Pandaw, a small-ship cruising company, has announced the construction of a new 14-cabin K-class ship for Burma. The ultra-shallow twin decked K-class vessel can go where other ships cannot and is perfect for Pandaw’s style of soft adventure river expeditions.
Despite
the political situation in Burma and a decline in mainstream routings the
demand for small ship expeditions in Burma has actually increased.
“With
the recent departure of three K-class vessels to India it has proved necessary
to order one more to meet this demand, principally on the Upper Irrawaddy,
Chindwin and Delta expeditions into remoter untouristed parts of the country.
Many of these are now fully booked for the coming season and a support vessel
urgently needed,” the company said.
In the tradition of naming all K-class ships after original Irrawaddy Flotilla vessels, the new build is to be named the KANEE PANDAW, and is being built in Pandaw’s own yard in Mandalay.
These
much-loved, safari-style vessels offer outdoor or indoor dining, run-round promenades
and ample indoor and outdoor living space. The cabins are slightly smaller than
on Pandaw’s larger ships but cleverly designed and very comfortable with roomy
bathrooms.
Like
all Pandaw’s expedition ships the KANEE will carry mountain bikes and is being
aimed at a younger demographic and family travel into these remote reaches.
“We began in Burma 25 years ago and remain attached
to the country and its people,” said Pandaw Founder, Paul Strachan.“Since we started the Pandaw Charity in 2008
the company has funded the Pandaw Clinics program providing essential health
care to a whole region of the country; to me it is a personal mission to ensure
that our business in Burma, despite recent political setbacks, continues to
prosper so that we can maintain these funding commitments”
Pandaw enjoys one of
the highest repeat rates in the industry and much of the growth in remote river
cruising is coming from within the Pandaw community. Two years ago, the company
launched its Pandaw Member’s Club and now has over 10,000 members seeking new
adventures on the rivers of Asia.
This mystery realm known as Myanmar (Burma) is a must-visit-now destination, says Kurt Kutay, founder and owner of Wildland Adventures.
SEATTLE, WA– Myanmar today is a most curious place. Driving through the countryside visitors see farmers working their water buffalo in fields nestled beneath hills covered in pagodas and experience first-hand day in and day out the effects of Buddhism that permeate this long hidden culture.
This mystery realm known as Myanmar (Burma) is a must-visit-now destination, says Kurt Kutay, founder and owner of Wildland Adventures. He gives three reasons. First, decades of self-imposed isolationism stalled globalization, thus preserving here a throwback Asia. Second, Myanmar has transformed itself to a democratically elected and installed government and now welcomes the outside world. Third, Myanmar is one of the safest countries in the world to travel to now and exemplifies a peaceful and friendly population.
Known for blazing new trails in adventure travel, Wildland Adventures (http://www.wildland.com/) is introducing three new itineraries that explore Myanmar in 2016. In keeping with a 30-year custom of exploring worlds afar in style, these tours delve deeper into daily life and sacred sites than simply posing at a monument. In line with Wildland’s founding ethos three decades ago, the company supports community based projects across the country that are run by locals from among its 135 eclectic ethnic groups creating intimate interactions for their travelers with the Burmese people.
“While visiting iconic sites we take roads less traveled to meet local people, hear their personal stories, and see how we can help them improve their lives after the military junta. For example, we bike between the colonial-era hill town of Kalaw and Inle Lake. We experience the drama that is Bagan on foot and from the air,” Kutay explains. “Whether chatting with a local Shan farmer in Northern Shan state, or with villagers in the countryside in Yandabo on the banks of the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady), or with an Intha woman showing how to make traditional foods in her house on stilts on the lake, it’s always about making a connection and understanding Myanmar by getting to know its people.”
Kutay promises that his guests will be stunned by the time capsule they explore as they stroll through Shan and Kayin villages, bike around Mandalay, tour a pottery-makers’ village, awaken to the sounds and scents of local markets coming to life, bathe elephants in the river, gaze in awe at the fabled temple field of Bagan, and circumnavigate on foot the 2,500-year-old Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon (Rangoon) with Buddhist pilgrims.
Mystical Myanmar is a 13-day journey from $4,415 per person, double, that discovers Myanmar’s mystical depths revealed in timeless rural life where few travelers venture. On this easy active adventure guests walk amongst hill tribe villages, kayak on Inle Lake, cycle down rural roads, trek through the jungle to an elephant conservation sanctuary and venture into the mountainous states of Mon and Kayin to overnight in Hpa An village. Combining the iconic sites with the unknown, guests explore the vast complex of temples at Bagan and visit three of Myanmar’s most sacred sites: Golden Rock Kyaiktiyo Pagoda, Shwedagon Pagoda and Mahamuni.
Myanmar: Highlights of a Golden Land is a 15-day journey from $4,650 per person, double. Unique to this tour, at the conclusion of an active pursuit of Myanmar’s cultural classics, guests unwind for a day and overnight at Ngapali Beach, a resort situated in a fishing village on the Bay of Bengal. Here guests will be loathe to leave a country that has imbedded memories of a hot air balloon adventure over the Bagan temples, bicycle rides through small villages, riding the rails across the countryside and boating along waterways, sipping tea with the Palaung on tea plantations in Shan State, and marveling at the white and gold of temples shimmering in the dusky light.
Myanmar Family Adventure is a 10-day journey from $3,440 per person, double. Picture the kids bathing elephants, on bicycle rides, soaring in a hot air balloon adventure, taking a jeep safari to discover hidden temples straight out of Indiana Jones, walking through dense jungles to tribal villages and always meeting families and hearing their stories.
In addition to helping support local guides and community-based tourism services like boutique hoteliers and local restaurant entrepreneurs who interface with Wildland’s guests, the company contributes to building much-needed water wells in the dry zone. Through the generous contributions from previous travelers, three wells (and counting) have already been built in these remote villages just since the start of 2015. See: http://www.wildland.com/destinations/asia/myanmar-(-burma-)/givingback.aspx
For more information Wildland Adventures’ worldwide programs, availability and reservations call 1-800-345-4453, email [email protected], or visit http://www.wildland.com/. For more travel features, visit:
Natural Habitat Adventures is debuting Exploring Nature & Spirit in Myanmar & Thailand in 2015.
Natural Habitat Adventures is debuting Exploring Nature & Spirit in Myanmar & Thailand in 2015. This 13-day active journey showcases the little-explored wild side of Myanmar along with the biodiversity of the world’s oldest rainforest, Thailand’s Khao Sok National Park.
Natural Habitat Adventures’ in-depth tours (maximum 10 guests per departure) are scheduled for Feb. 2-14, Feb.23 – Mar 7 and Nov 30 – Dec 12, 2015, plus four dates in 2016. The per-person, double rate is $8,895 (single supplement is $2,295) plus internal air of $1,275 (subject to change).
Until a few years ago Myanmar (Burma) was off limits to most US citizens because of political sanctions. Nat Hab now joins a select set of companies introducing travelers to Myanmar, yet with a fresh angle. Its nature-focused itinerary pioneers eco-travel here by providing access to little-visited national parks and wildlife reserves such as Popa Mountain National Park, home to rare langurs (leaf monkeys), and the Mergui Archipelago where Burmese macaques, one of the world’s few tool-using primates, live and breed.
The adventure begins in Myanmar’s capital, Yangon (Rangoon) where vestiges of British colonial life mingle with markets and commerce. Providing succor to monks (good karma for those on the path to enlightenment) and helping to feed and wash elephants at Green Hills Elephant Camp set the tone in the first days for a trip that mixes nature with spirit along the way.
At Inle Lake, the hub of a rural region centered on farming and local markets, guests witness age-old floating agricultural techniques passed down through the generations and visit Inle Lake Wetland Sanctuary, home to more than 350 different bird species.
Then, along the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) River travelers explore Bagan (Pagan) that harbors the world’s most prolific collection of ancient Buddhist temples, pagodas, stupas and shrines, some dating to the 11th and 12th centuries. Back in Yangon are opportunities to delve further into Buddhist culture by circumambulating the gilded Shwedagon Pagoda, a pilgrimage for the devout.
After this introduction to the spirit of this land where time has stood still, guests fly south to board a private luxury catamaran to cruise the Andaman Sea along southern Myanmar and a sliver of the west coast of Thailand. The voyage passes through the Mergui Archipelago comprised of more than 800 islands, 770 of which are uninhabited except for abundant wildlife. The Myanmar government has made this region a priority for conservation management. Here and in nearby Laem Son National Park in Thailand, guests can observe Burmese macaques, one of only three primate species on Earth to have developed a culture of stone tool use.
Transiting the marine border into southern Thailand brings guests to Khao Sok National Park, a karst landscape of vertical limestone mountains draped in the world’s oldest virgin rainforest and littered with caves, deep valleys and jade-green lakes. Accommodation here is in a floating “raft lodge” on Cheow Lan Lake, one of the best wildlife-viewing regions in mainland Southeast Asia. Recent camera trap recordings in the area by researcher Mike Clark have revealed extremely rare Malayan tapir, Asian elephant, leopard, guar (the world’s largest wild ox) and Asiatic black bear. Clark shares his knowledge of this intricate tropical rainforest ecosystem, one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth, in advance of a guided trek, the last activity before a champagne breakfast on departure day.
Throughout the itinerary accommodations have been selected for proximity to nature and reflection of the culture and spirit of each locale. Among these are an ecolodge perched high on the side of the extinct volcano, 6,000-foot Mount Popa; an overwater resort on stilts, furnished in gleaming teak, on Inle Lake; and an intimate private yacht with six luxury cabins.
For trip information, descriptive itineraries, date availability and reservations, call 800.543.8917 or visit www.nathab.com. Click HERE to order a copy of the 2015 catalog.
For trip information, descriptive itineraries, date availability and reservations, call 800.543.8917 or visit http://www.nathab.com/. Click HERE to order a copy of the 2015 catalog.
