The multimedia company explore maintains multiple stationary live-feed videos of African wildlife. Among sites where live cams are set up are Tembe Elephant Park and Balule Game Reserve in South Africa and a gorilla forest corridor in Kasugho, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Visit explore.org/livecams/african-wildlife.
Including narwhal, sperm, humpback and blue whales, life-sized replicas of 23 whale species that frequent Iceland’s coast are displayed at Whales of Iceland (Fiskislóð 23-25, Reykjavik, Iceland; phone +354 571 0077, www.whalesoficeland.is). In June 2019, a room with a 75-foot-long fin whale replica was added.
9-day, 8-night “easy-to-moderate” tour in PERU, April-October 2020. Highlights: Lima to Puerto Maldonado/Tres Chimbadas Lake/at Tambopata Research Center, parrots at macaw clay lick/train to Machu Picchu/Cusco and nearby Incan ruins. From $4,198 ppdo. Single supp., $1,198. Wild Planet Adventures (San Rafael, CA; 800/990-4376, www.wildplanetadventures.com).
At Yok Don National Park in central Vietnam, “Elephant Experience” day tours allow visitors to observe elephants without encroaching on their personal space. The four elephants, once ridden by park visitors, now roam freely. With an English-speaking guide, up to five tour members will ride mountain bikes or motor bikes, then hike in search of the elephants and watch and learn about them from a distance.
Beginning in early 2020, visitors to the ancient temple complex of Angkor Wat, Cambodia, will no longer be able to ride elephants on the grounds of the site. Two of the park’s 14 elephants have been released in a nearby forest, with the rest to follow shortly.
Elephant riding in Angkor Wat was introduced in 2001. In 2016, one of the park’s elephants died due to a combination of heatstroke and exhaustion, leading to a petition to ban the practice entirely.
