Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for ecotourism
Riding the Circuit in Patagonia
By Linda Tancs
Torres del Paine National Park is a UNESCO biosphere reserve in Chilean Patagonia. Rich with mountains (particularly the iconic Paine massif), glaciers, lakes and rivers, small wonder the area offers a plethora of activities like fishing, climbing, ice trekking, whitewater kayaking, environmental education and wildlife observation. The park offers a number of trails, or circuits, for day or overnight trekking. Those include the Pingo Zapata, Dickson and Grey Glacier circuits (leading to glaciers), the Paine Circuit (no pun intended–an arduous trail requiring seven to 10 days of walking), and Las Torres circuit (leading to the base of Torres del Paine). Get there via Santiago to Punta Arenas by air or via Puerto Natales overground.
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Celebrate At a Refuge Near You
By Linda Tancs
It’s National Wildlife Refuge Week, and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service wants you to celebrate at a refuge near you. You’ll find an open house this week at the Hakalau Forest National Wildlife Refuge on the Big Island in Hawaii. Take a guided bird hike or a tour of the greenhouse where native plants are being propagated. Among the lower 48, why not join the staff at New Jersey’s Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge for a sunset nature walk to view the migrating ducks. As the poet William Wordsworth so aptly put it, “Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher.”
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The Jungle of the Mirrors
By Linda Tancs
The Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve (2,080,000 hectares), the largest reserve in Peru, is located 183 kilometers from Iquitos and is home to numerous endangered species, like the charapa river turtle, the giant river otter, the black caiman, and the river dolphin. Sometimes referred to as the jungle of the mirrors, the area is rife with activities for nature lovers, such as birdwatching, canoe rides, piranha fishing, and excursions to a watching tower to observe the birth of the Amazon at the confluence of the Marañón and Ucayali rivers. Couple that with a stay at the Pacaya Samiria Amazon Lodge at the Marañón River’s bank and you’ve got an idyllic holiday.
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Birder’s Paradise in the Bahamas
By Linda Tancs
The flamingo is the national bird of the Bahamas. You can see 80,000 of them on Great Inagua Island at Inagua National Park, which houses one of the largest colonies of this graceful bird in the world. Other resident exotic birds include parrots, pelicans, herons, egrets, and Bahama pintail ducks. You might think that birding is the primary feature of Inagua. Although delightful, the island’s main industry is salt. Morton Salt produces about a million pounds of salt per year here—the second largest saline operation in North America. Kind of gives new meaning to the term “salt of the earth.”
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Trash Into Treasure
By Linda Tancs
As the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That’s particularly true at Glass Beach, a beach in MacKerricher State Park near Fort Bragg, California that is abundant in sea glass created from years of dumping garbage over the cliffs into what became a public dump. Over many decades the sea and surf has molded an array of household garbage (including obviously lots of glass) into curious colorful trinkets. Tread carefully.
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Ziptrekking Through Queensland
By Linda Tancs
For those wanting a bird’s eye view on their next journey, one option is a treehouse. Another option is the Kea Tour, a three-hour zipline eco-adventure in Queenstown, New Zealand that includes a stunning 20-minute guided trek along an ancient native beech forest. Best of all, you’ll be promoting sustainability in a unique mode of travel that has no footfall or industrial noise. Just like nature intended.
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100 Years of Green in Israel
By Linda Tancs
Israel’s Ministry of Tourism website says that “Israel is one of two countries on earth that has more trees today than it did 100 years ago.” That may seem surprising to those familiar with the Jerusalem hills, populated with natural forests, terraced hillsides and ancient agricultural settlements. Yet four centuries of Ottoman rule resulted in millions of trees cut down because property taxes were calculated by the number of trees owned by landowners. Now Israel celebrates its greening by promoting a host of eco-tourism activities. Visiting a Kibbutz is a classic way to experience the earliest impetus towards green living. Another highlight of green Israel is The Ariel Sharon Ayalon Park, a metropolitan park boasting tropical gardens located just outside of Tel Aviv, formerly the 2,000-acre Hiriya garbage dump. You can explore the city’s tree-lined boulevards by bicycle (another eco-friendly act) or camel trek through the wilderness to a quiet evening in a goat-hair Bedouin tent. Whatever you decide, a carbon-reduced date with history awaits you.
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Pea Island Birdwatching
By Linda Tancs
Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge is a nesting, resting, and wintering habitat for migratory birds, including migratory waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds, raptors, and neotropical migrants. Located on the north end of Hatteras Island, a coastal barrier island in North Carolina and part of a chain of islands known as the Outer Banks, the refuge is a diverse environment including ocean beach, dunes, upland, fresh and brackish water ponds, salt flats, and salt marsh. Loved by birders for its 365 species including threatened peregrine falcons, loggerhead sea turtles, and piping plovers, the area is also home to 25 species of mammals, 24 species of reptiles, and 5 species of amphibians. So this Mid-Atlantic refuge is more than for the birders.
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Of Plate and Planet
By Linda Tancs
In support of taste education worldwide is the slow food movement. Slow food is a way of life–an appreciation of traditional artisanal food production waiting to delight traveling taste buds–an art that is as much a part of the landscape and tradition of a culture as any tourist destination. Slow food is also a recognition that safeguarding biodiversity in the pursuit of gastronomy mandates proper control of natural resources. With over 100,000 members and 132 countries, you’ll have all the support you need to stop and smell all that terra madre has to offer.
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Island Life Increases in Borneo
By Linda Tancs
Conservationist group WWF has reported the discovery of new species in Borneo, the world’s third largest island. The newest inhabitants include a lungless frog, a flying amphibian and a slug that shoots love darts. Cupid, you’ve met your match. In the past three years, 123 species of plant and animal have been discovered in this Southeast Asian island paradise about the size of Texas. In particular, there are 66 new plant species, 17 fish, 5 frogs, 3 snakes, 29 invertebrates, 2 lizards and a bird sharing space in what Charles Darwin described as “one great luxuriant hothouse made by nature for herself.” In an effort to prevent overcrowding, efforts are underway to protect 85,000 square miles of rainforest. You can bet at least one frog gives a flying leap about that.
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The author has not received any compensation for writing this content and has no material connection to the brands, topics, products and/or services that are mentioned herein.
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