During a stop at the Research Base, guests can learn more about how the site provides a safe space for native species like the long-nosed potoroo, a marsupial that often falls prey to invasive predators such as foxes and cats.Īll profits from Wildlife Wonders go toward the Conservation Ecology Centre, which helps to fund several vital conservation projects in the Otways, including one that studies the movement of potoroos before, during, and after planned forest fires. Visitors can set off on 75-minute guided tours of the sylvan site, wandering through thickets of eucalyptus trees and admiring the koalas, wallabies, and bandicoots that now call the sanctuary home. Massey, along with botanists, scientists, zoologists, and environmental specialists, has crafted a sinuous wooden path that winds through the refuge and blends seamlessly into the landscape.
It’s the brainchild of Brian Massey, the landscape designer of New Zealand’s Hobbiton movie set tours. Playing its own role in these rejuvenation efforts, Wildlife Wonders, in Victoria’s Otways region, is a new wildlife sanctuary tucked away off the Great Ocean Road amid lush ancient forest and waterfalls. The disasters led to the deaths of nearly three dozen people and more than a billion animals. Victoria, Australiaĭrive the Great Ocean Road. Green shoots of regeneration are popping up across Australia, where the 2019-2020 bushfires burned some 72,000 square miles of land. Marco Cattaneo, National Geographic Traveler Italy Go with Nat Geo: See otherworldly landscapes and seek out endangered black rhinos in Namibia. Here roam large herds of elephants, hippos, crocodiles, and nearly all the antelope species of Namibia, including the elusive semiaquatic sitatunga. Mahango Game Park, in the west, includes wetlands and mopane forests. Predators include lions, leopards, and hyenas, while crocodiles and hippos abound in the river. The park is home to the largest population of buffalo in Namibia. It’s described as a “mini Okavango,” as its floodwaters mirror Botswana’s more famous Okavango Delta. 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. A ranger station and tented lodge that opened in recent years have made it more accessible to tourism, but it’s still seldom visited. In the eastern section of the region, Nkasa Rupara National Park is a secret jewel. After Namibia gained independence in 1990, peace-and wildlife-gradually returned. Remote and difficult to access, it was a prime corridor for various armed groups. The presence of the Okavango, Kwando, Chobe, and Zambezi Rivers creates an ideal habitat for numerous animal species.ĭuring the second half of the 20th century, the area was the scene of intense military activity. But the Caprivi Strip, a narrow finger of land that juts out toward the east in the extreme north of the country, is a green, wildlife-rich territory. Namibia evokes images of deserts, immense dunes, and parched mountains.
Victoria Meleshko, National Geographic Traveler Russia Go with Nat Geo: Journey across Russia on one of the world’s legendary railways. Hiking the trail is 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. “Volunteering helps protect Lake Baikal nature by developing ecotourism infrastructure,” says association president Elena Chubakova. Visitors can help safeguard the lake and its varied landscapes-including tundra, steppe, boreal forest, and virgin beaches-by volunteering with Great Baikal Trail Association, the nonprofit environmental group creating a hiking route around the lake. As a result, the International Union for Conservation of Nature deemed the lake’s environmental World Heritage Outlook of “significant concern” in 2020.
Despite being named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996, Lake Baikal has experienced ongoing pollution, the recent weakening of government protections, and new threats, such as large-scale tourism development.
Covering some 12,200 square miles and with an average depth of 2,442 feet, the massive lake is a natural wonder.
Baikal is so vast and deep, many locals call it a sea.