Japan in Winter: The White Season
At Sapporo’s Snow Festival in Hokkaido, Japan, artisans from around the world carve huge, fantastic designs in ice and snow, recreating landmark buildings, historical figures, and cartoon characters. There are lots of festival activities, plus skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling (the powdery snow is legendary). Stay at a luxury city hotel, or a traditional ryokan (guest house), ending each day with a soak in a Japanese onsen (hot spring bath).
Further south, on the main island of Honshu, in the mountains northwest of Tokyo, there’s plenty of great skiing in Nagano, known as the Japanese Alps. This region is also famous for its Snow Monkeys (Japanese Macaque).
Find more details and pictures on our blog. A visit to Sapporo or Nagano may be easily added to our Private Journey Treasures of Japan. Dates for the Sapporo Snow Festival are February 7-13, 2011. Please contact Denise Gogarty at 1-800-999-1758.
View Tanzania’s Great Migration Year-Round by Fly-in Safari
No matter what time of year, or wherever the great wildebeest migration may be in northern Tanzania, Singita will take you there. From their three luxurious lodges in the Grumeti Reserves of the western Serengeti, Singita flies you in to see migration herds with their own aircraft every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Your safari guide and a sumptuous lunch travel with you for the day, while a safari vehicle awaits—along with tens of thousands of wildebeest and zebra.
For more information on Singita and their new migration flights, contact Logan Stine at 1-800-999-1758.
Travel + Leisure’s Trip of a Lifetime
Our Cartagena de Indias journey is featured in this month’s Travel + Leisure article 22 Trips of a Lifetime. Your first stop is Cartagena (at a private designer-decorated villa no less), then helicopter out (the last 90 minutes are by foot) to the mythical Lost City—Ciudad Perdida
To book this special itinerary, contact Rachel Robar at 1-800-999-1758.
Luxury Group Tour to Chile, Argentina & Brazil—Special Introductory Pricing
Join us on this fully escorted travel adventure, as we explore three of South America's largest and diverse countries—Chile, Argentina & Brazil. From Santiago to Rio, experience spectacular Alpine scenery, valleys of vineyards, cosmopolitan cities, and the incomparable Iguazu Falls.
Departures: Feb 12-24, 2011 (confirmed), and Mar 12-24, 2011; from $7215 per person double occupancy. See Chile, Argentina & Brazil or contact Rachel Robar at 1-800-999-1758.
The Ancient Observatory at Jaipur, India
India’s astronomers created several observatories; the largest and best preserved is in Jaipur, next to the City Palace. With amazing precision, Indian scholars built this Jantar Mantar (calculation instrument), used for measuring time, and tracking stars and the earth's orbit around the sun. The instruments are quite large, and include two giant sundials. Several Cox & Kings journeys include a visit to Jaipur and the Jantar Mantar.
To book your trip to India, contact Seema Prakash at 1-800-999-1758.
Past and Present in Alexandria, Egypt
This Mediterranean port city became the capital of Greco-Roman Egypt. For three days you'll explore Alexandria’s past and present with a private Egyptologist by your side. Highlights include the ultra modern Bibliotheca Alexandrina library, built in 2002 near the site of the ancient library, and the Royal Jewelry Museum—a palace housing a large collection of jewels and fine art from the former royal family. Built in 1919, the palace itself is a work of art, and is the only building of its type open to the public.
Alexandria: Pearl of the Mediterranean is easily added to one of our classic journeys to Egypt. To book your trip, contact Nicole Beattie at 1-800-999-1758.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites—South Africa
Fossil Hominid Sites at the Cradle of Humankind
The sites at Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, and Kromdraai provide scientists a deep understanding of how our ancestors lived and evolved 3.5 million years ago. Fossils of animals and plants during this era give further insight.
iSimangaliso Wetland Park
The Park contains critical habitats for a range of species from Africa's marine, wetland and savannah environments, including over 520 different types of birds.
Robben Island
Used from the 17th-20th centuries as a prison, a hospital for socially unacceptable groups, and a military base, its buildings are an eloquent testimony to its somber history.
Drakensberg Park
The site’s diversity of habitats protects a high level of endemic and globally threatened species. This spectacular natural area also contains many caves with paintings made by the San people over a period of 4,000 years.
Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape
This open, expansive savannah developed into the largest kingdom in the sub-continent before it was abandoned in the 14th century. The nearly untouched settlement sites help give us a picture of how social and political structures developed in the region.
Cape Floral Region Protected Areas
More species of plants are found here than for any similar sized area in the world. How plants in the area have uniquely adapted for survival is of particular interest to biologists.
Vredefort Dome
Dating back 2,023 million years, it is the oldest, largest, and most deeply eroded complex meteorite impact structure in the world.
Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape
The area sustains the pastoral, semi-nomadic Nama people, reflecting seasonal patterns that may have persisted for as much as two millennia in southern Africa.
Visits to South Africa’s UNESCO World Heritage sites may be added to any Private Travel Journey to South Africa. To book your trip, contact Logan Stine at 1-800-999-1758.
Japan in winter sounds wonderful.
Posted by: Tom Stanley | December 02, 2010 at 11:26 AM