Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for national parks
Off the Tourist Trail in Africa
By Linda Tancs
Equatorial Guinea is a small country on the western coast of central Africa, the only independent nation in Africa where Spanish is an official language owing to its past as a colony. Lacking the glam of safari sites like Tanzania and Kenya, it’s perhaps no wonder that it bears the ignominious distinction of being one of the least visited countries in the world. But its off-the-beaten-path status is exactly why you should go. The country’s national park, Monte Alén, is located near the center and is one of central Africa’s hidden gems. Over 100 mammal species are registered there (more than 16 types of primates alone), as well as 2,300 types of birds and 65 species of reptiles. Moreover, the park’s hotel situated on a jungle ridge is an excellent place to experience the lush rainforest—without the crowds.
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America’s First National Historical Park
By Linda Tancs
America’s first national historical park, Morristown National Historical Park commemorates the sites of General George Washington and the Continental Army’s winter encampment from December 1779 to June 1780. Two main areas of the park are Ford Mansion, Washington’s headquarters, and Jockey Hollow, where 10,000 soldiers camped during the most brutal winter ever recorded. The park has about 27 miles of designated hiking trails.
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The Longest Show Cave in Britain
By Linda Tancs
Located in Yorkshire Dales National Park, White Scar Cave is the longest show cave (tourist cave) in Britain. An informative guided tour takes 80 minutes over a one mile trek covered largely by a metal grid floor. The first feature to be discovered at the cave was the waterfall, which thunders delightfully after some wet weather. Other popular features include the Harry Potter-like Witch’s Fingers, the Devil’s Tongue (flowstone hanging from the cave roof), orange stalactites called The Carrots and Battlefield Cavern with The Face at the far end.
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West Africa’s Largest Park
By Linda Tancs
Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is a West African country with beach resorts, rainforests and a French colonial legacy. The world’s largest producer of cocoa beans, it’s also home to West Africa’s largest national park, Comoé National Park. A prized but imperiled World Heritage Site (due to civil unrest and other activities), it contains the country’s largest concentration of wildlife, including antelopes, hippos, lions, monkeys and other animals. Its habitats vary greatly from forests to a wide variety of savannas amongst its 4,440 square miles. The different waters of the Comoé River and its tributaries are the habitat for 60 species of fish and various reptiles, including the endangered dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis).
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A Landscape With Capabilities
By Linda Tancs
Nestled in the heart of England’s South Downs National Park, Petworth has been settled since at least Norman times and is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086. The dominant attraction is Petworth House, a fortified manor house from the 12th century that was completely rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, who transformed it into the magnificent Petworth House seen today. The majestic 700-acre park at Petworth (home to the largest herd of fallow deer in England) is one of the finest surviving and unspoiled examples of an English landscape designed by Lancelot “Capability” Brown, widely acclaimed as England’s greatest gardener. The stately mansion also has the distinction of housing the finest art collection in the care of the National Trust. Don’t miss the current exhibition of Britain’s greatest watercolors, on show until March 10. The site is accessible via Victoria station in London to Pulborough. Local buses there pass through the town center of Petworth.
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Washington’s Only Surrender
By Linda Tancs
Fort Necessity National Battlefield is a national battlefield site in Fayette County, nestled in the Great Meadow in the Allegheny Mountains of southwest Pennsylvania. The battle at Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754 was the opening action of the French and Indian War, a clash among British, French and American Indian forces for control of a vast territory along the Ohio River between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi. The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years’ War. George Washington, a 21-year-old military adjutant, volunteered as a British emissary to present notice to the French to quit their occupation of the Ohio River Valley. When the French refused to leave, Washington built his “fort of necessity” in a natural meadow while awaiting additional militia and British regulars. However, his bedraggled force was no match for the French column, and Washington ultimately surrendered to the enemy for the first and only time in his military career.
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Rural Estonia
By Linda Tancs
A pleasant day trip from the capital Tallinn, Lahemaa National Park is located in northern Estonia. The country’s oldest and largest national park at nearly 8,000 square feet, it’s also one of Europe’s most important forest conservation areas. South of the park, the large forested Kõrvemaa area is home to moose, wild boars, brown bears, lynxes, foxes and other wild animals. And of almost 840 plant species in the area, 34 are rare. A multitude of hiking trails gives visitors ample opportunity to explore the gently rolling terrain. You needn’t do it all in a day, of course. A plethora of guesthouses, manors and campsites offer respite. The first snowfall generally occurs this month, and the impending winter brings the ice castles of nearby Jägala Waterfall as well as a winter wonderland in the park.
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A Long Walk in Malaysia
By Linda Tancs
The world’s longest jungle canopy walkway is in Taman Negara National Park (one of the oldest rainforests in the world) in Peninsular Malaysia. The canopy walkway, 1739 feet long and 131 feet above ground level, was initially built for research purposes. So imagine their surprise when it morphed into a dazzling tourist attraction! Open year round, it can be reached via jungle trails or boat.
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The Pinnacles
By Linda Tancs
Take a three hours’ drive north of Perth (the capital of Western Australia) and you’ll encounter the otherworldly Pinnacles in Nambung National Park. The Pinnacles comprise limestone shells cast as pillars in the desert landscape of the park, their sheer numbers (and oddball shapes and sizes) creating an alien-like environment. They date back millions of years to an epoch when the sand was beneath the sea. The ride down Indian Ocean Drive is well worth it for the views of coastline fringed by white beaches and colorful native bushland, but you can also get there via coach or a 4WD tour from Perth.
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Countless Canyons
By Linda Tancs
It’s four times the size of Arches National Park, yet Canyonlands attracts half the visitors. It’s easy to think of them as arch rivals (pardon the pun), considering that they’re located on opposite sides of U.S. 191 outside Moab, Utah, and just 10 miles away from each other. But these two national parks are hardly duking it out, each boasting its own distinct advantages. Canyonlands is less developed, a haven for hikers with a yen for accessibility (like Arches) coupled with a mix of backcountry and hardcore hiking. It offers a wilderness of countless canyons and buttes carved by the Colorado River and its tributaries. Rivers divide the park into districts, the most accessible being Island in the Sky and the most remote, the Maze. The Maze district offers guided hikes in Horseshoe Canyon most weekends during spring and fall.
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