National Parks International
Read reviews about national parks across the globe. Whether you're on holiday, a business trip or travelling the World, don't miss the best national parks and nature reserves. Search our National parks international category by continent, country, or country region. Compare traveller's
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Appomattox Court House (Virginia)
by catsholiday Appomattox Court House Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is located in south central Virginia approximately 95 miles west of Richmond. We visited this site a couple of years ago when we were staying in Virginia and then Tennessee, We called in to visit this site on our way between the two states as we had ... visited a number of historical and Civil War sites while in Virginia and we thought this being the site of the end of the Civil War would also be a symbolic last place for us to visit after seeing the other Civil War sites. OPENING TIMES AND COSTS This park is open year- round, except for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day It is a National Park site so if you have a America the Beautiful National park card you will get in free. The visitor's centre is open from 8:30am to 5pm each day. Fees are $4.00 per person but only up to $10.00 per carload. Children under 16 are free. If you go visit off season (October to April), the price is only $3.00 per person, or $5.00 maximum per carload. However if you choose to take the audio tour, that will be extra. A BIT OF HISTORY On Palm Sunday, 1865, after a week or more of suffering great loses and a number of intense battles General Robert E Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia . This was the end of the Southern States attempt to create a separate nation and the beginning of the United States as we know it today. INSIDE THE PARK The Visitor centre: Appomattox Court House National Historical Park is comprised of thirteen original historic structures along with nine reconstructed buildings in rural Virginia. The park is about 3 square miles total which for a place of this kind is quite large and will require quite a bit of walking. It will take some hours to do the place justice and if you choose the audio tour it takes longer. If you are short of time as we were then I would suggest that you make your way to the visitor centre initially where you will be given a map of the park which indicates where the main houses are and what the significance of the building is. In the visitor centre you can also learn the basic outline of Civil War history and the significance of this site as the surrender site of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant. The visitor centre is a reconstructed building of the original courthouse. Within the centre one of the most interesting displays in the 'Wall of Honor' which has photos and a short story of many of those who were here at Appomattox that day. The display changes from time to time to give each individual his time on the wall and many of the photos were given by families of the people represented on the wall. Also in the Visitor centre you can see five paintings by George L. Frankenstein. These show the village of Appomattox Court House and surrounding area as it was in the months after the surrender. r Frankenstein spent four years travelling Civil War battlefields capturing scenes in paintings. The Theatre: Another great place which gives you an overall insight is the theatre where you can view either of two slide show sand hear some of the important facts about the civil war and those who fought in it. The 15-minute slide show which is shown on the hour tells the story of the Civil War leading to the surrender while the second programme is "Soldiers' Diaries" which is quite a moving experience as you hear excerpts from diaries of soldiers who were at the site in 1865, and this is shown on the 1/2 hour. If you feel inspired to find out more then you can then visit the shop where you can buy a number of different civil war- related texts. The park is not really a park as we know it but has been taken over by the National Park Service because of its huge historical significance to the American nation. It is an area with a number of different buildings, in a country setting. The back roads or country lanes within the park which take you to all the different places cover about 6 miles in total, so there is a good amount of walking to do. If you take the audio tour then it will guide you to each building and explain the historical significance of what took place at each one. The Mclean House: The most important building to visit in my view is the Mclean Home. This is the actual site of the surrender of the Confederate army to General Grant. It was in the parlour of this house that Lee agreed to Grant's terms of surrender and the bloody four years of Civil War finally came to an end. This is a three-story building and inside is furnished with mid-nineteenth century furnishings. The parlor of the house, where the surrender meeting took place, is furnished with a mixture of original and reproduction furniture. The actual table upon which the surrender was signed in not here because it is in the Smithsonian Museum of American history . It was given to the USA government by Libby Custer as her will states "...the table on which the surrender of General Lee to General Grant was written...and now located in the... War Department Building in Washington, D. C., I give and bequeath to the United States Government..." If you want to explore further on this property you can also visit the outbuildings which include the slave quarters, exterior kitchen, and outhouse. We walked around but didn't actually go into these as we were a bit short of time The Clover Hill Tavern This is the oldest of the original buildings in the village. At the time of the surrender Brigadier General George H. Sharpe made the Clover Hill Tavern his headquarters Sharpe's job was to oversee the printing of parole passes to be issued to the Confederate soldiers which allowed them to travel unbothered back to their homes. George Peers House: We didn't go inside this house but outside it has a marker to say that the last shot of the Civil War was fired from this spot by a Confederate soldier and sadly killed a young lieutenant on the morning of April 9, 1865. Mariah Wright House: This small house is significant as this was where a marker lies stating that: " At a last council of war held on Saturday, April 8, Lee ordered Gordon's infantry and Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry to clear the stage road of Union cavalry. The Union horsemen were pushed back but arrival of bluecoated infantry again blocked the escape route. A flag of truce halted the fighting while General Lee negotiated the surrender of his army." It was when Union troops were at this site that they saw the Flag of Truce which General Custer then accepted. APART FROM BUILDINGS The Americans do this so well. They have people dressed in costume of the day who 'act' being someone who was there at the time of the surrender. These presentations or performances take place daily from memorial Day to Labor Day each year The presentations begin in the Visitor centre at twenty past each hour and then the character walks around the site for the rest of the time. You can ask them questions and they answer in performance as the person they are acting that day. The actors may be soldiers from either side or the wife of someone who lived in the area , the actor speaks in the manner of the day and answers questions that are on the same date in the year 1865, so if it April 23rd 2012 then they will answer being April 23rd 1865. The park is more than a site of remembrance and historical significance it is also a place to enjoy nature and walk in the countryside , maybe even enjoy a picnic if you like. THINGS TO BE AWARE OF Each building is either original or reconstructed to be as original as it can be so this means there will be some stairs to climb in some of them. There are no lifts as the buildings are being preserved as they were so for those with walking difficulties or in wheel chairs this could be a problem. Quite a large number of the rooms in the buildings are roped off, you can see into the rooms but not actually go in and walk around and in this way the items in the rooms don't get so damaged and everyone can see them. If you want to see everything then this will take some time so plan your day. If you' have limited time for your visit then do like we did and plan what you want to see then head only for those buildings. Don't bother with the audio tour as this will take too long. I recommend the theatre and you must visit the McLean House where the surrender was signed. OTHER INTERESTING THINGS I LEARNED There were several regiments of black American troops fighting in the Civil War and some were at this site in 1865. The United States Army was NOT fully integrated until the Korean War and until then there were Black regiments led by white officers in their own separate regiments. General Custer, he of Little Bighorn fame or infamy, was the man to receive the flag of truce at Appomattox Court House. This Original Truce Flag can be seen at Appomattox Court House today. Other personal little stories such as Confederate Thomas Tibbs, who was a lieutenant in the 34th Virginia Infantry, led troops across his family farm during the last battle of Appomattox Court House which must have been very strange for him. In fact he fought in the last battle which was actually on his property. WORTH A VISIT? Yes indeed if you have any interest in the history of the USA this place is a must. It is well laid out and the self guided tour by the map is easy to follow. You can stay as long or as short a time as you like in each building. The guides around the site are helpful, knowledgeable and friendly, in fact sometimes we couldn't get away as they wanted to share so many stories with us. Thanks for reading. This review may be posted on other sites under my same user name. ©Catsholiday Read the complete review |
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Brijuni National Park (Croatia)
by fizzywizzy The Brijuni National Park (sometimes called Brioni) covers the Brijuni Islands of Croatia's Istrian peninsula. It's a gloriously beautiful part of the country and, though we only explored one of the islands, by means of a boat trip from Pula, I know it's somewhere we'll go back to. When seen in photographs taken from above, ... the islands, sitting in a shimmering turquoise sea, look to be encircled with almost white sand but as you get close to them in a boat you see that what looks like a beach is actually the rocky shore. There's a cluster of islands (fourteen in all) accessible by boat from either Pula or Fazana (Fazana is nearer and Veli Brijuni can be reached in just fifteen minutes). Only one, Veli Brijuni has any kind of development and even that is minimal. Marshall Tito had two summer houses on the Brijuni Islands and spent several months there each year, often inviting royalty from other nations as well as glamorous film stars and other celebrities. There's a golf course, a hotel and a safari park, the latter coming about as a result of the many exotic animals gifted to Tito while he was leader of Yugoslavia. If you visit this island you can have your photograph taken sitting in Tito's Cadillac and visit the exhibition of photographs that open the door on Tito's private life. The Brijuni Islands became a popular tourist destination in the late nineteenth century thanks to the efforts of Paul Kupelwieser, an Austrian industrialist who bought the then malaria ridden main island and oversaw its development with the building of a hotel complex along with a swimming pool which used heated seawater. The island became a fashionable spa resort for wealthy people from cities such as Vienna; it was a place where business was done and the most important intellectuals of the time met while enjoying the beautiful setting. Two other men played an important part in Kupelwieser's grand plan. The forestry expert Alojz Zuffar organised the clearing of areas of macchia and the removal of large stones that would be used in the construction of footpaths and roads on the islands. He also arranged for the meadows to be turned into vineyards and the islands prospered as Brijuni wine was sent for sale in Vienna. Robert Koch was a doctor who did important work in bacteriology. Kuperlwieser heard that Koch had been involved in some research into malaria in Italy and he wrote to him about the specific problems in Brijuni. Koch sent some of his collaborators and used their reports to look into the issue. It was Koch who later identified that the cause of the malaria was the anopheles mosquito. There are monuments to all three men on Veli Brijuni. Our boat excursion stopped on a small island where the only concession to tourism was a bar serving drinks and snack meals. We'd booked a trip that included lunch which was served on board as the boat sailed so we didn't eat here but we did enjoy a cold beer before heading back to Pula. There are lots of boat trips available: some stop so you can go ashore, others just weave among the islands. If you go down to the harbour-side at Pula you can find out what each trip includes and make a decision. The one we booked allowed you to go ashore and gave the option of returning on either of two sailings later on. We thought we'd stay a couple of hours but when we got there and saw how small the island was, we decided to return on the earlier sailing. One of the crew members showed us an album of photographs that showed what we'd see on the trip and when I saw Tito's house come up I knew that was the tour we had to do; alas you only get to see these places from a distance so don't be fooled into thinking you actually see them. Refreshments were provided on board for you to help yourselves to - water, wine and soft fizzy drinks (the latter were garishly coloured and full of sugar so take your own drinks if that's a problem to you). Lunch was served on board while sailing (we'd earlier been given a choice of fish, meat or vegetarian); this isn't great if you suffer from sea-sickness but for once I didn't, in fact the sea air had the opposite effect, making me ravenous. The food is very simple - the fish plate comprised a whole mackerel (head on), a pile of pickled cabbage and a hunk of crusty bread while the meat plate was the same but with pork instead of fish. Perhaps because the majority of the other passengers were Austrian, German or Russian, I didn't see anyone with the vegetarian meal. As we ate the boat was pursued by screaming seagulls who obviously knew what was coming and swooped down to snatch the remains of fish thrown overboard. Most people on the trip had come with swimming gear and refreshments and a lot of them were content to find a spot on the pebbly beach beside the dock. We had brought a beach towel thinking we might stick our feet in the water to cool down, but expecting to do more sightseeing than bathing. I thought it was a shame that most people got no further than the beach; it didn't take us long to do a once around of the little island we'd been dropped at but it was worth it. The landscape is not dissimilar to that of Corsica; what is known in French as 'maquis' is called 'macchia' by the Croatians. It's a type of forestation found in the Mediterranean by the sea and is a mix of trees such as the myrtle, the ash and the terebinth; the latter is also known as the 'turpentine tree' and is common all the way down Croatia's Adriatic coastline. I'd hoped to see more birds but I later found out that the best place to see them is on Veli Brijuni at the Saline bird reserve. We did see plenty of lizards, however, as they darted across the paths in front of us and into the most impossible looking slivers of space in the rocks. After one circuit we headed back to a very quiet spot from where we'd decided it was possible to swim. Without swimming gear we had two options and decided on the more modest one, later taking turns to wrap the towel round us while waiting for our underwear to dry on the rocks - fortunately it was a very hot day. The water remains shallow for a few metres then deepens quite quickly and it is quite slippery underfoot where it is shallow so care should be taken. The water was very warm, even in mid-September and was nowhere near as salty as I've found it further down the coast in Split, meaning that we didn't feel desperate to shower in fresh water as soon as we came out of the water. If you don't want to bathe and prefer to do more 'sightseeing', you really need to make sure you are taking a trip that is stopping specifically in Veli Brijuni. As well as the safari park with its exotic animals (among them an elephant, zebras, antelope and Somalian sheep) there's what is know in this part of the world as an 'Etno Park' where you can see animals native (particular breeds of sheep and oxen) to Istria in the setting of a traditional Istrian farm. Elsewhere on Veli Brijuni you can see traces of more than 200 dinosaurs at four different locations. The quality of these dinosaur footprints from the Cretaceous period is so good that experts have visited Brijuni to carry out extensive research into exactly how these beasts moved around, not just their physical gait, but whether they roamed in herds or alone. A little more recently the Romans left their mark on Brijuni and there are remains at a number of locations on the islands, most notably a villa which was built in the first century BC but thrived into the first century AD. Excavations of a vast villa at Kastrum have unearthed a huge number of finds which are on display in the archaeological museum in the citadel building. Although you can book to stay at one of the handful of hotels and villas on Veli Brijuni, you do have to join an official 'tour' to get to the islands but boat operators have obviously realised that not everyone wants the group experience. In the past you could charter a private boat from Fazana and explore independently free of charge but this has been halted, partly to protect the islands because of their national park designation. While we enjoyed our trip, we did feel like we should have taken greater pains to ascertain where we would stop. Nonetheless, we loved the fact that we could find a quiet spot in spite of there being several boat loads of tourists on the tiny island we did stop at and we loved our walk, albeit brief, around the island. We paid about £20 each for our trip which may seem expensive for what we got but it was by no means the most expensive of the tours available. Next time we're at the southern tip of Istria we'll try to go back but we'll definitely head for Veli Brijuni. For family groups I'd suggest that Veli Brijuni has more activities that will interest children although I acknowledge that many will be happy enough to explore the smaller islands and have some time to swim; it is more the fact that there is so much more to see on the largest island, that makes me recommend it. Read the complete review |
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Yosemite National Park (USA)
by rosaliecullen **Overview** Yosemite has to be one of my favourite national parks of all time. Lying in the Californian wilderness, the area consumed by the park is enormous. The park is beautiful with waterfalls, rock formations, lakes and plenty of walks. You might be joined by the occasional black bear or mountain lion but fortunately, ... particularly in high season, it tends to be quite busy so you shouldn't have too many problems. We visited Yosemite from Monterey for a one-night trip which is about a 6 hour drive. We arrived in the park as it was getting dark and 2 hours later in the pitch black we rolled up to Curry Village to see Half-Dome glistening in the moonlight. The snow had fallen on the ground and it was like a scene out of a Christmas card.....in April. **Camp Curry** We didn't need tyre chains for the snow but it is worth having a look to see if you do, the main routes were clear it was just the village itself that was full of snow. As it was April, chances are you might need snow tyres/chains in the winter. "Village" is probably overstating this large camping area but perhaps we didn't use all of the amenities. We only ate one meal which was breakfast in the vastly overpriced Yosemite lodge which is adjacent to Curry Village. Breakfast buffet was something horrendous like $25. The main hiking trails to Mirror Lake and Nevada Falls begin just a few minutes outside of Curry Village and a short drive or slightly longer walk can see you at El Capitan for some climbing or sight seeing of Yosemite falls. The tent-cabins are exactly that, really basic, think "tents" with a dressing table and a light. Not glamping, still exposed to the cold (which it was in April, I heartily recommend Vodka for keeping warm and getting an excellent sleep.. not so great the day after though...! Seriously, take something warm and a hat, my Vodka-free-friends were freezing). The bathrooms are a short walk away from the cabins and the cabins we stayed in were on quite uneven ground so bear that in mind if you have access-needs. The bathrooms had the bear lockers right outside which was good to deter bears away from the tent-cabins, but I often wondered if Yogi and his mates would be having a feast outside the bathrooms when I popped to the loo in the middle of the night. Of course..they weren't! We didn't see any bears at all in Yosemite but we walked popular trails with lots of people. The trek to Nevada Falls was hard work and we didn't quite make it, but the views and scenery were breathtaking, one of the nicest places I've ever visited. We saw the famous half dome in the sunshine and had lots of adventures on steep cliffs in the snow. On the whole I thought Curry Village was great value, very basic but clean and there was no overcrowding in bathrooms, but Yosemite Lodge breakfast was pretty busy and I'm not sure I'd want to stay there. Depends how cold I am. There was so much more to Yosemite that we didn't get to see as we were only there for one day. Definitely worth a visit and Camp Curry was fun too. Read the complete review |
National Park International |
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1 review National Park International / Address: Nansana Hoima Road, Plot 64, 203 P.O. Box 22754 Kampala, East Africa - Gorilla trekking is a memorable, life-changing experience – a life time adventure in the heart of Africa's most spGorilla Trekking in Ugandaectacular Rainforests. Gorilla trekking safaris in Uganda, Rwanda and ... |
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1 review Country: USA / National Park International / World Region: South America - Today, the park protects over 4,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings. These sites are some of the most notable and best preserved in the United States. |
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1 review Country: USA / National Park International / World Region: Nevada - The Red Rock Canyon Visitor Center is a focal point for visitor orientation. The multiple facilities offer information and interpretation about recreation opportunities, wildlife, wild horses and burros, vegetation, geolog... |
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1 review Address: VA 24 / National Park International / Appomattox / Virginia |
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National Park International / Canada |
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1 review National Park International / Address: Brionska 10, 52212 Fa˛ana |
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National Park International / Nature reserve in South Africa. |
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1 review National Park International / One of India's best rated national parks, in the mountains of Kerala |
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1 review National Park International / Natural landmark in Nebraska, USA overlooking the North Platte River. |
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1 review National Park International / National park in Portugal. |
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