Taxonomy term

The Adirondack and Finger Lakes region is roughly equidistant from New York City, Montreal and Boston. By far the most scenic way to get there from New York City is by train. The northbound Amtrak from New York City follows the Hudson River at least until Albany. From there, some routes continue toward Montreal and others veer westward toward Rochester. If you snag a window seat on the left side of the train, you can spot waterfalls and birds of prey through your window. There are daily trains between New York and Montreal; trains from Boston, however, require a nonsensical transfer in New York.

The best time to visit Namibia is in the dry season, from April to December. In particular, the dry season offers the best game-viewing in Etosha National Park. Water scarcity draws the animals to the park’s springs.

Every day, Virunga rangers bring up to eight visitors to see one of six semi-habituated gorilla families. Hikers stumble through dense jungle along a narrow path forged with machetes, warding off excruciating fire ant attacks and trying to avoid stinging nettle. My traveling companion Frances can attest to the horror of the fire ants. When we visited the gorillas after hiking the volcano, she stepped on an ant mound. It took three of us 20 minutes to pick off all the ants, some an inch long with pincers up to a third the length of their bodies. Some East African communities, including the Maasai in Kenya and Tanzania, use them as natural sutures.