Epic Drives of the World

166 Pages·2017·84.156 MB·English

by  Lonely Planet Publications (Firm), Lonely Planet

E P I C
D R I V E S
of the
WOR L D
Explore the planet’s most thrilling road trips
CO N T E N T S
Easy Harder Epic
INTRODUCTION 04 Rounding Québec’s La Gaspésie Loop (Canada) 80 On The Trail of Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam) 168 Through The Picos de Europa (Spain) 254
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Driving Down Brazil’s Costa Verde 74 The Road From Srinagar to Manali (India) 162 Slovakia’s Storied Route 59 248 © Matt
2 3
© Justin Foulkes | Lonely Planet
- EPIC DRIVES OF THE WORLD -
Clockwise from left: a South
African service station on the
Panorama Route; a classic Ford
Galaxy on the Pacific Coast
Highway (also below). Previous
page: exploring the east coast of
New Zealand in a VW campervan
I N T RO D U C T I O N
Epic road trips are a source of stories and happy memories for drives that made the grade are recognised routes – from the Going-
years to come. And, on one occasion, they sparked the idea to-the-Sun Road across the Rockies in Montana to the Wild Atlantic
of Lonely Planet itself. When Tony and Maureen Wheeler set Way in Ireland – with regular signposts to minimise the chance of
out from England to drive to Afghanistan in 1972 and then going wrong. A few, especially those in the more remote reaches of
journey onward to Australia, they didn’t realise that at the end of Australia, Asia and South America, require some logistical planning,
the trip their experiences and insights would be the basis for Lonely a degree of mechanical experience (at least check that you’re
Planet’s first guidebooks. carrying a spare wheel and a jack!) and a more intrepid attitude.
They were far from the first people to drive halfway around the With the sophisticated mapping apps available today, we’ve
world. In 1968 a group of six British grandmothers bought two avoided providing turn-by-turn directions. The most important role of
second-hand Land Rovers, packed some supplies in Tupperware these tales from the road is to inspire you to pack an overnight bag
and drove from London to Australia, passing through Turkey, Iran and hop behind the wheel to explore somewhere new.
and India via the Khyber Pass. Go all the way back to 1903 and H. Road trips can be a way of linking together a string of highlights,
Nelson Jackson, Sewall K. Crocker and their dog Bud took 63 days such as southern Utah’s unbeatable series of national parks,
to drive across the USA from New York to San Francisco. making a musical pilgrimage or simply cruising through beautiful
No matter who you are – youthful or more mature, solo or with a scenery, stopping where you please. What they have in common is
family in tow – the open road is irresistible to travellers. that the road tripper is always independent. Want to take a detour
This book is intended to offer fresh inspiration for your next (and we suggest some gems) or stay an extra day? Go right
road trip. We asked our global network of travel writers for their ahead. It’s all about the journey. Driving a car need not be a mode
suggestions and selected 50 of the best drives the world has to of transport that insulates you from your surroundings: if you stop
offer. Their stories cover almost every corner of the world. The regularly, explore, encounter local people and their culture, you’ll
classic routes are well represented with the likes of Route 66 and have as rich and rewarding an experience as you could hope for.
the Pacific Coast Highway in the US, the Great Ocean Road in
Australia, and Iceland’s Ring Road. Coastlines are a magnet to the HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
roaming motorist – our authors cruise along the coasts of Norway, The main stories in each regional chapter feature first-hand
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introduces the Gibb River Road in Western Australia’s Kimberley stories should spark other ideas. We’ve started that process with Matt
©
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6 7

- EPIC DRIVES OF THE WORLD -
T H E S E L F - D R I V E S A FA R I
Set off on a road trip beneath the big skies of Zambia, roaming
among big game by day and pitching under the stars at night.
R ules 47 to 54 of the Zambian Highway Code concern down at a checkpoint for a symposium on the English footballer
animals. They offer considered advice, such as ‘Do not Wayne Rooney. Mostly we are alone on the road, although
carry animals on vehicle rooftops’ and ‘Be careful around every now and then big freight trucks from Malawi, Congo and
larger game animals (which) may charge your vehicle, Zimbabwe barge past (seemingly unsure whether Zambians drive
causing damage and endangering your life.’ Where most safari- on the left or on the right side of the road).
goers travel in the company of a knowledgeable guide – on hand The dark of the night descends swiftly, and soon the headlights
to deal with this type of situation – on a self-drive safari you are pick the shapes of sleeping villages out of the gloom. An owl
your own guide, driver, navigator, cook, first-aider and engineer. swoops into the glare of the beams. It is many hours before we
There are few places better for such an adventure than Zambia: arrive at the gates of the national park, and the last hiccups of
among the most sparsely inhabited countries in Africa, with tarmac give way to rusty-brown earth.
remote swathes of forest and grassland bisected by arrow-straight
highways that stretch to the horizon.
I’m setting out on one such highway, the Great East Rd, with
photographer Phil Lee Harvey. We are bound for the wilderness
country of South Luangwa National Park, ready to drive SOUTH
unsupervised among the big beasts of the African bush. Soon LUANGWA
NATIONAL
the chaotic traffic jams of the capital Lusaka retreat behind us.
PARK
Potholes appear in the road: these are big craters that jolt the car CHIPATA
and send loose items airborne.
The potholes are all the more difficult to dodge when you’re
distracted by a landscape of such exquisite loveliness. At first, low
forested hills rise on all sides, growing taller as the road skirts the
bosshwnou irrtdffllhseee ra cawbuloiostuhnpt g Mot htfoh atzehtac erhmo Leabuddiaq srnuoidgeoew,f s,ba .be Vofoaurlnleed yl a.f opHrs oivnmilglea icgnoetmos iiwnnghfie nsricteeh bogoornelcfiehrniel d psrlmeanion kse STALRUTS/AFIKNAISH Harvey | Lonely Planet
us Wgrhoeunn dwneu atsr rtihvreo augt hth teh em acarkre wt itnodwonw o. fA C phoiplicaeta o, ffipceeorp fllea gses llu s © Philip Lee
AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST 10
- EPIC DRIVES OF THE WORLD -
Clockwise from top: elephants
crossing in an orderly fashion; a
female leopard in South Luangwa;
the sun goes down on the banks of the
Luangwa; piloting the 4WD through
the park. Previous page: under the
starry canopy of a Zambian campsite Harvey | Lonely Planet
© Philip Lee
AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST 12 13 Zambia Safari Route
- EPIC DRIVES OF THE WORLD -
Like any highway, the bush tracks of South Luangwa National
Park have their own set of rules. For instance, when attempting
a three-point turn on a riverbank, you should check the rear-view SOUTH
mirror for oncoming hippos. Above all, however, you should be LUANGWA'S
respectful to other road users. Soon after arriving in the park WILDLIFE
I have to do an emergency stop as a young bull elephant barges
onto the road. It becomes clear he is the white-van man of the Alongside elephants,
Luangwa traffic system, honking angrily at our vehicle and anything giraffes, lions and
else hoping to overtake him. Keeping a sensible following distance leopards, South
are a convoy of giraffes, heads gently bobbing above the treeline. Luangwa is famous
Finding your way around requires skill in South Luangwa’s for its buffalo herds,
labyrinth of tangled foliage and oxbow lakes. It means that even which are dramatic
self-drivers are advised to sometimes park up at lodges and enlist when they gather
the services of a guide. We enlist Yona Banda, a local who has in the dry season.
honed a Superman-like ability to spot animals at long range. There’s also a
With Yona at the wheel, we soon happen upon a herd of 40 more stunning variety
elephants crossing the Luangwa River – their trunks raised like of ‘plains game’,
periscopes as they wade through the current. Not long after, including bushbucks,
he scouts a group of 14 lions and cubs, all watching intently on waterbucks, impalas,
a riverbank as one of their pride swims across the water, three kudu and puku.
crocodiles in pursuit. Transfixed by the plight of their comrade, the Luangwa has a
lions don’t seem to register our vehicle, coming close enough that population of wild
their whiskers brush the car door. dogs, one of Africa’s
We are the only visitors at our bush campsite, arriving as the rarest animals. About
dying sun slips beneath the canopies of sycamores and tamarind 400 species of birdlife
trees. We pitch up our vehicle’s built-on roof tents (complete with have been recorded Opposite: elephants and impala
mattresses and soft pillows), shaking 500 miles (804km) of dust off in the park. at dawn in South Luangwa
the outer sheet. Logs are chopped, sausages grilled, beers clinked,
stories shared. Finally, the last embers of the fire crackle and die,
and it is time to climb the ladder up to our rooftop beds.
At this point, tales laughed over by the warm glow of
the fire acquire a new, sinister resonance in darkness.
Polytetrafluoroethylene-coated polycotton rip-stop fabric can DIRECTIONS
repel rain, sleet and snow, but its all-season outdoor performance
specifications do not extend to withstanding a sharp feline claw. Start/End // Lusaka.
Lying inside the tent at night, you soon realise that only a few Distance // The drive from Lusaka to the Mfuwe Gate, the
millimetres of fabric separate you from all the animals you have main entrance to the park, via the Great East Rd, is around
seen on the road, and that for all you know, all the elephants, lions 435 miles (700km) one way.
and crocodiles you’ve spotted could be inches outside (perhaps Getting there // Zambia is increasingly well connected,
forming an orderly queue at the bottom of the ladder). with direct flights to destinations inside and outside Africa.
It takes about 45 minutes for the human eye to fully reach What to take // Clothes suitable for safari don’t need to
maximum sensitivity in darkness. Poking my head out the tent into be specialised or expensive. It’s colour that matters: nothing
the inky blackness, it takes 10 minutes before I spot bats flitting bright that can easily be spotted by wildlife (white is the
through the patch of sky around Orion’s Belt; another 15 before worst offender) and no black or very dark colours, which will
I spy baboons stirring in the high branches of nearby fig trees. It attract tsetse flies. Go with greens and light browns and
takes a full nine hours, however, before I climb out of my tent in the a combination of shorts for very hot days and long,
Harvey | Lonely Planet shItla’asvn eoti fnctegron ms ssoaeriddn i tnthhgea stt ursanacsfkhasirn io eifs a oonundre v seleoheni cgtlh eda rota ntmh teah ef–o f oaatrnp edrid nignts em oooff m ac ealenmotspp .la ikred bliignohctwuelaigrsh, twa t arwolkuidisneeg-rb ss rhfiomorem wse aadlnk hdina gat, issnmu tnahglell atbosurscsehhs.., Ahlisgoh -barninkgle
© Philip Lee tah epsroed itu cist ieoans tyh taot fheaesl blikeee na pclaasyti nmge fmobr emri lwleinthn ijau.s t Oa Stiny role in
15 Zambia Safari Route
- EPIC DRIVES OF THE WORLD -
Opposite: the Grand Teton mountains
are reflected in the Snake River in
Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park
M O R E L I K E T H I S
W ILD LIFE WATCHING
GIPPSLAND & WILSONS KAIKOURA COAST, GRAND TETON TO YELLOWSTONE,
PROMONTORY, AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND WYOMING, USA
Traversing one of Australia’s most This stretch of State Highway 1 is a Yellowstone is nature’s tour de force. Its
underrated corners, this journey southeast relatively quick and convenient route unique supervolcano features half the
and east of Melbourne takes in the wild between the South Island’s two major world’s geysers, the country’s largest high-
landscapes of Phillip Island and Wilsons traveller gateways, Picton and Christchurch, altitude lake and a mass of blue-ribbon
Prom, and engaging rural towns such as but it also boasts several of its major rivers and waterfalls. To the south, Grand
Inverloch, Koonwarra and Port Albert, highlights. The beautiful Marlborough Teton National Park complements with
before almost falling off the map in the Sounds and Blenheim’s world-class wineries craggy peaks, peaceful waterways and
ghost town of Walhalla on the way back to can hardly be missed, but hidden, low- sublime alpine terrain. Wildlife spotting
Melbourne. Phillip Island hosts the sunset key and up-and-coming attractions also can start at Jackson, where elk, bison
arrival of the penguins at Penguin Parade, abound. The main draw for wildlife watchers and bighorn sheep congregate in winter
one of Australia’s great wildlife spectacles, will be the Kaikoura peninsula, where a at the National Elk Refuge, and grizzly
and also claims the country’s largest walkway from the town offers the chance sightings are not uncommon as soon as
colony of fur seals, as well as the Koala to see shearwaters, petrels, albatross and you head out onto the Moose-Wilson
Conservation Centre. Wilsons Promontory other seabirds, plus seals lazing around back road. The wet lowlands at Oxbow
National Park, meanwhile, sits at at Point Kean, seemingly oblivious to the Bend provide a scenic spot to view moose,
Australia’s southernmost tip and its dense attention of hordes of human gawpers. elk, bald eagles and other birds, while
woodland shelters a rich portfolio of native Several species of whale and dolphin bear (or bison) jams are sometimes an
Australian wildlife. As you make your way (including sperm whales and even blue issue from Yellowstone Lake on. Beyond
past Port Albert to Walhalla, you’ll certainly whales) either live in the Kaikoura area Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, head
want to stop at Ninety Mile Beach, an or swing by, which explains the popularity east towards Lamar Valley, dubbed the
isolated strip of sand backed by dunes that of the marine tours, especially Whale ‘Serengeti of North America’ for its herds
is exactly what it says on the tin. Watch Kaikoura. Your other key chance to of bison, elk and the occasional grizzly or
Start // Phillip Island spot beasts comes at Willowbank Wildlife coyote. It’s also the place to spot wolves,
End // Walhalla Reserve in Christchurch, which provides a particularly in spring.
Distance // 308 miles (495km) rSEDantirasdetr ato// np/ /pCc eoPh rir/tc/uits no2ticn1ty9h utmor civlhieesw ( k3i5w2i.km) SEDntiasdtr at// n/ /Mc eJaa /mc/k 2ms5oo0nt h miles (402km) © Dean Fikar | Shutterstock
AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST 16