Rajashri Venkatesh
In our vast planet, there are countless number of species in the animal kingdom ready to be captured in your cameras. Here is a list of places which have proven to be a paradise for shutterbugs and photographers, where you can find rarest of the rare animals waiting to amaze you.
In 1994 the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as an important biodiversity hotspot. The word "Bwindi" means impenetrable in the local Lukiga language. The double use of the word "impenatrable" in the park's title is fitting indeed, as Bwindi's dense vegetation and daunting terrain make exploring the area very challenging. The 327 km² national park encompasses ancient rainforests covering steep valleys and towering ridges. Trekking mountain gorillas in this lush and demanding wilderness area is well worth the physical challenge. Encountering the rare mountain gorillas is considered one of the best wildlife encounters in the world!
Where : Uganda
In the vast arid space of Northern Namibia lies one of Southern Africa’s best loved wildlife sanctuaries. Etosha National Park offers excellent game viewing in one of Africa’s most accessible venues. Zebra and springbok are scattered across the endless horizon, while the many waterholes attract endangered black rhinoceros, lion, elephant and large numbers of antelope.
Etosha, meaning ‘place of dry water’, is encloses a huge, flat calcrete depression (or pan) of about 5 000km². The ‘Pan’ provides a great, parched, silver-white backdrop of shimmering mirages to an area of semi-arid savannah grassland and thorn scrub. The pan itself contains water only after very good rains and sometimes for only a few days each year, but is enough to stimulate the growth of a blue-green algae which lures thousands of flamingos.
Where : Nambia
The Maasai Mara rivals an ever-changing landscape portrait: endless, green grasslands gradually ripen into golden waves of tall oat grass, gently parted by herds of visiting wildebeest that clear the canvas for another painting.
A lack of fences allows the seamless union of the Greater Mara Ecosystem in Kenya and the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania into the Serengeti-Mara Ecosystem. One morning you can wake up to a herd of five hundred elephant making their way slowly through the Ol Punyata swamp in the middle of the Mara Triangle, and the next day they’ve vanished.
Where : Kenya
Berenty sits amid a giant sisal plantation and you drive for about 20 minutes through these fields before reaching the tourist facilities and lodge. Sisal is an exotic catcus that was introduced for its value as a fiber. Sisal production has climbed in recent years to do the demand for biogradable packaging. Thus an unintended result of the adoption of more environmentally friendly packaging is the destruction of this endemic ecosystem.
Where : Madagascar
Denali is six million acres of wild land, bisected by one ribbon of road. Travelers along it see the relatively low-elevation taiga forest give way to high alpine tundra and snowy mountains, culminating in North America's tallest peak, 20,320' Mount McKinley. Wild animals large and small roam unfenced lands, living as they have for ages. Solitude, tranquility and wilderness await.
Where : USA
The Okavango Delta is a unique pulsing wetland. More correctly an alluvial fan, the delta covers between 6 and 15 000 square kilometres of Kalahari Desert in northern Botswana and owes its existence to the Okavango (Kavango) River which flows from the Angolan highlands, across Namibia’s Caprivi Strip and into the harsh Kalahari Desert.
Where : Botswana
Volcanoes national park is home to Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei); golden monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis kandti), Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta), buffaloes (Syncerus caffer), elephants , black-fronted duiker (Cephalophus niger), and bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus). The park also harbors 178 bird species including at least 29 endemics to Rwenzori mountains and the Virungas.
Where : Rwanda
Manuel Antonio contains a charming combination of rain forest, beaches and coral reefs. This beaches are the most beautiful in the country, lined with lush forest, and the snorkeling is excellent too. The forest is home for sloths, iguanas, the rare and adorable squirrel monkeys and millions of colorful little crabs. And the trail that winds around Punta Catedral affords some spectacular views. The park is easy to reach, south of the town of Quepos, and is near a good selection of hotels and restaurants.
Where : Costa Rica
Few places in the world can boast of such nature wonders as those offered by land and sea in Kaikoura. The seaside settlement is the most northern district in the Canterbury region located on the east coast of the South Island (an ideal location for both north and south bound travellers). 2.5 hours drive from Christchurch, 1.5 hours from Blenheim and only 2 hours from Picton - the gateway to the North Island.
Where : New Zealand
The Pantanal of South America is one of the most immense, pristine and biologically rich environments on the planet. Often referred to as the world’s largest freshwater wetland system, it extends through millions of hectares of central-western Brazil, eastern Bolivia and eastern Paraguay. With its extraordinarily concentrated and diverse flora and fauna, and a landscape spanning a variety of ecological sub-regions, the Pantanal stands as one of the world’s great natural wonders.
Where : Brazil
