March 3rd is the World Wildlife Day and we have gathered a list of 7 places to see some of the wonders of the natural world.

#1: The Okavango Delta

If we haven’t started with the best, at least we’ve started with some of the best. The Okavango Delta is the largest inland delta in the world and is located in Botswana in Africa. With a combination of rivers, wetlands and plains this place offers a huge diversity of wildlife. We have written an article about the Okavango Delta here.

#2: Everglades

The American state known for pensioners, urban costal areas and space ships is surprisingly also one of the best places to see wildlife. Everglades in Florida is not just a place with a lot of wildlife, it is also easy to find and get close to the critters here. There are large roads through the national park and walkways and small bridges have been made over the marshlands and areas where the wildlife tends to be. The wildlife is focused around the visitor centres and used to people. Therefore you can get quite close, but remember that these are still wild animals and keep a safe distance. Alligators are by far the most well known species to find here, but also look out for a plethora of birds, manatees, turtles and a lot more. We spent two days in Everglades in 2018 and have written about it here.

#3: The Amazon Basin

The Amazon Basin is another place with an abundance of wildlife. The area is also immensely huge, providing many options for where to go. Brazil covers the largest part of the Amazon Basin, but Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Venezuela, Guyana and Surinam is also a part of this area.

We visited a rain forest in Ecuador where we saw amazing birds in addition to the stunning scenery.

#4: Norway

We’re Norwegian, of course Norway had to make it on the list. But that’s not just a national bias, this country offers some quite unique wildlife opportunities.

Svalbard

In Svalbard you can see polar bears. No they don’t roam the streets of our capital, but on rare occasions they actually roam the streets of Longyearbyen. A few years ago we visited the ghost town of Pyramiden and were told that a few years earlier a polar bear had broken into the hotel there!

Dovre

In Dovre you can see something as rare as musk oxen. Compared to Svalbard the probability of a wildlife sighting is substantially larger. Read more about this here.

#5: Central America

Central America, especially the southern countries like Costa Rica and Panama, has huge areas of rain forests. To us the most special moment was seeing sloths. Making it even more special these very strange creatures were in a small green space within Panama City itself. We also saw monkeys, iguanas and many other species.

Costa Rica is a country we have yet to visit, but those that have been there can’t seem to stop talking about how much they’ve enjoyed it and how great the wildlife experiences have been. We’re looking forward to finding out ourselves sometime in the future!

#6: Etosha National Park

We could have made a list like this solely from places in Africa, so we had to pick our favourites. In addition to the Okavango Delta the neighbouring country of Namibia features another great wildlife place: Etosha National Park. Especially during the dry season the wildlife gathers around the water holes and you feel like you’re in the middle of a documentary by David Attenborough.

When we visited Etosha in 2017 we saw four of the “big five” in one single day!

#7: The Galápagos Islands

We have saved the best for last. The Galápagos Islands remains a place we just can’t stop talking about. There are few places, if any, where the wildlife is so untouched by human activity as in the Galápagos Islands. Swimming with sea lions, seeing the largest and oldest tortoises in the world, meeting the famous blue-footed boobies and seeing sharks swimming in the ocean at night is just a few of the experiences that can be had here.

Our honeymoon went to the Galápagos Islands and we don’t regret that for a second!

Tips to better wildlife photos

We love remembering our experiences through photos. Even though mobile cameras have come a long way wildlife is something that usually requires a bit of gear and a proper technique to capture. Check out our guide to gear, technique and configuration of cameras to take the best wildlife photos on safaris and general wildlife photography. And remember to back up your photos to keep them safe.

Have you visited any of these places or would like to go there? Leave a comment below 🙂