Beyond the pandemic: new travel adventures from enterprising operators

A private jet tour to Timbuktu sold out without any promotion

Lonely planet: Tony Wheeler, co-founder of the travel guide firm, on a beach on the Yemeni island of Socotra (Simon Calder)

A beach bootcamp in Bali, volunteering in an LA soup kitchen and a private jet trip to Timbuktu: those are among the post-pandemic travel plans on offer from three British entrepreneurs.

For the past year, international adventures have been near-impossible as the coronavirus pandemic has paralysed the world.

But while big airlines are looking at downsizing their operations, small and nimble travel firms have been preparing new opportunities for when globetrotting begins again.

Lupine Travel, based in Wigan, is remarkably still running trips to hard-core destinations including Afghanistan and Libya.

“We’re only able to take non-UK residents until the travel ban is lifted,” says the founder, Dylan Harris. But he is optimistic that demand for extreme travel is building.

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“It seems like people can now finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and they’re now more booking again for late 2021 and ahead.”

The most exotic trip this year is to Timbuktu and Gao in Mali in November. Mr Harris says: “Due to security reasons, we’re just in and out of there in a day.”

The only way safely to operate the trip is by private jet, combining both cities in a single day using a private jet.

The trip, costing £2,100, sold out without any promotion, and a second departure is now planned for March 2022.

It is aimed, says the Lupine founder, at “people who have already been to Mali but haven’t been able to visit Timbuktu, and are happy to go back for a short trip just to see it”.

Timbuktu is the southern terminus of a traditional trans-Saharan trade route and important cultural centre. But for most of the 21st century it has been extremely unstable, with tourists kidnapped and killed by fundamentalists.

Lupine hopes to resume trips to the Yemeni island of Socotra in September – “to work through the backlog of customers we have that are still looking to go there,” says Mr Harris.

By comparison, the US – currently off-limits to British visitors – may seem tame. But Coyote Trip, a start-up conceived by Ramsay Kerr, aims to take British travellers deep into the nation.

His two successful Asian businesses, The Dragon Trip and The Learning Adventure, were forced to pause operations because of the coronavirus pandemic, and aim to resume in September.

“We have been keeping busy during this crisis by launching our third brand: The Coyote Trip, which provides affordable tours of America for backpacker and budget travellers,” he says.

“The tours follow our usual style of travelling in the most affordable way to the unmissable sites and stopping en-route for fun, quirky and deeply American off-the-beaten track experiences.”

The itinerary runs from New York to Los Angeles – but takes in Philadelphia, Boston and Cape Cod before a flight to Las Vegas, which turns a three-day drive into a six-hour flight and maximises time on the ground.

A Vegas pool party is followed by two days at the Grand Canyon and a day on Route 66.

Going west: Route 66 Museum in Victorville (Simon Calder)

In Los Angeles, besides visits to Santa Monica pier and an in-line skating session at Venice Beach, the tour includes a volunteering trip to one of the city’s soup kitchens. The 15-day trip costs £2,770, with transatlantic flights extra.

Across in south east Asia, TruTravels has devised a concept called FitVentures, with a beach-based bootcamp in Bali.

For £850 (excluding flights), participants get an eight-night stay that includes fitness sessions on the beach, boxing masterclasses and yoga.

Mark Pope, the firm’s co-founder, says: “There’s been a huge movement towards increased health, wellness and mindfulness following the pandemic.

“Travellers are going to crave social adventures after months of isolation and separation from their friends and family”.

But, he says, customers are after more personal space: “We are witnessing a shift away from sharing dorm rooms.”