Viking World Cruise 2024

Hi Friends, thank you for visiting!

It is my great pleasure to join you for this exciting segment of the Viking Sky World Cruise from Asia to Africa and around the Cape to Lisbon, where we will disembark.

I am one of your guest speakers on board and my focus is on the Natural Sciences. I will be giving a number of presentations looking at some of the fascinating wildlife we may encounter along the way, and a range of topics from the dodo bird of Mauritius, early human history, lions and elephants of Africa, and great white sharks… all the way to shepherds pole-vaulting in the Canary Islands.

I will be posting resources on this site along the way, such as the Singapore Fly-in below, so check back often.

How Do We Inspire Young People?

Cover of Animal Facts book by B.B. Brilliant

Our lives have been filled with so many awesome experiences, stories and photos!

A hippopotamus, aggressive in nature, with its mouth wide open, lying in a pond covered with green vegetation. — Hippos don’t yawn because they are tired. This is a threat display to show off their giant tusks!

What are the messages we want to convey to our friends and family?

My wife Jan reminds me that we owe our young ones the favor of transmitting hope for the future rather than despair over the state of the world… especially the natural world.

I believe kids love fascinating facts and stories about animals because they can easily engender a sense of awe and wonder about the natural world.

When I was a youngster I couldn’t get enough of the stories of nature and travel by authors like Gerald Durrell, Mark Twain, Loren Eiseley, and Edward Abbey.

I’m in the process of gathering some of the most fascinating facts I can discover about animals and collecting them in a book under the pen name of B. B. Brilliant. You can download a free preview here.

Destinations We Highly Recommend

Kruger National Park

Kruger NP is one of our favorite spots in the entire world! What is the Cost of a Safari in Kruger National Park? (Self-Drive is Our First Choice!)

Table Mountain, Cape Town, South Africa

Fun facts: 12 Reasons to Visit Table Mountain, Cape Town – Fun Facts and 360 Photos

Here’s a 360 degree video that I shot from the cable car on the way to the top. The cars rotate as you cruise up the slope! We were surprised at first, but then we appreciated how everyone gets a chance to enjoy the views from all angles. Check out my video!

Okavango by Mokoro

One of our favorite adventures of all time was spending a week on a private safari in Okavango and Moremi National Parks in Botswana. A lone bull water buffalo like this big guy can be dangerous if you get too close! (At least we didn’t find out the hard way!)