From walking with lions in Kenya’s Maasai Mara to searching for polar bears in the fjords of East Greenland and swimming with manatees in Florida, seeing animals in their natural habitat can be one of the most exhilarating experiences around. Take an adventure with these incredible bucket-list wildlife trips. 

East Greenland is an otherworldly place where polar bears pad across the tundra, elusive narwhals (nicknamed 'unicorns of the sea’) needle their way through cracks in the ice and majestic icebergs float past.

Head out on a pioneering small ship expedition with Natural World Safaris and you’ll cruise through rugged fjords and towering ethereal landscapes. Off the boat, hike through the rugged landscape and keep an eye out for all sorts of flora and fauna – wildflowers, birds, seals, whales and, of course, those striking polar bears. 

Bhutan’s bewitching Phobjikha Valley is the winter home to flocks of elegant black-necked cranes. They descend to feast on the glut of dwarf bamboo in the area before returning to their breeding grounds in the Tibetan Plateau.

The endangered birds are so revered in Buddhist tradition that all electricity wires are located underground in the valley, so as not to affect them in flight. There’s even a festival celebrating their majestic arrival in November each year, which supports local conservation initiatives.

South Africa’s Sabi Sands private game reserve is one of the most exclusive places you can go on a safari. It's home to cheetahs, a thriving population of lions and plenty of swanky, upmarket lodges. 

But the real luxury comes in the form of the near-silent electric 4x4s on offer at Cheetah Plains. Unlike the boisterously-loud Land Cruisers you normally find on safari, these eco-friendly vehicles are so quiet, even skittish animals like impalas and leopards remain undisturbed, meaning sightings are frequent and amazingly up-close.

Explore biodiverse Madagascar – a sun-baked island nation off the coast of southeast Africa – and you’ll be in close contact with its indigenous wildlife. An incredible 5% of all known plant and animal species can be found here and its rainforests and deserts are home to rare reptiles, towering baobab trees and over one hundred species of lemur. 

Berenty is one of the most famous reserves in Madagascar (it's where most wildlife documentary makers come to film lemurs) and you’ll find 20 different lemur species in the popular Ranomafana National Park. Head out on a self-guided walk and keep your eyes peeled for the iconic black-and-white ruffed mammals that congregate here. Follow the long-limbed creatures as they clamber through the trees and listen out for their ghostly wails whistling through the canopy.

Hidden in the icy crags of the Himalayas you’ll find one of the most majestic predators on the planet: the snow leopard. The elusive creatures – which, according to local legend, are 'as beautiful as 10 women, as strong as 10 men and as wise as 10 astronomers' – slink between huge boulders preying on blue sheep from December to March. 

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Travel expedition specialists Pelorus work with guides who helped the BBC Natural History unit track and film these predators for smash-hit nature documentary Planet Earth. Now they’re opening up the adventure to intrepid guests – join local experts to see snow leopards in their natural habitat of Ulley Valley, in the region of Jammu and Kashmir.

You’ll gain a whole new respect for the land if you ditch the safari vehicle and cross Kenya’s Maasai Mara reserve on two feet, offered as part of a nerve-jangling itinerary from Asilia Adventures.

Walking with an armed guide and local Maasai tribesman, you could come across anything from denning hyena and wildebeest giving birth, to sleuthing cheetah and prides of lions on the hunt.

Nearly 500 miles (800km) north of the Arctic Circle, you’ll find Somerset Island. Here, a single inlet is the summer home to as many as 2,000 ghost-white beluga whales, which nurse their young and moult their skin in the relatively warm waters of Cunningham River.

Arctic Watch Wilderness Lodge is a permanent camp and perfect place from which to observe the whales, as well as the muskox, polar bears, seabirds and delicate Arctic wildflowers native to this remote spot.

Brazil’s Pantanal is one of the world’s most important wetlands. It’s also one of the best places on the planet to see jaguars. The dry season – which runs from June to October – offers almost guaranteed sightings, with a whopping 90% of visitors spotting the normally elusive big cat (as well as river otters, giant anteaters and caimans).

Caiman Ecological Refuge is home to one of the world's only jaguar habituation projects and guests here can tag along with their important jaguar-tracking expeditions. The refuge also runs programmes focusing on the large local population of hyacinth macaws. A day with the refuge’s biologists allows you to assist the team in monitoring the birds, whose numbers are under threat due to the caged-bird trade and habitat loss.  

Pause for breath in British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest and you may hear the screech of a bald eagle, the howl of the rare coastal wolf or the sound of branches cracking as a ghostly spirit bear makes its way through the forest. These all-white animals – actually a mutated sub-species of black bear – are so rare that Indigenous communities believe they have supernatural powers.  

A stay at the Kitasoo Xai'xais First Nations-owned Spirit Bear Lodge puts you in with a chance of spotting these ghostly creatures. Head out by boat and on foot – accompanied by the lodge’s experienced nature guides – and you may just spot a flash of white fur through the thick forest, announcing the arrival of this incredible bear. 

As the humidity rises and the wet season arrives on Australia’s far-flung Christmas Island (usually in October or November), tens of millions of red crabs begin their colossal migration from coast to coast in order to breed and spawn. 

Roads become awash with a scuttling sea of red as females head for the sea in order to release their eggs, precisely at the turn of the high tide during the last lunar quarter. The migration occurs across the whole island but the easiest places to watch the spectacle include Flying Fish Cove, Ethel Beach and Greta Beach. Some sections of road are closed off to protect the crabs but, if you’re extremely careful, you can actually walk among the creatures.   

Deep within the mountains of Spain’s northern Palencia, where sweeping ridges and broad valleys meet heathland and mixed forest, Europe’s wolves roam. The ancient villages here are largely deserted, left for reclamation by brown bears, wild boars and packs of Iberian wolves, which were almost hunted to extinction in the 1970s.

Naturetrek has built up a detailed knowledge of wolf-watching in the area and offers wildlife enthusiasts a great chance of sighting wolves in Europe. Its tours – which take place largely on foot – include accommodation in beautiful local farmhouses and also give guests a chance to spot rare wildcats, curmudgeonly wild boar and mighty Cantabrian brown bears.

Crystal River in northern Florida is the only place in North America where you can legally swim with the bizarre-looking manatees, which were once thought to be mermaids (Christopher Columbus recorded plenty of ‘mermaid’ sightings in his 15th-century ship’s logs). 

Educational tours are run by the Plantation on Crystal River eco-resort and, with conservation in mind, the federal government allows only ‘passive observation’ of the animals while swimming or snorkelling. This means guests must stay a respectful distance away from the manatees while in the water (although they do sometimes approach guests), remain as quiet and unobtrusive as possible, and no touching is allowed.

Antelope Island State Park in Utah is home to bighorn sheep, coyotes, pronghorn antelope and a 500-strong bison herd, which has been trimming the grass here since 1893. One of the best ways to get around is by mountain bike and you can speed about the park’s backcountry trails for spectacular views of lake and island scenery, before holing up for a night under the stars at one of the island’s rugged wild camping spots.  

Join the annual bison round-up – which takes place in October each year – and you’ll witness the heart-thudding sight of these huge, snorting beasts thundering their way through the sage-scented landscape, pursued by real cowboys, cowgirls and wildlife biologists who wrangle the herd deftly from horseback. The creatures are rounded up for a thorough health check, apart from the particularly ornery bulls, which are left undisturbed on the plains.

Central India’s national parks are filled with sloth bears, leopards and powerful Bengal tigers which prowl through the forests in a blaze of amber. Sidestep the crowds that gather in vehicle-heavy Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, northern India, and instead choose quieter spots such as Kuno National Park and Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh. They may not be quite as slick but you could well be rewarded with a heart-thumping tiger sighting all to yourself.

India’s tiger population has increased by 715 specimens since 2018, bringing the animals back from the brink of extinction. Conservation-focused trips with tour operators such as Steppes allow you to observe the predators, set camera traps and learn tracking skills.

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Now discover the animals that were almost extinct – before conservationists brought them back