The Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens is a 133-acre zoo founded in 1966 and located in Los Angeles, California. The city of Los Angeles owns the entire zoo. The Zoo is home to more than 1,100 mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles representing more than 250 different species of which 29 are endangered. In addition, the Zoo’s botanical collection comprises several planted gardens and over 800...

Dolphin Cove Jamaica was founded in 2001 and has become a very popular attraction in Jamaica. This magnificent property has a natural cove which is surrounded by 5 acres of lush tropical rain forest. Visitors have the opportunity to interact and Swim With dolphins, enjoying the thrill and love of these amazing lovable animals. If you aren’t interested in swimming with the dolphins, there is still...

The town of Las Médulas is located in the region of El Bierzo, Leon. This small mountain town marks the natural beginning of the ascent towards Las Médulas, a unique cultural landscape that was declared a World Heritage by UNESCO. It is a historic mining site near the town of Ponferrada in the region of El Bierzo, which used to be the most important gold mine in the Roman Empire. To extract gold,...

The El Yunque National Forest is the only tropical rain forest in the national forest system. At nearly 29,000 acres, it is one of the smallest in size, yet one of the most biologically diverse of the national forests hosting hundreds of animal and plant species, some of which are found only here. More than 100 billion gallons of rainwater fall on the Forest per year. The climate is frost-free and...

Native American people have occupied the Carrizo Plain for at least the last 10,000 years. The Carrizo Plain National Monument lies primarily within the historical territory of the Chumash people. This 50-mile stretch of protected land includes the Temblor and Caliente Mountain Ranges and Soda Lake, the largest natural alkali lake in the state. This lake is a unique sight, whether it’s full of water...

Happisburgh is a historic village on the north-east coast of Norfolk. It is well-known for its wonderful sandy and quite secluded beach. You can walk for miles on this beach, as far as Sea Palling if you wanted to. At the end of the south beach you reach Cart Gap, which is where the lifeboat is now stationed, having previously been at Happisburgh beach before all the coastal erosion. credit:...

Ilulissat Icefjord is located on the west coast of Greenland, 250 km north of the Arctic Circle. Greenland’s Ilulissat Icefjord is the sea mouth of Sermeq Kujalleq, one of the few glaciers through which the Greenland ice cap reaches the sea. It is the first site in Greenland and one of the first in the Arctic to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. credit: Greenland Travel

Generations of families have invested their passions to produce some of the most iconic wines in the world. The Barossa Valley is a major wine-producing region and tourist destination of South Australia With over 80 cellar doors and 150 wineries. It is a compact valley, just 25km long, yet it manages to produce 21% of Australia’s wine, and it makes a no-fuss day trip from Adelaide, 65km to the...

Joshua Tree National Park is located in southeastern California. Declared a U.S. National Park in 1994 when the U.S. Congress passed the California Desert Protection Act. The park encompasses nearly 800,000 acres of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts, conserving two separate desert ecosystems at different altitudes. The name of the park is derived from the distinctive Joshua Tree, a tall-growing variety...

Located in the heart of metropolitan Los Angeles, the La Brea Tar Pits are one of the world’s most famous fossil localities. Back in 1875, a group of amateur paleontologists discovered animal remains in the pits at Rancho La Brea, which bubbled with asphalt from a petroleum lake under what is now Hancock Park. Some 130 years later, the pros are still at work here, having dragged more than 3.5 million...

Montpellier is every bit the equal of Marseille and Nice. With its elegant buildings, grand hôtels particuliers and stately boulevards, it’s a quietly stylish metropolis with a old quarter and shady backstreets. It is the 8th largest city of France, and is also the fastest growing city in the country over the past 25 years. The city’s medieval origins are visible from the charming narrow streets...

The gondola, a ski-lift-type aerial ride, takes sightseers surging up massive granite cliffs to a mountain ridge near the small town of Squamish, halfway between Vancouver and Whistler. Squamish has a complex and rich history with Canada’s First Nations population. This population is referred to today as the “Squamish Nation”, and are descendants of the Coast Salish Aboriginal Peoples who occupied...

Perhaps the park’s greatest attraction is its northern boundary, the Chobe River. In the dry season animals converge on this stretch of water from the whole of northern Botswana. The scenic Chobe Riverfront area is also known as Serondela. The Chobe National Park is the 2nd largest National Park in Botswana. It covers about 11,700km² of the northern Kalahari, much of it impenetrable thorn bush...

Humpback whales are a cosmopolitan species, found in most of the world’s oceans. Thousands of humpback whales from the North Atlantic migrate to the waters of the Dominican Republic each winter to mate and give birth. Their most popular winter rendezvous is Silver Bank, the 3,000-square-kilometer reef system approximately 70 miles north east of Puerto Plata. Dominican Republic offers a unique opportunity...

The fortress of Suomenlinna is one of Finland’s most popular sights. It is only a very short ferry crossing away from Helsinki. Just a 15-minute ferry ride from the Kauppatori. The Suomenlinna ferry is part of Helsinki’s public transport service. Set on a tight cluster of islands connected by bridges, the UNESCO World Heritage site was originally built by the Swedes as Sveaborg in the mid-18th...