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Visiting the Grand Canyon is a watershed moment for every American. Whether you gaze upon it from the North Rim or the South, the polychromatic rock walls that stretch away from you a mile down to the Colorado River and the canyon floor play with your sense of time and reality.
Islands evoke feelings of relaxation, not death, torture and imprisonment. However, Coiba Island off the coast of Panama was actually used by the country’s former military dictatorship as a prison. Now, Coiba Island Prison has undergone a unique transformation into Coiba National Park.
Discovery Channel’s flagship programming, “Shark Week”, came under fire for its 2013 documentary entitled Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives, and they’re at it again this year. Last year’s heavily scrutinized program, The Monster Shark Lives, featured actors pretending to be scientists, photoshopped and altered pictures, and fake digital video.
Roberto Plaza always dreamed of living in the Galapagos. Seven years ago he finally made the leap and moved his family from Ecuador’s capital of Quito to the Enchanted Isles. And they did it in a big way: Roberto and his family live off the grid.
As a contributor to this blog and the director of the International Galapagos Tour Operators Association, I do my best to stay on top of what’s happening in the islands.
“The fact that we were able to work with these birds, which are the top predators in their habitat, and reveal some answers to fundamental questions in biology shows why such places should continue to be preserved.”
The Panama Canal is an engineering innovation integral to modern shipping, international travel and trade. Surrounding the canal is the Panama Canal Watershed, a 1,300-acre area with significant biodiversity. The Panama Canal Authority works to ensure that development of the Panama Canal has a minimal effect on the ecosystem, so that local wildlife flourishes.
China announced this Tuesday that an extremely rare set of panda triplets was born in the southern city of Guangzhou. The mother, Ju Xiao, and the three as-yet-unnamed cubs are healthy, the China news agency reported. The triplets weigh between 8 and 12 ounces or about half a pound!
NHA Adventure Specialist Andrea Reynolds updates us on IMAX’s latest wildlife flick, Island of Lemurs: Madagascar. Lemurs are fascinating primates that are unique to Madagascar, with 33 species roaming Africa’s largest island. These entertaining animals are the feature of a recently-released IMAX movie which chronicles their plight.
Jonathan Weiner’s Pulitzer Prize winning “The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time” turns 20 this year, and there is a rumor that a special anniversary edition is due out soon.
Northern Botswana’s Okavango Delta was recently inscribed as the 1,000th UNESCO World Heritage Site, among the ranks of 26 other extraordinary places including India’s Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area, the Phillipines’ Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, and Denmark’s Stevns Klint geological site.
What is your ideal way to explore the Galapagos Islands? Is it to kayak against the tide, warming your muscles as you cruise past lava rocks covered in marine iguanas? Or carefully photograph every marquis species that left Charles Darwin wide eyed? Or snorkel among green turtles and sea lions?
