There’s probably more species diversity on one mountain cloud forest in Costa Rica than the entirety of the Korean Peninsula. This isn’t to say Korean biodiversity isn’t important! But just that’s how diverse Central American mountains are. if you are after numbers that’s your best shot.
A bit off topic here but what other countries are like Iraq and North Korea that i simply CAN NOT go too for my goal?
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html/
I’d say any country at Level 4 - Do Not Travel on the US advisory list is one you should avoid, for now.
EDIT: So basically, Niger, South Sudan, Somalia, Mali, Central African Rpublic, Burkina Faso, Haiti, Belarus, North Korea, Burma, Venezuela, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Sudan, Russia
Most of these are either active warzones, have a breakdown of government, are totalitarian regimes, or really hate Americans. Or a combination of the above.
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Do you really think not being able to get into NK will slow down your goal at all? You could focus just on beetles, not leave the US, live to be 120, and still have beetles to photograph. Relax, enjoy spending time outside finding things.
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I do EVERYTHING, anything i can find and have a lot of species on my hitlist
Ah. So “every single species” isn’t all species but a possibly attainable hitlist. Good luck. Maybe you’ll get photos from poking around the edges and not have to risk entering forbidden places.
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NK is… honestly in my mind quite like the dystopian YA novels I have read. It would be hard to get in, and from what I have heard, harder to get out. I think I have heard somewhere that they have just one web browser, and citizens are cut off from using the other ones? So IDK if even citizens can even use iNat. I would see what species are there in NK, and then see if any neighboring countries have those same ones. Maybe you can get all those species without having to enter the country.
Sadly I have heard that some of the countries safer than level 4 might still be hostile towards LGBTQIA+ and/or certain religons, so you may have to be cautious there, too :-( I have only been in the US and Canada all my life (hoping to travel soon though!) So my knowledge on international travel is fuzzy.
I would focus on neighboring countries, since you will probably find similar species there anyways.
To end my reply, I would absolutely LOVE to see your lifelist! It sounds impressive.
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no its all species, but my hitlists are things i will be actively hunting for IE Piciformes in USA
i find going about this one order at a time is nice though of course i will be photographing everything i find along the way
atm over 1500 animal species (half are from Zoo’s and have the special “Zoo” Title in my SD cards
want to find a wild one of those species
about 200 plants (due to how easy they are to form populations they do not have any special titles if photographed at a zoo)
and about 10 Fungi
Anycade1 is my name on official inat
checked out your lifelist-- it is really neat! you have a few species I have, and I few more I would love the chance of finding! followed to help you out with IDing :-)
ooh, and i see you are in the USA but haven’t been to California yet, i highly recommend the area around the Santa Monica Mountains for easy access and tons of plant, herp, and bird species that are easy to observe. Bonus if you go to the Channel Islands which have island endemics! I think the Everglades would also be an obvious target, alas i haven’t been yet but should try to go before it gets further degraded.
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Well then, we’re back to way too many species for a lifetime. I’m not saying you can’t go anywhere you like. Just that if all species is your goal, some efficiencies will get you closer than others. Focus on close to home, diverse taxa, biological hotspots, and places with good support infrastructure for accessing natural areas. Is a trip to Florida planned? There are so many better choices before you get to weird totalitarian regimes. Your fellow iNatters would rather see long lists of observations from you than hear you’re locked up in a prison somewhere.
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correct and ya got some Piciformes i need, an Otospermophilus species i need, birds, mammals, just A LOT
South Korea has a lot of the same things and is a really lovely place.
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That sounds great! I would definetely like to add more herps to my lifelist. And island endemics would be amazing to see as well! The United States have a lot of really neat parks and things, in MI alone the parks are breathtaking. I hope to see many of the other wildlife in the US too. Thank you for the recommendations! :-)
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Yeah don’t let me commentary about Costa Rica dissuade anyone from visiting south Korea, it sounds like a really neat area.
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North Korea is the only country that the US bans US passport holders from traveling to outright. travel to Cuba is also restricted by the US, although in a more limited way.
The only other official restrictions you may face will come from the governments of the countries you’re traveling to, and once you’re inside a country, you may face other restrictions (ex. you can’t visit places near Mecca unless you are Muslim, you probably can’t just wander into most military areas, Oprah probably won’t let you into her backyards, etc.) or other practical challenges (ex. you should probably steer clear of any marijuana farms you wander upon anywhere in the world, you probably should steer clear of mosquito-infested wetlands, etc.).
i’m not sure what the allure of going to a place like North Korea is. i’m sure large parts of it are relatively wild, but so are large parts of many other places in the world. remember that you might not be able to do any exploring anywhere if you’re dead, jailed, or injured.
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Always be aware that any place where you are pointing your camera at things in a manner that another person might not consider “usual behavior”, you can potentially draw attention. In some countries or places that might be more of a problem than others. Obviously not a problem in tourist spots or natural areas. I suspect that it could be a problem in places like North Korea.
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