South Africa
Lambert's Bay
Walk a causeway to an island of Cape gannets — the noise overwhelms everything else.
The noise hits before you reach the island. Tens of thousands of gannets screaming, circling, landing, launching — a white wall of feathers and sound that overwhelms every other sense. Lambert's Bay sits on South Africa's West Coast where the cold Benguela Current drives the fish, and the fish drive everything else. Walk the causeway to Bird Island, and the colony surrounds you at arm's length.
Lambert's Bay is a small fishing town on the Western Cape coast, best known for Bird Island — home to one of South Africa's largest Cape gannet breeding colonies, tens of thousands of birds strong. The island connects to the mainland by a short causeway, and the viewing platform places visitors within metres of nesting adults, eggs, and chicks simultaneously. Cape cormorants, crowned cormorants, and Cape fur seals share the island. The town's fishing harbour brings snoek boats in daily during the June-to-October season, with fish sold directly from vessels at the jetty. Muisbosskerm, the legendary open-air beach restaurant, serves twelve courses of West Coast seafood cooked on the sand.
Couple
A twelve-course seafood dinner on the beach at Muisbosskerm, followed by a morning on the causeway watching gannets court. Lambert's Bay is small enough to explore in a weekend and memorable enough to last longer.
Family
The Bird Island causeway puts children face-to-face with tens of thousands of gannets — no binoculars needed, no patience required. The birds are so close and so loud that even the most screen-addicted child puts the phone down.
- Bird Island holds one of South Africa's largest Cape gannet breeding colonies — tens of thousands of birds on an island connected to the mainland by a short causeway.
- The gannets breed in a near-continuous cycle — eggs, chicks, and adults in full breeding plumage are all visible simultaneously at almost any time of year.
- Cape cormorants, crowned cormorants, and Cape fur seals share the island with the gannets — the noise and movement from the viewing platform overwhelm every other sensory input.
- Snoek season from June to October brings fishing boats into the harbour daily — fresh snoek sold directly from the vessels at the jetty.
Muisbosskerm open-air restaurant serves twelve courses of West Coast seafood — crayfish, snoek, mussels — cooked on the beach.
Fresh crayfish bought from fishing boats at the harbour, split and grilled within the hour.
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
Dolphins race your boat past sea lion colonies to a penguin island in warm desert waters.
Chañaral de Aceituno
Chile
Fin whales surface beside your boat in waters so nutrient-rich the ocean turns green each spring.
Manitou Springs
Canada
A prairie lake so mineral-dense you float without trying — Canada's Dead Sea under enormous skies.
Gondwana Game Reserve
South Africa
The only place on Earth where free-roaming Big Five walk through ancient fynbos shrubland.
Kagga Kamma
South Africa
Open-fronted rock shelters that San people once called home — the stars are your ceiling tonight.
Tswalu Kalahari Reserve
South Africa
South Africa's largest private reserve — aardvarks, pangolins, and desert black rhinos in red sand silence.
Sabi Sands Game Reserve
South Africa
Leopards walk past the vehicle close enough to touch — nowhere on Earth gives better viewing.