World Wildlife Fund WWF Travel Blog

This week, actor and World Wildlife Fund Board Member Leonardo DiCaprio helped launch WWF’s “Hands Off My Parts” initiative. The initiative represents a week-long effort tied to WWF’s Stop Wildlife Crime campaign to raise awareness and mobilize support to end the illegal trade of wildlife.

As a traveler, you have tremendous power to decrease the demand for illegal products by making informed purchases. Your purchases abroad and at home have a profound impact on wildlife.

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.

Imagine a huge soup plate that slowly fills up with water and overflows in the rainy season, gradually empties during the dry season and then starts to fill up all over again. That image gives a good idea of what the Pantanal is like; a unique, rich, but threatened ecosystem located in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay.

Join WWF's Brazil: Pantanal, Iguacu & Beyond tour.

The right partners. We only work with tour operators that share our mission. As a result, we’re collaborating with some of the top U.S.-based leaders in tourism conservation.

Quality time. On our tours, you spend time in one destination, rather than hop from country to country. By focusing on one place, you decrease flying time and get to know that region better.

Supporting sustainable tourism. We often go to places where communities are empowered to run sustainable tourism ventures and protect wildlife. And we patronize lodges and hotels that are eco-friendly.

Well-trained guides. We help train guides at some of our destinations, emphasizing WWF’s work in that region and how tourism, when done properly, can be vital to that region flourishing.

Small ships, smaller footprint. Our voyages use small ships. Aside from the wholeheartedly better travel experience they provide vs. large cruise ships, they have a smaller carbon footprint.

Smart marketing. We are now providing the majority of information about our tours via our website, email newsletters and special email offers. That means fewer brochures in your mailbox. When we do create brochures, they're printed on recycled content paper made from sustainably sourced trees and use soy-based ink. Not on our email list yet? Send us an email to sign up today.

Encouraging carbon offsets. Our travel partner, Natural Habitat Adventures, is the world’s first carbon neutral travel company. That means it offsets 100% of the greenhouse gas emissions its trips, its office and all operations associated with running its business. We are working with our other tour operators as well to make all WWF tours carbon neutral in the future. In addition, we encourage travelers to consider offsetting their travel emissions when participating on a WWF tour.

Supporting WWF's work. A portion of your tour cost (between 5% and 10%) is directly contributed to WWF’s general fund, to support conservation work around the world.

The Philippines is a cluster of more than 7,000 islands, lying north of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia. From north to south, the archipelago extends more than 1,850 kilometers. The Philippines are of volcanic origin; a large part of the terrain is mountainous, with fertile soils and spectacular landscapes.

It is generally accepted that the Philippines terrestrial and marine habitats contain some of the richest biodiversities of flora and fauna, and its waters are considered a part of the biodiverse Coral Triangle. Further, many of these organisms are endemic to the Philippines. For example, of the 580 recorded birds, more than 35 percent can only be found in the Philippines. More than 60 percent of the 167 different species of mammals and 65 percent of the 10,000+ species of plants are endemic.

Although many of the islands have an incredible assortment of wildlife, no island has more to offer than the island province of Palawan. Dubbed “the Last Frontier” because of the thousands of kilometers of unexplored forests and coastlines, this narrow archipelago between the South China Sea and the Sulu Sea is the third largest island in the Philippines.

As the westernmost island in the Philippines, it is actually more closely associated (in terms of geology, flora and fauna) with Malaysia and Southeast Asia than with the rest of the Philippines.

One of the most important events that lead towards Palawan’s high biodiversity happened approximately 10,000 years ago when substantial amounts of the world’s oceans were locked up in glaciers. This resulted in much of the Sunda shelf (which includes Borneo and western Indonesia) becoming exposed.

During this time, it is thought that Palawan had a small, shallow land-bridge to Borneo, and separation with many of the islands in the rest of the Philippine chain was not as dramatic. As a result, Palawan not only showcases many of the flora and fauna associated with the rest of the Philippines, but also has many birds, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, trees and plants found on the island of Borneo.

It is argued even to this day that the Philippines, particularly around Mindoro and northern Palawan Islands, are the center of the center of marine fish biodiversity. For scholars, it is a question of species per area rather than species per region.

But for us, the joy and awe at gazing at more than 1,600 species of fish, 600 species of invertebrates and 500 species of coral makes the details academic.

Join a WWF snorkeling tour.