Wildlife in the USA
Between urban metropolises, the USA is blessed with vast expanses of natural splendour, from rocky desert landscapes to dense mangrove swamp to mountain chains and frozen wilderness far in the north. Not two hours from New York City you can see dolphins off Long Island, or bears in the Catskills, while urban terrain is also ideal habitat for many creatures – witness the thousands of Mexican free-tailed bats that swarm out from beneath the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin every summer evening that draw almost as many spectators.
The best introduction to the wildlife of America, and perhaps as close as you’re going to get to guaranteed sightings, is through the country’s pioneering National Park system – almost 60 natural oases, some of them absolutely vast and almost untouched such as Wrangell-St. Elias in Alaska. America’s national parks were created to protect wildlife and their habitats and for the most part they do a superb job of it. Who needs African safaris when you can track Alaska’s very own Big Five in Denali National Park: caribou, Dall sheep, moose, grizzly bears and wolves? Or admire the incredible animals of parks such as Yosemite and Yellowstone, to see both black and grizzly bears, wolf packs, bison and elk? This is where the wild things are.
Our USA Vacations
Alaska Glacier Bay small ship cruise
Get close up to Alaska where the big ships can't go
Alaska adventure vacation, salmon run
Active small group adventures in a retrofitted school bus
Denali National Park vacation in Alaska
Experience untouched wilderness off the beaten path
Wolf watching vacation in Yellowstone, USA
Expert guided trips to track & watch wolves in Yellowstone
Kenai Peninsula adventure vacation in Alaska
Orcas, Humpbacks and Glaciers: Experience Alaska's coastline
Yellowstone wildlife tour in Fall
Bears, wolves, bison & moose in Yellowstone's autumn
Cajun country tour in Louisiana
Experience the sights, sounds and flavors of Cajun Country!
Yellowstone and Grand Teton wildlife vacation
Wildlife trails in world famous national parks
Yellowstone wildlife vacation in Spring
Watch bears, wolves, moose & bison in spring
Outdoor Alaska vacation
A wildlife trip to awaken the senses
Yellowstone winter wildlife tour
Watch wolves in winter & visit Old Faithful
Yunnan small group vacation, China
An ultimate Alaskan adventure with wildlife and wilderness
Camping tour of Yellowstone, USA
Wildlife, thermal pools, mountains and walking in Yellowstone
Kodiak bear tracking tour in Alaska
Alaskan adventure looking for the large grizzlies
Alaska Glacier Bay and wildlife cruise
Glaciers, Humpbacks, grizzlies and mountains - Get up close
Wildlife watching in America’s national parks
American national parks are there to be explored – often easily accessible, with a wide range of small group tours and tailormade tours available that either focus on one park, or can take you around several with a few days spent in each. Together they offer thousands of hiking trails, mountain biking routes, canoe or kayaking options that bring you nose to nose with the parks’ permanent residents. You can watch elk roaming free in the Rocky Mountain National Park, wolf packs on the hunt through the snow in Yellowstone National Park, grizzly and black bears fishing for salmon, or whales breaching the waves off the coast in Alaska’s wilderness parks, and one American icon, the bald eagle, soaring high above another, in the Grand Canyon.Some vacations in American national parks put the sole focus on wildlife watching, such as wolf tracking in Yellowstone, while others are designed to let you explore on your own terms in places where encounters with the wildlife whilst camping or hiking are highly likely. It might be a dozing bison blocking the trail, a chipmunk in a tree, a seal swimming alongside your kayak or a mother bear with her cubs by the side of the road as you drive slowly past.
Happily, America’s wildlife is not confined to the parks. You can spot whales off Hawaiian islands and the rugged Pacific Coast; black bears, moose and even mountain lions on the famous Appalachian Trail; and beaver, white-tailed deer and moose in New England.
Wildlife spotting in America is a thrill for families, too, as sightings are combined with a host of other fun activities from walking to geyser watching, ranger-led talks to kayaking trips. National park vacations do tend to be best suited to older kids, given the amount of travel involved, but no one knows what you children are capable of better than you.
Our top USA Vacation
Alaska Glacier Bay small ship cruise
Get close up to Alaska where the big ships can't go
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