News & More
After a frenzied stretch in March with international borders unexpectedly closing like dominoes, all Nat Hab travelers around the world returned safely home, thanks to the heroic efforts of our operations team and especially our in-house air department. This narrative includes some of those stories, which give “adventure travel” a whole new meaning!
Conservation
In the environmental world, it’s sometimes characterized as the classic debate: should wild areas be preserved for their intrinsic qualities, or should they be conserved for their resources?
Nature & Wildlife
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines world heritage as “our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration.”
Galapagos Islands
The Galapagos Islands offer so many unique experiences for travelers. From encounters with wildlife unbothered by humans to the varying geological features from island to island, there is so much to see and learn.
Conservation
Roberto Plaza is the owner of Montemar, a sustainable farm on Santa Cruz Island dedicated to Galapagos giant tortoise conservation. In 2010, Roberto and his wife, Reyna, began growing Arabic coffee on abandoned pasture land. The coffee flourished under the shade of tropical fruits and native trees, which the couple painstakingly planted.
Galapagos Islands
They should be! A recent study by The Nature Conservancy revealed the benefits of tourism on mangrove forests. Though they are not always the star of the show, mangrove forests are widely visited by tourists. Over 4,000 mangrove attractions across 93 countries bring out millions of visitors.
Galapagos Islands
The ocean environment is a place where we, as humans, do not belong. It’s cold, full of confusing and potentially dangerous animals, and, thanks to our air-needy lungs, it will kill us without adequate equipment.
News & More
More great news for the Galapagos! A species of giant tortoise, believed to have been extinct for the past 113 years, has been found on the island of Fernandina. This historic discovery comes a month after land iguanas were reintroduced to Santiago Island for the first time in 184 years.
Conservation
The new year rang in a landmark win for conservation in the Galapagos as land iguanas were reintroduced to Santiago Island for the first time in 184 years. One of the last people to record land iguanas, Conolophus subcristatus, on Santiago was the celebrated naturalist Charles Darwin in 1835.
Travel Tips
Being an inveterate introvert, I avoid large crowds—well, really, even groups of people numbering 15 or more—like the plague.
Conservation
My father never had the “urge for going,” as songwriter-singer Joni Mitchell calls it—the desire to travel. I place the blame for that fact squarely on the shoulders of World War II.
Conservation
While travel has the potential to positively impact the places visited—infusing money into local economies, supporting local artisans and conservation projects, and promoting understanding across cultures—it also has the capability to destroy the very things we seek to experience and explore.
