World Wildlife Fund WWF Travel Blog

At the end of August, WWF travelers will board a new, custom-designed riverboat to explore the Amazon. The riverboat, aptly named La Estrella Amazonica, is designed to provide travelers with the best voyage through the Amazon. Let’s take a look at the five unique features that make this new riverboat an innovative way to travel the Amazon.

The Pacific gray whale migration from Alaska’s Bering Sea to the warm waters of Baja’s lagoons is the longest mammal migration on Earth. San Iganacio Lagoon become home to thousands of whales every year.

Marsea Nelson of WWF Travel recently traveled to the Galapagos on the Classic Galapagos Adventure. She shared what she learned with us.

After thousands of scuba diving expeditions throughout the world’s oceans, marine biologist Ron Leidich thought he had seen it all. But nothing prepared him for the first time he plunged into Blue Corner, a popular diving spot nestled in the surrounding waters of the island republic of Palau in the western Pacific.

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.

Where: Deep in the rain forests of Central Borneo in the Tanjung Puting National Park.

What’s there: A full-service research center where visitors can observe ex-captive orangutans that have been returned to the wild but are not entirely independent. In the 1970s and 1980s, Camp Leakey also served as a rehabilitation center. Currently, orangutans who need medical or other care after being confiscated from homes, black markets, the entertainment industry or abusive zoos are taken to the Orangutan Care Center, just outside of Tangung Puting. The orangutans we’ll see are the last of those rehabilitated at Camp Leakey, as well as their offspring and possibly wild orangutans as well.

Why it’s notable: Camp Leakey was established by orangutan researcher Biruté Galdikas in 1971. The camp is named for famed paleo-anthropologist Louis Leakey, who funded Galdikas’ orangutan studies. (Leakey also funded Jane Goodall’s work with chimpanzees and Dian Fossey’s mountain gorilla studies.)

How you’ll get there: During our Borneo: Faces in the Forest voyage, you’ll disembark the ship and transfer to traditional covered riverboats called klotok. The guided motorboat ride up the mangrove-lined Sekonyer River takes 2 ½ hours, with fascinating wildlife—including long-tailed macaques, proboscis monkeys and a profusion of birds—along the way.

Keep your eyes peeled for: You’re almost sure to see orangutans at feeding platforms; camp staff supplements the diet of the free ranging orangutans with fruit. Guides will be on hand to offer interpretation, perhaps even Galdikas herself.

Visit Camp Leakey during WWF's Borneo Voyage.

Where: Northwest Belize. Gallon Jug is a private estate located within the heart of La Selva Maya, the largest contiguous rain forest north of the Amazon.

What’s there: All five Latin American cats—jaguar, puma, ocelot, margay and jaguarondi; 350 bird species; apir, peccary, red brocket deer,  coatimundi, tayra, agouti and kinkajou.

Why it’s notable: No hunting has occurred on the estate for more than 20 years, so you may see species that have vanished elsewhere, including large birds like the crested guan and great curassow.

How you’ll get there: On our Ultimate Belize Safari, we take a 30-minute flight from the Hidden Valley to the Chan Chich air strip. From there it’s a 30-minute drive on unpaved roads to the property.

Keep your eyes peeled for: The elusive jaguar. It’s spotted here about once a week, a record unmatched elsewhere.

Join WWF's Ultimate Belize Safari.

Where: In the central Mexican highlands state of Michoacán, a steep climb up from the mountain town of Angangueo.

What’s there: Mexico’s only public monarch butterfly sanctuary, which becomes carpeted, wallpapered and otherwise drenched in orange and black butterflies each winter.

Why it’s notable: El Rosario is the most accessible of Mexico’s five protected wintering grounds for millions of Monarch butterflies, which flutter from as far as Canada for a warm respite from chilly northern winters. They cling to oyamel trees in such massive numbers that tree boughs actually snap off from the weight!

How you’ll get there: From Angangueo, it’s a 30-minute drive to the gates of the reserve. Then the adventure begins—first hop in the back of an open, flat-bed truck for a bumpy ride up into the heart of the sanctuary. You’ll then hike to the spots deemed most populated by the butterflies. The hike can be tough, especially because the altitude here exceeds 9,000 feet and the terrain is steep and rocky.

Keep your eyes peeled for: The emerging sun. If it’s cloudy and then the sun starts peeking out, its warmth will begin waking the resting butterflies, which will fill the air like a flaming orange cloud.

Visit El Rosario on WWF’s Kingdom of the Monarchs tour.

The next in an occasional series examining the most unusual accommodations on WWF tours.

Exploring Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chile is certainly a highlight of any trip to Patagonia. Its famous “horns and towers”—igneous rock spires millions of years old – dominate the horizon. For many travelers, camping is the norm when visiting the park, but we enjoy surprising luxury at our lodging, Ecocamp Patagonia.

Approaching the remote Ecocamp is a surreal sight.  It’s made up of large, individually domed suites modeled on the nomad-style, native huts of the  Kawesqa people, an indigenous group that has historically occupied the region for hundreds of years.  The design is ideal for handling Patagonia’s strong winds, which can reach up to 100 miles an hour.

The camp was carefully created to produce as little ecological impact as possible. The energy used to run the camp is obtained solely from natural and renewal sources, including water, sun and wind power. Waste management is handled a variety of ways, from feeding local pigs the organic waste to a sophisticated bathroom composting system.

Considering all this, the comfort of the camp is unexpected. Each suite has a private bathroom (but leave your hair dryer at home, there are no plugs) and is heated by a low-emission wood stove. Dining takes place within two large domes, and a “resting dome” includes a small library.

After a day of hiking, retire to your bed and look up: Round windows in the ceiling reveal the stars of Patagonia.

Join WWF in Patagonia.

The next in an occasional series examining the most unusual accommodations on WWF tours.

The air is perfectly still and the sun is setting, painting the sky in watercolor-like pastels. Barely anything can be seen into the distance in all directions, except for snow and ice. Well, except for that hulking male polar bear walking in your direction.

His eyes are fixed on you. The moment causes a shiver up your spine—or maybe that’s from the cold. After all, you are standing outdoors, at night, in the northern reaches of Canada, in the fall. Not exactly a balmy day in Miami, but that’s not what you’ve here for, right?

The polar bear approaches the area where you’re standing, safely, on a viewing platform of your Tundra Lodge. You certainly know what this massive mammal is capable of, but right now, he’s more curious than anything. Standing on his hind feet, he reaches his baseball glove-size paws up on the wall of the Tundra Lodge, sniffing the air around you.

After he gets his visual fill, he ambles off, and you do, too—into the warmth of your well-heated Tundra Lodge, where a steaming mug of hot chocolate and a cozy, warm bed awaits.

One of the most fascinating accommodations in the world, the Tundra Lodge is a moveable hotel that is placed in a spot on the vast tundra outside the famed Canadian outpost of Churchill each autumn. The spot is expertly chosen for a high density of polar bears, with visitors trucked out to the location in specially outfitted tundra vehicles.

Despite the sense of isolation, the facility is remarkably comfortable. The lodge is a lot like a train you’d overnight on: Individual compartments for sleeping, shared restrooms, a lounge and a dining area and outdoor observation decks. You can actually watch polar bears while you dine!

The facilities are basic and comfortable—who wants fussy when you’re out in the tundra? Generators and propane furnaces provide lighting and heat, the onboard naturalists are top notch, and you’ll be quite surprised how good the food is.

But the polar bears will make the most lasting impression.

“I came face to face with several bears with just the double metal grates (of the fenced observational deck) between us,” one guest wrote after his experience at the lodge. “A young bear became my special friend. He kept reaching up and pressing his nose and paws against the bottom grate while I kneeled down and murmured to him. His very expressive eyes seemed to respond to my voice. I took him home with me in my heart.”

Travel with WWF to Churchill, Canada.