In the current issue of BESPOKE magazine, Ker & Downey explores the history behind Scotland’s whisky heritage with a journey through Speyside and Islay. In his 1880 poem “The Scotsman’s Return from Abroad”, Robert Louis Stevenson declared whisky “the king o’ drinks” and connoisseurs of fine spirits agree. There is no better place to experience the world’s finest whiskies – and the stories behind them – than Scotland. Usquebaugh: The water of life. Sure it’s water, happily enhanced with a little peat, grain, yeast, and time, aged for years and even decades until its golden hue is just so, its […]

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Hidden in Zimbabwe and Botswana’s treasured reserves, African Bush Camps proves that an intimate, low-frills safari is still overflowing with plenty of tangible and soulful luxuries. You can read about it below and in the Fall 2012 issue of BESPOKE Magazine. Today’s world travelers are lucky if Africa is on their to-do list – there’s no shortage of luxurious properties to choose from, an almost limitless list of experiences to have in the bush. But for it to be an authentic excursion, it helps to have a homegrown force guiding the way – in more than just the Land Rover. […]

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In the Fall 2012 issue of BESPOKE Magazine, Ker & Downey explores experiences beyond the typical in Southeast Asia. We’re whetting your appetite for the history, color, and culture of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia with our handpicked selection of the best of Southeast Asia’s experiences – some out-of-the-ordinary exclusives that only Ker & Downey can deliver, others simply new ways of experiencing the region’s timeless treasures. Bangkok Thailand’s capital is a city of contrasts, with towering skyscrapers next to the pointed peaks of wats and flashing neon reflecting off the gilded roofs of ancient temples. There is no better […]

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Spending the night in India has never looked so beautiful. Journey with Ker & Downey from the desert to Delhi in the Fall 2012 issue of BESPOKE Magazine and take a peek at our curated selection of ultra-lux hotels designed to inspire. Tree of Life Resort & Spa, Jaipur, India Find the ultimate in unhurried relaxation and seclusion in the dusky pink villas of the Tree of Life Resort & Spa, located just outside the famed “Pink City” of Jaipur. Vibrant colors indicative of Rajasthani design are on full display, from the plush textiles in fuchsia, green, and turquoise to […]

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Game-rich and scantly populated, the marshes and bushlands of Mozambique have long been one of Africa’s safari secrets. As time goes on in this region of survival and regeneration, the balance of human and animal is challenged, and with the scales threatening to tip dangerously the Niassa Lion Project lends an extra hand to bridge the gap between man and the wild. Mozambique’s Niassa Game Reserve in the north of the coastal country has only 35,000 permanent residents and more than 70% of Mozambique’s wildlife in its 16,000 square miles – an area twice the size of Massachusetts, whose population […]

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Travel with Ker & Downey’s Katy Heerssen as she discovers a varied landscape of tropical rainforests, mountainous beauty, and a distinctly European flair in Argentina’s experiential hot spots. Read about it below and in the Fall 2012 issue of BESPOKE magazine.   On the first occasion to use my passport since chaperoning 28 high schoolers through France and Italy, this Texas native headed for a spring break south of the border – way south – in a place that turned out to be closer to home than I expected. Ker & Downey’s Holly Kilpatrick and I explored the many faces and varied […]

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Liz Biden is someone who understands that there’s nothing quite like the comfort of being at home. The seclusion, the privacy, and the quiet make a home the ultimate sanctuary from life’s familiar course. Realizing the captivating feeling a home can inspire, Liz Biden has grabbed the attention of the luxury travel industry by opening her opulent homes as private escapes to welcome South African adventurers. In the late nineties, Liz Biden and her husband, Phil, sold their shares of Jenni Button and left the South African fashion industry to turn one of their holiday homes into their first hotel, […]

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BESPOKE Magazine’s Special Edition highlighting the Best of Africa will be available for download later this month. Preview some of the magazine below as Ker & Downey catches up with Doug Wright, our long-standing favorite guide in Botswana. The safari business has evolved over the past half century just as all businesses have evolved. In the days of Hemingway, a safari was a several months-long production with porters, cooks, gun-bearers, and trackers with the Professional Hunter heading up the whole affair. The job of the Professional Hunter in those days was not only to locate big game for his clients, […]

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It’s improbably that once country about the size of Texas could contain two of the world’s most extreme – and extremely beautiful – ecosystems. But there they are in the Kalahari Desert of northern Botswana, no more than a 90-minute plane ride apart: the Makgadigadi Pans and the Okavango Delta. Written by: Gary Walther & Scott Goetz Here’s a look at four of our favorite camps in safari country: San Camp, Makgadikgadi Pans A remote Africa experience A full moon beams with klieg light intensity onto the Makgadikgadi Pans, the largest salt pan complex in the world. It’s well after […]

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Adrenaline-pumping adventure and beachside relaxation aren’t two things that typically go hand in hand; but on South Africa’s Gansbaai shores, Grootbos is making its mark in luxury travel by combing the two. While there may be a host of places along the South African coast that claim to be private escapes, none is quite as secluded as the exclusive Grootbos Private Nature Reserve. In fact, you won’t even know it’s there until you arrive at the front door. And while Grootbos is a truly secluded getaway, it’s unique in the fact that there are adventures here unlike any other in […]

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