Costa Rica
Cabo Matapalo
Scale hundred-foot strangler fig trees at the wild southern tip of the Osa Peninsula.
The strangler fig's roots form a ladder reaching forty metres into the canopy. You climb it. From the top, the Pacific stretches flat and silver to the west while the Golfo Dulce curls turquoise to the east, and four species of monkey shriek in the branches around you. Cabo Matapalo sits at the wild southern tip of Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula, where the forest runs unbroken to the waterline and the nearest paved road is a memory.
The headland where the Pacific and Golfo Dulce currents converge creates upwellings that draw whale sharks, sailfish, and dolphins in concentrations visible from shore. Rope courses rigged through the canopy of ancient strangler figs let climbers reach platforms high above the forest floor — a vertical perspective on an ecosystem that is best understood from above. All four primate species found in Costa Rica — squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, white-faced capuchins, and mantled howlers — are reliably spotted on the headland trails. Lapa Rios Lodge operates a thousand-hectare private wildlife reserve adjacent to Corcovado National Park, with trails extending directly into the park.
Solo
The Osa's southern tip is where Costa Rica's wildest ecosystems converge. Solo travellers with a tolerance for remoteness will find some of the densest wildlife encounters in the country without crowds.
Couple
Lapa Rios combines luxury eco-lodging with direct access to primary forest and Golfo Dulce views. Climbing a strangler fig together and watching whale sharks from shore makes for days that don't need embellishment.
Friends
Tree climbing, trail hiking through four-primate territory, and snorkelling where two currents meet — Cabo Matapalo packs physical adventure into every direction you walk.
- Strangler fig trees on the headland reach 40 metres — rope courses rigged through the canopy let climbers reach platforms above the forest floor.
- The point where the Pacific and Golfo Dulce currents converge creates upwellings that draw whale sharks, sailfish, and dolphins in concentrations visible from shore.
- All four primate species in Costa Rica — squirrel monkeys, spider monkeys, white-faced capuchins, and mantled howlers — are reliably spotted on the headland trails.
- Lapa Rios Lodge operates a 1,000-hectare private wildlife reserve adjacent to Corcovado — guests access trails extending directly into the national park.
Lapa Rios Lodge serves refined Costa Rican cuisine sourced from its organic farm above the Golfo Dulce.
The few restaurants serve whatever the sea brought — pargo, corvina, pulpo — simply grilled over coals.
Wistman's Wood
England
Twisted ancient oaks dripping with moss in a silence so deep it hums.
Imber
England
A ghost village frozen in 1943 where wildlife has reclaimed the empty cottages.
Gilf Kebir
Egypt
Prehistoric swimmers painted on cave walls in the deep Sahara, from when this wasteland was green.
Great Sand Sea
Egypt
Sand ridges higher than buildings stretching to the Libyan border, hiding shards of cosmic glass.
Térraba-Sierpe Wetlands
Costa Rica
Central America's largest mangrove system — root-tunnel corridors where caimans drift and roseate spoonbills flash pink.
Rara Avis
Costa Rica
Four hours by tractor through mud to reach where Costa Rica's eco-tourism revolution began.
Guaitil
Costa Rica
Women shape pottery using thousand-year-old Chorotega methods — no wheel, no kiln, fired in open flame.
Isla San Lucas
Costa Rica
A prison island that held inmates for 118 years, now reclaimed by jungle and howler monkeys.