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AmaWaterways Announces Chance to See the Gorillas of Rwanda

We’re already big fans of AmaWaterways’ cruises to Africa, like the Discover Africa itinerary that starts in Cape Town before boarding the 28-passenger Zambezi Queen on Botswana’s Chobe River, where you watch the elephants and crocs swim across the river while sipping sundowners on the pool deck. Then it’s off to Vic Falls for the grand finale. Now AmaWaterways is upping the ante, announcing a new 4-day post-cruise extension to Rwanda. Guests will experience Kigali and Volcanoes National Park, home to rare mountain gorillas and golden monkeys. Cape Town, Botswana, Vic Falls, and now Rwanda. Quite the African combo! 

 

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Gourmet India Tour with James Beard-Award Winning Chef, Prasad Chirnomula

If you ever wanted to visit India, see the major sites, stay at the top hotels, and be guided by one of the finest Indian chefs in America, you now have that opportunity. Geringer Global Travel has just announced a “Gourmet India 2011” jaunt led by James Beard-award winning chef, Prasad Chirnomula. Owner of five Thali restaurants in Connecticut, Chirnomula was the first Indian chef to be rated “Excellent” by The New York Times. From January 30 to February 15, Chirnomula will take you to all his favorite haunts in the old country, including the fishing village and market in Koli, the spice market in Cochin, and the fruit and vegetable markets in Colaba. The trip will feature lectures and cooking demonstrations by internationally renowned chefs, including lunch at Philip Kutty Farm, a family-run restaurant featuring Malabar cuisine on its own self-contained island, and a barbecue on a beach in Goa featuring Master Chef Rego. Lodging includes many of Travel & Leisure’s top hotels in the world, including the Oberoi Amarvilas in Agra, the Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur, and the Mumbai Taj Mahal Palace. Price of the 16-day trip is $12,910 per person, including four internal flights, all hotels, meals, and guides.
 

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Dinner at Honeywood in Lexington

On our last night in Kentucky Bourbon Country, we started with Old Fashioned’s (made with Buffalo Trace bourbon) at Middle Fork in the Lexington Distillery District. Then it was on to an upscale section of town to have dinner at the recommended Honeywood. We started with Tokyo Spice Chicken, wings with a nice jalapeno bite, and their signature dish, sweet potato beignets. Then moved on to tender grouper and a dish of pork roast. Afterwards, we wandered over to one of the best ice cream joints in town, Crank & Boom, for a dish of blackberry and buttermilk ice cream. Across the way, we stumbled into a cozy bar, Whiskey Bear, and met the owner Daniel, who has assembled an impressive roster of top-shelf bourbon and whiskey. A great place for a nightcap or to watch a sporting event on the large-screen TVs when in Lexington. 

 
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Headed to French Polynesia? Skip the Island of Tahiti

I’ve been thinking a lot about the South Pacific this week. Perhaps it’s the frost on the windshield of the car this morning forcing me to deal with Father Winter or flee to the tropics. Similar to Africa, the South Pacific is one of those places that get under your skin, coaxing you to return as often as possible. Unlike the majority of the Caribbean isles, which can only boast a white strip of sand, the South Pacific isles are jaw-dropping jagged peaks that rise straight up from the ocean, carpeted in emerald green overripe foliage. For me, this is paradise. 

 
After my inaugural trip to the region in 1990, I would make the South Pacific my area of expertise, returning as often as possible. This is especially true of the French Polynesia isles, a mere two hour flight past Hawaii. Perhaps, I was fed too much Fletcher Christian as a boy and wanted to follow in the footsteps of Captain Bligh. Or maybe it was the languorous women Gauguin painted after entertaining them in his supposed House of Debauchery. 
 
All I know is that when I first arrived on the island of Tahiti and its bustling city of Papeete, I would have been happy to be back in Boston scraping the ice off my sidewalk. There were traffic jams, pollution-spewing cars, far too many uptight Frenchmen, and tuna sandwiches at $20 a pop. If Fletcher Christian saw present-day Tahiti, he might have continued his voyage with Bligh. Their major site, The Gauguin Museum, had no original works by the artist (another ironic twist is that Gauguin’s masterpiece, Where Do We Come From?  What Are We?  Where Are We Going? (1897-98), is right down the road from me in Boston). Across the way, the Harrison Smith Botanical Gardens, a collection of tropical plants from around the world founded by a former MIT physics professor, was not in the least bit memorable. I wanted to get lost in the lushness of nature, not take a walk through some manicured garden. 
 
Then my wife and I made the wise move to head to Raitea. For me, authenticity in travel often goes hand-in-hand with a solid connection to the people of that community. Within 15 minutes of paddling on a winding river that snaked through the island, we came upon a group of kids diving off a tree swing into the water. They were so excited to see us that they insisted on showing us the small thatched huts they lived in, sat us down on a mat, and served us fresh papaya from the fields behind them. 
 
On another trip, a 16-day cruise aboard the freighter ship Aranui brought us the Marquesas. 750 miles north of Tahiti, the Marquesas are the most remote islands in the world, farthest from any continent. Immense green mountains pierce the clouds overhead on many of the twelve islands, retaining the savage beauty that inspired Gauguin to live and be buried on Hiva Oa. A young 22-year-old sailor named Herman Melville was so enraptured with the island of Nuka Hiva that he chose to jump ship and live with cannibals rather than continue his voyage. You can read about it in his first book, Typee. One of the most stunning natural sites I’ve ever seen was the Bay of Virgins on the island of Fatu Hiva. Towering, storm-worn basalt rises from the ocean’s depth forming a v-shaped buttress that’s illuminated by the sun. In the distance, serrated ridges and impassable gorges stand as a monument to the centuries of volcanic fires that formed this fantastic landscape. 
 
When I returned from my trip to the Marquesas, I met a couple who spent their entire honeymoon solely on the island of Tahiti. It made me want to cry. It reminds me of a backpacking trip I took to Newfoundland, where we went off the trail less than 100 yards to look straight down at a magnificent fjord. Our guide knew it was there, but unfortunately none of the other hikers did and kept on walking. My hope for creating our travel agency, ActiveTravels.com, is to steer travelers in the right direction so they don’t spend their entire time in French Polynesia on the island of Tahiti. 
 
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Maine’s North Woods National Monument Is Now a Reality

Today marks the official 100th anniversary of the national park system. To coincide with the centennial, President Obama announced yesterday that Roxanne Quimby’s 87,654 acres located just east of Baxter State Park will make the list as the North Woods National Monument. On Tuesday, Quimby’s nonprofit, Elliotsville Plantation Inc., transferred her ownership to the U.S. Department of the Interior. Long a proponent of creating a national park in Maine’s North Woods, Quimby, the co-founder of Burt’s Bees skin care products, has been a contentious figure in the region ever since I’ve been reporting on Maine. In a Boston Globe Magazine story on the AMC entering the Maine woods in 2004, Quimby’s name came up time and time again. Locals were worried that the AMC would restrict land use for snowmobiling, logging, and hunting. That never happened. Instead, the AMC introduced Maine’s glorious interior of vast forest, mile-high mountains, secluded lakes, and long rambling rivers to thousands of people who never heard of it. This summer I had the privilege of joining forces with Northern Outdoors and Maine Huts & Trails to help promote the Maine woods. If creating a national monument helps to promote the region to the world and finally gives the largest chunk of wilderness in the northeast the recognition it deserves, then I’ll happily celebrate with a pint of Baxter Stowaway IPA. 

 
 
 
  
 
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Have Packing List, Will Travel

I’m off to Kenya in a week to research and write four stories. Most people stress about packing for a trip, including my wife, who hates the thought of reducing all her possessions into one measly suitcase. I can often pack in less than 15 minutes, thanks to my trusty packing list that’s stored in my computer. Depending on the locale and weather, I adjust the list, but for Kenya it will include passport, printed copy of passport page in case passport is stolen, airplane information, prescription drugs like Malaria pills, Imodium (no travel writer leaves home without it), other bathroom accessories, notebooks, pens, laptop, laptop plug and surge protector, headset for Skype, plug converter (incredibly important. Kenya is on the British plug), iPod and headphones, iPod charger, Flip video camera, Canon camera and additional long lens, camera charger, suntan lotion, Carmex, mosquito repellent, file on Kenya, two good books to read, most likely downloaded on my Nook, the latest Economist (which takes about five hours to read, perfect for trans-Atlantic flights), baseball cap, two nice pair of pants for dinners, shoes, nice long-sleeve and short-sleeve collared shirts for dinner, cargo shorts with four pockets to hold my notebook and pens during the day, lightweight long sleeve safari shirts, more casual T-shirts, polar fleece jacket because it does get cold at night in the bush, socks, underwear, flip-flops, sneakers, swimsuit, money belt, $300 US cash, one credit card, business cards, and finally a gift of pencils, crayons, and stickers for school kids. They went gaga over the Obama stickers I brought on my last trip to Africa in 2008. And that’s it. I’m finished, ready to roll. Write it down once on your computer and you’ll have it for every trip in the future.
 

Sampling Exceptional Wine at Niagara on the Lake

I knew the Niagara biking would be stellar and any performance at the Shaw Festival a treat, but to be honest, I wasn’t very excited to try the Ontario wines. Blame it on the annual Canada dinner in Boston each May when Ontario Tourism would bring the sweetest Icewine they could find for us journalists to sample. I admit, I was ignorant and thankfully this past week received a phenomenal education from Ontario wine expert, Erin Henderson. As co-founder of The Wine Sisters with her sister, Courtney, these two professional sommeliers introduce the world to the finest Ontario wines through corporate dinners in Toronto and private tours of the wine region. 

 
Yesterday in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Erin introduced me to two pioneers of the Ontario wine region, Chateau des Charmes and Peller Estates. Both wineries were instrumental in wisely ripping up the Concord grapes that were growing in the region for almost 200 years, better suited for jelly, and replacing them with vinifera from Burgundy, Bordeaux, and the Mosel. More than 30 years later, these vineyards are producing not only world-class Rieslings and Chardonnays, but Cab Francs and Bordeaux blends that have serious nose and body. Since it was International Chardonnay Day yesterday, I’ll discuss Niagara’s whites, which are cool, crisp, often dry, like biting into a green apple off the branch. They were not nearly as cloying as some of the oaky warm-weather variety. Tawse and Stratus Wines both made a chardonnay that could compete with the best of Burgundy. Hidden Bench and Cave Spring Cellars make a Riesling Germans would spew expletives of joy over. Peller has a 2010 Cab Franc that’s a steal at $40 a bottle, with hints of plum and pepper. They also make an Icewine from Riesling that has the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity. I had it with my blue cheese appetizer for lunch, surprisingly not with dessert. 
 
Ontario wines have been hiding in obscurity for far too long. I’d happily purchase a bottle at a dinner in Boston, New York, or Chicago if I could find them on the wine menu. Unfortunately, few of these beauties have international distribution. So you’re just going to have to follow in my footsteps and cross the border to see firsthand why I’m so excited. With lake winds keeping mildew and mold off the vines and the Niagara escarpment sheltering the vineyards from early frost and providing much needed limestone terroir, the unique microclimate has created a Burgundy of the West. I’m happy to be witness to this explosion of good taste.
 
Thanks to Butterfield and Robinson, The Wine Sisters, and Ontario Tourism for a great week. Have a relaxing Memorial Day Weekend. I’ll be back on Monday. 
 

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