Company offers vacations in remote areas
IAN STALKER
Chile-based resort company explora says it hasn’t been resting on its laurels, continuing to increase the number of options it offers guests even as the pandemic put a damper on international travel.
Michelle de Klerk of explora’s London office used an explora webinar to remind viewers of recent explora openings.
“We’re coming out of this difficult period with three new properties and experiences, having gone from four [lodges] to seven,” she said.
explora began operation some 30 years ago in Chilean Patagonia, now having upscale properties in such far-flung locales as Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Andean Peru, Argentina and a lofty part of Bolivia, with de Klerk stating that the remoteness of its lodges ensures that guests will find themselves “far from the maddening crowds.”
The company’s Chilean operation now includes a lodge in northern Chile’s Atacama region, vast desert terrain.
The company’s Jose Rosenberg noted that Atacama has “the clearest skies in the world,” while showing viewers a picture of a star-studded nighttime Atacama sky.
Rosenberg noted explora’s Atacama lodge has an observatory with a telescope for guests.
Those guests can also go mountain biking or trekking, seeing the likes of geysers and hot springs. Excursions are designed to accommodate different fitness levels.
explora says those wanting a two-nation vacation can opt for a trip that links the Atacama lodge and a Bolivian stay, with de Klerk saying it “combines the world’s driest desert with the world’s largest salt flat” on the “epic journey.”
expora offers lodging by Bolivia’s over-10,000-square-kilometer Uyuni Salt Flat, reportedly the flattest spot on the planet and visible from Outer Space.
“In this travesia (crossing) you feel the remoteness that we want to transmit,” Rosenberg said of a trip through sparsely populated regions.
The guided, 4-wheel-drive expeditions between Atacama and Uyuni take seven to 11 nights.
Rosenberg said travellers will find those leading the trips will be “more than guides. They’re travel companions.”
explora says it has been working to becoming a carbon neutral company, is committed to working with area residents, funds conservation projects and wants to work with “the top chefs in the world.” Food served in explora lodges has local influences, it adds.
explora also notes that it has been named the best expedition company in the world for three years by the World Travel Awards.
