Times Beach, Missouri

The small town of Times Beach, Missouri was once a thriving community with a population of over 2000 residents. But in 1982, the town became infamous when it was discovered that the soil and water had been contaminated with dioxin - a toxic substance that can cause serious health problems.

Due to the contamination, Times Beach was eventually abandoned and is now virtually uninhabitable. The buildings still stand, but they are slowly crumbling due to neglect. The town has a ghostly feel to it as if its residents just disappeared one day.

It's a tragic story and a cautionary tale about the dangers of chemical waste. Times Beach is a reminder of what can happen when greed takes precedence over safety. It's a place worth visiting if you ever get a chance, but don't stay too long. Times Beach is not safe for human habitation anymore.

The town has a ghostly feel to it as if its residents just disappeared one day. It's a tragic story and a cautionary tale about the dangers of chemical waste. Times Beach is a reminder of what can happen when greed takes precedence over safety. It's worth visiting if you ever get a chance, but don't stay too long - Times Beach is not safe for human habitation anymore.

The Howler Monkeys of Placencia Village Belize

WHY NOW To explore this compact wildlife wonderland before the rains descend 

WHERE Community Baboon Sanctuary

DATES - December to May - In Belize black howler monkeys are known as baboons, and the Community Baboon Sanctuary, 40km outside capital Belize City, is the only area established entirely for their conservation. It’s a community-based initiative, located in the village of Bermudian Landing. Landowners pledge to voluntarily manage their land in a monkey-friendly fashion, creating corridors for howlers. The scheme has spread to surrounding villages, resulting in the densest concentration of howlers found anywhere: up to 250 individuals per hectare. 

This density of monkeys makes for a particularly vocal population. When you hear their deafening calls resonating through the forest, you’ll quickly understand how they got their name. Although these howler monkeys are endangered due to habitat loss, and hunting. But thankfully, Belize still has a sufficient population of the loudest of primates. The Howler monkeys preferred to like vegetables and their diet consists of flowers, leaves, and fruits. Source - Charismatic Planet

Kiteboard on Maui

WHY NOW The wind is at its best – with August being Kite Beach’s blowiest month WHERE Kanaha, Maui, Hawaii DATES June to September Kanaha Beach, on Maui’s north shore, is a tranquil stretch of coast with wonderful views of the West Maui Mountains. But kiteboarding has become so popular here that they’ve renamed the place ‘Kite Beach’. There are even areas set aside solely for kiteboarders.

It’s an appropriate name change: Kanaha is considered to be the birthplace of modern kitesurfing, dating from the mid-1990s when water-pioneers Laird Hamilton and Manu Bertin started riding surf-style boards with foot straps on Maui’s north shore.

It’s impressive to watch, and hard to master. Instruction is available at Kite Beach. First, you learn how to fly the kite; then you practice body-dragging (letting the kite pull you across the water); finally, you step onboard. Anyone can try here, though: a reef keeps waters near shore flat for beginners, while the more experienced can head beyond the reef to tackle-breaking waves.

Prince William Sound, Alaska United States

Prince William Sound, a largely unspoiled wilderness of steep fjords and mountains, glaciers, and rainforest, rests calmly at the head of the Gulf of Alaska. Sheltered by the Chugach Mountains in the north and east, and the Kenai Peninsula in the west, and with its sparkling blue waters full of whales, porpoise, sea otters, and seals, the Sound has a relatively low-key tourist industry. The only significant settlements, spectacular Valdez, at the end of the trans-Alaska pipeline, and Cordova, a fishing community only accessible by sea or air, are the respective bases for visiting the Columbia and Child's glaciers. 

The region’s first settlers, the Chugach Eskimos, were edged out by the more aggressive Tlingit, in their turn displaced by Russian trappers in search of sea otter pelts, and then by American gold prospectors and fishers. The whole glorious show was very nearly spoiled forever on Good Friday 1989 when the Exxon Valdez spilled eleven million gallons of its cargo of crude oil. Although the long-term effects have yet to be fully determined, the spill, fortunately, affected just a fifth of the Sound and today no surface pollution is visible.

Cayo District - Belize

The tropical broadleaf forest of western Belize’s mountainous Cayo District was the heart of the ancient Maya world. Of the 600 ruins buried in the jungle near the Guatemalan border—reachable by horseback or jeep— none compare to Caracol. Though not as well excavated as Tikal in Guatemala (see p. 970), it was one of the great Maya city-states, occupied from the 1st to the 11th centuries and known for its 140-foot-high “sky palace.” In its heyday, there were thousands of buildings across a 30-square-mile area that supported a population of more than 150,000. Set off with a guide to explore Caracol and other nearby treasures, such as underground river cave systems and natural pools and waterfalls that are perfect for a swim.

Or spend the day zip-lining, trekking, kayaking, exploring butterfly gardens, or spotting the birdlife for which the country is famous. The riverside Lodge at Chaa Creek features thatch-roofed cottages, an excellent hilltop spa, horses for jungle treks, and a large, airy restaurant. It is set on a private 365-acre riverside nature preserve, where guests can enjoy a butterfly farm, visit a Maya medicine center, and hike miles of trails. Guides point out exotic jungle residents, such as quarrelsome howler monkeys and some of the 300 species of tropical and migratory birds. A few miles away at the more rustic Mountain Equestrian Trails (MET), horseback riding is the specialty.

A guide will lead you along 60 miles of narrow, winding trails into the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve, pointing out wildlife and recounting jungle lore. Back at the lodge, repair to a kerosene-lamp-lit cabana, and in the morning feast on banana pancakes. Set by a scenic creek and a series of gentle falls, the nearby Blancaneaux Lodge, owned by filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, is the most stylish in the district, with 20 detail-rich accommodations ranging from modest cabanas to a sprawling villa.

Amenities include a riverside spa and a restaurant with the jungle chorus in the background. Worth the detour north of Cayo to Orange Walk, the jungle-enveloped Chan Chich Lodge lets you feel as if you’ve stepped into the ancient world. Built on a Maya plaza dating to the Classic Period (a.d. 300–900), Chan Chich’s elegant thatch-roofed bungalows are surrounded by 130,000 acres of vine-tangled wilderness teeming with more jaguars, jaguarundi, pumas, ocelots, and margays than you’ll find in any other part of Belize. Nine miles of trails wend around temples concealed under grass-covered mounds, and local guides are as well versed in the region’s flora and fauna as they are in the history of its ancient peoples.

Keoladeo Ghana Nationa Park India

If you like birding to be ridiculously easy, there may be no better place in the world for you than the Keoladeo Ghana National Park in northern India. Usually, known simply as Bharatpur, this site is small (only 29 sq km in area), flat, ease of access, and it simply teems with birds for most of the year. Over 400 species have been recorded here, and it is not at all unusual to see 150 in a single day (in the winter). Not much effort is required to observe the masses of herons, ducks, cormorants, and storks on the flooded lakes (jheels); they are there in front of you, and often allow a close approach. Your only problem is to identify them all.

Keoladeo Ghana lies on the Gangetic Plain 180 km south of Delhi and 60 km west of Agra. It is an ‘island’ in a vast flat area of cultivation and its continued existence in such a populous region is a quirk of history. It seems that there were always marshes in the area but in 1890 the Maharajah of Bharatpur, who was keen on duck shooting, extended and enclosed the local wetland by setting up a network of canals and earthen embankments, known as bunds. He henceforth used his newly created reserve for ‘sport’, inviting various visitors and dignitaries to join him on regular massacres of the wildfowl. But happily, despite the persecution, the birds kept coming, and by the 1960s they were afforded protection by the government of India.

Then, largely thanks to pressure from the great Indian conservationist Dr Salim Ali, the national park was declared in 1982. The most obvious inhabitants of Bharatpur are the waterbirds, which can be divided into residents and migrants. The monsoon season lasts from July to September, and this encourages many tree-nesting species to set up colonies in the branches of the acacias that grow on islands within the jheels. Throughout the reserve some 50,000 pairs of large water birds nest, including Little and Indian Cormorants, Darter, four species of egret, including Intermediate Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Grey Heron, Painted and Black-necked Storks, Asian Openbill, Black-headed Ibis and Eurasian Spoonbill. Many colonies are mixed, allowing superb comparisons of all the species.

They are so easy to see and so close that you have to pinch yourself to realize you are not in a safari park or zoo. In the surrounding marshes, there are dozens of other colorful or interesting breeding birds to see. These include the delightful long-toed Pheasant-tailed and Bronze-winged Jacanas, which trot energetically over the emergent vegetation, plus ubiquitous Indian Pond Herons, White-breasted Waterhens and Purple Swamp-hens. Sarus Cranes walk sedately over the marshes, towering over everything else, while less obvious ‘birders’ birds’ well worth searching for include the weird Greater Painted Snipe and the highly secretive Black Bittern.

From October onwards these resident species are joined by many thousands of wintering Palearctic water birds. One of the commonest, the Barheaded Goose comes here after an epic flight that takes it over the peaks of the Himalayas; it has been recorded flying at 9,000–10,000 m altitude, and studies have shown that it has four types of hemoglobin in its blood, each working at different partial pressures of oxygen. Alongside it, many of the ducks sharing the jheels in winter will be familiar to visitors from Europe or North America, and include large numbers of Gadwalls, Northern Pintails, Eurasian Teals and Northern Shovelers.

However, mixed in among them are good numbers of more typically Asian species, including the resident Indian Spot-billed Duck, Lesser Whistling Duck and Cotton Pygmy Goose. Bharatpur is also famous for its birds of prey and, again, these can be divided into residents and winter visitors. One of the most important of the former is the sedentary Indian Spotted Eagle, which is now a very rare bird indeed; there is usually one pair on the reserve. 

The crisis among Indian vultures has hit here as everywhere; the White-rumped and Indian have disappeared, while the more solitary Redheaded Vulture still hangs on. Winter is the best time for birds of prey, when dozens may come to Bharatpur from Eurasia to spend the season harassing the water birds. One of the most numerous, often numbering 30 or more, is the Greater Spotted Eagle, a bird that can be extremely difficult to find in its breeding haunts: Bharatpur is probably the best place in the world to see it.

There can also be a few Eastern Imperial, Steppe and Bonelli’s Eagles on-site, all of which loaf about in the trees for hours on end, causing identification headaches for visiting birders. Less tricky are the numerous Western Marsh Harriers, and the snake-eating Short-toed Eagle, which is found around the drier parts of the reserve. 

Once you have got to grips with the larger birds you begin to notice that there are plenty of small passerines around as well. Not content with being fantastic for waterbirds and raptors, Bharatpur in winter is a superb place for catching up with mouthwatering migrants from northern and central Asia. One of the best places is known as ‘The Nursery’, close to the barrier where you present your tickets, where there are scattered bushes and trees.

Such gems as Bluethroat, Siberian Rubythroat and Red-breasted and Taiga Flycatchers can be found here, along with Tickell’s and Orange-headed Thrushes. If all these birds are too easy for you, a fine range of difficult wintering warblers will tax your skills to the full: these include Sykes’s, Dusky, Hume’s Leaf, Blyth’s Reed, and Paddyfield Warblers, together with two specialties, Smoky Warbler and Brooks’s Leaf Warbler. 

In short, there is something for everyone here, whatever their birding ability and the sheer number of birds can be almost overwhelming. You could easily spend a month at this marvelous reserve and still be seeing new species right to the end. In recent years Bharatpur has suffered a major water shortage, mainly caused by its source of water being siphoned off for other uses, leading to fears that it would become degraded and lose its value as a reserve. Hopefully, this crisis can be remedied so that Bharatpur can continue to be flushed with water and birds. 

The Iditarod – The Great Dog Race on Earth

 Starting from Anchorage every March and ending 8 to 15 days later in Nome, the Iditarod is one of the great endurance tests in the sport, with competitors mushing sled dogs across 1,150 miles of snow and ice in temperatures as low as 60°F below zero. It is Alaska’s largest spectator sport and few things celebrate the pioneering spirit of our 49th state better.
 
Now a National Historic Trail, the Iditarod began as a mail and supply route for miners. It winds across frozen rivers and desolate tundra, through dense forest, and along miles of windswept coast from Seward, near Anchorage, to Nome, on the western Bering Sea coast. In 1925, part of the Iditarod Trail became a lifesaving highway for epidemic-stricken Nome.
 
Diphtheria raged, and serum had to be brought in by intrepid mushers and their hard-driving dogs. In commemoration of those heroic feats, the route was turned into a racecourse in 1973, and today mushers come from as far away as Japan and Norway to compete for a share of the $600,000-plus purse. You can get into the race yourself as a passenger, or “IditaRider,” by bidding for a spot on a musher’s sled for the first 11 miles (the auction begins in November, with a $7,500 offer guaranteeing your choice of musher). For a less competitive take, contact Raymie Redington, son of Joe “Father of the Iditarod” Redington Sr., leads short trips on the Iditarod Trail.
 
Winterlake Lodge, one of the remote fly-in outposts directly on the trail, offers four handsome guest cabins and opportunities to traverse the trail with a team of 24 Alaskan huskies (it’s also one of the state’s few wilderness lodges that stays open year-round). The dinner menu is remarkable even by big-city standards. Nome, the “end of the line” for the Iditarod (and almost everything else), stands on the coast of the Bering Sea.
 
Its dirt streets and rough-and-tumble saloons are quiet until the month-long Iditarod celebration rolls into town every March. Along with the race, fans come northern lights aficionados, as well as participants in the Bering Sea Ice Golf Classic, who hit orange golf balls onto Astroturf laid across the frozen sea.
 
Where: Headquarters in Wasilla, 40 miles north of Anchorage. Tel 907-376-5155 or 907-248-6874 (race time); www.iditarod .com. When: early Mar. IditaRiders auction: Tel 800-566-7533 or 907-352-2202; www .iditarodauction.com. When: early Nov–Jan. Raymie Redingtion: Tel 907-376-6730.
 
Cost: half-hour dog sled rides $50. When: beginning with 1st snow in Nov. Winterlake Lodge: Tel 907-274-2710; www.withinthewild.com. Cost: 2-night stay, $2,130 per person, all-inclusive with air transfer from Anchorage.