Spirit of Adventure

Peregrine’s Assistant Brand Manager Anna Bowditch recently discovered the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Vietnam and Cambodia – all five of them no less!

The scrumptious fresh food, friendly local people and rich history of Vietnam and Cambodia are simply hard to beat, and have re-ignited my passion for Asia!

The opportunity to see how Vietnam - a very distant and exotic land to someone who grew up in the Eastern bloc - had experienced Communism, and is recovering from the ‘American War’, was absolutely fascinating, particularly when I was trying to squeeze myself through a mere 100 metres of the Cu Chi tunnels!

There were so many highlights, including:

• Getting lost with my camera in the busy streets of ancient Hoi An,  leaving me able to just observe daily life happening all around me
• Discovering the grandeur and war battle-scars of the Purple Forbidden City in Hue
• Exploring the remnants of the Champa Kingdom in My Son with the sounds of the jungle encompassing the tower temples, creating an amazing atmosphere
• Watching a golden sunset in Halong Bay after kayaking and taking a dip in the warm water all afternoon
• Throwing caution to the wind and getting on the back of a motorbike, zooming through small villages and rice paddy fields. Having lunch at an orphanage and playing skipping rope with the kids
• Enjoying the best mango salad I have ever tasted at KOTO restaurant, knowing that it was prepared by someone who was probably not so long ago living on the streets
• Clambering up the 80+ degree stairs of the many archaeological treasures in the Angkor complex

If you’re looking for a High Arctic adventure with a twist, how does kayaking on the High Arctic seas sound?

Paddling quietly through the icy waters of the High Arctic allows you to get very close to the wildlife and scenery of this amazing destination. Feel dwarfed by the immensity of the landscape and silence that surrounds you, interrupted only by the drip of resting paddles and perhaps the crack of glacial-ice calving into the sea. Wildlife encounters are magnified as curious whales swim under and around your kayak without fear, and you cruise beneath towering cliffs, home to huge colonies of sea birds. A highlight will be the feeling of independence and solitude that a small, noiseless kayak allows you in this incredible wilderness.

We take up to ten kayakers per voyage in the High Arctic and seize every opportunity to go out paddling when sea, weather and ice conditions permit. If you have a little kayaking experience and are up for a nautical adventure be sure to reserve your place when booking your voyage as they fill up quickly. We supply all the gear you need, including kayaks, paddles, lifejackets and dry suits and you will be accompanied by a qualified kayak guide and back-up Zodiac on all excursions.

Find out more about kayaking in the High Arctic.

Welcome to our Antarctica 2009-10 season! We have an awesome new 24-night voyage to open up the season, which will spend more time exploring in the Falklands and South Georgia, as well as the Antarctic Peninsula. A longer expedition means more time to focus on photography and more opportunities for fantastic wildlife sightings.

For those wanting a more active adventure, kayaking is available on all voyages – be sure to reserve your place when booking as spots are limited.

If 2008-09 is anything to go by we recommend booking early, so bring your spirit of adventure and join us on a superb Antarctic voyage!

The Falklands, South Georgia & Antarctica
24 nights – specialist photography, art & wildlife voyage
6 Nov 09 – 30 Nov 09

Antarctica, The Falkland Islands & South Georgia
18 nights
22 Nov 09 – 10 Dec 09

Antarctic Explorer
10 nights
30 Nov 09 – 10 Dec 09
10 Dec 09 – 20 Dec 09
12 March 10 – 22 March 10

Antarctica, The Falkland Islands & South Georgia
18 nights
20 Dec 09 – 7 Jan 10
22 Feb 10 – 12 March 10

Antarctic Circle Quest
13 nights
7 Jan 10 – 20 Jan 10
9 Feb 10 – 22 Feb 10

Antarctica, Falkland Islands & South Georgia
20 nights
20 Jan 10 – 9 Feb 10

Bill Davis and Beth Anne Messelink, both Peregrine polar guides, recently undertook an amazing 500-kilometre unassisted kayak trip through some of the most isolated parts of Greenland. Bill recounts some of his experiences here:

The destination for our trip was the National Park in northeast Greenland, which possesses a powerful wilderness aura that is unlike anything I have experienced in almost 15 years of polar travel. My kayak partner for this expedition was Beth Anne Masselink, another Peregrine veteran and kayak guide/instructor extraordinaire, from Victoria, British Colombia, Canada. The expedition lasted 28 days and had to be wholly self-supported, necessitating a month worth of food, fuel and supplies to be carried with us on our two kayaks.

Our unique voyage started at Daneborg, four degrees latitude past the most northerly community on the east coast of Greenland and finished 500 kilometres south at Mestersvig before we were transported to Ittoqqortoormiit, an isolated Inuit community of 450 souls.

One of the priorities of our unique expedition was to give something back – to assist, preserve or positively promote the area we travelled through during our expedition. We achieved this by inventorying old trappers’ huts for Nanok, a not-for-profit organisation that disseminates knowledge of Northeast Greenland and its cultural history, and contributes to securing the cultural relics and buildings of the area.

We walked into many verdant valleys at the beginning of our trip, full of wildflowers, ripe berries, willows and beach shrubs. By the end of our trip the tundra had changed into the bright red, orange and yellow colours of a Canadian forest in the autumn. Musk ox also found these areas attractive and we enjoyed many encounters with these strange beasts.

Arctic hare and fox were commonly seen and exhibited no fear of us. We saw walrus on our first day and a polar bear after our trip ended. Wolf tracks were seen just below the high tide mark indicating we just missed the animal by an hour or so. We saw almost every species of bird we expected to see, including four snowy owls that kept us company for an hour.

The isolation, magnificent scenery, wildlife, freedom to go where and when we wanted was a privilege we never took for granted.

We took wonderful experiences and memories from northeast Greenland but feel good that we were able to give back our small contribution to help maintain the sovereign, cultural and historical values of the trapper era of northeast Greenland.

Robert Service must have been writing about northeast Greenland when he wrote: “there’s a land – oh it beckons and beckons, and I want to go back – and I will.”

And so will I.

Both Bill and Beth Anne can be found leading our Antarctic and Arctic voyages in the forthcoming seasons. We can provide voyage details for anyone interested in knowing which departure they will be sharing their knowledge on. Anyone interested in more information on Bill and Beth Anne’s voyage, can take a look at Bill’s extended account here.