Beginning within the South African metropolis, he was instantly surprised by Atzaró Cape Town’s location. “It’s not that massive, but it surely’s actually — no phrase of a lie — it is on the foot of Desk Mountain,” he marveled. “From entrance of the lodge, you would see the entire format of Cape City, with the bay, sky, ocean, Lion’s Head, and Satan’s Peak, in a 360-view. It was completely lovely. I may have stayed there longer.”

The supervisor of the lodge, Xander, didn’t simply play host, he additionally doubled as Evans’ mountaineering information, skipping the aerial cableway shortcut up Table Mountain and main him up the two-hour path of humongous steps. “I hate cardio, but when cardio was like that every single day, I’d in all probability do it,” the motion movie star admitted. “Each 20 minutes, we’d cease and switch again to the view and we’d elevated one other 500 toes. Then we bought to the highest — and it truly is flat!” The exertion to earn the elevated view all the way in which right down to Camps Bay was nicely definitely worth the effort, he mentioned, calling it “satisfying” to have gone up the onerous approach.

After that, he headed as much as Atzaró Okavango, the place he was instantly greeted by two giraffes wandering within the area, adopted by a few warthogs. Instantly, he knew this safari expertise was going to be particular. “You must be escorted again to your residence at evening as a result of there are pure animal pathways via the residence for the animals like leopards, hippos, buffalo, monkeys, baboons, warthogs, and aardvarks,” he mentioned. “It is extraordinary.”

Each flip of the top was a wonderment of wildlife, recognizing hippos from his luxurious wood house residence to driving towards a dried-up lake and seeing 30 giraffes, from new child to aged, and even catching them combating with their horns and swinging their necks. Much more unbelievable, they witnessed an action-packed kill involving wild canine catching a child gazelle. At one other level, a cheetah walked proper in entrance of their truck as they sat and watched in silence. Each blink of a watch was one other slice of animal kingdom drama enjoying out in entrance of them. 

“On our ultimate drive, our information, Albert, noticed the leopard, which might be probably the most elusive animals to see,” Evans mentioned. “I imply, they’re so camouflaged and he drove us proper subsequent to this unbelievable animal. And we didn’t simply see one, we noticed two.”

Throughout one evening drive, the motive force turned off the engine as they sat staring on the sky with no mild air pollution. “It was like a cacophony of frogs, bugs, and animals — it was deafeningly loud,” he mentioned. To protect that pure magic, Evans recorded the pure soundtrack. “Now I fall asleep with it each evening!”

Past private holidays, Evans’ work has granted him a fair better present of not simply popping out and in of a spot, however actually attending to know locations throughout the globe. His most up-to-date launch, «Weekend in Taipei,» which debuted in November, filmed on location in Taiwan’s capital, the place he traversed the town from the mountains and Taipei 101 skyscraper right down to a fishing village — and naturally indulged within the well-known native eats. 

“We had Din Tai Fung about 72 occasions, and we ate all of the meals that was given to us — and even tried the pungent tofu,” he mentioned. “If you may get via the scent, it’s wonderful.” He mentioned his driver would go into native markets and are available out with plastic baggage full of duck items, from the gizzards to the beaks, and he had a style of all of it. “Everyone was so gracious and actually welcoming, like so form,” he mentioned. 

Equally, throughout his time in New Zealand filming The Hobbit trilogy, which got here out between 2012 and 2014, Evans immersed himself in all issues Kiwi. “I drove alone for every week from from the highest of the South Island all the way in which right down to to the Fox Glacier and the Franz Josef Glacier, and I heli-hiked onto the glacier and drank thousands-of-years-old water from a river stream via the center of the glacier,” the adventurer mentioned. He additionally noticed whales, skilled Rotorua’s sizzling swimming pools, loved the high-quality, grass-fed meats — and even discovered to seaside fish Kahawai. “I lived a life,” he mirrored. “I actually lived it!”

The parents down there made an impression on him, too. “Folks there are very charming, very form, very blissful, they usually say hi there to you as you stroll down the road, which I’ve all the time liked,” he mentioned. “In truth, once I got here residence to London and I walked down the road and nobody even caught my eye, I felt I’d misplaced that non-public contact like how Kiwi persons are.”

Wandering the world with such an open coronary heart and thoughts has allowed Evans to mirror on all these international encounters. “I notice we’re all one,” he mentioned. “We simply all look totally different, eat otherwise, stay otherwise, sing otherwise, and the whole lot is totally different, however we’re the identical. That is one thing I’ve actually understood on a way more deep non secular degree from touring.”

Evans is simply as welcoming to vacationers seeking to discover the locations he is aware of so nicely, like London, the place he’s lived for 27 years. To start out, he mentioned each first-timer must examine off the necessities, together with Massive Ben, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower of London, and Tower Bridge.

However after that his recommendation is “to step out of the apparent locations” and head over to the older elements of East London, together with Whitechapel, Bethnal Inexperienced, Shoreditch, and Dalston. “These are gorgeous areas, and there is all the time one thing happening,” he mentioned, explaining there are antiques and meals markets, a canal that winds via the world with pathways alongside it, lovely strolls in Victoria Park, and swimming pools at London Fields. 

On Sundays, he loves the Columbia Road Flower Market, the place you flip onto a Victorian road and “it’s a jungle with banana bushes, palm bushes, flowers, the whole lot you may think about.” Then he mentioned to go to The Royal Oak, the place they do a tremendous Sunday roast and pint of Guinness, earlier than wandering the backstreets, stumbling upon cafes and distributors hawking their wares. “It is a very particular place,” he mentioned.

In terms of Wales, Evans suggests vacationers head to the Pembrokeshire shoreline, which is “completely gorgeous,” with castles dotting the surroundings and “extra UNESCO seashores than you would swing a cat at.” Additionally price pinning on maps: Temby, the mountains in Anglesey — together with the tallest, Snowdonia, which you’ll be able to hike or ascend by steam prepare — and one of many oldest and smallest cities on the planet, St. David’s. 

“The seashores there are gorgeous, the wildlife within the waters is so crystal clear, you see seals and dolphins, and there are the very best fish and chips you will have in Wales,” Evans raved. “The Welsh persons are pretty — they’re welcoming, they’re curious, they’re actually nice folks. I am very proud to be one in every of them.”

—- OTHER OPTIONS FOR CHECK-IN—-

Greatest street journey in Wales?
Driving to Pembrokeshire—and I might add a foot journey: the uninterrupted coastal path. It’s 870 miles, and it goes all the way in which up the coast of Wales. You may camp, and cease and keep in B&Bs all the way in which to the highest. 

One factor you all the time pack your carry-on?
My noise-reducing AirPods as a result of I am unable to sleep with the headphones they provide you on the aircraft. However I can in AirPods I can, and it reduces all of the sound of crying infants and noisy air employees, no matter it’s, you don’t get up! I generally discover that the noise of an airport can generally be very all consuming, so generally I simply put them in my ears to really feel just a little calmer strolling via chaos.