Wildlife

In researching our trip to the Dolomites, we chose Ortisei (St. Ulrich) as our base for a few days of hiking. Since we were not going to have a vehicle, we needed to stay somewhere with good accessibility to the … Read More

One of the highest items on my list of things to do during this trip was to visit one of the last swaths of primeval forest in Europe. The Bialowieza Forest consists of 548 square miles of designated UNESCO-protected forest, … Read More

I have to admit, Mongolia had never really been a destination on my radar. It wasn’t a place I was actively avoiding; rather I’d never read about it as a travel destination, and therefore really knew nothing about it. When … Read More

Long before we embarked on our [potentially] year-long adventure, Jenn had stumbled across a company called Oxalis Adventure Tours that does caving expeditions in Vietnam’s Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. Oxalis has an exclusive license to operate in a number … Read More

Stephan and I excitedly dedicated a week of our Thailand adventure to volunteering at Elephant Nature Park. While I anticipated a really unique and special experience, I was completely unprepared for the emotional journey I was about to be embarking … Read More

Tucked away in the lush, forested highlands of northern Thailand is a sanctuary that its founder lovingly refers to as ‘elephant heaven.’ Situated about 40 miles north of Chiang Mai, the 250-acre Elephant Nature Park is a true haven for … Read More

Though we probably saw fewer colorful birds than we expected throughout Thailand, this was partly due to the intense heat and drought we were experiencing, which often drove the birds into deeper foliage.   The one dedicated bird trip we did … Read More

We were beginning to discover that the national parks in Thailand were surprisingly difficult to visit independently. For one thing, traveling to the parks was often a multi-hour journey on aging roads that were frequently unmarked, and what signage existed … Read More

Hey Reesie and Sammy – guess who we found in Thailand? We found Nemo! How cool is that?! He and his clownfish family live in a beautiful patch of anemone just off of Koh Rok, a little island in the … Read More

The second tour we opted for during our beach getaway took us on a 37-mile circuit southeast of Koh Lanta, stopping at four locations within the Trang islands along the picturesque Andaman Coast. Similar to Koh Rok, the day trip … Read More