On my first go to to Africa in 2012, I spent a number of days safariing by way of Kenya’s breathtaking Maasai Mara. The sheer breadth of wildlife blew me away. There had been hyenas wandering alongside the roadsides, elephants nourishing themselves round watering holes, and even a trio of playful cheetahs meandering among the many grasslands. I keep in mind considering, “I never want this experience to end.” In a manner, it by no means did. Over the final decade, I’ve made safaris an everyday a part of my travels, whether or not it’s crusing by way of the Galapagos archipelago in the hunt for blue- and red-footed boobies or monitoring spiky echidna and camouflaged koalas on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island. Thankfully, wildlife exists across the planet.
Sure, on the subject of safaris, many people consider prides of lions lazing in East Africa’s open savannas or herds of wildebeest leaping throughout dashing rivers. But whereas “safari” is a Swahili phrase which means “journey,” and originates from the Arabic phrase for journey, “safara,” it’s come to signify the extra basic notion of experiencing wildlife in its personal pure habitat, whether or not the nation or continent.
So get your binoculars prepared! From the Florida Everglades to the final nice wilderness of Antarctica, listed below are 5 unimaginable locations you’ll be able to safari outdoors of Africa (and it’s solely the start…).
Northern Australia
A Lumholtz’s tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus lumholtzi)
It’s no secret that the Land Down Under hosts an unimaginable vary of wildlife, from short-legged wombats to blue-tongued lizards, however the nation’s north boasts a very distinctive array. We’re speaking endangered cassowaries and uncommon Lumholtz tree kangaroos, which have tailored to life within the bushes.
Outside of state confines, Australia’s “north” stretches up from the nation’s jap coast to the Northern Territory, the place terrain varies from dry crimson grime to tropical wetlands.
Queensland occupies the nation’s northeast and is the place you’ll discover the Great Barrier Reef, itself a outstanding wonderland of marine life. Take the waters surrounding Lake Elliot Island, that are crammed with manta rays, sea turtles and greater than 1,500 tropical reef species. It’s additionally among the best areas for seeing unspoiled coral reefs.
Back on land sits one other actually distinct ecosystem: the Daintree Rainforest, an historic land of dense cover, deep gorges and gushing waterfalls. Along with uncommon wildlife like musky rat-kangaroos and buff-breasted paradise kingfishers, this rainforest is likely one of the few locations to identify southern cassowaries within the wild.
Southern Cassowary (Casuarius casuarius) © Matt Meyer
These prehistoric-looking flightless birds can attain as much as 6.5 toes tall, and are referred to as the “guardians” of the forest. Actually, the 460-square-mile Daintree National Park is brimming with a whole bunch of hen species, lots of them shiny, colourful and native to the world. These embrace the domestically endemic tooth-billed bowerbird and the yellow-spotted honeyeater.
For some added journey, embark on a ship journey alongside the Daintree River to return face-to-face with its most well-known residents, saltwater crocodiles, the biggest residing crocodilians on the planet. Or go to the Australian Quoll Conservancy, a staple on Nat Hab’s Australia North: Kakadu, Daintree, and the Great Barrier Reef journey, for a behind-the-scenes have a look at spotted-tailed quolls, mainland Australia’s largest carnivorous marsupials.
Nat Hab vacationers discover a flooded paperbark forest in North Australia © Richard Anson
Airboats, quad bikes and recreation drives are just some of the methods to look out wildlife in Australia’s Northern Territory. As one of many nation’s largest nationwide parks, Kakadu National Park is an especially biodiverse stretch of tidal flats, lowlands and floodplains that host every part from dingos and wallabies to river sharks and freshwater crocodiles. Neighboring Bamurru Plains, a personal concession and secluded safari camp that Nat Hab makes use of, homes one of many largest saltwater crocodiles on the planet. More than 100,000 black-and-white magpie geese congregate within the floodplains at numerous occasions of the 12 months, whether or not it’s crowding round Bamurru’s billabongs in March or migrating by way of the skies every October.
The Antarctic Continent
Nat Hab vacationers crusing and whale watching © Ben Wallis
It’s thought-about the final nice wilderness, an unlimited white continent that’s principally uninhabitable, save for the wildlife that’s discovered to not solely survive but additionally thrive there.
A safari here’s a actually unimaginable expertise: wandering amongst large colonies of orange-beaked Adelie and aptly-named chinstrap penguins, watching humpback whales breach from the security of a zodiac raft, and coming upon a sinisterly smiling leopard seal that’s seemingly dreaming about its subsequent catch whereas napping on a slab of ice. Birdlife ranges from wandering albatross—one of many largest avians on the planet—to Antarctic blue-eyed cormorants and gull-like skuas.
© Sven-Olof
When you’re not out foraying amongst towering icebergs or tracing the ocean trails of orcas, you may end up studying to distinguish between Weddell and crabeater seals. Our accomplice Lindblad Expeditions’ Journey to Antarctica: The White Continent ensures vacationers the expedition of a lifetime.
The Florida Everglades
It’s the biggest subtropical wilderness within the United States—a 1.5 million-acre wetlands protect crammed with sawgrass prairies, pine flatwoods and coastal mangroves house to a whole bunch of wildlife species, together with many which are uncommon and endangered.
This twin World Heritage Site and an International Biosphere Reserve covers a big swath of southern Florida, and is as wild as they arrive. Alligators solar alongside river banks, whereas their extra aggressive crocodile cousins bask within the area’s brackish saltwater. In truth, it’s the one place on the planet the place the 2 reptiles coexist.
Panther
About 200 Florida panthers dwell among the many area’s forests and swamplands. For your greatest probability of viewing this elusive creature, are available winter. This is the dry season when wildlife tends to assemble round watering holes for nourishment and is extra simply seen. It’s additionally when slow-moving manatees search out the world’s heat waters, feeding on seagrass and algae whereas retaining their physique temperatures up.
The better Everglades ecosystem is brimming with wildlife hotspots, comparable to Audubon Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, 14,450 acres of principally wetlands the place otters, red-bellied turtles, sandhill cranes and Florida black bears reside, to not point out an enormous focus of alligators. There’s additionally Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, 110,000 acres of uplands and kayakable mangrove forests teeming with manatees, peregrine falcons and a trio of sea turtle species—together with endangered loggerhead sea turtles, which make the most of the reserve’s distant Keewaydin Island (solely accessible by boat) as an important nesting floor. Feeling particularly adventurous? Try touring through airboat among the many marsh grass and channels of Big Cypress National Preserve, retaining a watch out for nice blue herons and alligators as you go.
Manatee mom and calf
Nat Hab presents a Florida Nature Safari, which together with the better Everglades, visits spots just like the water-centric Biscayne National Park, house to greater than 600 fish species; the National Key Deer Refuge, a 9,200-acre reserve that protects the smallest subspecies of white-tailed deer in North America; and the 100-square-mile Dry Tortugas National Park, the place you’ll be able to snorkel amongst tropical fish like French grunts and yellowtail snappers. Consider it the final word wildlife expertise.
The Amazon River
There’s little question about it: South America’s Amazon River is a spectacular place for wildlife viewing, from catching sight of porpoising pink dolphins to recognizing vibrantly coloured macaws within the rainforest alongside the river banks. Southwestern Peru is house to the headwaters of this large river, and an ideal locale for a water-based wildlife safari.
© JJ Huckin
Cruising slowly upstream towards Pacaya Samiria National Reserve (Nat Hab’s Great Amazon River Expedition makes use of the beautiful Delfin II riverboat), five-million-plus acres of jungle, lagoons and tea-colored waters (not the point out the second largest protected pure space in Peru), you may encounter three-toed sloths at tranquil creeks comparable to Piranha Caño or, within the night, spot wide-eyed owl monkeys—the world’s solely nocturnal monkey—resting within the forest cover.
Squirrel monkeys
Ten-thousand-square-mile Pacaya Samiria Reserve sits on the Amazon headwaters. It’s aptly nicknamed the “jungle of mirrors” for its flooded forests and huge reflections in its lakes and rivers. Birds comparable to short-tailed parrots and yellow-rumped caciques take to the skies, whereas a whole bunch of fish species (together with piranhas and pre-historic carachama occupy its waters). Trees are swarming with noisy troops of squirrel monkeys and squirrel-sized saddleback tamarins, as capybaras—the world’s largest rodent—perch themselves alongside the reserve’s waterbanks.
Nat Hab vacationers embark on a rain forest trek © Megan Koelemay
Kayaking the black waters of the reserve’s Zapote River is a perfect solution to spot brown capuchin monkeys, large-billed terns and an occasional three-toed sloth lounging among the many lobed leaves of a cecropia tree. Or go for a hike alongside the Fundo Casual, which winds deep into the rainforest and into the realms of colourful poison dart frogs, leafcutter ants and nocturnal creatures comparable to carnivorous black caiman reptiles and spectacled owls.
China
Autumn within the Minshan Mountains in Jiuzhai Valley National Park.
China is probably not the primary nation that involves thoughts if you point out “safari,” however the world’s fourth-largest nation is house to an array of ecosystems, comparable to excessive mountain forests and open grasslands, the place wildlife thrives.
Sichuan province within the nation’s southwest boasts the Minshan Mountains, the place golden snub-nosed monkeys, goat-like takins and beautiful birds such because the spectacular golden pheasant reside. It’s additionally a great place for recognizing uncommon moon bears—recognizable by their shaggy black fur and cream-colored chest blaze—and blue sheep.
The quarrel of two Asiatic black bears (Ursus thibetanus), often known as the moon bear or the Himalayan bear.
If you’re fortunate, it’s possible you’ll even catch sight of a large panda, since almost half of all wild large pandas (which complete round 720) dwell among the many mountains’ bamboo forests. The area’s 100,000-acre Wild Panda Nature Reserve, which is part of Nat Hab’s The Wild Side of China: a Nature Odyssey expedition, is house to at the least 60 of them, together with different wildlife species like Tibetan and rhesus macaques, muntjac (aka barking deer) and greater than 1,200 takins. At night time, you may see nocturnal animals comparable to leopard cats and hog-nosed badgers popping out to feed.
Photographed by Nat Hab Expedition Leader © Brad Josephs
For supreme wildlife viewing, there’s additionally China’s Golden Monkey Nature Reserve. It sits among the many temperate forests of China’s Qinling Mountains and is teeming with dozens of its long-furred, snub-nosed namesake, to not point out colourful karst formations and spectacular waterfalls.
Snub-nosed monkey household © Brad Josephs