Namibia is a vast country, 825,418 square kilometers of scenic, varied landscapes rendered in high-contrast color film. It is no wonder that this peaceful nation is a favorite among photographers, especially the Sossusvlei sand dunes or the famed but feared Skeleton Coast in the Namib Desert, the awe-inspiring depths of Fish River Canyon, and the endless plains of the Kaokoveld. Strangely-shaped rock formations, dormant volcanoes and giant dinosaur footprints round out the diversity of this stark, hauntingly beautiful land. These features provide so much variety to your sightseeing. For the more artistic eye, the tones, textures and forms of these landscape features have made Namibia a popular destination among photographers.
Nature and Wildlife
The 19 state-owned game parks, conservation areas, and resorts comprise nearly 15% of Namibia’s land area. Population sizes in its game parks are smaller than in top wildlife destinations, but the Etosha National Park is one of Africa’s great game parks. In the arid northwest, you find desert-dwelling elephant, black rhino and giraffe. There is also an amazing variety of small creatures with special adaptations for survival in the harsh Namib Desert.
The northeast is home to woodlands and wetlands that stand in sharp contrast to the western parts. There are small lakes and flood plains that attract antelopes of various species, backwaters carpeted with water lilies, and papyrus at the fringes of water channels. You find many unique plants. The well-known welwitschia with its shredded leaves is a fine example of adaptation to life in desert environments. The bottle tree is evocative of the rocky outcrops of Kaokoveld, and Namibia is home to a bewildering diversity of lichens.
What Else to Do
Namibia’s remote regions, especially in the arid northwest, make it ideal for extreme adventures off the beaten track. The Naukluft 4×4 trail is the first route to be mapped out in a state-owned conservation area; it traverses mountainous terrain and the plateau of the Naukluft Mountains. The track runs for 72km including steep inclines, rugged descents and squeeze-through mountain passes, guaranteed to test the limits your driving skills. The Isabis 4×4 trail in a farm in Windhoek has options ranging from 16km to 40km and you have a choice of two campsites. There are a number of other trails to choose from.
There are many opportunities for angling in the country. Namibia is probably the best locations in the world for shark angling from the shore. This unique sport has become very popular. The copper shark is the angler’s favorite target, and can weigh up to 180kg. There are other species of shark. Animal lovers need not worry: shark angling is a catch and release activity.
Best Time to Go
The weather allows you to enjoy Namibia all year round, but depending on what you want to see, some months are better than others. August and December are busy tourism months, so ensure that your bookings for car hire and accommodations are done well in advance. Game viewing is best done in the dry winter months May-October. Summers in Namibia can get very hot, and hiking should not be attempted. The Fish River Canyon trail is closed between September and April. Bird-watching is perfect from March onwards, after the rains.
Planning your Trip
The best way to appreciate Namibia is with a car, so plan to spend some money for car hire. The big outlay at the start will be recovered by camping out in some of its picturesque sites. Do good research into what you want to do and destinations that most appeal to you. Focus on important destinations: there is so much to see, there is no time to see them all. Distances in this vast country are significant. Bring some camping clothes and outfits, otherwise, you don’t need too much of city clothes.
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Alex J Smith writes for Datravelers.com It’s website where travelers can host blogs, upload travel photos and find unbiased travel information.
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Tags: destination, photographers, Alex J Smith, Namibia
The verdict on the true cost of spending your vacation in a hotel versus staying in a vacation rental is in, and I have the proof. For a family on a vacation, a vacation rental provides great accommodations for far less money. I just had a very unique personal experience that allowed me to test this: my own marriage two weeks ago in Maui, Hawaii, with friends and family in attendance.
We had a whole bunch of folks that came in from different parts of the globe to celebrate the event with us. Being the owner of a vacation rentals by owner website, I asked most of them where they were staying so I could compare notes. Our extended family stayed in a nice vacation rental right on the beach, a few stayed at resorts, and a few stayed at local hotels.
Here’s the hard data on the major expense items for the trip, excluding rental car and airfare:
Hotel / Resort (Standard Hotel Room, Queen Bed, 1 Bathroom):
Vacation Rental (2 BR / 2 BA Condominium on the Beach with Queen Sleeper Pull Out):
The vacation rental was extremely economical for three reasons:
1) It could accommodate a lot more people. A family of 5 could all fit into one place that cost on average $140.00 per night. That averages out to only $28.00 per person, per night. The Hotel and Resorts that others stayed in cost around $350.00 per night, and it could only fit two people in it, so it ran $175.00 per person, per night. That is a huge difference.
2) Most resort hotels charged huge daily fees for parking and resort fees, which were non-negotiable. That added another $50/night in most cases. Most of my wedding guests found out about that as they were checking in (they neglect to tell you stuff like this when you make the reservation). It was too late then to re-book. No such issues with the vacation rental.
3) Having meals in with the family was a very nice break from eating every meal out. It was a heck of a lot more economical as well.
And, last, the other major expense item was the amount spent on food per day. My extended family took a short trip to the grocery store and had breakfast, lunch and a couple of dinners in over the course of the week that we were there. They went out for nice dinners a couple of times, but in a place like Maui where a basic entree can often cost $50.00 or more, eating some meals in for a family of five really starts to make some sense.
As my fellow vacation rental owners are speaking with prospective renters that are having trouble deciding between your rental or a hotel, make sure you remind them about ALL of the costs associated with your typical resort hotel. Advising your renters as to the true cost of staying in a hotel may keep them with you at your vacation rental. Not to mention the many other benefits that we all know about!
This article was originally published on Jon’s blog.
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Jon Ludwig owns and operates the Find Vacation Rentals website, located at: http://www.findvacationrentals.com/ You can also find vacation rental specials on his website.
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Tags: expenses, fees, costs, Jon Ludwig
It’s been a gruelling day of spa-ing at the Heartwood Manor in the central Alberta Badlands northeast of Calgary, where dinosaurs once roamed and travellers now throng for a taste of prehistory.
First, I spent 90 minutes with Inn and Heartwood Spa esthetician Katie Fisher as she turned my calloused and bunion-plagued feet into sleek paws worthy of strappy shoes and jewel-toned nail polish.
Then, massage therapist Mike Begg twisted me into a happy human pretzel on the floor of my antique-furnished suite on the second storey of the lavishly restored Victorian inn. Who needs yoga? With Thai massage (dare I admit this?), Mike does the stretching for you. Who knew a weekend spa vacation could be so conducive to health and fitness?
Soon after came my Indian Head Massage with therapist Rita Cumming, followed by 45 minutes of polarotherapy ? a uniquely sedating spa treatment I’d never heard of, but highly recommend. (This should come with its own warning: even the energizer bunny can’t withstand the relaxing powers of this ancient East Indian form of bodywork).
And now, with a full afternoon of primping behind me and a tasty plate of pub fish and chips in my belly, I am ready for sleep. After a hot soak in my private jetted hot tub, I climb the steps to bed, wondering what pleasures tomorrow might bring on my spa vacation.
Enjoy One-of-a-Kind Beds
Did I mention I’m climbing the stairs to BED? Not my bedroom, but my BED. Like everything in this central Alberta town, my sleep machine is larger than life ? a wood-hewn, quilt-laden creature that requires its own portable set of stairs to clamber atop.
These one-of-a-kind beds ? the monolithic cousin, if you will, to the ordinary mattress and boxspring ? are just one of the unique touches to be found among the hoodoos and coulees of the Alberta badlands.
You can spot the Heartwood, with its sky-blue clapboard exterior and gingerbread trim, as you head into town on Highway 9 east. As you wind your way into the Red Deer River valley, the spa resort looms invitingly to your right on Railway Avenue. (Several secondary highways converge in the town, so you have a variety of travel options when traveling from Calgary or Edmonton.)
You might not even make it into the foyer before owners Zeke and Patrice Wolf open the front door to welcome you to the Heartwood. The pair, who took over operations at the historic 10-suite hotel and health spa in June, are eager to show off the inn’s many features.
Zeke, a semi-retired gas well consultant, asks if I’ll be having his famous flaming French toast for breakfast. Hold on now ? I haven’t even had lunch yet! But there’s no time for eating: my spa caregivers are waiting to show me their wares. (In all fairness, Zeke offers me a snack, but I decline because I’m eager for my treatments to begin.)
The Heartwood is a member of the Charming Inns of Alberta, an association of intimate, smaller hotels and bed-and-breakfasts that provide a comforting alternative to the motels and hotels that road warriors so often rely on. The inn is also home to the organization’s only destination spa ? allowing you to run straight for bed should the pampering be so intense that a nap is just a woozy blink away.
Discover Antique Furnishings
The furnishings are mostly antique, from the double-sided clock in the stylish breakfast room to the ornately carved guest check-in desk and the furnishings in each suite. Patrice, who for seven owned the town’s only antique shop, is continually scouting for new finds for the heritage inn. Aside from the sprawling main house is a self-catered miner’s cabin (perfect for girlfriend or family getaways) as well as a one-room honeymoon cottage tucked beside the manicured gardens.
While the Heartwood - like all of Drumheller’s accommodations ? is fully booked over the summer months, the shoulder season offers a slower pace and a welcome chance to explore the former coal-mining region’s offbeat attractions and historic sites.
The world-famous Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, which teems with tourists during high season, is much easier to explore when the crowds have thinned. The museum, which blankets more than 11,200 square metres (120,000 square feet) and boasts more than 4,400 square metres of displays, is open year-round but on reduced hours during winter months (closed Mondays).
Kids love the Shell Discovery Centre, which features giant flowers than can be ‘fed’ by foam balls. Or, hike the trails around the museum and learn how flood waters from melting glaciers carved out the lunar-like landscape. (The 1.2-kilometre self-guided interpretive loop takes about 50 minutes to complete, weather permitting.) The museum itself is loaded with exhibits that pay homage to the town’s prehistoric heritage, include multimedia exhibits (build your own dinosaur and see if it could have survived), life-sized replica dinosaur skeletons, authentic fossils and other artifacts.
Travellers who spend time strolling the streets of downtown Drumheller are often tempted to take some time out on one of the town’s many benches ? most come complete with your own personal dinosaur statue to make your photo op complete.
Explore the World’s Largest Dinosaur
If you’re feeling energetic, fork out $3 (family and group rates available) to explore the town’s newest and most talked-about tourist attraction ? the world’s largest dinosaur. Situated at the Drumheller visitor centre, this five-year-old attraction has one several tourism awards for innovation and originality.
Clamber the 106 steps through the innards of a Tyrannosaurus Rex ? the infamous T-Rex ? passing by artifacts and prehistoric paintings as the roars and squawks of dinosaurs are piped through the 26-metre (86 feet) structure for effect. Your reward at the top is a panoramic view of the river valley, the town and the badlands ? all from a glass-encased balcony that peeks out from massive dinosaur teeth. (Hint: do this BEFORE your spa treatment. It’s not terribly taxing, but you will feel it in your legs when you make your descent.)
Also worthy of your time is Horseshoe Canyon a few kilometres west of the town; helicopter tours are available in the summer months, but you can still get a great look from the signed canyon viewpoint. And the Atlas Coal Mine site, while closed from mid-October to spring, allows visitors time travel to the days when coal was king and the area’s mines provided valuable fossil fuels to people across Canada.
Another key area attraction (stay-and-play packages are available through the Heartwood Inn) is the Rosebud Dinner Theatre. Situated about 22 kilometres south of Drumheller, Rosebud is a tiny artisan community with a theatre arts school, the historic Rosebud Opera House (performances are offered year-round) and several shops, galleries and cafes.
And when you’ve all that, remember ? there’s aways the spa to recuperate.
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Copyright (c) 2006 Travel Alberta, All Rights Reserved
Travel Alberta is the destination marketing organization for the Province of Alberta. Guided by the Strategic Tourism Marketing Council, Travel Alberta is the steward for the effective delivery of tourism marketing programs. For information about our organization, please visit our Travel Alberta industry web site at http://www.travelalberta.com
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Tags: Rockies, Rocky, Canadian, Travel Alberta
In order to see all five United Nations UNESCO World Heritage Sites, start your scenic drive in the far southwest corner of Alberta in Waterton Lakes National Park, which became the world’s first International Peace Park in 1932 when it joined Glacier National Park. It’s also a model of environmental co-operation. Girdled by a chain of deep glacial lakes, this gem of a park offers an unbelievable variety of high-altitude day hikes, horseback riding adventures, 1,200 species of plants and wildlife viewing opportunities (perfect spot for family vacations).
Take out your driving map and jog north on Highway 6 to Pincher Creek, then east on Highway 3 to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. Its bragging rights are well-earned - as it’s the largest, oldest and best preserved of all bison jumps in the world. At the base is a vast graveyard with thousands of years worth of bones from butchered bison piled 32 ft. (10 metres) high. The jump represents an exceptionally ingenious hunting technique used by Plains Indians up to 10,000 years ago. In recognizing the site’s cultural and historical importance, UNESCO declared the jump a World Heritage Site in 1981.
Back on Highway 3, steer your scenic drive to Taber, and then north on Highway 36. From there your Alberta scenic drive takes you to a lunar world, swollen with coulees and hoodoos and other mystical things. Dinosaur Provincial Park has some of the most extensive dinosaur bone fields in the world, now protected under the UNESCO designation. Daily summer interpretive programs and digs walk you back through time. If you time it right you might just be able to sleep under the yawning jaws of a T.rex ? yes, family vacation sleepovers run throughout the summer.
Road Trips Through Banff and Jasper National Parks
From there, head west on Highway 544 and then a short distance south on Highway 36 before reaching Highway 1 which will take you directly west to Calgary. Park your scenic drive here for a while or make a beeline to Banff and Jasper National Parks - two spectacular Rocky Mountain parks in Alberta that are part of four adjacent parks which together have been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. (The other two are Kootenay and Yoho to the west in British Columbia). You’ll see this area is postcard Canada: snow-capped mountains, thundering waterfalls, cerulean lakes, glacial spackled peaks, the Columbia Icefield, hoodoos, hiking trails, Mounties and grand Old World hotels. Numerous types of lodging mean stays in either Banff or Jasper could range from an overnight to several weeks. Both Alberta parks are loaded with opportunities to go hiking, canoe, cycle, camp, golf, play tennis, go horseback riding or just laze around a steamy hot pool.
From Jasper, steer your scenic drive from the Rocky Mountains east on the Yellowhead Highway to Edmonton and call it a grand road trip, or, devoted UNESCO fans could squeeze in our last UNESCO site, Wood Buffalo National Park (the second largest national park in the world).
Long-Haul Road Trippers Head to Wood Buffalo National Park
Miles from nowhere, in the far northeast corner of Alberta, most tourists either take the scenic drive north through Peace River country into the Northwest Territories to the park’s closest hub, Fort Smith, or they fly from Edmonton or Calgary. This vast chunk of lonely boreal forest and shallow lakes is home to the world’s largest free-roaming herd of wood bison (more than 2,100 remain) and is the last natural nesting habitat of the rare whooping crane (183 individuals were recently counted). It was for these reasons Wood Buffalo National Park was deemed a UNESCO site in 1983. Numerous outfitters in Fort Smith offer adventure and nature-based holidays in the Park.
Total Distance of UNESCO scenic drive: 1181 mi/1890 km
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Copyright (c) 2006 Travel Alberta, All Rights Reserved
Travel Alberta is the destination marketing organization for the Province of Alberta. Guided by the Strategic Tourism Marketing Council, Travel Alberta is the steward for the effective delivery of tourism marketing programs. For information about our organization, please visit our Travel Alberta industry web site at http://www.travelalberta.com
Read more articles written by Travel Alberta
Tags: Rocky, Canadian, Rockies, Travel Alberta
There is not too much to say about the city of Ossining, New York - unless you want to talk about its almost namesake, the Sing Sing prison, built in 1825 by convicts brought in from Auburn Prison. Actually, it was an exact namesake - the town used to be called Sing Sing until the early 20th century (1901), when the local city fathers decided that they don’t want *that* kind of publicity, and changed the name of the town ever so slightly.
The prison’s location - up the Hudson River from New York City - is the source of the idiom, “sent up the river.”
Anyhow, the Sing Sing prison is the main thing about the town. The prison occupies prime real estate on the shore of the Hudson river, and it is located just south of the city train station. They say that the Sing Sing prison is accessible by all means of transportation. And much to the surprise of out-of-towners, the trains that run through Ossining pass right through the prison - or more accurately, when you are riding on the Metro North train from New York to Ossining, you will actually pass through a corridor that has prison walls on both sides of the tracks, for the distance of a few hundred meters.
The prison also has its own river dock and a helipad.
On a street corner in Ossining you can sometimes have a strange experience of a car driver asking for directions to Sing Sing… and you’re wondering if he is just going to visit a friend who’s still in jail, or maybe he was out on bail until his sentence was appealed, but now it’s time for him to be in jail himself. Who knows - you probably would not to ask…
As to the town itself and its “free” residents, it sometimes seems as if the prison is the main employer for the majority of them. Not that you’d necessarily know where your neighbor works, unless you ask - but for a special event, such as the funeral of one of the guards who’s left this world for the great prison in the sky, one can enjoy the sight of a solemn parade of his colleagues, in their black uniform, outside of one of the city’s churches.
As to the rest of the city’s free and gainfully employed residents, most seem to commute to regular jobs in New York City - about an hour’s travel by car or train - or to White Plains, which is even closer than the Big Apple.
The lay of the land of Ossining is actually quite impressive: the center of the town is formed by Highland Avenue, which runs along the Hudson over much higher ground, and Broadway (yup, they have one, as many cities from New York to Vancouver do) runs down to the water, where the train station is located. In historical times, Broadway also carried workers to the boat wharf, down at the river.
The view down to the very wide Hudson river can be seen from many locations downtown, and the view is really quite impressive - this city may actually compare to many of the world’s best riverside cities.
While the local architecture does not offer anything particularly remarkable, the grandeur of the natural environment far surpasses what one might expect from a city that is most well known for its prison.
As far as tourist attractions, historical sites, or even interesting (”recreational”) shopping go, Ossining isn’t exactly a major center for any of them. Although, adventurers may enjoy the Teatown Lake Reservation or the Briarcliff-Peekskill Trailway.
Teatown is an 834-acre lake that provide 14 trails that provide nearly 15 miles of walking paths, through diverse terrain and habitats that ranges from easy/novice to moderately difficult trails. The local habitat provides hikers trails that run through abundant fields, mixed hardwood forests, laurel groves, lakes, streams, swamps and farm land. The Teatown Lake area provides access to the rich biological diversity, of the entire Hudson Hills and Highlands region, which is used annually by over 15,000 hikers for nature study and other outdoor recreational activities including jogging, cross country skiing, and snowshoeing.
Also located inside the Teatown Lake Reservation, the two-acre Wildflower Island is surrounded on all sides by Teatown Lake. Accessible only by walking bridge, Wildflower Island was formed when the Bailey Brook was dammed to create Teatown Lake. It is home to over 230 native and endangered species of wildflowers, which are protected by the island’s remote location and the sanctuary managers - who simply remove invasive alien plants and discourage certain local flower plants from taking root. The flora of Wildflower Island is unusually diverse and interesting for the observer. Experienced guides lead visitors along the paths on the island, describing the unique features of the present wildflowers, most of which are native to the local New York area. Learn more about the Teatown Lake Reservation attractions at: http://www.teatown.org/
If you enjoy hiking and cross-country skiing, you will be able to connect to the Briarcliff Peekskill Trailway and the Croton Aqueduct Trail by way of the trails at the Teatown Lake Reservation.
The Briarcliff-Peekskill Trailway is a 12-mile linear park that runs from the Town of Ossining north to the Westchester County’s Blue Mountain Reservation in Peekskill. The Briarcliff-Peekskill Trail system is just one element of the county’s extensive trail system that also includes the North County Trailway, South County Trailway, the Bronx River Pathway, and the aforementioned Teatown Lake Reservation trails. From the Briarcliff-Peekskill, hikers can take in many beautiful vistas along the length of the trail system. Highlights of the journey will include the water cascading over the beautiful stone spillway at the Croton Gorge Park, and an incredible view of the Hudson River from the 560-foot high Spitzenberg Mountain at the Blue Mountain Reservation. You can learn more about the Briarcliff-Peekskill Trailway at: http://www.westchestergov.com/parks/
Throughout Westchester County’s 18,000 acres of parks and trails, one can also enjoy swimming, bicycling, fishing, skating, and perhaps even a picnic in the great outdoors. Each weekend, county officials make available a wide range of educational, recreational, entertainment and sporting events for people of all ages and interests.
While Ossining may seem a bit ordinary and boring - next to the Big Apple, it is actually a gateway to a day trip or family vacation that you and your kids will remember forever. Welcome to Ossining!
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Chuck Saddler writes for the American Travel Ideas blog. If you are looking for a family vacation rental in New York or elsewhere, or a bed and breakfast, you owe it to yourself to explore the http://www.findvacationrentals.com/ website, where you can literally find thousands of vacation rentals, available in the United States and around the globe.
Tags: cross-country skiing, day trip, educational, fishing, hiking, new york, new york city, ossining, sing sing prison, trails, travel, wildflower island, wildflowers
