Dominica, 1996
Photograph by Michael Melford
A rainbow arcs over trees blooming on a hillside in the West Indies island of Dominica. The country's interior can receive some 300 inches (760 centimeters) of rain each year, yielding hundreds of square miles of mountainous, densely forested wilderness, much of it protected as state land. The country's volcanic activity also yields natural gems, such as boiling pools, geysers, and black-sand beaches.
