Beach and bush adventure, Zambia and Malawi
This 15-day African safari experience is the stuff of dreams. Your adventure will start with canoe safaris on the Lower Zambezi, where you'll paddle past elephants and game drinking at the water's edge, and sleep in the luxury tented accommodation, before moving on to stays and walking safaris in South Luangwa National Park and Blantyre. The first half of your second week will be spent hiking up Mount Mulanje, with swims in waterfalls on the way and incredible views from the top. The next two days are spent enjoying colonial luxury in Blantyre, where mountain bike trails are waiting to be explored if you've still got energy to burn. The final place you'll discover is the stunning Cape Maclear on the beautiful Lake Malawi, where you'll be ferried to your island camp for three days of kayak safaris and snorkelling around its fish-filled rocky coves, and swing in your hammock to the grunting roars of swimming hippos.
Price: From £4122 per person for this luxury 15-day tour. Includes internal flights and transfers, two game activities a day, all meals and accommodation. International flights not included.
US National Park Lodges Escorted Tour, USA
This two-week guided tour includes the highlights of America's iconic western National Parks, staying in their historic lodges, many of which have been restored for the 100 year anniversary of the Park Service in 2016. You'll hike among giant Sequoia trees in California's Sierra Nevada, walk under the great rock walls of Yosemite, explore the extreme climate and mudstone hills of Death Valley, and the cathedral-like sandstone canyons of Zion National Park, be guided by local Mormon in Utah, see the sun rise over the rim of the Grand Canyon in Arches National Park, and hike in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park. Eleven National Parks in 15 days with Salt Lake City and San Francisco thrown in for good measure, you're going to need digital storage for all those photos!
Price: From £2907 per person, including Tour leader, accommodation and transport.
Sumatran wild orang-utan and tiger trek expedition, Indonesia
Although this 9-day trekking tour includes three days in a hotel at the end and beginning, the days and nights in between will be spent hacking out your own jungle adventure. Tracking orang-utans and other native species to the Sumatran rain forest, such as tigers, rhinoceros, elephant, tapirs and bears, not to mention countless birds and insect life, you'll spend six nights in the jungle. Expert guides will teach you essential jungle survival skills such as building fires and camps, foraging and cooking jungle vegetables, fishing for the pot and preparing jungle medicines. While you're there, while not add on extra activities such as elephant riding, whitewater rafting or overland tours to Berastagi Volcano.
Price: From £425 per person includes transport from Medan, 2 nights hotel, 1 hour elephant ride, all food and drinks, fully licensed guides and park permits.
Namibian Fatbike Safari, Namibia
This week-long cycling adventure through the wild, desolate and bone-dry expanses of Namibia in south-western Africa is a bucket list must for any adventure-hungry fatbiker and his or her all-terrain balloon-wheeled bike. This adventure isn't for beginners though, as you'll need decent bike-handling skills and hardened enough sitbones to manage up to eight hours a day in the saddle. The journey will be worth it though, as you pedal through dunes, across beaches and sleep under the stars. You'll visit shipwrecks on the infamous Skeleton coast where the desert meets the sea, see seals and oryx and hear the barks and howls of jackals. You know you're in for an adventure when even the 'promotional' bumf warns you'll need to be able to dig deep and handle whatever nature can throw at you - sandstorms, heat, cold, rain and lots and lots of sand!'
Price: From £1489 per person based on sharing a twin room for two nights, includes airport transfers, 7 nights camping, all meals and drinks while camping, all camping equipment, mechanic/cycling guide. Fatbike hire available for £166.
Climb Aconcagua, Argentina
Towering high above the mountainous Mendosa Province of the Argentinian Andes and neighbouring Chile, Aconcagua is the highest mountain outside the Himalayas. Apart from being in a stunning part of the world, and being the second highest of the Seven Summits at 6,961m, the biggest attraction of this peak is that you don't need any climbing experience to stand on its summit. That doesn't mean it's easy though - nothing is easy at this altitude. Only strong mountain walkers need apply, and previous ice axe and crampon experience is a must! Adventure Peaks' 18-day expedition takes you up the less frequented route from the North East, up the Vacas Valley, with mountain porters carrying group gear such as tents, stoves, shovels and fuel, leaving you to carry no more than about 13kg, and mules are used to support the trek into the base camp. Be prepared for a tough summit day, as you make a bid from the 5,900m high camp to the 6,962m summit, a trudge which could take up to 10 hours to ascend, and a further to 2-4 to descend again. But make it and you'll have bagged one of the highest peaks in the world.
Price: From £3525 per person, includes flights, National Park permits, fresh food at camp 1 and 2, 1:3 guide to client guiding ratio, high-altitude porters, camping equipment, valley hotel accommodation, 110 litre kit bag, radio on mountain.
Hike through America's Canyonlands
Starting in Las Vegas, this Ramblers hiking holiday will take you on a circular tour of the scenic highlights of the south western United States, through, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. This is walking in iconic 'wild west' country, with the spired limestone amphitheatres of Bryce Canyon, the lush gorge of Zion Canyon and on through Navajo county to Arches National Park with its 90-plus pink sandstone bridges shaped by the wind. Driving across the arid Monument Valley, you'll spend three nights on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, before descending to the Colorado river one mile below and then hiking up the other side to the North rim the day after, before heading back the bright lights of Vegas. After all these incredible natural splendours, even 'sin city's' bright lights might seem a little dulled!
Price: £3,799 per person, including flights, airport transfers, B&B en-suite accommodation, dinners and services of a dedicated tour leader.
Sri Lanka Trek with Marie Curie
This nine-day trek through the jungles of the small but magical country of Sri Lanka promises exotic wildlife and Buddhist culture, as well as majestic views. What's more, raising money for cancer care while you walk will add an extra dimension to this once-in-a-lifetime holiday. In Minneriya National Park, if you're lucky, you'll see wild elephants, spotted deer and possibly even leopards on foot in the jungle, before exploring the World Heritage Site of Sigriya rock fortress, and golden-roofed Buddhist temples. The pinnacle of your trekking challenge, literally, will be a midnight climb of the 2,412m Adam's Peak to see sunrise from the summit.
Price: Registration fee - £250, Minimum fundraising £3,300, dates - 19 - 28 November. Includes return flights from Gatwick, local transfers, accommodation, all meals, trek leader, doctor, luggage transfers while trekking
Hiking Dominica's new end-to-end trail
The Carribean island of Dominica's recently opened 115-mile long Waitukubuli National Trail is an end-to-end trail like no other. Split into 14 segments the trail snakes from Scotts Head on the south west coast, through the mountainous volcanic interior, along its east coast, and then back again, finally to the rugged north-western coast at Cabrits. Along it you'll discover national parks, forest reserves, tropical beaches and coves, and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Morne Trois Pitons National Park. The tropical interior of this French influenced island is dotted with waterfalls, natural springs, bubbling mud baths and fantastic coastal views. Each segment is about 15km long and involves a full-day's walking. You can walk the trail with World Expeditions on a 12-day hike.
Price: From £2,090 per person, all inclusive including all meals and accommodation, as well as guiding. International flights and transfers not included.
Trekking Mont Blanc, Chamonix to Chamonix
Easy to get to from the UK, a tour of Western Europe's highest mountain is still one of the world's premier high mountain hiking routes. Take on this challenging 10-day tour with G Adventures and you'll be rewarded with mesmerizing views of glaciers, vertiginous valleys as you conquer windswept cols and steep trails, saying in several remote mountain refuges on the way. Your hike will take you over high mountain passes where your lungs will fight for oxygen in the thin air, and take you across Alpine meadows, from the mountaineering mecca of Chamonix in France to Italy, Switzerland and back to France again.
Price: From £944 for 7-day hike, two nights hotel, two nights basic hotel, five nights mountain refuges, qualified mountain leader guide, all transport during tour. Meals and flights not included.
Hiking the Aletsch Glacier Panorama Trail, Switzerland
Overlooked by 32 4,000 metre Alpine peaks, the silvery grey Aletsch Glacier is Europe's biggest ice flow and a must for any mountain-loving hiker. This five-day, self-guided hiking route will help you discover one of Europe's most dramatic alpine landscapes, from the banks of the river Rhone, through Alpine forests, to the Bettmerhorn, high above the glacier, and on to the car-free village of Fiescheralp, at 2,212 metres above the treeline. Don't miss testing your vertigo by crossing the impossibly flimsy-looking 124-metre long suspension bridge, which is draped 80 metres over the Massa Gorge near to Belalp.
Price: From £559 per adult in twin/double room in 3-star hotels. Includes flights from UK, breakfast, airport transfers, luggage transfers and tour notes.
