Author: Alex Robinson

Northern Thailand: the railroad less travelled

Tourists are visiting Thailand in increasing numbers, but some communities remain stuck in a time long passed. In pursuit of the “old Thailand”, Alex Robinson shuns the tour buses and takes local’s route, the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. We’re waiting on the road, huddled together with locals who’ve risen in the pre-dawn dark.…

Brazil’s sexiest beaches

Brazil has some of the sexiest, swoon-inducing, stretches of sand in the world. We’ve all heard of Copacabana and Ipanema, but the country has thousands of miles of unspoilt coral coves, balmy bays and coconut palm-shaded coast beyond Rio. Glorious beaches fringe much of the country’s 7500 km-long coastline, from the steamy tropical coast in the north to…

A Rough Guide to spotting wildlife in Costa Rica

From world-famous national parks to little-known private reserves, Alex Robinson picks out six of the best places for wildlife-spotting in Costa Rica. Few countries can rival Costa Rica for wildlife and natural beauty. Fuming volcanoes lush with cloud forest rise into high, serrated sierra; valleys swathed in lowland tropical rainforests plunge to twin Pacific and Atlantic coasts; and the ocean is…

Tracking jaguars in Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica

Alex Robinson goes in search of the elusive jaguars that live in the Corcovado rainforest, Costa Rica.  The Corcovado rainforest is eerily quiet. But for the buzz of cicadas that crescendos past like a wave every few minutes, it’s as silent as a cathedral. I can hear drops falling onto leaves, the burr of a hummingbird’s…

The other Inca trail, Peru

Escaping the hundreds of climbers on their way to Machu Picchu, Alex Robinson discovers the “other Inca Trail” in Peru – an equally impressive but near-empty climb.  I woke with a start in the night. The dogs were barking in the camp. I heard the clatter of tin cans, the crash of plates and then…