WWF Travel Blog

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile © James Frankham / WWF-Canon

More than 550 protected areas around the globe are designated as World Biosphere Reserves. The designation comes from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – better known as UNESCO – and recognizes protected areas that demonstrate a balanced relationship between man and nature.

Here are our picks for the 10 top UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves that WWF and its travel partners will visit in 2010:

10. Monarch butterfly protected areas, Mexico: The forested high mountains of central Mexico become the wintering habitat for Monarch butterflies that travel from Mexico and the United States. Nearly 40 communities reside within the protected area, and the conservation of its forest ecosystem is critical for the survival of the butterfly’s migratory phenomenon, UNESCO says.
See the butterfly migration

9. Darien Province, Panama: Panama’s remote Darién Province is one of the last unspoiled regions in Central America. The indigenous Emberá Indians live in small, thatched-hut villages scattered throughout the region. Primarily harvesters of forest agricultural products, they are also well-known for their baskets and the carvings they fashion from cocobolo, a dense hardwood.
Visit Darien on our Rain Forest & Reefs voyage

8. Aleutian Islands, Alaska: Stretching in a sweeping arc into the Bering Sea, the majority of the islands of the 1600-kilometer-length Aleutian Islands are the emergent peaks of a submarine mountain range. It includes several active volcanoes.
Cruise through the Aleutian Islands on our Ring of Fire tour

7. Volcans Biosphere Reserve, Rwanda: Known for its mountain gorilla populations, the biosphere reserve is part of Volcanoes National Park, which contains Pleistocene volcanic peaks that form the watershed between the Nile and the Congo River systems.
Trek to see mountain gorillas in Volcano National Park on our Rwanda’s Gorillas trek

6. Denali National Park, Alaska: The first U.S. national park to conserve wildlife, Denali was established in 1917 and became a Biosphere Reserve in 1976. Some of North America’s marquis mammals, including wolves, grizzly bears and moose – live in the forests and on the tundra surrounding the highest peak in North America, Mt. McKinley.
Tour Denali National Park on our Backcountry Alaska trip

5. Big Bend National Park, Texas: Sitting in a crook of the Rio Grande in west Texas, Big Bend represents one of three biosphere reserves in the Chihuahuan Desert, a WWF priority place. The region has 58 endangered, threatened and listed species and more than 430 species of birds.
Hike through Big Bend National Park on our April tour

4. Torres del Paine, Chile: Tucked between the Andes Mountains and the Patagonian Steppe, Torres del Paine is described as a region of “great scenic beauty,” with ridges, crags, glaciers, waterfalls, rivers, lakes and lagoons. It’s a rugged region of great importance to trekkers and climate change scientists alike.
Hike to see Torres del Paine on a WWF Active Adventure

3. Ngaremeduu Bay Conservation Area, Palau: Encompassing waters off the west coast of Palau’s largest island, Ngaremeduu contains the largest estuary in Micronesia, freshwater marshes, Pandanus/grass and shrub savanna, one of the largest stretches of mangroves on any small Pacific island and extensive coral reefs.
See the coral reefs of Palau on our Snorkeling Micronesia Adventure

2. Islands of the Gulf of California, Mexico: More than 240 islands dot the calm waters of the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. Through a new partnership with the Carlos Slim Foundation and the Mexican government, WWF will be doing even more to protect this biosphere reserve, including the island of Espiritu Santo.
Camp on the shores of Espiritu Santo on our Baja Multisport trip

1. Serengeti-Ngorongoro, Tanzania: The regions are best known for their vast herds of Thomson’s gazelles, wildebeest, zebras and buffalos that migrate in search of water – and for the accompanying predators that follow them. The meeting of the two makes for some of the most dramatic wildlife-watching a traveler could experience.
Visit Tanzania on our February or June tour

 
See all WWF tours in 2010
 
Searchable list of the entire World Network of Biosphere Reserves

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