Adventure Travel Anyone?

Adventure Travel Anyone?

Apparently the Prairies has just gotten an upgrade

Ever since the man could walk, he traveled. At first, we traveled to escape harsh climate and find food, but as we evolved, we started traveling for fun. Thus appeared travel destinations and travel guides. As time passed, more and more people started traveling to various locations, for the landscape, traditions and thrills.

Here are a few travel locations that are sure to give you your thrills and kicks, somewhat like a top five, I guess, but donít trust me – go check them out yourself out!

1. Himalaya

By far the greatest mountain range in the world, the Himalaya have captured the imagination of philosophers, mystics, mountaineers and empire builders from the earliest ancestors of contemporary Hindus and Buddhists to the present day. Mount Kailash, home of the greatest of the gods, and Meru, centre of the Hindu and Buddhist universe, rise from their surrounding ridges of the central Himalaya. From the high slopes to the foothills, people have carved out an often-meager existence in the harshest of environments with determination, subtlety and imagination enriched by powerful cultural identities. Tribal peoples living often at high altitudes have made their living from their tough environment through trade over the highest passes in the world, while farmers have developed agriculture on the man-made terraces of the warmer, lower-lying valleys and hills of the southern ranges. Although the mountain environment gives a common character to the whole region, each hamlet has its own identity. The villages of the arid high-altitude plateau of Ladakh could scarcely be more different from the homesteads of the monsoon forests of Arunachal Pradesh.

2. Kilimanjaro Climb

Just three degrees south of the Equator is the 5,895m (19,340ft) high, permanently snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro, Africaís highest mountain. It offers one of the best opportunities in the world to climb a peak at high altitude without needing technical climbing ability. Any normally fit, healthy person prepared for some physical exertion and exercise should be able to complete the ascent to Uhuru Peak, which involves approximately 70 kilometers of walking in total, and no technical climbing.

3. Torres Del Paine in Patagonia, Chile

Near the fjord area of Tierra Del Fuego and the Beagle Channel one may visit the famous Torres Del Paine National Park on the southern edge of the Patagonia Ice Cap. The area is easy to get to from Punta Arenas with transportation of buses, taxis and minibuses. It is possibly the most famous national park in South America with 60,000 visitors last season. It is some 100 km north of Puerto Natales. A 2422 sq. km park was given the World Heritage status in 1978 by UNESCO.

It gets its name from three wonderful and very prominent polished columns of pink granite, the Towers of Paine (Torres Del Paine).

Here you may go backpacking and trekking, or you can join programs to do the mountain climbing as well. Nandu and Guanaco (Ostrich and Alpaca like animals) are frequently seen in the park refuge. There is a broad diversity of fauna y flora. Backpackers should have experience with overnight trips in rough country; those who desire to make ascents should have mountaineering ice and snow climbing experience.

4. Amboseli Safari

Amboseli National Park is one of Kenyaís most popular parks because of the stunning view it displays of nearby Mount Kilimanjaro, the worldís tallest freestanding mountain. When you go on your Amboseli Safari, be sure to get the famous photograph of elephants with the unforgettable views of Kilimanjaro in the background!

Streams from Kilimanjaro surface in the centre of Amboseli, creating swamps that attract and support a rich diversity of wild animals and birdlife.

As Amboseli is easily accessible, it forms a popular part of many of our safari itineraries.

Amboseli is one of the smaller game parks in Kenya and the vegetation ensures that the animals are easy to spot. Lions can easily be found and can occasionally be watched stalking their prey.
Buffalo, zebra, giraffe, gazelle and other plains game are plentiful in the park and hippos live in the open waters and swamp channels. The elephants found here are surprisingly relaxed around safari vehicles; they were largely unaffected by ivory poaching and have some of the largest tusks.

Nothing beats the experience of adventure travel, so pack up your rucksack and give it a go!

Adventure travel is becoming more popular all the time. It can be very expensive, though, and even a bit too dangerous for some of us. It doesn’t have to either, though. Here are a few ideas for small adventures you can afford. They are followed by a definition of adventure that will help you add your own to the list.

Try treasure hunting. Rent or buy a metal detector and spend a relaxing but interesting weekend finding coins, jewelry and who-knows-what in the sand at the beach. No beach nearby? Look up the historical records for your town, to see where old picnic grounds were. Treasure hunters regularly find old coins at places like these.

Take climbing lessons. Whether this is on Mount Ranier in Washington, or Mount Washington in New Hampshire, it’s sure to be an adventure. At least it will be more exciting than my trip up a local sledding hill with my ice-axe and crampons.

Travel form monastery to monastery. Make it a spiritual adventure or just relax. Most monasteries take in visitors, and usually have reasonably priced accommodations. The Buddhist ones in particular are most often in beautiful places.

Do a hot springs tour. This is for those who live in the west. Get a guide to hot springs or copy directions off the internet. Bring swimming suits (optional at some, for the more adventurous), towels and a cooler full of refreshments. Want more adventure? Seek out the ones that you have to hike into the wilderness to find.

Off Road Adventure Drive. Sport Utility Vehicle on the Sandy Northern Arizona Desert Road.

The Cheapest Adventure Travel

Find and summit the highest peak in your state. This might be less-than-adventurous in some states, but it will at least be an excuse to get outside and get some good exercise. Be sure to bring your camera for the summit shot. You might try the highest point in the next state over for your next adventure trip.

Investigate and find the nearest hidden swimming holes. The best ones are ones that require a hike to get to. Watch for people heading down a trail with swimsuits and a cooler. Nobody hikes in swimsuit and drags a cooler into the woods, unless there is water involved.

Play Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Locate the nearest river that is large enough and has some public forest. Then build a raft from dead trees and float downstream for a day. We usually started by hiking upstream for an hour or more, so we could float back to the car.

A vagabond trip. Pack enough clothing and snacks for several days and just start driving, with no destination in mind. Who knows where you’ll end up, and what you’ll discover. Pack a tent or camp in your car to keep it really affordable.

That last one is a classic adventure trip in my book. Adventure is any activity you engage in that is new to you and doesn’t have a predictable outcome. It doesn’t need to be dangerous to be interesting and fun, and could even include a trip to the nearest large city for a weekend tour of the nightclubs. Of course, depending on the places you choose, this could be fairly dangerous adventure travel.

CATEGORIES
TAGS
Share This

COMMENTS

Wordpress (0)
Disqus (0 )