November
November
Sinai Peninsula, Egypt
Why now? Summer is unbearable and winter often sees Mt Sinai topped with snow, so visit in between these seasons.
Biblical and beautiful, Egypt’s Sinai is a desert land conversely famous for its water activities. Sat like a cork in the neck of the Red Sea, the Sinai’s southern coast between Tiran Island and Ras Mohammed National Park features some of the world’s most brilliant and amazing underwater scenery. The crystal-clear water, the rare and lovely reefs and the incredible variety of fish have made this a diving and snorkelling paradise, attracting people from all over the globe to the sea Jacques Cousteau once said gave him the ‘happiest hours of my diving experience’. The resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the epicentre of the diving industry, doesn’t reflect the marine beauty, but it does have proximity to Ras Mohammed National Park, which covers the southern tip of Sinai and offers arguably the Red Sea’s finest diving. There are 20 dive sites within the park, including a selection of wrecks and Eel Garden and Shark Observatory where you’ll see - have a guess - eels and sharks. Sinai’s interior is as hard as its fringing corals. Row upon serried row of barren, jagged, red-brown mountains fill its southern end, surrounded by relentlessly dry, yet colourful, desert plains. The most famous of the mountains is 2285m Mt Sinai, reputed to be the place where Moses received the 10 Commandments, and now the peninsula’s favourite hiking destination. Begin at St Katherine’s Monastery and follow the camel trail or, if you’re feeling penitent, the 3750 Steps of Repentance to the summit. It’s customary to be here for sunrise, and if you’re planning to spend the night on top, as many visitors do, come ready for a cold night. Longer desert treks - up to a week or more - with a Bedouin guide can be arranged in the village of Al-Milga, 3.5km from St Katherine’s. A guide is also required if you fancy the five-hour climb to the top of Gebel Katarina (2642m), Egypt’s highest mountain. Summer is unbearable and winter often sees Mt Sinai topped with snow. So visit in between these seasons.
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Cenote Dive in Yucatán, Mexico
Why now? The cenotes are clearest between about November and March.
In a cataclysmic collision 65 million years ago, a huge meteor struck the area that is now Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, leaving a 284km-wide crater on the land’s surface. Millions of years later cracks formed just below the crater’s limestone surface and rainwater began filling the cavities these fissures created. Eventually the surface layer around the underground chambers began to erode and crumble, revealing the intricate vascular system of underground rivers and cenotes (pools, sinkholes) that lay beneath. The Yucatán is now pitted with around 3000 cenotes, the most famous of which is the Sacred Cenote at the Mayan site of Chichén Itzá. This is an awesome natural well, around 60m in diameter and 35m deep, but it lacks the one feature that draws thousands of adventurers to the Yucatán each year - you cannot dive in the Sacred Cenote. Elsewhere on the peninsula, there are a number of cenotes that can be dived. Certified cave divers can delve to the caves’ black depths but other divers will be limited to cavern diving, in which you’re limited to staying within the area reached by sunlight. In most accessible caverns there are fixed lines to guide divers through the cenote. Popular cenote dives include Ponderosa (also great for snorkelling), near Puerto Aventuras, with its rich aquatic life; and Cenote Azul, a 90m-deep natural pool on the shore of Laguna Bacalar. Cenote Dos Ojos, near Tulum, is one of the most impressive caverns, with tremendous stalactites and stalagmites in an eerie wonderland. You can swim 500m through the cenote without leaving sunlight. This cenote also provides access to Nohoch Nah Chich, the largest underwater cave system in the world. Dos Ojos is part of the Hidden Worlds Cenote Park, which includes a couple of diving caverns and a range of snorkelling holes. www.hiddenworlds.com
Why not check out the Thorn Tree forum at lonelyplanet.com to find out more?
Camel Safari in Douz, Tunisia
Why now? November is one of the few times that conditions permit overnight treks.
From the Tunisian town of Douz, camel trekking ranges from one-hour rides to days-long desert adventures. Overnight treks leave Douz in the afternoon, and involve about four hours riding before pitching camp at sunset. Guides prepare an evening meal of damper bread and stew, before you bed down beneath the stars for a return the next morning. Longer expeditions can range as far as the oasis town of Ksar Ghilane (seven to ten days). If you trek in November, you’ll not only have the best conditions, but the date harvest (which produces some of the best dates in the world) will also have just finished, prices are generally cheaper and you might be in Douz for the Sahara Festival, which features camel racing and displays of traditional desert skills as well as music, parades and poetry reading.
Why not check out the Thorn Tree forum at lonelyplanet.com to find out more?
Undersea Walk in Mauritius, Mauritius
Why now? Get wet ahead of the approaching wet season.
The novel activity of undersea walking, or snuba, has caught on in a big way in Mauritius as it allows nondivers the chance to experience life below the waves. Participants don a weight belt and a diving helmet and stroll along the sea bed feeding the fish. Solar-powered pumps on the boat above feed oxygen to you during the 25-minute ‘walk on the wet side’, and divers are on hand in case there are any problems. In general, there’s a minimum age requirement of seven years. The two prime spots for an underwater ramble are Grand Baie, in the north, and Belle Mare, on the east coast. www.captainemo-underseawalk.com
Why not check out the Thorn Tree forum at lonelyplanet.com to find out more?
Suqutra, Yemen
Why now? Visit from mid-October to mid-May; outside this time, monsoons and high winds sometimes prevent flights into the island.
Lying about 510km southeast of the Yemen mainland, the island of Suqutra has developed in near total isolation from the rest of the country. This accounts for its extraordinary fauna and flora - of Suqutra’s 750 species of plant, 300 are endemic, while several hundred animal species are also endemic. One hotel on the island has designs on turning this natural wonderland into an Arabian adventure extravaganza, with plans to introduce mountain biking, hiking, diving, fishing, yachting and windsurfing. Bird and turtle watching is also planned, as well as ecotourism-related activities such as turtleweighing. Caving is another activity planned - Suqutra is thought to boast one of the world’s largest cave systems (18km have been mapped to date).
Why not check out the Thorn Tree forum at lonelyplanet.com to find out more?
Camel Safari in Rajasthan, India
Why now? The most comfortable time for a camel safari is from October to February.
It’s debatable whether the Rajasthan city of Jaisalmer is more famous for its sandcastle-like fort or for its camel safaris. No place better evokes ancient desert splendour and exotic trade routes, making it one of the most evocative places to begin a desert safari. A camel journey into the Thar Desert offers an evocative way to sample desert life, but don’t expect a sea of dunes. The Thar Desert is mostly barren scrub, sprinkled with villages and ruins. You’ll come across tiny fields of millet, and children herding flocks of sheep or goats, whose tinkling neck bells offer a nice change from the sound of your farting camels. The camel’s reins are fastened to its nose peg, so the animal is easily steered. Stirrups make the journey a lot more comfortable. At resting points, the camels are unsaddled and hobbled. They limp off to graze on shrubs while the drivers brew chai or prepare food. The whole crew rests in the shade of thorn trees. At night you’ll camp out, huddling around a tiny fire beneath a ceiling of stars and listening to the camel drivers’ songs. Most safaris last three to four days and the traditional circuit takes in Amar Sagar, where there’s a garden, dried-up step-wells and a Jain temple; Mool Sagar, a run-down oasis with a Shiva Temple; Bada Bagh, a fertile oasis with a huge old dam and sandstone sculpted royal chhatris (centopaths) with beautifully carved ceilings; as well as various abandoned villages along the way. More and more travellers are opting for remote safaris. You’re driven in a 4WD for around 30km and then head off on your camel, avoiding the major sights and other safari groups. www.jaisalmertourism.com
Why not check out the Thorn Tree forum at lonelyplanet.com to find out more?
Hike in The Simien Mountains, Ethiopia
Why now? Come early in the dry season (October to May) for green landscapes and wild flowers.
Far from Africa’s beaten mountain paths is a range unlike any other on the continent. The Simien Mountains are made up of several plateaus, separated by broad river valleys. A number of peaks rise above 4000m, including Ras Dashen (4543m), the fourth-highest mountain in Africa. At the range’s northern edge is a 60km-long escarpment overlooking a land of rock pinnacles and mesas for some of the finest views in Africa. All treks begin and end in Debark, where the park headquarters are located. The most popular trekking routes are along the western side of the massif, taking in the most impressive sections of the escarpment. The most spectacular scenery is around the Geech Abyss, while the classic Simien trek continues past Geech to the summit of Ras Dashen; allow eight to 10 days for the return hike.
Why not check out the Thorn Tree forum at lonelyplanet.com to find out more?
Timbuktu by Boat, Mali
Why now? The river’s at its highest from August to mid-December.
The name Timbuktu has the very ring of adventure: remote, desert-licked and exotic. And it can still be an adventure to get here if you come on one of the large passenger boats that ply the Niger River between Koulikoro (60km northeast of Bamako) and Gao, via Korioumé (18km from Timbuktu). Passenger boats run from August to mid-December, when the river is high, and you should expect a floating mass of jostling humanity for the five days of sailing between Koulikoro and Korioumé. Luxe and first class consist of two-berth cabins; second is a four-berth cabin; third is either an eight-berth or 12-berth cabin (although you can sleep and hang out on the upper deck); and fourth class is in the packed and basic lower deck (which even the most hardened travellers rate as the pits). Whatever class you’re in, it’ll be sweltering and the toilets will be flooded. For a less gritty river experience, you can travel to Timbuktu by more traditional motorised canoes called pinasse. From the city of Mopti you can board a large, laden cargo pinasse, but this can be slow. A more serene, comfortable and quicker option is to get a group together and hire a tourist pinasse, journeying along the pale luminous swell of the Niger, banked by sand dunes, passing boats with rice-bag sails, makeshift villages, waving people and wading fishermen. You sleep on the river bank or in the boat - nights are magical, silent and star-lit, but also cold, so pack a blanket or sleeping bag. It will take you about three days to reach Korioumé (18km from Timbuktu), from where you catch a shared taxi to Timbuktu.
Why not check out the Thorn Tree forum at lonelyplanet.com to find out more?