My personal top 10 coolest places
that I've ever been to, dark or otherwise
4. Auyan Tepui/Angel Falls, Canaima, Gran Sabana,
Venezuela, December 2007
5. clambering down into
Ijen crater with its sulphur mine blue flames in the middle of the night,
Indonesia, August 2014
7. Sabi Sabi private game reserve safari (adjacent to Kruger Park),
South Africa, August 2003
others/runners-up:
-- seeing the glow of the active Soufriere Hills volcano on
Montserrat at night, and its ashing plume and pycroclastic surges by day, December 2009
-- ballooning over Cappadocia,
Turkey, August 2007
-- scenic flight by small plane from
Swakopmund,
Namibia, over the Namib desert and along the coast with its shipwrecks, August 2022
-- tours into the "Sperrgebiet" ('forbidden zone'), the restricted-access diamond-mining area in the Namib desert south of
Lüderitz,
Namibia, to see the ghost towns of
Pomona and
Elizabeth Bay, August 2022
-- by boat through the Orinoco Delta,
Venezuela, December 2007/January 2008
-- Cape Wrath tour from Durness, Scotland,
Great Britain, September 1991
-- driving in the Atacama desert,
Chile, December 2011/January 2012
-- going to the remoteness of the
Falkland Islands and getting close with penguins, December 2013/January 2014
-- flying in a helicopter over Victoria Falls,
Zimbabwe, August 2018