Peter Noble
Presenter
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Our 50 Adventures. COMPLETED | IN THE WORKS. #1 Hike the Zion Narrows. #2 Haute Route/Tour du Mont Blanc. #3 Bolivia Salt Flats. #4 Raft the Colorado River. #5 Conquer the GR20. #6 Swim with Jellyfish in Palau. #7 Svalbard. #8 Gorilla Trekking. #9 Hike Half Dome. #10 Drive the Karakoram Highway. #11 Hike the Dolomites. #12 Stand on Kjeragbolten.
- Overview
- Lake Baikal, Russia
- Namibia
- Victoria, Australia
- Belize
- Northern Minnesota
- Arapahoe Basin, Colorado
- Palau
- Seine River, France
We’re ready to explore again. Here are the best adventures for the year ahead.
Adventurers tackle North America’s highest via ferrata, or iron way, at Arapahoe Basin, Colorado. This Rocky Mountain climbing route of metal rings and cables is one of Nat Geo Travel’s Best of the World destinations for 2022.
Help save a natural wonder. Baikal is so vast and deep, many locals call it a sea. Covering some 12,200 square miles and with an average depth of 2,442 feet, the massive lake is a natural wonder. It’s also in serious trouble. Despite being named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996, Lake Baikal has experienced ongoing pollution, the recent weakening of government protections, and new threats, such as large-scale tourism development. As a result, the International Union for Conservation of Nature deemed the lake’s environmental World Heritage Outlook of “significant concern” in 2020.
Visitors can help safeguard the lake and its varied landscapes—including tundra, steppe, boreal forest, and virgin beaches—by volunteering with Great Baikal Trail Association, the nonprofit environmental group creating a hiking route around the lake. “Volunteering helps protect Lake Baikal nature by developing ecotourism infrastructure,” says association president Elena Chubakova.
Discover the next great safari. Namibia evokes images of deserts, immense dunes, and parched mountains. But the Caprivi Strip, a narrow finger of land that juts out toward the east in the extreme north of the country, is a green, wildlife-rich territory. The presence of the Okavango, Kwando, Chobe, and Zambezi Rivers creates an ideal habitat for numerous animal species.
During the second half of the 20th century, the area was the scene of intense military activity. Remote and difficult to access, it was a prime corridor for various armed groups. After Namibia gained independence in 1990, peace—and wildlife—gradually returned.
In the eastern section of the region, Nkasa Rupara National Park is a secret jewel. A ranger station and tented lodge that opened in recent years have made it more accessible to tourism, but it’s still seldom visited. Encompassed by the Kwando-Linyanti River system to the south and by swamps and lagoons to the north, Nkasa Rupara is Namibia’s largest protected wetland. It’s described as a “mini Okavango,” as its floodwaters mirror Botswana’s more famous Okavango Delta. The park is home to the largest population of buffalo in Namibia. Predators include lions, leopards, and hyenas, while crocodiles and hippos abound in the river.
Mahango Game Park, in the west, includes wetlands and mopane forests. Here roam large herds of elephants, hippos, crocodiles, and nearly all the antelope species of Namibia, including the elusive semiaquatic sitatunga. Go with Nat Geo: See otherworldly landscapes and seek out endangered black rhinos in Namibia. —Marco Cattaneo, National Geographic Traveler Italy
Drive the Great Ocean Road. Green shoots of regeneration are popping up across Australia, where the 2019-2020 bushfires burned some 72,000 square miles of land. The disasters led to the deaths of nearly three dozen people and more than a billion animals.
Playing its own role in these rejuvenation efforts, Wildlife Wonders, in Victoria’s Otways region, is a new wildlife sanctuary tucked away off the Great Ocean Road amid lush ancient forest and waterfalls. It’s the brainchild of Brian Massey, the landscape designer of New Zealand’s Hobbiton movie set tours. Massey, along with botanists, scientists, zoologists, and environmental specialists, has crafted a sinuous wooden path that winds through the refuge and blends seamlessly into the landscape.
Visitors can set off on 75-minute guided tours of the sylvan site, wandering through thickets of eucalyptus trees and admiring the koalas, wallabies, and bandicoots that now call the sanctuary home. During a stop at the Research Base, guests can learn more about how the site provides a safe space for native species like the long-nosed potoroo, a marsupial that often falls prey to invasive predators such as foxes and cats.
All profits from Wildlife Wonders go toward the Conservation Ecology Centre, which helps to fund several vital conservation projects in the Otways, including one that studies the movement of potoroos before, during, and after planned forest fires. —Connor McGovern, National Geographic Traveller UK
Peek at tropical wildlife. The race to preserve one of the largest remaining tropical rainforests in the Americas got a big boost recently. In April 2021, a coalition of conservation partners, led by the Nature Conservancy, purchased 236,000 acres of tropical forest in northwestern Belize to create the Belize Maya Forest Reserve. Along with saving some of the most biodiverse forests in the world from denuding and development, the new protected area—which is contiguous with the neighboring Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area (RBCMA)—closes a huge gap in a vital wildlife corridor that runs from southeast Mexico through Guatemala and into Belize.
The combined reserve, which protects nearly a tenth of Belize’s land area, safeguards and connects essential habitats for an amazing variety of endemic and endangered wild things. These include the tapir, Belize’s national animal; black howler monkeys; more than 400 species of birds; and some of Central America’s largest surviving populations of jaguar. For now, ecotourism activities are based in the more established RBCMA, which has two rustic lodges and offers guided expeditions. Go with Nat Geo: Take a private tour of the Maya ruins of Tikal, Guatemala, and the cays of Belize.
Turn off the lights. Thousands upon thousands of stars dazzle above northern Minnesota. This remote region bordering the Canadian province of Ontario has little to no light pollution, and residents are determined to keep it that way.
The Heart of the Continent Dark Sky Initiative is a cross-border effort underway to create one of the largest dark-sky destinations on the planet. Two of its biggest pieces are in Minnesota: Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, the world’s largest International Dark Sky Sanctuary at more than a million acres, and neighboring Voyageurs National Park, the state’s first International Dark Sky Park. Both wild places received dark-sky certification in 2020, and Ontario’s Quetico Provincial Park, which adjoins the wilderness area, earned International Dark Sky Park status in early 2021.
(Here’s how to see auroras—from the Great Lakes.)
“The preservation of darkness at places like Voyageurs National Park not only provides wondrous views and ecological benefits to wildlife,” says Christina Hausman Rhode, executive director of the nonprofit Voyageurs Conservancy. “It also allows us a window to the past; to see the skies as they were hundreds of years ago, used for navigation and storytelling by peoples like the voyageurs of the fur trade and the Indigenous Ojibwe.”
Climb the Rockies. For unparalleled views of the Continental Divide, one must climb hand over foot up North America’s highest via ferrata. Arapahoe Basin’s “iron way”—a climbing route comprising metal rungs and cables—begins at the base of granite Rocky Mountain cliffs and ascends nearly 1,200 feet to a 13,000-foot summit.
A glance below reveals a weathered Colorado landscape dotted with green moss and pink and purple flora, and rock gardens created by the cliffs themselves, the fallen chunks varying in size from pebbles to Volkswagens. The thin air is occasionally punctuated by the shrill peep of a marmot or pika.
Even those without prior rock-climbing experience can scale the cliffs with a guide, using the metal rungs while also gripping the rock or wedging a foot into a crack for leverage. To avoid what could be a thousand-foot plunge to certain death, climbers must clip their harnesses from one cable to the next as they go. The route is entirely exposed and thunderstorms can roll in suddenly.
From the cliffs above, high-alpine mountain goats are often stoic observers, but typically disappear as travelers reach the summit. This marks the halfway point. From here, climbers must also descend, which, for via ferrata first-timers like Michael Lytle, can be the most harrowing part of the journey.
Swim with sharks. When you arrive here, the stamp in your passport will include the Palau Pledge, which all visitors must sign, promising that “the only footprints I shall leave are those that will wash away.” The 59-word eco-pledge was drafted by and for the children of this remote western Pacific archipelago to help protect Palau’s culture and environment from the negative impacts of tourism.
Eighty percent of the nation’s waters—recognized by National Geographic’s Pristine Seas project as one of the richest marine ecosystems on the planet—is preserved as the Palau National Marine Sanctuary. At 183,000 square miles, the no-take sanctuary is one of the world’s largest protected marine areas, safeguarding some 700 species of coral and more than 1,300 species of fish, including a dazzling variety of sharks.
“From the air, Palau looks like paradise on earth,” says Pristine Seas founder and National Geographic Explorer in Residence Enric Sala. “When you get underwater, you’re transported to a different world.”
During the 20th annual Shark Week Palau, from February 27 to March 6, 2022, divers can observe and participate in citizen science–assisted counts of numerous shark species, such as grey reef, blacktip, blue, tiger, and hammerhead. Daily dive sites are chosen for their abundant sharks and other marine life, including large aggregations of manta rays and thousands of spawning fish.
Cycle a new bike trail. La Seine à Vélo is a new cycling trail worthy of painter Claude Monet, whose house and famous water lilies in Giverny are on the route. But the 270-mile Paris-to-the-sea path, opened in October 2020, offers lesser known masterpieces too, such as the colorful street art that brightens the Canal Saint-Denis in Paris.
On the trail’s 15 stages, bikers pass through protected natural areas, including Normandy’s Grande Noé Bird Reserve, located along a major migratory flyway. While rolling across Normandy, they can visit the ruins of Jumièges Abbey, founded in 654, and take a Benedictine monk–led tour of Abbaye Saint-Wandrille, a centuries-old working abbey. The tearoom and gardens of Château de Bizy, a royal residence built in 1740 and inspired by Versailles, offer a respite off two wheels.
- Alex Schechter
- Paragliding in Umbria. The town of Castelluccio, in Italy's Umbria region, sits three hours from Rome. Perched high on a grassy hill, it's known for stunning views over the Piano Grande, a valley that comes to life with thousands of tiny red, white, and purple flowers every spring (there's even a festival honoring the floral event that takes place in June).
- Heli-skiing in The Alps. It's no secret that the Alps are home to world-class skiing. But for those who want exclusive access to untouched powder and secluded wilderness, there's nothing like a heli-skiing trip to make you feel like the world's your own private playground.
- Shark Diving in South Australia. Off the coast of Port Lincoln in South Australia, the Neptune Islands are home to Australia's largest colony of long-nose fur seals.
- Hut-to-hut Hiking in Colorado. Little known fact: Colorado is home to more huts and yurts than any other state in the U.S. And that's not by accident: Back in the 80s, members of the 10th Mountain Division of the US Army decided to recreate the huts they'd encountered while on duty in the Alps.
4K. Stream. Subs. We checked for updates on 248 streaming services on April 10, 2024 at 4:57:40 AM. Something wrong? Let us know! The Best of the Adventures streaming: where to watch online? Currently you are able to watch "The Best of the Adventures" streaming on Cultpix. Synopsis.
- Stanley A. Long
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- Arctic Kayaking Expedition Through the Fjords of Greenland. What a way to start: Arctic kayaking. You’ll paddle for 100km past icebergs and through ancient arctic fjords, keeping your eyes peeled for seals, whales and polar bears.
- The Ultimate Trekking Adventure in Madagascar. Trek and wild camp through the otherworldly canyons, plains, forests and peaks of the Isalo and Andringitra National Parks.
- Cycle the Backroads of Morocco. Pedal from the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains to the vast dunes of the Sahara Desert. You'll cycle through the Valley of the Roses, pausing at the ancient UNESCO ksar of Ait Ben Haddou.
- Trek Turkey's High Taurus Mountains. Discover a new (and relatively unexplored) side to Turkey on a hiking trip into the High Taurus Mountains. Summit mighty Mount Emler (3,756m) and traverse remote plateaus to Yildiz Lake.
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