Best hikes, treks, tramps in the world.
El Camino de Costa Rica is a breathtaking 280 km / 174 mile hike from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, which is no easy feat even for the most experienced hikers.
While it can be intimidating to take on this type of adventure, there are so many incredible things to see and do while trekking this route, from tropical beaches and dense trails to mountain villages and indigenous communities.
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Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
Ok … Bukit Timah Hill in Bukit Panjang is only 164 metres (538 feet) high — but it’s STEEP.
Ideal for trail runners looking for a good workout.
Some call them the ‘Devil’s Stairs‘.
I saw plenty of Monitor Lizards and long-tailed Macaques.
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Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
MacRitchie Reservoir is Singapore‘s oldest. One of the island nation’s most popular parks.
Highlight for me was seeing 2 of the world’s smallest hoofed animals, the lesser mouse deer.
Not expecting these little guys — about 45 cm (18 inches) and 2 kg (4.4 lb) — my first thought seeing them in the foliage is that they were GIANT RATS. 😀
You can hike a multitude of trails at MacRitchie ➙ or go kayak / canoeing.
I tried the MacRitchie Reservoir and TreeTop Walk Loop.
Unfortunately, I arrived at the TreeTop Walk about 15 minutes after it closed — and, no, you cannot sneak across when locked up. 😀
I had to backtrack a bit. Then continue to the next landmark, Jelutong Tower.
I’m finding the flat jungle walks in Singapore mostly offer views of … jungle.
The tower finally gave me a chance to get up high and see the surrounding vista.
A big surprise is to see so few insects and spiders in October. Nice.
After a couple of months in S.E. Asia, I’m well used to macaques. You see them many times on this hike. But most on the Singapore Island Country Club.
Somewhat marshy in places, this park has a lot of high quality boardwalk.
I was on boardwalk as darkness fell. Lovely over the water.
I shortened the loop somewhat because it got very dark on narrow boardwalks.
Because I was still in the city, I caught a nearby bus and was quickly back to my hostel.
MacRitchie is a terrific urban hike.
by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
Singapore Botanic Gardens is a huge tropical green space located at the fringe of the Orchard Road shopping district.
I walked the Singapore Botanic Gardens Loop. Plus some side trips.
This 3.9km trail offers a delightful walk through the a lush tropical oasis and the country’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site.
IF you wanted to walk every trail, it would take perhaps 3 hours. The park is huge.
More than 10,000 species of flora are spread over its 82 hectares (200 acres) area, which is stretched vertically; the longest distance between the northern and southern ends is 2.5 km (1.6 mi).
The Botanic Gardens receives about 4.5 million visitors annually. …
The National Orchid Garden is the main attraction within the Botanic Gardens. Located on the mid-western side of the Garden, the hilly three-hectare site has a collection of more than 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids of orchids. …
The park is free. But there is an extra admission cost for the Orchard Garden.
It’s Singapore, so everything is done with quality.
You’ll see many different birds. Chickens. But the most interesting for me are the many Monitor Lizards. Mostly carnivorous. Growing to a length of 1 – 1.5m.
Read a detailed review with photos – A Visitor Guide to Singapore Botanic Gardens
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I enjoyed walking a LOT of distance while on holiday in Vietnam, but didn’t get all that much true hiking accomplished.
From my videos on that three week trip, I put together a fast-paced video to give a glimpse of the fun.
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Mark Eveleigh has been a full-time magazine writer and author for almost 30 years.
A British citizen, he grew up in Ghana and Nigeria and has spent more years based in Spain, South Africa and Indonesia than he ever did in UK.
He’s a badass adventure traveler.
Fever Trees of Borneo: A 2000km expedition through uncharted jungle is terrifying.
‘Sponsored 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 Mark’s unique blend of enthusiasm and humour is genuinely absorbing and immensely readable.’
– Global Adventure 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” 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).
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.
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.
Trip report by BestHike editor Rick McCharles
The Bukit Campuhan Ridge Trail is super popular with Ubud tourists as you can walk there from almost any accommodation in the city.
I went early and saw very few, other than morning trail runners.
You can continue to the end — but I turned back after about 2km when the paved-block track ended — at buildings and roadway.
The trail starts at the evocative Gunung Lebah Temple as you’ll see in the video.
The word “Campuhan” itself means “where two rivers meet”. You’ll be on a ridge between those rivers. Vistas are mostly overgrown so you don’t actually get to see much water. 😀
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Jamaica is not exactly renown for hiking.
But Paul Clammer posted a list of the 6 best hikes in Jamaica for tropical adventurers.
Click PLAY or watch tourist highlights on YouTube.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Stingy Nomads did the hut-to-hut Outeniqua:
The trail is well-balanced, easy to follow, doesn’t require good fitness level or hiking experience. In fact anybody relatively fit can do this hike just choose your own pace and go. We were pleasantly surprised by the trail conditions and the service level.
The trail has signs, distance marks, names etc., the huts are very clean, freshly painted with good ablutions and the park rangers are great very friendly and helpful. …
All huts have bunk beds and basic facilities, three have electricity and hot showers. It makes the hike easy you don’t need to carry a tent or mattress only a sleeping bag. …
The scenery on the hike changes all the time; from forest to top of the hills, from river banks to fern jungle.
We’ve added the Outeniqua Trail to our list of best hikes in Africa.
You could do the Otter Trail on the same trip to the Garden Route.
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