Reviews

A great hike and a small taste of China that leaves you wanting more.

I enjoy hiking and love the Far East for its culture so this trip was a good choice when comparing length, cost, activities and travel involved. The majority of the time was spent hiking the Great Wall (6 days).

A worry I had before setting off were that it could be quite monotonous spending all your time walking on a wall but I was pleasantly surprised to find that each day and usually multiple times during the same day the terrain would vary from fresh reconstructed parts of the wall to sections that were ruins and had not been touched for hundreds of years. The constant ups and down, with some sections being *very* steep, some minor scrambly sections, areas that looked to have a sheer drop to one side and also not really knowing what was coming next as you headed around a corner or over a ridge made for a fantastic hike.

The scenery was amazing, seeing the Wall snaking over the beautiful mountain ridges for miles into the distance leaves you in awe of the sheer scale of its size and human effort that went into building it. The apricot trees were blossoming and the skies were blue for most of the trip.

Walking the untouched areas meant that for the majority of the trip we were the only group walking the wall which added to the experience and lessens that feeling of “being a tourist”. One day we did walk a beautiful but touristy part of the wall that was fairly packed with visitors but this was a nice experience, especially the huge groups of local school children who wanted to practice their English skills with us and take selfies with members of our group.

At the homestays the local families were friendly and welcoming and the food provided was outstanding, and quite different to the usual fried Chinese food you may be used to in the UK.

Our final day was spent in Beijing, visiting Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City which is a worthwhile experience and along the way we attempted Tai Chi, visited a Taoist shrine, saw a Kung Fu and an acrobatics show as well as some shopping in town. This was just a small taster of the China experience and it did leave me wanting to visit other parts of that vast country at some point.

I’ve been on a few Exodus tours and I’ve been fortunate once again to have shared this one with an extremely friendly, kind and funny group of people that made the trip all the more enjoyable.

Great guide and group made the trip

The cycling was challenging in the heat but the guide, mechanic and driver provided great support. A group were inclusive and the sights seen were spectacular.

Winter walking

I went on the winter ascent of Toubkal specifically as I wanted to experience the mountain in winter conditions and learn and practice winter walking skills with crampons and ice axe. I wasn’t disappointed. We had excellent training with both bits of kit with plenty of time to practice during the training, and a chance to put the training into practice with an acclimatisation walk before the actual ascent. The itinerary allows for at least one days delay due to weather, and we needed it. The weather in the mountains changes rapidly and our guide was wise enough to know when to call off the summit attempt. The day we summited was pretty much perfect – blue skies, lots of snow and ice and stunning views of this beautiful country.

It was harder than I expected – the height gain per day is greater than most other treks and inevitably on a shorter trek, acclimatisation time is compromised. But I have no complaints. We had a blizzard on the day we descended back to the bus, but our guide (Youssef) and assistant guide (Lassan) were both on top of the situation, and we descended safely and together for a welcome mint tea at Imlil.

If you are thinking about the winter ascent (and haven’t done winter mountain walking before), you have to understand that the weather conditions and the snow and ice add considerably to the difficulty but make for a much more rewarding summit.

Marrakech is a beautiful city. I loved the contrast and really appreciated having a full day after the mountains to relax and enjoy exploring the city.

Discover Namibia -Lodges

This trip combines the highlights of the Namibian landscape with game viewing in the parks. It did not disappoint!

a week in Jordan - much more than Petra

This is a full on trip but we covered so much. It’s probably only now that I am home that I can really appreciate it all. Issa our guide was really knowledgeable and did his best to make sure we all got the best out of the trip. Mohammed, our own personal armed escort, was also a great addition to the trip although a little unnerving at first. Long travelling days were broken up by lots of stops and toilets and water were never far away. We carried our water with us on the coach in the form of two massive plastic containers so we could always top up. The weather was perfect for exploration, sunny but not too hot for Petra although Aqaba was pretty hot. Food was reasonable although a little predictable by the end of the trip. The sheer scale of Petra can only be experienced by being there and having the second day to explore at one’s leisure was great. The beauty of the desert landscape in Wadi Rum took me by surprise.

Gokyo lakes and Everest base camp

Having arrived in Katmandu via Delhi we were met by our tour guide Shailesh Tamang who for the next 19 days would be our go to advisor for all things Nepalese. The first night was spent in a Katmandu restaurant getting to know the rest of our group as well as sampling some of the local food. The next morning saw us all gathered for a pre dawn return to the airport in preparation for the flight to the mountain airstrip at Lukla in a small 16 seat aircraft. The views of the mountains and valleys during the flight gave us a sample of the sights we would experience during our trek. On arrival at Lukla and our baggage given over to the porters, who with seemingly superhuman strength carried 2 or 3 bags each, and we were off on our first day of trekking in Nepal. The first day of trekking was fairly short to ease us into what would progressively become tougher days of knee jolting foot pounding trekking. Our days took on a familiar routine of 7am breakfast, trek for a couple of hours then stop for refreshments at a teahouse then move on until lunch was taken at another teahouse and then onwards again until mid afternoon to our accomodation for the night. The teahouses are clean and very basic but do provide everything needed for this type of trip. Throughout the days of trekking there are a constant stream of porters, mules and yaks moving up and down the trail with supplies which adds to the whole experience of trekking in this mountain wilderness. The scenery is constantly changing as new valleys and mountains come into view at every turn of the trail, remember to look behind you as this view is as stunning as what lies ahead. During our trek we experienced weather that allowed walking in shirt sleeves as well as hand numbing bitter cold, so a good set of warm clothing is essential. There were a couple of extra early starts to climb Gokyo Ri and Kala Pattar to view sunrise over Everest which was well worth the extra effort. Our trek up and over Cho la pass was particularly tough as we had to walk through snow and when we started our descent more snow fell upon us, which for me just added to the whole experience. All in all this trip has left us with some amazing memories and a yearning to return one day.

Everest & Gokyo Lakes Circuit

Had a great time. Was very hard trekking but the sense of achievement is worth it.
Saw lots of fantastic scenery and experienced lots of weather conditions.

Albainia 2018

a brilliant trip giving us a great out look of the country going from city to villages mountains and the sea. the only criticism i have was the hotel in permeti was cold no heating but still a nice hotel. the guide which started the trip with was very helpful with the information about his country it was sad for him to find that his grandmother was very ill and had to leave us to go back to his family i send my regards to ed and his family .the second guide we had was again fantastic. the churches and icons are fantastic to look at ,the food was wonderful and vearied.a big thank you to our driver that took us around the country with great skill and he always had a smile on his face. overall veiw i have of the trip was the country of Albainia is a lovely place to go to and has changed my impressions
of the place and people

Vietnam Adventure

My experience if Vietnam was an adventure from start to finish. The highlites for me was the mountain trekking and staying with local tribes, experiencing their culture, food and kind hospitality. The homestay on the Mekong Delta was mind blowing, again the culture and food experience was unforgettable.
Our guide Phi was excellent with his knowledge and aptitude for organising us, I felt privileged to have been able to learn so much about his wonderful country.

L Thomas

Wonderful trip. Just the right mixture of wildlife and culture. Can’t describe the feeling when we first saw a tiger at close range. At a loss for words. Sloth bear also made it a fabulous trip