Newsletter Issue 18 - December 2003

Hello and welcome to another update from Karibuni…

It’s amazing how fast the time seems to fly by at this time of year, and the Festive Season and New Year are almost upon us. Snow has already started to fall in the Alps and our preparations are underway for the Ski and Snowboard season, as well as looking forward to next year and our exciting and expanded range of Adventure Weekends!

Before that we still have Christmas – and our Christmas Orphans tour still has spaces left, plus if you book before the end of this week you will save £15. Don’t miss out….

Please read on for further details, and for all the news and money saving offers from Karibuni.

Coming up in this exciting issue: -
Karibuni News
- Ascot and Henley Trips – perfect Christmas presents!
- Christmas Orphans Tour – book early and save £15!
- Calling all teachers! Kid Free Chalet for Half Term
- Discounted Ski Chalet weeks in January
Travel News
- Red Squirrels in Britain
- Can you really do that inside?
Destination Feature
- The Jura Mountains near Geneva
Global Quickies
- Humorous news from around the world

Karibuni News

A perfect Christmas Gift – a fabulous day out at Ascot or Henley
If you are unsure of what to buy a loved one this Christmas then look no further. Treat them to a day out at Royal Ascot – enjoying the fantastic social and sporting occasion that is Ladies Day at Ascot. Or for a quieter affair by the River Thames why not try Henley Royal Regatta and see the world’s top rowers in action.

We have a number of trips to Ascot and Henley, and all include return transport from London, chilled bubbly on arrival and a quality picnic lunch with red or white wine, plus entrance to the enclosures for the days’ top sporting action! A perfect way to spend a summer’s day – and always popular with the ladies!

Prices start at just £50 so a perfect gift for your mother, wife or lover (or all 3 if you’re feeling very brave!)

Henley Royal Regatta – Wed 30th June – Sat 3rd July 2004 - £50pp – Full details at http://www.karibuni.co.uk/uk_adventures/day_events/henley_royal_regatta.htm

Royal Ascot – Tue 15th – Sat 19th June 2004 - £52 to £65pp - Details at http://www.karibuni.co.uk/uk_adventures_day_events/royal_ascot.htm

Calling all Teachers – Kid Free Chalet – spaces at half term!
For any teachers out there looking for a relaxing, fun and kid-free ski chalet holiday over half term – we can help! Come and stay in our luxury chalet in La Clusaz, and enjoy some great skiing and snowboarding, a cosy and comfortable chalet – and the chance to kick back and relax without any children present! Come on your own (no single supplements) or as a group...

Mention this newsletter and you will save £25 on the half term week… simple as that!
Visit http://www.karibuni.co.uk/ski_holidays/ski_chalet/snow_home.htm to view a virtual tour of the great chalet.

Discounted Luxury Ski Chalet Holidays!
Not booked your ski or snowboard holiday yet for winter 2004?
Then take advantage of some reduced rates in our luxury chalet in the French Alps, and enjoy our high level of personal service and a package giving you Ultimate Convenience.
Please act quickly to take advantage of the following offers…
January 3rd – 10th now £400
January 10th – 17th now £410
January 17th – 24th now £425
All prices include your airport transfers, your full region lift pass and fully catered chalet accommodation (cooked breakfasts, afternoon tea, 3 course dinner with unlimited wine) plus the services of our Ski Team. With good value flights available for these weeks – it’s a great value way to enjoy a luxury ski or snowboard holiday at rock bottom prices.
For full details – please see http://www.karibuni.co.uk/ski_holidays/ski_chalet/snow_home.htm or contact us at info@karibuni.co.uk

Christmas Orphans - Book before Friday and save £15
Don’t be stuck home alone in your flat this Christmas. Come and join our sociable and fun trip to North Wales (22nd – 26th Dec), with great activities during the days and relaxing evenings, complete with your full traditional Christmas dinner and festive celebrations. The trip includes mountain biking, horse trekking, visit Llanberis (at the foot of Mt Snowdon), share a mince pie with Santa in a slate mine and a fantastic mountain walk on the big day, plus all transport, accommodation, cooked breakfasts and dinners as you would expect from any Karibuni trip. www.karibuni.co.uk/snowdonxmas.htm

Travel News

Have you seen a Red Squirrel?
The red squirrel is Britain's only native squirrel and used to be found throughout woodlands in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. However, over the past 100 years it has been on the decline as the larger grey squirrels (originally introduced from America in 1876) have asserted their dominance and taken over in many environments.
But the reds are hanging in there and sustaining significant populations in a number of locations which mean they are a lot closer to us than you may think!

Their stronghold is still Scotland, where three-quarters of the remaining 160,000 reds are to be found. Grey squirrels have less of an impact on the native red squirrels in coniferous and pine-woods, and they can exist alongside each other – sharing the food resources.

Conservation efforts are underway to assist the reds, and on Karibuni’s Lake District weekends, we see evidence of this – driving underneath specially constructed rope bridges which assist the squirrels to cross the road. What a come down for ‘Tufty the Squirrel’ who used to teach kids how to cross the road safely on TV in the 1970’s!

The Lake District is one stronghold for the red squirrels and they are found around Keswick and Derwent Water as well as along Thirlmere in the dense coniferous woodland. Around 85 per cent of England's red squirrels can now be found in Cumbria, Durham, Northumberland and North Lancashire where the greys have been slow to advance and dominate.

In the south of England there are isolated populations of red squirrels on Brownsea Island which is located in the middle of Poole Harbour, Dorset. The grey squirrels can swim, but have not been able to cross the water to the island, and the population of reds has been completely unaffected throughout time. This is also true of the Isle of Wight where the Solent has acted as a barrier to the greys.

October and November are the best months to see the red squirrels, as they are very active in the forest collecting nuts for the winter. They are busily collecting beechnuts, hazels and burying them by means of a comical squirrel stomp – with a strange hopping dance.

http://www.red-squirrels.org.uk/
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/mammal/squirrel.htm
http://www.redsquirrel.org.uk/

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Can you really do that inside?
A few weeks ago it was the final rounds of the World Tent Pitching Championships, held at the Caravan and Outdoor Leisure show at Earls Court. Wind and rain machines were used to simulate the worst that the elements could throw at the teams as they raced to pitch their tents. http://www.caravanshows.com.

Next comes the first ever Indoor Windsurf Championships which will take place during the Schroders London International Boat show at Excel from 8-18 January. A 30 x 70m pool and 25 fans generating 30knots of wind power will provide the conditions and the setting for the contest. There will be Freestyle and Slalom competitions, as well as a jump feature. Further details at http://www.ukwindsurfing.com/events/2004/indoor/

And – come February there will be Ice Climbing and Bouldering at the Outdoor Adventure Show to be held at London Business Design Centre on 6th – 8th February. Please come along and say hello – as Karibuni will be there with a stand as part of the 52 Great Weekends series. Just showing you that you can’t beat a Karibuni Adventure Weekend for a great getaway from London.
Details of the show can be found at http://www.outdooradventureshow.co.uk and we will feature more details about winning tickets to the show in the next newsletter, due out in January.

The Jura Mountains – on Geneva’s back door

“The moment when from the very top of the Jura mountains I discovered Lake Geneva, was a moment of ecstasy and delight.”
Rousseau expressed this joy as he travelled in the region perched on the border between France and Switzerland.

The Jura Mountains have a totally different character from the Alps - being more modest in scale, but equally as rugged, remote and full of narrow gorges, wide open plains, large forests and long ridges with perfect views across to the white summits of the Alps. They are the domain of walkers, cyclists and horse-riders and provide a perfect location for a weekend or short-break touring holiday.
Just 30 minutes from Geneva, and you can be zigzagging your way into the Jura Mountains, leaving towns behind and feeling the relaxed pace in this sparsely populated region.

The Franche-Comte region is famous for its cheese (Comte) and it is a source of great regional pride. The wine is another regional speciality which the locals are immensely proud of and can be sampled at the many auberges and restaurants serving the local hearty food (around £7 a dish)

When exploring the region you will find yourself passing from France to Switzerland and back again very regularly, crossing one of Europe’s oldest borders, unchanged since 1186. In the town of Les Rousses, the Hotel Arbez sits astride the Franco-Swiss border, and the local character will take great delight in telling you that he drinks in France and pees in Switzerland!

Another village worthy of a visit is Pontarlier which was the world absinthe capital until the drink was banned in 1914 due to its negative consequences on military morale by sending drinkers mad. For the past 2 years – the drink has again been legal although at a supposedly safer alcohol content of only 45% as opposed to the original 72%. You can see the drink being made, and tour the Distillerie Guy on a free visit which provides an insight into this controversial drink.

For the more health conscious the area is bristling with outdoor activities with miles upon miles of well marked and efficient trails for bikes, horses, walkers and cross country skiers. Several of the French long distance footpaths (GR5 and 9) make their way across the region, and cross country skiers can enjoy the 210km ‘Grande Traversee du Jura’ which follows the GR5 across the high plateau from Villiers-le-Lac to Hauteville-Lompnes. For mountain bikers there are lots of tracks particularly in eastern Jura including the 300km GTV-VTT starting near Montbeliard.

For those feeling like a real challenge the classic long distance walk is the Jura Höhenweg (or High Route) stretching 199km along the length of the Swiss Jura from Dielsdorf to Borex near Geneva, and taking about fourteen days to complete.

The Jura is a region of small villages and isolated farms set in a landscape of rolling and surprising mountain scenery. With the Alps and Lake Geneva as backdrops the views can be impressive, and yet the wilderness and solitude is easily found. The welcomes are friendly and the area provides tourists with ample opportunity to stay, eat and relax – but you always feel as though you are miles away from any popular tourist trail.

It is possible to get around with public transport but it is obviously limited in the more remote areas, and a hire car will allow you to fully explore the region – stopping to take in the views and sample the fresh mountain air whenever you want – which can be quite often!

For general information on visiting Switzerland
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/europe/switzerland/

For information and links on things to do in the Jura http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/arc_jurassien/index.html

Local tourist info as well as The Route of Comte (the local cheese)
http://www.lesroutesducomte.com/english/otsi.asp

http://www.massifdujura.com/anglotou.html
A local internet portal with visitor information, hotels, amenities

For details on the range of cheap flights and airlines serving Geneva see our skiing “Travel” page at www.karibuni.co.uk/ski_holidays/shared/travel/travel.htm

Hire Cars can be booked through www.easycar.com and www.holidayautos.co.uk 0870 400 0099 and can be from as little as £51 for 4 days.

As with any travelling – please check out the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website for up to date travel advice before you go - www.fco.gov.uk.

Global Quickies

Spider traps police in alarming web
German police rushing to investigate a suspected supermarket robbery discovered the culprit to be a small spider that set off an alarm while dangling from its web.

"Police, security personnel and the head of sales arrived at the scene but were unable to find any evidence of a break-in. Then they spotted the spider hanging by a motion alarm sensor," said a spokesman for police in the eastern town of Grimma.
Police then relocated the arachnid to a less sensitive area (Reuters News Service)

Top vodka drinker ends up dead drunk
He was just one of 40,000 Russians who die each year from alcohol poisoning. But at least Alexander may have won a prize for it.

In an all-you-can-drink contest, a food store in Volgadonsk handed out half-litre mugs and invited contestants to fill them from a barrel of vodka, according to the newspaper Sobesednik.
A man named Alexander Nakonechny drank the most - three mugs - then dropped dead. Four other contestants were hospitalised.
It was not clear who claimed the prize of 10 bottles of vodka. (New York Times)

Well, that’s all again for this time – and we hope you enjoyed it. The next edition will be out in January with more snippets of news from around the world and updates from Karibuni on the adventure and fun to be had on the ski slopes of La Clusaz!

Many thanks, and happy travels

Paul