Everybody loves a life hack – those clever little workarounds that make the day-to-day definitively better. The same applies to travel. Whether that’s an unorthodox method of finding the tastiest tapas, experiencing a safari during the green season or in-the-know etiquette when staying in a ryokan, tips from our travel experts can make all the difference to your trip. Eager to find out more? Read on to discover our favourite travel hacks…
1. Stay in a conservancy on safari
2. How to stay in a Japanese ryokan
3. Napkins on the floor in Spain
4. Green season in Botswana
Stay in a conservancy on safari
National parks and reserves tend to take centre stage on safari, but wildlife conservancies offer many benefits too, says our Africa specialist, Isabel. They are typically privately managed, with fewer restrictions and a limited number of lodges and camps, so you can expect fewer vehicles and more exclusive experiences like walking safaris and night game drives. The outcome? Encounters with more elusive animal species.
As the name suggests, conservancies are also often deeply engaged with conservation efforts, from wildlife monitoring and breeding programmes to dedicated anti-poaching units (some of which outperform those in government-funded parks). And many conservancies are partly owned or run by the local communities (such as Kenya’s Il Ngwesi). For guests, this means more opportunities to visit nearby villages and support community projects, while the locals have a vested interest in wildlife conservation and land protection, making for a more sustainable model of tourism.
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Image by Brian Siambi/Lengishu Villa Privative
How to stay in a Japanese ryokan
Japan’s bewitching blend of hyper-modernity and ancient traditions is perfectly encapsulated by the contrasting accommodation you’re likely to stay in. Expect space-age skyscraper hotels one minute and low-rise ryokans (traditional inns) the next, where you sleep on futon beds in rooms with paper and latticework walls. A ryokan stay offers a very special glimpse into traditional Japanese living, and our Asia specialist, Frances, offers a little advice on etiquette to make your stay even more memorable...
Firstly, the footwear. On arrival, you’ll need to swap your shoes for indoor slippers, but these should be removed when walking on the tatami mat flooring of your room. When wandering around, wear the yukata dressing gown provided. Most ryokan stays include kaiseki dinners, eaten in your room, which often involve ten or more delicate, delicious (and often indeterminate) small courses that are as much art as cuisine.
Finally, many ryokans have onsens, or hot spring baths, and (naturally) there is a protocol to follow. Once undressed, you’re provided with a small towel to maintain your modesty as you wander around before washing thoroughly in the shower area. Only then do you enter the onsen, completely naked (sexes are segregated). Once in the water, don’t dunk your head, don’t scrub yourself, and if you have a tattoo, cover it up; they tend to be associated with the yakuza, Japan’s answer to the mafia.
Image by Kayla Johnson/Stocksy
Napkins on the floor in Spain
Foodies will love this next travel hack. While we will always recommend the finest Spanish bars for tasty tapas (or pintxos, the Basque equivalent), there is another way to deduce the locals’ favourite haunts. On a tapas crawl in Seville or San Sebastian, look out for the bars whose floors are most strewn with small paper napkins (as well as cocktail sticks and olive pits). These bars are standing-room-only affairs, and your tapas (to order, just point at what you like the look of) will be served on one of these small paper squares. When the locals are finished, they chuck them on the floor and move on, so you can tell which establishments have been busiest. Oh, and don’t forget about ‘Spanish time’. Tapas bars will be busiest from 8.30pm onwards, while dinner might not even start until 11.00pm.
Green season in Botswana
Botswana is one of the greatest safari destinations on Earth, but it can be expensive. The travel hack? Visit in what is known as Green Season (from November until March) and prices can be almost half that in high season. For full disclosure, it’s called ‘green’ season for a reason – namely, higher rainfall – but that rain is usually in the form of short, sharp downpours, which are pretty spectacular in their own right. The dry, dusty landscape is then transformed into a verdant vista where umbrella-crowned acacia trees offer shade to the animals. And animals there are in multitudes, because the green season is also the calving season. Myriad species of antelopes give birth, which attracts the attention of predators galore and makes for some intense game-viewing experiences.
Calving season isn’t the only green season draw. There are other animal encounters in Botswana that are only possible at this time of year: the longest (a 300-mile round trip) migration by any land mammals in Africa takes place as tens of thousands of zebras move from Namibia into the Nxai Pan National Park; then the salt pans themselves are flooded, attracting vast numbers of migratory birds. All this at a time of year when many northern hemisphere humans also like to migrate to warmer climates.
Written by Hannah Whitehall | Header image by Coke Bartrina Nuria Val
