Separated from mainland Africa by 350km of sea and 180 million years in evolutionary time, Madagascar is a parallel world, unlike any other. The island's long geographical isolation has effectively turned it into a living laboratory where the endless tamperings of natural selection have taken animals and plants along evolutionary pathways unlike anywhere else. Consequently the vast majority of its species are endemic - in other words, they are found and live nowhere else on earth. Most famous are the lemurs, Madagascar's unique primates, of which there are over 100 described species and perhaps more awaiting discovery. Nick has been visiting the island since 1991 and has travelled to most of its regions, national parks and reserves to document the wildlife and interactions of the people with their environment. He has one of the finest collections of wildlife, environmental and cultural photos from Madagascar.

South East Asia comprises a small but distinct part of the Asian continent, plus a seemingly endless array of large and small islands, that are biologically amongst the richest and most complex on earth. It is home to iconic species like orang-utans (the only great apes outside Africa), elephants, tigers and rhinos that owe their origins to the Asian continent but also supports species that have affinities with the Australasian region. This is a consequence of the region lying at the convergence of two great tectonic plates that have effectively brought species into intimate juxtaposition that originated far apart: a phenomenon that was first explained by Alfred Russell Wallace.

Steeped in history and entwined in mystery, India is an intoxicating mixture of culture, customs, colour and chaos. A visitor's senses are assaulted from the outset. It is also a paradox: a dynamic State hurtling through the 21st century at break-neck pace, while simultaneously refusing to relinquish ancient traditions and beliefs. The subcontinent embraces the greatest altitudinal range there is, and all the variations in climate and habitats that result. A tidal wave of humanity threatens arguably the most biologically diverse region on earth. Yet somehow, India still manages to cling to vestiges of wilderness - mountains, forests, deserts, grasslands, lakes and rivers - all still have their place.

Latin (Central and South) America is a region of enormous contrast, where superlatives abound. The continent contains; the world's greatest rainforest, the Amazon (also the world's largest river), which harbours the most extravagant expression of life on Earth; the world's driest desert, the Atacama; and the world's longest and second highest mountain chain, the Andes and the New World's largest wetland, the Pantanal. While offshore, the Galapagos Islands will forever be synonymous with Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution.

Yellowstone was the world's first national park and remains as iconic and beautiful as ever. It supports significant populations of large mammals, with the Lamar Valley in particular being renowned, at various times of the year, for herds of Bison and Elk and consequently Wolves also. Indeed this area, in the park's north-east corner, is sometimes likened to a North American equivalent to the Serengeti. The Pacific north west (Alaska and British Columbia) support one of the largest and richest remaining tracts of unspoiled temperate rainforest left in the world, an area of towering conifers, swirling sea mists and luxuriant growth of mosses and lichens all stir a sense of timelessness. The region is home to grizzly bears, black bears, and spirit bears, the latter an almost mythical animal that wanders ghost-like through the forest and is rarely seen. While numerous species of whale swim and feed in near off-shore waters. Particularly, renowned are groups of humpback whales that communally ‘bubble-net’ feed on shoals of herring and other bat fish.

Think of Africa and conjure an image of grassy plains teeming with herds of game where predators like lions and leopards lurk in ambush. The wildlife of these areas - elephants, zebras, giraffes and wildebeest - are as familiar to us all as pet cats, toast and marmalade and junk mail. Yet this is only a fraction of what the "Dark Continent", has to offer. It also contains the world's largest desert, the second largest tropical rainforest and the highest free-standing mountain. Correspondingly, there are less publicised places that are home to all manner of creatures, some familiar but many virtually unknown but no less interesting or important. Have you heard of an addax, pectinator or dibatag before? There is irony in that the continent that was the cradle of humanity should be one of the last great areas our own species thoroughly explored. Yet it is heartening in the age of mobile phones and globalisation that there are parts we have yet to reach. Nevertheless, in barely a century and a half of influence the western world has encouraged the plundering of the continent's resources and set in motion the expansion of humanity to a level that now threatens so many of the natural treasures it holds.