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Adventure Time! 

A few weeks back, we received the following request in our Detour inbox:

“At 74/5 I still want to enjoy going to interesting destinations where I can ‘get into’ the real community. We book a flight, land and then look for cheap accommodation, travel by train, tuck tuck, around the area and further, anything that is cheap!

I’m done with posh hotels, all inclusive etc. I still need adventure with a small backpack but can’t do the hiking anymore. Suggestions, reports etc please.”

First of all, anonymous Detour reader, we think you’re awesome.

Secondly, we’ve been thinking long and hard about your question. There’s far too little advice out there for older travellers who want an adventure (try Googling ‘travel for over 70s’ and you’ll get page after page of insurance adverts and all-inclusive packages), but we reckon we can help you out!

Here are our top suggestions for interesting destinations where you can explore without having to hitch-hike and without having to break the bank:

#1: Namibia

Namibia, in our minds, is absolutely ripe for the kind of adventure you’re thinking of. There’s a ton to see and do across its national parks and the Namib Desert - but outside of the stunning Sossusvlei salt pan and the shipwrecks of the magnificent Skeleton Coast, you have plenty of opportunities to get out and engage with Namibian history and culture in the cities as well.

Like neighbouring South Africa, Namibia has a deep and enduring love for open-grilled meat (usually described as kapana in its street food form). And as long as you’re a carnivore, that means ample chances to socialise and chat over sosaties and steak.

The Culture Trip has the lowdown on Windhoek’s fine (but still mostly meat-based) dining experiences, but for something more authentic, you might be intrigued by Bix Car Wash in the township of Katutura - it’s a car wash, barbershop, infamously noisy live music joint, and kapana market all in one, and a popular hangout for Windhoek locals on Sundays.

Katutura played a large part in Namibia’s own tragic history of apartheid, with thousands of black families unhoused and forced to relocate there by the colonial government during the 1950s - in the Herero language, its name literally means ‘the place where nobody wants to live’.

To learn about the history and life of the township without falling into the traps of Western-led ‘poverty tourism’, we’d recommend booking a place on Katu Tours - founded and run by Anna, a Katutura local, these bicycle tours are designed to be respectful, community-oriented and non-disruptive to the township's residents. (They also take in a visit to the very cool Penduka women’s co-op nearby.)

You might also have a chance to check out one of the city’s many shebeens - these backyard bars were originally built illegally in the 50s for black Namibians who were barred from ‘whites-only’ drinking establishments during the apartheid era. (Shebeen owners have been hurting financially of late, as the Namibian government has cracked down on their trading activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.)

Getting around

Namibia has one of the best road networks in Africa, and there’s a wide range of public-transport options for travellers who aren’t looking to drive themselves:

• You can take advantage of inter-city shuttle services like McClunes, whose mini-buses travel back and forth from Walvis Bay on the Namibian coast to the capital of Windhoek twice a day.
• There’s also a luxury coach service, Intercape, which can take you all the way cross-country and into South Africa. (A full day’s travel from Windhoek to Cape Town should set you back around 650 Rand, or £33.)
• As of 2018, there’s an Uber-style taxi-hailing app in Windhoek, called LEFA.
• If you’re not in a rush, you can also hop on one of Namibia’s train services. The nation’s rail network is slow and freight-focused, but it’s also cheap - an overnight business-class trundle from Walvis Bay to Windhoek is likely to cost about £10 in high season. (Rough Guides’ advice is to bring your own blanket, however, as it’ll get seriously cold at night.)
• You might have heard of the Desert Express, which offers a luxurious if far-pricier rail experience to the surfer’s paradise of Swakopmund - sadly, they paused the service in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019, and don’t appear to have been able to start it up again since.

Accommodation

There are tons of super-posh lodges dotting the Namib Desert - if you want to stay at the luxurious Kwessi Dunes, for instance, you’ll likely have to shell out around £800 per night.

But if you’re savvy, you can spend a whole lot less by staying at a campsite instead - camps are often community-run, with restaurant, shower, and bar facilities, and many of them offer extra indoor accommodation for visitors who aren’t keen on sleeping under canvas or in a camper-van.

(Stingy Nomads has a great round-up of Namibian campsites with amenities and prices listed, while Travel News Namibia lists camps which are run by local communities.)

Likewise, when you get into the cities, you’ve got options. Namibia has a booming AirBnB trade in Windhoek and Swakopmund - and hosts are required by law to register with the government to ensure the safety and comfort of guests - but you should also be able to find cheap hotels and hostels to suit your needs.

We’d recommend Salty Jackal in Swakopmund; it’s been about since the 1960s, offering private rooms and dorms, an honesty bar, braai nights, and surf classes to its guests (as well as yoga lessons for those who don’t feel like hitting the waves).

For something truly out-of-this-world, head north to the town of Grootfontein and stay at the aptly-named Meteorite Rest Camp.

Nearby, you’ll find the Hoba Meteorite - the world’s largest fallen meteorite, likely 200-400 million years old and weighing three tons. (According to our friends at Atlas Obscura, the New York Museum of Natural History tried to buy it back in the 50s, then found it was just too heavy to lift. So they left it where it was.)

Our runners up:

#2: South Korea.

Seoul itself can be a pricey city, but travellers like the Broke Backpacker have worked up some great advice on how to visit without breaking the bank. More importantly for your purposes, it has a great high-speed rail network to get you up and down the length of the country.

As for finding the real local community, Hahna Yoon, a writer for Lonely Planet, has some brilliant tips for buzzy neighbourhoods in Seoul where you can get away from the tourist hordes, including the charming bar-filled streets of Ikseon-dong.

#3: Brazil.

Bless the inter-city bus system of Brazil, which is astonishingly extensive and convenient - some routes like São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro have departures as frequently as 10 minutes apart.

Prices are standardised and reasonable, so there’s no chance of over-paying, and a number of Brazilian cities (most famously Curitiba, pictured) have their own internal rapid-transit bus systems to help you get about cheaply and quickly to see the sights.

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Our Pick of the Clicks

• In an ingenious effort to attract visitors, the Italian region of Lazio (which includes Rome) is offering €2000 grants to couples who choose to get married there in 2022.
• In Belgium, thieves have made away with £850,000 of Red Bull - and to our annoyance, someone already made the perfect joke about it.
• “Seen one lake, seen ‘em all.” Manchester Evening News reports that visitors are review-bombing Lake Windermere.
• A group of investors has bought a tiny island off the coast of Belize, which they hope to turn into a new micro-nation called ‘Islandia’. (Really? Don’t want to workshop that one a bit more, guys?)
• The Independent has figured out how to travel all the way around the world for just £1,000.
• The Guardian is offering a £200 travel voucher to the reader who sends in the best travel tip about trams.
• And the internet is poking fun at Disney World’s new £2,000-a-night Star Wars hotel, where you and your family can make great memories by, er...dressing up as military officers of the evil Empire and then arresting poor Chewbacca.

The Daily Mail has caused confusion across the Internet by tweeting about ‘an asteroid half the size of a giraffe’ which landed off the coast of Iceland last week.

If you’re struggling to picture an asteroid that’s half the size of a giraffe, don’t worry - it’s a large boulder the size of a small boulder.

Thanks for reading!