They say that opposites attract but we would never have expected to find these two contrasting landscapes in one place. It really was an incredible sight to see tall palm trees shooting straight up into the sky, rising like giants above a canopy of cloud forest and we couldn’t take our eyes off it for one minute. The 60 meter Quindio Wax Palm is the tallest in the world and we felt dwarfed as we craned our necks to see the tops. But we weren’t at the beach or even on the hot savanna plains where you may expect to find palm trees. We were surrounded by a mountainous region of cloud forest with eery swirling mist making the Valle de Cocora feel like a very alluring place.
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The Incredible Galapagos Islands
4 Jan
Imagine waking up in a parallel universe where animals rule the planet fearlessly and humans are consigned to the sidelines – gawping speechlessly with open mouths, only capable of pointing and clicking a camera over and over again. Where animals work in harmony allocating selected beaches for frolicking lava lizards, watery depths for giant manta rays and green highlands for wise, ancient tortoises, whilst humans push and shove over the same small patch of scrub land. Where hungry sparrows dine out on the same plates of food bought by humans, and sealions sprawl on promenade benches enjoying the sunshine. Imagine no further – this is the Galapagos – and these islands are like few other places to be found on Earth.
Iquitos – a steamy jungle metropolis
27 Dec
Iquitos is the largest city in the world which isn’t linked to the rest of its country by road and it’s best described as a sensual, steamy jungle metropolis with attitude. Despite its attractive promenade with wonderful river views, its historic buildings and leafy plaza with quaint eateries and coffee shops, Iquitos retains a working class identity with a somewhat edgy feel. We got the sense here that anything goes if you know the right guys and that the law of the jungle is very much alive and well.
The Brazilian Pantanal – Wet & Wild!
4 Sep
The sun was still high in the sky as we cruised down a long, straight stretch of unpaved road taking us deep into the Brazilian Pantanal. As one of the biggest wetland areas in the world covering 230,000 square kilometres, the Pantanal is home to around one thousand different species of exotic birds and animals and is renowned for being one of the best places in the whole of Latin America to spot wildlife in its natural habitat. The Pantanal would soon start living up to its reputation as we pulled over to the side of the road to view two magnificent black bodied and bright orange beaked toucans in the trees only 10 metres away from us.
Samaipata – celebrating the Inca New Year
30 Aug
We looked at the time – it was 12.20am. We looked down at our jeans and shoes – they were caked in mud. We looked all around us – 500 people were drinking, dancing and singing as they prepared to welcome in the Inca New Year with the party to end all parties.
Man’s best friend
1 Jul
It’s estimated that there are 2.5 million stray or ‘street’ dogs living in Chile at the moment, with half of those in Santiago alone. Many of these animals are unwanted pets and their offspring who have lived their whole life as strays and others are considered to be pets but are allowed to roam the streets and return home when they feel like it.
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Torres del Paine – the ‘W’ trek
Visitors from all walks of life converge on the small hamlet of Puerto Natales to visit Chile’s and perhaps the Continent’s number one national park – Torres del Paine. Located in the Southern Patagonian ice fields at the end of the Andes, the park offers diverse wildlife and incredible mountain scenery, glaciers, lakes, rivers and […]
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