Paul Barbato, known as Geography Now, is an American YouTuber that hosts an educational channel where he travels to every country in the world in alphabetical order and makes an approximately 10 minute video each, outlining various aspects of the country’s geography (physical, political, demographics, etc).
Geography may seem overwhelming to some viewers, but his video blogs are highly informative, educational, and entertaining even being featured by MTV News .
What do Geography Now videos cover?
Paul’s video’s cover Political Geography, Physical Geography, Demographics and The Friend Zone. He also has a regular video ‘Flag Friday’ which explains about world flags.
Political Geography takes a closer look and analysis on the borders (none for NZ!), capital, cities, roads, enclaves, exclaves, regional divisions, overseas territories, autonomous regions, and constituent affiliated territories under the countries sovereignty as well as famous landmarks, buildings and places of interest.
Physical Geography provides an overview of the landscape of the country and what the physical components of the land are made up of. This includes forests, deserts, mountains, lakes, rivers, arable land, agriculture and and economic production, land cultivation, and domestic resources.
Demographics gives his insights into the population of the country, the people, the races, the diversity, the culture, the traditions, the language, the government, the notable citizens, the legislation, the heads of state, minor historical anecdotes (however generally history is not highly expounded upon extensively as the show tries to maintain a condensed yet compact lesson covering every category in about 10 minutes). Of particular interest to Paul for his visit to New Zealand was connecting to Maori cultural experiences which aligns with Black Label and some of our key suppliers.
The Friend Zone is a section that discusses all about the diplomacy and international affairs of the country and how it relates to the rest of the world. Which countries are allies? Which countries are enemies? Why? Typically section ends with the “Best friend” of the country.
At the end, Paul gives his Conclusion – often describing a country in a nutshell! So, we are interested to hear his verdict on New Zealand when his vlog is live! He also explains the next country coming up.
Paul has visited many countries including Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Haiti, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, South Korea, Sweden, Tanzania, and United States.
Geography Now visits New Zealand
Paul recently visited New Zealand in November and Black Label was thrilled to help him with his itinerary.
Paul says, ‘With Tania from Black Label’s help I was able to experience a plethora of activities that I had only read about for years and never dreamed of actually doing. The first activity we did was the Auckland Whale and Dolphin Safari, where we were able to go out into the bay and spot the oceanic wildlife. Although we weren’t able to see any whales (the weather was windy and waves were choppy) we WERE able to witness an entire pod of common dolphins that curiously swam alongside us and popped their heads out of the water. It was quite the spectacle, I had never seen that many dolphins in the wild before! Not only that but by the end of the trip, the Captain even let me steer the ship for a little while!
I have a thing for studying indigenous people groups and their traditions/ customs. When we were approved to visit the Whakarewarewa Living Maori Village in Rotorua I was so thrilled, we got to see the traditional Hangi cooking (and eat it!), we witnessed the world renown Haka (I’m sure it’s nothing to you Kiwis but to me that was such a treat!) and I just walking around the sulfur steaming geothermal lakes was almost like being on a different planet. I can’t believe New Zealand has a spot like that!
We then experienced the Waitomo caves thanks to the Legendary Blackwater Rafting Company. I had researched these caves for a long time and were fascinated by them. There aren’t many places with glow worms in the world but New Zealand has an abundance of them. Actually witnessing what I had only seen on websites and in books was a completely revolutionizing experience. Turn off the lights and everything sparkles blue. It’s like a portal into an alternate dimension.
Finally we joined the TIME Unlimited Tour, compliments to Ceillhe and her husband. As I reach out a hand to shake, I was immediately greeted with the traditional “Hongi” which confused me at first but then I was like “AHHHHH” I see what’s going on! The tour was on a whole separate level of authenticity as it was lead by actual Maori people (and one Rotuman!) that spoke the languages of their people and were able to describe in deep detail all about the historical and traditional significance of everything we encountered whether it be a building or tattoo designs.
My favorite part had to be Piha beach. I have never seen a black sand beach let alone one made of magneton particles that you can pick up with a magnet (I took some home as a souvenir!) – I only wish I could’ve stayed longer to see the penguins.
Overall, I can not thank Black Label enough for their incredibly generous and quick-acting help along my entire stay in New Zealand. With Black Label I feel like I didn’t just “come” to New Zealand but rather “experienced” it from the core. I only wish I could come back because even after doing all that, I still haven’t even scratched the surface, which makes me even more curious for round 2.’
Check out Paul’s interview with Ceillhe Sperath of TIME Unlimited Tours – the full edited video of Paul’s visit to New Zealand will be live online late January / early February and feature Tania from Black Label as well as all of our valued participating suppliers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mWhWH6lT0g %20
About Geography Now
Paul Barbato has over 330,000 subscribers from all over the world and grows in subscribers every day.
Every year he chooses a new location to go to for a “Travel vlog” called “Geography Go” in which he meets up with his subscribers and has THEM show him around THEIR home countries.
Last year he went to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the Emirates and this year he added Tokyo (Japan), Batam (Indonesia), Johur (Malaysia), Singapore and New Zealand to the list and arrived in Auckland on 8 November for 5 days.
In addition to his success on YouTube he also does regular daily posts on social media sites Instagram, Twitter and Facebook each with their own followers:
You can follow Geography Now : Facebook www.facebook.com/GeographynowFanpage
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Geographynow
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/xfF1woAuog/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/GeographyNow
His videos are watched all over the world with his largest demographic of viewers originating in the USA, UK, Canada, Nordic countries (especially Denmark) Brazil, India, Southeast Asia (Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia) Algeria, South Africa and Australia.
Thank you to Black Label’s suppliers and valued travel contacts for their assistance in Paul’s visit to New Zealand: SkyCity, Auckland Adventure Jet, Auckland Dolphin & Whale Safaris, Whakarewarewa Maori Village, Waitomo Caves, TIME Unlimited Tours
Images: Must do NZ, Tarawera legacy, Travel & Leisure, stuff.co.nz, Trailfinders