Solomon Islands
Kolombangara
A near-perfect volcanic cone with its rim broken open, and cloud forest all the way up.
Kolombangara’s forested cone lifts above the Western Province, gathering cloud around a broad summit caldera. The route climbs from plantation country into mossy upland forest protected by the island’s own landholding communities.
Kolombangara is an almost circular volcanic island whose forested cone gathers cloud around a broad summit caldera. Its landholding communities protect roughly 19,400 hectares above the 400-metre contour through an agreement among themselves. The Mount Veve route climbs from plantation country into mossy upland forest across two demanding days, with a night camped on the mountain. A Japanese garrison of around ten thousand held the island in 1943 and was evacuated by night; the forest has been taking back what they left ever since. Guides, permission and kit are arranged in advance, because nothing can be resupplied on the way up.
Solo
Two days up and back with a guide is simple enough to arrange alone, and the night camped on the mountain is the part people come back describing.
Friends
A demanding two-day trek is better with people to share the load and complain to, and guide costs divide cleanly across a small group.
- Forest above 400 metres is protected under a community conservation agreement rather than a national park.
- The Mount Veve route is a demanding two-day trek with an overnight camp on the mountain.
- The rim stands at 1,770 metres, reached through bands of forest that change with every hundred metres climbed.
- Guides and logistics are arranged in advance, because there is nowhere to resupply on the way up.
Rice, tinned fish and whatever Ringgi's shops offered, turned into a hot dinner at Imbu Rano with cloud at the window.
Down at Ringgi, the guesthouse plate is fish and root crops, settled the day before.
Volcán Domuyo
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Patagonia's highest peak, ringed by hot springs and steam vents almost nobody visits.
Derwent Edge
England
Gritstone tors carved into shapes so strange each one has earned a name.
Tombstone Territorial Park
Canada
Black granite teeth rise over tundra that turns crimson in the brief Arctic autumn.
Weather Coast
Solomon Islands
Guadalcanal's southern shore has no road, and the sea decides when you travel it.
Tulagi
Solomon Islands
The old capital's harbour still holds the flying boats the war left on its floor.
Iron Bottom Sound
Solomon Islands
So many warships sank here that the sound was renamed for the iron on its floor.
Bellona Island
Solomon Islands
Everything arrives thrown through the surf at a cleft in the cliffs; Bellona has no harbour.