Five More Places To See Before They Are Changed Forever

by Kraig Becker on

Last week we posted a story from CNN.com that named five places to see before climate changed altered them forever. The destinations that made their list included the Great Barrier Reef, the city of New Orleans, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, the Alpine Glaciers in Switzerland, and the Amazon Rain Forest in Brazil. Here are five more amazing places that you should see before they are altered forever as well.

1. Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa, and the glacier at its summit has become the stuff of legend, thanks to Earnest Hemingway’s famous book. The mountain sits just three degrees off the equator, making it even more amazing that snows are present there. But with temperatures on the rise across the planet, the glaciers are retreating at a steady rate, and scientists now believe that they could be completely gone in as little as a decade. Those wanting to see the Snows of Kilimanjaro should make the trek to the summit soon.

2. Maldives, Indian Ocean
More than 1200 tiny islands make up the Republic of Maldives, located off the southwest coast of India, but the entire country is being threatened by the rising levels of the ocean thanks to the melting polar icecaps. It is estimated that by the end of this century, more than 80% of the islands that make up the archipelago will be submerged under water, considerably changing nature of the place. Steps are being taken to save the more populated areas, but much of the country will simply cease to exist in the years ahead.3. The Annapurna Circuit, Nepal
The Annapurna Circuit is considered one of the greatest hikes in the world. It is a 15+ day trek through the HImalaya amongst some of the tallest mountains in the world, with amazing scenery at every turn. With quaint villages found every few hours along the trail, trekkers can spend the night in traditional tea houses, and will always have easy access to food and drink. But the area is being changed forever, and not by climate change, but modernization instead. A new road in the area will alter the landscape both physically and culturally, irrevocably chaning this legendary place forever. The road will be completed by the end of 2010, and much of the charm and spirit of the trail will be gone forever.

4. The Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
The Galapagos are another amazing group of islands, this time found 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador. These islands are home to a dizzying number of different species of plants and animals, some that can be found nowhere else. This has made it a hot tourist destination in recent years with visitors flocking to the Galapagos to take in the unique flora and fauna. But it isn’t the tourists visiting the islands that threatens this fragile place, but instead, the growing population of permanent residents, which has grown at an alarming rate over the past decade. This over population, of a place not designed to support so much human life, is a direct threat to the ecosystem there, and could change the place forever, and very soon.

5. Lake Baikal, Russia
The worlds largest, and deepest, freshwater lake, Baikal, has only just begun to appear on the radar for most travelers. At its deepest point, it reaches 5730 feet below the surface, and those depths have never been completely explored. The lake is home to more than 1700 species of plants and animals, including the fresh water seal, the majority of which can’t be found anywhere else on Earth. Due to its size, Lake Baikal was expected to be resistant to climate change, but studies show that it is already warming, and those temperature changes will also change the landscape in the area, threatening the life of plants and animals that inhabit the remote region of Siberia.

Bowermaster’s Antarctica — St Andrews Bay, South Georgia

by Jon Bowermaster on

I miswrote.

The other day I suggested that South Georgia was like some kind of Magic Kingdom envisioned by Disney. Today I’m revising that; it’s more like something old Walt might have created after a visit while ingesting heavily of magic mushrooms.

Late this afternoon I found myself crossing a wide, six-inch deep pond on St. Andrews ringed by a portion of the 300,000 King penguin colony that bases here, both adults and their several-month old chicks. Most of the chicks were molting, meaning their thick brown down was itching and beginning to fall off, leaving behind an exterior shell that made them look like some kind of “Cousin It” penguins … half-tuxedoed, half covered by wildly sprouting brown tufts of fur.

Everywhere I looked it is surreal. Tall mountains, peaks dipped in snow. Hanging glaciers (though definitely receding) separating the green valleys. Six-foot tall tussock grass running straight to the sea. A wide river of glacier melt running towards the sand beach, lined on each side by penguins, with sizable fur seals surfing and feeding in its fast-running center.
I’ve seen big wildlife gatherings in other parts of the world. Migrating caribou in Labrador. Herds of giraffe running along tongues of hardened lava in west Kenya. The most giant of penguin colonies in Antarctica. But nothing prepared me for both the size and oddity of this mass. The chicks, who unlike other penguin species, are born over a four or five month range and stay with their parent for up to thirteen months, follow mom or dad for all that time … everywhere.

The King lays a single egg and builds no nest, holding it on its feet under a fold of skin. Unlike the smaller penguin breeds, Kings occupy their rookeries all year and travel several hundred kilometers to find their food, mostly lantern fishes which they find at three hundred to one thousand feet below the surface.

Adult and chick march nearly lockstep, braying constantly, bumping into each other like some kind of Three Stooges act. Two weeks after they are born they are nearly the same size as their parents, two and a half feet tall. Imagine if humans birthed the same way, with a son or daughter the same height as his father when he is two weeks old.

As the sun lowers behind the ridge tops the pond brightens and the brown down of the chicks turns golden. It’s not quite as bright as the brilliant yellow-gold plumage of the adult’s neck and throat, but getting there.

There seems to be lots of wandering among the Kings. Unusual among penguins, they are not a vary fidel bunch. I sit for an hour and watch trios squabble, usually two females fighting over a male. They walk in threes, two of them fwapping their short wings at each other, like big city dilettantes on a crowded street. While most penguins, and albatross are faithful to a mate for life, among King’s the divorce rate is near 80 percent. Blame it on timing. When they arrive back at the island after months of feeding, their partner may still be months away. Given limited food reserves they cannot afford to wait faithfully for a late returning mate … so …

History’s Most Famous Travel Adventures

by Kraig Becker on

There is no doubt that history has a level of influence on the places that many of us visit. We read about far off places and exotic adventures, and it fires our own imaginations, sometimes compelling us to take a journey of our own, and experience the things that we’ve dreamed about.

Forbes Traveler has put together an excellent list of the greatest travel adventures from history, not only putting them in historical context, but also explaining why they remain a great travel experience even to this day. Each of the journeys on this list include a link to a travel service than can help organize your own adventure, following in the footsteps of explorers and adventurers from the past.

Some of the famous journeys that make the list include the Lewis and Clarke Expedition’s exploration of the American West, which modern day travelers can experiencing for themselves by spending five days paddling more than 60 miles of the Missouri River. Prefer something a bit more exotic? Then how about a 34-day, 4850+ mile journey through South America, by motorcycle no less, that retraces the travels of Che Guevara. Want to go even further back in time? Then head to the Far East to travel the Silk Road, much the same way that Marco Polo did in the 13th century.

There is a little something for everyone on this list, from the physically demanding to the luxurious. But they all share one thing in common, they are some of the greatest journeys in history, and they are still inspiring travel years, and sometimes centuries, later.

Antarctic Cruise Ship Freed by High Tides

by Kraig Becker on

The Antarctic cruise ship M/V Ocean Nova, the ship that ran aground yesterday, has been freed from the rocks by the high tide, and is now steaming back to Ushuaia, Argentina for inspection. High winds and pushed the vessel, which was carrying 106 passengers and crew, onto the rocks in Marguerite Bay, off the Antarctic Peninsula.

Before departing the area, divers inspected the Ocean Nova and found no evidence of damage to the hull. According to updates from Quark Expeditions, the company that operates the cruise ship, video of the hull was examined by maritime experts who declared it safe to get underway. If the vessel passes inspection, as expected, it will begin its next voyage on the 22nd of February.

Meanwhile, all of the passengers that were aboard the ship were transferred to another vessel, the M/V Adventure Clipper, yesterday and were also en route back to Ushuaia. No one was injured in the incident, and everyone is said to be in good spirits despite the interruption to their vacation.

Fortunately there doesn’t seem to have been any environmental damage done to the region either. Since the hull was not breached, there was no leaking of fuel or other contaminants, and the fragile Antarctic environment appears to have been left unscathed by this most recent accident. Patrick Shaw, the President of Quark Expeditions is quoted as saying, “We are grateful that no environmental damage occurred and that all travelers who were aboard Ocean Nova are safe.”

Bowermaster’s Antarctica — Cooper Bay, South Georgia Island

by Jon Bowermaster on

I saw South Georgia Island for the first time from about ten miles out, on a gusty, windy, blue-sky morning. Though we’d just sailed eight hundred miles east and north from the tip of Antarctica, giant tabular icebergs greeted us, nearly blocking the entryway to Cooper Bay. These big icebergs had broken off the Larsen Ice Shelf since 2002 and slowly made their way here, where they now sit grounded, sentinels placed as welcome mats or warning.

I love seeing a place for the first time, convinced – like falling in love at first sight – that it is that very first glimpse that makes its biggest impression. My expectations were vast. While I’d heard about South Georgia for years – that its steep mountain peaks were covered by year-round snow, that more than one hundred and fifty glaciers filled its valleys, that tussock-covered fields spread up the hills from the sea, that it’s wildlife was out of this world – I had no mental images.

Now I have them. Big ones.
There are only a couple hundred volcanic islands in the South and Mid-Atlantic. Ascension, St. Helena, Tristan da Cunha, the Falklands and South Georgia are the best known.

South Georgia definitely has the most exotic reputation, in part thanks to Shackleton, in part due to its whaling history, but largely for its otherworldly menagerie.

Strong morning winds kept us trolling off the rocky coast for several hours searching for the appropriate approach. When we rounded the southeastern corner into Cooper Bay the gusts diminished as if with the snap of a finger. While the tall mountains and hanging glaciers were astonishing, the best part for me – after more than five weeks among the whiteness of Antarctica – was the green grass running down the hills to the sea. But it was when I raised binoculars to my eyes that I got the biggest jolt.

The beaches were, well, how do I put this. I’ve never seen such a mass of giant living, breathing sausage and blubber amassed in one place outside of a crowded East Coast beach on the 4th of July. Thousands of fur seals, hundreds of Weddell seals and hundreds more of the giant, two-ton female elephant seals, spread over the rock and sand beach … everywhere. And this is nothing. As I stare, mind-boggled, my friend Pete Pulesten tells me he first came here twenty-five years ago, and a couple months earlier in the breeding season, when thousands of horny, multi-ton male elephant seals line the beach like bratwurst. “That is when this place is truly wild,” says Pete.

South Georgia was first seen in 1675 by a Brit named Antoine de la Roche, who’d been blown far off course while rounding Cape Horn; the next time it was sighted was nearly one hundred years later, by the Spanish ship “Leon” who named it Ile de St. Pierre after the saint’s day (July 1) on which it was seen. It wasn’t until British explorer Captain James Cook, on his second voyage around the world in 1775, that South Georgia was mapped. Unfortunately for Cook, he thought he’d discovered the southern continent, Antarctica. When he rounded the southern tip of South Georgia, in the opposite direction than how we’d arrived this morning, and discovered he was looking due west, he named the point Cape Disappointment. He claimed the island for his homeland, sent home a report on the island’s “rich seas” and continued on his way.

Rich seas? That’s an understatement even today. In just a couple of hours, here’s what I saw: Penguins (Kings, chinstraps, Gentoo and Macaroni). Wandering and black-browed albatross. Southern and northern Giant petrels, as well as snow, white-chinned, the common diving and Wilson’s storm petrels. The South Georgia (Imperial) Shag. Hundreds of sheathbills and kelp gulls. Special terns and a pipit found nowhere else on earth. The south polar skua. Thousands and thousands of seals (fur and southern elephant). And, bizarrely, roaming in the background, sizable herds of reindeer (it’s a long story, but they were introduced by whalers more than one hundred years ago and they’ve not yet been exterminated).

That’s all in just a couple hours. The sky was filled with flying critters, the shallows swimming with seals and the beaches chockablock with giant meat. (Lunching? Giant petrels literally disappear inside a dead fur seal, ripping its guts out with its sharp beak, such that the cadaver seemed to be flopping up and down on the beach on its own accord.)

My first impression? Walt Disney must have visited this place during his most productive years and created all of his magic kingdom’s based on South Georgia’s reality. Rugged mountains, covered by glacier and lush green tussock, rimmed by tens of thousands of flying, swimming, snorting, feeding, wrestling, playing critters. Everywhere.