A LOO WITH A VIEW

Sossusvlei, Namib Desert, Namibia.
“Hello, Big Daddy…”

They appear like an oasis in the Namibian desert - twin toilets happily serving visitors to the magnificent sand dunes of Sossusvlei. Pictured here in front of the Big Daddy dune, these latrines are a truly exciting find, the perfect place to start and/or finish your desert adventure.

Sossusvlei is home to a number of the world’s tallest sand dunes. Big Daddy is the biggest in the area, weighing in at a whopping 325 metres. Constantly changing shape with the wind, these giant dunes remind us that everything in life is transient, continuously evolving. In the words of philosopher Heraclitus: ‘all is flux, nothing is stationary’. Thank you to Richard Bottle, of Somerset UK, for sharing the photo.

Photograph: Richard Bottle.
View: 8/10.
Points of interest: 8/10.
Categories: desert, philosophy.
Toilet type: unknown.
Cleanliness: unknown.
Access: located in the 4WD car park.

The Gibbon Experience, Laos.
“My best ever squat.”

You zipline through the jungle by day and spend the night sleeping in the world’s highest treehouses. But, the real highlight is, of course, the toilets. This is The Gibbon Experience, an eco-tourism project based in the Nam Kan National Park, northern Laos. Thank you to The Gibbon Experience for sending the photo. It’s great to see it. It’s also great to see the well-stocked soap dispenser and open-air shower.

The Gibbon Experience works with its local community, funding things like ranger patrols, reforestation programmes and rice paddy field construction. Food for thought as you use this toilet - although you may be too busy trying to spot the rare and once endangered Black-Cheeked Gibbon, which lives in the park:

Photograph: Souksamlan Laladeth.
View: 8/10.
Points of interest: 8/10.
Categories: science/nature, conservation.
Toilet type: squat.
Cleanliness: good.
Access: via zipline.

Sacred Valley of the Incas, Peru. “I regret using the curtain.”

You are suspended in a glass pod 400m up a Peruvian mountain. Thank goodness there's a toilet! They say that spending the night in a Skylodge Adventure Suite is like sleeping in a condor’s nest. There’s a tantalising glimpse of an adventure suite toilet in the video above. Great to see that it FACES the window, for optimum viewing.

Skylodge Adventure Suites are located in The Sacred Valley of the Incas (a.k.a. the Urubamba Valley) - on the way to Machu Picchu and about an hour and a half from the ancient Incan capital of Cusco. The thought of using this toilet is definitely enough to get me on a plane to Peru. Here are some other reasons (although I can’t imagine why you’d need them), as well as a history lesson from TED Ed:

View: 8/10.
Points of interest: 8/10.
Categories: valleys, ancient history.
Toilet type: seated.
Cleanliness: good.
Access: involves climbing/ziplining.

Denali, Alaska, USA.
“I reflected on the climb thus far and the journey still to come.”

Was it Thomas Jefferson who said ‘with great risk comes great reward’? Well, that’s clearly true for this daring climber on North America’s highest mountain, Denali. To sit on a toilet, 14,200ft above sea level, wind on your cheeks etc, must be quite exhilarating. I want to take up mountaineering JUST to experience this. Admittedly, climbing to Denali’s Camp 3, where this toilet is located, wouldn’t be without its dangers. But, with the right training, surely worth it? Denali, meaning 'the high one' or 'the great one', is one of the seven summits of the world and from base to peak is taller than Mount Everest, although Everest is higher above sea level. For almost a hundred years Denali was officially named Mount McKinley, after assassinated US President William McKinley. President Barack Obama changed the name back to its native Alaskan moniker in 2015.

This toilet proudly features in my book A Loo With a View. The photo, which also features, was taken a number of years ago on a successful expedition to the summit. Here is the story of a more recent expedition, from Camp 4 Collective. It includes footage of Camp 3 and the view across to Mount Foraker, but sadly not the toilet:

Photograph: Pat Baumann.
View: 10/10.
Points of interest: 7/10.
Categories: landscape, mountaineering.
Toilet type: seated.
Cleanliness: unknown.
Access: experienced climbers.

Rocky Rapid Recreation Area, Moab.
“I felt like John Wayne.”

As Route 128 winds its way through America's red rock country, outside of Moab, Utah, a turning off the highway near Castle Valley takes you down to the Rocky Rapid Recreation Area. Suddenly there it is, standing proud at a bend in the Colorado River, with the great mesas of Castle Valley looming behind. The Rocky Rapid Recreation Area is said to be a launch point for canoes. It is also home to, arguably, America’s most picturesque roadside facility.

Left to right, the rocks of Castle Valley are called: The Convent; Sister Superior; The Rectory; Castleton Tower and Parriott Mesa. They have featured in a number of movies, including John Ford's 1950 western Rio Grande, starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Jon Bon Jovi famously filmed the video for his 1990 hit Blaze of Glory on top of The Rectory, while Chevrolet literally placed a car on top of Castleton Tower for a 1964 TV commercial. Castleton Tower was also the scene of a world record-breaking slackline walk by Théo Sanson, captured in all its glory in this video by Camp 4 Collective:

Photograph: Todd Petersen.
View: 9/10.
Points of interest: 9/10.
Categories: film history, extreme sports.
Toilet type: unknown.
Cleanliness: unknown.
Access: by road, from Moab or potentially canoe via Colorado River.

Tengboche Monastery, Nepal.
“I was in a toilet AND I was looking at Mount Everest…”

To see the peak of Mount Everest from a toilet is a very special moment - arguably, more special than standing on the summit of Everest itself. Located at the Tengboche Monastery in Nepal, this is surely the world’s most iconic toilet view and proudly features in my book, A Loo With a View. In the photo, the peak of Mount Everest, the highest point on earth, is poking up on the left. The world’s fourth highest mountain, Lhotse, is the one on the right. Tengboche Monastery sits high in the Himalayas. Once remote and inaccessible, it is now visited by thousands of people every year. The monastery is on the main trekking route to Everest base camp and offers the first clear views of the mountain, which looks quite close but is still some three days away.

The Sherpa people live in the shadow of Mount Everest and many famously work as porters on summit expeditions. This short film tells the story of Apa Sherpa. He has climbed Everest 21 times, but now hopes to build a different future for his people:

Potentially tenuous link - but this short documentary tells the story of one of the world’s most difficult and bizarre sporting events - the Barkley Marathons. 100 miles in 60 hours, across some of the most challenging terrain on earth with an elevation gain equivalent to climbing Everest twice. No wonder only a handful of runners have ever completed it:

And, finally, flying out of Lukla, where most treks to Everest begin, looks like this:

Photograph: Anna Maria S. Jorgensen.
View: 10/10.
Points of interest: 9/10.
Categories: mountains, people/places, religion.
Toilet type: unknown.
Cleanliness: unknown.
Access: 4-5 day trek.

68th Floor, The Shard, London.
“I stayed in there for 25 minutes.”

It’s a beautiful surprise as you open the cubicle door. Brilliantly, the toilets at the top of The Shard building in London have been fitted with floor-to-ceiling windows, offering a unique way to take in the magnificent view. No visit to the observation deck would be complete without a trip to these toilets. It's like you've just been handed your very own, personal, viewing pod. A button-operated electric blind is available, but leave it open and many of London's most iconic sights are visible beneath your feet, as you sit.

Opened to the public in 2013, The Shard is perhaps the most distinctive feature of London’s modern skyline. And yet, as this animation from Elbow Productions explains, architect Renzo Piano was actually inspired by history when designing it:

Many of London’s most famous sites are visible from The Shard toilets, including London Bridge, The Tower of London, The Gherkin and even the 2012 Olympic Park. But during my visit, I was especially excited to see HMS Belfast. First launched in 1938, this historic warship played a key role in the D-Day Landings of World War II. It is now permanently moored on the River Thames and is part of the Imperial War Museum:

View: 10/10.
Points of interest: 10/10.
Categories: cities, tall buildings, site-seeing.
Toilet type: seated.
Cleanliness: good.
Access: Via lift. Observation deck is floors 68-72. Toilet is floor 68. Ticket required.

Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Bay.
“A dream job.”

Alcatraz is best known for its inmates and their audacious escape attempts across San Francisco Bay. But spare a thought for the prison guards, especially those on lookout duty. Shifts in the Alcatraz guard towers were long and tough. But at least there was a toilet - photographed here seat down. Now a major tourist attraction, Alcatraz was a high-security Federal prison between 1934 and 1963 and famously housed some of America’s most notorious criminals, including Al Capone. I was delighted to visit this toilet - sadly not literally - when writing A Loo With a View. It’s one of the book’s flagship toilets.

This collection of time-lapse videos, filmed in and around San Francisco Bay, is not only amazing, but also hints at what the view might have been like from the guard tower toilets:

And this fascinating video from Inside Edition discusses what it was like for the children who lived on Alcatraz - not because they were inmates, but because their parents worked on the island as guards:

Photograph: Luke Barclay.
View: 7/10.
Points of interest: 9/10.
Categories: prisons, history, people/places.
Toilet type: seated.
Cleanliness: unknown, not in use.
Access: via tourist boat to Alcatraz Island, guard tower is off limits to public.

Balu Pass, Glacier NP, Canada.
“I have never felt so alive.”

There are hundreds of open-air toilets in national parks around the world and this spectacular, throne-like facility is, undoubtedly, one of the best. It’s located on the Balu Pass hiking trail in Glacier National Park, British Columbia. But do be careful! Balu means BEAR in Hindi! Baloo the bear and all that… They say to check in with park rangers and watch a bear safety video before heading on to the trail. The video may or may not tell you what to do if you encounter a bear while using the toilet. Either way, sitting there, at one with nature, is a humbling and thought-provoking experience. As Florian Nick, who made the video below while exploring the landscapes of British Columbia and Alberta, put it: “we have to take responsibility for it - for the place where we are alive”:

Photograph: Valerie McDougall.
View: 9/10.
Points of interest: 7/10.
Categories: national parks, great outdoors.
Toilet type: seated.
Cleanliness: unknown, potentially poor.
Access: on foot along an 11.4km hiking trail. Please be bear aware.

Ludi Scenic Area, Guilin, China.
“Thank you, just thank you.”

According to a Chinese proverb, the beauty of the landscape around the city of Guilin is ‘best of all under heaven’. Perhaps this is why the toilets at the Ludi Scenic Area in Guilin have been fitted with floor-to-ceiling windows, opening up the view to create a simply unforgettable latrine experience. Arguably the best in China. China rates its public toilets on a scale of one-five. These are definitely a five.

Standing on the west bank of the Lijiang River, Guilin is renowned for its distinctive karst rock formations, created when soluble limestone dissolves to leave peaks/hills. This video, from Daan van Reijn, brings to life the incredible karst landscape of the Lijiang River between Guilin and Yangshuo:

Photograph: Alex Healing.
View: 9/10.
Points of interest: 9/10.
Categories: geographic wonders, rivers.
Toilet type: urinal.
Cleanliness: unknown, suspect good.
Access: by road to the Ludi Scenic Area. Urinals are obviously in the gents, but there are rumours of a viewing platform in the ladies.