South Africa
Lambert's Bay
Thousands of Cape gannets crowd an island reached on foot from a fishing harbour.
White birds fill the low island while guano scent and surf carry back to the quay. The colony's cries overwhelm the fishing harbour only a short causeway away.
The gannet colony is immediate and noisy rather than distant through binoculars. Birds crowd the ground at eye level, turning nesting behaviour into something witnessed rather than searched for. The harbour and a fish meal keep the town's working coast inside the same visit.
Couple
Walk to Bird Island, watch the gannets without rushing and keep the harbour seafood meal as the town's second strong reason.
Family
The short harbour-linked approach makes a seabird colony unusually accessible; explain the noise and smell before children reach the viewing area.
- A harbour causeway reaches Bird Island, roughly one hundred metres from shore.
- It supports a publicly viewable Cape gannet colony.
- Gannets, cormorants and seals gather around Bird Island and the harbour.
- Lambert's Bay remains a working fishing town.
This is snoek and crayfish country, landed below the gannets of Bird Island.
Open-air seafood feasts began here: Muisbosskerm, on the beach outside town, was South Africa's first open-air seafood restaurant.
Antiparos
Greece
A cave so vast that the Marquis de Nointel held Christmas Mass inside it in 1673.
Isla Damas (Reserva Nacional Pingüino de Humboldt)
Chile
A small boat crosses cold desert water towards protected island habitat.
Chañaral de Aceituno
Chile
Local boats enter the Humboldt Current in search of whales, dolphins and seabirds.
Manitou Springs
Canada
A prairie lake so mineral-dense that floating is involuntary fronts a small resort town.
Gondwana Game Reserve
South Africa
Fynbos-covered hills carry safari wildlife within reach of the Garden Route coast.
Kagga Kamma
South Africa
Sandstone outcrops shelter rock art, cave rooms and star-heavy Cederberg nights.
Tswalu Kalahari Reserve
South Africa
Meerkats rise from red sand while private guides search the dusk for pangolin.
Sabi Sands Game Reserve
South Africa
Leopard tracks cross unfenced bush before guides follow them off-road into the riverbed.