He gazed down with resignation and a dash of superciliousness, as if to say, “Oh no, not you again. I thought I’d avoided you lot up here. Can’t a guy have his lunch without forever being interrupted and photographed?” Male mountain gorilla He had a point. A group of us...

Gazing up through enormous sandstone walls carved into fluid waves, at the distant branches of enormous trees, it feels as if you’re in another world. A world where dryads, trolls, nymphs, dwarves and elves move unseen yet seeing, observing you from afar, luring you deeper into their universe, where who...

It’s the end of the year and, along with many others, I’ve been looking back over the past 12 months and reflecting on all that has happened. On a personal level it was a big year as my son finished school and started university in Liverpool, so much of the...

The most famous site in Jordan is undoubtedly the breath-takingly lovely ancient city of Petra, magnet for visitors from around the globe, but on a recent visit to this wonderfully diverse country, I discovered many other world-class sights. Here are 5 places that will appeal to any lovers of history, art...

Walt Disney must have visited Marienburg Castle or seen it in his dreams. It’s the epitome of a fairytale palace, all pointy turrets and rounded towers, set high on a hill amidst forested countryside in the heart of Lower Saxony, not far from Hanover (Hannover). Its story is a fairytale romance,...

Flying into Knight Inlet Lodge by sea-plane on a May morning is like entering another world, where time stands still and bears rule the wilderness … Grizzly bear cubs at Knight Inlet   On our ever-noisier digital planet, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to hear nature’s voice, to tune in to...

Equator obelisk Looking up at the Equator Obelisk in Calacalí, a short drive from Quito, Ecuador, it’s very confusing as a relatively short distance down the road is a huge complex which touts itself as the ‘Mitad del Mundo’. So if this is the REAL centre of the earth, why aren’t...