Sand
Jordan · March to April and October to November
Wadi Rum
Sandstone towers, Bedouin camps and the quietest night sky in the Middle East

Twenty-four places, eight realms
Places
A place earns its page here by behaving like nowhere else: a lagoon between dunes, a mountain that burns at night, an island that evolved alone. Each one carries a simulation card, a sample day and the honest number of days it needs.
The atlas
- Sand
- Ice
- Fire
- Island
- Summit
- Canopy
- Otherworld
- Water
Sand · Wadi Rum · Sossusvlei · Atacama
Everything in Sand
Sand
Jordan · March to April and October to November
Wadi Rum
Sandstone towers, Bedouin camps and the quietest night sky in the Middle East
Sand
Namibia · May to September
Sossusvlei and Deadvlei
The tallest dunes on earth and a clay pan of trees that died nine centuries ago
Sand
Chile · March to May and September to November
Atacama Desert
The driest place on earth, geysers at 4,300 metres and salt lakes with flamingos
Ice · Svalbard · Ilulissat · Antarctic Peninsula
Everything in Ice
Ice
Norway · March to May for snow with daylight
Svalbard
Polar bears, glaciers to the sea and four months without a sunset
Ice
Greenland · June to September for boats and the midnight sun
Ilulissat Icefjord
A fjord full of icebergs the size of cathedrals, calved from the fastest glacier on earth
Ice
Antarctica · November to March
Antarctic Peninsula
Two days across the Drake Passage to the only continent that belongs to nobody
Fire · Danakil · Mount Yasur · Iceland Highlands
Everything in Fire
Fire
Ethiopia · November to February
Danakil Depression
A lava lake, acid springs in yellow and green, and a salt plain 120 metres below the sea
Fire
Vanuatu · May to October
Mount Yasur, Tanna
The most accessible active volcano on earth, erupting every few minutes since Captain Cook saw its glow
Fire
Iceland · July and August
Iceland Highlands
Rhyolite mountains in yellow, red and green, hot rivers and a trail across lava and ice
Island · Socotra · Faroe Islands · Galápagos
Everything in Island
Island
Yemen · February to April
Socotra
Dragon’s blood trees, bottle trees and an island that evolved on its own for twenty million years
Island
Faroe Islands · May to August
Faroe Islands
Eighteen islands of grass and basalt where the weather changes every twenty minutes
Island
Ecuador · Every month
Galápagos
Islands where the animals never learned to be afraid
Summit · Torres del Paine · Ladakh · Bhutan
Everything in Summit
Summit
Chile · November to March
Torres del Paine
Three granite towers, a glacier the size of a city and wind that has its own grades
Summit
India · June to September for the passes and treks
Ladakh and Zanskar
A high desert of monasteries and passes above 5,000 metres, and a frozen river you walk on in January
Summit
Bhutan · April to May for rhododendrons
Bhutan, Jomolhari trek
A trek to the foot of a sacred mountain in the last Himalayan kingdom, blue sheep and a fee that keeps it quiet
Canopy · Manu · Danum Valley · Bwindi
Everything in Canopy
Canopy
Peru · May to October
Manu, Amazon
From the Andes to the Amazon in a day, then a week where the forest does the talking
Canopy
Malaysia · March to October
Danum Valley, Borneo
The oldest rainforest on earth, orangutans in the canopy and a walkway above it
Canopy
Uganda · June to August and December to February
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest
An hour with a family of mountain gorillas, after a morning of climbing through the forest that gives them their home
Otherworld · Salar de Uyuni · Zhangjiajie · Tsingy de Bemaraha
Everything in Otherworld
Otherworld
Bolivia · January to March for the mirror
Salar de Uyuni
The largest salt flat on earth, a mirror in the wet season and a white desert in the dry
Otherworld
China · April to May and September to November
Zhangjiajie
Three thousand sandstone pillars in mist, and the world’s longest glass bridge across a canyon
Otherworld
Madagascar · June to October
Tsingy de Bemaraha
A forest of limestone needles crossed on cables and ladders, with lemurs living on the blades
Water · Raja Ampat · Okavango · Lençóis Maranhenses
Everything in Water
Water
Indonesia · October to April
Raja Ampat
The richest reef on earth, seen from a liveaboard among islands like green teeth
Water
Botswana · June to October: the flood peaks in July and August while the land dries
Okavango Delta
A river that never reaches the sea, flooding a desert every winter and filling it with animals
Water
Brazil · June to September: the lagoons are full and the rain has stopped
Lençóis Maranhenses
A desert of white dunes that fills with turquoise lagoons every winter
The Simulation Brief
One place, one simulator, one honest number. Every second Sunday.
No newsletter theatre. A short e-mail with the place we modelled, what the model said and what the ground said back.