Top 10 Wildlife Experiences

Africa is one of world’s most popular wildlife tourism destinations with many rare and endangered species – and gorillas are one of them. Observing these giants in their natural environment surely is an enriching and wonderful experience. With a professional guide, you can get very close to these huge animals without disturbing them and watch them performing their everyday routine.

Africa again – this time not its forests and mountains but rather large prairies with little or no vegetation and water source, yet with many beautiful animals. Enormous batches of zebras, hunting lions and cheetahs, giant elephants and tall giraffes – there is really a lot to see on these dry plains.

Finally, something for those who are not really fond of hot weather and sand. As global warming melts the polar glaciers, the bears’ natural environment gets smaller and smaller and they belong to world’s most endangered species. Watching these animals hunting for fish, nursing their cubs or just lying around doing nothing is an unforgettable experience.

Bengal tiger is the biggest feline in the world. It is endangered mainly for two reasons – first, the local Indian farmers kill tigers to protect their cattle and second, its beautiful fur is much valued on the black market. India has been making great efforts to protect this beast and is thus – with nearly 30 tiger reserves – the number one country for tiger watching.

If you are looking for diversity in the true sense of the word, the Galapagos Islands is the right place to go. Thanks to a long-time isolation, many original species have evolved here, e.g. fur seals or giant turtles. As well as other relatively closed ecosystems, also the Galapagos are endangered by non-local species and diseases.

There is something magic about the whales – swimming along those huge ocean creatures is an experience people do not forget easily. Most of the whales are herbivores, live of plankton and are forced to move very slowly to catch as many of these microscopic creatures as possible, which makes them look huge and fragile at the same time.

As well as the Polar Bear, also its brown brother, the Grizzly, is a very interesting and rare beast. The right place to find these marvelous animals are the Rocky Mountains. With a professional guide, you can observe them in their most intimate moments without getting yourself or the animals in danger.

Swimming with dolphins is definitely as breath-taking as diving with the whales and listening to their “songs” is a once-in-a lifetime experience. Dolphins are considered the most intelligent mammals (humans excluded), yet little people know that with dolphins, as well as with humans, intelligence is associated with cruelty – dolphins are for example the only species (humans excluded again), where a group of males cooperates to rape a female.

Antarctica is one of the last truly wild areas on Earth and is, no matter how hard the environmentalists try to point out the problem and save whatever is left, slowly disappearing. Many species of penguins, as well as other birds that do not occur anywhere else in the world, are endangered by the lessening of their environment.

There used to be much more wolves in Europe than there are now – they inhabited the mountains of Central Europe but also the Alps or Pyrenees. Yet their population was severely reduced as people in the mountains needed to protect their cattle and were scared of these mighty beasts, so there are less regions where you can still spot this beautiful animal – e.g. the French Pyrenees or the High Tatra in Slovakia.

Brought to you by Tourism-Review.com, the tourism news provider for the travel trade community worldwide. Visit www.tourism-review.com.