It was early morning, the milk light of late dawn. My husband and I were lying in bed in his childhood home, in the suburbs听of Sydney.

It was December 2019. The house was silent but nevertheless charged with a faint vibration of anticipation; everyone still sleeping, but lightly. Remi and I were planning to depart that morning for a trip to Queensland, where we would spend a few nights camping on one of the world鈥檚 most beautiful beaches, and then dive the Great Barrier Reef. Though Remi had spent a large part of his childhood in Queensland, he鈥檇 never had a chance to visit the reef. It was a dream trip.

It was also a promise of escape. Normally, we spent most of our time in a cabin we owned in British Columbia. I wrote books; he ran a film-production network. We both worked from home, so we could live just about anywhere. In the winters, to escape the Cascadian gloom, we sometimes hid out with Remi鈥檚 parents on the underside of the planet. But that year the plan had backfired. For weeks had been burning in the nearby mountains and elsewhere, the worst fires in anyone鈥檚 memory, fires already burning their way into the pages of history. We had inadvertently traded one gloom for a darker, more ominous one. After weeks spent mostly indoors, hiding from the smoke, we were itching to head north, into humid jungle and sea wind.

That morning, I had just woken up and spent ten or twenty or thirty minutes staring at my phone鈥攚ho knows really, phone time being slippery鈥攁nd was rising from the bed and glancing out the window when my husband abruptly sat up and looked out the window, too. He was staring at the waving branches of a eucalyptus tree, its bark peeling away in white shreds. We had a habit of doing this, waking up and looking out the window at the trees across the road, to judge how thick the smoke would be that day: faint trees meant bad air.

The air that day was bad.

He turned to me, then he looked out the window again. His face was oddly slack, his lips drooping at the corners.

I figured I had woken him abruptly, and that he was still groggy and half dreaming. 鈥淕o back to sleep,鈥� I said.

He looked at me, at the window, back at me, squinting, mouth open, with an expression almost of curiosity, as if everything looked slightly unreal.

The gum trees waving in a silent, numb wind.

The spotted doves going roo, roo.

Remi鈥檚 right hand was bent and held close to his body, like a little broken wing. He looked at it, then felt it with his left hand.

鈥淪omething鈥檚 not right,鈥� he said. His eyes were childlike. 鈥淪omething鈥檚 not ri-ight. I fee lilly meer.鈥� The words melted on his tongue. He tried to rise from the bed, but found that he couldn鈥檛 stand on his right leg and toppled backwards.

I felt a cool, distant wave of panic. I knew I needed to call an ambulance. But, as if in a nightmare, when I reached for my phone, I realized that I didn鈥檛 know the number for 911 here in Australia.

I later learned that it鈥檚 000, a number I will never forget: nothing nothing nothing, or void void void, or oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck.

The post We’re Here to See the Great Doomed Thing appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

As the earth warms, our mountains, rivers, glaciers, and oceans will change, some in听unpredictable ways. So we pored over听the research and called a few experts. Here鈥檚 a little of what we have to look forward to.

Backcountry Skiing Becomes Bony

In the past 50 years, average snowpack in the western U.S. has declined as much as 30 percent. One projection for the next century has the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada dropping another 60 percent from today鈥檚 levels. Resorts are investing in snowmaking technology to help offset the decline, but backcountry skiers will have fewer and fewer options.

Surfers Have More Giants to Ride

Climate change is contributing to larger, more intense storms, particularly in the tropics. The same systems likely to devastate coastal communities will also create enormous swells for big-wave surfers鈥斅璱ncluding, perhaps, the fabled 100-foot wave.

Rivers Change Course

The Fourth National Climate Assessment, a 听produced by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, reported that heavy rains have increased in intensity and frequency since 1901, though not evenly across the world or the U.S. In the arid Southwest, precipitation is expected to decrease, spelling the end of paddling on some sections of the Salt River and the Rio Grande. In the Northeast, rains may increase, opening up new whitewater in places like the Adirondack watershed.

The Route to the South Pole Shrinks

Antarctica鈥檚 Ross Island is home to Ernest Shackleton鈥檚 hut, the historic launch point for expeditions to the South Pole. Soon, though, explorers starting out here might need a boat. A section of the California-size听Ross Ice Shelf, a frozen mass over the sea that adventurers ski or sled across to reach the Antarctic continent, is losing nearly six feet of ice each year鈥攁 number that鈥檚 only expected to increase.

The Northwest Passage Gets Busy

It took centuries to find a navigable route through the sea ice of the Northwest Passage, and hundreds of adventurers lost their lives along the way. But as the Arctic has warmed, the ice has receded. Now cargo vessels and even cruise ships make regular trips through the widening waterway. Next year, adventurer Karl Kruger will become the first to attempt to paddleboard the passage.

Deserts Are Deserted

Scientists project that entire swaths of the Middle East and northern Africa will soon be nearly uninhabitable for humans, due to drought and heat waves that will spike temperatures to upward of 122 degrees. Areas like Oman鈥檚 Wadi Bani Awf region, long known for its canyoneering adventures, could become too hot to visit, while Morocco鈥檚 multi-day 156-mile Marathon des Sables, already touted as the world鈥檚 toughest footrace, might become impossible.

More Avalanches on Mount Everest

In 2018, scientists at the University of Geneva found that over the past 150 years, the number of slides in the Himalayas has increased dramatically. As researchers 听颈苍 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, recent warming is 鈥渢he most plausible explanation.鈥� As snowfall remains consistent and temperatures rise, the destabilized snowpack may lead to more frequent releases. In the past five years, 32 people have died in avalanches on Everest.

RIP Great Barrier Reef听

In 2016, high water temperatures caused a massive bleaching event in Australia鈥檚 Great Barrier Reef that killed nearly 30 percent of its 134,634 square miles of coral. A new 听from the Climate Council, an Australian think tank, projected that by 2034, similar bleaching events could occur every two years, 鈥渆ffectively destroying the Great Barrier Reef.鈥�

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If you think strictly in terms of global warming, the list of must-see, critically听endangered natural settings is relatively straightforward. It鈥檚 also very long. A number of places have been dubbed the 鈥済round zero of climate change鈥� by the media, including Florida, Alaska, and the earth鈥檚 poles. Any spot along a coastline, on the banks of tidal rivers, or on lonely Pacific atolls is in danger of changing drastically due to rising sea levels. Destinations known for winter sports, deep glaciers, and snowcapped summits will, at the very least, be much warmer in the future.

Where to go and what to see is, like most trips, dependent on your budget and also how much of the getting there you can handle. To help you plan and make decisions about where to head, we鈥檝e gathered up some grim facts and spoken to a few people who鈥檝e seen these bucket-list-worthy places change in their lifetimes.

But before you go anywhere, know that traveling to these places is also furthering the problem by putting more carbon into the atmosphere. People live in these locations听and听love them deeply, but听yes, make a living from them, too. Tread lightly. Merely gawking at an imperiled place isn鈥檛 much different than slowing down to look at wreckage on a highway. Ultimately, whether you can or听can鈥檛 get to one of these destinations, or the many others threatened by climate change, donating money to and advocating for the听organizations trying to stem the tide will听help.听

Everglades National Park, Florida

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says global sea levels are rising at a rate of about听. And with warmer ocean temperatures generating stronger coastal storms, more water is surging inland. Athan Manuel, director of the Sierra Club鈥檚 Lands Protection Program, says Everglades National Park is at the top of听the list when he thinks about vulnerable places. The 1.5-million-acre expanse of fresh water and saw grass prairies could basically 鈥渕elt into the ocean,鈥� he says.听One recent study by Florida International University warned that it could happen .听

鈥淚 used to live in South Florida, and the Florida Keys and the Everglades are both changing so dramatically,鈥� Manuel听says.

Airports in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Fort Myers make the Everglades and Big Cypress National Preserve, just north of it, one of the easiest destinations to get to on this list. In the spirit of Florida, tourists can lather themselves in sunscreen, sit in听, and whip around the marshes for $28 or take simpler, muckier excursions on foot with Clyde Butcher, a longtime Everglades photographer who looks like Santa in expedition khakis and a cowboy hat. Butcher鈥檚 motto is 鈥�,鈥� and for $125 he鈥檒l take two people on a two-hour tour where old tennis shoes听are a must.

Kayaking and canoeing the Everglades are听ideal ways to experience the landscape if you鈥檝e got time, but the听vastness can be daunting for beginners. One waterway there is appropriately called the Nightmare.听 is available through the National Park Service, and guided tours abound. The most unique way to camp in the Everglades is on a chikee, an elevated wooden platform over the water听where people can tie up their boat and pitch a tent above the alligators. Like an Appalachian Trail shelter, you might be sharing a chikee with fellow campers. Some even come designed with听a portable toilet.

Glacier National Park, Montana听

Glacier National Park has already lost a vast majority of its namesake. A 2017听USGS听report titled 听found that of the 150 present in the park in 1850,听only 26 still fit that听definition.听It also noted 听suggesting that the glaciers of听Blackfoot鈥揓ackson Glacier Basin,听the largest concentration听within the park, would disappear between 2030 and 2080.听

The park has experienced an increase of a million visitors over the last six years. Harvey Lemelin, a professor at Lakehead听University in Ontario, Canada, who literally wrote the book on the subject,听, says Glacier鈥檚 uptick in tourism coincides not coincidentally with the dire听climate outlook. 鈥淓verybody鈥檚 seen the pictures of the retreating glaciers in Glacier National Park,鈥� Lemelin says. 鈥淚t is out there.鈥�

But he says the government agencies that run and regulate national parks all over the globe, along with many tour operators, wring their hands over the ethics of last-chance tourism.听When asked if the disappearing glaciers were driving tourism, Glacier National Park spokeswoman Lauren Alley told me, 鈥淭here are听probably a lot of factors at play.鈥�

鈥淵ou know, we don鈥檛 have a scientific study that says X number of visitors came for this reason and X came for this reason. Certainly, people are coming to see glaciers,鈥� she says.

Like many national parks in the American West, Alley says visitors should expect听crowds and parking lots at capacity by 8 A.M. Finding a place to stay can be difficult as well. If you鈥檝e ever tried to book a room in national-park lodges or hotels, you know that gauntlet well. Glacier accepts reservations up to 13 months in advance. There are also听13听, many first-come, first-served, and ample backcountry camping. Another transportation option is Amtrak, which stops at East Glacier Park Village and听has听 that start at $849.

The Great Barrier Reef, Australia

As the world鈥檚 largest coral reef, the Great Barrier Reef听often appears as the poster child for nature on the brink. It鈥檚 roughly half the size听, and according to National Geographic, half of it听has been 鈥�.鈥� But that means there鈥檚 still a vibrant coral reef out there to visit, only now just a quarter the size of the Lone Star State.听

Getting there, obviously, isn鈥檛 the easiest the trip, and it鈥檚听certainly more expensive than heading to reefs off the Florida Keys. It could require sacrificing other vacations or planning for years down the road.

The city of Cairns听is considered the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and is home to the nearest airport, which has connections from Brisbane and Sydney. You can sleep in luxury resorts along the Coral Sea, but there are a lot of options on a coastline that runs north for 500 miles. Tourism Tropical North Queensland compiled a list of听 on the Great Barrier Reef, and each one, replete with palm trees and aquamarine waters, could easily be your most liked Instagram post of the year. The nonprofit Great Barrier Reef Foundation recommends visiting 鈥�.鈥� That means choosing kayak, diving, or cruise outfitters deemed to be 听by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.听

Majuli Island, India

The world鈥檚 largest river island, Majuli, sits amid the snaking tendrils of the Brahmaputra River in the northeastern state of Assam. In 1979, one resident, Jadav Payeng, single-handedly planted an entire forest there听to help stem erosion that鈥檚 been steadily shrinking the island (and听perhaps to听balance the cosmic ledger of misdeeds done by mankind). Today, Majuli鈥檚 Molai Forest听is home to Bengal tigers and rhinoceroses.

鈥淭here are no monsters in nature except for humans,鈥� Payeng says in Forest Man,听the听 about his efforts. 鈥淗umans consume everything until there is nothing left.鈥�

Visiting Majuli, a pilgrimage site for Hindus, will require some homework when leaving from the U.S. The nearest major airport is in Dhaka, 475 miles to the south, in Bangladesh, though听there鈥檚 a much smaller airport听much closer, in Jorhat, India. From there, it鈥檚 a slew of bus or train rides and a ferry from the mainland. If you can get there, you can sleep at听, which has both bamboo and concrete huts starting at听.

Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

In his 2006 documentary听, Al Gore said that 鈥渨ithin the decade there will be no more snows of Kilimanjaro,鈥� referring to the iconic, snowcapped peak, the tallest听颈苍 Africa. Many have pointed out that snow remains on Kilimanjaro today, part of the danger in putting any one endangered place on a precise timeline.

Protus Mayunga, who grew up in Tanzania, first climbed the mountain when he was 17. Now 43, he says he鈥檚 climbed it听hundreds of times since, and after returning from a recent trip, he compared the pictures he鈥檇 taken there decades ago and saw a stark difference, not in snow cover听but rather its听glaciers.

鈥淭hey are definitely shrinking. I think by 2020, some glaciers will still be standing, but yeah, it鈥檚 definitely a big difference for sure,鈥� Mayunga says. 鈥淚 was there in August, and there was tons of snow鈥攕tarting at 16,000 feet and going to the summit, everything was covered. But when the season changes, everything usually melts.鈥�

Mayunga travels from his home in New York鈥檚 Catskills several times a year to lead groups on climbing expeditions in Tanzania with his . Prices to summit can range from $1,200 to $6,000 per person, Mayunga says, depending on your outfitter and the route.

The North and South Poles

The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, according the National Snow and Ice Data Center, 鈥渃ontain more than 99 percent of the freshwater ice on earth,鈥� and each, if global warming continues unabated, would likely be the main source of rising sea levels.

Veteran adventurer and climber Guy Cotter, owner of听, a travel company that runs expeditions to far-flung places, says ice on the North Pole is undoubtedly thinning. 鈥淚n a few years, it may be that it will be impossible to ski to the North Pole because it will be open ocean,鈥� Cotter says.

, based in southern Greenland, runs two-week kayaking and ice-hiking trips starting at $2,450 and ice-cap expeditions into 鈥渦nexplored鈥� territories for just under $4,000.

say that Antarctica has seen an increase in both water and air temperature in recent decades, causing the growth of plant life and the dispersal of its ubiquitous penguin colonies. While the South Pole may not change as quickly as the North Pole in our lifetime, it鈥檚 worth a visit if you can afford it. 国产吃瓜黑料 Consultants runs ski trips there that can last for two months. A shorter, 16-day ski expedition to the South Pole costs $64,000, and most of that pays for the flights on and off the ice.

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There鈥檚 a good chance the sunscreen you slather on at the beach is doing permanent damage to the ocean鈥檚 reefs, thanks to a couple of common compounds that cause deformities in the coral. Mounting research shows that听oxybenzone and octinoxate, two UV-blocking chemicals found in most sunscreens, cause bleaching, DNA damage, and death in coral when they鈥檙e washed off of swimmers. According to the nonprofit , an estimated 14,000 tons of sunscreen are deposited in oceans every year.

鈥淵ou can actually see the sunscreen in the water,鈥� says Colleen Gilligan, marketing director for , one of the pioneering reef-safe sunscreens on the market. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e on a diving trip, or even in a swimming pool, and you notice a greasy film on the surface, that鈥檚 everyone鈥檚 sunscreen washing off.鈥�

Combine our sunscreen addiction with other pollutants and rising water temperatures, and you get a bleak picture of coral health across the globe. Coral reefs have already declined by 40 percent in Hawaii, 50 percent in the Great Barrier Reef, 85 percent in the Caribbean and 99 percent in the Florida Keys.

So just buy sunscreen labeled 鈥渞eef-safe,鈥� right? Wrong.

鈥淭here isn鈥檛 any FDA or governmental definition for what qualifies as 鈥榬eef-safe,鈥欌�� Gilligan says, adding that it鈥檚 hard to trust a label on a bottle when there鈥檚 no real oversight. Instead, you need to look at the actual ingredients. 鈥淵our best bet is to steer towards sunscreens that are mineral-based, not chemical-based.鈥�

Most true reef-safe sunscreens rely on naturally occurring minerals like zinc oxide (remember the white noses of the eighties?) as the active sun-blocking ingredient, instead of chemicals like oxybenzone. Hawaii has even taken steps to help you make the right choice. At the beginning of July, Hawaii鈥檚 governor signed a bill that bans from the state the sale听of sunscreens听that contain chemicals harmful to coral reefs. It鈥檚 the first law of its kind passed, not just in the U.S.听but in the world. The ban goes into effect on January 1, 2021.

Want to do the right thing in the meantime? Wear more sun hats and sun shirts, and if you are going to use sunscreen, pick from this list.

Beyond Coastal Natural听($15)

Beyond Coastal鈥檚 SPF 34听听eschews the common chemicals and uses as its major active ingredient zinc oxide, which blocks 97 percent of UVB rays. In addition to the zinc oxide, the lotion has all kinds of skin-loving ingredients, like acai fruit extract, aloe vera, and cocoa butter.听

Hawaiian Sol SolGuard ($16)

This is 听Hawaii鈥檚 Hanauma Bay State Park recommends to its visitors. Like Beyond Coastal, it uses zinc oxide instead of the harmful chemicals to block UVB and UVA rays and runs the spectrum from SPF 8 to SPF 50. SolGuard also incorporates cucumber extract, aloe leaf, and kukui oil to help hydrate your skin.

Mama Kuleana Waterproof SPF 30 ($20)

Even the packaging on is earth-friendly. Maui-based Mama Kuleana uses biodegradable containers for its sunscreen, which is loaded with organic shea butter, coconut oil, beeswax, almond oil, zinc powder, and a whole bunch of other things you鈥檇 find in random Whole Foods aisles. SPF30

ThinkSport听($12)

ThinkSport鈥檚 zinc-oxide-based formula goes on easy and earned a perfect score from the Environmental Working Group. It鈥檚 SPF 50, and it鈥檚 even safe enough to put on your baby. Seriously.

Beyond Coastal Active ($15)

Some people don鈥檛 like zinc oxide sunscreens because they create an actual physical barrier between your skin and the sun, making it difficult to sweat. Beyond Coastal鈥檚 听uses safer chemicals as well as the company鈥檚 cocktail of natural ingredients that hydrate your skin.

The post You Should Only Buy Reef-Safe Sunscreen appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

On September 10, 2017, as Hurricane Irma drowned the Florida Keys with a five-foot storm surge and shredded houses with 130 mph winds, David Vaughan, a 65-year-old marine biologist, and Frank Slifka, a 67-year-old maintenance man, huddled inside the and hoped for the best. There were not many places to hide on the tiny spit of sand called Summerland Key, but the research center was one of them. The $7 million facility was built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane and resembles a cinder block on burly concrete stilts. From the second floor, Vaughan peered into the storm to check on his house and boat next door. All he could see was the wind itself, a roaring wall of gray.

When the storm鈥檚 eye passed directly overhead, the wind died and the storm surge sucked back out to sea. Vaughan could see that his house鈥檚 roof had begun to collapse. His boat had smashed into his Prius. He had 40 minutes to save what he could before the back wall of the hurricane hit and another storm surge rushed in.

He and Slifka rushed downstairs, turned their backs on everything Vaughan owned, and got to work in the laboratory鈥檚 ground floor, rescuing thousands of tiny plaster plugs capped by dark dots the size of a pencil tip鈥攇enetically hacked coral polyps that the storm threatened to wash away. Without them, Vaughan knew, the Florida Keys might not survive the next century.

When I drove into Summerland Key three months after the storm, debris still lined the main road, piled almost as high as the three-axle trucks rumbling in to retrieve and burn it. Just 20 miles east of bustling Key West, the island remained a ghost town. Boats and trailers sat marooned on front lawns, their carcasses spray painted with the redundant tag 鈥渢rash.鈥� Many residents hadn鈥檛 returned to clean up.

The Elizabeth Moore Center's parking lot, however, was packed with cars. The building had survived the storm. Inside its thick concrete walls, offices and dorm rooms thrummed with the paperwork doldrums of scientific life. Down in the open-air ground floor, the plastic holding tanks that had overturned in the storm once again brimmed with the corals Vaughan and Slifka had saved, plus thousands of others, submerged in bubbling seawater. Grad students slowly circulated among them, staring down into the troughs, gliding suction hoses along their bottoms.

When I wondered aloud about their job, one perked up and removed his headphones. 鈥淲e鈥檙e removing detritus from the bottom,鈥� he said.

鈥淪nail shit,鈥� said another.

Suctioning snail shit is where the rubber meets the road for the facility鈥檚 main mission: saving coral from extinction via a groundbreaking technique of genetic modification and cloning.

Corals are strange creatures, invertebrate organisms made up of individual tentacled polyps that, under a microscope, each look like a miniature Sarlacc pit. Inside each polyp are tiny marine plankton that photosynthesize food, giving the polyp enough energy to build a calcium carbonate reef structure around itself and its neighboring polyps.

They鈥檙e also fragile. Without grad students to suction up snail shit at this stage of their lives, the polyps would be strangled by too much algae. Without carefully monitored water temperatures, the polyps would overheat and expel all their algae and bleach, a much greater danger that leads to wide-spread die offs.

Vaughan, the executive director of the Elizabeth Moore Center, has a graying castaway鈥檚 beard and cloudy blue eyes. He commutes to work every day by paddling a canoe 50 yards across Summerland Key鈥檚 canal from the dock at the back of his house, which is still standing. 鈥淧eople say, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e the best low-carbon-footprint commuter,鈥欌�� Vaughan said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 even know that I hold my breath going across, so I鈥檓 not emitting anything at all.鈥�

Vaughan giggles鈥攈e does that鈥攂ut he鈥檚 getting at something. Since the 1970s, the greenhouse effect from the atmosphere鈥檚 absorption of carbon dioxide has raised average ocean temperatures by almost two degrees Fahrenheit. In the next 100 years, that temperature could rise by between two and six degrees more. Worse, the sea has absorbed about half of humanity鈥檚 total CO2 output, which has chemically reacted with the main substrate of the ocean, calcium carbonate鈥攁 compound that all sea animals with exoskeletons, like crabs, shrimp, clams, and coral, depend on to live鈥攖o make oceans 30 percent more acidic than they were in the 19th century. That higher acidity makes it harder for coral to build its reef structure. If ocean acidity continues to increase into the next century, it could mean reefs will begin eroding faster than they are being built鈥攐r, literally, start melting away.

The combination of warming and acidification has been devastating to coral. Since the 1970s, scientists estimate 20 to 40 percent of the world鈥檚 coral has been killed off by bleaching events caused by high water temperatures. In certain areas, it鈥檚 been worse. In 2015, 22 percent of the Great Barrier Reef, one of the world鈥檚 largest living structures, died off in a mass bleaching event. A 2008 study estimated that only 2 percent of Florida鈥檚 native staghorn and elkhorn corals remain alive. And bleaching events worldwide are happening more often as earth鈥檚 average temperature climbs. Florida鈥檚 reefs have experienced bleaching events in 12 of the past 14 years.

The effects of this mass extinction are catastrophic. Never mind that reef tourism generates $5 billion annually in Florida and $36 billion worldwide. Across the globe, hundreds of millions of people depend on fish stocks that are supported by the coral reef ecosystem, without which they鈥檒l starve.

What鈥檚 more, if reefs disappear, millions of people living in these low-lying coastal regions, including the Keys, could be displaced鈥攐r drowned鈥攂y megastorms like Irma, which the听National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) believes听will only get stronger in coming years due to warming ocean surface temperatures. These communities depend on fringe and barrier reefs, where corals rise like a wall from the seafloor, beating back the strength of incoming waves like defensive linemen breaking up an oncoming blitz. A study during Hurricane Wilma in 2005 found that barrier reefs attenuated 99 percent of the height of the storm鈥檚 42-foot waves before they hit the shoreline. But the reefs pay a price for their work. Before Irma smashed into the Keys, many of its fringe and barrier reefs had been covered in hard and soft corals. Now, said Robert Nowicki, a postdoc research fellow at the , the organization that runs the Elizabeth Moore Center, some of them had been 鈥渟coured almost to nothing, like the surface of the moon.鈥� If there鈥檚 no new coral to replace the old, life as we know it along the world鈥檚 tropical coasts will almost certainly change.

鈥淭wenty-five-to-30-foot waves were hitting our reef during Irma,鈥� Vaughan told me. 鈥淚f those waves had not been smashed on the reef, then they would have smashed on our island, right here. I think our tallest buildings are 33 feet. So where would anybody run to?鈥�

In the past five years, all these disastrous consequences for reefs have pushed coral reef restoration to the forefront of marine science. The field is expensive and controversial, but today, it鈥檚 considered the tip of the spear in the fight to help coral survive into the next century.

Scientists like Ruth Gates, director of the , have recently made major strides in identifying and crossbreeding the genotypes, or genetic families, of each coral species that can survive the higher temperatures and acidification we can now expect in the coming years鈥攖emperatures and pHs that will kill and then dissolve many of the world鈥檚 less-hardy corals. The goal is to create a 鈥渟uper coral鈥� that will survive an increasingly inhospitable ecosystem.

Vaughan and his team are part of this search for genetically superior corals. But their main contribution is what Vaughan calls his microfragmentation program, which both clones corals and hacks the mechanisms for their growth rates. 鈥淲e can fix things that we thought impossible ten years ago,鈥� Gates told me when I asked her about Vaughan鈥檚 work. 鈥淩eally, his techniques are at the center of the question, 鈥楬ow do we build a reef?鈥欌��

Vaughan鈥檚 technique is absurdly simple:听He uses a saw to chop healthy hard coral pieces into much smaller fragments; these grow back extremely quickly atop small concrete plugs and are then replanted in the sea. In essence, he鈥檚 created a sea-life version of Mickey Mouse鈥檚 broomsticks in the . Smash them up, then watch them come roaring back with a vengeance.

The technique is a vital one for the field. Coral鈥檚 biggest problems might be warming seas and rising acid levels, but those are magnified by a sad fact of life for corals: They aren鈥檛 very good breeders. 鈥淲e actually didn鈥檛 know how corals reproduced until the 1980s,鈥� Vaughan said. That鈥檚 because, as if adhering to some dirty fairy tale, corals breed only a few days a year, en masse, for around 30 minutes, shortly after the full moon in August, when they simultaneously fill the sea with their white, snowy-looking gametes in a single, very unkinky orgy.

Because of this sex tactic, only one in a million potential baby corals is successfully fertilized and survives to become a juvenile. That means it takes some corals 25 or even 50 years to successfully reproduce. Given the rate of the ocean鈥檚 decline, that鈥檚 not going to produce the genetically superior corals nearly fast enough. 鈥淲e鈥檝e probably got 50 to 100 years to act with these resistant strains of coral,鈥� Vaughan said. 鈥淚f we still don鈥檛 change in 100 years, and it keeps getting hotter and hotter鈥攖here鈥檚 certainly a limit to everything.鈥�

Vaughan stumbled on his procedure five years ago when he accidentally broke a piece of coral in his lab and left it in the bottom of the tank. When he returned two weeks later, it and the other fragments had regrown to their original size. He鈥檚 still not sure exactly why this happens, but his closest analogy is our skin cells, which regrow quickly to cover a fresh wound but otherwise lay dormant.

Using jewelry saws, Vaughan and his team started fracturing their lab-fertilized corals. Within three to six months, they could turn a single coral into 60 to 100 new organisms the same size as the original. The fractured corals continued to grow between ten and 40 times faster than coral in the wild, depending on their species.

Then Vaughan made a much more important discovery. Because the polyps were technically all part of a single organism before they were fragmented, they were clones鈥攁nd they would willingly reconstitute back into a larger organism, skipping ahead into maturity. 鈥淯sually, when corals touch each other, they start fighting, and they can kill each other,鈥� Vaughan said. 鈥淏ut when we put 100 of the fragmented pieces next to each other that had come from a single original piece, they didn鈥檛 fight. They recognized each other as themselves. And they would actually start to fuse together, like skin grafting.鈥�

A piece of coral the size of a golf ball, fractured into 20 pieces replanted side by side, could produce a single large coral the size of a pizza just four to five years later. It worked in the wild, too. In four years, Vaughan could have a sexually mature coral the size of a football or a table鈥攄epending on how many individual pieces of coral he decided to combine鈥攚hich would have taken a natural coral 25, 50, or even 100 years to grow.

These quick-growing fragmented corals could be planted near one another in the wild to cross-breed and create uber-corals resistant to high water temperature, ocean acidification, and disease. When paired with the work of genetics-focused scientists like Gates, it would be like replanting a rainforest that could continue to proliferate, with offspring that grew bark strong enough to break a logger鈥檚 chainsaw.

Vaughan set a goal to plant a million corals before he retired. He and his team grew their coral output exponentially, planted multiple offshore nurseries, began making their reef-growing techniques cost-efficient, and started working to score the major state grants needed to rebuild Florida鈥檚 reef industry.

Then the hurricane hit.

Working quickly, Vaughan and Slifka saved the vast majority of the coral plugs outside the Elizabeth Moore Center鈥攕ome 5,000 out of nearly 7,000. Inside the lab, another 14,000 corals rode out the storm, along with a gene bank holding the most promising genotypes of all 28 coral breeds found in the Keys.

Out in the field, acres of wild corals were sandblasted by the storm鈥檚 waves. One of the lab鈥檚 field nurseries for lab-fractured elkhorn and staghorn corals鈥攎ore fragile, branching corals that look like antlers and are endangered in Florida鈥攚as almost entirely wiped out. 鈥淚t was pretty disheartening,鈥� said Erich Bartels, a staff scientist. 鈥淭hat coral was the result of 500 hours of work per person, per year, for seven years.鈥�

But another field nursery for the lab鈥檚 elkhorn and staghorn farther south fared much better, with only minimal losses. And the lab鈥檚 hardier boulder corals also had a higher survival rate. 鈥淎ll we can do is plant as many good corals as we can,”听said Nowicki,听“use the numbers game, and spread everything out so that a single storm can鈥檛 destroy everything we鈥檝e done.鈥�

Vaughan still says he won鈥檛 retire until he plants his million corals worldwide. Upscaling the process is beginning to pay off. The cost per coral has dropped from around $1,000 a piece to only $20 a piece, thanks to more efficient methods. The lab already has grants to plant between 25,000 and 50,000 corals in 2018, and by spreading his techniques to local coral restoration labs worldwide, Vaughan hopes to quickly catapult those numbers into the hundreds of thousands per year. He and his team are hoping to change the public鈥檚 attitude toward saving reefs, which, since the Great Barrier Reef鈥檚 die-off in 2015, has shifted toward hopelessness.

鈥淥ne of the things that disheartens me the most is people saying, 鈥極h, we鈥檙e screwed. Planet鈥檚 over. There鈥檚 nothing we can do,鈥欌�� Nowicki said. 鈥淭here are things we can do. But you have to have the courage and the resources to go out and try.鈥�

On my last day at the lab, I found Frank Slifka, the maintenance man who stayed behind to weather Irma with Vaughan. Slifka was working in the bowels of the facility, where the tidal surge had swept through during the storm, cleaning up and keeping track of diving equipment in metal wire cages.

鈥淧eople ask why we stayed behind,鈥� Slifka told me, shaking his head. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 trying to be brave or heroic or anything like that. We just decided that if we were really here to save the coral, then that鈥檚 simply what we needed to do.鈥�

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Over the past two years,听the worst thing that has ever happened to the oceans on humans鈥櫶�10,000-year watch听has been unfolding in the tropics鈥攁nd if not for one fanatical diver and his outrageous project, we would have mostly missed it.

I first clued in on November 2, 2015, when the New York Times ran a story titled 鈥溾�� that featured a jaw-dropping photo of a coral reef viewed from the waterline. In intense colors and depth of field, it showed a tree-topped cliff island in American Samoa surrounded by bleached elkhorn coral in all directions. I鈥檇 never seen a photo that captured so much reef in one hypersharp image听or that kicked you in the gut with so much bleaching, and it was all the more moving for the accompanying article, which explained that climate change and an El Ni帽o weather cycle had combined to bring mind-boggling warmth to the Pacific, which had triggered the worst mass-bleaching event in history.

Corals are tiny, anemone-like, reef-building animals that derive much of their nourishment and color from symbiotic algae that live on their surfaces. But when temperatures rise too high, the algae turn toxic, and the corals must eject them to survive. Without the algae, the corals bleach bone-white and begin to starve. If water temperatures soon return to normal, the corals can recruit new algae and recover, but if not, they die within months. It takes water temperatures only one degree Celsius听above the average monthly maximum to trigger bleaching. Four weeks of that and serious bleaching sets in. Eight weeks (or fewer in even warmer water) and mortality begins.

The credit on the Times photo said XL Catlin Seaview Survey. I didn鈥檛 think much about it until a new Times story in April 2016听: a听sea turtle swimming forlornly over a vast bone field of bleached staghorn, nothing living in sight. Credit: XL Catlin Seaview Survey.

The environmental news site Grist featuring sickening photos of dead coral covered in brown ooze on the Great Barrier Reef. Another site displayed a shot of a diver photographing dead coral with some crazy-looking camera in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Then the same diver shooting a killing field off Lizard Island on the Great Barrier Reef, and in New Caledonia, Florida, Indonesia, and the Maldives. Every time, the shots were breathtaking and deeply disturbing, and every time, the credit said XL Catlin Seaview Survey.

What on earth is the XL Catlin Seaview Survey? We all get to find out听on听January 21, because听it鈥檚 the subject of听, a new film by Jeff Orlowski, of听Chasing Ice听fame, that鈥檚听premiering at the Sundance Film Festival. The film charts the survey鈥檚 efforts to document the world鈥檚 reefs in a series of unprecedented words, maps, photos, and eye-popping 360-degree virtual dives.

The diver in all those shots is Richard Vevers,听founder of the survey. Vevers is a tough guy to get ahold of, but I tracked him down in Australia as he was returning from two weeks diving and filming at Raja Ampat, Indonesia, one of the world鈥檚 last pristine reefs. “It was a reward to myself,” he said, almost apologetically. “For the last year and a half, I鈥檝e been chasing around the world looking at dead things, and I needed to see something living. It was quite refreshing to see what we鈥檙e actually doing this for.”

Vevers had an unlikely transformation from Don Draper to Jacques Cousteau. After ten years as an ad man in London, he burned out, traveled the world, wound up in Australia, and trained himself to be one of the world鈥檚 top underwater photographers. Through his work, he became aware that coral reefs were the most imperiled ecosystems on earth, which is extremely bad news, because they are one of the most important. They support more than a million species鈥攐ne quarter of everything in the ocean鈥攐n less than 0.1 percent听of the earth鈥檚 territory. When they go, so do those species, as well as the 500 million people who depend on reefs for their livelihoods.

Unfortunately, reefs get very little attention. “A lot of the issues were basically advertising issues,”听Vevers said. “Because what happens underwater is out of sight and out of mind. So I thought, let鈥檚 get together my old advertising friends and set up a nonprofit with the mission of revealing the oceans.”

The Ocean Agency was born in 2010. Vevers designed a with three extreme wide-angle lenses that could take high-resolution 360-degree images. At a barbecue in Sydney, he met a representative from XL Catlin, a reinsurance company, which offered to fund the entire project on the condition that it be a scientific survey. So Vevers approached Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the University of Queensland鈥檚 leading coral reef scientist, whose eyes lit up. There was no comprehensive survey of coral reefs, just small-scale local surveys that all used different methodologies. Hoegh-Guldberg told Vevers that the XL Catlin Survey could revolutionize the monitoring of coral reefs.

In 2012, they tackled the Great Barrier Reef, using a protocol developed by Hoegh-Guldberg. They photographed 150 kilometers of reef, taking a 360-degree image every two meters. Soon they had 105,000 images of the Great Barrier Reef, all GPS- and directionally located so the same photos could be taken in the future. They developed image-recognition software that could identify the species in each photo as accurately as a marine biologist, but 50 times faster. They made the entire database freely available online. And then they expanded their project to reefs worldwide.

This was no snorkel-tour joyride. Many of the world鈥檚 inshore reefs have already been hammered by boaters and pollution, so the Catlin team focused on remote, outer reefs, and that meant two-week trips on a live-aboard boat, often in heavy seas. The five-person diving team would wake at 5:30 a.m., prep their cameras, pack a lunch, and head out on small tenders for the day. At each site, two divers would enter the water while two other scientists wrestled the 150-pound camera and a second support scooter into the water.

They were rarely alone. At these remote sites, the marine life had rarely seen a human, and it was engrossed. “As soon as you jump in the water, the sharks just fly at you,” Vevers told me with a chuckle. “Big silver-tip sharks, over two meters, and they turn just at the last minute. You can actually hear the divers underwater squealing.”

The work was treacherous. Divers could be caught in underwater waterfalls, as massive amounts of water poured off a reef with the tide, or in currents that sucked them into the reefs. They always trailed surface buoys that could be tracked by the tender. They would do three dives, each 45 minutes long, returning to the main boat late in the day. “That鈥檚 when the work really begins,”听said Vevers. There was data to be downloaded, discs to be cleared, batteries to be charged. They鈥檇 collapse in their bunks and do it all over again.听They had no way of knowing that they were taking the final shots of a world no one will ever see again.

In 2013, on a long flight, Vevers watched Jeff Orlowski鈥檚 film Chasing Ice, which chronicles the photographer James Balog鈥檚 efforts to capture receding glaciers. “I called Jeff as soon as we landed,” Vevers said. “I felt like we had very similar projects. Coral reefs seemed like such a logical follow-up. We met a couple of times, and then Jeff decided to do a film.”

At the time, it wasn鈥檛 certain that Chasing Coral would include any images of mass bleaching, something Vevers himself had rarely seen.

Then, in 2014, his life changed forever. The Catlin team was in American Samoa with Orlowski鈥檚 film crew to revisit a reef they鈥檇 shot a few months earlier. It had been extremely healthy, but there were rumors that it was starting to bleach, so Vevers returned to check it out. “I jumped in the water, and everything was bright white as far as the eye could see. That鈥檚 when it dawned on me how quickly this happens and how potentially devastating it could be for coral reefs globally.”听The American Samoa reef was known to be resilient. It had bleached during previous mass-bleaching events, then quickly bounced back as temperatures cooled. So a few months later, Vevers again returned to document the recovery. “It was completely dead,” he recalled. “This time, it didn鈥檛 bounce back.” The Catlin team released some shocking images to the media, and for the first time, the term mass-bleaching entered the public discourse.

“We realized we were the only team documenting this event globally, and we鈥檇 been there from the start, and we were in a unique position to tell the story.”听And the Chasing Coral team was with them all the way, shooting hundreds of hours of footage.

Working with Mark Eakin, the Coordinator of NOAA鈥檚 Coral Reef Watch program, , the XL Catlin team transformed into a rapid-response squad. Within days of getting an alert from Eakin, they鈥檇 grab their cameras and hop on a plane. They shot in Hawaii, Fiji, Taiwan, Maldives, Okinawa, New Caledonia, and the Great Barrier Reef.

Never before had the world seen what massive bleaching really looked like. “Because we鈥檝e got the 360-degree cameras, it allows us to take the shots that really show the scale,” Vevers explains. “Generally it鈥檚 been hard to get news coverage of bleaching because there hasn鈥檛 been good imagery to back up the story.”

It was at Lizard Island, on the far north of the Great Barrier Reef, that Vevers received his worst shock. “It鈥檚 a beautiful island,”听Vevers said, “a real hub for science with a great coral cove, and it had a beautiful, healthy reef. It was my favorite spot in the world.”听The team had already photographed Lizard Island at the height of the bleaching, but Vevers returned with a second expedition four weeks later. “I jumped in the water, and I was absolutely shocked by what I saw. The hard corals looked like they鈥檇 been dead for years. . The soft corals were hanging down, and they were rotting. Just falling apart and literally dripping off the reef. It was shocking enough to see that transformation from healthy to dead in such a short time, but then when I got out of the water, I realized that I absolutely stank of rotting animals. I鈥檇 never heard of that, and I wasn鈥檛 expecting it. Often you look at a reef and it鈥檚 like looking at a garden, and it鈥檚 hard to appreciate that these are all animals. So when you smell it, that鈥檚 when the scale of the tragedy really hits home.”

For those of us who can鈥檛 smell it, numbers should suffice. . Some previously pristine reefs in the South Pacific lost almost everything. So far, about 20 percent of the world鈥檚 reefs have died during this bleaching event. And it isn鈥檛 over yet. The oceans are so hot, they no longer need an El Ni帽o to kill coral. “The models indicate that we will see the return of bleaching in the South Pacific soon,”听NOAA鈥檚 Mark Eakin told me, “along with a possibility of bleaching in both the eastern and western parts of the Indian Ocean.”听NOAA forecasts a 90-percent chance of serious bleaching across that region by March.

“CO2 levels are already higher than corals can tolerate,”听Eakin confirmed to me. Our only chance, he explained, is to reduce emissions to zero and then to start removing heat-trapping gases from the atmosphere. “That process needs to start very soon and be very fast,”听he said. “Unfortunately, all indications are that it will happen much slower than needed.”

On the off chance that happens fast enough, 90 percent of the world鈥檚 reefs will still die, but there will be that other 10 percent. Maybe they鈥檙e in deeper spots that will remain just cool enough, or maybe they have corals that adapt particularly well. With his documentation of the mass bleaching nearly complete, Vevers is embarking on a new mission to survey鈥攁nd save鈥攖hose last refuges. With time, and a stable planet, they could repopulate the world鈥檚 oceans.

It sounds like a long shot, but Vevers likes to cite another long shot. In 1966, the humpback whale population was down to 5,000 individuals, just 4 percent of their original numbers. Most observers were getting ready to write their obituary. But then we stopped killing them, and they recovered better than anyone predicted. “I was expecting humpback whale numbers to be up 20 or 30 percent,”听Vevers wrote on his blog. “However, their recovery has been far more impressive than I expected. There are now around 80,000 individuals (65 percent of their original numbers) and their numbers are still improving at about 8 percent per year. That鈥檚 phenomenal recovery. There is no reason to think an ecosystem, like coral reefs, can鈥檛 bounce back in the same way.”

That鈥檚 an inspiring vision, but it only comes true, as Mark Eakin implies, if we bite the bullet right now. That means stopping emissions and beginning to sequester carbon now. It means taking a pass on that hamburger and munching a mushroom patty today. And stepping away from your car, hopping on your bike, and pedaling your ass off. Today.听

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The Great Barrier Reef of Australia passed away in听…听after a long illness. It was 25 million years old.

For most of its life, the reef was the world鈥檚 largest living structure, and the only one visible from space. It was 1,400 miles long, with 2,900 individual reefs and 1,050 islands. In total area, it was larger than the United Kingdom, and it contained more biodiversity than all of Europe combined. It harbored 1,625 species of fish, 3,000 species of mollusk, 450 species of coral, 220 species of birds, and 30 species of whales and dolphins. Among its many other achievements, the reef was home to one of the world鈥檚 largest populations of dugong and the largest breeding ground of green turtles.听

The reef was born on the eastern coast of the continent of Australia during the Miocene epoch. Its first 24.99 million years were seemingly happy ones, marked by overall growth. It was formed by corals, which are tiny anemone-like animals that secrete shell听to form colonies of millions of individuals. Its complex, sheltered structure came to comprise the most important habitat in the ocean. As sea levels rose and fell through the ages, the reef built itself into a vast labyrinth of shallow-water reefs and atolls extending 140 miles off the Australian coast and ending in an outer wall that plunged half a mile into the abyss. With such extraordinary diversity of life and landscape, it provided some of the most thrilling marine adventures on earth to humans who visited. Its otherworldly colors and patterns will be sorely missed.

To say the reef was an extremely active member of its community is an understatement. The surrounding听ecological community wouldn鈥檛 have existed without it. Its generous spirit was immediately evident 60,000 years ago, when the first humans reached Australia from Asia during a time of much lower sea levels. At that time, the upper portions of the reef comprised limestone cliffs and innumerable caves lining a resource-rich coast. Charlie Veron, longtime chief scientist for the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Great Barrier Reef鈥檚 most passionate champion (he听personally discovered 20 percent of the world鈥檚 coral species), called the reef in that era a 鈥淪tone Age Utopia.鈥� Aboriginal clans hunted and fished its waters and cays for millennia, and continued to do so right up to its demise.

Worldwide fame touched the reef in 1770, when Captain James Cook became the first European to navigate its deadly maze. Although the reef was beloved by nearly all who knew it, Cook was not a fan. 鈥淭he sea in all parts conceals shoals that suddenly project from the shore, and rocks that rise abruptly like a pyramid from the bottom,鈥� he听. Cook鈥檚 ship foundered on one of those shoals and was nearly sunk, but after several months Cook escaped the reef.

After that, the reef was rarely out of the spotlight. A beacon for explorers, scientists, artists, and tourists, it became Australia鈥檚 crown jewel. Yet that didn鈥檛 stop the Queensland government from attempting to lease nearly the entire reef to oil and mining companies in the 1960s鈥攁 move that gave birth to Australia鈥檚 first conservation movement and a decade-long 鈥淪ave the Reef鈥� campaign that culminated in the 1975 creation of Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which restricted fishing, shipping, and development in the reef and seemed to ensure its survival. In his 2008 book, , Veron wrote that back then he might have ended his book about the reef with 鈥渁 heartwarming bromide: 鈥楢nd now we can rest assured that future generations will treasure this great wilderness area for all time.鈥欌�� But, he continued: 鈥淭oday, as we are coming to grips with the influence that humans are having on the world鈥檚 environments, it will come as no surprise that I am unable to write anything remotely like that ending.鈥�

In 1981, the same year that UNESCO designated the reef a World Heritage Site and called it 鈥渢he most impressive marine area in the world,鈥� it experienced its first mass-bleaching incident. Corals derive their astonishing colors, and much of their nourishment, from symbiotic algae that live on their surfaces. The algae photosynthesize and make sugars, which the corals feed on. But when temperatures rise too high, the algae produce too much oxygen, which is toxic in high concentrations, and the corals must eject their algae to survive. Without the algae, the corals turn bone white and begin to starve. If water temperatures soon return to normal, the corals can recruit new algae and recover, but if not, they will die in months. In 1981, water temperatures soared, two-thirds of the coral in the inner portions of the reef bleached, and scientists began to suspect that climate change threatened coral reefs in ways that no marine park could prevent.

By the turn of the millennium, mass bleachings were common. The winter of 1997鈥�98 brought the next big one, followed by an even more severe one in 2001鈥�02, and another whopper in 2005鈥�06. By then, it was apparent that warming water was not the only threat brought by climate change. As the oceans absorbed more carbon from the atmosphere, they became more acidic, and that acid was beginning to dissolve the living reef itself.

Concerned for the reef鈥檚 health, a number of friends attempted interventions鈥攏one more poignant than Veron鈥檚 famed 2009 speech to London鈥檚 350-year-old Royal Society titled 鈥淚s the Great Barrier Reef on Death Row?鈥� Veron quickly answered his own question in the affirmative: 鈥淭his is not a fun talk to give, but I鈥檝e never given a more important talk in my life,鈥� he told the premier gathering of scientists, accurately predicting that atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations of 450 parts per million (which the world reached in 2025) would bring about the demise of the reef.

No one knows if a serious effort听could have saved the reef, but it is clear that no such effort was made. On the contrary, attempts to call attention to the reef鈥檚 plight were thwarted by the government of Australia itself, which in 2016, shortly after approving the largest coal mine in its history, successfully pressured the United Nations to remove a chapter about the reef from a report on the impact of climate change on World Heritage sites. Australia鈥檚 Department of the Environment explained the move by saying, 鈥渆xperience had shown that negative comments about the status of World Heritage-listed properties impacted on tourism.鈥� In other words, if you tell people the reef is dying, they might stop coming.

By then, the reef was in the midst of the most catastrophic bleaching event in its history, from which it would never recover. As much as 50 percent of the coral in the warmer, northern part of the reef died. 鈥淭he whole northern section is trashed,鈥� Veron told Australia鈥檚 Saturday Paper. 鈥淚t looks like a war zone. It鈥檚 heartbreaking.鈥� With no force on earth capable of preventing the oceans from continuing to warm and acidify for centuries to come, Veron had no illusions about the future. 鈥淚 used to have the best job in the world. Now it鈥檚 turned sour… I鈥檓 71 years old now, and I think I may outlive the reef.鈥�

The Great Barrier Reef was predeceased by the South Pacific鈥檚 Coral Triangle, the Florida Reef off听the Florida Keys, and most other coral reefs on earth. It is survived by the remnants of the Belize Barrier Reef and some deepwater corals.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to .

The post Obituary: Great Barrier Reef (25 Million BC-…) appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

If you’re lucky, you’ll get one chance to reach Antarctica. So do it right: Worthy trips last two weeks and cost at least $10,000. Opt for an adventure with multiple stops on land—shooting photos from a cruise ship won’t play. There are plenty of good trips—Mountain Travel Sobek’s 14-day icebreaker cruise to emperor penguin–filled Snow Hill Island comes with digital-photography workshops (from $13,900; ). But this year, consider Geographic Expeditions’ 23-day journey from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, to the Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia Island, home of Shackleton’s grave ($16,000; ). Based on the luxury icebreaker Cleila II, the trip includes an optional four-day crossing of South Georgia guided by mountaineer (and 国产吃瓜黑料 correspondent) Dave Hahn; guest lectures by Peter Hillary, son of a guy named Ed; and classes led by wildlife photographer Art Wolfe. Lesson one: Be patient. “Sit still on the ice and penguins will walk right past you,” says Wolfe.

The Best 国产吃瓜黑料 Photography Trips: Mount Everest Base Camp, Nepal

Just try to take a bad picture in the Himalayas. Aim your camera in any direction and you’ll capture sweeping vistas of the world’s highest mountains. Unless you’re Jimmy Chin, you probably won’t be toting your camera to Everest’s summit, so instead trek to Base Camp with mountaineering guide and photographer Wally Berg, who has led trips to and up the mountain for the past 20 years. Berg 国产吃瓜黑料s International’s 24-day Khumbu treks depart Kathmandu every October and May and use local runners to bring fresh (read: safe) food to the cooks daily ($3,900; ). The spring treks include a night at Base Camp, known for spontaneous Wiffle-ball games and some of the wildest parties above 17,000 feet—good fodder, along with the big hill itself, for panoramics. But do pack a portrait lens. “The best shots near Everest are of the locals,” says Berg. “Sherpa people have the best smiles in the world.”

The Best 国产吃瓜黑料 Photography Trips: Ouray, Colorado

Lora Slawitschka/Ouray Ice Festival

Courtesy of Lora Slawitschka/Ouray Ice Festival

Every January, the town of Ouray holds a three-day party for those crazed souls who enjoy dangling themselves off outsize pillars of ice (). If you’re an ice climber, hike or rappel into the 164-foot Uncompahgre River Gorge for shots from below (helmet and crampons required). Otherwise, stake a spot on the viewing stands on the eastern ledge of the mile-long gorge—you’ll have a top-to-bottom view of the route across the way. And come early. “Between 9 and 11 A.M., the sun hits the back of the climbers and makes the ice glow,” says local photographer Lora Slawitschka. Bring two lenses—a telephoto, to capture the spray from an ax shattering the ice, and a wide-angle, for panoramic shots of ant-size climbers on the giant walls. Afterwards, crash at the Ouray Chalet Inn (doubles from $100; ), walking distance from both the festival and Ouray’s mineral-fed hot springs.

The Best 国产吃瓜黑料 Photography Trips: Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico

The annual winter bird migrations to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge may not be the world’s largest by sheer numbers, but the density is unreal: Some 13,000 sandhill cranes and 40,000 snow geese crowd the sky above small, flooded fields on the Rio Grande from November to February. Equally dense are the crowds of camera-toting visitors. But don’t be intimidated by the hardcores, with their camo-cloaked 600mm lenses. The viewing platforms at the Bosque are often close enough to the flock to use a wide-angle. The refuge opens 30 minutes before sunrise, which is just enough time to set up before the morning fly-out. Chief of visitor services Shawn Gillette also recommends visiting in the spring and summer, when the southern migration—birds flying north for the southern winter—delivers colorful neotropical flycatchers and tanagers. Stay at any of the budget motels in nearby Socorro, some 75 miles south of Albuquerque.

The Best 国产吃瓜黑料 Photography Trips: Pillar Point Harbor, California

The best reason to shoot Maverick’s isn’t the photos of surfers riding four-story walls of water; it’s being so close to the action that you can actually feel each impact. “Your body aches from the concussion of the wave,” says Seth Migdail, a photographer for Mavericks Surf Ventures, the company that hosts the big-wave competition there each winter. The only way to get that feeling is to reserve a spot on a boat with an experienced captain (try Huck Finn Sportfishing; day trips from $225; ). The sea is rough, so bring Dramamine and extra towels to dry gear. Camera essentials: a 70–210mm zoom—you’ll be within 100 yards of the break—and a UV filter so you can wipe off the spray without scratching your lens. Being on the water gets you close-up wipeout shots that the crowds of photographers on the bluff a quarter-mile north of the break can only dream of. The contest is held with 24 hours’ notice during a huge winter swell, so sign up for the text-message service ($1; ), which alerts you when the event’s going down. Crash at the new Oceano Hotel & Spa (doubles from $200; ), which offers rooms with balcony views of the break and hosts a boozy after-party for the surfers.

The Best 国产吃瓜黑料 Photography Trips: Great Plains, USA

“Statistically speaking,” says photographer Jim Reed, the author of Storm Chaser: A Photographer’s Journey, “Wichita splits it right down the middle.” “It” is Tornado Alley, an area in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska where twisters roam between late March and early July. If you don’t have NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center () bookmarked, consider going with an outfit like Storm Chasing 国产吃瓜黑料 Tours. Its weeklong trips (from $2,600; ) literally go wherever the wind blows. A typical day involves 400 miles of driving in weather-radar-equipped SUVs hunting for trouble in flat, storm-wracked places. With a decent zoom (70–200mm), you should be able to get shots from one to four miles from the center of a storm. Light will be low, so consider putting something colorful in the frame, like a red barn. Don’t become fixated on the funnel; extreme weather creates dramatic light and cloud formations, meaning the best shot might be behind you. And delay happy hour: Surreal storm pictures are often shot during “astronomical twilight,” the 30-minute period approximately one hour after sunset.

The Best 国产吃瓜黑料 Photography Trips: Yellowstone National Park, Montana/ Wyoming/Idaho

“The classic Yellowstone wildlife image is an animal’s rear end,” says Ken Sinay, owner of the Yellowstone Safari Company. Indeed, most rookies here get so excited by the sight of wolves, elk, bears, and bison that they zoom in for close-up “trophy shots” of animals and go home with images of retreating fur. Give your subjects room in the frame and allow the setting to breathe—fog rising off the Yellowstone River in Hayden Valley, for example, makes a dramatic background for a grizzly shot. And arrive with a strategy. Want to see wolves? Hit touristy Lamar Valley (ground zero for the park’s 1995 wolf-reintroduction program) in winter, when there are fewer visitors and the canines’ dark fur stands out against the snow. Looking for bison? The rut peaks in August. A chance to see both? Take an SUV-supported day trip or a multi-day backcountry trip with Yellowstone Safaris (day trips, $650 for one or two people; two-day trips from $1,525; ). “Use long lenses and try to anticipate the animals’ movements,” says wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen. “We don’t need another moose-butt shot.”

The Best 国产吃瓜黑料 Photography Trips: Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland/Virginia

According to local myth, Assa颅teague Island’s wild horses arrived when a Spanish galleon sank offshore and the ponies swam for it. This isn’t true—more likely, colonial farmers grazed horses on the barrier island and a few escaped. No matter. The feral horses have been tromping around Assateague for 300 years, making the 37-mile-long, 1.5-mile-wide island perhaps the most accessible wilderness destination on the eastern seaboard. Most of the two million visitors come in summer to lounge on white sand, so go in spring or fall and pitch a tent at any of the 165 sites (from $20, available May–October; ). Then wander with a wide-angle lens and shoot the 125 horses, which cool themselves on the beach as the sun drops over Sinepuxeng Bay.

The Best 国产吃瓜黑料 Photography Trips: Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest coral-reef system—it’s 150 miles longer than the California coast—and the most diverse. Every location here has an upside, from spectacular wrecks in the south to hammerhead and minke whale action farther offshore. But the best variety is found several hours off Cairns, in the northern section. Veteran photographer David Doubilet likes Cod Hole, at Ribbon Reef No. 10, where the potato cod are “the size of New颅found颅land dogs.” Nearby is Pixie Pinnacle, full of lionfish, sea anemones, and sea fans. Hit both spots and more on a three-day, three-night trip out of Cairns on the 120-foot liveaboard Spirit of Freedom (US$1,300 per person, including return flight from Lizard Island; ). With its strong tides, the Reef isn’t for newbie divers. But go between September and early November, when the seas are calmer on the northern end of the reef, and it will be easier to frame shots of those massive cod. Gear up with the Sea & Sea DX-2G camera-and-housing system ($1,050; ), plus a strobe.

The Best 国产吃瓜黑料 Photography Trips: Shoot (Exactly) Like Ansel

If, like us, you obsess over Ansel Adams's photos of our national parks, you're going to love this. We dug up the backstories of three famous images, then called Don Olson, an Adams expert and astrophysicist at Texas State University, who used topographic maps and astronomical charts to help us identify the GPS coordinates of the locations where Adams composed his photos. 鈥擪YLE DICKMAN AND TIM SOHN

Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, 1942
The Spot: Snake River Overlook
Lat/Long: 43掳45.250'N, 110掳37.410'W
Adams visited the Snake River Overlook, just north of the town of Moose, and took five photos at the northeast end of the parking lot during a June thunder颅storm. Trees now obscure the S-curve of river in the foreground.

Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, circa 1935
The Spot: Tunnel View
Lat/Long: 37掳42.948'N, 119掳40.6122'W
This shot looks up the Yosemite Valley from a viewpoint near a wall in the parking lot at the east end of the Wawona tunnel鈥攁 popular spot on Highway 41. One winter afternoon, Adams caught the valley just as a storm ended. “I have been at this location countless times over many years,” Adams wrote of the photo, “but only once did I encounter just such a combination of visual elements.”

Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake, Denali National Park, 1947
The Spot: Wonder Lake
Lat/Long: 63掳28.563'N, 150掳51.639'W
Adams took this sunrise image鈥攍ooking south across Wonder Lake to Mount McKinley鈥攊n July from a hill* situated between the lake's eastern shore and nearby Reflection Pond. Shooting under Alaska's midnight sun demanded a rough schedule: Adams left his camp after the 11:30 P.M. sunset and arrived at about 1:30 A.M., in time to snap a few shots before clouds rolled in.

*To confirm this location, park ranger Jon Paynter followed Olson's GPS coordinates and took 20 photos. Verdict: That's the spot.

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BRAZIL (2006 Winner)

国产吃瓜黑料 Trip of the Year

Tribes of the Amazon
Price: $5,386-$6,983
Difficulty: Easy
Very few outsiders have traveled to the heart of the Xingu Amazon Refuge. The 9,000-acre forest reserve is the isolated home of the Kamayura Indians; no roads link it to the modern world. Tribal elders have granted special access to trip leader John Carter, a former Texas cattle rancher, because of his years spent lobbying the federal government to protect their surroundings and way of life. This translates into one of the most authentic cultural-immersion experiences you’ll find anywhere in the Americas. After being deposited by Cessna on a hand-cleared runway, you’ll hike and canoe beneath the thick rainforest canopy, then sleep in hammocks inside the chief’s own hut before flying out the next day. The rest of the 12-day trip is only slightly less remote, with a visit to a frontier cattle ranch and the Xingu Refuge Lodge芒鈧�� simple riverside retreat built to resemble a native village芒鈧�漚nd an overnight stay with the Waura Indians.
Outfitter: Ker & Downey, 800-423-4236,
When to Go: June-August

PERU (New)
Cordillera Blanca Climb
Price: $2,750
Difficulty: Strenuous
This triple-summit foray into high-altitude climbing in the Andes requires little technical skill, but the thin air and occasional crevasses make the two-week journey anything but easy. After a few days of acclimatization in the foothills of the Cordillera Blanca above the town of Huaraz, you’ll trek through the lupine-carpeted meadows of the Quebrada Quilcayhuanca valley. The hike takes you on pre-Inca trails that trace the edges of alpine lakes. Here you enter crampon country, where you’ll camp and, in less than a week, top three snowy peaks芒鈧�漚paraju (17,470 feet), Huapa (17,761 feet), and Ishinca (18,138 feet)芒鈧�漛efore returning to civilization and a well-earned Peruvian feast.
Outfitter: Mountain Madness, 800-328-5925,
When to Go: July

ECUADOR
Sea-Kayaking the Gal脙隆pagos
Price: $3,650-$6,280
Difficulty: Easy
When a turtle the size of a grizzly bear glides beneath your kayak, you’ll understand the significance of Lindblad’s new status as the first and only large-ship operator with a Gal脙隆pagos paddling permit. The conservation-minded company has been escorting visitors to the islands since 1968. Travelers onboard the 80-passenger MS Polaris have access to another perk when not snorkeling, beachcombing, hiking, or viewing wildlife: outdoor spa services administered on a glass-bottomed pontoon.
Outfitter: Lindblad Expeditions, 800-397-3348,
When to Go: Year-round

ARGENTINA
Northwest Trek
Price: $1,375-$1,735
Difficulty: Challenging
Amid the deep red gorges of Argentina’s rugged northwest, aboriginal adobe huts stand as reminders that this country’s rich history far predates the tango. This nine-day trip covers both past and present, from the pre-Spanish Calchaquis relics in Quilmes to the up-and-coming wineries of Cafayate. After a stay at a comfortable bodega lodge, you’ll embark on a three-day trek through the Cachi Mountains, where you and your packhorses will hoof it 29 miles up the Belgrano River Gorge to the multicolored sandstone formations of the Pukamayu Valley.
Outfitter: 国产吃瓜黑料 Life, 800-344-6118,
When to Go: April-October

CHINA听(2006 Winner)
Hiking and Rafting in Yunnan
Price: $4,990-$5,490
Difficulty: Strenuous
The Mekong may be renowned for its starring role in Apocalypse Now and as the newest target of China’s village-displacing hydroelectric-dam campaign, but it’s never been known as a commercial whitewater hot spot鈥攗ntil now. Under the leadership of your veteran guides, kick off the beginning of what may be a Mekong revival: commercial rafting trips on the wilder Class IV-V sections of the upper river. You’ll spend the first week acclimatizing to Yunnan’s Tibetan culture and altitude, with hikes through the 700,000-acre, bamboo-dense Baima Nature Reserve and a 5,000-foot ascent to the 12,000-foot-high village of Yubong, while sleeping in traditional Tibetan homes. By the second week, drop your raft into the Class IV rapids beneath the flapping prayer flags of Xidang’s monastery for six days and 80 miles of gorge-squeezing whitewater bliss.
Outfitter: Mountain Travel Sobek, 888-687-6235,
When to Go: March

INDONESIA听(New)
Cycling Remote Bali
Price: $2,798
Difficulty: Moderate
Though the major Balinese tourist centers on the southern coast may still be reeling from the 2002 and 2005 bombings, the heady scents and lush foliage of the island’s secluded interior and northeastern coast remain as untouched as ever. On this eight-day sampler, you’ll get the full-immersion tour, biking 12 to 47 miles a day and sleeping in garden and seaside spa resorts at night. Starting inland, in Ubud, pedal to the Pura Taman Ayun, a “floating” 17th-century royal temple surrounded by a moat, and past acres of hydrangea and clove plantations. When you reach the northern coast and the black sands of Lovina Beach, strip off those Lycra shorts and take a dip in the Bali Sea. Then head east past volcanoes and verdant rice paddies, stopping to snorkel the coral reefs of the Blue Lagoon and dine on fresh coconut rice and rich green curry in the town of Candidasa.
Outfitter: Backroads, 800-462-2848,
When to Go: October, January-April

MYANMAR听(New)
Exploring the Mergui Archipelago
Price: $3,995-$4,495
Difficulty: Moderate
The Moken “sea gypsies” who travel the recently opened Mergui Archipelago, an 800-island cluster off the southern coast of Myanmar, are among the few who still practice their traditional nomadic marine life, fishing for sea cucumbers and lobsters and wandering from island to island in hand-built boats. For 12 days you’ll emulate this vanishing culture, hopping from the powdery beaches of Clara Island to the stunning old-growth coral of the underwater reef gardens around Hayes Island. Snorkel and dive uninhabited Lampi Island’s boulder-strewn seafloor and kayak through the limestone cliffs and tunnels along Horseshoe Island’s dramatic coast. Base camp is one of five air-conditioned cabins aboard an 85-foot wooden yacht, where meals are a merging of Moken and Thai flavors, such as fish fresh from the Andaman Sea steamed with coconut and lemongrass.
Outfitter: Wilderness Travel, 800-368-2794,
When to Go: November-March

INDIA
Tracking the Snow Leopard
Price: $3,575
Difficulty: Strenuous
Hidden in the Himalayan high-desert passes of Ladakh are some of the oldest untouched Tibetan monasteries in the world, as well as one of the highest concentrations of the near-mythic snow leopard. For 19 days, play Peter Matthiessen under the guidance of the Snow Leopard Conservancy. You’ll sleep in tents and mountain farmhouses while trekking and tracking the elusive cats through the 5,000-square-mile Hemis National Park, home to about 170 of the world’s last remaining 4,600 to 7,000 snow leopards. Along the way you’ll visit the spectacular tenth-century Hemis Monastery, enjoy the view at your 12,500-foot-high Rumbak homestay, and trek to the 16,700-foot-high pass of Kongmaru La. A portion of your trip’s fee is donated to the conservancy to help improve conditions for the locals鈥攂oth human and feline.
Outfitter: KarmaQuest, 650-560-0101,
When to Go: April-October

SOUTH PACIFIC听(2006 Winner)
Secluded-Isle Hopping
Price: $5,950
Difficulty: Moderate
In 1790, the mutineers of the HMS Bounty selected Pitcairn Island, some 1,200 miles southeast of Tahiti, to live with their Tahitian brides because it was so far away and nearly an impossible place for their pursuers to anchor safely. Today, their 50-some descendants see few visitors for the very same reasons. Get a feel for their isolationist way of life by spending a week hiking craggy hills, helping the residents maintain their longboats, and hearing tales of life on a forgotten island. That’s just the headliner of this three-week South Pacific voyage, most of which you’ll see from the comfort of a 60-foot luxury sailboat. You’ll also snorkel reefs teeming with tropical fish, hike the goat paths of Mangareva (a “floating mountain” in the Gambier Islands, 320 miles west of Pitcairn), and learn to trim the mainsails en route to uninhabited sand spits like Henderson and Oeno islands, where you can pretend you’re starring in your own episode of Lost.
Outfitter: Ocean Voyages, 800-299-4444,
When to Go: July-October

NEW ZEALAND
Circumnavigating the South Island
Price: $2,999
Difficulty: Challenging
During Active New Zealand founder Andrew Fairfax’s 2,700-mile cycling expedition from Istanbul to London in 2003, he thought, Why aren’t we doing this at home? The result of that epiphany is the Weka, a 13-day supported bike trip circling the South Island. It hits all the top spots, like the majestic peaks and gushing waterfalls of Milford Sound and the blue ice of the Franz Josef Glacier, while staying off most of the main routes, worn thin by tourist traffic. You’ll log roughly 400 miles on Specialized hybrids that can handle gravel farm paths and other classic Kiwi obstacles like cow dung and stubborn sheep. Typical day: Pull off the Central Otago Rail Trail, ditch your gear in a renovated millhouse that serves as home for the night, and head to a tiny rural-outpost pub for a Speight’s with the locals.
Outfitter: Active New Zealand, 800-661-9073,
When to Go: October-April

FRENCH POLYNESIA
Sea-Kayaking Raivavae
Price: $4,775
Difficulty: Moderate
Want to find out what Bora Bora was like in the days before tourism took over? Set out on a 13-day paddling recon mission to Raivavae (Ri-VA-vi), one of five time-forgotten archipelagos in the Austral chain, 2,244 miles northeast of New Zealand in French Polynesia. On this, one of the first outfitted kayaking trips from the island, you’ll hop from motu to motu (tiny uninhabited islands) in the outer reef in the mornings, set up camp for the night, and head to the lagoons on an underwater hunt to spear grouper for dinner. (Don’t worry, other provisions will be provided if you come up empty-handed.) Keep an eye out for blue whales鈥攖he reef’s horseshoe shape brings the deep-dwellers of the Pacific right up to the shoreline.
Outfitter: Explorers’ Corner, 510-559-8099,
When to Go: July

AUSTRALIA
Diving with Sharks
Price: $1,570-$1,950
Difficulty: Moderate
After three days spent exploring the ribbon of coral along the Great Barrier Reef, you’ll keep heading east, some 110 nautical miles off the northern coast of Oz, to the Coral Sea, where the currents converge and the heavies of the Pacific come out to play. That’s where Osprey Reef gives way to a 3,300-foot underwater shelf swarming with barracuda, tuna, manta rays, and scads of sharks鈥攖hreshers, blacktips, whitetips, hammerheads, and leopards. Take it all in on four daily dives over six days. (If the deeps start to give you the creeps, try snorkeling.) Above water, watch and learn from Undersea Explorer’s resident marine biologists, who measure and tag the reef sharks in an effort to secure protection for this remote and still-pristine marine environment.
Outfitter: Undersea Explorer,
011-61-74-099-5911, When to Go: April-December

CYPRUS听(2006 Winner)
Mountain-Biking the Trails of the Troodos
Price: $1,895
Difficulty: Strenuous
For a trip to fat-tire nirvana, try this six-day, 170-mile mountain-bike excursion on the island of Cyprus, south of Turkey. Pedal over rocky singletrack, fire roads, and chalky foothills, all of which have a mountain backdrop or a Mediterranean view. Your base camp is the Pendeli Hotel, in the high-country resort of Platres. From here, take daily cross-country explorations into the 6,000-foot Troodos Mountains, offering cool riding conditions even under the summer sun. Terrain is a mixed bag: technically demanding loose rocks and tight turns, scrappy climbs, fast traverses, and even faster descents. Ride up skittish slopes to the 6,401-foot summit of Chionistra and down to the sea, but be sure to pack that extra tube: The support vehicle can’t follow you here. Postride, swim laps, soak in the hot tub, or have a sauna back at the family-run Pendeli Hotel.
Outfitter: KE 国产吃瓜黑料, 800-497-9675,
When to Go: June, July, September

TURKEY
Sea-Kayaking the Mediterranean Coast
Price: from $3,495
Difficulty: Moderate
Scout Turkey’s dramatic Mediterranean shoreline from the cockpit of a sea kayak on this eight-day multisport adventure. Then explore it on foot with a local guide, visiting ancient Lycian rock tombs, Apollo’s birthplace, and tiny Kas, a chic and lively 2,400-year-old village. A luxurious wooden gulet with a gourmet chef is your floating hotel, but the starry nights will make you ditch your stateroom for a mattress on deck. Paddle your kayak along empty beaches before dipping into Greece to snorkel over sunken ruins.
Outfitter: The Northwest Passage, 800-732-7328,
When to Go: September-October

YEMEN
Arabian Trek
Price: from $4,995
Difficulty: Moderate
Once home to the Queen of Sheba, Yemen had an advanced civilization more than 3,000 years ago. While security concerns have deterred visits in recent years, conditions seem to be improving. Over 18 days, you’ll explore the diverse Arabian countryside. Begin in Sana’a, the 7,425-foot-high capital, then travel to the hilltop villages of the north before winding down in seaside al-Makallah. En route, sleep in castles right out of the Arabian Nights, wander through colorful, spice-infused souks, and four-wheel through steep-walled dry riverbeds.
Outfitter: Geographic Expeditions, 800-777-8183,
When to Go: March and November

BELARUS, UKRAINE & MOLDOVA
Touring New Republics
Price: $4,895
Difficulty: Easy
Newly designed for 2006鈥擴kraine recently dropped visa requirements for U.S. citizens, and expanded flights have made the area more accessible鈥攖his 16-day cultural traverse starts in Minsk and heads south, for visits to cathedrals in Kiev, Yalta’s seaside homes (where Pushkin and Chekhov summered), and the marble Livadia Palace. You’ll sleep in charming four-star hotels, hike the Black Sea coast, and taste wine in Moldova, the unsung charmer of Eastern Europe.
Outfitter: Mir Corporation, 800-424-7289,
When to Go: May, August

COSTA RICA听(2006 Winner)
Cross-Country Traverse
Price: $2,790
Difficulty: Challenging
Here’s how to get off the tourist track in Costa Rica: Try crossing the country from the Pacific to the Caribbean by bike, foot, and raft. You’ll start this 18-day sea-to-sea journey by pedaling two days from the coastal pueblo of Dominical to the Tinamaste Mountains, where you’ll hike through the cloudforest to your first night’s campsite鈥攁 cave surrounded by waterfalls. The next day takes you over a ridge, where you’ll stay at a quaint hotel on the Chirripo River before starting a porter-supported weeklong trek through the highland forest of the Cordillera de Talamanca. You’ll spend the last several days on a rugged stretch of the Pacuare River, running Class III-IV rapids and floating through lush canyons where water cascades from hundreds of feet overhead. The river will deposit you in the Caribbean lowlands, and you’ll spend your last wilderness night camping at the rainforest’s edge.
Outfitter: World Expeditions, 888-464-8735,
When to Go: March, September, December

PANAMA听(New)
Dari茅n Explorer Trek
Price: $4,995
Difficulty: Strenuous
As your piragua putters along the Tuira River en route to an abandoned mining town, you’ll see far more tapirs and peccaries than travelers. Total seclusion is the payoff for five to seven hours of daily trekking (and canoeing) across rugged, often muddy terrain on this two-week exploration of the Dari茅n Gap, the mysterious 6.4-million-acre rainforest that separates Central and South America. When you do come across humans, it will be at the remote villages where you’ll stop to mingle with Embera elders. You’ll overnight at ranger stations and rustic camps, and wake to a cacophony of macaws and caracaras.
Outfitter: Myths and Mountains, 800-670-6984,
When to Go: December-April

BAHAMAS
Fishing Tutorial
Price: $3,190
Difficulty: Easy
This South Andros Island outpost will re-define your notion of “fishing lodge”; everything at Tiamo Resort鈥攆rom its solar power to its banana-fiber office paper鈥攊s geared toward protecting the environment without sacrificing luxury. Breezy raised bungalows are steps from a secluded beach where you’ll spend four days kayaking, snorkeling, and learning to cast for bonefish and tarpon in the island’s legendary shallow flats. Beyond that, the Adirondack chairs on your beachfront porch lend themselves nicely to loafing.
Outfitter: Orvis, 800-547-4322,
When to Go: March-July, October-December

MEXICO
Scouting for Jaguars
Price: $1,500
Difficulty: Moderate
Jaguars roam the tropical forest, wetlands, and dunes of Mexico’s Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, a Delaware-size protected zone along the Yucat谩n coast. With the help of biologist guides, you’ll likely spot their tracks during your weeklong stay at the no-frills Santa Teresa research station, a ten-minute walk to a white-sand beach, and take daytime and nighttime hikes in a jungle that few outsiders get to explore after dark. You’ll also camp one night amid the spider monkeys and white-tailed deer, and visit nearby Maya ruins.
Outfitter: EcoColors, 011-52-998-884-3667,
When to Go: January-March

SEYCHELLES听(2006 Winner)
Fly-Fishing the Cosmoledo Islands
Price: $6,000
Difficulty: Moderate
When you encounter the foot-and-a-half-long coconut crabs that reside in the Cosmoledo Islands, 500 miles off the coast of Tanzania, give them a wide berth: Their pincers can lift up to 65 pounds and crack coconuts with diamond-cutting precision. Then again, you won’t be spending much time inland on this outer subgroup of the Seychelles鈥攖he real action is casting in the turquoise flats surrounding the four atolls. The Cosmoledos, protected by a ten-mile-wide coral ring, have never been inhabited鈥攖hey had their last documented brush with humanity in 1822, when British captain Fairfax Moresby came ashore during an Indian Ocean mapping expedition. This isolation has led to a freakish evolution of fish species, including the giant trevally, weighing in at 70 pounds. You’ll spend six days casting over the crystal water and seven nights aboard a retired 1935 North Sea research vessel, complete with teak-and-brass-appointed saloon and dining room.
Outfitter: FlyCastaway, 011-27-82-334-3448,
When to Go: November-April

BOTSWANA
Safari by Elephant
Price: $6,270
Difficulty: Moderate
The trouble with most elephant-back safaris is that you never properly bond with your transportation. This issue is smartly resolved at the elegantly understated Abu Camp, in the Okavango Delta of the Kalahari Desert, where you live alongside eight resident elephants that roam the 395,000-acre reserve outside the six handsome platform tents. With assistance from the camp’s wildlife experts and mahouts, spend four days and three nights interacting with the herd and riding them into the floodplains to graze undetected among zebras, wildebeests, giraffes, and impalas. At night, soak in the trill of some of the 500 species of birds while finishing off your five-star grub of sweet potato soup and harissa fish stir-fry by the campfire.
Outfitter: Classic Africa, 888-227-8311,
When to Go: May-October

SOUTH AFRICA听(New)
Archaeological Expedition
Price: $7,995
Difficulty: Easy
Jump into the hottest archaeological debate going鈥攖he true origin of man鈥攚ith an exploration of the 3.2-million-year-old “Cradle of Humankind” sites at Sterkfontein and Swartkrans caves, 45 minutes north of Johannesburg. Led by the top archaeologists and paleontologists in the country, you’ll spend 13 days poking around the gravesites of prehistoric Australopithecus africanus, from the limestone caves of Limpopo to the Knysna coastline, while bunking in wine-country estates and elegant hotels. You’ll also check out the Big Five at Mthethomusha Game Reserve and the success at Addo Elephant National Park, where the pachyderm population has grown from 11 to 420 in the past 75 years.
Outfitter: Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, 800-422-8975 ext. 146,
When to Go: June

NAMIBIA
Cheetah Conservation
Price: $4,400
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Though Africa’s largest population of endangered cheetahs鈥攁bout 3,000鈥攍ives in Namibia, their propensity to snack on livestock keeps them in jeopardy. You’ll try to change that during this two-week safari, five days of which are spent working at the Cheetah Conservation Fund training Anatolian shepherd dogs, building fences, counting wildlife, and staying in a nearby farmhouse. On your first night in Namibia, take in the view from the 1914 castle of Count von Schwerin, where the wine collection is stored in a cellar carved out of a stone hillside. Later, you’ll check out the black rhinos of Etosha National Park, the shipwreck-littered Skeleton Coast, and finally the Namib Desert. After a day of sand-surfing the 1,000-foot-high dunes, refuge is in a kulala, an open-air bungalow with rooftop stargazing.
Outfitter: Mango African Safaris, 888-698-9220,
When to Go: July-August

ITALY听(2006 Winner)
Walking the Piedmont
Price: $3,995
Difficulty: Moderate
This six-day introduction to the still-quiet agricultural region 40 miles southeast of Turin is a glutton’s guide to Italy. Long a gastronomic hot spot (the Slow Food movement began here), Piedmont produces the country’s noblest wines鈥擝arolo and Barbaresco鈥攁nd hearty and refined cuisine like wild boar and risotto with fresh truffles. After daily hikes of six to 15 miles, arrive at a farmhouse ringed with vineyards. When you’re not hiking with a naturalist or dining in an award-winning restaurant, taste wines with a local family, sip spumante with a top producer, trail a trifulao (truffle hunter) and his prized dog, or take cooking lessons鈥攖hen soak in a hot bath enriched with crushed grapes.
Outfitter: Butterfield & Robinson, 800-678-1147,
When to Go: May, September

FRANCE
Cycling the French Alps
Price: $3,695
Difficulty: Challenging
A ten-day fantasy camp for serious cyclists: Accompanied by a former pro rider/professional photographer, you’ll ride stages of the famed Dauphin茅-Lib茅r茅, contested over many of the same roads as the Tour de France. Ditch the peloton at day’s end for elegant digs in picturesque mountain villages such as Uriage-les-Bains, where you’ll fortify yourself for the next day’s ride with local delicacies like goat sausage from Savoy Alps pastures and flinty white wines. Save your legs for the final 73-mile day (you can also opt for either a 55-mile or 93-mile route)鈥攖he Meg猫ve-Mont Blanc Classic, with 9,000 feet of climbing over three magnificent cols.
Outfitter: Velo Classic Tours, 212-779-9599,

When to Go: June

MALTA听(New)
Swimming the Coast
Price: $1,200
Difficulty: Challenging
Caught in the narrows between Sicily and North Africa, Malta is a group of islands with some of the warmest and clearest waters in the Mediterranean. On this six-day swimfest, you’ll self-propel two to three miles a day, hopping from island to island and drying off in small family-run inns. You can always hop aboard the escort boat, but rest assured that your guides know their stuff鈥攎any have completed solo crossings of the English Channel. In the evening, the fun continues with talks on swimming technique and video analysis in the hotel pool.
Outfitter: Swim Trek, 011-44-20-8696-6220,
When to Go: April-June, September

SPAIN听(New)
Dressage Training and Trail Riding
Price: $1,995
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Saddle sores will be your only worry on this six-day romp through Spain’s vast central plateau. HQ is the utterly tranquil El Molino, an 18th-century equestrian center on the fringe of the medieval town of Pedraza. Each morning, saddle up your horse, perhaps a purebred Andalusian, and train in dressage technique. Then take guided afternoon trail rides through the wheat fields and rolling hills of the Castilian countryside, galloping by deep gorges and velvety forests or trotting through Roman ruins. Come evening, you’ll dine on tapas, fresh seafood, and el frite鈥攆ried lamb with garlic and lemon鈥攁ccompanied by dry local wines.
Outfitter: Cross Country International, 800-828-8768,
When to Go: January-November

BRITISH COLUMBIA听(2006 Winner)
Mega-Yacht Heli-Skiing
Price: $36,000 per day (for 12)
Difficulty: Moderate
When the B2 A-star helicopter drops you at the apex of a powdery slope amid millions of glacier-rimmed acres in B.C.’s Coast Range, you may think you’ve achieved the pinnacle of exclusivity. But that’s only half the fun. After carving so many fresh tracks that your quads scream for mercy, you’ll chopper back to a 201-foot luxury yacht to sip Dom and soak in an eight-person, 80-jet Jacuzzi. Moving anchor between two inlets in the Georgia Strait, the Absinthe serves as home base for the most extravagant, over-the-top heli-skiing in the world. Should the mountain weather turn foul, take out the kayaks, fire up the 40-foot fishing boat, or simply bask in the opulence of it all.
Outfitter: Sea to Sky Helisports and Megayacht 国产吃瓜黑料s, 866-935-3228,
When to Go: March-April

UTAH听(New)
Hiking the Waterpocket Fold
Price: $1,375
Difficulty: Challenging
Grant Johnson has been exploring southern Utah’s Waterpocket Fold, a 3,000-foot-high, 100-mile-long dinosaur-era geological formation, for 30 years. Thanks to drought conditions in nearby Lake Powell, he recently discovered an ancient Anasazi trail that allows him to lead trips into this remote, unmapped backcountry region. For six days, shimmy through two-foot-wide narrows and hike on slickrock to incredible vistas, camping beneath the cottonwoods while listening to his stories of the prehistoric landscape.
Outfitter: Escalante Canyon Outfitters, 888-326-4453,
When to Go: April, October

SASKATCHEWAN听(New)
Paddling the William River
Price: $2,700
Difficulty: Moderate
Here in northern Saskatchewan, all life depends on the rivers that flow toward the Arctic. The Class I-II William River, congested with foraging moose, black bears, and ospreys, is no exception. This 13-day trip begins and ends with great fishing (grayling and walleye at the outset, trout once you reach Lake Athabasca). Take a pit stop in the middle at the 100-foot-high Athabasca sand dunes to explore the ever-shifting topography.
Outfitter: Piragis Northwoods Company, 800-223-6565,
When to Go: June

HAWAII
国产吃瓜黑料 Boot Camp
Price: $3,075
Difficulty: Moderate
When you wake to the sounds of your personal chef whipping up an egg-white omelet in your oceanfront villa on Kauai’s north shore, you’ll know this boot camp isn’t Parris Island. Here you can customize all your meals and five days of activities to reach your fitness goals. Start out by surfing in Hanalei Bay or hiking to the base of 250-foot Hanakapeii Falls. After one-on-one yoga or weight training, recuperate with a massage, and cap off the day by learning how to grill fresh ahi.
Outfitter: Pure Kauai, 866-457-7873,
When to Go: Year-round

CALIFORNIA听(New)
The Epic Tour
Price: $2,398
Difficulty: Strenuous
Lance, Levi, and LeMond all trained on the 15-degree inclines of Northern California’s roads, and after you finish this seven-day epic, you may be able to keep up with them鈥攆or a few minutes, anyway. Starting from Santa Rosa, you’ll ride up to 75 miles a day on inland country byways. Once you hit Mendocino, you’ll return to Santa Rosa via the coast鈥攚ith plenty of opportunities to regroup in some of the area’s finest restaurants and hotels, like Bodega Bay’s Inn at the Tides.
Outfitter: Bicycle 国产吃瓜黑料s, 800-443-6060,
When to Go: October-November

ANTARCTICA听(2006 Winner)
Climbing and Photography Journey
Price: $5,190-$8,390
Difficulty: Challenging
Hundreds of unclimbed peaks form the towering spine of the Antarctic Peninsula. Your footprints could be the first atop two of them on this 12-day journey to the frozen south. A refurbished Finnish research vessel, the Polar Pioneer, will carry 56 passengers鈥攊ncluding a photography expert and a naturalist guide鈥攆rom the tip of South America through the Beagle Channel and across the Drake Passage to the peninsula’s west coast. First stop if the weather’s good: the South Shetland Islands, where Zodiacs will take you ashore with climbing guide Tashi Tenzing, grandson of the famed Norgay, who’ll help you navigate the crevassed terrain. As the ship makes its way south, you can scale the bluish bergs or paddle a kayak along the shore. You’ll pass leopard seals and penguin rookeries, and may even have some up-close encounters when you spend a night camping ashore. Life on the ship is comfortable; you’ll appreciate the onboard collection of polar literature and the porthole view from your cabin on the long cruise home.
Outfitter: Aurora Expeditions, 011-61-2-9252-1033, .au
When to Go: November-March

GREENLAND & ICELAND听(New)
Arctic Odyssey
Price: $5,295-$6,995
Difficulty: Moderate
When you and your camera venture into the realm of polar bears and musk ox, it’s comforting to know there’s an expert on board whose input could turn a wasted frame into the shot of a lifetime. Award-winning nature photographer Frans Lanting鈥攁s well as renowned polar explorer Will Steger鈥攚ill accompany you on this 11-day voyage from Spitsbergen, Norway, to Keflav铆k, Iceland. The 46-passenger polar research ship Grigoriy Mikheev carries a fleet of Zodiacs for explorations of Greenland’s east coast, where migrating seabirds and whales skirt the pack ice. The ship will make its way up Kaiser Franz Joseph Fjord in search of rare narwhals and visit Ittoqqortoormiit village en route to Iceland’s southwestern shore.
Outfitter: Wilderness Travel, 800-368-2794,
When to Go: September

ANTARCTICA听(New)
Emperor Penguins Safari
Price: $8,495-$15,495
Difficulty: Moderate
For March of the Penguins fans, here’s something new: A penguin specialist who helicoptered close to Snow Hill Island, in the Weddell Sea, during a 2004 Quark expedition, discovered an uncharted emperor rookery with 4,000 breeding pairs. You’ll be among the first to witness the penguins on this two-week journey to the Weddell. Starting in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, you’ll set out on the 108-passenger icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov, traveling to shore by Zodiac or helicopter, then hiking about a mile across the ice to the rookery. You’ll make up to three trips, and because it’s early in the season, you’ll likely see parents nuzzling chicks at their feet.
Outfitter: Quark Expeditions, 800-356-5699,
When to Go: October-November

KENYA听(2006 WINNER)
The Great Walk, Tsavo National Park
Price: $6,900
Difficulty: Challenging

“You smell them as you come closer,” says safari veteran Nadia Le Bon, director of special programs at Mountain Travel Sobek. “You see the prints, which way they go, which way they come.” Lest you forget that humans are not at the top of the food chain, the fresh tracks of a Tsavo lion serve as a poignant reminder鈥攅specially when you’re traveling on foot through East Africa’s largest national park, home of elephants, rhinos, crocodiles, and the infamous man-eating felines that terrorized railroad workers a century ago.

This 11-day, 110-mile Kenya journey is a walk in the park for trip leader Iain Allen, an honorary warden and seasoned adventurer who once trekked 300 miles from Mount Kilimanjaro to the Indian Ocean. You’ll trace his steps along the wildlife-flush Tsavo and Galana rivers, tracking the Big Five (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, rhino) as you cross the 8,300-square-mile park from west to east. As for the carnivorous critters that are bound to catch your scent, Le Bon says, “They tend to walk away.”

The trek begins at Mzima Springs, a hippo hangout at the base of the Chyulu Range, 149 miles southeast of Nairobi. From there you’ll follow the palm-fringed Tsavo River through giraffe and kudu habitat to your first campsite, at the base of the jagged Ngulia Mountains. After a nap beneath the down comforter in your plush safari tent, you’ll be ready for an afternoon game drive and cocktails by the fire. In the next few days you’ll track gazelles, impalas, and zebras en route to the park’s more arid eastern side, where it’s easy to spot hartebeest and fringe-eared oryx across the open plain. The journey ends with a night of pampering at the Hemingways Resort, a posh hotel on a white-sand stretch of Watamu Bay, where you can lounge by the swimming pool and ponder your epic feat.

Outfitter: Mountain Travel Sobek, 888-687-6235,
When to Go: March, June, September

2007 Trip Preview

LET THE RATING BEGIN: Istanbul, one of the stops on the Holy Places by Jet tour.

01 CHILE
Heli-fishing
Trout fishing in the Chilean fjords has always been popular, if a little rough around the edges. But you’ll be living large when the brand-new, 120-foot custom expeditionary yacht Nomadsofthesea begins offering heli-fishing excursions from its base in Puerto Montt in January 2007. The 22-passenger boat, equipped with a helicopter, Zodiacs, and jet boats, offers unprecedented access to both fresh- and saltwater fishing in the R铆;os Baker, Cisnes, and Simpson, among others. The myriad travel options mean that it’s possible to cast a fly every day, despite the sometimes dicey weather, during Chile’s peak trout season.
Price: About $10,000
Outfitter: Orvis Travel, 800-547-4322,

02 ITALY to TURKEY
Holy Places by Jet
On this crash course in world religions guided by renowned scholar John Esposito, travel to major sacred spots via private jet and come to your own conclusions about which faith works for you鈥攐r doesn’t. In late March 2007, a custom-fitted Boeing 747 will take you to nine countries on three continents in 24 days, starting with Vatican City and journeying on to the holy sites of Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, and Islam. The trip ends in the multi-cultural city of Istanbul, where you’ll visit the famed Hagia Sophia.
Price: $44,950
Outfitter: TCS Expeditions, 800-727-7477,

03 UNITED STATES
High-style Trekking on the Appalachian Trail
Brace yourself for a debate as luxury through-hiking arrives on the Appalachian Trail in spring 2007. Foot Travel, an outfitter based in Black Mountain, North Carolina, will begin offering gear transport and other logistical services at key points along the trail, which means that the only chores left to you on this 2,170-mile, 153-day slog from Georgia to Maine are carrying a daypack and setting up your tent. Foot Travel does the dirty work—from cooking to cleaning to carrying that heavy load of Russian classics.
Price: $10,120 ($66 per day)
Outfitter: Foot Travel, 866-244-4453,

The post The Wanderlist appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

, setting you up for our top ten do-it-now dream trips:

Australia

JUMP START: A kangaroo at home in Queensland

PLUS: , .

Go Feral

Kangaroo Island’s got fauna in spades

AFTER A PLEASURABLY hectic week in Sydney and the Blue Mountains, followed by a long, serpentine drive along the spectacular Great Ocean Road (Australia's Big Sur, between Melbourne and Adelaide), it was time for a strong dose of solitude鈥攁nd for an intimate encounter with the wildlife of Oz.

Kangaroo Island's untamed west end gives you both. Ninety-six miles long, the nation's third-largest island is 70 miles southwest of Adelaide and a short ferry ride across Investigator Strait. This isolation from the mainland has preserved an abundance of native species鈥攖he island has invasive pigs and goats but lacks the cats, foxes, and rabbits that wreak havoc on indigenous wildlife elsewhere in Australia. Moreover, a third of the landscape is protected in 21 national and conservation parks. Much of the east end is rolling, pastoral lowland and farms, but Kangaroo Island tilts upward as you head west, and juts into the Indian Ocean, with sheer cliffs rising as high as 900 feet. At the far southwestern tip, there's nothing between Cape du Couedic (pronounced cootie), in Flinders Chase National Park, and Antarctica, except the Roaring Forties and 3,000 miles of open water.

The best introduction to the island's natural history is a stay at one of three century-old lighthouse keepers' cottages at Cape du Couedic; like the lighthouse itself, these were built from limestone quarried out of the Cape's own rock, strong enough to withstand the fiercest southern gales. The dim, cool, echoey interiors are furnished with funky period furniture, wood-fired cookstoves, and鈥攁ccording to the guestbook鈥攇hosts. (There have been more than 50 shipwrecks along the Kangaroo Island coast, and the survivors' tales make for grisly reading.) Our only visitation came daily at dusk, when nocturnal Tammar wallabies鈥攎iniature 'roos nearly extinct on the continent鈥攁ppeared at the back door, nibbling the grass.

The wallabies were only a taste of the critter action to come. Just down the road from Cape du Couedic are the high cliffs surrounding Admirals Arch, a massive open-sided cave lined with convenient haul-outs for a colony of 6,000 New Zealand fur seals, presided over by power-mad beach-master males. Despite violent breakers and an intense reek of seal poo, wooden walkways and stairs allow unparalleled viewing of the bellowing, frolicking, moshing, and bickering populace. (Seal Bay, on the island's southern coast, is another great place to ogle pinnipeds; rangers escort groups on walks to view Australian sea lions鈥攕ome scarred by encounters with great white sharks鈥攁nd, if you're lucky, their pups.)

Elsewhere in Flinders Chase National Park, we were approached by a few harmless K.I. kangaroos (a subspecies of the western gray) that were interested in our water. But soon we were staring up: Koalas, wedged in the forks of a eucalyptus tree, were swiveling their teddy-bear heads in slow motion, staring down at us. And that was just in the parking lot of the visitor center.

On the Rocky River hike, which starts at the center and takes you along dense bush trails to blinds along the Platypus Waterholes Walk, you're likely to spot Cape Barren geese, goannas, and wallabies crossing your path. The fur-bearing, egg-laying platypuses are more elusive, but we were thrilled to see the bubbles rising from their underwater dens.

The birdwatching was first-rate during our entire week on Kangaroo Island, the highlight being our sighting of a white-bellied sea eagle soaring low over the dusty Playford Highway, on the north shore. The only disappointment: Our late-afternoon ferry from Penneshaw back to the mainland sailed before we had a chance to watch the nightly parade of fairy penguins returning to their harborside nests after a day spent at sea. Next time.

For bookings at the lighthouse cottages and information about Flinders Chase National Park, 011-61-8-8559-7235, . Kangaroo Island information, 011-61-8-8553-1185, .

Sea Star

The Great Barrier Reef’s greatest hit—Lizard Island

ASK AUSSIES the ultimate Great Barrier Reef trip and they’ll sigh for Lizard Island, a resort in the middle of the world’s most stellar dive sites, with enough high style to lure the likes of Vince Vaughn and a honeymooning Russell Crowe. A light plane ferries guests an hour north of Cairns, skimming over interlocking reefs until the green, coral-ringed isle rises 17 miles off the coast. Part of six-island Lizard Island National Park, the 2,500-acre paradise is shared by only 80 resort guests, four scientists at the island’s research station, a handful of campers, and a few moored yachties. Once the plane departs, silence descends, broken only by the coos of bar-shouldered doves and the popping of corks for the welcome libation.

The digs are equally glam: a string of villas along a white-powder beach framed by smooth boulders, the favorite basking spots for statuesque goannas, the Aussie monitor lizards that give the island its name. Each cabana is a miniature temple to nature, with timber floors, a sundeck, and the blue horizon filling every view.

Amazingly, some visitors make it no farther than the Azure Spa, for a seaweed mud mask, or the open-air restaurant, to scarf up mangrove jack reef fish. The water draws the rest: Lizard sits on top of the reef, so you can dash straight from your villa to snorkel over a rookery of yard-wide giant clams. And it’s only 50 minutes by powerboat to the fabled outer reef, the fertile coral ribbons where you can spot the largest fish. In one hyperactive day, I dived the Cod Hole, where 150-pound potato cod tore bait from my fingers; cruised with the predators of Shark Alley; and swam with dwarf minke whales. Then it was back to the resort for sips of Bollinger while the lizards eyed me contentedly from their rocks.

From US$584 per person per night, including meals and many activities; 800-225-9849, . Lizard Island National Park, 011-61-7-3405-0970, .

Devil’s Deep

Tasmania’s luxe new look

freycinet lodge

View from outside the Bay Restaurant

PADDLE A SEA KAYAK on Coles Bay, off the stunning east coast of Tasmania, and the only sound you’ll hear is the slice of your blade through the water. Or the squeaking of dolphins at your bow. Or maybe the plink of your jig just before you haul in a squid for dinner.

Welcome to “Tassie,” a pleasure-packed paradise filled with vast wilderness areas, spectacular beaches, and an ever-expanding number of deluxe eco-lodges, expeditions, and adventure ops.

Situated about 150 miles south of the mainland, Tassie was once considered the Appalachia of Australia—a derided island outback with a timber economy and no pizzazz. But thanks to the state’s growing commitment to courting eco-tourists and protecting landscapes (national parks and preserves make up more than 40 percent of the island), Tasmania’s wild character is paying off. In the past five years, the number of climbers, paddlers, divers, and other visitors has increased by 50 percent.

Spend a day on the eastern shore, along the Freycinet Peninsula, and it’s easy to see why. You can swim, bushwalk, or wildlife-watch on gorgeous Wineglass Bay, then retreat to the Freycinet Lodge to slurp down local oysters with boutique Tasmanian wines. Or sea-kayak on Great Oyster Bay with Freycinet 国产吃瓜黑料s, and enjoy upscale camping and canapes on the white sands of Hazards Beach. Before the bliss overload sends you to sleep, you’ll be lucky to hear one more thing: the scuffle of wallabies and wombats foraging in the bush.

Doubles at Freycinet Lodge, US$248–$377; 011-61-3-6257-0101, . Half-day-to-five-day sea-kayaking trips with Freycinet 国产吃瓜黑料s, US$65–$1,066; 011-61-3-6257-0500, .

Lush Life

When the Kimberley goes green, it’s a splash

“YOU CAN’T GET much more outback than the Kimberley,” says 60-year-old Russell Willis, of Darwin-based Willis’s Walkabouts. And though this vast wilderness in northwestern Australia remains largely inaccessible, it has attained mythic status among Aussies. It could be its pioneer history, rife with cattle rustlers and gold speculators, or maybe it’s the sheer grandeur. From white-sand beaches to endless red-rock canyons, the Kimberley has it all—except crowds. “Imagine a scenic area the size of Arizona with only 30,000 people,” says Willis. Then there’s “the Wet.” From May through October, the Kimberley is bone-dry, but a metamorphosis occurs in November, when the rainy season hits: Boab trees leaf out, waterfalls gush, and shallow gorge pools become deep, inviting swimming holes.

One of the best ways to see the area at its greenest is in January and February on Willis’s 16-day canoe-and-hiking trip into the interior. After a few days exploring the valleys, gorges, waterfalls, and Aboriginal art around the town of Kununurra, you spend five days paddling the Ord River about 34 miles, from Lake Argyle—a birder’s paradise of purple-crowned fairy-wrens, yellow-rumped mannikins, and 200 other species—back to Kununurra. You’ll cruise past freshwater crocs, rock wallabies, and flying foxes, stopping for optional two-to-four-hour cross-country hikes to the top of the canyon. “There are no trails in this part of the world,” says Willis. “It’s pure scrub bashing 100 percent of the way.”

From Kununurra, groups are choppered into Keep River National Park, 354 square miles in the Northern Territory, a land of mind-blowing red-rock arches peppered with palm trees. With a comfortable camp—private tents and a three-course dinner—and the Keep massif as your base, you’ll boulder, climb to caves filled with Aboriginal rock art, and cool off in waterfall pools. Yes, sometimes inaccessibility is a very good thing.

US$2,358 per person; 011-61-8-8985-2134, . Keep River National Park, 011-61-8-9167-8827, .

Baa-Nanza

Home on the woolly Flinders Ranges

SILVER-HAIRED RANCHER Dean Rasheed plunges his Land Cruiser into the deep stream. Water slaps the windshield and licks the side-view mirrors. Rasheed, 60, lets out a howl and turns onto a steep track, where a family of western gray kangaroos grazes among his 7,500 sheep. Rasheed calls this work. He drives this road a few times a week to monitor his flock and give tours of Arkaba Station, his stunning 63,000-acre sheep ranch in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia. I have arrived in the outback.

The Flinders are not big mountains (the highest is 3,832-foot St. Mary Peak). But they have their majesty—rolling red-clay hills scattered with pale-green blue bush, sheer rock faces, and caves with Aboriginal art. Travelers who want to taste the real outback—where wildlife are the neighbors and the earth is boss—come here, to the Rasheeds’ place. Dean and his wife, Lizzie, accommodate four guests in ranch-house bedrooms with Flinders views and fill you up with home-baked bread, mutton, kangaroo, and fine South Australia wines.

Then there’s the outdoors—jaw-dropping gorges in nearby Flinders Ranges National Park and the rock formations of 32-square-mile Wilpena Pound. Or you can work: herding sheep, cleaning troughs, or, if you arrive in September, playing barber in the 19th-century shearing shed. When you’re on Arkaba, amid endless acres, the outback invades your soul, and you understand its ultimate attraction: space.

US$318 per person per night, including meals and activities; 011-61-8-8648-0004, .

Bush Tucker

Aboriginal adventure in Kakadu National Park

SAB LORD is demonstrating a traditional bush remedy for sore throats. Grabbing a nest of green ants from a paperbark tree, the 45-year-old safari guide explains that these nests work nicely for a quick vitamin-C fix. Grinning impishly, he flattens the fist-size morsel, rolls it into a ball, pops it into his mouth, and begins sucking the lemony enzymes from the ants’ posteriors. Within seconds, he spits out the remnants of his snack and offers a fresh nest to a rapt audience of novice bush foragers.

The small group has gathered in Kakadu National Park—a 4.9-million-acre expanse of red cliffs etched with ancient rock carvings, and verdant wetlands rich in birdlife and croc-infested billabongs, 186 miles east of Darwin in the Northern Territory—to learn about Yolngu (East Arnhem Land Aboriginals) beliefs and practices. Lord, an ex-pro rugby player, a white guy, and owner of Lords Kakadu & Arnhemland Safaris, would be an unlikely guide to indigenous culture except for one key fact: Thanks to a childhood spent on a water-buffalo station in Kakadu, he was ceremonially adopted by an Aboriginal family in the Mamakala community.

He learned the ant-nest trick—and plenty more about indigenous foods, or “bush tucker”—from his adoptive grandmother, Rosie Lundduy. Four feet nine inches tall and utterly engaging (“Leeches are some tasty tucker!” she cries), Lundduy is one of several Aborigines leading food-foraging tours through Kakadu and adjoining Arnhem Land, a 24-million-acre Aboriginal-owned wilderness.

The entertaining duo of Lord and Lundduy will help you carve a digging stick to root up bush yams and demonstrate how to strip pandanus leaves—also used for weaving bags—to get to the artichoke-flavored hearts. You can sleep out in the bush, relaxing at night in a fully equipped safari camp, or opt for day trips and the comfort of one of the park’s six hotels. But whatever you do, leave your taste for Taco Bell at home.

Lords Kakadu & Arnhemland Safaris’ custom Maningrida Arnhem Cultural Tour includes a bush-tucker course and a sunset barbecue; 011-61-8-8948-2200, .

It Rips

Sydney’s endless summer

WHAT COULD BE BETTER, when you know the surf's cranking, than waking up to a room-service cappuccino under a feather quilt at the InterContinental, overlooking Sydney's spectacular harbor? Or pulling on boardshorts and descending to the lobby, where the concierge procured you a Cohiba the night before? The entire bellhop corps seems drawn from the local surfer population, so don't be surprised if one tanned 'hop tells you the morning surf report while another picks out a board from your quiver, which they've politely stored in the luggage room.

Then it's time to catch the ferry to Manly, a quaint beach town at the northern mouth of Sydney Harbour, where there's nothing left to do but paddle into first-class beach-break surf.

Think of it as the Ultimate Urban Pleasures Surf Safari, the best way on earth to get your warm-water waves and high-end sushi, too. Numerous world champions have been minted on these breaks, including female shredder Layne Beachley. A drive north from Manly brings you to clean beach breaks like Freshwater, Curl Curl, and North Narrabeen. Drive south from Sydney's Bondi Beach, near Aussie actor Heath Ledger's home, and there's another string of great breaks en route to lunch at the Pavilion Cafe, in Maroubra Beach.

Apr猫s-surf, kick back at Sydney's Newport Arms, the classic surfer pub. Or stroll to Rockpool for celebrity chef Neil Perry's salad of wild greenlip abalone, mussels, clams, tea-smoked oysters, and fine noodles. You just might be ready to get tubed again in the morning.

Doubles at the InterContinental, from US$228; 011-61-2-9253-9000, . Dinner for two at Rockpool, US$192鈥�$230; 011-61-2-9252-1888, . Manly's Dripping Wet Surf co. rents boards for US$35 a day; 011-61-2-9977-3549, .

Path Perfect

On the Cape to Cape Track, you walk alone

TAKE A SUN-WASHED coastline with white-sand beaches, add a wildflower-filled 83-mile trail along limestone cliffs—with warm surf below and, a brief jaunt away, prized wines to sip—and you’ve got an overcrowded tourist trap, right? Wrong, mate, if you’re on the Cape to Cape Track, in 49,400-acre Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin.

Located in one of the most isolated coastal areas on earth—three hours south of Perth in Australia’s southwestern corner—the track and parkland are barely on the radar for most travelers.

But just minutes from the trail by car lies the trendy town of Margaret River, a hot new epicenter of epicureanism and home to some of Australia’s best wineries. And just a mile and a half away are the cushy chalets of the Merribrook Retreat, whose owners, veteran guide Richard Firth and his wife, Lorraine, run a variety of Cape to Cape trips.

The Firths’ six-day trek winds through headlands above sculpted dunes, empty beaches, and world-class surf breaks. Watch for southern right and humpback whales during migration season, from October to December. Or let Firth rappel you 150 feet down into one of the park’s huge limestone caves.

At day’s end, a chilled wine will be ready to pour, and Firth, a skilled cook, will snag seafood for that night’s dinner from your own private coastline.

Merribrook Retreat’s six-day Cape to Cape walks cost US$1,422 (based on double occupancy); doubles at Merribrook start at US$177, including breakfast; 011-61-8-9755-5599, . Check out for do-it-yourself information.

Spinning Uluru

The monolithic Ayers Rock gets some respect

AYERS ROCK IS LIKE an inverse Grand Canyon. Instead of a giant chasm, the near-six-mile-circumference, 1,115-foot-high, 300- to 400-million-year-old arkose sandstone monolith sticks out of the surrounding outback like a giant mood ring. Clashing perceptions of Australia’s iconic symbol are a good measure of the outback’s politically charged temperament. In the eighties, the Australian government returned 327,578-acre Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park to the local Anangu Aboriginals, who changed the rock’s name back to Uluru. Then they leased the parkland back to the government, giving the 400,000 annual tourists continued access to the steep, mile-long hiking trail that trespasses a sacred Aboriginal site en route to the top.

But just “because it’s there” doesn’t mean you have to summit. In fact, dodge a karmic bullet by circumnavigating Uluru instead. On a perfect late-September day, I cycled the six-mile-plus ribbon of pavement around Uluru. Sure enough, as the sun sank, this massive shade-shifter absorbed the universe. Lap one was brilliant yellow. Lap two was bright orange. Lap three was deep purple. By that last lap, it was evident that Uluru was in an ebullient mood—and so was I.

Stay nearby at Longitude 131掳, a luxe tented camp (US$690 per person, all-inclusive, based on double occupancy; 011-61-2-8296-8010, ). Ayers Rock Campground offers mountain-bike rentals for US$23 per day (011-61-8-8957-7001, ).

Essential Australia

GETTING THERE*
With the QUANTAS AIRPASS, you can fly nonstop from L.A. to Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane for $999–$1,599 (800-348-8145, ); purchase includes three domestic flights within Australia. AIR TAHITI NUI (877-824-4846, ) flies from L.A. to Sydney for $998, and from New York for $1,198, including stops in Tahiti and Auckland, New Zealand.

PRIME TIME
Hit the south during Australia’s legendary summer (December–February), or enjoy the less steamy months in the tropical north between May and October.

GETTING AROUND
To do Australia right, you need to cover a lot of ground. QUANTAS operates out of 59 cities (800-227-4500, ); VIRGIN BLUE hits 23 destinations (011-61-7-3295-2296, ). Ride from Melbourne to Cairns with the EAST COAST DISCOVERY PASS (valid for six months; $302), or take a three-night, 2,700-mile transcontinental rail journey on the Indian Pacific to see the spectacular country between Sydney and Perth (from $330 per person; ATS TOURSs, 310-643-0044, ). Considering Oz’s vast distances and incredible national parks, camper vans are a popular option for road trips. KEA CAMPERS offers decked-out, pop-up rides from $46 per day (011-61-2-8707-5500, ). Avis, Budget, Hertz, and National all rent cars; rates start at $27 per day.

LUXURY BASE CAMPS
DAINTREE ECO LODGE & SPA, Daintree, Queensland. Sleep in one of 15 tree houses on stilts at this award-winning 30-acre eco-resort, where you can explore the world’s oldest living rainforest or dive into the nearby Great Barrier Reef. Doubles from $349, including breakfast (011-61-7-4098-6100, ).
NORTH BUNDALEER, Jamestown, South Australia. This restored four-room 1901 mansion sits on 470 acres near the 17-mile Riesling Trail, which leads pedalers to tasting rooms at Clare Valley wineries ($19 per day; Clare Valley Cycle Hire, 011-61-8-8842-2782, ). Doubles from $369, including meals and drinks (011-61-8-8665-4024, ).
FARAWAY BAY, THE BUSH CAMP, Western Australia. Set in a secluded cove on the Kimberley Coast, this permanent camp of eight cabins combines wilderness luxury with awesome scenery—think crocodiles and dolphins cavorting off a white-sand beach backed by red cliffs. Open April 1–October 31; $1,500 per person for two nights, including air transfer from Kununurra, meals, drinks, and excursions (011-61-8-9169-1214, ).
ECHOES BOUTIQUE HOTEL AND RESTAURANT, Katoomba, New South Wales. All 13 suites in this eclectic hotel have panoramic views of the craggy buttes and temperate rainforests of the Blue Mountains, a World Heritage site. Explore the stunning sandstone range by rock-climbing with High N Wild Mountain 国产吃瓜黑料s (half-days from $84; 011-61-2-4782-6224, ). Doubles from $258 (011-61-2-4782-1966, ).
CAPELLA LODGE, Lord Howe Island, New South Wales. Overlooking both the lagoon and the signature green mountains of Lord Howe Island, 434 miles northeast of Sydney, the Capella Lodge offers Zenlike suites, an insane adventure menu, and exceptional dining. Doubles from $346, including breakfast, dinner, and airport transfers (011-61-2-9918-4355, ).
SEVEN SPIRIT BAY WILDERNESS LODGE , Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory. This rainforest eco-lodge in Garig Gunak Barlu National Park has 23 hexagonal “habitats”—swank screened bungalows with garden showers secluded in the bush. Open March 17–December 15. Doubles from $995 for two nights, including round-trip flights from Darwin, all meals, and wildlife safaris to see buffalo, crocodiles, and cockatoos (011-61-8-8979-0281, ).

Essential Australia

MORE EXPLORING
SAIL AND DIVE THE WHITSUNDAYS: Island-hop this archipelago of 74 coral-fringed, rainforested isles on the Great Barrier Reef aboard Bliss, a skippered 60-foot yacht that sleeps six (double cabin from $1,346 for three nights, with meals; diving is extra; 011-61-7-4946-5433, ).
DRIVE THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD: Roll the 219 miles between Torquay and Warrnambool on one of the world’s best drives, past old lighthouses and the famous 12 Apostles rock formation (011-61-3-5222-2900, ).
COMMUNE WITH THE TINGLE FORESTS: Get dwarfed in Walpole-Nornalup National Park’s Valley of the Giants, Australia’s answer to the Redwoods, 280 miles south of Perth (011-61-8-9840-1027, ).
RUN THE FRANKLIN RIVER: Take a mind-blowing nine-day whitewater trip with Tasmanian Expeditions through pristine Tasmanian wilderness ($1,761 per person; 011-61-3-6339-3999, ).
OFF-ROAD ON THE CAPE YORK PENINSULA: Ford rivers, dodge crocs, and bathe in waterfalls. Getabout 4WD 国产吃瓜黑料s offers 16-day guided, self-drive camping trips from Cairns to Cape York ($3,947 for two; 011-61-2-9831-8385, ). BIKE THE OUTBACK: For the full Mad Max tour, try Wayward Bus Touring Company’s new “Outbike” tour, a fully supported two-week cycle from Alice Springs to Coober Pedy ($1,553; 011-61-8-8410-8833, ).
DIVE WITH WHALE SHARKS: From April to July, migrating whale sharks converge on Western Australia’s central coast near Exmouth ($284 per day with the Exmouth Diving Centre; 011-61-8-9949-1201, ).
INDULGE IN THE WILSON ISLAND EXPERIENCE: Spend five days at permanent luxury camps on two coral cays, Heron Island and Wilson Island, on the Great Barrier Reef ($1,533 per person, including meals; 011-61-2-8296-8010, ).
KITEBOARD IN ST. KILDA: Melbourne’s hip beach ‘hood is a magnet for kiteboarders and windsurfers. RPS, a local surf shop, offers half-day lessons for $192 (011-61-3-9525-6475, ).
SURF BYRON BAY: Paddle out to Tallows, Byron’s hallowed beach break. Byron Bay Surf School rents boards for $23 per day (011-61-2-6680-9761, ). Then chill at the Byron at Byron Resort and Spa (doubles from $230; 011-61-1-300-554-362, ).

BEST EVENTS, 2005-2006
MELBOURNE CUP CARNIVAL (October 29–November 5): Experience Australia’s version of the Kentucky Derby. COMMONWEALTH GAMES (March 15–26): These Olympic-style games, which occur once every four years, come to Melbourne in 2006. IRONMAN AUSTRALIA TRIATHLON (April 2): Hundreds of finely sculpted masochists race in Port Macquarie, New South Wales. RIP CURL PRO at Bells Beach (mid-April): Surfers and wannabes descend on Victoria during Australia’s top pro-surfing contest. SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL (June): Rub shoulders with Nicole Kidman, Baz Luhrmann, and Cate Blanchett in the heart of Sydney. HOG’S BREATH RACE WEEK (August 10–17): It’s party time when one of Australia’s most competitive regattas kicks off in the Whitsundays.

OUTFITTERS
OUTBACK ENCOUNTER is one of Australia’s premier luxury tour operators (011-61-8-8354-4405, ). WILDERNESS AUSTRALIA specializes in custom guided safaris (011-61-2-9231-2113, ). BACKROADS runs a nine-day multisport adventure in Queensland (800-462-2848, ). WILDERNESS TRAVEL offers 12-day Wild Australia and 10-day Wild Tasmania trips (800-368-2794, ).

RESOURCES
For general information, visit . And to try to make sense of Aussie slang, pick up a copy of A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms (Oxford).

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