The RAB filmย In the Footsteps of Banryuย follows athletes Jake Baggaley, Aoi Chan, Yusuke Tannaka, and Sam Hill as they attempt to fast pack a route known as the Kamikochi, Yarigatake, and Hotaka Circuit. This path, following knife-edge ridges and climbing jagged peaks …
First explored in 1994, Hang En is now known to be the worldโs third-biggest cave.ย …
First, you have to hike for a half day through the stunningย Phong Nha Ke Bang national park. Then, you get to camp in tents set up inside the cave.
When you wake up, youโll see the first sunlight beaming through the cave entrance.
Making it feel even more special is that the tours to Hang En are kept wonderfully small-scale; only one company is licensed to run expeditions there and they will only take one group of up to 12 people at a time. …
You can see weird and wild limestone spires right from town. Convenient, efficient public transport makes for easy access to trails for hikers of all levels of ability.
Mostly, I use my Apple Watch as a remote for taking PHOTOS and VIDEOS on the trail.
Most of the time, the watch shows a low resolution image so I can better frame the shot.
For example, I took this photo of myself in a Prambanan temple using the watch. Typical range is 33 feet (10 meters) โย but I find it varies quite a bit.
One downside โ doing this does kill the watch battery quickly. MUST remember to bring the charging cable with me on the hike. ๐
I was inspired by Kurt Papke to better organize how I use my Apple Watch while hiking.
โSponsored by Heineken (1995) to reach the parts other explorers cannot reach, itinerant traveller Mark Eveleigh sets off on foot and by canoe across the heart of Borneo.
On the way he endures shipwreck, malaria, leeches and exhaustion, not to mention enforced alcohol abuse and barbecued mouse-deer foetus.
Such hardships, you would imagine, might be enough to put a man off his boiled fish and rice, but the author confronts each challenge with a spirit that is as understated as it is refreshing.
All too often travelogues dwell on the downside of discovery, but Markโs unique blend of enthusiasm and humour is genuinely absorbing and immensely readable.โ
โย Global Adventureย Magazine.
I really enjoyed the book while sailing between Indonesian islands, myself.
The most astonishing takeaway for me, however, is the narrator of the audiobook.
Excellent.
“Narrated by: Virtual Voice”ย indicates an audiobook that was not narrated by a human, but by an AI-generated voice created by a technology like Amazon’s Virtual Voice on KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).ย
This computer-generated speech technology creates audiobooks from ebooks, offering authors a way to produce an audio version at a low cost or no cost.ย
The narration quality varies by title, and Audible (and other platforms like Amazon and Alexa) will clearly label these audiobooks and provide samples for listeners to evaluate before purchasing.ย ย
I’ve long wanted to climb astonishing Mount Rinjani not far from Bali, Indonesia.
I took the local boat from Gili Trawangan to Lombok island for the start of our guided climb of Rinjani. I could see it in the distance.
Our group met up at a local restaurant close to Bangsal Port โ then we were efficiently (if dangerously) driven up to Senaru village at 400m.
Screenshot
We had a typical Indonesian lunch based on rice or noodles.
We dropped bags in our surprisingly interesting rooms.
Then set off to see two local waterfalls.
Plenty of macaques await ready to grab at your purse, backpack, or any kind of plastic bag.
Hereโs the 1st waterfall.
MOST interesting here is a fun tire tube ride underground through the irrigation channel. Iโd be too chicken, myself. ๐
Hereโs the 2nd even more impressive falls.
Back at the guesthouse we did our introductory briefing on the volcano climb. We had hoped two more would join us. One was in hospital for some reason. The other cancelled last minute.
Rinjani is 3,726 metres (12,224ย ft), making it the second-highest volcano in Indonesia.ย
We had signed up for the longer 3 days, 2 nights in the tent option.ย
That turned out to be the right decision. Our itinerary the BEST HIKE.
MOST groups on our itinerary camp on the 1st volcano ridge day 1. Our guide offered us the chance to descend 3 hours to camp at the lake, instead. Super tough 1st day โ but we were all glad we did it.
Mount Rinjani Crater Rim 1st night on the 3 day trek.
We were up for the dawn. I added milk powder to my brutal black instant coffee.
Banana pancakes excellent, as always.
Driving up to the start at 600m we stopped for a blessing. An important tradition with the local Sasak people as well as Hindus.
We each had to register with photo ID. The Gunung Rinjani National Park, established 1997, is trying to make this adventure safer โ but they have a long way to go. Itโs dangerous.
Our goal was the 1st crater rim โ only 6.9km. Sounds easy until you calculate you need gain 2km in elevation over that short distance!
We started on the far right of this map.
The start through jungle was relatively easy. THEN it got steep and challenging.
These wild cousins are more worrisome than the โtameโ, well-fed ones in the Monkey Forest, Ubud.
Breakfast !
We hiked into and out of clouds.
Crater rim beckons.
This โ really โ is the best vista on the hike. Crater lake Sagara Anak is huge, the colour unforgettable. The volcano’s eruption in 1257 is considered one of the most powerful global volcanic events of the last 2,000 years.
We were scheduled to set up our camp on the ridge here at 2,600m.
But we opted, instead, to hike down to the lake at 2000m, saving us 3-4 hours on day 2.
We all agreed to go for it.
OUCH โฆ
That decent is awful and dangerous. I took no photos. We had to concentrate on every technical step.
It was a relief to finally get to the lake. This one of my toughest hiking days of all time.
We arrived just before dusk.
Alpenglow time.
Each group has their own toilet tent.
The alternative at major camps are these good looking public toilets. This one was filthy! But some are quite new. Fairly clean.
Major camps have emergency shelters. I donโt doubt they are used frequently. The trek is risky.
Our guide sent us to the hotsprings with one of the porters. Fantastic. A highlight of the entire trip.
Tim (tim_de_bruijn on Instagram) was a full-time social media manager for a major Dutch soccer team. He showed us fantastic photography tips on his iPhone, including these two. It was pitch dark at the hotsprings!
Pitch dark at camp, as well.
tim_de_bruijn
Most amazing of all was his capture of the night stars. Very few of these were visible to the human eye. This from an iPhone 16 Pro Max.
besthike.com 