Australia’s Daintree Forest
Forests appear in folklore and legend as mysterious places of refuge, transformation and adventure, and a walk through a forest still provides a special enchantment. Source: Traveller
- Sherwood Forest UK
This is a former royal hunting reserve and one of few remaining medieval forests in Britain, full of giant oak trees.
- Kii Peninsula Japan
This rugged peninsula in the Kumano Mountains south of Osaka is cut through by the ancient Kumano Kodo pilgrim trail and dotted with Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines.
- Black Forest Germany
The Black Forest features rolling farmland, small lakes and forest patches through which hiking trails meander.
- Monkey Forest Indonesia
Monkeys lope through this forest near Ubud in central Bali. The forest is considered sacred and a symbol of the harmonious interaction of humans with nature, and important to spiritual wellbeing. Some trees are considered holy, and their wood is used to make traditional Balinese masks.
- Broceliand France
Myths set in this legendary French forest first appeared in twelfth-century chronicles. It notably features in Arthurian romance stories and is said to hide the magical fountain and tomb of the wizard Merlin.
- Redwood Forest USA
This national park in Northern California protects the tallest trees on Earth. Numerous Native American groups have historical ties here, and traditionally used the redwood for building canoes and houses. The famous Tall Tree Grove, reached on a half-day hike, feels like nature’s cathedral.
- Daintree Australia
Australia’s largest rainforest in tropical north Queensland provides a shadowy home for pythons, cassowaries and tree kangaroos. The landscape combines rugged mountains and gorges with waterfalls. There has been rainforest here for 160 million years, the world’s oldest.
- Jiuzhaigou China
Jiuzhaigou National Park is in Sichuan Province, where valleys cup stunning lakes and waterfalls surrounded by hills dense in trees and bamboo. This is the last haunt of wild pandas. Autumn is fantastic,when birch, sycamore and hornbeam turn orange and yellow.
- Great Bear Rainforest Canada
The planet’s last significant coastal temperate rainforest is characterised by its giant cedar trees, towering Sitka spruce and abundant wildlife, including bears, wolves, deer and cougars.
- Avenue of Boabs Madagascar
Many African communities revere the boab for its protruding root system and broad spread of branches, a symbol of knowledge or family. The boab forest of western Madagascar is a national monument; some trees are 800 years old.
