National Geographic Traveller (UK)
Nature & w ildlife
TAKE A CRUISE THROUGH STORYBOOK LAND
BELIZE GRAB A FRONT-ROW SEAT TO INCREDIBLE TROPICAL WILDLIFE
Nature scored a big win recently in the race to preserve one of the largest remaining tropical rainforests in the Americas. In April 2021, a coalition of conservation partners, led by the Nature Conservancy, purchased 236,000 acres of tropical forest in northwestern Belize to create the Belize Maya Forest Reserve. Along with saving some of the most biodiverse forest in the world from denuding and development, the new protected area, which is contiguous with the neighbouring Rio Bravo Conservation and Management Area (RBCMA), closes a huge gap in a vital wildlife corridor that runs from southeast Mexico through Guatemala and into Belize.
The combined reserve, which protects nearly a tenth of Belize’s land area, safeguards and connects essential habitat for an amazing variety of endemic and endangered creatures, including the tapir, Belize’s national animal; black howler monkeys; more than 400 species of bird; and some of Central America’s largest surviving populations of jaguar. For now, ecotourism activities are based in the more established RBCMA, which has two lodges and offers guided expeditions.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVEL (US)
NORTHERN MINNESOTA GAZE UP AT DISTANT GALAXIES IN ONE OF THE WORLD’ S L ARGEST D ARK-SKY R ESERVES
Thousands upon thousands of stars dazzle above northern Minnesota. This remote region bordering the Canadian province of Ontario has little to no light pollution, and residents want to keep it that way.
The Heart of the Continent Dark Skies Initiative is a cross-border effort to create one of the planet’s largest dark-sky destinations. Two stellar spots are in Minnesota: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), the world’s largest International Dark
Sky Sanctuary at more than a million acres; and neighbouring Voyageurs National Park, the state’s first International Dark Sky Park. Adjoining Quetico Provincial Park, in Ontario, earned International Dark Sky Park status a year later, in early 2021.
“The preservation of darkness at places like Voyageurs National Park not only provides wondrous views and ecological benefits to wildlife,” says Christina Hausman Rhode, executive director of the nonprofit Voyageurs Conservancy, “It also allows us to see the skies as they were hundreds of years ago, used for navigation and storytelling by the voyageurs and indigenous Ojibwe.”
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVEL (US)
KENT, U K BISON IN THE KENT COUNTRYSIDE & REWILDING SUCCESS STORIES NATIONWIDE
When Kent Wildlife Trust and the Wildwood Trust set out to hire the UK’s first bison rangers in early 2021, more than 1,000 applications flooded in. Successful candidates Tom Gibbs and Donovan Wright have an exciting task ahead: in spring 2022, they’re managing the reintroduction of four European bison, bred by the European Endangered Species Programme, to Blean Woods near Canterbury.
Hunted to extinction in Britain thousands of years ago, bison are forest architects: by rubbing against trunks and eating bark, they cause weak trees to tumble, allowing multiple plant and animal species to thrive. Once the foursome has settled in, Donovan will help visitors approach them, at a safe distance, on foot.
Elsewhere in the UK, other rewilding projects are gathering pace. There are several beaver reintroduction sites to visit. Fans of BBC Two’s Springwatch will recognise Ladock’s Cornwall Beaver Project and Norfolk’s Wild Ken Hill, a mosaic of farmland and regenerated habitats. Or revel in the drama of Wales’ red kite feeding stations, and enjoy the romance of Knepp Wildland in West Sussex — where visitors can watch storks, bats and deer, then snuggle down in cosy treehouses or tents.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER (UK)
LAKE BAIKAL, RUSSIA BLAZE A TRAIL AT THE WORLD’ S BIGGEST FRESHWATER LAKE
Lake Baikal is so vast and deep that locals regularly refer to it as a sea. Covering around 12,200sq miles and with an average depth of 2,442ft, the massive lake is a natural wonder. It’s also in serious trouble. Despite being named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, ongoing pollution, the recent weakening of government protections and new threats, such as large-scale tourism development, caused the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) to deem the environmental World Heritage Outlook of Lake Baikal of ‘significant concern’ in 2020.
Visitors can help safeguard the lake and its wide array of landscapes — including tundra, steppe, boreal forest and virgin beaches — by volunteering with Great Baikal Trail (GBT), the nonprofit environmental group creating a hiking route around the lake. “Volunteering helps protect Lake Baikal nature by developing ecotourism infrastructure,” says Great Baikal Trail Association president Elena Chubakova.
Hiking the GBT is also a planet-friendly way to spot some of the 1,200 Lake Baikal plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth, such as the nerpa, the world’s only exclusively freshwater seal.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER (RUSSIA)
Nature & w ildlife
VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA SPOT UNIQUE AUSTRALIAN WILDLIFE ALONG THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD
The green shoots of regeneration are appearing in Australia, where some 72,000sq miles were burned during the 2019-2020 bushfires, leading to the deaths of at least 34 people and more than a billion animals.
Playing its own role in these rejuvenation efforts, Wildlife Wonders, in Victoria’s Otways region, is a new sanctuary with a mission. Tucked away off the Great Ocean Road amid lush forest and waterfalls, it’s the brainchild of Brian Massey — the landscape designer of New Zealand’s Hobbiton experience — who, alongside botanists, scientists, zoologists and environmental specialists, has crafted a wooden path through the refuge.
Visitors can go on 75-minute guided tours of the site, wandering through thickets of eucalypts and admiring the koalas, wallabies and bandicoots that now call the sanctuary home. During a stop at the Research Base, guests can learn how the site provides a safe space for native species like the long-nosed potoroo, which often falls prey to invasive predators such as foxes and cats.
All profits from Wildlife Wonders go towards the Conservation Ecology Centre, which helps to fund several vital conservation projects in the Otways.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER (UK)
NAMIBIA POINT YOURSELF TO THE NEXT GREAT SAFARI DESTINATION
Namibia evokes images of deserts, immense dunes and parched mountains. But the Caprivi Strip, a narrow finger of land that juts out towards the east in the extreme north of the country, is a green, wildlife-rich territory, thanks to the presence of the Okavango, Kwando, Chobe and Zambezi rivers, which create the ideal habitat for numerous animal species.
During the second half of the 20th century, the area was the scene of intense military activity. Remote and difficult to access, it was the ideal corridor for various armed groups. After Namibia gained independence in 1990, peace — and wildlife — gradually returned.
In the eastern section of the region, Nkasa Rupara National Park is a secret jewel. Recent years have seen the opening of a ranger station and tented lodge, which have made it more accessible to tourism, but it’s still seldom visited. Encompassed by the Kwando-Linyanti river system to the south, and by swamps and lagoons to the north, Nkasa Rupara is Namibia’s largest protected wetland. The park is home to the biggest population of buffalo in Namibia, as well as lions, leopards and hyenas, and crocodiles and hippos in the river.
Mahango Game Park, in the west, is home to wetlands and mopane forests, as well as herds of elephants, hippos, crocodiles and nearly all Namibia’s species of antelope.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER (ITALY)
Family
DANUBE RIVER
Boating the Danube can seem like travelling through a realm of fairytales, with its scrolling views of castles, medieval towns and stately palaces that help to bring European history vividly to life. The river twists through 10 countries (Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine), and most Danube cruise itineraries include stops in at least four of those, with special family sailings featuring child-friendly onshore activities.
School lessons focusing on feudalism in the Middle Ages take on vivid dimensions when exploring Veste Oberhaus in Passau, Germany, one of the largest surviving castle complexes in Europe. Ages-old Hungarian equestrian traditions come alive on a southern Hungarian ranch, where fearless csikós, or mounted herdsmen, ride standing upright and balance on the backs of two galloping horses.
When off the water, look to wheels. Board Vienna’s iconic giant Ferris wheel, the Riesenrad, or take a bike ride among terraced vineyards in Lower Austria’s UNESCO-listed Wachau Cultural Landscape.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER (ROMANIA)
GRANADA, SPAIN MARVEL AT THE GEOMETRIC BEAUTY OF THE ALHAMBRA
Built by 13th-century Nasrid sultans — rulers of the longest-lasting and last Muslim dynasty on the Iberian Peninsula — the Alhambra (‘red fort’) is considered the Moorish architectural jewel of Europe. The almondshaped profile of this UNESCO World Heritage Site rests on a hill above Granada, one of the most picturesque cities in Spain.
But it’s the mathematical wizardry on display here that’s particularly fascinating for families. Intricate mosaics, arabesques (a repetitive, stylised pattern based on a floral or vegetal design) and muqarnas (ornamental vaulting) make the Alhambra a masterpiece of geometric beauty — and a colourful classroom for age-appropriate exploration of maths concepts, such as shapes, symmetry, proportion and measurement.
Maths also flows through the Alhambra’s other main design feature — water. Water provides the refreshing spirit of the gardens and the murmur of its fountains but is also an element of the architecture itself.
At the Palace of the Lions, one of the Alhambra’s three original royal palaces, families will marvel at the central fountain. Its elaborate design features 12 stone lions supporting a large marble basin on their backs and — thanks to the technical wonder of complex hydraulics — spitting water from their mouths.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC VIAJES (SPAIN)
Family
BONAIRE DIVE INTO ONE OF THE OLDEST MARINE RESERVES IN THE WORLD
Dazzling sunlight, a turquoise sea, palm trees, white beaches and a laid-back atmosphere: Bonaire ticks all the boxes for an idyllic tropical destination. And off its coast lies one of the oldest marine reserves in the world.
The Bonaire National Marine Park was established in 1979 and has been on the provisional UNESCO World Heritage List since 2011. The reserve encompasses 6,672 acres of coral reef, seagrass and mangrove vegetation. Bonaire’s reefs are a magnet for divers and snorkellers who can spot up to 57 species of coral and more than 350 different fish species.
Several of the island’s dive schools participate in the Reef Renewal programme, in which volunteers can grow and maintain corals, then plant them into the reef.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER (THE NETHERLANDS)
LYCIA, TURKEY LEARN ABOUT NOMADIC LIFE IN THE SUNNY MEDITERRANEAN
The nomadic yörüks, originally from different Turkic groups that ranged from the Balkans to Iran, once roamed the plateaus of the Turkish riviera. Most of the yörüks (literally ‘walkers’) have now settled — but many of their thousand-year-old customs are alive and well. Located in the historical Lycia region in southwestern Anatolia, Teke Peninsula is one of the spots where yörük culture remains strong. Teke yörüks live a semi-nomadic life set against a mountainous, Mediterranean backdrop full of olive trees.
In recent years, tour companies have started to merge the marvels of Lycia with yörük life. Families can trek parts of the famous Lycian Way; visit ancient sites like Patara, Xanthos or Letoon; and spend nights in villagers’ homes.
(TURKEY)
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELER
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, UK
ROBIN HOOD COUNTRY GETS A REVAMP
Fresh from an exciting £30m revamp, 400-year-old Nottingham Castle has thrown open its wooden gates again. The highlight is a permanent new exhibition dedicated to Robin Hood and his fellow Nottingham rebels, with the focus on interactive fun including storytelling and ballads in a mocked-up forest clearing as well as longbow-firing, digital archery competitions and sparring with Little John.
Throw in some caves to explore, family trails, seasonal events and a fantastic new adventure playground, and you have all the makings of brilliant day out.
It would be remiss to visit Nottingham without branching out to Sherwood Forest, home to the folkloric Hood himself and his band of Merry Men. In 2018 the forest opened a new visitor centre, and a 450-acre nature reserve, managed by the RSPB.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER (UK)
Family
HADRIAN’S WALL, UK THE UK RE FRAMES ITS ANCIENT ROMAN FRONTIER AS ITS BIG ATTRACTION
A simultaneous celebration of both old and new, this UNESCO-listed structure — which was begun in AD
122 and formed the north-west frontier of the Roman empire for nearly 300 years — marks its 1,900th birthday in 2022 with a year-long festival of special events and activities. Think live outdoor performances, historic reenactments, sunset music sessions, an illuminated garden, thought-provoking outdoor art installations, compelling talks and even a Roman Big Birthday Bash. It will all be spread across the entire 72-mile length of this coast-to-coast route, in all three counties that it crosses: Northumberland, Cumbria and Tyne & Wear.
And, this year, the region gets a big injection of cash: £30m in government and charity funding to improve transport links and upgrade visitor centres. It’s hoped the wall will become one of the country’s most-visited landmarks, with a goal of attracting an extra million tourists annually.
It’s a lively region for families to learn about ancient history. Key sites and attractions include the Roman Army Museum, Corbridge Roman Town, South Shields’ Arbeia Roman Fort with its re-creation of a commander’s house, the Roman Frontier Gallery in Carlisle and the Ravenglass Roman Bathhouse, to name but a few.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER UK
EASTERN SHORE, MARYLAND DISCOVER THE MARSHLANDS THAT SHAPED HARRIET TUBMAN
The history of the Underground Railroad flows through the waterways, wetlands, swamps and tidal marshes of Dorchester County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. This is where the secret network’s most famous ‘conductor’, Harriet Tubman, was born enslaved, grew up and honed the skills — such as trapping, hunting and navigating by the stars — she used to escape to freedom in Pennsylvania. She then returned 13 times to rescue more than 70 enslaved friends and family. Her heroic story is told at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center, one of the more than 30 stops along the 125-mile Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.
To bring Tubman’s story to life for kids, Alex Green, co-owner of Harriet Tubman Tours, suggests a kayaking adventure in the byway’s Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge where, as a child, she trapped muskrats and worked alongside her father, a timber inspector who taught her how to move around the marshlands.
“We talk to kids about how the confidence and lessons Harriet learned inside the terrible institution of slavery drove her to accomplish incredible things,” Green says. “Harriet never gave up and she never stopped learning. That’s a lesson they can take home.”
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVEL US