6 Wild Places on my Wishlist

The more you know, the saying goes, that more you realise you know nothing. The same is true for traveling, I think. The more you see, the more you understand how little you have seen, and there is as good enough reason as any to get going. So if I could jot down a wish list, these are a few of the places I’d visit.

Of course, with the world becoming smaller every passing year, top of the list are the wild places…

• Kerguelen Islands – Since first spotting an unrecognisable lump of land in the Indian Ocean as a boy, I’ve been fascinated by somewhere I know almost nothing about.

• The Congo – The dark and mysterious heart of Africa. This is more a region than a place, I can’t really be more specific, because I don’t know enough about it.

• Tierra Del Fuego – Or ‘the Land of Fire’, just off the Southern tip of South America.

• Novaya Zemlya – Similarly remote to Kerguelen, but this time in the Northern Hemisphere. It’s huge, which seems at odds with having barely heard of it. It was also the site of the Tsar Bomb test.

• Papua New Guinea – Thanks to the enchanting tales of Birds of Paradise. (In fact, they were called that because when sent back to England they had their legs cut off for packing – we presumed they didn’t legs because they were in perpetual flight. Easy mistake to make.)

• Timbuktu – This one doesn’t need an explanation.

Which places would you add to the list? Let me know in the comments below.

Oh, and I’d like to go back to Madagascar too..