Visit USA 2024 Travel Planner Intro

WILD AND WONDERFUL

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for sea lions, while humpback whales can be seen on boat trips off the coast. North of San Simeon, a viewing area allows close-up views of the lumbering elephant seals that haul up onto the area’s sandy beaches.

that descend on a mile-long stretch of river to feast on migrating salmon as they leap up waterfalls. The park is also a protected home for moose, caribou, red foxes, wolves, lynx and other mammals. Its awe-inspiring volcanic terrain harbours more than 700 species of plants. Each March sees one of America’s most beautiful natural spectacles, when more than half-a-million sandhill cranes converge on Nebraska’s Platte River Basin to rest and feed before continuing their migration to northern breeding grounds. Some breed in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, with others heading to Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. SANDHILL CRANE MIGRATION, NEBRASKA

Two other sub-populations do not migrate: the Mississippi sandhill crane inhabits the state’s south-east coast while the Florida sandhill crane lives in inland wetland areas. BLACK HILLS AND BADLANDS, SOUTH DAKOTA Wildlife abounds among South Dakota’s Black Hills and Badlands region. Custer State Park has 1,700 free-roaming bison (spotted on a 'wildlife loop'), and resident coyote, prairie dogs, elk, deer, beavers, porcupines and raccoons. Nearby Wind Cave National Park’s 34,000 acres of forest and prairie support similar wildlife, while the cave itself has several bat species. Bison, bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope are spotted in the huge Badlands National Park.

KATMAI NATIONAL PARK & PRESERVE, ALASKA

Few places in the world can match Katmai for bear spotting. Brooks Camp is famous for the large concentrations of brown bears

Pictured Main image: A moose heads for a drink in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Above: A sea otter catches a crab in Morro Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Below: Buffalos are easy to see on the open plains of Custer State Park, South Dakota; Grizzly bears wait for salmon in Katmai National Park, Alaska; An airboat safari in Everglades National Park, Florida.

Isle Royale National Park is a remote island cluster in Lake Superior, near Michigan’s border, where moose and wolves roam.

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