Nature

The highlight of a 6-week, customized tour of Brazil that my husband, Maurice, and I took, January-March 2011, was the four days we spent in the Lençois Maranhenses region, Feb. 1-4 (July ’12, pg. 29).

6-day / 5-night camping, kayaking tour in NORWAY, summer 2013. Easy to moderate activity (up to four hours’ paddling per day and some walking). Highlights: Art Nouveau town of Ålesund / kayak to Vermøya Island/stay at historic Åkernes farm / paddle past Bridal Veil, Suitor and Seven Sisters falls / Geirangerfjord. Land, $2,490. No single accommodations. Tofino Expeditions, Ltd. (Salem, OR; 800/677-0877).

Forest fires in Nepal in May and June seared thousands of acres of land in several national parks.

by Regine Schumacher; Seal Beach, CA

Scoot through rainforest in Queensland’s Lamington National Park on an all-terrain Segway. Segway tours are open both to guests and day visitors at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat (Lamington National Park Rd., via Canungra, Queensland 4275, Australia; phone +61 7 5502 4911 or, within Aus., 1800 688 722).

To ride a Segway, you must have closed shoes and weigh 100 to 265 pounds, with no heart or balance conditions, etc.

17 days/16 nights, Oct. 26-Nov. 11, 2012. Highlights: Santiago city tour, Pablo Neruda’s house/Pucon in the Lake District/Villarrica Volcano/cruise fjords on catamaran Patagonia Express /Punta Arenas/Torres del Paine National Park/Viña Concha y Toro winery/El Pueblito de Los Dominicos handicraft market. From Los Angeles, $7,390. Single supp., $1,290. EastWest International Tours (Laguna Beach, CA; 800/359-6719).

In November, Virunga National Park (phone +243 991715401) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo began offering escorted, overnight trips to observe a newly forming volcano erupting. Travelers hike three to four hours over treacherous, muddy jungle trails to a site (chosen by volcanologists from Goma) within 400 meters of the lava spurting from the black mound. The eruption may continue for months or just weeks.

A friend and I visited Indonesia, May 5-27, 2011 (Nov. ’11, pg. 4). On Java we stayed near Borobudur temple at the gracious Lotus Guest House (Jl. Medang Kamulan No.2, Central Java, Borobudur, 56553, Indonesia; phone +62 293 788281), overlooking lush rice fields. From the roof, we enjoyed great sunset views of Borobudur.

We had a huge, and I mean megahuge, room with a private balcony. No AC; fan only. Our double cost IDR200,000 (near $24), with breakfast.

New Zealand’s South Island has it all: alps, glaciers, rainforests, sandy beaches and swinging bridges, just to mention a few. And an excellent way to see it all is with Jan King’s New Zealand Travellers (169 Cable Bay Road, RD1, Nelson 7071, N.Z.; phone [64] 3 545 2546), an advertiser in ITN.