Expert Insights

Read time – 4 minutes A brisk wind races through the high passes, scattering prayer flags flapping and fluttering against the sky. The haunting echo of footsteps tracing the corridor of a Buddhist monastery is swept away, the sun streams down over the lush green tea plantations of Darjeeling. Somewhere more secretive, the elusive shadow...

Read time – 3 minutes The old man’s eyes are honest as he whispers to me, “Here, in this region, we have everything you can possibly look for.” This wisened face belongs to one of the family who own the Hotel Le Due Torri where we are staying, high in the hills near the Amalfi...

Read time – 3 minutes “You will get bored of sea turtles,” the appropriately named Darwin says as he outlines the week’s adventures aboard the Cachalote. Nods ripple around the group signalling agreement – it’s a risk we are prepared to take. Sea Turtle, Galapagos  Galapagos Islands Cruise On day one of the Galapagos cruise, our boat docks...

Read time – 3 minutes For the first New Year ever I have not made a resolution – I have, after many years, finally admitted to myself that I’m not going to keep it anyway, so why bother making one? New Year Adventures Instead, I’m looking down alternative avenues. After all, with the inclement weather forcing...

Read time – 3 minutes Paul Goldstein visits the Emperor Penguin colony of Snow Hill Island on the Ice-Breaker the Kapitan Kehlebnikov. As I sit in the clinical surrounds of London SW12, my thoughts of work are compromised by visions of the Southern Seas. To do justice to the Emperor Pilgrimage is beyond pen or...

Read time – 3 minutes The locals call it hell. We walked over twisted black rocks, huge lava formations and still-smoking remnants, beginning to believe it ourselves. This is the “viti” (hell) crater of Krafla volcano, a ten-kilometer yawn in the hillside, once believed to be a sign that beneath the Earth’s broken crust lurked...

Read time – 2 minutes Exodus’ veteran Phil Normington takes to two wheels on one of our most popular cycling trips in the beautiful landscape and villages of Southern India. I didn’t know for certain what ‘Granny Gear’ was until this morning, but it’s been the only gear in use for a couple of hours now. Twenty-seven...

Read time – 1 minute No other trek can compete with the Inca Trail for its sense of history, as you tread the ancient road network of the Incas. As for starting the trail, it’s hard to beat the Amazon Rainforest. You will immediately be struck by the heat and humidity of the rainforest. The most refreshing...

Read time – 3 minutes As I was sitting on the deck, cold beer in one hand, camera in the other, watching a massive blue whale spouting a few hundred metres from the boat, I really thought I would wake up at any moment and still be at my desk in the office. But I...