While traveling in Rwanda, I met someone who had recently gone to the island of Borneo to see orangutans. She told me about Dr. Biruté Mary Galdikas, who is to orangutans what Jane Goodall is to chimpanzees and Dian Fossey was to mountain gorillas. Together, these three women were dubbed the “Trimates” by Dr. Louis Leakey. 

Dr. Biruté Galdikas might be the lesser known of the three, but she has been in the field in Borneo for 46 years studying these wonderful animals...

In February 2017, we took Viking Ocean Cruises’ “Secrets of the Southern Mediterranean” cruise, from Civitavecchia, Italy, to Barcelona, Spain, stopping at ports in Malta, Tunisia, Sardinia and Algeria. We are both historians, and a primary reason for our taking the cruise was to see the ancient ruins of Barumini on the island of Sardinia, Carthage in Tunisia and the Tipasa Roman ruins and the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania in Algeria. All four are UNESCO World Heritage...

My husband, Charles, and I took a 23-day Amazon cruise — down the eastern coast of South America and up the Amazon River — that ended in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Feb. 25, 2017. However, we were unable to get a flight out of Rio until Feb. 27. 

When we realized that Rio’s Carnival would be in full swing at that time, we decided to hire a guide from Tours By Locals (Vancouver, BC, Canada; 866/844-6783, www.toursbylocals.com) for the two days ($665 total).