• Join WWF’s Alaska’s Coastal Wilderness tour: May 12-19, 2012 and June 9-16, 2012.

• Join WWF’s Brazil: Pantanal, Iguacu & Beyond tour, scheduled for July 25 – August 2, 2012.

WWF’s Dennis Jorgensen was recently featured on an episode of the PBS series This American Land, discussing WWF’s efforts to create large and uninterrupted conservation areas in the Northern Great Plains for the pronghorn (beginning at minute 17).

Travel to the Northern Great Plains during WWF’s Exploring Montana’s Prairies tour, scheduled for June 16 – 24, 2012.

© Hannes Strager / WWF-Canon

Where: In the central Mexican highlands state of Michoacán, a steep climb up from the mountain town of Angangueo.

What’s there: Mexico’s only public Monarch butterfly sanctuary, which becomes carpeted, wallpapered and otherwise drenched in orange and black butterflies each winter.

Why it’s notable: El Rosario is the most accessible of Mexico’s five protected wintering grounds for millions of Monarch butterflies, which flutter from as far as Canada for a warm respite from chilly northern winters. They cling to oyamel trees in such massive numbers that tree boughs actually snap off from the weight!

How you’ll get there: From Angangueo, it’s a 30-minute drive to the gates of the reserve. Then the adventure begins – first hop in the back of an open, flat-bed truck for a bumpy ride up into the heart of the sanctuary. You’ll then hike to the spots deemed most populated by the butterflies. The hike can be tough, especially because the altitude here exceeds 9,000 feet and the terrain is steep and rocky.

Keep your eyes peeled for: The emerging sun. If it’s cloudy and then the sun starts peeking out, its warmth will begin waking the resting butterflies, which will fill the air like a flaming orange cloud.

Visit El Rosario on WWF’s Kingdom of the Monarchs tour February 12-17, 2012.

© Kasia

WWF tours take you to exotic places around the world, and some of the spots where we lay our heads are even more interesting! Here’s a roundup of articles in our series on the most unusual accommodations on WWF tours.

• Ecocamp Patagonia: A model for ‘green’ lodging

• The Tundra Lodge, Canada: Sleeping with the polar bears

• Rancho Cerro Largo: A ‘little window’ on the coast of Mexico

• Inkaterra: My Peruvian paradise

• Whale cabanas in Baja
  

• Sri Lanka’s Yala Safari Village: Hunkering down with an elephant

Do you have a favorite hotel or lodge you’ve stayed at during a WWF tour?

© Bill Cameron

Where: Deep, deep, deep in the rain forest of central Guyana, in South America.

What’s there: A 741-foot, high-volume single-drop waterfall sitting atop an ancient plateau that’s considered the oldest layer of rock in the world (more than 2 billion years).

Why it’s notable: Sure there are taller waterfalls in the world. But the combination of Kaietuer’s height and its massive water volume (a whopping 23,400 cubic feet per second) makes it one of the world’s most powerful.

How you’ll get there: For independent travelers, it can be a hassle to get there. Guests on our Jungle Rivers of South America expedition will see it via private charter flight.

Keep your eyes peeled for: The tangerine-colored bird called the Guianan cock-of-the-rock, with a punk rocker-like fan-shaped crest on his head that he uses to attract the ladies.

Local women from a village in Quirimbas © Tanya Petersen / WWF-Canon

Seldom considered a tourist destination, the coastal East African nation of Mozambique has a great deal to offer to the nature traveler. Here are ten reasons among the many to visit the “land of smiles.”

1. Pink sand and turquoise waters. Mozambique’s beaches are the definition of paradise, yet so few tourists visit them. Many remain completely free of tall resort hotels and other view-wrecking infrastructure.

2. Whale sharks. Punta da Barra is considered to be one of the best whale shark-viewing spots in the world; the largest fish in the world is present year-round in this area. Other biggies to look out for: manta and devil rays, loggerhead and green sea turtles and bottlenose dolphins.

3. Dhow boats. Traditional Arab sailing vessels, dhows add an excellent element to seascape photography. Their patchwork-style sails contrast well against the turquoise of the sea.

4. WWF projects. WWF helped establish Quirimbas National Park in Mozambique—the largest marine protected area in Africa—through a community-driven process.

5. Undeveloped islands. The country includes several islands with no shops or cars, which are perfect for exploration on foot.

6. Beautiful architecture. The Chapel of Our Lady on Ilha de Mozambique—a UNESCO World Heritage Site—is the oldest European building in the southern hemisphere.

7. Maputo. The country’s capital is home to important landmarks, such as the 1787 Portuguese Fort of Nossa Senhora da Conceição.

8. Fish, fish and more fish. More than 1,200 species of fish can be found off the coast of Mozambique, from gobies to mammoth Napoleon wrasses.

9. Culture. Mozambique blends its African heritage with the influence of colonial rule (it was a colony of Portugal until 1975).

10. Inhaca Island. Its four distinct ecosystems make it a natural habitat for more than 300 bird species and, beneath its warm waters, 160 species of staghorn and plate corals. It’s one of the most popular spots on coastal East Africa to snorkel and scuba dive.

Join WWF’s Mozambique Odyssey, March 4 – 21, 2011.

Proboscis monkeys are only found in Borneo. © Ron Leidich

The third largest island in the world, Borneo is home to the oldest rain forests in the world – 130 millions years old, to be exact. That’s a good 70 million years older than the Amazon. Other aspects of Borneo are equally impressive: 3,000 tree species, 220 different mammals, 420 resident bird species. And more are being discovered.

It’s no wonder that WWF Borneo tour is one of the most popular on our lineup each year. In fact, our trip scheduled for June 2012 is more than half sold out.

Learn more about Borneo by reading our picks for the top articles about Borneo on this blog. Then travel there with us on our June 2012 Into the Heart of Borneo tour.

• Innovative approach to protecting the Heart of Borneo

• Good news for Borneo’s orangutans and elephants

• Top Shot: Borneo

• Species Spotlight: Pygmy elephant

• Q-and-A: Borneo with WWF’s Dan Winter

• New species discovered in Borneo

• Nature’s Close Up: A Bornean Primate Slideshow

Explore Svalbard by Zodiac on WWF’s Land of the Ice Bears tour. © Stewart Cohen

A glimpse into the journal of National Geographic Explorer naturalist and photographer Jack Swenson during his June 2011 expedition in Arctic Norway …

Through the sun-filled hours of the night we made our way southward from Isfjord along the western side of Spitsbergen Island. We were blessed with continued clear skies and calm seas that aided our search for marine mammals in the deeper waters offshore. During breakfast several groups of white-beaked dolphins were sighted as they surfaced again and again near the bow. Soon thereafter, whales were encountered and the captain made a slow approach so we could enjoy closer views. These were fin whales surfacing quite peacefully on this lazy summer Sunday. With gentle maneuvers we eventually had one whale rising from the depths into view right beside the ship. Without any riffle of wind on the water’s surface we gazed in awe at the entire length and slenderness of this magnificent whale surfacing to breathe.

We then angled our course back eastward toward the island, making our way into a region of fjords known as Hornsund. The beaming sun now glistened off snow fields rimming the high peaks all around. In addition to its scenic beauty, Hornsund is also a favorite haunt of polar bears, and it was not long before the first bear was sighted on a broad expanse of shore fast ice in an arm of Hornsund known as Brepollen. Ice floes cluttered our path, and they ground against the ship’s hull as we slowly pushed our way closer to the bear. Initially there were two bears meeting on the ice, but they soon parted ways as our approach continued.

We paused briefly to admire a very trusting bearded seal that lay on the edge of a floe directly in our path. We backed off, and steered around the seal, continuing into the fjord for closer views of one of the bears. This was an adult female bear sporting a satellite tracking collar placed on her by the Norwegian Polar Institute, in collaboration with WWF, whose researchers are studying the movement patterns and habitat requirements of these far ranging creatures.
After the bear wandered well away along the ice edge, we set out to explore this icy landscape by kayak and Zodiac. The mirrored surface of the fjord created perfect reflections of the ice forms and the surrounding peaks and glaciers. Black guillemots paddled among the floes, and an occasional bearded seal surfaced to peer at us with curiosity.”

Join WWF’s Land of the Ice Bears expedition, June 15 – 25, 2012.

© Lindblad Expeditions. Reprinted with permission.

At Yala Safari Village you can spot wildlife right from your cabana. ©Yala Safari Village.

Standing on the verandah of your chalet at the Yala Safari Village, the sun rising over the cool blue of the Indian Ocean a short walk away, something rustling in the dry evergreen forest below catches your eye. It’s too big to be a bird, which number in the thousands at this national park in the southeast corner of Sri Lanka. It’s too much noise to be a stealthy leopard.

The buffer zone of Sri Lanka’s most popular wildlife reserve is also home to one of the most impressive lodging options in the Asian island nation. And, as you quickly find out, humans aren’t it’s only inhabitants.

Asian elephants wander freely through the Yala Safari Village, where we’ll spend two nights on our Journey to Sri Lanka tour in March. Instead of an alarm clock, trumpeting elephants and the songs of hundreds of birds commonly wake guests at dawn.

Situated less than two miles from the entrance of Yala National Park, the 10-acre safari village lives in perfect harmony with its surroundings. The rustic yet well-appointed “jungle cabanas” – with their animal-themed décor and locally made furniture – are set away from the ocean and tucked into tree groves, where wildlife sightings are frequent from the chalets and from the observation deck and public spaces.

Gray langurs frolic in the canopy and on the ground below. Spotted deer are seen throughout the village. Wild buffalo and wild boar could give you a good surprise and a great picture. Among the birds spotted on site at the resort: grebes, cormorants, herons, storks, raptors, parrots, kingfishers and hornbills.

But one of the most sought-after sightings from the lodge is the majestic and illusive leopard. One is frequently spotted resting on a rocky outcrop on the edge of the resort in the early morning and evening.

Visit Sri Lanka with WWF, March 10 – 24, 2012.