A visit to the rainforest is stuffed with fascinating potentialities for journey, whether or not via cultural trade, images, fishing, mountain climbing, birding or wildlife recognizing.
But not all rainforests are the identical! Some are sizzling and humid and stuffed with colourful orchids, whereas others are cool and misty and filled with prehistoric ferns. Some are recognized for his or her tiny residents, like hummingbirds, frogs and bugs, others for his or her orangutans or mountain gorillas. Many ultra-dense forests are greatest seen by boat, whereas others are greatest explored on land with a extremely educated information.
To begin you daydreaming about your subsequent nature getaway, we’ve compiled eight of our favourite rainforest locations.
1. Daintree: The Most Ancient Rainforest on Earth
Many folks assume that the Amazon is the oldest rainforest on the planet, however that title truly belongs to the Daintree Rainforest, a 135-million-year-old tropical forest edging the Great Barrier Reef in distant northeast Australia. In the province of the Eastern Kuku Yalanji Aboriginal folks, the lengthy historical past right here is clear. Ancient plant species that date all the way in which again to the Jurassic and Cretaceous intervals, together with whisk and tassel ferns, are examples of a few of Earth’s earliest land crops.
The surreal surroundings and rugged topography right here, made up of untamed rivers, gorges, refreshing waterfalls and mountains draped within the verdant rainforest, are mentioned to have impressed the movie Avatar. Incredibly excessive in biodiversity, the Daintree is dwelling to 30% of Australia’s frog, reptile and marsupial species and 90% of its bat and butterfly species.
Southern Cassowary
More than 430 chook species dwell among the many plum pines, southern yews and bunya pines of the Daintree, together with the endangered cassowary (a hanging chook that towers as much as 6-1/2 ft tall), pretty fairywren (sure, that’s its actual identify!), yellow-spotted honeyeater, Victoria’s riflebird, Bower’s shrike thrush, fernwren, and endemic tooth-billed and golden bowerbirds.
Keep an eye fixed out for giant saltwater crocodiles that ply the Daintree River and marsupials corresponding to potoroo, bandicoot and the lovely musky rat-kangaroo, one of many smallest members of the kangaroo household. This tiny marsupial is barely about 15 inches lengthy, together with its tail, and has survived in Australian forests for greater than 20 million years.
Visit the Daintree Rainforest on Nat Hab’s Ultimate Australia Safari
2. Amazon: By Far the World’s Largest Rainforest
Daintree stands out as the oldest, however the wild and vividly colourful Amazon is by far the most important rainforest. It is made up of 1.4 billion acres — half of the planet’s remaining tropical forests. The Amazon spans Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. This dense biome is greatest explored each on foot and by water, in order to not miss the large array of variety it has to supply.
On our Great Amazon River Expedition, we head straight to the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve within the coronary heart of the Peruvian Amazon, a 5-million-acre labyrinth of flooded and dry forest, islands and chocolate-colored creeks laden with tannins.
As our snug non-public boat languidly makes its method down the river, we search for stealthy pink freshwater river dolphins, playful monkeys, napping sloths, colourful macaws and blue morpho butterflies darting about. Lagoons coated in large lily pads are dwelling to fish and caiman, and big portions of marsh birds hunt from shore.
Visit the Amazon Rainforest on Nat Hab’s Great Amazon River Expedition
3. Bwindi: The “Impenetrable” Forest Home to Mesmerizing Mountain Gorillas
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda lies on the sting of the Great Rift Valley. Its misty hillsides are blanketed by one in all Uganda’s oldest and most biologically various rainforests, courting again greater than 25,000 years. More than 350 chook species name the forest dwelling, together with 23 Albertine Rift endemics.
But most guests come right here due to the 450 mountain gorillas (roughly half the world’s inhabitants!), together with a number of habituated teams that guests can spend time with.
Imagine following a extremely educated information as you monitor a gorilla household deep within the mountains, on the lookout for indicators of their presence, corresponding to damaged vegetation, stripped tree bark or a mound of dung. Depending on the day, it’s doable to identify younger ones taking part in within the timber, mommas carrying their infants, and, in case you’re fortunate, an intimidating silverback. The patriarchs of their troops, these monumental males are sometimes twice the dimensions of the females within the group.
Nothing can ever put together you for an encounter with an enormous mountain gorilla, as your gaze momentarily meets its expressive eyes.
Visit Bwindi Impenetrable National Park on Nat Hab’s Great Uganda Gorilla Safari
4. Great Bear Rainforest: Spotting the Creamy-White Spirit Bear of Native Legend
In the distant valleys of the Coast Range on Canada’s far western fringe of British Columbia sits an historic ecosystem stuffed with thousand-year-old cedars and Sitka spruce that tower 350 ft into the rain clouds.
Deer and elk graze the undergrowth, whereas 50-foot-long humpback whales and playful porpoises swim via the close by fjords. Streams wealthy with salmon weave via valley bottoms, offering meals for eagles, orcas, wolves, black bears, grizzlies and the paranormal, creamy-white Kermode bear, also called the “spirit bear” of Native legend. Spirit bears are literally a singular subspecies of the North American black bear, during which roughly one in each 10 bears is born cream-colored attributable to a recessive gene.
On our Spirit Bears tour, we discover one in all Earth’s most pristine and at-risk wildernesses with a neighborhood Gitga’at Indigenous information inside the protected bounds of the Kitasoo Spirit Bear Conservancy. Here, friends get the possibility to study concerning the non secular significance of this bear to the Indigenous communities. Just just a few hundred of those hardly ever noticed bears dwell on this remoted rainforest, however our guides know this terrain just like the backs of their fingers, which means we regularly get pleasure from profitable encounters with the mysterious creatures.
Visit the Great Bear Rainforest on Nat Hab’s Spirit Bears, Humpbacks & Wildlife of BC journey
5. New Zealand: Penguins, Glowworms and Ferns Taller than People
Essentially untouched because the Polynesians found New Zealand, the dramatic panorama of Te Wahipounamu has been molded by successive glaciations over eons. Picturesque fjords, rocky coastlines, sheer cliffs, waterfalls, turquoise lakes, rivers, historic forests stuffed with thousand-year-old timber, myriad ferns and orchids, and volcanic sand seashores await vacationers on our New Zealand Nature Explorer journey.
Hunua Falls, North Island.
Along the way in which, we go to Lake Moeraki within the coronary heart of the Te Wahipounamu–South West New Zealand World Heritage Area. Kayaking and mountain climbing amongst large ferns to wild Monro Beach, we hold our eyes peeled for the kea, the world’s solely endangered alpine parrot.
Our October and November journeys supply the possibility to see uncommon Tawaki penguins, additionally known as Fiordland crested penguins. These are the one penguins that dwell within the rainforest; solely about 2,000 pairs stay, with 200 of these discovered alongside the shores of Lake Moeraki. We additionally search for glowworms at evening, whose bioluminescent pearl strands dangle from the timber, making a memorable and enchanting rainforest expertise.
Visit New Zealand’s rainforests on Nat Hab’s New Zealand Nature Explorer
6. Costa Rica: In Search of the Spectacular Quetzal
According to the United Nations Global Forest Resources Assessment, a mind-boggling 51% of Costa Rica is rainforest. Of this, 23.9% is major rainforest (old-growth forest that has existed since historic occasions with out important disturbance). Many areas of Costa Rica have rainforests, however the local weather of every forest can differ enormously relying on elevation. For instance, high-altitude cloud forests typically have refreshingly decrease temperatures. Other areas can obtain between 80 and 260 inches of rain yearly.
Quetzals (Pharomachrus mocinno) in flight!
On our Costa Rica Wilderness Explorer journey, we present you as many alternative ecosystems as doable. We begin at an 800-acre non-public rainforest reserve on Costa Rica’s distant southern Pacific coast, the place we hold an eye fixed out for squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys and white-faced capuchin, sloths clinging to excessive branches, and agouti within the underbrush. More than 275 chook species dwell right here, together with good scarlet macaws. From the river, we’d see crocodiles, rainbow boas, inexperienced iguanas, long-nosed bats, roseate spoonbills, ospreys, kingfishers, frigatebirds and egrets.
© Eric Rock
Next, we head to Hacienda Baru National Wildlife Refuge, which protects giant tracts of lowland rainforest, mangroves, wetlands and secondary development. The refuge is dwelling to wooly opossum, anteater, sloth, armadillo, ghost bat and quite a lot of monkeys. Birdwatchers will likely be ecstatic to know that there are practically 400 recorded species right here.
Finally, we journey to the high-altitude ecosystem of Los Quetzales National Park for a glimpse of the resplendent quetzal, with its emerald-green head, blood-red breast and lengthy, iridescent turquoise tail. Following their deep, melodious calls via the forest is a expertise nearly as rewarding as visually recognizing one.
Visit Costa Rica’s rainforests on Nat Hab’s Costa Rica Wilderness Explorer
7. Borneo: Get to Know Some of the Strangest Wildlife on Earth
Borneo, the world’s third-largest island with a measurement roughly that of Texas, is dwelling to the tallest rainforests on the planet. Sheltered beneath their dense canopies are wild jungle rivers, speeding waterfalls and a lot extra wildlife than simply the endangered orangutans these forests are internationally recognized for. There are leaf monkeys, wild gibbons, flying lemurs, proboscis monkeys, solar bears, clouded leopards, Bornean pygmy elephants and greater than 300 vibrant chook species.
The island is dwelling to a powerful 15,000 recognized crops, together with about 3,000 tree species, greater than 1,700 sorts of orchids, and greater than 50 carnivorous plant species. Since 1995, greater than 600 species have been recognized on the islands, a few of that are fully new to science. An unknown mammal species—for now vaguely named the Bornean purple carnivore—was even captured by one in all WWF’s digicam traps as just lately as 2003. Palm oil plantations encompass the rainforests right here and are the most important risk to crucial habitat loss.
A playful household of orangutans.
On our Wilds of Borneo journey, we assist solely essentially the most sustainable on-the-ground companions who’re working tirelessly to guard these essential rainforests.
Visit Borneo’s rainforests on Nat Hab’s Wilds of Borneo: Orangutans & Beyond journey
8. Madagascar: Extreme Amounts of Endemism
The island nation of Madagascar has developed its personal distinct ecosystems because it break up from the African continent greater than 150 million years in the past.
Approximately 95% of Madagascar’s reptiles, 89% of its plants, and 92% of its mammals exist nowhere else on Earth, making it simple to know why World Wildlife Fund considers it a precedence place to guard. There’s even a whopping 100 totally different and endemic types of lemur right here!
Baobab timber.
While Madagascar boasts greater than 3,000 miles of shoreline and among the world’s largest coral reef methods, its rainforests are dwelling to unusual land creatures corresponding to diademed sifakas, indris, fossas and tenrecs (a spiky insectivore that appears like a striped hedgehog).
Coquerel’s Sifaka (Propithecus coquereli)
Andasibe-Mantadia National Park is a hub for the nation’s efforts to preserve its biodiversity within the face of intensive deforestation. In simply this one park, a thousand totally different orchid species bloom, making for some gorgeous photographic alternatives.
Visit Madagascar’s rainforests on Nat Hab’s Madagascar Wildlife Adventure and Madagascar Explorer