As the world’s largest freshwater wetlands, the Pantanal covers immense tracts of central-western Brazil, eastern Bolivia and eastern Paraguay, 68,000 square miles in all. Because of its remoteness and primarily waterborne accessibility, the three animals that represent the natural life of...

Death Valley may be the lowest, driest and hottest place in North America, but it’s not dead of life. The surrounding mountains are tall enough to be covered in winter snow; wildflowers spring from the barren earth when the valley receives scarce rainstorms; and small pools sheltered from the...

Sonoma County, California is known throughout the world for its vineyards and winery; and that part of the county’s more than 500,000 acres is certainly inviting and caters to affluent travelers and visitors. It’s the 17 miles of coastline from Bodega Head to Vista Trail that may be...

If Norsemen were the first Europeans to visit North America, then Iceland was the first stop on that journey. It was first settled during 874 and was part of Norway and then Denmark for approximately 650 years until 1918, when it became a sovereign nation. Iceland has the smallest population of...

A succession of Native American peoples inhabited the area that surrounds Boulder Mountain for nearly 2,000 years. This area of the US was so isolated and unexplored that the Escalante River, which is the major watercourse in the region, has long been considered the last river “discovered” in...

When Europeans first sighted Papua New Guinea during the early 16th century, it was an island that had been populated for tens of thousands of years. The people had maintained a highly developed agricultural system, but many of them were still living in the Stone Age.

Long before Christopher Columbus first set foot on Cuba during his original 1492 voyage to the New World, the island was the home of many Mesoamerican tribes stretching back into time. Cuba became an independent nation during 1902, and then Fidel Castro led a revolution during the late 1950s that...