Category: adventure

Borneo Three Peaks Challenge

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Dominic Hall from Fieldskills.

International expedition company Fieldskills is launching a Borneo Three Peaks Jungle Survival Challenge.

The 14-day adventure will start and end in Kota Kinabalu Borneo and include two days advance jungle training in the UK.

Adventure travelers will learn about tropical forest safety including living in a hammock; jungle survival skills; navigation and lost procedures.

The trips will also include qualified mountain leaders, food and supplements and equipment.

Mount Kinabalu, the highest peak, is a popular mountain travel destination.  The other peaks of Trusmadi and Tamboyukon are lesser known, remote expeditions.

“Our first peak, Gunung Tamboyukon, is the most rarely climbed. This is the third highest peak in Sabah. This will take us four days of jungle trekking, camping in remote spots to get up and down,” explains Dominic Hall, Fieldskills UK based director.

“Then we will continue to Trusmadi, a beautiful and again fairly rarely visited jungle peak which offers beautiful views across to the final peak, Mount Kinabalu. From here we take the less touristy and dramatic Mesilau route to the summit.”

For more info, visit the Fieldskills site.

Image courtesy of Fieldskills.

Mountain Cloud Forest Adventures

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Suspension bridge on Dominica.

Fancy a mountain cloud forest adventure?

If you head to Dominica, you’ll find it with Rainforest Adventures Dominica.

Called one of the island’s top excursions, these adventurers take travelers on a 90-minute aerial tram ride into jungle canopy.

At the edge of the Morne Trois Pitons National Park, a UNESCO Natural World Heritage Site, the ecotourism park is within a mountain cloud forest.

A local expert guide shares the island’s plants and wildlife in treetops on the high-flying aerial tram tour.

Morne Trois Piton Rainforest is home to 172+ species of birds including endangered species of parrots.

Travelers can cross the suspension bridge over the 300-foot drop of Breakfast River Gorge and see four to five waterfalls on a rainy day.

The tour includes Aerial Tram gondola ride; expert naturalist guide (1 per 8 persons); guided walking tour and complimentary drink.

Gondolas are wheelchair accessible.

For more information, visit the adventure company site.

Here are more scenes from Rainforest Adventures Dominica:

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Suspension bridge.

DominicaRain Forest Aerial Trams Dominica Aerial Tram Gondola Mountain Cloud Forest Adventures

Aerial tram.

Images courtesy of Rainforest Adventures Dominica.

New Ethical Safaris In Africa

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Conservancy Safaris Etambura room looking out.

Fancy taking an ethical safari tour in Africa?

Conservancy Safaris Namibia, offered by Kamili, has released 2011 details for its North West Kunene tour and new tours in Etosha and Caprivi.

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Conservancy Safaris Namibia vehicle.

Community-owned safari operation Conservancy Safaris tour into Kunene in north-western Namibia.

Kunene has five major community-managed conservancies with a total area of 13,500 sq km and a population of 1,800.

Ownership of Kunene Conservancy Safaris is vested in the community conservancies of Puros, Sanitatas, Okonjombo, Orupembe and Marienfluss.

Conservancy Safaris is expanding its responsible tourism model to include conservancies in the Caprivi-Etosha region of Namibia.

Kamili represents a wide-ranging portfolio of 40+ hand-picked, independent African camps and lodges.

The 2011 tours include:

  • Caprivi Etosha Safari, 11 days / 10 nights or 10 days / 9 nights. The new itinerary takes guests from Etosha National Park through Namibia’s Caprivi Strip, land in the far north east of Namibia bordering Angola, Zambia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, and end at Victoria Falls.
  • Conservancy Safaris Namibia Lion Pride, Specialized Safaris, 5 days / 4 nights. The Specialized Safaris enable visitors to spend time with internationally-renowned specialists for wildlife encounters in small, intimate groups.
  • Kunene Kaleidoscope, 10 days / 9 nights. This safari is designed to provide the ultimate wildlife, conservation and indigenous culture experience and stays at new Etambura Camp.

For more info, visit the Kamili site.

Images courtesy of Kamili

Best Adventure Getaway?

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Montana’s Triple Creek Ranch has been named the Best Adventure Getaway in the Luxist Awards Readers’ Choice Awards.

Luxist fans and editors have named the ranch in its Best in Summer Travel 2010 for its “breathtaking scenery, luxurious accommodations, legendary service and exciting outdoor activities.”

Triple Creek Ranch is a Relais & Châteaux member property and an Orvis-endorsed fly-fishing lodge and resort.

Nestled in the Montana Rockies, the ranch’s outdoor adventures range from fly fishing, horseback riding and cattle drives to guided nature tours, ATV tours, snowmobiling, downhill and cross-country skiing.

Special adventure events include the women-only Klicks for Chicks, a 100-kilometer horseback-riding adventure, coming up on October 28-November 1, 2010.

Image courtesy of Triple Creek Ranch

3 Mount Everest Trips

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Mount Everest is the ultimate mountain destination.

Adventure travel company World Expeditions offers mountain travelers several Everest adventure options.

The company specializes in small group trekking and adventure holidays.

From active adventures and expeditions to cycling and walking tours, World Expeditions offers 500+ stand-alone itineraries worldwide.

Here are 3 Mount Everest trips from World Expeditions:

  • High Road To Lhasa (14 days). “A distinct highlight of the journey is a diversion to the famous Rongphu Valley to see Mount Everest’s north face from the famous historic 1922 Base Camp – an experience shared by only a handful of dedicated travelers each year on this remarkable journey through a once forbidden land.”
  • Everest Kangshung Face (23 days). “You will follow trails through conifer and rhododendron forest, past sacred lakes and across the verdant yak grazing pastures set beneath a backdrop of Lhotse, Makalu and the huge Kangshung Face (East Face) of Everest. After the trek you drive to the Rongphu Valley to appreciate the huge dimensions of the North Face of Everest before heading back to the Kathmandu Valley.”
  • Tibet Kangshung Face Trek With Lincoln Hall (26 days). “This trip includes all the highlights of the Everest Kangshung Face trip but with an extra two-days trekking, all accompanied by an Everest expert.”

For more info, visit the World Expeditions site.

Image courtesy of World Expeditions

New Photo Expedition To Antarctica

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Antarctica. Photo credit: Andrew Halsall & Aurora Expeditions

Dreaming about an Antarctica adventure?  Then check out Aurora Expeditions’ new photographic expedition to Antarctica with photographers David Burren and Martin Bailey.

Burren and Bailey from LuminOdyssey will lead the adventure created for all levels of photographers.

Says Aurora Expeditions:

“Whether you’re using film or digital, a compact camera or an SLR, you will return with the essence of Antarctica captured by your lens. This may be an iceberg shining on a slate grey sea, minke whales spouting beside the ship, and clouds, pre-dawn pink, which morph into ice-draped mountains.”

Burren and Bailey will explain how to process and organize images using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.

Prior to the journey, they will advise travelers on photography equipment.  Throughout the voyage, the duo will also give photography classes and seminars.

The 25-day trip will begin in Ushuaia at the southern tip of Argentina and cruise south over the Drake Passage and spend a week on the Antarctic Peninsula.

The trip will explore the Vernadsky Station; the coastline from Lemaire Channel to the Gerlache Strait and King George Island; Puerto Desaedo; Bahia Bustamante; Punta Norte and Mar del Plata.

Highlights will include wildlife viewing of elephant seals, adelie, gentoo, chinstrap penguins and more.

Image courtesy of Aurora Expeditions

A Serengeti Adventure

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Fancy adventure on the Serengeti?   Orion Hotels has opened a new camp, Serengeti Bushtops, a sister camp to Mara Bushtops in Kenya.

Opened in June, the new camp features huge luxury tents which are adesigned by Drei Meta.   The company is now offering a special discount from July to November.

“Imagine yourself standing on the 120 square meter deck, gazing out over the stunning scenery of the Serengeti or watching the sun downer from your hot tub,” says the company.

Here are more scenes from Mara Bushtops:

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Lounge.

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Images courtesy of Orion Hotels

3 Whistler Adventures

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Train vacations with Rocky Mountaineer (above) show the stunning mountain scenery of western Canada.

One of the company’s most popular trips is their Whistler Sea to Sky Climb route.  Rocky Mountaineer also features additional Whistler adventures with this Whistler train journey.

Here are 3 Whistler Adventure Packages:

1. Touring with Whistler Olympic Adventure. “Travelers can see where history was made with a three-hour tour of the competition venues of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.”

2. Ziplining with Whistler Zipline Adventure. “This eco-adventure tour features ziplines, suspension bridges and canopy walks combined with a round-trip on the Whistler Sea to Sky Climb.”

3. Walking with Whistler Glacier Adventure. “Walking on a 12,000 year-old glacier is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to having fun on the Whistler Glacier Adventure.”

Image courtesy of Rocky Mountaineer.

5 Great Ape Mountain Safaris

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Are you a primate and mountain lover?  Then you might fancy going on an African safari from Kamili’s Great Apes portfolio.

Kamili has some of the best lodges and camps for Africa’s great ape tracking safaris.  Their destinations range from the Mahale Mountains of western Tanzania to Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

Here are 5 places for great ape safaris:

  • Kungwe Beach Lodge, Mahale National Park, Tanzania. “Kungwe is set on a stretch of golden sandy beach overlooking the crystal clear waters of Lake Tanganyika in the remote Mahale Mountains National Park, home to some of the last remaining wild chimpanzees in Africa.”
  • Gombe River Lodge, Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. “The smallest of Tanzania’s National Parks, Gombe Stream is a thin strip of ancient forest set in the mountains and steep valleys on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, made famous by the pioneering British researcher Jane Goodall, who spent many years observing the park’s chimpanzees.”
  • Primate Lodge, Kibale National Park, Uganda. “Primate Lodge in Kibale is an exclusive eco-lodge situated in the heart of Kibale Forest National Park, home to the highest concentration and variety of primates in Africa.”
  • Silverback Lodge, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda. “The main attraction of Bwindi are the resident mountain gorillas, with two main habituated troops to be found in the areas closest to the park entrance.”
  • Thousand Hills Expeditions, Rwanda – “Declared a National Park in 1925, Volcanoes National Park, the Rwandan section of the famous Virunga Mountain Range, sits majestically between 3474m and 4507m and is home to over half the surviving 650 mountain gorillas in the region.”

Here are scenes from Kamili’s Great Ape portfolio:

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KamiliSafariMist 5 Great Ape Mountain Safaris

For more info, visit the Kamili site.

Images courtesy of Kamili.

Ultimate Antarctica & Africa Trip

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Call it the ultimate Antarctica and Africa adventure.  Adventure travel company Bridge & Wickers is now offering its White Desert, White Lion adventure departing this December.

The two continent adventure will combine an “unforgettable stay” on Antarctica and “behind-the-scenes safari” in South Africa.  Trip highlights will include wildlife viewing; visiting an Emperor Penguin colony; sleeping in an igloo and ice climbing.

This 13-day adventure itinerary will be:

  • 2 nights’ B&B at The Constantia in Cape Town;
  • 8 nights’ full board and drinks at Whichaway Camp in Antarctica;
  • 2 nights’ full board, drinks and a massage at Sanbona Wildlife Reserve;
  • Activities in Antarctica and on safari and
  • Non-stop return flights London – Cape Town and flights between Cape Town and Antarctica.

For more info, visit the Bridge & Wickers website.

Image courtesy of Bridge & Wickers.