Lazy adventurers
A taste for adventure holidays doesn't rule out lazy days on the beach. That's the message from an expansive new 2001 brochure from Worldwide Journeys and Expeditions (020 7386 4646). The company offers trips from game drives in Africa to treks in the Himalayas. But it is also possible to add a beach holiday in the Seychelles to a safari itinerary and to temper adventure with culture. All itineraries are tailor-made.
Trip lights fantastic
The Northern Lights promise to be the best for a decade this winter. The intensity varies on an 11-year cycle of energy production from the sun which peaks between next month and March. Arctic Experience (01737 218800) offers the chance to catch the lights in Iceland. Its three-night Arctic Edge trip, based at Lake Myvatn, north of Reykjavik, costs from £495 including B&B accommodation. There are Thursday departures.
Grand Tour reborn
Some of the leading hotels in South-East Asia have united to produce a seductive Legends of Indochina brochure. It carries the diaries of two parallel 'factional' Grand Tours, one in 1902 by a young English traveller and the other taken earlier this year by her great-nephew. It is a very soft-sell for distinguished hotels such as the Oriental in Bangkok, Raffles in Singapore and Chiva Som in Hua Hin as well as the Eastern and Oriental Express which runs from Bangkok to Singapore. Brochures from 020 7805 5088 or see www.legends-of-indochina.com
Caribbean choices
The saying goes that if Columbus were to return to the Caribbean, Dominica would be the only island he would recognise. This botanist's paradise with a volcanic interior has escaped the worst ravages of tourism and has mostly family-run hotels, lodges and guest-houses. It features in a new brochure - The Alternative Caribbean - from Trips Worldwide (0117 311 4400). Haiti is featured for the bolder traveller as well as alternative looks at favourites such as Antigua, Trinidad & Tobago and the Dominican Republic.
An island home
There are just 10 rooms and four suites in Dar Dhiafa, a hotel created from four nineteenth century houses in a quiet village on the Tunisian island of Jerba. The rooms are decorated in traditional style. Wigmore Holidays (020 7836 4999) features seven nights B&B at Dar Dhiafa from £599 this winter, rising to £699 next summer, including flights from Heathrow or Gatwick.
Healthy Christmas
Walk off the Christmas calories as you go on on a festive break with Countrywide Holidays (01942 241432). These four-night 'Christmas house parties with walks' start on 23 September at six scenic British locations. The four-night stay at Stirk House Hotel in Lancashire's Ribble valley costs £299 per person including full board, an entertainments programme and daily guided walks. There is no single supplement.
Health check
From early August until 25 October, 176 cases of ebola virus infection including 64 deaths, have been reported in the Gulu district of northern Uganda. A task force has been sent to assist in containing the spread of this viral haemorrhagic fever which can kill up to 90 per cent of those infected. Signs of infection include sudden onset of fever, malaise, muscle aches, headache, followed by sore throat, vomiting, diarrhoea and a rash and haemorrhagic symptoms. The virus is transmitted through direct contact with blood or body fluids from infected people. There are currently no travel restrictions to and from the country and this outbreak poses little risk to the majority of visitors to Uganda.
To get a health brief tailored to your trip call the MASTA Travellers Health Line on 0906 8 224 100 (calls charged at 60p/min). For general travel health advice visit www.masta.org
