Maldives Luxury Resorts

Guyana, ten times the size of Wales consists a population of one million who live mostly on the coastal strip. The country attracts fewer than 3,000 tourists a year. It is a paradise for the lazy nature lovers.

Diane McTurk is world-famous for looking after orphaned giant otters at Karanambu Ranch ;
it has been in her family for about a century where she returned permanently 30 years ago and began to welcome paying guests at the ranch where the accommodation is basic, there’s no hot water and you could find the roof is open at the sides to the elements.

On a lazy boat trip along the Rupununi river you may watch dragonflies the size of Churchill’s cigars, lily pads bigger than satellite dishes, the scaly backs of arapaima (a colossal freshwater fish) and, of course, the giant otter. There could be more river trips lined up  as you glide along the river you  watch butterflies and all sorts of birds which engulfs your boat. As well as birds, the other big draw in Guyana is the fabled jaguar.

A speedboat could whisk  you through rainforest, taking the bends on the snaking river like a motorbike would go round corners in a street race. The road to Surama Eco Lodge meanders through dense jungle where you could spot a macaw flying snub-nosed overhead without the expert eye of a tour guide to point it out.

It’s easy to imagine you’re in a BBC wildlife documentary while walking through this exotic forest scape. You may hear a shriek of an insect that spends 13 years underground before it emerges screaming into daylight for just 24 hours to find a mate. Then you get on to Clifford’s dug out canoe and drift through hot sticky super-nature on the Bora Bora river  for best bird-spotting, ie. Toucans, guinness; woodpeckers & ciders. If there’s one bird in Guyana that you get surprised about is the cock of the rock.

At dawn you may go for another jungle walk and stumble on a group of black spider monkeys, an aggressive lot who may throw sticks and small branches at you with surprising force. Diane mentioned that although she’d been asked to upgrade the place, she’s keen not to do, as people should come there and enjoy it for what it is and because they want to. She thinks not every tourist experience has to come with hot and cold water, plunge pools and patios.

New York has greened up a lot. It is no longer a concrete jungle, but more like Cambridge or Oxford with very tall buildings. The 32-mile ‘Waterfront Greenway’ now enables you to bike  around the place very easily. The weather in New York is a strange mix; the summer with blue skies and bright sunshine and winter; freezing temperature with biting breeze blow.

At West Side Bicycles on 96th Street you can kit out with the bikes and anyone under 18 is legally required to wear a helmet.

Starting you take off South, cycling away from the leafy, cloistered Upper West Side, heading downtown. The Greenway takes you all the way along the ‘left bank of the great Hudson River, with skyscrapers on the horizon, following the line of Riverside Park. You  cycle away from the leafy, cloistered Upper West Side, heading downtown; the only other people you see around here are joggers and dog walkers and fellow cyclists.

Then you will pedal on passing the Hustler Club on one side and the Intrepid aircraft carrier on the other and  somewhere around 34th Street you will sight the Empire State. At the opposite end is Ground Zero absenting the tall buildings.

On the southern tip of the island is the Battery park; if you look out across the sparkling water is the Statue of Liberty and passing by, the Staten Island ferry. After cycling right under Brooklyn Bridge, you will head due north, going along the East River, with the fairytale Chrysler Building in view and the United Nations on the left, going past the Empire State all over again, but in the opposite direction and on the far side.

Now you run out of Greenway and end up on a thinning ribbon of pavement on the outer edge of some massive freeway, with giant trucks thundering past ; you are amid the concrete canyons and you see the front door of the great slab of the UN building as you cycle along passing many eateries.

Further north, you are forced to go off-piste again and swing in west through Harlem. A long downward couloir  will shovel you  back out on the East River, coming around to the most northerly stretch on  side of the river,  you see a huge outcroppings of Paleolithic rock looming up.

Now you are way up above the good old Hudson River again, around 180th Street, in Washington Heights. Then you  freewheel downhill going past the ‘Little Red Lighthouse’ next to the George Washington Bridge, tracking along the beach.

You are nearly home. Except for one thing - what turns out to be the Alpine section of the Tour de New York, the biggest bloody hill in the world, going up Riverside Drive.

Travel insurance is a kind of insurance which is designed to insure travelers against all possible unforeseen circumstances and mishaps which can happen during their trips, ie. flight cancellations, reservation cancellations, risk of lost luggage, theft and many other situations which may cause anxiety. Buying travel insurance policy will ensure that you are compensated if anything goes wrong on your trip; helps you relax and enjoy your trip without agonizing over things that may or may not go wrong.

There are many forms of travel insurance which will cover you (fully or partially) in the following areas, depending on the insurance plan you choose:

Medical Emergencies - If you become ill or are injured while on vacation, your travel insurance will provide you financial help in both situations.

Cancellations or Delays - If your trip is cancelled or delayed for any reason (beyond your control), or if your airline goes bankrupt or out of service, your travel insurance will either compensate you for the money you lost or provide you with new means of transportation.

Theft - If anything belonging to you is stolen while you are on vacation, your travel insurance will provide you with financial assistance to replace the items which were stolen.

Damage or Loss of Personal Property - If your luggage is lost or damaged while on vacation, your travel insurance will definitely cover at least some percentage of the property that is missing, depending on the insurance plan.

Lost /stolen Passport - Travel insurance will provide you with  means to get a temporary one, ie., they will inform you how to get in contact with your country embassy so that you can arrange to receive a temporary passport.

Choose your policy according to what you think the possibility will be that you will require the assistance on your trip.