With a slew of factors continually threatening the world’s most beautiful rainforests’ way of life, including the changing global climate, the time is now to visit these wondrous locations. These exotics locations are full of wonder, mystery and some of the most interesting inhabitants, more of a reason to keep preservation in mind. Taking a step into these wonderful corners of the world to find the magic within, is essential to raising awareness and revenue.

1. Amazon Rainforest
One of the world’s largest rainforests to date, the Amazon Rainforest stretches across over nine nations. The Amazon represents over half of the planet’s remaining rainforest acreage, the largest bio-diverse tract of tropical rainforest and features over 390-billion individual trees. The region is home to 2.5-million insect species, tens of thousands of plants and over two thousand birds and mammals. Some creatures such as the Scarlet macaw and the howler monkey give the forest life and are great to see in their natural habitat. Before you venture off into the large Amazon be aware of the hazards of the forest. Poison dart frogs, cougars and vampire bats inhabit the land, among many other venomous reptiles, so make sure you know a safe way of travel.

© Ivan Mlinaric

2. Congo Basin
The Congo Basin is the sedimentary basin of the Congo River. Better known as the Congo, the basin is 3.7-million-square kilometers and is home to the largest undisturbed tropical rainforest on the planet. The Congo is home to the endangered western lowland gorilla, in addition to over 10,000-different species of tropical plants, including 30 percent that are unique to the region. Be sure to visit as soon as you can, because the Congo is slowly suffering from deforestation due to the demand of charcoal.

© Valentina Buj

3. Valdivian Rainforest
The Valdivian Rainforest ecoregion is located on the west coast of southern South America, Chile and Argentina. Known for their dense population of flora, the Valdivian rainforest is dense with different bamboos, ferns and evergreen trees. As for animals, the Valdivian rainforest is home to many threatened animals including the pudú, the world’s smallest deer and the kodkod, South America’s smallest cat. Make sure you see these animals in their natural habitat, because due to logging the 248-thousand-kilometer-long forest won’t be around forever.

© Jason Hollinger

4. Sumatra’s Rainforest
Sumatra’s rainforest is comprised of three Indonesian national parks on the island of Sumatra: Gunung Leuser National Park, Kerinci Seblat National Park and the Bukit Barisan Seltan National Park. Sumatra’s rainforest is filled with tropical trees taking up the 200-thousand acres of land. Not only is the Sumatra rainforest home to several thousand trees, but also a wealth of exotic animals. The Sumatran Tiger, Elephant, Orangutan and Helmeted Hornbill call the rainforest home, so be on the lookout for these gorgeous creatures during your visit. The Sumatran rainforest is unfortunately projected to mostly disappear within 20 years.

© Paul Keller

5. Tasmania’s Kelp Forest
Tasmania’s Kelp Forest is not a rainforest like the ones before it. Tasmania’s Kelp Forest is under Tasmania’s southwestern coast. These rich bastions of marine biodiversity are in rapid decline due to climate change and direct human impact leaving only five percent of the original forest remaining. Unlike other forests, this forest cannot be seen with the naked eye. To fully understand this biome, one must dive in and take a journey beneath the surface. The Kelp Forest’s sea life is attracted underwater to the for nutrients and sanctuary, including sea dragons and pot-bellied seahorses. In 2012, Australia declared the remainder of the forest an endangered habitat.

© NOAA

— — —

Cover photo © Ben Britten