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The Great Escape - Africa- Asia- Europe- North America

A shipwreck-style cabin on Namibia’s Skeleton Coast, retro campervan in a Norfolk meadow, treehouse wrapped around an Okinawan akagi tree – these are just a few ways to dive into nature, says Jo Dave.

This Article was taken from the August/September 2024 issue of Food and Travel. To subscribe today, click here.

Manshausen Sea Cabins Norway


High up on Norway’s western coast, the teal and steel waters of the Grøtøyleia strait are studded with islands including Grøtøy, once one of the country’s biggest trading ports, sparsely inhabited Måløya and little 5.5ha Manshausen. Once an important sheltered harbour for trade and fishermen, today Manshausen is owned by renowned polar explorer Børge Ousland, who hired an award- winning architect to integrate his modern Manshausen Sea Cabins into the surrounding nature, while staying environmentally and community friendly. Nine extraordinary cabins of glass and wood sit on the seafront, framing and inviting nature in, with great picture windows, sauna-like decor and fur throws creating cosy, chic sanctuaries. Communal spaces of hot tub, sauna, library and restaurant complete the resort, which offers guided trips into nature: kayaking, diving, caving, hiking, rock climbing, birdwatching, cycling and fishing are all on the agenda. One of the best hikes is across Grøtøyleia, where the mainland village of Nordskot sits under dramatic mountain peaks. Venture a climb during Arctic Norway’s long summer days and you’ll be rewarded with views across a bay where sands slope into tropical-tinged waters and lilac mountains frame the horizon – breathtaking.

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Travel Details

One-bed cabins from £430.

manshausen.no

Spiral Treehouse Japan

The forested depths of Yanbaru are a far, usually feathered, cry from the clang and clamour of Okinawa’s southerly capital Naha. Trekking through thick jungle, it’s difficult to distinguish the rustle of leaves from the rush of water, to pick out individual bird calls from the wealth of trills and squawks that echo about you. While birdwatchers keep an ear out for the staccato peeping of a rare Okinawa rail, hikers dodge the fronds of flying spider-monkey tree ferns and watch the subtropical sun light up giant alocasia leaves. Among this tangled maelstrom of roots, aerial and underfoot, grows a tree wrapped in architecture. Like something from a fable, the Spiral Treehouse – part of Treeful resort – curls around a great akagi tree, a slice of Yanbaru’s Unesco-protected nature. Despite being recognised in 2021 for its remarkable habitats and endemic species, this northern area of Okinawa Honto, the main island, remains off the beaten track. The treehouse is the culmination of a childhood dream of owner Satoru Kikugawa, who scoured the island for the perfect tree to build his vision.

The refined treehouse of wood and glass is an isolated human outpost among the flora and fauna, not just built in nature – decks and bedrooms are punctured by branches and trunks – but sustaining it. A living, breathing building, the treehouse is carbon negative, absorbing more CO2 than it produces and creating excess electricity through solar panels. It uses well water and has been built high up to allow jungle life to continue unimpeded. Yet sustainability hasn’t robbed it of luxury: private butlers, a sauna treehouse, river bathing, spa treatments and treetop terrace dinners are all part of the deal. Tours of the Yanbaru region include amphibious vehicles, forest bathing and river trekking.

Spiral

Travel Details

From £138pp including breakfast.

treeful.net

Shipwreck Lodge Namibia


For some 500km, Namibia’s scorched desert sands clash with the wind-whipped surf of the South Atlantic Ocean. These powerful waves, flecked occasionally with daring surfers, have a history of belching forth lost bits of the ocean. Here, over 1,000 shipwrecks have washed ashore, a cavalcade of rusting hulls and salt-bitten metal among the bleached remnants of whales and seals, dusted with desert. Abandoned, isolated and at the mercy of the elements, the Skeleton Coast earned its name for a reason.

Travelling across the empty landscape towards Shipwreck Lodge – the only accommodation located on the sand-blown coast – it’s easy to feel a world away from recognisable life. After all, the Portuguese called it ‘The Gates of Hell’, while the Indigenous San name is said to translate as ‘The Land God Made in Anger’. Yet Namibia’s Skeleton Coast, cloaked in dense sea mists, is by no means bereft of life. It’s here that Shipwreck Lodge organises small game excursions with expert guides to spot the best of local wildlife. Coastal safaris see elephants, lions, hyenas, jackals; and from Shipwreck’s ten, sea-facing chalets you can watch the waters for dolphins, Cape fur seals and African penguins.

Cabins here are inspired by the shipwrecks, hemmed in by spars of driftwood brought in on the waves. Inside, the lodges are a case of elegant luxury crafted by local designers and artists, with warm dark details and woods suggestive of ships’ cabins. Each suite offers a stark contrast to the harsh, hypnotic environment outside, which can also be enjoyed from the panoramic windows of the central lodge’s lounge and restaurant. As well as safaris, Shipwreck offers beach lunches, river excursions, jeep outings and more, including sandboarding the dunes of the world’s oldest desert.

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Travel Details

Doubles from £1,340. shipwrecklodge.com.na

Mica Cabin Canada

The landscape of southern Ontario is marbled like the finest wagyu; veins of rivers and streaks of lakes break up dense forests of balsam firs and black spruce. Hiking through this hushed region, known as the Opeongo Hills, you may come across one of Cabinscape’s mini, ecologically minded getaways that slide right into the rolling land of black bears and beavers, moose and eastern wolves. Mica Cabin, in beautiful Tay Valley, is one of the remotest. This southernmost dip of Canada doesn’t immediately conjure ideas of nature – two towering cities, Ottawa and Toronto, are here, just under 350km apart. But strung between them is a wilderness, where visitors can paddle in lakes, putter about on boats, explore mountain bike trails, traverse the forests and reel in dinner. The region is home to multiple First Nations people, whose Algonquin ancestors left behind now-protected pictographs.

Cabins are divided into levels of remoteness, so you can always choose one at the edge of urban life if you prefer. But no matter how deep into the wilderness you go, exploring it all is easy. The wood cabins are fully kitted out with large windows that keep the outside world up close, and quiet evenings may be broken only by the rustle of red foxes or the low hoots of great grey owls.

Mica Cabin Marie Doucet

Travel Details

Cabin (sleeping four) from £404. cabinscape.com

Three Camel Lodge Mongolia

It’s hard to know where Mongolia’s largest national park begins. Seen through a saffron-coloured lens, the vast steppe blends from golden desert to dune and back to desert. Somewhere in between lie the borders of the Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park. By day, sun plays with the silhouettes of camels and nomadic horse-backed herders; at night, the Milky Way explodes across a lapis sky. This wilderness remains largely untouched, so accommodations are few and far between, making Three Camel Lodge the only luxury ecolodge in the Gobi Desert. Dedicated to preserving the nature and culture of the region, the resort insists on sustainable practices and hiring local people. Its 40 gers – traditional nomad tents of felt, canvas and lattice wood – were built by locals following Mongolian Buddhist precepts, the interiors carved and hand-painted. Thick carpets, camel-hair blankets and a wood stove help keep out the desert’s night-time chill. At the central lodge and spa, beside a cliff of ancient petroglyphs, guests sample Mongolian gastronomy at Bulagtai, plus exceptional whisky at the award-winning bar. Outside, flaming cliffs, giant dunes and village life await, with classes on ger building, archery, horse-riding, biking and stargazing.

MN TCL ger interior kleinberg

Travel Details

Two-night lodge stay from £1,403pp, including meals and activities. threecamellodge.com

Shepherd Huts UK

The breakfast hamper is packed with all the best local produce for the freshest start to the day – and where better to start that day than from the porch of your own shepherd hut? Especially one that overlooks a tranquil pond, beyond which lie pristine rows of vines. All mornings should be like this, especially when, with breakfast done, you can take the short path behind your hut that leads to the Devon coast, and walk the estuary towards Exmouth for some great local seafood, or change direction to the pretty town of Topsham. Once back at the hut, you can either cook something up on the barbecue, share stories of the day around the fire pit or head to the manor house on the other side of the vines, which just happens to be Lympstone Manor, the luxury hotel that’s home to the Michelin-starred restaurant of Michael Caines. This little oasis of away-from-it-all perfection encompasses the manor, the restaurants (the second is a casual, poolside affair), the shepherd huts and vineyard. So it’s up to you: stay in your cosy hut with its well-stocked bar, cook your meals on the hob (or over coals) and while away the hours pondside, getting lost in the maze of coastal paths and playing board games; or make the short walk to the manor – you can be as away from it all as you choose.

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Travel Details

One-bed huts from £385. lympstonemanor.co.uk

Retro Campervans UK

There’s lots to love about camping – it can be the perfect way to get your fix of the great outdoors – but to avoid the pain of packing up and moving on, a campervan might just be the perfect way to be at one with nature. Head for the rarely trodden wilds of Norfolk and make it a fully kitted out VW campervan from Retro Campervans – including pop-up toilet and shower, fridge and hob, with capacity for a family of four to sleep – and you’re pretty much living the dream. Not sure about the idea of camping restrictions or having to pitch up alongside a dozen other vehicles? Wild with Consent may, then, be an even better idea for wannabe campers. Bringing together private landowners of meadows, farms, orchards and vineyards, the site makes it easy to rent a spot in your own little rural oasis. At a Wild with Consent location you might park up alongside the cows, then take a refreshing dip in the lake; go for a stroll among the apple trees;or stay riverside with the wildlife-rich woods as a backdrop. You’re likely to wake up only with the feather and furred locals – this is truly immersive camping, without the risk of noisy neighbours of the human variety.

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Travel Details

Three-night campervan hire at Retro Campervans Norfolk from £396. One-night stay at Wild with Consent locations from £30; wildwithconsent.com retrocampersnorfolk.co.uk

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