Credit: Ralph Clevenger/Corbis
EXPERIENCING is believing. It's one thing to marvel at a documentary about the Great Barrier Reef, and quite another to immerse yourself in the silent beauty and colourful diversity of the world's largest reef system.
Nothing less than being there really cuts it. The same applies to all the wonders of our blue planet. We've seen them in brochures, magazines, books and television travel specials - places we've always dreamed we might one day visit and experience up close.
One day. Eventually. There's all the time in the world. But when you look at the reality, maybe there isn't. In a world gripped by accelerating climate change, nothing is certain. If you take on board the predictions being made by the world's foremost climate researchers, you would be well advised to start planning those trips right now.
Global warming will be consigning much of the world we know and have taken for granted to the history books. Sure, you'll be able to read about these wonders of the world, but no one will ever again be able to experience them firsthand. The next few decades really are your final window of opportunity.
1. Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
WIDE AS ALL THE WORLD, great, high and unbelievably white in the sun," wrote Ernest Hemingway in the book The Snows of Kilimanjaro about the ice fields atop Africa's tallest mountain. Though he didn't intend it, his majestic words have become a major selling pitch used by countless tour operators hawking a once-in-a-lifetime experience - the chance to hike to the top of the 5,896-metre peak and witness one of the world's last tropical glaciers.
Every year, some 10,000 vacationers take up the challenge, and the climb has become a major part of Tanzania's international tourist trade. Snowcapped and shrouded by clouds, the local Chagga people called the mountain Kilema Kyaro, meaning 'that which cannot be conquered'. Sounds kind of 'eternal', doesn't it? However, Kilimanjaro's white top is fast disappearing and if you want to experience the spectacle then you'd better not leave it too long.
By 2000, about 82% of the ice fields first mapped in 1912 had been lost. In 2002, it was predicted that they would vanish altogether sometime between 2015 and 2020. And now scientists believe that the melting may be speeding up as there has been no accumulation of new ice forming since 2000. Which all adds up to the likelihood that the snows of Kilimanjaro will disappear within a few years.
When they melt it's feared that much of the country's tourism will also dissipate - causing a significant slump in Tanzania's economy.
