Wish you were here..?
"No means no!"
In these troubled times, I thought I’d give every wildlife photographer out there a chance to fantasise about a few dream destinations around the globe.
Whatever your passion, I’m sure there’s somewhere out there that would provide a great photographic getaway - once we’re all allowed out to play again…!
Africa
“Bundle…!”
Botswana: Okavango Delta, Moremi, Chobe for elephants
Kenya: Masai Mara for cheetah kills; Lake Bogoria for flamingos; Lewa Wildlife Conservancy for black rhino
Madagascar: for chameleons, baby lemurs, mating fossas
Namibia: Etosha for rhino; Damaraland or Namib Desert for dunescapes; Africat cheetah sanctuary for cheetahs; Desert Rhino Camp for black rhino
Rwanda: Volcanoes National Park in the Virunga Mountains for (very expensive) gorillas
South Africa: Kruger or Cape Town for cage diving with great white sharks; Wild Coast for surfing dolphins; Pilanesburg Game Reserve for black rhino; Tiger Canyon Private Game Reserve for Bengal tigers, cheetahs, aardwolf, aardvarks, serval, caracal, bat-eared fox, cape fox, grey mongoose, springbok and wild horses, among others
Tanzania: Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, and Tarangire
Uganda: Bwindi National Park for gorillas
Zambia: Kaingo Camp hides for carmine bee-eaters; South Luangwa for hippos
Zimbabwe: Hwange or Mana Pools for walking safaris
Arctic & Antarctic
“Come on, darling, it's just a rock…”
Antarctica: Antarctic Peninsula for penguins
Canada: Churchill, Manitoba, and Baffin Island for polar bears
Norway: Spitsbergen/Svalbard for polar bears and reindeer
UK: South Georgia for king penguins
Asia
Bath Time
India: Tadoba, Bandhavgarh, Ranthambore and Bandipur for tigers; Ladakh for snow leopards; Gir National Park, Gujarat, for Asiatic lions
Indonesia: Bukit Lawang, Sumatra, for orangutans
Japan: Jigokudani Yaenkoen or Shibu Onsen for snow monkeys
Malaysia: Kinabatangan River, Borneo, for monkeys, macaques, crocodiles and pygmy elephants
Maldives: for snorkelling on coral reefs with dolphins, sharks, turtles, clown fish and manta rays
Sri Lanka: Wilpattu and Yala for leopards, sloth bears and spotted deer
Thailand: Khao Yai for Asian elephants, gibbons and macaques
Europe
Little Brown Job
Belarus: for wolves, bison, beaver and elk
Bulgaria: Srebarna Biosphere Reserve (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) for Dalmatian pelicans; Central Balkan National Park for over 120 different breeding birds
Denmark: Mykines, Faeroe Islands, for gannets, kittiwakes and puffins; Nólsoy, Faeroe Islands, for storm petrels
Finland: Martinselkonen Nature Reserve or Petola Nature Centre for
France: Mercantour National Park near Nice for wolves; Ornithological Park Pont de Gau for flamingos, herons and egrets
Greece: northern Greece for bears, wolves, wolverines and lynxes; Lake Kerkini for over 300 different bird species, including the Dalmatian pelican, pygmy cormorant and other wading birds and waterbirds
Iceland: for killer whales
Italy: Ligurian Sea for whales and dolphins
Montenegro: Lake Skadar for snakes, wild boar and tortoises plus 280 different species of birds, including the Dalmatian pelican and various storks, herons and egrets
Netherlands: Dunes of Texel National Park for wading birds, including terns, eiders, all manner of shorebirds and a huge spoonbill colony
Norway: Båtsfjord floating hide for arctic sea ducks such as the king eider, common eider, Steller’s eider and long-tailed duck
Poland: Bialowieza Forest for European bison
Portugal: Azores for swimming with dolphins and sperm whales; Madeira for whale-, seal- and dolphin-watching and various birds such as Zino’s petrel, red-legged partridges, gannets, herons, Eurasian kestrels, moorhens, oystercatchers, terns, gulls and European bee-eaters
Romania: Danube Delta for over 350 different species of birds, such as the pygmy cormorant, Dalmatian pelican and various terns and herons; Carpathian Mountains, Transylvania, for lynx
Spain: Cabárceno safari park for the sable antelope, ostrich, European bison, water buffalo, zebra, dromedary, eland, African elephant, emu, warthog, gorilla, spotted hyena, hippo, jaguar, giraffe, lion, lynx, wolf, grizzly bear, olive baboon, white rhino, blue wildebeest, and tiger; Ronda for the Feria Goyesca in September if you like bull-fighting; Tarifa for whale-watching; Pamplona for the running of the bulls; Doñana National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) for herons and wading birds; Monfrague National Park for birds of prey such as buzzards, eagles and the black, griffon and Egyptian vultures
Sweden: Taiga Forest for wolves and moose; Falsterbo Bird Observatory for the autumn migration, including buzzards and passerines such as the blue tit and bearded reedling
UK: Lundy Island for bird-watching; Mull, Skye and other Hebridean islands in Scotland for otters, whales, sharks, porpoises, dolphins, and seals plus golden and white- tailed sea eagles and falcons; Skomer Island for manx shearwaters, guillemots, kittiwakes and Atlantic puffins; Shetland Islands, Scotland, for sea otters, whales, killer whales, dolphins and porpoises plus puffins at Sumburgh Head and gannets at Hermaness; Cairngorms National Park for the capercaillie, red grouse, ptarmigan and snow bunting; Akrotiri Marsh and Peninsula, Cyprus, for shorebirds, wading birds and seabirds, including endemic species such as the Cyprus wheatear and the Cyprus warbler; Norfolk Wildlife Trust, Cley Marshes, for over 300 different bird species, including Harriers and bearded reedlings, wading birds such as avocets and various seabirds and waterfowl such as brant (or brent) geese
North America (including Central America)
Bear Gills
Belize: Victoria House, Ambergris Caye, for snorkelling
Canada: Lake Louise and the Icefields Parkway, Alberta, for the grizzly bear, black bear, elk, moose, coyote, deer, mountain goat and bighorn sheep, as well as small animals like the pika and marmot; British Columbia for ghost bears
Costa Rica: Tortuguero National Park for baby turtles, mating dance of red-capped mannequin bird
France: Anse Noire, Martinique, for sea turtles, tropical fish and black and white sea urchins
United States: Brooks Falls, Alaska, for bears catching salmon; Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, for elk, bison, brown and black bears, mountain goats, foxes and wolves; Rockport in the Skagit Valley, Washington, for snow geese and bald eagles; Boston or San Diego for whale watching; Wakodahatchee Wetlands and Shark Valley for birds; Fakahatchee Strand Preserve for gators, dwarf cypresses and birds; Triple D game farm, Montana, for tiger, bear, snow leopard, wolf, cougar etc
Oceania
Mates
Australia: Great Barrier Reef, Queensland for scuba diving and snorkelling; Fraser Island, Queensland, for dingoes, turtles, dugongs and whales; Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, Queensland, for koala bears; Kangaroo Island, South Australia, for kangaroos, bandicoots, sea lions, echidnas, koalas and wallabies; Maria Island, Tasmania, for kangaroos, wallabies, pademelons, possums, wombats, echidnas, Tasmanian devils and many different species of birds; Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia, for whale sharks; Phillip Island, Victoria, for little penguins; Wilsons Promontory, Victoria, for echidnas, emus, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, penguins, Australian fur seals, dolphins and humpback whales; Montague Island, New South Wales, for seabirds and fur seals; The Eyre Peninsula, South Australia, for cage diving with sea lions, dolphins or great white sharks
South America
Hot Mess
Argentina: Peninsula Valdes for whale watching plus killer whales, dolphins and guanacos
Brazil: Jaguarland, Pantanal, for jaguars
Chile: Torres del Paine National Park for pumas
Colombia: for bird-watching
Ecuador: Galápagos Islands for marine iguanas (particularly the multicoloured ones on Española), giant tortoises, Galápagos sea lions, Sally Lightfoot crabs, green turtles and penguins
Guyana: North Rupununi for jaguar, giant anteater, harpy eagles
Peru: Lake Sandoval for macaws, squirrels, spiders, howler monkeys and birds such as the hoatzin
If you’d like to order a framed print of one of my wildlife photographs, please visit the Prints page.
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