Aubrey HilllThe otherworldly landscape of this UNESCO World Heritage-listed preserve is a lush mix of mangrove swamps and emerald-green forests studded with fingers of limestone rock and riven by deep gorges. Make a special effort to see the dramatic Manambolo River canyon on the south side of the park. When it comes to wildlife, lemurs are … Read more
In the far northeast of Hokkaido, Japan’s most northerly island, lies a rugged finger of land jutting 40 miles (65 km) into the Sea of Okhotsk. Surprisingly, this peninsula, which is on about the same latitude as the state of Oregon or the French Riviera, freezes over in winter, and the snow remains in its … Read more
Victoria Falls is a spectacular sight at any time, not least because its spray, like rain, creates a rainbow when the sun is out. At night, this rainbow usually vanishes, except when there is a full moon and a clear sky, and when the Zambezi River is at its most thunderous (Jan–Jul). The combination of … Read more
A walk through this deep fissure of rock, running for 11 miles (17 km) from Omalos to Aghia Roumeli on the south coast of Crete, is not for the unfit. Once in the gorge, there’s no turning back. It’s a Dantean landscape of sheer rock rising towards the sun, which in high summer shines without … Read more
One of nature’s miraculous events is the arrival of thousands of turtles on this beach every few weeks from July to November. These amphibians lumber out of the surf to lay their eggs in such numbers that the beach can look like a rocky shore. A conservation deal with the locals allows them to collect … Read more
There was a time when whales wandered the earth. Well, an early type of whale – a four-legged creature called an archaeoceti. It’s a scary, unlikely thought, but here the evidence is brought to light: the skeletons of land-whales on the point of losing their hind legs. This is the greatest concentration of prehistoric animal … Read more
A walk through this deep fissure of rock, running for 11 miles (17 km) from Omalos to Aghia Roumeli on the south coast of Crete, is not for the unfit. Once in the gorge, there’s no turning back. It’s a Dantean landscape of sheer rock rising towards the sun, which in high summer shines without … Read more
Take in the view of this void from the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge on Highway 64, a piece of engineering to match the drama of the canyon itself. Way below is a river that promises white-water rafting par excellence. Underground volcanic activity still shows up in hot springs along the valley, and petroglyphs reveal human … Read more
Heading down dead-straight Highway 161 towards the backdrop of Monument Valley’s broken crags, you might well get the feeling that you have been this way before. And in films, you have – this classic Western scene of unremitting desert scattered with the great, lonely fists of red rock known as “Mittens” has seen many a … Read more
The largest wetlands in the world don’t sound particularly appealing. But this vast and incredibly fertile region of central-west Brazil has some of the most exciting – and easily seen – creatures in the world. The wet season runs from November to April, when it rains for several hours every afternoon and the aquatic flora … Read more