Your Moroccan adventure won’t be complete without exploring the magnificent capital of this North African kingdom. Rabat is a must-see for every person in this busy world. The city simply offers a relaxing environment through tranquil beaches, comfortable Rabat hotels, and the majestic view of the vast Atlantic ocean. Aside from the comforting atmosphere, Rabat is also a great place to visit if you want to stay away from the hurly-burly of your modern-day lifestyle. You can surely take a break by staying in Rabat hotels.

However, despite the august reasons for you to indulge in your Rabat travel, many tourists still find one downside to visiting this city. Though tourists may come and go as they please, they usually find it difficult to get a place to stay. People in Rabat are somewhat shy, so please do not expect them to offer you their nice abode if you are new to this place. Instead, take delight in staying in one of the homey Rabat hotels to revel in this fascinating city even for a couple of days.

Unlike in other places where hotel accommodations can be horrible, staying in Rabat hotels is fortunately not a burden to endure. The Rabat hotel experience is indeed, a great pleasure to most tourists. After a long day of sight-seeing, Rabat hotels offer travelers like you with other forms of delight and convenience. In this list, you’ll find more reasons to stay longer:

1. Relaxation after a long day of Rabat travel

Walking around Rabat, taking photographs, and shopping from one store to another can exhaust all your energy. At the end of the day, you’ll definitely yearn for a soothing spa treatment or appreciate a massage to relax your tired body. But don’t worry, Rabat hotels have top-of-the-line facilities and services to provide you with stuff that you need. With steam rooms and Middle Eastern medicine-inspired treatments, you’ll surely find ways to calm your weary mind and soul.

2. Learning that never stops

Though you’re in Rabat to take a break from your usual business, there’s simply no reason why your mind shouldn’t be fed with important information. Tourists like you love to travel so they can learn more, and this learning should never stop once you enter your hotel room. Fortunately, Rabat hotels can help satisfy this hunger for knowledge by providing you with complimentary newspapers and magazines. In addition to this, you can also do a little research about the city by using the hotel’s Internet facilities.

3. Non-stop exciting activities

Going back to your hotel in this splendid city need not be dull and unsettling. While in other places, returning to your hotel simply means ending your fun-filled adventure to get some sleep– this is certainly not the case in Rabat. After visiting a stream of Rabat tourist spots, more thrilling activities still await you in your hotel. Golf courses and swimming pools are only some of the greatest recreational facilities that maroc-emotions.com Rabat hotels have to offer. But should you choose not to engage in heavy physical activities, you still can hang out with your friends or loved ones at coffee shops and bars within the vicinity.

Rabat hotels are more than just a resting place. They give tourists great reasons to keep on coming back to Morocco. The enjoyment they get from their activities inside Rabat hotels will always be one of their most meaningful Moroccan memories.

Rcon Franchesca Pascua is an in-house writer for the online media company Intelligraph Corporation. She enjoys traveling to exotic destinations and writing about her en.maroc-emotions.com/blog/ Morocco travel adventures. For more information on maroc-emotions.com Rabat hotels, visit en.maroc-emotions.com en.maroc-emotions.com

After our blissful getaway wedding in Whitianga, New Zealand, the musicians who played at our reception (a wonderful couple named Sasha and Natarani together known as Heartstrings) gave us a very beautiful CD of their music. One of their songs was called “Waitakere Tears,” (pronounced why-TAHK-uh-ray) and when I think about the Waitakere Ranges, that song comes to mind for some reason. Maybe it’s the frequent rain or streams moving down the mountains or the waterfalls or the sea spray from the crashing waves that make me think of the Waitakere Tears. Regardless of what it is, I look back at the Waitakere Ranges with a sense of longing and nostalgia, wishing I was back there again.

The Waitakere Ranges are mountains just west of the cosmopolitan city of Auckland – New Zealand’s largest city. Sandwiched between the mountain range and the ocean are uncrowded beaches and scenic waterfalls. So in a sense, the Waitakeres almost act as a barrier between the natural and urban worlds. Kitekite Falls is one of the waterfalls on the western side of the Waitakeres. It features a 40m drop over three vertical tiers. The pleasant nature walk along the Kitekite Stream to the falls complements the serenity and grace of the forested scene. Neighboring the waterfall is the gorgeous Piha Beach. Watched over by the monolith known as Lion Rock, this idyllic black sand beach is a great place to relax and have a picnic.

South of Piha is the smaller and quieter Karekare Beach. If you’ve seen the movie The Piano, then it might look familiar to you because it was filmed here. Fiercely defended by locals to prevent out-of-control urbanization and commercialism, the black sand beach remains quiet, peaceful, and naturesque. If you follow the Karekare Stream from the beach towards the mountains for just a few minutes, you’ll find yet another waterfall surprise – Karekare Falls. Along with its pleasant 25m drop, there’s a picnic table as well as a small plunge pool to frolick beneath the falls.

Of course Piha and Karekare are merely just a couple of picturesque spots sheltered from urbanization by the Waitakere Ranges. There are numerous other spots and features such as Bethell’s Beach, Kauri Forests, and Fairy Falls to name a few. Indeed the unspoiled beaches and waterfalls make me envious of Aucklanders who only have to drive less than an hour to get here and rejuvenate themselves amongst nature. In fact, the more I think about it, I think Waitakere Tears are really tears of joy.

Johnny T. Cheng is author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls (Story Nature Press).

Find out more about his book at storynature.com storynature.com or visit his waterfalls blog at world-of-waterfalls.com/arbk world-of-waterfalls.com.

Perhaps your plans to visit Bangkok have been shelved owing to reports of a military coup, bombings, and unrest in the south. Or maybe you think long-haul flights are not worth the hassle these days.

Think again. Bangkok is one of the world’s safest cities. It’s also one of the most pulsating and exotic. And there are treatments for your jet lag. This year is an especially good time to drop in. Here are just five great reasons to visit the Thai capital in 2007.

1. It’s The Critics’ Choice

Bangkok was voted best city in Asia by Travel & Leisure magazine ousting green Singapore and frantic Hong Kong. Bangkok was also selected by DestinAsia as Best Leisure City by virtue of it being cheap, safe and vibrant along with its good food.

2. Jet Cheaply Around the Region

Local and regional airfares are a bargain. The recent launch of many low-cost carriers has resulted in jaw-dropping fares for short hops to other Asian cities as well as the islands and beaches of Thailand. Check out the web sites of Air Asia and Nok Air among others for budget trips in the region.

3. Hook Into The Matrix

While still rooted in the past, this city of venerable temples and palaces is racing into the future. Bangkok is getting wired. Wifi is cheap and easily found. The whole of Siam Square is an outdoor Wifi zone and you can find a Starbucks on every corner. Geeks can spend their whole vacations in the IT paradise of Panthip Plaza with its staggering range of hardware and software.

4. Shop Till You Flop

Long a poor cousin of Hong Kong and Singapore, Bangkok can now rival those city-emporia for the range and quality of shopping. Prices are generally lower too. Other than old-style markets, there’s a glut of trendy malls. The jewel in the crown is the new Paragon shopping center. It sprawls over 7 floors, each the size of a football field and offering every brand name imaginable.

5. Pamper Yourself At A Spa

Bangkok is the spa capital of Asia. With a long history of traditional massage and herbal therapies together with a gracious concept service rooted in ancient Siamese culture, Thailand can offer an unparalleled standard of spa and beauty services. In fact, Travel & Leisure magazine chose three Thai spas in its top five best resort spas. Whether it’s a five-day total pampering or a one-hour jet-lag relief head massage, you can find what you want here.

If all this hasn’t tempted you, remember the great hotels and the spicy, piquant food. And don’t forget that Bangkok is one of the best places in the world for a sex change. Doctors are very experienced and prices are much lower than in the west.

If you’ve ever wondered how Bangkok developed into such a place of exotic contradictions, find out at insiders-bangkok.ampawan.com/ insiders-bangkok.ampawan.com/

The Blyde River Canyon is the third largest canyon system and the largest vegetated or green canyon in the world. The canyon is situated along the Mpumalanga, Drakensberg Mountain Escarpment. The Blyde River Canyon was proclaimed a nature reserve in November 1965, covers an area of 30 000 hectares and stretches from the Pinnacle rock to Mariepskop Mountain in the North, close to the Kruger National Park.

There are five main river systems that influence the Blyde River Canyon Nature Reserve and play a very important role as water catchments for the Kruger National Park. The rivers are the Sabie, the Blyde, the Treur, Ohrigstad and the Olifants rivers.

Bourke’s Luck Potholes, where the combined force of the Blyde and Treur Rivers have cut a deep 26km long canyon known as the Blyde River Canyon.
The town Graskop means “Grassy Peak”, it is situated on the top of the escarpment of the Drakensberg Mountains in the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Graskop was originally the farm of Abel Erasmus, a prominent inhabitant of the Graskop and Ohrigstad areas in the 1850’s. Today Graskop is the centre of tourism and forestry in the Mpumalanga Province, and the Blyde River Canyon area. The town is a sleepy hollow, which has attracted many pensioners and artists alike, It is worth a visit for its many curio stores.

From Adrienne Boxhall owner of weaccommodate.co.uk weaccommodate.co.uk a worldwide directory of holiday accommodation with luxury homes for rent in South Africa.