The Wild Issue

Volume 118 – 2022

In This Issue

A recent ‘State of Travel’ survey by Tourlane confirmed what we COVID-19 lockdown survivors are all feeling at the moment when it comes to booking our next holiday: we want adventure, the wilder the better.

Adventure travel came out on top of the report’s wish list, followed by safaris, vacations in the middle of nowhere, and active holidays – like hiking, mountaineering and skiing. When asked why getting a little wild was so important right now, respondents cited reasons like: “I want to feel unconstrained” and “I want to decelerate amid nature”.

You asked for adventure inspiration, and we’ve delivered in this, our Wild Issue. We take you around the globe to raft, surf, skate down volcanoes, walk with wolves and giant crabs, hike, scuba dive, kayak, cruise with crocs, and fly over ancient rock formations. We visit new frontiers – Ghana or Saudi Arabia, anyone? – as well as perennial favourites, but always with a lens to pushing beyond our comfort zone, and experiencing the world in a way that sparks wanderlust.

Of course, the definition of ‘wild’ is subjective: for me, it means checking into a treehouse like Botswana’s Xigera Baobab or enjoying sustainable wild-grown oysters in Virginia. Which reminds me of my favourite quote from food reviewer and author, the late A. A. Gill: “These mushrooms wouldn’t have tasted wild if you’d soaked them in ecstasy and given them guns.”

Go forth and discover your own kind of wild in this issue of Vacations & Travel.

Natasha Dragun, Editor