Honeymoon with a wild twist!

Just married? Come along for the ride as Baisakhi Roy checks out some really crazy and very exotic honeymoon destinations

1) Have a meat-fest
Hawaii is not just sand and snorkelling. A better way to celebrate wedded bliss is eating your guts out at a traditional “luau”. Far from being a picnic table affair, this is an elaborate ceremony where you will be regaled with Polynesian music and dance while you enjoy a demonstration of their native arts and crafts. Then, the fun begins. At a typical luau, in a large pit called the “imu”, a large pig, sweet potatoes and laulau (fish and pork wrapped in a leaf) are placed and covered with banana leaves and ti leaves. then after a couple of hours and a few mai-tais down, watch the unearthing of a steaming, roasted pig from the underground oven accompanied by exotic Hawaiin food like huli huli chicken, fresh mahi mahi, poi and sweet potatoes, fruits, vegetables and delectable desserts.

There are three nightly luaus hosted along Kaanapali Beach: the Hyatt Regency Maui’s ‘Drums of the Pacific,’ and the one hosted by the Royal Lahaina Resort; one of Maui’s longest-running luaus. Romance blossoms on a full tummy.

2) Swim with the fish
Yes you could and then stay on. Jules’ Undersea Lodge, at the bottom of the Emerald Lagoon in Key Largo, Florida is perfect for couples who love marine life and literally want to be a part of it. Getting to the lodge is an adventure magnifique. Visitors must dive 21 feet down below the surface and swim through the tropical mangrove habitat of the Emerald Lagoon going up underneath the structure to enter a space through the floor in the hotels ‘wet’ room. “Entering through an opening in the bottom of the habitat, the feeling is much like discovering a secret underwater clubhouse,” according to the lodge’s Web site. See some amazing technology in the Marine Lab, an underwater laboratory devoted exclusively to research and education. Befriend some parrotfish and barracuda while the “mer-chef” dives into the hotel to prepare your dinner. Don’t fret if you don’t know how to dive; the lodge provides lessons for all levels. Seal that pact with love and a wet kiss.

3) Hike up the passion with biking
Take your love to dizzying heights with a biking honeymoon in Oaxaca’s Northern Sierras. Exotic flowers crowd the slopes, and even on the sunniest of days, puffy white clouds loft in from the Gulf of Mexico to cool you. Pine forests give the mountains their green colour and add shade. You can choose from over a dozen inexpensive lodging places called cabanas where you can stay while not biking up the mountains. The housing is reasonably priced to attract adventure junkies and eco-tourists. Add to that the locally grown fresh farm food and you have an inexpensive way to spend your days wrapped in love, savouring some fresh, rare air. And if the culture craving seeps in, explore the ruins in Monte Alban (one of the earliest cities of Mesoamerica), located 10 km west of the state capital, Oaxaca City.

4) Camp with the lions
Does big game give you a thrill? Then, one of the largest game reserves in Kenya, The Masai Mara is where you could set up camp. Or it could be done for you; the safari experience is quadrupled when you are right in the middle of the action. The Mara is home to some of the best tented luxury camps in Africa and wait, there’s more. All tents are equipped with flushing toilets, haute cuisine and sun downers served by waiters wearing white gloves. You can begin your mornings with a slow mocha, watching the wildebeest (belongs to the goat family) converging at the waterhole (most of the hotels set up camps along the Talek river) right from your tent. Then take a convertible van out into a no-holds barred wildlife adventure as you sneak up on a herd of African elephants or a family of lions lazying over their kill. Sweet moments spent in savannah splendour!