Journal

When to go, where to stay and how to choose, written by the specialists who plan these trips. Every fact carries the date we last checked it.

More from the Journal

  • Snow-covered peaks of the Lemaire Channel, Antarctica, mirrored in calm dark-blue water under a clear sky

    Planning · 6 minute read

    Antarctica: how to choose a ship and a month

    Ship size decides how often you go ashore. The Drake Passage decides how you feel on the way. The month decides what you see. How the landing rules work, whether to fly or sail, and what changes through the season.

  • A long column of wildebeest pouring down a steep bank to cross the Mara River during the Great Migration

    Comparisons · 6 minute read

    Kenya or Tanzania for the Great Migration: an honest comparison

    The herds do not recognise the border, so the real question is not which country but which month. Here is where the migration usually is through the year, what the river crossings are really like, and how to avoid the crowds.

  • Golden grassland with grazing animals and a lone flat-topped acacia on the Serengeti plains, Tanzania

    Safari · 6 minute read

    Your first safari: a practical guide

    Which country, what kind of camp, what a day actually looks like, and what to pack. A plain-spoken guide for anyone planning a first safari, written by the person who plans ours.

  • White sand and turquoise lagoon under a darkening storm sky on Kani island, North Malé Atoll, Maldives

    When to go · 6 minute read

    The Maldives month by month

    There is no bad month to be in the Maldives, but there are very different ones. Here is how the two monsoons shape the water, the light, the prices and the wildlife, and how we match the month to the trip.