To get to my destination in the Peruvian Amazon, I went to the port of Nauta, from where I was to take a boat upstream the Marañon River. The port was as busy as a beehive. Countless long boats, low and narrow, generated a continuous flow of people and goods to and from the shore. Bunches of bananas, sacks of…

My little mountain expedition had not been difficult to organize. I had opted for a route considered easy compared to the usual ones in the Himalayas: it would have lasted five days, and it would not have taken me higher than ten thousand feet. Most importantly, it would have offered me unforgettable views of the Annapurna massif. I left with a guide…

Too often on my travels I had witnessed the consequences of mass tourism, which didn’t spare even uninhabited areas or nature reserves from overcrowding, noise, or garbage pollution. My impression was that the most pristine and beautiful places on the planet survived only because remoteness or restrictions kept them away from widespread human invasion. Tossed in the middle of the…

When I first saw Mount Kilimanjaro, at the Kenyan border near Amboseli, the only thing that crossed my mind was: How the hell am I going to climb up there? Back home, when I was mulling over going to Tanzania, I wouldn’t have dared to dream of Africa’s highest peak. But as I read more and more stories by people…

At the onset of each dry season, the herbivores of the savanna begin to migrate north of the Serengeti plains, across the Tanzanian border and into the cooler and greener Maasai Mara hills of Kenya. When the rains return, they take the same route back. The wildebeest migration, which involves millions of animals traveling hundreds of miles in a matter…

In the depths of Borneo’s Gomantong Caves, an entire ecosystem had developed. I wasn’t even close to the entrance when I was struck by an infernal stench. I had soaked my scarf in scented oils and wrapped it around my face to make the experience more tolerable, but even so, the surrounding miasma was so heavy that it simply overwhelmed…

At the entrance to the Taman Negara Reserve, I met my local guide—a short, thin, and very polite young man named Danny. He was a great admirer of the traditions and way of life of the indigenous people. He sometimes went hunting with them in the jungle, with nothing but a spear and a bow, sleeping in the trees at…

I landed in Havana late at night. As I stood in line for passport control, I noticed a man with a notebook in his hand approaching foreigners and asking them all sorts of questions. He came to me too. Judging by his interrogation style, he was undoubtedly a Cuban intelligence agent. I had to tell him several times that I…

My Himalayan adventure started in Pokhara, a picturesque Nepalese town on the shores of a wide crystalline lake at the foot of the Annapurna massif. One afternoon, I took a walk along the waterfront. From the promenade, I could admire the colorful wooden boats that lined the shore among blooming water lilies. Beyond the lake, I could see the mountains,…

When I first heard about the pilgrimage to Compostela, it was from a friend of mine who had recently been there. We talked a lot about the pros and cons of traveling solo. It certainly seemed like a better alternative than homebound solitude, but I was still afraid of the trouble and discomfort I might expose myself to. “I know…