If you want to see great apes in the wild, Sumatra’s rainforest is one of the most accessible places to do just that. Seeing orangutans in the wild, along with silver Thomas leaf monkeys, pig-tailed macaques, and a diverse range of birds like hornbills, will leave you with a renewed appreciation for the beauty and ingenuity of other species.

Regular viewers of our Video Spotlight feature will already know that we’re big fans of David Attenborough. This week, it’s our pleasure to bring you something ever so slightly different. Think of it as an early Christmas present to those of you that celebrate it and if you don’t, this is still something that absolutely everyone can (and should) enjoy.

Maliau Basin is one of the world’s finest remaining wilderness areas. It encompasses over 390 square kilometres of pristine rainforest in the south-central part of Sabah, Borneo, in Malaysia. The rainforest is so dense that less than 50 percent of it has ever been explored. Today, the Maliau is awaiting UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

On the occasion when this picture was taken, we were visiting the Addo National Park, staying at Gorah Elephant Camp, one of the luxury camps found within the park, and were on an afternoon safari. We came across these lions a few hundred meters from the camp. They were on their way to the camp to overnight with two other lionesses and the big dominant male.

When it’s summer, the tourist migration to the Mediterranean’s famed beaches is at its height. However, there’s an older guest who has lived here for the past 95 million years and needs our help: the marine turtle. Saving the marine turtle just may be one of the few things the international community can agree on these days, especially steps taken toward turtle conservation through tourism.

The One Day on Earth project began in 2008, with the vision of uniting the entire world in a single film-related project. The potential for collaboration offered by the internet is something that continues to be explored to this day, but the group behind One Day on Earth set out to achieve something that had never been seen before: a collection of moments, experiences and events from all corners of the globe with a single unifying experience – they all took place on the same day.

Fellow travellers, I have a weakness: I like to shop. Worse, when I travel, my addiction takes over. My Achilles heel is for local souvenirs, the more creative and original, the better. Among my finer purchases is a gorgeous green silk scarf bought in Vietnam, an unusual hand-carved mask from Belize that now hangs on my wall and a pair of small but colourful paintings I picked up in Peru.