Rainy season. Two words that are almost sure to make you rethink your holiday plans. Like Costa Rica in soggy September, when anyone visiting this small Central American country is bound to need a raincoat. So why go to a place knowing you’re likely to get drenched when you can pick other months that promise glorious sunshine?

The crowds, that’s why. I’d far rather run the risk of rain rather than face a flood of other travelers.
Over-tourism is spoiling destinations around the world, and it’s only a matter of time before Costa Rica goes the same way. Already in the high season, tickets for the most popular national parks sell out weeks in advance, long queues form at the entrances, and if someone spots a monkey or, even better, a sloth, you’ll join another queue for a mere brief moment of viewing time. Read the rest of this entry »

There isn’t a single wisp of smoke curling out of the top of Mount Vesuvius as we walk up its stony brown slopes.

A few birds are twittering in the bushes, but we leave we them behind as the path rises above fertile ground. It’s silent, except for the scrunch of feet on clinker. It’s too quiet, too calm. Are we about to get taken out in an unexpected rumble of smoke, ash, flames and lava spewing into the skies and tumbling down upon us? Read the rest of this entry »

When I stroll down the raised walkway to my tented bedroom in a safari camp, I almost bump into an elephant.

She’s as surprised as I am, and we both take a step backward. Then I quietly walk onto the wooden deck and pull up a chair as she continues eating. Soon more elephants jauntily stroll along to join her until 11 are standing in the mud 100 meters away, drawn by freshwater bubbling out of the ground at Deteema Springs, a five-star tented lodge in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. Read the rest of this entry »