traveller’s palm – The Natural Navigator

Wardian Cases and Traveller’s Palms

13 June 2011 by Tristan Gooley

Last week set a new record for restlessness… Thanks to all who came for the walk around the Long Man from Wilmington on Saturday afternoon and to Adrian Phillips who took the time to come for a walk for an article in West Sussex on Saturday morning.

The week leading up to this was spent exploring Cornwall with Zoe from the BBC. We found many familiar friends in the techniques we uncovered in Cornwall, but also a handful of totally new ones too. Our rarest discovery was at the private Tregothnan Estate and not strictly anything to do with natural navigation at all.

Tregothnan is home to what is believed to be the world’s only original Wardian case. These cases were designed by Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward around 1829 to allow plants that were being transported at sea, from Imperial posts in places like Australia, India and China, to…

Ravenala madagascariensis

11 January 2009 by Tristan Gooley

… better known to its friends as the Traveller’s Palm, thanks to its habit of collecting rainwater (and bugs) in its leaf bases. Navigators and travellers are helped in another way by its leaves, as they are usually aligned east/west. This was one of many treats at the Eden Project which we visited as part of our family trip to Cornwall.

Tags: eden project, navigator, traveller's palm |

Share and Enjoy:

Welcome to the home of natural navigation on the Internet.

Natural navigation is the art of being able to find your way solely by using nature. It encompasses using the sun, moon, stars, weather, water, land, sea, plants and animals.

The Natural Navigator is the school set up by Tristan Gooley to research and teach natural navigation. It is also the title of his book on the subject.

If you would like to know more about natural navigation you can browse the website, read about Tristan’s natural navigation book, or listen to a BBC Radio 4 interview with Tristan.

BBC beech trees birds book cirrus cloud clouds compass contessa 32 courses dawn direction east equinox finding direction gps horizon jupiter land rover latitude lichen moon moss natural navigation nature navigation navigation book navigation course navigation courses north north star orion polaris royal geographical society sea shadows Sirius snow navigating south south downs southeast stars sun sunset trees venus west west sussex wind wind direction

WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.

BBC Sciences & Nature
- Threshold broken for tiny lasers February 8, 2012
  Researchers build efficient lasers just 100 billionths of a metre across that may be used to make faster computer chips in the future. […]
- VIDEO: Nepal national park breeds crocs February 8, 2012
  A breeding centre in Nepal's Chitwan National Park is preparing endangered Gharial crocodiles for release back into the wild. […]
- America and Asia 'will join up' February 8, 2012
  Researchers say most of the world's continents will merge somewhere over the Pacific "ring of fire" in 50-200 million years. […]
- VIDEO: 'I carried Mars rock in hand luggage' February 8, 2012
  The Natural History Museum in London has acquired its largest Martian meteorite, which could hold new clues to life on Mars. […]
- Russians claim Antarctic success February 8, 2012
  Russian scientists are reporting success in their quest to drill into Lake Vostok, a huge body of liquid water buried under the Antarctic ice. […]
- Rare Mars meteorite for science February 8, 2012
  A Martian meteorite, an incredibly rare object, is given to the Natural History Museum, London, to help unravel the secrets of the Red Planet. […]
- 7 questions on skydiving and parachuting February 8, 2012
  Test yourself on the history of aerial adventure […]
- Star nursery in sharpest picture February 8, 2012
  The most detailed infrared image ever of the Carina Nebula […]
- VIDEO: Converting solar energy into new fuels February 8, 2012
  Researchers in Glasgow are working on a way to remove greenhouse gas from the atmosphere and put oil back under the North Sea. […]
- Parkinson's cells 'made in lab' February 8, 2012
  Scientists in the US have successfully made human brain cells in the lab that are an exact replica of genetically caused Parkinson's disease. […]

The natural Navigation: The Right Course, Naturally

Wardian Cases and Traveller’s Palms

Ravenala madagascariensis

BBC Sciences & Nature

Archives by Month: