Yes, that’s me at 16 (in 1960!) with Tangamashi, a Shuar Jivaro chief who adopted me into his clan.  The Jivaros are the only people on earth who make a shrunken head of their enemies killed in battle – called a “tsantsa.”

They inhabit the Amazon rain forests of the Ecuador-Peru border; living with them was the first adventure I had by myself alone.  Tangamashi accepted me, taught me how he made a tsantsa from an enemy’s head skin, took me blowgunning monkeys with curare-tipped darts, and introduced me into the Jivaro spirit world with a tea they called “natema” from the Banisteriopsis vine – a very colorful experience. How cool can you get for a 16 year-old kid?

It set me on a path of an adventurous life from which I have never wavered – and there’s no slowing down now. Another great adventure always awaits. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #25, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Nagas are multi-headed dragons who rise up to protect the former royal capital of Laos, Luang Prabang.  The city along the Mekong River has been the center of Lao culture since the 600s.  The Kingdom of Laos, “Land of a Million Elephants,” had to struggle for centuries to avoid being absorbed by the empires of Siam and Khmer (Cambodia).  It was the French who wrested Laos from Siam (Thailand) in the 1890s, giving it independence in 1953.

For centuries, devout Buddhists have been building beautifully ornate shrines and temples called Wats here in Luang Prabang.  Every day at dawn, hundreds of red-robed monks living in the Wats parade through the city streets for donations.  Since the Pathet Lao seizure of power in 1975, moving the capital to Vientiane, Luang Prabang is free of politics, preserved as a religious haven and treasure house of Laotian culture.

A few days here is not to be missed.  As you enjoy a glass of good French wine at a riverbank café watching the sunset over the Mekong, give thanks to the Nagas who are still protecting this sanctuary city. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #24, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is the black sand beach the US Marines stormed on February 19, 1945, beginning the legendary Battle of Iwo Jima.  Overlooking the beach is Mount Suribachi, where four days later Joe Rosenthal took his iconic photo of six Marines planting the US flag on its summit.

You can come here once a year at a commemoration jointly held by the US and Japanese militaries.  Guests of honor are the few Marine veterans of the battle still alive.  To be here on these sands and on the summit of Suribachi, where the memorial lauds them – “On Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue” – with these heroic men is an indescribable privilege. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #23, photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is Caño Cristales, a river flowing through an ancient tableland in a remote roadless region deep in the forests of Colombia.  Known as The Liquid Rainbow, geologists consider it the world’s most beautiful river.

The colors are due to endemic riverweeds that grow only here, clinging to the rocks of the riverbed, and the crystal clarity of the water.  It is not easy to get to – fly a light plane to an airstrip, take a boat upriver for miles, then walk a few miles more.  But then you get to explore one of the most beautiful sights nature has to offer – replete with dozens of small fun waterfalls, surrounded by an uninhabited forest teeming with tropical birds.

No wonder National Geographic calls Caño Cristales “the River of the Garden of Eden.”  Yet it is only one of the many extraordinary experiences in this huge country – for Colombia is larger than Texas and California combined.  Wheeler Expeditions will be conducting an exploration of Hidden Colombia in 2021. Hope you can be with us. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #22 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

My wife Rebel and I love this uniquely picturesque ancient Berber village in Morocco where everything is painted in shades of blue.  Suffused in soothing blue, there’s no more relaxed place than just about anywhere.  Everyone is welcome from the wealthy staying in sumptuous boutique hotels to backpackers in hostels.  There are no “tourist spots,” for every café and bar is where the locals go themselves.  (It’s pronounced shef-shah-win, by the way.)

Berbers – “Amazigh” (Unconquered) in their language, are the original people of Morocco having lived there for over 12,000 years.  They are directly related to the reindeer-herding Lapps of Lapland in northern Scandinavia (they share the same mitochondrial DNA haplogroup U5b1b).  Both are descended from the same stock of Cro-Magnon Ice Age hunters in Western Europe that split in two 15,000 years ago – one moving far north, the other south crossing the Gibraltar Strait to Africa.

One more reason why Morocco is so magical.  Would you like to experience the Magic of Morocco with us next year?  (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #21 photo ©Jack Wheeler)