Best of both worlds

Published: 12:00am, 28 Oct 2010

Adventure travel and luxury travel used to be wholly different concepts - either you wanted to go on safari in Africa or you wanted to stay in an upmarket resort. Well-off leisure travellers now demand itineraries that are stimulating, but still expect to be pampered.

'Asians are beginning to yearn for a different experience, to be in a small, intimate place with personal service that brings out the best of the local charm and beauty,' says Chang Theng Hwee, founder and managing director of Singapore-based travel agency Country Holidays (www.countryholidays.com.sg).

Chang established the agency in 1993 as a specialist in 'off-the-beaten-path' travel, and it offers packages and trips tailor-made for solo travellers. He says interest in Africa is growing rapidly, especially trips to remote places such as Botswana and Namibia.

'This is what a luxury African safari is all about,' Chang explains. 'You take a private plane into a remote corner of pristine wilderness where beauty is still untouched, and stay in a luxury lodge that is completely in harmony with its environment, while enjoying the best accommodation, food and services.'

One popular option offered to travellers who want to see Africa in style is visiting the Okavango Delta in Botswana, the world's largest inland delta, famous for its wildlife and for the several hundred species of birds that breed there.

Other popular destinations include Kenya's Masai Mara game reserve, Victoria Falls, the Rift Valley in Ethiopia, and the Kruger National Park in South Africa.

If really comfortable camping sounds like your thing, another option a little closer to home is to visit the Four Seasons Tented Camp in Thailand's sector of The Golden Triangle (www.fourseasons.com). What this hotel is really all about is elephants. Guests are encouraged to learn the skills of a mahout and will be trained to drive and trek an elephant through the jungle.

For those who like to walk, but don't mind altitude, the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, in the eastern Himalayas, is a country that offers some of Asia's finest trekking, and an environment that is largely untouched by tourism's influences.

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