{"id":646717,"date":"2026-06-19T06:22:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T06:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/646717\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T06:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T06:22:21","slug":"dr-jones-indiana-jones-style-adventures-are-now-bookable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/646717\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Jones’ Indiana Jones\u2013Style Adventures Are Now Bookable"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAny fan of the Indiana Jones film series knows the \u201cmap sequence,\u201d when we see the titular hero jet from country to country, a dotted line across a global map marking the doctor\u2019s progress. He escapes from all kinds of tight spots in all manner of biplanes. There\u2019s a certain freedom to how he travels that a modern explorer can\u2019t quite replicate without private planes and air clearances in the most remote parts of the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tOr can they? The team behind White Desert<\/a>, the luxury, safari-style camp in East Antarctica\u2019s interior, just introduced its second in a series of Dr. Jones expeditions<\/a>. An ode to Indy, these self-described \u201cmodern odysseys\u201d offer 13 days of hopping across the Americas on a fully refurbished Basler BT-67, a modified 1940s turboprop plane that flies low and can land anywhere. Short, gravelly runways? Ice-covered tundras? Lands like a cat. It can also avoid major airports and take less traditional flight paths. Following a $10 million overhaul, the Dr. Jones aircraft rivals a private plane, with 12 leather seats and in-flight amenities befitting the $49,000 price tag.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Interior<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFollowing a $10 million overhaul, the Basler goes from clunky to classy.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhite Desert<\/p>\n

\n\tAccess is the greatest luxury on these journeys. The new Colombia\u2013Guatemala itinerary starts in Medell\u00edn and goes deep into the Andes: to San Agust\u00edn, a UNESCO site considered the Americas\u2019 largest necropolis, with hundreds of megalithic statues, and Ca\u00f1o Cristales, the uniquely occurring \u201cRiver of Five Colors.\u201d The Basler moves on to the remote Colombian island of Providencia, known for its pristine barrier reef, shark diving, and thriving Afro-Caribbean Creole culture (bonus: no cruise ships). From there, it\u2019s on to the rainforests, ruins, and volcanic terrain of Pet\u00e9n, Pacaya, and Antigua, Guatemala. Along the way, travelers will meet local shamans, experience traditional llanero (cowboy) culture, and be led by a Mayan spiritual guide and archaeologist. Flights never last more than a couple hours and land at the base of the next adventure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is not about ticking destinations off a list. It\u2019s about entering them deeply\u2014and leaving changed by what you were allowed to see and experience,\u201d says Patrick Woodhead, co-founder and CEO of White Desert<\/a>. Something of a real-life Dr. Jones, Woodhead was educated in the UK, studying ancient history and philosophy, before becoming a full-time expedition guide. He has since added to his CV: polar explorer, pilot, author (of four books), and company boss, though he hasn\u2019t done it alone. Wife and co-founder Robyn Woodhead, also an acclaimed polar explorer (the first South African to reach the North and South Poles), helped establish the tenets of White Desert, particularly its sustainable practices. They achieved carbon neutrality for White Desert air operations as early as 2007, and she sat on the board of IAATO (International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators), the organization dedicated to promoting safe, environmentally responsible tourism in Antarctica.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Staying<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tStaying above the canopy in Colombia.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhite Desert<\/p>\n

\n\tThe last 20 years of tours on the White Continent (by way of Cape Town<\/a>) have been \u201cmesmerically beautiful,\u201d says Patrick, though adding the Dr. Jones trips to their offering has created summer-to-summer business. Antarctica\u2019s season is November through January, and the Dr. Jones Colombia\u2013Guatemala trip runs Aug. 26\u2013Sept. 7, 2027 (additional dates: Sept. 19\u2013Oct. 1).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, the debut Dr. Jones flight will take off Oct. 18\u201330, 2026: a 12-day Peru\u2013Patagonia journey (from $59,000) down almost the entire western edge of South America. This isn\u2019t a Machu Picchu trip, says Patrick. It\u2019s meant to deliver \u201conce-in-a-lifetime exploration\u201d across some of the most remote, visually striking landscapes on the continent, including the coastal dunes of Paracas, Peru, Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert, and Torres del Paine National Park. Lodging is predictably five-star, including the recently renovated Tierra Atacama and Tierra Patagonia lodges, yet the adventure level remains high. Be it on a trek to the remote, unexplored ruins of Uaxact\u00fan or on a microlight flight over wildlife-filled savannahs, Patrick says, \u201cyou\u2019re the hero of your own story.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Any fan of the Indiana Jones film series knows the \u201cmap sequence,\u201d when we see the titular hero…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,559,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-646717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-feature","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}