Ngorongoro Crater is home to over 30,000 animals. Because of the steep sides of the crater and the abundant sources of food, the animals in the crater don’t migrate. Wart hogs, or “pumba” in Swahili like in The Lion King, have a memory span of only 34 seconds. The “big five” that are the penultimate … More Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
Qatar is a small country with incredible wealth due to oil. There are only 2.7 million people living in Qatar, and of that only 320,000 are Qatari. The rest of the population is made up of 86 different nationalities. All Qatari citizens get free housing, utilities, education and medical care. And there are no taxes. … More Doha, Qatar
Sami people are the indigenous population in Lapland, or the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, and Finland. They have practiced reindeer husbandry for 1000 years. Their calendar year begins in May when reindeer calves are born and follows seven seasons that parallel a reindeer’s life. Reindeer roam free in the forests during the summer months … More Rovaniemi, Finland
Giant’s Causeway has been on my must see list for quite some time, so a quick jaunt over to Belfast on our way to Finland was an absolute must! Northern Ireland has a tumultuous history with a civil war that lasted thirty years. The British ruled the island until 1921 when the partition split the … More Belfast, Northern Ireland
Easter Island, or Isla de Pascua in Spanish, is an island 3,500 kilometers away from Chile. It is called Easter Island because the Dutch discovered it on Easter Day. It is the southeasternmost point in Polynesia and shares more culturally with the Polynesian islands than with Chile. It is thought that the island became inhabited … More Easter Island, Chile
We boarded the MV Plancius on November 20, 2019 from Ushuaia, Argentina along with 110 other passengers heading towards the southernmost continent. The Plancius is one of several boats operated by Oceanwide Expeditions, a Dutch company that runs explorations to the polar regions. While on our ten day cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula, we learned … More Antarctica
Mendoza is world famous for wine, so of course we had to spend a day wine tasting while we were there. We first went to Tempus Alba, a 5th generation family owned winery, where we learned about the extensive scientific approach to growing Malbec wine. Mendoza has very low humidity and a near constant breeze … More Mendoza, Argentina
Ihla Grande is an island off the coast of Brazil. It is covered with rainforest that flows down steep hillsides into green waters. It is famous for the Blue Lagoon, a tranquil spot of crystal clear water well known for snorkeling. We spent one day on a boat hopping between islands and stopping at the … More Ihla Grande, Brazil
Brazil was originally a Portuguese colony with large exports of sugar and coffee. Brazil had the largest number of African slaves in the world, upwards of 4 million before slavery was abolished. Because of this, there is a large African influence today including the samba and capoeira dances. Because of the French Revolution, the Portuguese … More Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Paraty was a very important port during the slave trade, where most of the gold was exported to Portugal. Because of this, pirates frequently attacked the area. The streets in Paraty were made to hide turns to allow local townspeople to escape the pirates. The cobblestone streets and whitewashed buildings date back to the 17th … More Paraty, Brazil