TRAVEL BUCKETLIST

Luxury is all in the experience, as these 6 travel highlights prove. Ranging from flying above crocodiles to experiencing the Northern Lights. Text: Bart-Jan Brouwer
Photography: John van Helvert

1. On a self-built wooden raft through Sweden

Central Sweden, the least populated area in Europe, is ideally suited to go back to the origins. To nature, but five-star nature. An adventurous way to do this is to travel down Sweden's longest river, the Klarälven, in a self-built wooden raft. At Vildmark i Värmland's Timber Raft Adventure, the tree trunks are piled high and ready on the shore. You let them roll in the water and then tie them together with sturdy ropes. The building is part of the fun. In about three hours you will have a seaworthy raft, complete with tent on top. When you find yourself in the middle of the river with the structure a little later, you feel like an explorer from earlier times. And it is also like going back to the past. You glide slowly with the flow, slower than time, deeper into nature. The silence, the nature... Pure luxury!

2. With the Land Rover over the dunes of Swakopmund, Namibia

Swakopmund, which has thirty thousand souls, could just as well have been in the Heimat: bars are called here bar, stores Shop and you can have it as a daily menu Schweinshaxe with Kartoffeln to order - and a Mass Beer! But what you can't do in the Heimat and you can do it here: on a nice day, park your four-wheel drive against the surf and light the braai, sandboarding, parasailing or... into the desert with the Land Rover! Is it exciting to drive full throttle against a sand wall without knowing what awaits behind the horizon: a gently sloping baby run or a black run tens of meters deep? Not surprising that the crew of Mad Maxincluding Charlize Theron, who settled here for the recording of part four.

3. With a rib over the water, Helgeland, Norway

Book one rigid inflatable boat (RIB) from Seløy Kystferie on the island of Herøy in Helgeland and let you maneuver along the countless islands at a speed of 45 knots (80 km/h) in this rubber boat with a polyester hull. Until you reach the last island that separates Norway from the infinite blue. This last strip of land, called Sandsunovar, was still inhabited at the beginning of the last century. Until a gigantic wave washed away all houses, including residents. You can experience for yourself how high the waves can get here when the boat heads towards open water. Walls of water roll towards you. The driver accelerates and rushes towards it head-on, after which you float in the air for a moment before landing back on the water with a resounding thud. Seagulls scream, you scream – with joy.

4. Dog sled tour, Lapland

In the far north of Scandinavia you feel like you are at the North Pole. The silence! The emptyness! Go on a husky safari through this breathtaking (and freezing) landscape and feel one with the white world. There is also a good chance that you will experience the Northern Lights.

5. Flying above crocodiles, Zambia

At the small-scale Tafika Camp in South Luangwa National Park you get closer than close to nature. Here the last barrier between humans and animals has been removed: you sleep in an open hut – without walls, windows or screens. Not only can animals walk in and out of the camp, they could also just come in and peek in. Open house every day! Owner John Coppinger used to be an aviator and still steps into his microlight every day. He shares his passion with pleasure, and for a fee. No complicated instructions here, just simple: “Are you ready?” Then he gives full throttle.

A little later you fly like a bird above the bush.

You spot elephants, buffalos, giraffes... John dives down with his lightweight flying machine and soars at a height of about ten meters above the winding Luangwa River, where the camp is located. Warned by the sound of propellers, dozens of crocodiles slide down the bank one by one – a river full of tree trunks. And hippos: you encounter an average of about forty per kilometer here. As a souvenir you will receive a video of the GoPro attached to a wing
has made. Nice to show at home: “Look, here I am flying over the crocodiles.”

6. Northern Lights, Iceland

See Naples and die? Our idea: wait until you have seen the Northern Lights, because that will be even more impressive. In Iceland there is a website (En.vedur.is) on which you can read the chance of an evening with Aurora Borealis. And in every hotel the staff is more than willing to wake you up when the heavenly lights come on. As happened to us at Hotel Skaftafell on the south coast. Never before have we gotten out of bed so quickly.

We forgot the cold when we saw this majestic miracle.