somehow seemed the right thing to do.

Carrie Moniot, a fellow Vagabond and journalist who worked at KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh (after I departed), said her mom and her brothers used to play in the Mount Moriah Cemetery where Hickok and Calamity Jane lay buried, along with Sheriff Seth Bullock, a close friend of Teddy Roosevelt. (Wyatt Earp had originally offered to take the job, but deferred to Bullock.) Another Vagabond, Rick Starr, wrote me, “My Dad (and 6 siblings) grew up in Deadwood. Grandma was head maid at the Deadwood Hotel for decades (there’s a plaque somewhere). They lived up on a mountainside so steep that houses were on one side of the street only and you could see over the roof of the next one down below, even though it was a three story house. She walked to work every day, including during snow and ice storms.” And Kim Shumaker got in touch to say there is a great song by Nanci Griffith called Deadwood South Dakota. “It’s the perfect song to listen to on your visit.” (You can listen at the end of this Dispatch.)

Gold Fever in the Black Hills

William Hickok hadn’t been in Deadwood long before he died, no more than a couple of weeks. The July day he arrived, the town wasn’t much to look at. The land belonged to the Sioux Nation (see Dispatches XIV and XV) under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, but in 1874, while leading an Native American expedition (murder?), General George Custer announced that gold had been found in the Badlands (not far from Thunderhead Mountain and the Crazy Horse Monument - see links above), and everything changed.

The Black Hills Gold Rush soon brought thousands crawling over the Sioux people’s sacred lands. A valley known for all of the dead timber lying in its gulch almost instantly filled with 20 mining camps. People called it Deadwood. By 1875, 5000 souls had arrived. The town sprouted hotels, stores, brothels and saloons like spring wild flowers.

Charlie Utter’s wagon train had brought Wild Bill from the Wyoming Territory along with characters like Madame Mustache and Dirty Em, and a woman known as Martha Jane Cannary, recently released from the guard house in Fort Laramie. Twenty-four years old, she was already famous as scout, Indian fighter and superior story teller. The day she arrived, the Black Hills Pioneer, headline read, “Calamity Jane Has Arrived!”

Hickok was hoping to make money mining gold like nearly every other denizen of Deadwood. Once settled he would bring his new wife Agnes Lake to town. That was the plan.

Custer would eventually get his comeuppance. The rush for gold and the decision to take back sacred native lands eventually lead to the battle at the Little Big Horn River, and the end of the man the Sioux called “long hair.” Hickok and Calamity were departing Wyoming just about the time Custer was killed.

Jane Cannary said she got the name Calamity during a battle in 1873 to quell an Indian uprising in Goose Creek, Wyoming. It was during an ambush, she said, when she saved Captain Egan who was shot while in command of the post there. “I turned my horse and galloped back with all haste to his side and got there in time to catch him as he was falling. I lifted him onto my horse in front of me and succeeded in getting him safely to the Fort. Capt. Egan, on recovering, laughingly said: ‘I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains.’ I have borne that name up to the present time.”

It’s not clear if this was true. The story came out of a promotional autobiography Jane wrote in the early 1900s. Captain Jack Crawford who served  in the Indian Wars didn’t think so. Calamity "never saw service in any capacity under either General Crook or General Miles,“ Crawford told a reporter for the Anaconda Standard April 19, 1904. And she …  “never was in an Indian fight. She was simply a notorious character, dissolute and devilish, but possessed a generous streak which made her popular." Some say she picked up the name because she liked to tell men that to offend her was to "court calamity.”

Stories about Martha Jane Canary are legion. There’s her claim that she had married Wild Bill and had a child with him in 1873 (On September 6, 1941, the U.S. Department of Public Welfare did provide old age assistance to a woman who claimed to be that child: Jean Hickok Burkhardt McCormick), her monumental drinking binges, and the death-defying story that she diverted stagecoach passengers in South Dakota who were being attacked by Plains Indians.

I checked in at the Deadwood History and Information Center and talked with a light-haired handsome woman with a teacher’s sharp eyes to get her thoughts. She was preparing to close up but gave me time to explore the detailed diorama illustrating the look of the town in its heyday. I looked over the examples of mining equipment and six guns and rifles on the walls and in glass. Guns and gold seemed to be the common theme.

I asked about Wyatt Earp showing up after Hickok’s death to straighten out all the killing in Deadwood. She said the town’s real hero was Seth Bullock (now in Mt. Moriah). “When Earp arrived Bullock told him he had everything under control.” Earp didn’t argue and soon headed back to Dodge City. Bullock became Deadwood’s first sheriff and later its Marshal. Until his death in 1919, he helped stabilize the town between hunting excursions with Roosevelt. What about Calamity, and all the stories, I asked. She said not to believe that Calamity was nothing more than a drunk and whore with a loud mouth.

“She was a good woman with a big heart, and she cared about the poor and the needy.” Jane raised five siblings from the time she was 14 years old after her parents had died moving to Utah from Missouri. In the late 1870s she nursed the victims of a smallpox epidemic near Deadwood when no one else would. Estelle Bennet who wrote about and knew Jane said she simply, “struggled with curbing her impulses and carrying through on long term plans.”

August 1, 1903, almost 27 years to the day after Will Bill met his end, Martha Jane Canary died in the Calloway Hotel not far from Deadwood. She had been drinking heavily, according to reports, and caught pneumonia.

Dead and Gone. Hiking to Mount Moriah

Cyndy and I hiked the 700 vertical feet to the Mount Moriah Cemetery, Deadwood’s “Boot Hill” to see the graves of Wild Bill and Calamity. Hickok’s grave was marked by a large bust of the gunslinger. Right beside him lay Jane.

One story has it that Hickok had absolutely no use for Calamity and that the four men who planned her burial put her next to Hickok to play a post-mortem joke on him. But another story in Deadwood Magazine says the Society of Black Hills Pioneers [laid her] beside Wild Bill at her request, and honored it.

On the day of her funeral, the First Methodist Church of Deadwood overflowed, and then the crowd slowly followed her up the ridge’s switchbacks to Mount Moriah where she was put in the ground.

Cyn and I turned away from Mt. Moriah. The autumn afternoon sun was slipping low, and it was time to go. Next stop, another well known wild west town, the 21st century variety: Sturgis. But first, Nanci Griffith’s cover of Deadwood South Dakota by Eric Taylor… and then west.

Resource: https://vagabond-adventure.com/library/dispatch-xvi-killers-gunfighters-and-calamity

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Unexpected Adventures: How to Plan the Perfect Surprise Escape

 

Designing a surprise trip for your loved one is an exhilarating challenge, filled with opportunities to create lasting memories. It’s not just about picking a destination but about weaving an experience that resonates deeply with your partner’s preferences and dreams. This comprehensive guide from A Vagabond’s Adventure will provide you with vital insights to meticulously plan a trip that not only surprises but profoundly delights your beloved.

Tailoring to Your Partner’s Taste

Understanding your partner's travel interests is the cornerstone of planning a successful surprise trip. Whether they revel in the thrill of adventure or bask in the tranquility of nature, pinpointing their preferences is essential. Do they want to really get away and try something off the beaten path like Morocco or Patagonia, or are they more interested in exploring a week in Baja California or the American West? This insight ensures the destination and activities align perfectly with their tastes, setting the stage for an experience that feels personally crafted and deeply thoughtful.

Harmonizing With Their Schedule

A seamless surprise trip requires meticulous alignment with your partner’s schedule. The art lies in discreetly ensuring their availability without giving away the surprise. This careful planning avoids potential conflicts, ensuring that your well-crafted surprise unfolds smoothly and is met with unbridled enthusiasm and availability.

Crafting a Heartfelt Invitation

Creating a personalized invitation injects a unique spark of excitement into your surprise getaway. Employing a free invitation maker, which allows your creativity to stand out, to design an invitation that beautifully reflects your partner's personal style not only heightens the anticipation but also infuses the surprise with a heartfelt touch. This considerate act, blending creativity with affection, significantly enriches the overall experience, conveying to your partner how deeply cherished and valued they are. Moreover, the use of a free invitation maker to stand out offers a cost-effective yet impressive way to add a professional flair to your thoughtful surprise.

Having Financial Foresight

Strategic budgeting is crucial in orchestrating a surprise trip that is both remarkable and financially responsible. Planning a budget that encompasses all aspects of the trip, from travel to leisure, ensures a delightful experience without the stress of overspending. This allows for a journey that’s enjoyable, not only in the moment but also in reflection, free from financial worries.

Finding Walkable Accommodations

Choosing accommodations that support a healthy lifestyle can significantly enhance your travel experience. Opting for a hotel or vacation home located in an area with a high Walk Score of 70 or above can make the trip a lot less stressful because it make its easy to reach plenty of destination with a minimum of hassle. No cabs or buses or vans to worry about. And walking to shops, restaurants, and attractions, puts some exercise into your daily itinerary. Such a choice not only contributes to your physical well-being, but also offers a unique and immersive way to explore your surroundings, making your trip both enjoyable and health-conscious. A Vagaboind-Advenure we walk everywhere and have plenty of examples of wonderful locations we’ve explored by foot from Maine to Western Europe to Norway.

Integrating Sentimental Elements

Incorporating sentimental elements into your trip can transform it from a simple getaway to an unforgettable journey. Whether it’s visiting a place with special memories or including favorite activities, these personal touches infuse the trip with emotional significance. Such thoughtful planning deepens your bond and makes the trip uniquely meaningful.

Prioritizing Health and Comfort

Ensuring your partner’s well-being during the trip is paramount. Choosing accommodations with wellness facilities, planning health-conscious activities, and maintaining a balanced diet underscores your care for their comfort and health. This thoughtful consideration not only enhances the enjoyment of the trip but also reflects your deep understanding and care for your partner’s preferences and needs.

If Your Traveling Overseas

Overseas trips require a little extra effort, especially when you’re planning trip for two. Make sure you both have your passports up-to-date (most countries require that your passport be good for at least 90 days in advance of your arrival at the country you’re visiting). Check with the United States State Department for info. Depending on the places you plan to visit, also check to make sure if you require visits or vaccinations too. The State Department cam also help guide you on these issues.

Engineering an Unforgettable Reveal

The reveal of the surprise trip is as crucial as the trip itself. Crafting a unique and memorable way to unveil the surprise, whether it’s an ingenious scavenger hunt or a heartfelt note, sets the tone for the entire journey. This moment, filled with joy and surprise, becomes a cherished memory that enhances the entire travel experience.

Masterfully planning a surprise getaway for your partner is an art that involves more than just selecting a destination. It’s about understanding their desires, aligning with their life, and adding personal touches that speak volumes of your love and care. By following these insights, you can craft an extraordinary experience that not only surprises but also deeply resonates with your partner, strengthening your bond and creating unforgettable memories.

Be sure to join us on a Vagabond Adventure to explore the world's most interesting places, cultures, and stories, one epic journey at a time.

 

Resource: https://vagabond-adventure.com/library/the-art-of-a-suprise-getaway

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Beyond the Ordinary: Discover the World’s Most Fascinating Destinations

 

Natural wonders arrest us. Few experiences rival standing toe-to-toe with majestic canyons, vast ice flows, or banded deserts that remind us just how remarkable this planet is. Natural wonders predate humanity and resist human efforts to tame them, leaving their mark on every generation.

The most interesting places in the world are not just pretty pictures. They are homelands, inspirations, and launchpads of adventure. We haven’t completed our circuit around the world yet (still working on it), but we’ve covered five continents and thought it was worth the effort to share ten outstanding destinations that challenged us, moved us, and left lasting impressions. Seek them out. We have suggested distinct, engaging and helpful ways to experience each wonder actively and meaningfully.

Of course, no list can capture every worthy corner of Earth. We’ve had to omit several, like Peru’s Paracas Reserve, Spain’s cliff-hugging Ronda, and Wyoming’s Devil’s Tower—each unforgettable in its own right. You can learn and see more about those elsewhere, by reading our stories and journals. Our selection reflects only a small portion of what we’ve seen over 700 days of adventuring across five continents.

Enjoy.

This is part one of the Interesting Places series. Read the complete series then check in on the entire Destinations collection.

Ride Horseback Through Monument Valley

Picture Frame Tree in Monument Valley

Standing in front of a location that seems almost otherworldly has a certain magic. The sandstone buttes of Monument Valley is one of those places. But if you really want to see the valley at its most spectacular, find a local Navajo guide to take you through its massive spires on horseback. There’s no better way, especially since Monument Valley became famous in the 1930s as the location for some of the most iconic cowboy movies ever made. Get on a horse and canter with a Navajo shaman in the same way the Navajo themselves have for hundreds of years. Take your time. You’ll feel a part of something timeless, and you’ll never forget the experience. If you want to know more, you can read Chip’s description of Chip and Cyndy’s exploration and ride through Monument Valley, with Jameson, the Navajo shaman who showed them the way. It’s quite a story.

Mail a Letter from Cape Horn

Sunrise at Cape Horn

It’s not every day that you find yourself sitting at the precipice of South America. But it’s beyond exhilarating. You not only feel like you are standing at the edge of the world, at Cape Horn you are at its edge, and it is wild and beautiful beyond imagining. Three oceans converge at these wild waters – the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Southern. Beyond that land there is nothing but wind-whipped seas and Antarctica itself, 300 miles south. Should you be lucky enough to find yourself in this place, you’ll notice a small mailbox. From there you can pen a letter and drop it into the box near the tiny chapel at land’s end. Eventually, some good friend will get the word that you made it to the very bottom of the world.

Before you leave, make sure to salute to the Albatross Monument that sits amidst the wild wind at the top of plateau. It was constructed as a remembrance to the uncounted sailors who didn’t make it through those waters into calmer Pacific seas. Should you make it to Cape Horn and climb its 200 foot precipice at dawn, you’ll be among a small group of humans who have seen the sun rise upon one of the planet’s most spectacular locations.

Our cruise through Tierra del Fuego brought us to Cape Horn on the fourth day of our journey.

Recommendation:

If you’re looking to make the most of a Patagonian adventure, here are 10 Great Things to Do in Patagonia.

Go Dog Sledding in Finland’s Lapland

Winter wonderland in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park

In the far north of Finland, not too distant from the rumored location of Santa’s workshop, is the arctic expanse of Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park. This snowy landscape is home to a large taiga woodland that, at the right time of year, becomes a winter wonderland, empty of humans, and as untouched as the Antarctic mountains on the opposite end of the world. Except here reindeer, elk, and bear, roam rather than penguins, leopard seals and penguins.

Before the polar night steals away the sun for a few weeks, the region is ideal for winter hiking, skiing, ice fishing, and other popular snow sports. But we were interested in a something more exotic, a dog sledding camp in nearby Kittilä.

Huskies are winter dogs, born to run. The snow-covered, wide open spaces in Lapland are perfect for them and kennels abound. It took us some time, with misadventures along the way, but we eventually found our camp (with some help from new friends) and met the pups. These are happy animals, and well treated. When harnessed, they are anxious to move. Our only regret is we could not spare the two hours needed to ride with them. Important: Budget enough time to ride when you visit.

Meet some of Finland’s sledding dogs, the most affectionate canines you may ever see.

Wander the Desierto Florido, then Stargaze in the Atacama

Elqui Valley in the Atacama

The Atacama is almost too dry to comprehend, less than one inch of rainfall per year, thanks to the unique interaction of ocean and air off the coast of Chile. What little natural moisture Atacama receives comes mostly from the fog. Despite that, the desert sustains a thriving ecosystem of flora and fauna mostly residing in the less arid regions.

These environmental conditions make life a challenge, but it is also one of Earth’s best places for stargazing. The high altitude, barren cloud cover, and freedom from light and radio interference make the perfect location for scanning the night skies. Numerous observatories scatter radio dishes across the landscape all aimed upward. In Vicuna, we joined a handful of stargazers, humbled as we gazed through a 14 inch telescope. 

From time to time, Atacama offers visitors one more wonder. From September to November, coinciding with El Nino years, visitors are treated to the Desert Bloom, a phenomenon where more than 200 flowering species germinate across the landscape, bringing vibrant color to the earth. The perfect day in Atacama is a breathtaking Desert Bloom at dawn and an explosion of starry night after sunset.

We had the pleasure of spending a week in Atacama on our way to Patagonia and the desert did not disappoint. We didn’t catch the Desert Bloom but had a fantastic time navigating the terrain and stargazing in Elqui Valley.

Our experience meandering the Atacama region begins here in San Pedro.

Step Ashore as a Viking at L’Anse aux Meadows

The alien landscape where Leif Eriksson arrived in America.

When Leif Eriksson led his thirty seafarers ashore in Newfoundland 1000 years ago, he became another newcomer who “discovered” the New World, following in the footsteps of migrants that had been arriving for 15,000 years. His unique twist? Being the first to come the other way, arriving from Europe instead of Asia.

L’Anse aux Meadows, site of his landing, is an alien landscape; flat, treeless, layers of lichen atop ancient granite rock. But there is civilization to be found. The Meadows’s visitor center and museum celebrates the arrival. Guests can find exhibits of replica Viking ships and long-houses, documentary films, and storytelling programs. If you really want to fit in, come in costume and wander around as a true Norse emissary.

The weather is unpredictable (as we discovered), particularly in the offseason, but the grounds are always open if you’re willing to brave the winds. We visited in the fall and had the site to ourselves. With some advanced planning and correspondence, we were able to visit the museum and enjoy a private tour. But that’s not always the case.

Read our story Vikings! to learn what a visit to L’Anse aux Meadows is like. You might also be interested in the ride along the Viking Trail and the stunning Gros Morne National Park too.

Camel Your Way to a Sunset in the Moroccan Sahara

Vagabond adventurers bouncing across the Sahara

It is hard to believe that the bright orange Sahara was once a lush green paradise filled with palms, rivers, and giraffes. Today, 100º F is about normal summer temperature and water is scarce, except when the seasonal rains resupply the shallow aquifers. This is the vast, stunning land where Lawrence of Arabia and Antoine Saint-Exupéry created legends.

The Sahara extends thousands of miles, from Morocco to Egypt, distant bookends we have been privileged to visit. Its inhabitants are nomadic, Arabs, Berbers, Tuareg, and others, managing livestock near oases scattered across the landscape. It does not seem to be an enviable lifestyle, yet it has persisted for millennia.

When the sun descends and temperatures drop to double digits, the desert transforms. Oranges and yellows saturate, the shadows add texture, and the western sky begins to glow. The scene is mesmerizing as the sun melts like a magnificent molten ball and disappears one more time into the darkening sands.

We joined our guides on camelback to take us into these dry lands outside Merzouga, Morocco, near the Algerian border. The camel, efficiently adapted to this harsh wilderness, tolerated us as we rocked and rolled our way to the sunset. Our kufiyyas (light cotton wraps tied around the head) made us feel like sultans. Our mounts were surely amused.

Make your way to Morocco, and don’t neglect the desert. We have a great collection of stories from Morocco that you shouldn’t miss. But our desert journey astride a camel rates high.

Recommendation:

If you’re looking to make the most of a Moroccan adventure, we think this is how to spend two perfect weeks in Morocco. You can find more of our Moroccan recommendations here.

Cruise the Sognefjord

The king of fjords

Sognefjord, Norway’s proudest fjord and dubbed the “king of the fjords,” twists and turns inland over 100 miles, splitting into smaller fjords along the way. These channels, some deeper than they are wide, are dotted with settlements like Skerjehamn with its vibrant-hued stucco buildings surrounded by vivid green pastures.

Activities abound in the Norwegian fjords. Biking and hiking, by land, kayaking by sea. And each village has its own offerings: farms, Viking-styled architecture, nearby glaciers. For those interested in natural landmarks, the Aurlandsfjord branch splits into Nærøyfjord, a UNESCO site rated as the number one natural world heritage site by National Geographic Society. It has become a top visitor destination. Manage your time well to do it all.

Our own trip through Sognefjord came by ferry. Our destination was Flåm, where we could enjoy one of the most scenic railways in the world. Just 20 miles in length, the hourlong ride completes one of the world’s steepest standard gauge climbs, passing through forest, waterfalls, tunnels and more, up 865 meters on the way to Mrydal. Read about the ferry ride from Bergen to Flåm. You might also enjoy this video of the falls at Mrydal, where we were serenaded by a lady in red.

Recommendation:

If you’re looking to make the most of a Norwegian adventure, we think this is how to spend two perfect weeks in Norway. You can find more of our Norwegian recommendations here.

Sing With the Whales and Waddle With the Penguins on Petermann Island

One resident flock of Gentoo penguins on Petermann Island

It was 30°F in the middle of summer and we could not be happier. We were surrounded by an endless spectrum of grays, blues, and whites. The only other colors were those we brought with us… and the red beaks of the Gentoos.

An expedition to Antarctica is a special voyage, unlike anything you are likely to encounter. The white continent is an ancient land and a patient place. The glaciers are thousands of years old, slowly calving into icebergs that litter the water around us, immense floating islands of ice. We navigated these obstacles in our zodiacs to step ashore, standing on land lit by an unworldly, ghostly, primeval sun.

All around Gentoos flocked and squawked, sometimes molting and quiet in their exhaustion. Soon the young would mature and take to the waters. We searched for other wildlife, notably humpback whales, who were sometimes kind enough to sound a greeting and put on a show. We found orcas, sea lions, and the occasional snow petrel hunting above. Antarctica is part of Planet Earth, yet it feels otherworldly.

Petermann Island was the first visit after crossing the turbulent Drake Passage aboard the Ocean Diamond, four days into our 10 day Antarctic excursion. Read what it’s like to visit Antarctica starting with Petermann Island. Please enjoy the entire Antarctic expedition here.

Recommendation:

If you’re thinking about your own Antarctic adventure, we recommend you look at Quark Expeditions.

Read Grimm’s Fairy Tales at Triberg Waterfalls

The falls at Tiber. Bring a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales to read.

The Black Forest is a place of haunting beauty, inspiring stories born from superstition, folklore, and a healthy dose of (somewhat morbid) imagination that have become some of the west’s favorite fairy tales. The Grimm brothers derived their famous stories from local lore, creating something less child-friendly than the G-rated versions that Walt Disney later adapted.

Throughout the thick forest are ancient villages, rivers, great trees, and the Triberg waterfalls, sometimes called “Germany’s most beautiful natural wonder.” These waterfalls are formed by the Gutach river, plunging 163 meters until giving way to a small valley and the town of Triberg. Visitors can access the falls by hiking above the town, admiring the seven major stages as they go. It’s an easy, beautiful hike. When you visit, be sure to bring your copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, sit by the water and recite your favorite.

On our visit to Triberg, we stopped in at the Black Forest museum and the world’s largest cuckoo clock. For those who love clocks and German engineering, The House of a 1000 Cuckoos is perfect for you. Read about our visit to the Black Forest here. Visitors should also make time to enjoy the (Baden) Black Forest scenic railway.

Kayak in Torres del Paine

Kayaking on Gray Lake Torres del Paine

You may never see a sight as arresting as Torres del Paine. Three stony claws extend angrily to the sky, textured by the competing forces of tectonics below the earth and the glaciers above. These great blue towers are omnipresent. Even when obscured by the massive clouds formed from the collision of peaks, glaciers, lakes and rivers, they never fully disappear.

Parque Nacional Terres del Paine straddles the Chilean-Argentine border, with access points via both countries. (Our entrance took us through Chilean territory, via Cerra Castillo, a town known for its bronco busting festivals.) The most distinctive feature are the three granite towers that give the park its name. Torres is a popular hiking destination boasting numerous rivers, lakes, and glaciers for sightseers to marvel over.

For a different kind of adventure, explore the park by water the way we did. Armed with kayaks, we entered Gray Lake, fed by spill from Gray Glacier, and glided towards the blue Rio Serrano. The only catch … button up tight. You don’t want to get caught in the wrong end in those frigid waters. Wet suits are necessary, even if it makes you look like a pregnant bug. Our ride that day was calm, the waters forgiving, but you can never be sure what you’ll get.

Read what the Kayaking experience in Torres is like. Adventurers who prefer dry land might want to try Torres del Paine by horseback. Pedestrians might be curious about the hiking experience in Torres. The ‘O’ and ‘W’ hikes are the most popular circuits. They are rugged and take several days each to complete.

Recommendation:

Read our Perfect Patagonian Itinerary as a guide to planning your own adventure. You can find more recommendations for visiting Patagonia here.

FAQ

Q1: How should Monument Valley be explored?

A: The most genuine way to see Monument Valley is on a horseback ride or if necessary a drive though the park. A guide on horseback can lead you through famous buttes and mesas, and share you stories about their culture.

Q2: Is it safe to travel to Cape Horn?

A: Yes, but the weather can change at any time. The majority of visitors to Cape Horn take a cruise, and landings are contingent on the state of the sea. Traveling to the "end of the world" is an exciting adventure. We took an Australis ship called the Ventus from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia.

Q3: When is the best time to see the Northern Lights and go sledding in Lapland?

A: The best months for dog sledding and other snow sports are December through March. The period from late autumn to early spring is when the skies are clearest and darkest for the Northern Lights. (That’s when we went.)

Q4: How frequently does Chile's Desierto Florido occur?

A: Only in years with unusual rainfall—usually from September to November—does this natural wonder come to life. The Atacama landscape is transformed as the desert blossoms with vibrant wildflowers. On average it rains in this, the most arid place on earth, less than one inch per year. Visitors beware, the Chilean government has instituted protection programs to maintain the delicate ecology during the bloom.

Q5: What is unique about L'Anse aux Meadows?

A: A UNESCO World Heritage site, it is the only known Viking settlement in North America and offers living history tours and tours of restored Norse homes.

Q6: Is it possible to ride a camel in the Moroccan Sahara at any time of year?

A: Although camel treks are possible all year round, the best times to go are in the spring and fall when the weather is milder.

Q7: What is the best way to experience the Sognefjord?

A: It’s hard to choose poorly in the Norwegian fjords. But for variety of experiences, consider a circuit from Bergen by ferry to Flåm, making the return trip to Bergen via the Flåm railway to the Bergen Railway at Myrdal station. Or try it in reverse!

Q8: What wildlife can I see on Petermann Island in Antarctica?

A: You will see seals, whales, and penguin colonies. Because humpbacks frequently breach near boats, whale watching near Petermann Island is particularly rewarding.

Q9: What makes Triberg Waterfalls so well-known in Germany?

A: The Black Forest is home to Germany's tallest waterfalls, and some of the world’s most famous fairy tales. Many tourists combine their trip with fairy tale activities, such as reading “Hansel and Gretal” or “Sleeping Beauty” by the waterfalls.

Q10: Is hiking the only activity in Torres del Paine?

A: Not at all! You can kayak, ride horses, or go on scenic drives in addition to the well-known W Trek. It's among the top locations in Patagonia for a variety of adventures.

This is part one of the Most Interesting Places in the World series, Natural Wonders, in the Vagabond Adventure’s Destinations collection. Read about the top destinations from journalist and National Geographic Explorer Chip Walter and his wife Cyndy’s effort to capture their experience exploring all seven continents, all seven seas and 100+ countries, never traveling by jet.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, please take a look at Chip’s other adventures (and misadventures) … and don’t forget to check the Vagabond Journal and our Travel Recommendations to help you plan YOUR next adventure.

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Resource: https://vagabond-adventure.com/library/most-interesting-places-in-the-world-part-one-natural-wonders

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