Costa Rica
Pacuare River
Class III-IV rapids through a jungle canyon where oropendola nests dangle above the current like pendulums.
The raft drops over a ledge and the jungle canyon swallows you — green walls rising on both sides, oropendola nests swinging above the current like woven pendulums, and the next rapid already audible ahead. The Pacuare River in Costa Rica's Turrialba Valley is not just a river to run. It is a corridor through primary forest that no road has ever reached.
The Pacuare is widely ranked among the world's top whitewater rivers, with Class III-IV rapids threading through a gorge so deep that canyon walls block direct sunlight for long stretches. The upper section, accessible only by helicopter or river, contains a 25-metre waterfall visible from the raft. Oropendola birds hang pendant nests — woven pouches up to 70 centimetres long — directly above the main rapids. Multi-day trips overnight at riverside eco-lodges with no road access, no electricity, and no phone signal. A proposed hydroelectric dam was rejected by the Costa Rican government specifically to preserve the river's wilderness character.
Friends
Four people in a raft, screaming through Class IV drops, sleeping in a roadless jungle lodge — the Pacuare turns a friend group into an expedition team inside a single day.
Couple
The multi-day trip combines adrenaline with genuine wilderness romance — evenings on a platform above the rapids, no phone signal, candlelight, and the river's constant roar.
- The Upper Pacuare section, accessible only by helicopter or river, contains a 25-metre waterfall and canyon walls that block sunlight for long stretches.
- Oropendola birds hang pendant nests — woven pouches up to 70cm long — directly above the main rapids, visible at eye level from the raft.
- Multi-day trips overnight at riverside eco-lodges accessible only by river — no roads, no electricity, no phone signal.
- A proposed hydroelectric dam was rejected by the Costa Rican government specifically to preserve the Pacuare's wilderness character.
Riverside eco-lodge lunches of grilled chicken, gallo pinto, and fresh pineapple on a platform above rapids.
Turrialba town's central market serves the region's namesake cheese melted onto handmade tortillas.
Jericoacoara
Brazil
Windswept dunes where the sun melts into the sea from a natural stone arch.
St Ives
England
Light so luminous it lured a century of painters to this harbour of turquoise shallows.
Tulpar-Köl
Kyrgyzstan
Alpine pools at 3,500 metres that mirror a 7,000-metre peak at dawn like shattered glass.
Philae Temple
Egypt
A temple rescued from rising waters, reassembled stone by stone on an island in the Nile.
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.