2024’s Emerging Adventures For Bucket List Travel - Part Two

Who’s ready to explore the world in 2024? Are you, like us, keen to experience new destinations, cultures, and activities that will enrich your life and leave you with a lifetime of memories??

We’ve put together part two of our emerging adventures for bucket list travel that are trending in 2024. Read on to see what tickles your travel itch… bush and beach, personalised travel, immersive adventures, digital nomad travel, transformational travel, or food adventures.

Bush and Beach

If you’re a nature and wildlife enthusiast, the combination of bush and beach in your next adventure might tick a lot of boxes for you. This means visiting destinations that offer both stunning landscapes and diverse ecosystems, where you can enjoy safaris, bush walks, snorkelling, ocean adventures, beach walks, and more.?

One of our favourite places in the world to experience bush and beach is Southern Africa. Here, you will find some of the most amazing and untouched natural wonders on Earth.?

Kruger National Park

If you want an adventure to one of the most renowned safari parks, Kruger National Park is your best bet. We’ve come across every type of African animal species that can be found within the reserve, including thousands of the Big Five species:? lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, and buffalos.

Sitting at a whopping 20,000 km2 / 2 million hectares of unfenced park, it’s one of Africa’s biggest wildlife sanctuaries. It holds great appeal to us bird lovers, boasting over 500 bird species, including over 20 endangered species, such as illustrious raptors, hornbills, nightjars, rollers, and kingfishers.

Maputo National Park

Every time we head south by road from Maputo to Machangulo, we love the thrill of driving through Maputo National Park. This conservation area covers more than 1,700 km2 and is home to a variety of wildlife. The drive offers an opportunity to encounter elephants, giraffes, antelopes, zebras, hippos, crocodiles, and birds.?

The park is part of the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation and Resource Area, which aims to link up the park with other protected areas in Mozambique and South Africa. The initiative came to fruition following a historic cooperation agreement to promote conservation in these countries.

Machangulo Nature Reserve?

Where whales and elephants meet…

This unspoiled nature reserve connects to Maputo National Park. It is a spectacular destination for nature lovers and adventurers seeking the wild and untamed beauty of Africa. Most times when we’ve driven through the park, we’ve been lucky to observe elephants, giraffes, zebras, birds, and a variety of game. We offer game drive opportunities to our villa guests, or you can savour a hike in the dune forest behind our villas, to enjoy the birds and wildlife on foot.?

The reserve boasts a pristine coastline, with coral reefs, mangroves, and soft, white, sandy beaches. We are quite convinced that it offers the best beach in Southern Africa. Snorkel or dive into the underwater world, home to numerous fish, turtles, and dolphins. Kayak through the mangroves and the channels of the reserve, where you can observe marine life. Appreciate the thrill of turtle watching during nesting and hatching season (October to March). And relish a legendary fishing spot, known for marlin, tuna, kingfish, and barracuda.

Connect all of these adventures together when you book our seven-night bush & beach package, or organise a curated package that suits your desires.?

This leads us to our next section…

Personalised Travel

When you think of planning a vacation, do you picture a fixed location and itinerary, or do you value customisation and flexibility? If it’s the latter, you’ll likely want to create your own personal adventure and opt for personalised travel. This offers the choice of accommodations, transportation, and activities according to your preferences, budget, and schedule. You can also turn to a travel curator to help you plan and execute your trip, ensuring that you get a truly out-of-the-ordinary experience.?

Personalised travel allows you to journey at your own pace, avoiding the crowds, and discovering extraordinary hidden gems. A tailor-made tour, designed specifically for you and your travel companions, allows you the comfort and experience of your dream trip.

Immersive Adventures

If you crave authenticity and culture, immersive adventures will be right up your street. There’s something very rewarding about engaging with the local culture, history, and people of a destination, hearing their stories, and experiencing their traditions and customs.

Culture

One of our favourite places to be immersed in genuine African culture is to take a trip up Sani Pass and into Lesotho . The tour travels via the Drakensberg mountain range through a World Heritage Site to almost 3,000m above sea level. Guests have the unparalleled opportunity to explore villages, markets, and historical sites, experiencing the traditional Basotho lifestyle.

Wildlife

If you’re more of a flora and fauna fan than a people person (and let’s face it, there are a lot of us out there), you can participate in activities that enable you to interact with the environment. For terrestrial life, game drives and walking safaris allow you to share in expert rangers’ knowledge and passion for wildlife and ecology. For marine life, exploring pristine coral reefs, joining turtle monitoring programmes, kayaking through mangroves, and whale-watching are just some of the immersive experiences you can undertake.

All-in-all, immersive adventures can help you gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the place you visit, as well as yourself. And you cannot go wrong with venturing to the forecasted number one Top Exotic Destination of South Africa, as declared by the American Marketing Group.

Digital Nomad Travel

“For everything that is really great and inspiring is created by the individual who can labour in freedom.”?

Albert Einstein

Freedom. The freedom to experience. The freedom of flexibility. And most of all, the freedom to travel. If these are values that appeal to you, you might want to consider digital nomad travel.?

This means working remotely from anywhere in the world, as long as you have a laptop and an internet connection. You can travel as much as you want, as long as you can manage your time and tasks. Digital nomad travel is fast becoming the best way for many to help achieve a work-life balance.?

We are often travelling to the properties in our collection and our workload doesn’t pause, just because we’re on the move. Thankfully, we have the perfect remote working spots at each destination. Our top favourites are:?

South Africa for Digital Nomads

Vida Nova Retreat eco-hotel offers a delightful place to camp for the day with your laptop, table service, and access to the pool and spa. The beauty of these garden pods is they are private and boast a serene space.

Vida Nova Kruger, Marloth Park Picture yourself on the expansive balcony, with a steaming coffee, watching magnificent elephants bathing in the Crocodile River while you type away.

Mozambique for Digital Nomads

The Monarch Villa, Machangulo boasts another huge balcony, but this time, overlooking the ocean. Nothing unwinds you more than enjoying a view of playful dolphins and majestic whales.

Transformational Travel

Transformational travel isn’t just seeking health and wellness in a typical manner. It’s about getting away from the overcrowded tourist destinations and experiencing more rural, underdeveloped and off-the-beaten-path locations, like each of the places in our handpicked collection. Your mind might automatically envisage yoga, spas and smoothie bars, but in actual fact, transformational travel involves sustainable and authentic journeys with a purpose. Wellness slips in as a part of the package, whether intentional or not.

To tap into experiences that can heal, inspire, and empower you, helping you to focus on your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being, it’s important to include remote travel, relaxation time, and places that truly connect you to the natural world. Transformational travel has helped many of us to achieve positive life changes and personal growth, as well as creating more harmony with ourselves, others, and nature.?

Be prepared… transformational travel will enhance your very essence, inspiring you to make life adjustments and leaving you a changed person.

Food Adventures

No matter where you’re from, or what your background is, there’s one thing that connects us all. Food.

An absolute must-do for any intrepid traveller is to taste the local cuisine, and discover the regional specialities of the area you’re visiting. If you delve deep and learn about the culinary traditions of the destination, it brings even more flavour to the culinary connection.?

We particularly love participating in activities that allow us to experience the food culture, such as wine and food tours, and farm visits. Food adventures not only satisfy your palate, but they enrich your gastronomy knowledge and will give a lift to your own culinary creations when you return home.?

South Africa Wine Estates

One of our top things to do in South Africa’s Cape is to visit wine estates, and our ultimate favourite is the world’s longest wine route: Route 62. This takes you to the stunning Cape Town Winelands through the historical Karoo, and beyond.

Not only will you be able to visit some of the finest wineries and eateries, but you can stop off at olive and brandy-producing estates, and take in the incredible scenery and wildlife. The dishes you’ll experience along the way bring in delicious fusions of international flavours, from Cape Malay and African soul food, to traditional boerekos (Afrikaner farm favourites).

Mozambique Cuisine

There is no doubt about the centuries of Portuguese influence in this magnificent country. The seafood is described by many as the best in the world, and with the addition of sensual spices and tropical fruits, Mozambique will leave you drooling. Galinha Asada is found almost everywhere, offering a delicious take on a roast chicken, usually flame-grilled and marinated in peri-peri sauce . Peri-peri, if you don’t know, is a classic sauce in Mozambique made using paprika, garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, and, most importantly, African bird’s-eye chillies.

Our firm favourite is the succulent big prawns you get all along the coast that are bursting with flavour. Depending on which eatery you visit, you’ll be able to choose from crispy grilled or juicy fried, with a nice kick from peri-peri sauce, or a more subtle garlic butter.?

What are you waiting for??

This rounds up part two of our emerging adventures for bucket list travel trends for 2024. What adventure tantalised your inner traveller the most??

Start planning the adventure of a lifetime and make 2024 a year you’ll never forget.