OUR 5 FAVOURITE EXPERIENCES OF THE NATURAL WORLD

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we’ve rounded up five experiences from our family travels that made us properly appreciate what a wonderful world we live in. Which ones would you like to do after lockdown?

A vast expanse of forested scrub and tree stump-studded lakes, Yala is one of the most beautiful national parks in Sri Lanka. There are sloth bears here, along with elephants and crocodiles, wild boar and massive monitor lizards. But leopards are the big attraction – and with a higher concentration of these graceful big cats here than anywhere else in the world, you've got a great chance of seeing one prowling through the forest or lounging up a tree after (its) lunch. As playground stories go, that’s a difficult one to top. For a real jungle adventure, you can spend a couple of nights camping in a wild buffer zone that abuts the park.

A two-night safari in Yala features in our Big Trip Sri Lanka itinerary

Nowhere does nothing quite like the desert, and the Sahara Desert, which spreads across the far southwest of Morocco, is the perfect place to show your children what silence and solitude can really mean. And you don’t have to venture too far from civilisation, either. Camel trains head out into the sands each night from the desert town of Merzouga, lumbering their way slowly to Berber camps that have been set up in the dunes. You’ll wrap up in blankets and eat tagines around the campfire. The starry sky is sensational.

A night in the desert near Merzouga features in our Big Trip Morocco itinerary

Scrubbing down a dusty old elephant in Khao Sok National Park still ranks as one of our children’s most unforgettable encounters. The wrinkly residents at Elephant Hills were once used to haul timber in the forests of northern Thailand but now live a decadent life of lazy baths and long lunches. After shovelling pineapples and long strips of sugar cane into their greedy trunks, it’s time to take a hunk of coconut fibre in hand and give your chosen pachyderm a proper pampering, scraping the caked mud from their leathered hide before hosing them down.

A morning spent cleaning elephants in Khao Sok features in our Big Trip Thailand itinerary

Costa Rica might be best known for its tropical wildlife, but the ground-breaking Finca Luna Neuva, near Volcán Arenal, offers another insight into this resourceful little country. The lodge is surrounded by rainforest, so there’s a good chance you’ll spot tree frogs, sloths and scarlet macaws, but the real draw here is their sustainable farm, an eye-opener into how humans and the natural world can co-exist. Plus, there’s the chance to try all sorts of exotic produce, from cinnamon and cacao to magical fruits that make sour things taste sweet.

We often recommend two or more nights at Finca Luna Nueva as part of our tailor-made itineraries to Costa Rica

Whales really are gentle giants, and seeing them gliding through the ocean, spouting clouds of air before diving to the depths, is one of the most humbling wildlife experiences possible. It seems even more poignant in Iceland, a country that still supports an (admittedly much reduced) whaling industry. Taking a tour out of Reykjavik feels like you’re doing your bit to help show the Icelandic government that these beautiful creatures – minke whales, humpbacks, orcas and even blue whales – are even more valuable alive. Several companies have marine-biologist guides, and the vast majority adhere to responsible whale-watching guidelines.

Whale-watching off Reykjavik features in our Big Trip Iceland itinerary.