Tag Archives: Wildlife

Game On

Posted on by

If you’re looking to get wild, a South African safari is one great place to start. Read more about the country’s wildlife and national parks – including successful efforts to preserve its cheetah populations (thanks to the National Geographic Big Cats Initiative and the Endan-
gered Wildlife Trust) – in “Game On,” an article I wrote for the December issue of Virtuoso Traveler.

Before setting out for the bush, also check out “Cape Town Calling” – my most-recent post on The Virtuoso Life blog – for a few must-do urban adventures in South Africa’s “Mother City.”

And, for a look at my complete South Africa (safari + Cape Town) photo gallery, see my 5/1/17 post, Scenes Of South Africa.

True North

Posted on by

Paul North is an Undersea Specialist with Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic who spends six months a year in cold climates from the Arctic to Antarctica, delving into frigid seas while capturing stunning photos and videos to share with guests during onboard presentations. I had the pleasure to meet North last April on an expedition cruise to Washington State’s San Juan Islands (see my 4/29/16 post, Sucia Island Slow-Down), and recently caught up with him for an interview. Our discussion, published in a Dream Job installment on The Virtuoso Life blog, ranged from the sanity of working in subfreezing conditions to everyday steps we can take to save our seas.

(*story excerpt included in post)

Deerfield, NH: Sound Sleep

Posted on by

One of my favorite things about traveling home to New Hampshire in spring and summer: slipping into sleep by open windows at my parents’ house to the sounds of the surrounding forest: sudden, baritone calls of barred owls (“Who, who, who cooks for you?”), wild cackling of coyotes, and (accompanied below by my two-year old daughter: “Froggie, Dada?”), choruses of crickets, tree-, and peeper-frogs.

Sucia Island Slow-Down

Posted on by

Scenes from today’s adventures on and along Sucia Island, a 564-acre protected marine park in Washington State’s San Juan archipelago: great blue herons meditating on moody morning skies; spring meadows flaring with patches of camas, lupine, and Indian paintbrush; juvenile bald eagles learning to fly; harbor seals slipping suddenly above the water’s surface to spy passing kayakers; gargantuan sea lions hauled out on shoreline rocks, slumbering in the afternoon sun; one of Lindblad Expeditions’ talented naturalist-guides extolling the virtues of bullwhip kelp (it’s edible, can serve as an instrument, is used by otters to wrap and protect their young); and orcas breaching, again and again, as my wife and I watched from the bow of the National Geographic Sea Bird in silence, immensely grateful for the opportunity to slow down, take a much-needed time-out from the haste of our daily lives, and see again.

Thailand: Wildest Dreams

Posted on by

Wildest_Dreams_Joel_Centano

Nightly symphonies of cicadas, picnics by thirteenth-century Lanna ruins, jaunts to Myanmar, hours exploring the Hall of Opium, dinners in the jungle accompanied by two-ton elephants – I had the fortune to experience it all during a recent stay at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort. Though elephant-based tourism is a contested and hugely complex issue – and, sadly, so often done wrong (read: good for profits, bad for animals) – Anantara provides one sound prescription for caring for Thailand’s captive pachyderms while also employing their mahout partners and working to preserve wild populations. Learn more about the camp and its efforts in my article, “Wildest Dreams,” written for December Virtuoso Traveler magazine.