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The West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island is one of the most dramatic landscapes in the world. As my first true solo adventure, I moved there at 18 and spent my time guiding heli-access kayaking trips to the remote rivers that descend from the Southern Alps. Kayak is the only way to explore these gorges. I’m sure New Zealand will always be the first place I think of when I consider my greatest adventures.
Editor’s Note: Ben Horton has gotten around. As a National Geographic photographer he’s covered every sort of adventure from diving with sharks off the Costa Rican coastline to dogsledding on Ellesmere Island. And he wants you to go, too. And if you don’t go to the arctic, or the Brazilian rainforest, maybe his imagery will inspire you to go somewhere you’ve been meaning to for a long time. Even if it’s just to the other side of the state you’re living in. Horton gives us the story behind nine of his favorite images from the last half decade or so. Images that represent a deep love of our planet, and protecting it.