On why inspiration sustains change and the inescapability of geography.
The world is much bigger than any one region, and travel helps us keep that perspective in view. In a time when headlines can feel relentlessly negative, it is worth remembering that optimism is not naïve – it is powerful.
Fear may grab attention, but it rarely sustains change. What does endure is inspiration: the belief that progress is possible, and that the natural world can recover when we choose to protect it. That is why we should celebrate the successes — from rising black rhino, mountain gorilla and tiger numbers, to the growing value of living wildlife and thriving ecosystems.
A dead tiger may feed crime; a living tiger can sustain an entire community. And as the science makes clear, the answer to climate and nature loss is not only cutting emissions, but keeping nature’s carbon sinks intact — rainforests, oceans, soils, peat bogs and permafrost.
There is hope in that. In fact, there is real momentum: wildlife can rebound, oceans can recover, and conservation can reach tipping points when ambition is matched by action, as we have seen with whaling bans, the fur trade and new marine protected areas such as Brazil’s South Atlantic reserve.
An exiled Iranian scientist, Professor Kaveh Madani, was awarded a global prize for water management this month. Madani, winner of the Stockholm Water Prize, was recognised by judges for combining “groundbreaking research on water management with policy, diplomacy and global outreach, often under personal risk and political complexity”.
The world’s longest coastal path – the 2,700-mile King Charles III England Coast footpath – has recently opened, boosting access to nature in a nation where just 8% of the countryside is accessible to the public.
Finally, in the coming months our very own Jarrod Kyte is delivering a vehicle to Ukraine for humanitarian aid, evacuations and community support.
As Rutger Bregman writes in Humankind, “If we believe most people are decent and kind, everything changes.”
Justin Wateridge, Managing Director
Insights from the field
Argentine Patagonia | Paul Bird
When planning Patagonia I like to pair the big landscapes with the right people. It’s easy to come away with photos. It’s harder, and more rewarding, to come away with a sense of the place.
This conversation between Senderos’ Simon Heyes and Alberto del Castillo, aboard the handcarved wooden boat Cristina beside the Patagonian Ice Field, captures that beautifully. Alberto is a climber, adventurer and hotelier. His relationship with Estancia Cristina and Los Glaciares National Park brings a human scale to somewhere usually defined by distance.
Take this further with a conversation: Paul Bird
Cambodia | Clare Wiggins
Conservation tourism in Cambodia has matured to become one of the most compelling reasons to visit the country today, bringing deep wilderness, genuine comfort and measurable impact together into single journeys. In a region where wildlife experiences can be crowded, Cambodia still offers something increasingly rare: space, and the sense of being properly off the map.
In the remote northeast sits Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary, one of Southeast Asia’s last great lowland forests. Getting there feels like an expedition, with long roads and remote villages, and then, suddenly, a safari-style camp in a landscape threaded with birdsong.
Here, dawn is not measured by a clock but by the call of rare species, including the endangered Giant Ibis, Cambodia’s national bird. Sunrise birdwatching, forest drives, bush sundowners and cultural encounters with nearby communities shape your visit into an experience that feels both grounded and comfortable.
Take this further with a conversation: Clare Wiggins
Sri Lanka | Kate Hitchen
If you’re travelling to Sri Lanka between April and October, I’m always keen to put the east coast on the table. The stretch from Trincomalee to Kalkudah is at its best when the rest of the island is looking elsewhere: calmer seas, clearer skies and days that lend themselves to time on the water, from sailing along the bays to snorkelling and diving in good visibility, with marine life all around.
It’s also surprisingly easy to weave in. Whether you’re coming from Colombo, the Cultural Triangle or the Central Highlands, the east coast makes a rewarding extension to a tailor made Sri Lankan journey.
Take this further with a conversation: Kate Hitchen
Bulletins on the board
Expanded rail travel in Tajikistan
The Jipek Joly train extends into Tajikistan for the first time, tracing a five-day Silk Road route from Almaty through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to Dushanbe, with guided stops and life unfolding across the steppe from the dining car.
Ocean conservation in Brazil
Brazil establishes the South Atlantic’s largest marine protected area, a landmark step towards safeguarding marine life and advancing global 30 by 30 conservation goals.
New flight route in Southeast Asia
New direct routes between Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia make it easier to link Southeast Asia’s islands, opening up smooth twin-centre journeys from Bali to Da Nang or Hanoi to Cebu.
Filed by our Specialists
In search of the Wakhan Corridor | Justin Wateridge
A road that climbs to the edge of the Pamirs, where a river becomes a frontier and daily life plays out in full view on the far bank. This is a journey through borderlands shaped by old rivalries and newer ambitions, told in small human moments as much as grand landscapes.
Read In search of the Wakhan Corridor
Islamic cities, through time and space | Justin Marozzi
Fifteen cities, fifteen centuries: guest writer Justin Marozzi follows the story of Islamic empires through their great urban centres, from sacred sanctuaries to outward-looking capitals built for ideas, trade and power. It is history told street by street, with travel as the thread that joins the world together.
Read Islamic cities, through time and space
Cameroon: the Nguon and only tourist | Chris Johnston
In Foumban’s western highlands, the Nguon festival is a week of colour, ritual and royal theatre, where Bamoun identity gathers itself in public. Chris Johnston arrives as an outsider and leaves with a sharper sense of how tradition holds its ground, even as the country around it shifts.
Read Cameroon: the Nguon and only tourist
A question on our minds
Can we understand travel, without first understanding geography?
Geography used to have an image problem.
It was the subject of brown shoes and Barbour jackets. Rivers, capes, contour lines. A degree that sounded quietly worthy but hardly urgent. The sort of thing you studied if you liked maps but weren’t quite sure what else to do.
Not anymore. Geography, now, is everywhere.
It sits behind the biggest arguments of our age: borders, migration, resources, climate, sovereignty, territory, identity. It explains why nations behave the way they do, why some places matter strategically and others suddenly matter again, and why the world feels increasingly defined by lines on maps.
We may not call it geography. But that’s what it is.
Geopolitics, after all, is simply the study of how geography shapes power and international relations, how mountains, rivers, climate, resources and location influence what countries can do and how they behave.
And travel is where those abstract ideas become real. Because travel is never just about where you want to go. It’s about what’s possible.
Borders, for example, look simple on a map. Just lines. But those lines carry enormous meaning: politics, sovereignty, history and power. Mountains and rivers often form natural boundaries between states, shaping where countries begin and end, and how they defend themselves.
The same is true of resources. Oil fields, water basins, fertile plains, shipping lanes and choke points have shaped alliances and conflicts for centuries. Geography quietly determines who trades with whom, who depends on whom and why certain places become centres of power whilst others struggle.
And then there’s migration, the most human expression of geography.
People move because geography presses on them. Conflict. Drought. Flood. Opportunity. Hope. Climate change, economic pressure and political instability all reshape the movement of people across borders, and those movements in turn reshape politics itself.
Which brings us back to travel.
The traveller today cannot escape geography. It shapes everything: what’s accessible, what’s restricted, what’s crowded, what’s fragile, what may change faster than we expect.
It also shapes desire. Not just where shall I go, but what may not be there forever? A glacier retreating. A reef bleaching. A coastline shifting. A city struggling with heat or water.
Places evolve. Landscapes change. Cultures adapt. Geography is not static scenery; it’s a living force acting on people, economies and environments.
And the traveller, knowingly or not, moves through all of it.
Yet, geography does something else as well. It humbles you.
It reminds you that the world is not frictionless. Not flat. Not simple. Countries are not headlines. Borders are often arbitrary. Nations can feel inevitable until you look at a map long enough to realise how much of the world was drawn by empire, accident or compromise.
Good travel exposes that, which is why geography helps us to understand travel.
It tells us not just where a place is, but why it’s the way it is.
And that’s the difference between simply going somewhere…
…and understanding it.
Your thoughts on last month’s question
We asked, should we travel at the moment?
Erika Lindsay replied:
We agree with the conclusions and in particular: “So, should you travel at the moment? Yes. Carefully. Thoughtfully. Responsibly. But yes. Because travel is not an escape from the world. Done properly, it is an engagement with it. A vote for openness over fear. Curiosity over retreat. Understanding over suspicion. And in times like these, that feels not indulgent, but important.” This is particularly pertinent at the moment but summarises why for us this has been the most enriching and enjoyable aspect of travelling.
If something you’ve read has struck a chord, feel free to drop us a note. We’re always happy to continue the conversation.