Wild Wednesday Wonderfuls!!

Hey hey!!! It's Wednesday again!!! And I am back to a traveling topic. This week I was having a pretty hard time figured out what exactly I wanted to do for today so as I was cleaning and packing my room I was putting all my books into boxes and my kitten Stella decided for me!!

She decided that I should do some wild places for today's Wednesday Wonderfuls. She's so helpful! So the book that I am getting today's blog from is, like shown on the picture with Stella, 501 Must-Visit Wild Places. This book along with the two other that are in the picture are some of the best books to look at for ideas of places to go or things to see. I got all of these from Borders during their closeout sales for like $10. Amazing deal and I love looking at them when I am bored!! There are so many places in this book that I had never even heard of before reading it but they look amazing!! And there are also some that I have probably mentioned something like it in other blog posts but that's ok! Let's get started with the 10 Must-Visit Wild Place that I would love to go to and experience. And also as usual all the quotes that I use are coming straight from the book!

1. Witless Bay Ecological Reserve! This is one of the places I didn't even know existed! But the pictures look amazing. This reserve is in Newfoundland, Canada so its cold but amazing looking! According to the book the best time to go here is before the end of June because "you are treated to the sight of iceburgs moving across the bay like giant ice cubes". This would be amazing to see! I just wouldn't want to get to close and end up like Titanic! Yea I'm weird I know. There is also a giant wave-propelled geyser that is called The Spout here too which would also be amazing to see! And there's Puffins here!!!!

2. Central Rainforest Reserve! Rainforest on a beautiful island! St. Lucia!! In this reserve there are a lot of hiking options. I am not much of a hiker but I would love to do it here! I would just have to prepare myself for it and do some hiking here at home first just to get ready. The island is so small that you can hike from coast to coast. The book even talks about one hike that sounds amazing! "an hour-longtrip to the base of Mount Gimie takes you, via many wooden steps, to two waterfalls and natural pools at the head of the Troumassee River." I am a sucker for waterfalls so this would be so worth it!

3. Kakum Conservation Area! This is in the West African country of Ghana. The book says that this place is one of the best places to see the wildlife in Ghana and that's exactly what I would love doing. There are also many walkways up in the tree which look amazing, but I know I would be scared to death!! Like many things I want to do I would just have to get over my fear and face it to experience the adventure!

4. Timbavati Game Reserve! I know I have so many reserves on here but they all seem so amazing! I love wild animals and would love seeing them in their natural habitats. This one is in South Africa and as some of you may know I am already going to go shark cage diving in South Africa sometime so I may as well go here too and see the beautiful lions!! This game reserve also has the "big five" of Africa which are lions, leopards, buffalo, elephant and rhino but the book says that you can also see "impala, kudu. giraffe, baboons, zebra, monkeys, cheetah, hippos and crocodiles". CAN YOU SAY DREAM TRIP?! And there are some amazing lodges on this reserve to stay in that you don't have to sleep outside in a tent somewhere.

5. Bavarian Forest! I was fairly close to this when I was on the Danube in Germany. The forest is on the border between Germany and the Czech Republic and I would so go back to Europe to see this and so many other things! Here there are also wildlife enclosures in the national park that you can see some bison and wolves along with some of the most beautiful cats, the European Lynx! I would love to see them!

6. Grand Canyon! And nope it's not the one in the United States! I didn't know until reading this book that another one existed!This one is located in Ukraine and it's official name is The Grand Canyon of Crimea. The area that this is at goes out into the Black Sea and the Canyon is heavily wooded. There are many different hiking trails to do but I would do the easy one! This looks so different than our Grand Canyon.

7. Ranthambore National Park! Another National Park! This one is in India and I would go here to specifically see the Bengal Tigers. Horrible people keep poaching them and soon they will be gone forever so I would love to see them in person while I still can. The only times to go here are between October and April. The park is closed from July to September. This would be amazing to go and see the Tigers!!! And there are also hotels here too!

8. Ningaloo Reef! Another place that I really had no clue even existed!! This is a reef that is in Australia but all we ever hear about is the Great Barrier Reef. As the book says, "Ningaloo has so far managed to escape the worst effects of mass tourism." But some think that this reef, as far as beauty, surpasses the Great  Barrier Reef. I would love to go to both whenever I go to Australia so that I would compare them to each other myself. The book also says, and this is interesting to me, "Ningaloo is the world's only large reef found so close to the coast."

9. Kealakekua Bay! In case you couldn't tell by the crazy long name this is in Hawaii. This is one of the must go destinations!! It is on the Big Island and the book says that "horseshoe-shaped Kealakekua is the largest sheltered bay on the island. This to me says that it is probably so amazingly beautiful and it really is a must-visit. There is corals here that you can snorkel and see some bright tropical fish. There are also Hawaiian spinner dolphins and turtles that are also see along the bay!!

10. Antarctic Peninsula! Ok you may think I am crazy but I would just love to go so a could say I actually went! And I want to see the adorable penguins and seals!!! That's always been a dream of mine! But I would like to go in the polar summer which is very short and before or after Christmas here. I know it would still be freezing and I could only stay like a day and be fine but I just want to say that I actually went there!! And I think you can get there from the tip of South America. I would have to do more research on that part.

Well there we go! This Wednesday Wonderfuls was long and I am sorry but its all so interesting!! I hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading the whole long blog!! Sometime in your life go to a "wild" place and experience life with happiness and adventure!

-Ashley