The ancient trails of the modern Maya
I first met Daniel Chankin in the highland town of San Cristobal de las Casas in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Daniel, a Lacandon Maya...
The iconic toy that inspired Nintendo
In a way, kokeshi dolls owe their existence to the snow. The iconic wooden dolls with their gentle, demure expressions hail from Japan’s mountainous...
Scientists Now Growing Sponges for Rehabilitation
In the Florida Keys, biologists and volunteers are already in the process of growing sponge gardens with the intention of restoring the ailing undersea ecosystem...
A Sunday ritual for 300,000 women
It was just after 11am on a Sunday morning in Hong Kong and already 32C in the shade. The dazzling sun reflected off the...
Will People Visit Indonesia to Explore Spirituality?
Tourists all over the globe often come to the emerald of the equator because the Islands of Indonesia offer a nice view of scenic...
An abandoned town where only two live
My heart was still racing half an hour after arriving. Visiting Sinforosa Sancho and Juan Martin Colomer – the last inhabitants of La Estrella,...
Where people become real-life cowboys
With its Sonoran Desert landscapes and blood orange sunsets, Saguaro National Park on the outskirts of Tucson, Arizona, flawlessly plays the part of a...
A hero in a harsh, high-desert world
David Pylman looked up at a giant outcropping of tawny granite, a gnarled Joshua tree sat to his right. Pylman watched as his partner...
A drink that’s ripe for disruption
If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. A handpicked selection...
The US’ most unusual national park
Otherworldly. Dramatic. Stark. Surreal. Just so weird! Between gasps and quizzical stares, these are common refrains from first-time visitors at Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes...
Ireland’s fearless pirate queen
Sitting in a Dublin pub nursing a pint of Guinness, I got talking to a fella who told me what seemed to be an...
Tracking condors 3,304ft in the sky
Doodlin’ Dody, Full Moon Party Rock and North Chalone Peak are popular with Pinnacles National Park hikers and climbers, but for volunteer Richard Neidhardt,...
Sleep 57m above the streets of Paris
Seven million people visit the Eiffel Tower every year, but now a handful of those visitors will get to sleep in the iconic structure...
The truth about Rosie the Riveter
“Rosie was a white woman's story as far as I was concerned,” said 94-year-old Betty Reid Soskin. Wearing a khaki ranger’s uniform, Soskin was speaking...
The elusive cheese with no recipe
Forget lactose intolerance: when there’s a good cheese to be had, I’m on the hunt. So when my mother-in-law told me about an elusive...
‘LA has a river?’
“LA has a river?” That was the incredulous reaction I got when I told friends I was planning to kayak the Los Angeles River...