(Photo opposite: Ficus religiosa under its spreading limbs Buddha found enlightenment) The City Botanic Gardens in Brisbane have a history which parallels that of the Company´s Garden at the top of Adderley Street in Cape Town.
Both started as giant vegetable patches to feed local inhabitants – in Cape Town it was for the early […]

(Photo opposite: Cruisin’ down the river.) Sabah to the north of Miri offered up the most amazing and the most “disgustingest” (note my own word) experiences.
The grossest was the Gomagtong Cave – and we swore no more stinky caves.
It took a drive of 2 hours from Sandakan to get there also a pretty boring […]

(Map opposite: Dark Blue represents area protected by Article II) The government of Panama has repealed Article II of the law protecting Coiba National Park. The second article stated that it was illegal to allow commercial fishing of tuna in the waters around Coiba Island. It looks as though a Spanish company wants to invest […]

(Photo opposite: dunes stretching to blue/grey mountains.) Winter in the Southern Cape at the southern tip of Africa has some awesome bonuses like frolicking whales off the rugged coastline, bracing walks in clean air and the fynbos.
Fynbos is the vegetation which makes up the world’s smallest floral kingdom located at the southern tip of […]

The Brisbane Forest Park is the perfect escape for city slickers and it’s within 80km of the city centre.
With temperatures between 23 – 25C winter is a great time for walking so we were surprised to see so few people out on a stunning Sunday, the first of the school holidays.
Our foray into the woods […]

Keoladeo National Park (KNP) is located near Bharatpur in Rajasthan. It is so named after Lord Shiva, whose temple is located inside the park. The district headquarters, Bharatpur, is about 2km from the Park with a population of 150,000. Around 15,000 people reside in 21 villages surrounding the park.
The park has an unusually high variety […]

Since the beginning of the new millennium, some disturbing trends regarding the very existence of wildlife have been witnessed. The elephants in the world famous Corbett National Park have fallen prey to poachers. In March 2008, nine elephants were poached in the Park for their tusks. Subsequently, the park was closed for tourists and a […]

After reluctantly leaving Christchurch, I have only one stop left on my tour of New Zealand’s South Island – Kaikoura. It doesn’t take me long to realize that I have, unknowingly, saved the best for last. Just offshore of the tiny town with a population of only 4000, a unique combination of factors provides the […]

(Photo opposite: Beach on Coiba) Of all the places I’ve been to in Latin America, few compare to the beauty of Coiba Island on the Pacific Coast of Panama. Beautiful because Coiba is pristine and untouched: the marine life, the beaches, the forests feel and look like they were made yesterday: raw earth. Coiba’s beauty […]

Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet
Possibly the most graphic treatment of global warming that has yet been published, Six Degrees is what readers of Al Gore’s best-selling An Inconvenient Truth or Ross Gelbspan’s Boiling Point will turn to next. Written by the acclaimed author of High Tide, this highly relevant and compelling book […]

(Photo opposite: Pristine beach on Coiba Island) Well all the sweaty palms in Panama couldn’t keep their hands off of Coiba Island for long. Today it was announced that within a few miles of Coiba Island – in a remote bay called Honda Bay – an investment group called Marina Coiba – whose members’ […]

How do whales get to Tonga? They swim of course - but why here? The Humpback’s migration to Tonga covers many, many thousands of kilometres and they come to these warm protected waters every winter to give birth and mate.
Like all whales and dolphins, Humpbacks are warm blooded, air breathing mammals who give birth to […]

Vancouver Island has plenty of attractions to entice visitors. If you do only one thing while you are on the island - make it a whale watching tour. One of the best places on Vancouver Island to see Orcas, or killer whales, is Campbell River on the east coast. Whale watching tours departing from Campbell […]

The Idea – The Panamanian reforestation investment plan is a great way for the investor to obtain residency in Panama for themselves and any dependents, and, also, to make a return on their initial investment and to promote reforestation in Panama.
To qualify for the reforestation visa the investor must invest at least $40,000 in […]

The Vava’u group of Tonga is a fantastic charter destination, offering sailing among about 50 islands with many uninhabited and completely unspoilt.
The local population is spread out across the islands and they are very friendly and hospitable. Since the visit of Captain James Cook in the 18th century (1700s) these islands have been known as […]

In 1912, when the travel writer, H.M. Tomlinson visited Jamaica, he called it “a jewel that smells like a flower.” This description is no surprise to Dennis Valentine, a Jamaican photographer who loves his island’s abundant flowers, especially the orchids. He is fascinated by Jamaica’s astonishing variety of orchids, the greatest in the Caribbean, and […]

The fishermen turn away from the blast. After the hand-grenade has exploded, they can simply pick the dead fish off of the top of the water. Hand-grenade fishing is much easier than fishing with nets. But, it is one of the most destructive activities ever envisioned. Not only to the edible fish float to the […]

A new diving frontier, so far the well-kept secret of only a few scuba aficionados, is opening up in Malaysia. In the world of diving Sarawak has long been eclipsed by its neighbouring state in North Borneo, Sabah. For example one of Sabah’s premier sites, Sipadan Island was declared to be among the best dive […]

Tonga has drop-offs, sea mountains, caves… in fact, it has so many dive sites that it fulfills every wish a diver can have.
To most people diving in Tonga means Vava’u and Ha’apai, but two year ago we discovered a huge cathedral near the “forgotten Island” of Eua.
The cathedral is about 100 metres long, 50 metres […]

I am just back from a tour of Kaziranga National Park, famous around the world as the Home of the One Horned Rhinoceros. With the arrival of low budget airlines in India, I was able to travel to the Park at a very affordable price.
The tour started with my arrival in New Delhi and from […]