The Okavango to Tsodilo Ultra-Trail run, through the wilderness of Botswana, is billed as a great adventure for visitors who “don’t just want to see” this part of Africa, but to “feel it underfoot”, said Simon Mills in The Times. Organised by the safari company Desert & Delta, and now taking place every April, the 60-mile route links two Unesco World Heritage Sites – the Okavango Delta and the ancient Tsodilo Hills. It takes three days and four nights (spent in lodges and camps), and I found the pace pretty “easygoing” (this isn’t a race), leaving time to take in the surroundings. A support vehicle was quickly on site to rescue me when an elephant came alarmingly close. And we ran alongside local people, which made for a deeper sense of connection with Botswana, as did the chance to see the amazing cave art in Tsodilo.
Ancient and new attractions on Lewis
There’s no more impressive sight on the Isle of Lewis than Calanais, said Helen Ochyra in The Times. This neolithic stone circle is a mighty thing, with menhirs up to 4.8m tall, and though it’s smaller than Stonehenge, it’s rather more atmospheric thanks to its setting – all “emerald and russet moorland, glassy lochs and vast hill-rumpled horizons”. Yet it’s far from the only reason to visit the northernmost island in the Outer Hebrides, which has seen several appealing developments since my last visit a decade ago. Among them are new art galleries, restaurants and “cool” cafés in Harris; a new visitor centre at Calanais, with plenty of things for children to do; and Uig Sands, a restaurant with rooms beside the beach of the same name, which is one of the most magnificent in the world.
Inspiring design in the Arizona desert
Built in a piecemeal, “experimental” fashion from 1937 as his winter home and studio, Taliesin West is one of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpieces, said Jonathan Thompson in The Telegraph – an object lesson in the power of design to make us feel “happier” and “more creative”. A low-slung complex set in the desert outside Phoenix, Arizona, it seems to melt into the “rust-coloured” mountains behind it, and its “dramatic” sunlit rooms all feel connected to their natural surroundings. From “ingenious” geometric furniture to acrylic roofs that work as “giant light diffusers”, and “tight” hallways leading into grand open spaces, the “design tricks” Wright used are fascinating. I particularly loved the building’s “prow”, a triangular vantage point that extends over the desert. I left feeling “joyful” and inspired.