World Wildlife Fund WWF Travel Blog

Finally! The jarring rattling stopped. The infinite, bouncing commute across rocky elephant trails came to a halt. No more thorny branches threatening to scar my face with a snappy whip through the windows of our trucks. No more desert dust in my teeth. Finally.

We had arrived at the Ongava Game Reserve near Etosha National Park in northern Namibia after a long desert drive. The amiable lodge staff greeted us in the driveway with fresh juice and with cool washcloths we could use to swab our dusty faces.

But wait!

The opportunities to engage on a cultural level with local communities may seem less prominent as wildlife is often the focal point of the WWF trips. But it's often the local communities and guides who can spot the rare bird hidden in the thick of the forest canopy. It's the community that is bound tight to the history of their landscape; they know the stories that illustrate how nature has shaped their culture or perhaps how culture has shaped nature. It is almost impossible to understand and appreciate wildlife without also understanding the people and cultures that live under the same expansive sky.

Our photo slideshow highlights eight WWF trips that engage with the keepers of this intimate knowledge.

They slide on their bellies across the snow, congregate on icebergs and seem to fly through freezing water in search of fish. That’s how most people picture penguins, in Antarctica.

The southernmost continent has the most penguins of any region in the world, but it’s not the only place where you’ll find the tuxedoed bird. The Galapagos Islands, New Zealand and South Africa are three other WWF destinations where you can see penguins in their natural habitat.

You’re in the desert. It’s hot. Who wants to make it worse by toting around an overly heavy, busting-at-the-seams daypack?

The people of Namibia possess a hard-to-grasp reverence for their landscape. No matter how little rain falls on the southern African country, or how strongly an unforgiving sun bakes the earth, or how swirly dust devils get when they whip across dry river beds, Namibians still respect the natural assets that surround them.

By the end of our time in Southern Africa, we thought we were safari gurus. I mean, what first-time Africa travelers go on over 40 safari drives in one visit? From Chobe National Park and the Okavango Delta, to Kruger Park proper and the surrounding wildlife reserves, we thought we knew the drill. Then we went to Tanzania, and our whole concept of how a safari works went straight out the window. There are some big differences, and advantages and disadvantages to both.

We usually reserve this feature on the blog to showcase WWF staff’s favorite photos from their travels around the world. Today, however, we’re showing you a watercolor painting that WWF Travel Manager Elissa Leibowitz Poma, an artist outside of work, made on a recent trip to Botswana.

Running a safari camp can’t be easy. In fact, it may be just about the most difficult hospitality gig on the planet. In addition to all of the nuances of running any high-quality accommodation, you have to do it off-the-grid, in a very remote and hard-to-access location, within a wildlife reserve or park, with highly specialized on-site staff, while running a successful safari-drive business.

After visiting Namibia recently, Elissa Leibowitz Poma, Deputy Director of the WWF Travel Program came back armed with stories, ideas and newfound knowledge about wildlife, foreign languages and how she came to embrace dust.

Lisa Steel, WWF’s Director of Namibia, Madagascar and the West Indian Ocean, and the Congo Basin recently journeyed to Madagascar with a group of WWF travelers. We caught up with her to get her thoughts on the world’s fourth-largest island.

WWF Travel: You’d been to Madagascar before, but what do you think most surprised first-time visitors?
Lisa Steel: Exactly what amazes repeat visitors such as myself—the incredible diversity of wildlife. Wherever you go on the island, you are sure to see new species.

WWF: What sets Madagascar apart from other wildlife-rich destinations?
LS: I lived on the Africa continent for 17 years, mostly in the forests of central Africa. The wildlife of those forests—great apes, elephants, majestic forest—is spectacular. But Madagascar is something special.  Its long-time separation from continental Africa has resulted in a treasure trove of unique and bizarre species like nowhere else on Earth. And the diversity and uniqueness extends throughout the island.  Each forest visited had a whole new array of lemurs, chameleons, birds and plants.

WWF: Madagascar faces challenges including deforestation, unsustainable agriculture and erosion. Did you witness any of those during your trip?
LS: Yes, we saw evidence of field clearing in the middle of a national park and, throughout our travels, markets and vendors were selling objects made of seashells and sometimes rosewood, which is often harvested illegally from national parks. The problem of overfishing was also remarked upon by the group, noting the absence of large fish in many of the coastal waters where we snorkeled.

WWF: What was your favorite moment?
LS: On our first day at sea we swam in the open sea. I believe we were told the sea floor was 5 km below!  The water was clear, an almost artificial-looking green-blue color. I have never experience anything like that in my life.

Travel to Madagascar with WWF.