5 different islands – which one will it be?
Like it hot?
Or cold?
Do you like jungle vibes? And watching wild animals?
I'm Hendrik Welling, join me on this fantastic adventure to 5 different islands.
Let's get started. Who wants to come along to the top of Mount Etna on the island of Sicily?
That looks pretty dangerous.
But that's exactly where I want to go.
On Mount Etna.
How does it feel to be on Europe's highest active volcano?
Mount Etna – fascinating and terrifying.
The peak of Mount Etna towers some 3,350 metres above sea level.
A guided tour brings you safely up to the top.
This cable car takes me to an altitude of about 2,500 metres.
From there, we switch to an off-road bus to climb further up the endless lava landscapes.
And past numerous side craters until we reach 2,900 metres.
From here, we have to go on foot but only with an experienced guide
who can spot signs of dangerous volcanic activity. An eruption is possible anytime.
Mount Etna, the largest volcano in Europe, has a diameter at a space of 40 kilometres.
We climb up a side crater on Etna's southeastern side.
Ascending any further is forbidden.
We're only allowed to observe the activities of the main craters from afar.
It's cold up here but the lava is still warm and you can feel the heat.
That gives me the creeps.
Maybe everyone should visit a volcano once,
because what impressed me the most over here is that
you can see and feel the force of nature
and the power of nature almost everywhere.
And now I'm going to leave this place
with a little bit more of respect for nature and mother earth.
Fire is followed by ice.
Let's hop over to Iceland.
I am on my way to the ice caves underneath the immense Vatnajökull glacier,
that stretches over 140 kilometers from East to West
and covers nearly 8 % of this North Atlantic island.
The ice caves underneath are a popular tourist attraction.
Can you see the blue ice here? The color of the ice?
It's mind blowing here!
The thicker the ice and the less oxygen it contains, the more intense the color.
But it's a fleeting beauty. The glaciers are always on the move.
Now I want to climb the glacier.
You shouldn't risk an excursion like this without the proper safety equipment.
And definitly not without an experienced mountain guide like Richard Bell.
The higher we climb, the icier it gets.
Here, I'm beginning to realize the true dimensions of this glacier.
The ice reaches a maximum of 950 meters in thickness.
But, like most glaciers these days, the Vatnajökull is retreating.
I never would've thought that a plain of ice could be so impressive to see
and to experience. It's hard to believe that Vatnajökull is a vanishing beauty.
The glacier was almost at the top of the large black overhanging cliff over there.
That was kind the level of the glacier.
It's gone back two and a half kilometers over the last 100 years.
So we know that it's only going to last another 200 to 300 years.
So most of it will be gone.
The way back is almost harder than the ascent because we're facing a snowstorm.
I'm at my physical limit.
That was far more extreme than I expected
with all the storms up there and the ice figures, that was really amazing.
Aren't they cute?
I'm on Heligoland now, Germany's only island in the high seas
where hundreds of seal pups are born and raised every year.
There are only few places where you can get as close to gray seals as here on Heligoland.
And they are much cuter than I thought, but also much more dangerous.
Sometimes there are so many animals that ranger Ute Pausch
must block off the beach for a while.
This gives the seals some peace and quiet, but mainly it's to protect the humans.
Because, while the seals may look cute, these are Germany's largest predators
living in the wild.
From this special path through the dunes, we can observe the seals and see why they've come:
from November to January is mating season and the time when mothers give birth.
From up close, I can observe how mothers suckle their young.
After 2 or 3 weeks, the cow leaves her pup on its own.
From then on, it has to fend for itself.
Once they've raised their young and mated again, the seals gradually leave Heligoland.
Then, there are only a few left. Until next winter.
Seeing so many gray seals in the wild is really impressive, especially the little babies.
They are really, really cute. But when you get so close to them you realise that they are really,
really dangerous predators. And that's why I prefer to watch them from a safe distance.
Green is the colour that goes with the archipelago of the Azores.
It's also a paradise that's been shaped by volcanoes.
That's nice!
The massive volcanic basin has two different-coloured, shimmering lakes.
This is the most famous spot on the Azores Sete Cidades.
The Azores are a Portuguese archipelago in the middle of the Atlantic
a full 1500 kilometres from the mainland.
The islands are always green and warm because of their subtropical climate.
I find the landscape mesmerizing.
Like this forest of Japanese cedars.
You can find hot springs of volcanic origin everywhere, but more about this later.
Did you know that the Azores are perfect place to spot dolphins and whales?
The various ocean currents around the islands make these waters a playground
for the marine mammals.
Scouts on land let the tourist boats know when a whale has been sighted.
It's a huge sperm whale, about 16 metres long.
Amazing to see an animal like this that close.
I want to take a dip as well.
At the Ponta da Ferraria, hot spring-water mixes with the
cool Atlantic ocean water. So the bay is the perfect spot to relax in a natural hot bath.
Oh, it s really hot.
That was just a fantastic day here on the Azores.
I never thought that I could experience so much nature in just one day.
And the variety of the nature was just mindblowing.
There is only one place that tops this: Gran Canaria, a Spanish Island in the Atlantic Ocean.
Its nature is so diverse that you even can experience a world tour in one day.
Let's start out in the desert, at least that's what it looks like here.
In reality I'm strolling across the dunes near Maspalomas.
The tradewinds shape and reshape the 6 kilometres of dunes on the island's southern tip,
again and again. It's a natural spectacle and the vacationers love it.
I head inland to the Barranco de los Cernícalos.
Carlos Romay is showing me what the primeval environment looked like on Gran Canaria.
Back then, most of the island was covered with jungle.
The Barranco de los Cernícalos is a popular place to go canyoning.
I'm supposed to try it but I'm an absolute newbie!
People have the image of Gran Canaria that we only have sun and beaches and places with a lot of hot.
But also we have like humidity, great ravines with a lot of forests.
I mean a natural place, they call us the miniature continent because of this.
It's a combination between wild green things and sand-sea-stuff.
I want to head up to the island's highest point, the Pico de las Nieves.
Manuel Medina takes me to Gran Canaria's mountain reaches.
Indeed, here at nearly 2,000 meters altitude,
it's noticeably cooler almost like in the Alps.
And nowhere else is the Alpine glow so close to the desert heat as on Gran Canaria.
That was really an amazing world trip on this island.
BUt at the beach it's the most fun, isn't it?
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