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Tanzania’s Best Kept Secret

I was hoping to return to Africa later this month, but I just couldn’t squeeze the trip in. The one locale I was excited to check out was Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park. Home to one of the largest prides of lions in Africa, it’s shocking that Ruaha is still an undiscovered gem in Tanzania. Even more surprising when you learn that Ruaha is the second largest park in the country. Yet, simply because of its locale, in the far less frequented southern tourist circuit, far away from the camera clicking crowds of Serengeti and Ngorongoro, this rough tract of wilderness pulsates with the feel of a long-forgotten Africa. Only a little over 7,000 visitors annually come to this region of broken hills, sandy rivers, and an altogether harsher kind of landscape. The parched plains are littered with granite boulders and bizarre-looking baobab trees. Currently only one third of Ruaha’s 20,226 square kilometers is used for tourism, leaving a great majority of wilderness untouched and undiscovered. One of the highly touted places to stay in Ruaha is Mwagusi Safari Camp, owned by native Tanzanian Chris Fox. Download it to your Africa wish-list file, along with me.
 
I’m off to bike and hike in Zion National Park next week. I’ll be back with some of my favorite Caribbean getaways the week of October 22nd. In the meantime, keep active! 
 

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Ski Jay Peak, Vermont

It was unusually cold in Boston this weekend, which is good for many of the ski areas in New England that are now open. First on my wish list this season is Jay Peak. Over the past 8 years, the northern Vermont ski resort opened the 176-room Hotel Jay, the largest indoor waterpark in Vermont, an indoor skating rink for ice skating and hockey games, the Stateside Hotel and base lodge with restaurants and locker rooms, a rental center, 84 new mountain cottages, and a complete redo of the resort’s entrance. Most of the funds used to revamp the resort were collected through an elaborate EB-5 program, where international investors were offered green cards if they invested $500,000. Then in April 2016, a federal lawsuit accused the owners of misusing $200 million raised through the EB-5 program in a Ponzi-like scheme for other projects and their own personal use. Many folks in the ski world thought Jay Peak would shut down once the owners were arrested, but Jay was placed in federal receivership and all employees were told to stay on. They even continued with their construction plans and opened a new theater this summer. What we have now is a world-class ski resort that receives more annual snowfall than any other area in New England, often in excess of 400 inches. I’m ready for a return trip, having last visited when they opened their indoor water park in 2012. 

 
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My Top 5 Bike Rides in America During Fall Foliage, Addison Valley, Vermont

Any avid road biker will tell you that Addison Valley, Vermont, is easily one of the top five biking destinations in North America. The backcountry roads have very little car traffic, great uphill climbs and downhill runs, and around every bend is another dairy farm, massive red barn, white church steeple, and glorious vistas of Green Mountains and Adirondack Mountains separated by the waters of Lake Champlain. Head there within the next two weeks and those views will be even more breathtaking when rural roads radiate with colors comparable to Monet’s finest Impressionist works. If you want a local to design your route based on mileage, go on a self-guided bike tour with Country Inns Along the Trail. Depending on your ability, they will design itineraries from 15 to 60 miles a day, with most bikers averaging 25 to 30 miles. You simply leave your car at the first inn and they will transport your luggage to the next night’s lodging, extending the trip as long as you like. Price starts at $155 a night per person, including lodging, dinner, breakfast, and transport of luggage. They also design hiking inn-to-inn routes. 
 
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A Must-Stop at the East Side Gallery in Berlin

Guest Post and Photo by Amy Perry Basseches

Another of my main areas of interest when I was in Berlin in January was to experience first-hand the “East divided from West” Years. The separation of Berlin began in 1945, and, in 1961, East Germany built the Berlin Wall, circling West Berlin, to prevent its residents from migrating. My husband Josh and I landed at Schoenefeld Airport (the airport in the former Soviet quarter of East Berlin and formerly the main airport of East Germany), and thus began this aspect of the adventure. 
 
In my two days of touring, we criss-crossed Berlin constantly, from what was West Berlin to what was East Berlin, without distinction. There are certainly many memorials to a city divided, and to understanding that history, but none as interesting to me as the East Side Gallery. Once it was the Berlin Wall. Now it’s the longest open-air gallery in the world. Almost a mile long, one section of the Berlin Wall was not demolished and instead became a living canvas for paintings about change, happiness, hope, and freedom Beginning in 1990, 118 artists from 21 countries painted pictures on the wall. They are vibrant, interesting, and, frankly genuine (this is all outside, not hidden from the weather). I would have loved to stop and photograph each one. In fact, I bought a book of Wall paintings to bring home. Of course “progress” is always a challenge: a section of the East Side Gallery was removed a few years ago to make room for luxury condos along the River Spree. 
 
There are many other areas of Berlin which I visited related to the “East divided from West” Years, including: the Berlin Wall Memorial (with tunnels underneath marked); the gigantic Soviet War Memorial for the 22,000 who died taking Berlin in WWII; the TV Tower (famously built VERY tall, tallest in Germany, by the East Germans, intended as a symbol of communist power); and Checkpoint Charlie, which was silly and not even in the right place (one of the actors playing a soldier was a Syrian refugee, and the other had a second job at Chippendale’s). 
 
If Berlin (or Germany in general) interests you, let ActiveTravels assist with your journey.
 
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Rekindling My Love for Cross-Country Skiing

The Northeast has received more than its fair share of snow this winter. In fact, Boston is set to receive another 2-4 inches this evening. I’ve taken this opportunity to x-c ski at three of my favorite spots in New England. In January, I celebrated my wife’s birthday by skiing in the Berkshires at a Trustees of Reservations property called Notchview. While researching my first book, Outside Magazine’s Adventure Guide to New England, I skied at Notchview and remembered it being one of the premier spots for the sport. Upon my return trip, it was even more magical, with a healthy dumping of fresh snow creating a winter wonderland of bent pine branches. This past weekend, my family stayed at the historic Mount Washington Hotel in New Hampshire. On Sunday, under clear blue skies, I took my daughter and nephew for a morning jaunt on the web of trails found at the Bretton Woods Nordic Center. Mount Washington and its broad-shouldered slopes and snowcapped peak could be seen in its entirety, not wrapped in any clouds, which is a rarity in these parts. It was another glorious outing smelling the pines while cruising along a stream. This coming weekend, we’re off to Stowe, Vermont, to cross-country ski at Trapp Family Lodge during the height of the maple sugar season (see the best trips of the month section to the right of this entry). I look forward to tackling the Parizo Trail once again and having my bowl of soup in the cozy cabin. For dessert, I’ll try the homemade maple taffy.
 

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The New Cape Pogue Cottage is Perfect for Large Families on the Vineyard

My favorite resort on Martha’s Vineyard just got a little bit better. The Winnetu Oceanside Resort has just unveiled The Cape Pogue Cottage, ideal for a large family gathering or Girl’s Getaway. The 2BR/2Bath cottage sleeps seven with a wooden four-poster king canopy bed that anchors the master suite, a separate second bedroom with two twin beds, a pullout twin, and a pullout sofa. As you would expect from a lodging that’s only a short stroll from glorious South Beach, the cottage and its neutral colors gives off a coastal vibe. Expect a full kitchen, private ocean view roof deck, and hot tub. We’ve been to the Winnetu three times with our kids and I can honestly say it’s the perfect summer getaway on the New England coast or islands. Combine it with the owner’s other property, The Nantucket Hotel, and you’ll have a memorable weeklong vacation this summer. 

 
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Adventures in Ecuador: Biking, Snorkeling, and Relaxing on Isabela

Isabela is the largest of all the Galapagos Islands and is blessed with the longest stretch of white sand beach, where we spent two nights at La Casita de La Playa. Within walking distance are restaurants, beachfront bars, a good bakery, and several souvenir shops in a sleepy town about 6 dirt blocks long. 

 
On Isabela, we walked on an island covered with hardened black lava and black iguanas, saw white-tipped sharks sleeping in a channel, those famous blue-footed boobies and Galapagos penguins standing on the rocks, and swam once again with massive sea turtles. Our favorite outing was renting bikes to visit a lagoon filled with flamingoes, a giant tortoise breeding center, and then riding on a road along the long beach to a former fort, the Wall of Tears, used by the American during World War II. It was a special treat to bike past large tortoises on the side of the road. 
 
Make sure to bring $100 in US dollars for each person upon arrival at the Galapagos Airport (they don’t take credit cards) and give yourself at least two hours at the Quito Airport to figure out the three lines you’ll have to navigate. Once in the Galapagos, we’re happy to suggest a land-based itinerary or cruises that come highly recommended. 
 
We’re spending a week at one of our favorite New England resorts next week, the Basin Harbor Club on the shores of Vermont’s Lake Champlain. I’ll be back on August 19th. In the meantime, keep active! 
 

One Comment

  1. Please visit our website ruahanationalpark.weebly.com ..Ruaha is ‘Tanzania’s Best Kept Secret’ and the largest park in East Africa. The site has everything you need to know about Ruaha!

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