Standing in the Sicilian sun with your feet washed by the waves of the Tyrrhenian Sea, it’s easy to forget that there’s more to the tri-corner island than beauty. The beaches are magnificent—turquoise waters stretching out to the horizon, soft sand, gentle waves and some of the clearest water in the world. In the distance, on the rockier portions of the coast, volcanic rock juts out of the sea, its dark color and jagged edge adding drama to the vista.

Inland, the hills rise up and greet the sun, patched with golden fields of grain, vibrant citrus orchards, and the vineyards that produce Sicily’s fragrant nero d’avola wines. The skies are blue, the weather is warm, and somewhere, a few steps down a narrow street, someone is rolling fresh pasta to tempt you back from the shore. (more…)

Tags: advance, adventure, adventure worth, aeolian islands, Agrigento, ancient greeks, appeal, arab architecture, architecture, arm, avola, awe, Baroque, beat, beauty, cascade, century, cerulean, citrus orchards, clearest, climate, climb, coast, color, complex, Concordia, construction, countryside, crater, culture, Day, distance, divot, drama, edge, entrance, exhaust, Fahrenheit, feeling, ferry, fire, fire god, flavors, force, fragrant, fresh pasta, gentle waves, god, grain, greeks and romans, Hades, hasn, hazy, height, Hera, Heracles, history, home, horizon, hover, humility, hydrofoil, intoxicate, intrepid, island, Italy, jagged edge, mainland, man, medieval, Mediterranean, memory, millennia, Modern, mouth, nero, nero d avola, Normans, north, olive, Palermo, part, pasta, payday, peak, picturesque, playing soccer, point, poison, power, profile, relief, ridge, road, rock, rockier, Romans, row, Sacred Way, sanctuary, sand, sandstone, sea, shade, shore, Sicilian, sicilian sun, Sicily, side, slope, smoking, smudge, soccer, soccer in the streets, soft sand, someone, span, standing, station, street, sulfur, summer, sun, sunshine, sweat, swell, temple, Temples, top, train, trip, trouble, turn, turquoise, turquoise waters, tyrrhenian sea, umber, valley, view, vista, vittorio emanuele ii, volcanic rock, volcano, voyage, Vulcano, water, wave, weather, wind, world, Zeus

Take the Zambezi, one of Southern Africa’s largest rivers. Let it loose across the floodplains of Angola and Zambia, tributaries swelling it until the river is as large as a racing track. Once the waterway is flowing with full force over the basalt plateau of southern Zambia, cut a 1700-meter wide gash in the valley and watch the entire width of the river come pouring down an 180-meter face of rock into a narrow gorge. That is Victoria Falls, one of the most monumental waterfalls in the world.

The falls’ indigenous name, Mosi-oa-Tunya, means “the smoke that thunders”. And indeed, it roars, it throws up spray, it crashes and it swirls – Victoria Falls is an overwhelming sight, twice the height of Niagara Falls. So spectacular, in fact, that it already was a popular tourist attraction in 1905, when the railway from then-Rhodesia to Cape Town was completed under British colonial rule. Now a World Heritage Site, Victoria Falls attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, some content to simply take in the natural wonder, others, like me, daring (or brainless) enough to bungee jump over the gorges, too. (more…)

Tags: air, Angola, assignment, attraction, basalt, basalt plateau, Bounced, bragging, bridge, british colonial rule, bungee, bus, Cape Town, capital, cash, center, century, chasm, chatter, circle, cloud, colonial, content, crest, cry, David Livingstone, Day, departure, departure time, direction, Doctor, drizzle, dry savannah, end, entrance, explorer, eye, face, fact, fall, fame, Fell, fine, floodplains, footbridge, force, friend, gash, gear, glimpse, gorge, ground, haze, headfirst, height, Heritage, honor, indigenous name, jump, Leila, light, Livingstone, loan, Lusaka, meter, mid, monarch, morning, Mosi-oa, name, narrow gorge, Niagara Falls, o clock, One-two-three, opportunity, park, path, payday, plateau, platform, presume, protection, Queen Victoria, railway, rain, rainbow, Rhodesia, ride, river, rock, rule, Saturday, savannah, Scottish, scottish explorer, side, sight, site, smoke, smoke that thunders, Southern Africa, southern Zambia, spray, stand, statue, statue of david, Stream, structure, sun, surprise, swing, then, time, tourist, town, track, traffic, transportation, transportation schedules, Tunya, underfoot, valley, victim, Victoria, victoria falls, visit, void, walkway, water, waterway, way, width, work, work assignment, world, world heritage site, year, Zambezi, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Ecuador in South America is home to a bewildering array of wildlife. Fifteen percent of the world’s bird species are endemic to Ecuador. There are also 138 species of amphibian and 106 species of reptile.

From Lions to spider monkeys to endangered species like the Giant Armadillo, the wildlife in Ecuador is in fact so diverse that the World Conservation Monitoring Center lists it as one of seventeen Megadiverse countries in the world where the majority of Earth’s wildlife is to be found.

As a South America volunteer on an Ecuador wildlife protection program you have the opportunity to get up close and personal with this extreme biodiversity.
(more…)

Tags: abuse, adventure, Adventures, amphibian, animal, animal abuse, animal lover, animal trade, Armadillo, array, biodiversity, bird, bird species, breath, center, challenge, conservation, countries in the world, country, Earth, Ecuador, Ecuadorian, education, education projects, endangered species, fact, Galapagos, galapagos turtles, Giant, giant armadillo, home, intake, Laws, Lions, lover, lust, majority, maltreatment, massive challenge, Megadiverse, Monitoring, monitoring center, opportunity, percent, program, protection, rehabilitation, rehoming, reptile, rescue, seventeen, South America, spider, spider monkeys, take, trade, Travel, trip, volunteer, volunteer program, wildlife, wildlife protection, wildlife volunteer, world, world conservation

Australia one of five continent in the world has something special and unique rather than any other continent. It has cultures and modernity mixed in one place and really enjoyable place just for everyone. From simple holidays to culture filled excitement, there are all sorts of options to enjoy. Below some places tourists must see and events around Australia that you can consider for your next holiday. Although you don’t have enough preparation, last minute flights will take you to Australia.
(more…)

Tags: accommodation, accommodation option, activity, Adelaide, admire, Airlines, Alice Springs, architecture, area, array, Australia, australia one, Ayers, Barrier, beautiful island, beer, Below, bridge, bridge 2, Brisbane, bush, bush areas, Cairns, Canberra, capital, car, center, Centre, change, city, coast, coastline, colonial, continent, coral, coral reef, country, cuisine, culture, Derwent, design, destination, distance, doorway, drive, endless hours, enjoyable place, entry, Everyone, excitement, facility, family, Far, far north queensland, fascinate, favorite travel, Federation, ferry, fine, fish, flight, Food, Found, fun, Gallery, Got, Great, great barrier reef, Great Ocean, Harbour, harbour bridge, heart, hiking, Hobart, holiday, home, house, icon, interest, island, island resorts, land, last minute accommodation, last minute flights, Library, life, luxury, luxury holiday, Melbourne, melbourne melbourne, Memorial, minute, mix, modernity, National, New, night, North Queensland, Northern Territory, number, ocean, ocean side, offe, offer, Olgas, Opera, opportunity, option, Outback, paradise, park, Parliament, part, place, point, preparation, pristine sands, produce, property, Qantas, Quay, Queensland, queensland coast, range, Red, Reef, river, road, rock, scenery, sea, sea life, shopping, side, Sidney, Singapore, something, spectacular harbour, spectacular night, spot, Square, sun, sunrise, sunset, Sydney, sydney opera house, Tasmania, taste, time, Tjuta, tourists, town, Travel, Uluru, Victoria, view, Viewing, visit, War, waver, way, weekend, wildlife, world, world visitors, year

Time really does slow down on an island, which is hard to comprehend for those of us caught up in the fast paced pressure cooker of modern society, but it’s the single thing I enjoy most about the island life. The smaller the island, the slower the pace, and the first one I visited was also the tiniest I’ve been to, but it was just this smallness that made it such a special place. In the southern Caribbean Ocean, just north of the Central American nation of Honduras are the Bay Islands, a string of three small tropical islands, of which westernmost Utila is the smallest.

Known in backpacker circles as a great, cheap place to get your scuba diving certification, Utila offers little more to do, but plenty to enjoy. Like the other Bay Islands, Utila is reached by a short ferry ride from the mainland coastal city of La Ceiba. Unlike the rest of Honduras, English is more widely spoken than Spanish, and the native inhabitants are primarily Garifuna, descendants of Black Caribs, giving it a much different feel than the rest of the country. Tourism has become the primary source of income, and Honduras recently made Utila a tax-free zone to encourage its further development, as well as standardizing scuba diving rates (read this as get there now before it gets overdeveloped). (more…)

Tags: accommodation, activity, affair, anything, Arriving, backpacker, Baked, bar, barracuda, Bay Islands, beach, beer, beginning, bit, Black, body, breakfast, caribbean ocean, Caribs, Ceiba, Central American, central american nation, certification, challenge, chicken, cinnamon, city, classroom, coast, coastal city, Coco, coconut, comprehend, conch, cooker, country, country tourism, couple, course, Cross Creek, Day, Development, dinner, dirt, dive, dive centers, dive certification, dive courses, dive shops, diving, end, English, evening, everything, excitement, favorite, fellow, ferry, ferry ride, flame, fly, Food, Fresh, gallon, Garifuna, gear, grouper, hammock, hawkers, heat, home, Honduras, hotel, hour, Iguana, income, island, item, La, la ceiba, lack, life, magnet, mainland, master, midday, middle, milk, morning, nation, native inhabitants, north, Northern, offer, pace, PADI, palm, Pan, person, place, plenty, point, prep, pressure, pressure cooker, remainder, research, rest, restaurant, rice, ride, right, road, row, salad, sand, scuba, scuba diving certification, seafood, shack, side, siesta, site, society, source, southern Caribbean Ocean, Southwest, sparse, spiny, station, string, sugar, Taracina, tax free zone, terrace, thing, time, tourism, track, trade, tropical islands, tuna, USD, Utila, vat, volunteer, westernmost, while, woman, world, Xijing, zone