When our 38-foot sloop approached at dawn one September morning, more than 200 miles from the nearest speck of land, we’d been staring down squalls on the South Pacific for five days and nights. We hadn’t seen a soul since departing from Bora Bora 800 miles ago, but we knew we were close when we noticed the phrase “Kiss My Arse Rock” on the chart plotter.

I had jumped on Serena three weeks earlier to help my dad, a seasoned amateur sailor, crew a zigzagging passage of roughly 1,500 miles from French Polynesia’s Society Islands to Tonga. Joined by a third crewmate, Mason, an olive-skinned 22-year-old, we decided to make Palmerston our stopover in the Cook Islands, based on the hearty recommendation of two fellow California sailors we’d befriended. Per our cruising manual’s instructions, we had e-mailed our potential host, Edward John Dick Marsters, and quickly heard back that we would be welcome—especially if we brought tobacco.

Now, as we near the barrier reef encircling the atoll, an outboard-powered aluminum skiff approaches, carrying three middle-aged men. A sturdy islander clad in a rust-colored Budweiser tee and Lilliputian purple shorts guides the dinghy close. He helps us tie onto a mooring ball anchored on the coral shelf before introducing himself as Edward Marsters, chief of police.

Ed and his brother, Goodley Marsters—Palmerston’s agricultural inspector—stay aboard the dinghy, fending it off Serena’s carbon hull, while the customs officer, Arthur Neale, boards our vessel. Ed winces slightly as he gingerly flexes a knee. “Too much judo,” he explains through a bushy salt-and-pepper mustache.

Arthur is a sprightly sailor who turns out to be the son of a Palmerston woman and Tom Neale, a now deceased Kiwi known for living as a hermit on the Cook Island of Suwarrow, just to the north. He sits cross-legged on the deck, carefully pinning down our documents so they don’t flutter away as he scribbles on the immigration forms.

The shallow channel through the reef is impassable for yachts, so my dad, Mason, and I are invited into the skiff to go ashore. The men from Palmerston chivalrously use a life jacket to protect me from spray as we navigate the waves roiling over the rocks. A series of anchored sticks guide Ed through the deepest part of the pass, but I get the sense that any of these men could find their way through with their eyes shut. Though the wind must be blowing at more than 20 miles per hour, Ed pauses, and the five of us watch him roll a cigarette.

Looking back over his shoulder at Serena bouncing on her tether just outside the surf, my dad asks how often the winds turn westerly—a potential catastrophe, since the only moorings are on the west side of the reef. “When they turn west,” Ed deadpans. This is a place where the traditional advice for cyclones is to lash yourself to a coconut tree on Refuge Hill, the island’s high point at just under 20 feet.

Safely inside the lagoon, we clamber out, splashing ankle-deep into warm, limpid water. Dad and Arthur help Ed drag the boat ashore as Mason, who’s been nursing some kind of infected insect bite on his knee, hobbles in behind me. We follow Ed across the sand, studded with sharp fragments of coral, and into the trees to his brother’s house.

Nearly 2,000 miles northeast of New Zealand, Palmerston is 500 miles away from the Cook Islands’ capital and main population center, Rarotonga. The atoll has no airport or any commercial service by sea, but if you can get there, the islanders are happy to host visitors, usually in exchange for gear like nautical hardware and rope. Most cruisers bypass it in lieu of the Cooks’ southern group, since there are no supplies for sale here. Nevertheless, Palmerston gets several hundred visitors each year, during a dry season that lasts from May through October. Often relegated to in guidebooks, Palmerston is known more for its unusual human history than its natural beauty, but it has plenty of both.

In the early 1860s, an English itinerant named William Masters arrived on the island, part of a wave of European missionaries and traders who flocked to Polynesia in the 19th century. Although the Cooks became a British protectorate in 1888 and were eventually annexed by the colony of New Zealand in 1900, the archipelago was politically sovereign when Masters was sent there by an employer to plant palm trees for copra, a form of dried coconut from which oil can be extracted.

Masters had left England for the American goldfields in his early twenties and spent the subsequent years plying the South Pacific, working jobs thought to range from carpenter to interpreter. He came to Palmerston by way of Penrhyn, an atoll in the northern group of the Cooks. There he married a chief’s daughter named , who he called Sarah. He brought her to Palmerston, as well as her cousin, Tepou, who is recognized as his second spouse, though Masters had previously fathered children with a third woman from Penrhyn named Arehata. Between those three and his third official Polynesian wife, a Penrhyn native named Matavia, Masters sired 23 children. (He also sired several before leaving England.) Today almost everyone on Palmerston can trace their roots back to Masters, with some influx from other islands.

While polygamy was not unusual in Polynesian cultures, Palmerston’s history is unique. Even on Pitcairn—the isle between French Polynesia and Easter Island that was famously settled by the mutinous crew of the Bounty in 1790—at least four original families have yielded its present-day population of about 50.

Masters was well suited to being a patriarch. Known to this day as “Father” by his distant descendants, he instituted marriage policies and other forward-thinking practices that are still in effect, like an annual bosun bird hunt, his take on the Cooks’ traditional °ùČč’uŸ± conservation culture. On the first Saturday of June, the islanders catch enough fowl to give each person exactly half a bird. Hunting the long-tailed white seabirds outside of this ritual is forbidden, a way of ensuring that healthy flocks exist in the future. Masters’s fears about food supplies were legitimate: despite his conservationist attitude, he died on Palmerston in 1899 from malnutrition, a fairly common fate at the time.

It’s difficult to understand why an expat would choose to live out his days in such a sequestered locale—until you go to Palmerston yourself. Windswept coconut trees arch over screen-saver-blue waters and bone-white sand. A ring of named but uninhabited auxiliary islets, called motu, complete a circuit around the seven-mile-long saltwater lagoon, shielding it from the open ocean that surrounds the atoll.

All of Palmerston’s residents live on Home Island, the largest in the atoll, which is less than a mile long. The three main maternal families retain their own areas (in addition to their own motu), with descendants of Masters’s first Polynesian wife, Akakaingaro, residing on the desirable interior.

Thanks to a combination of fishing, rainwater-catchment systems, and a solar generator, the community is largely self-reliant. But there are obvious downsides to this. Palmerston is far from modern medical facilities, and there are undercurrents of tension about the costs of isolation. For years, industrious types from New Zealand have tried to build an airport on the atoll. Some balk at the suggestion, worried that another pristine environment will be polluted and overrun with tourists. But easier access to the outside world is a tempting proposition—especially in light of , which unduly affects low-slung island nations like the Cooks. An airstrip could be the lifeline Palmerston needs to get emergency support in the wake of a natural disaster.

It’s a double-edged sword: an airport would have the power to both shore up Palmerston’s greatest vulnerability and destroy the atoll as it currently exists.

Thick stands of coconut and mahogany trees shelter a home we're approaching from robust mid-Pacific gusts. Pigs and chickens wander freely under a green awning that appears to be an old parachute, supported by the aluminum mast of a ship that ran aground. The battered hull still rests near the beach.

Simon, Ed's older brother, is waiting for us, casually swinging a machete by his side. He’s shirtless, and a potbelly protrudes slightly over the top of skintight navy swim shorts. His pale, kindly eyes are striking against his dark complexion as he invites us to sit where a table is laid for lunch.

Simon’s adoptive adult daughter, Terupea, tends to his 88-year-old mother, Tuine, inside the house. She sits chairbound and mute while the rest of us settle at the table outside. Terupea’s husband, Will, a schoolteacher on the island, joins us. A shrewd Kiwi, he settled on Palmerston in 2015 to help a friend renovate a house. He’d already visited twice, both times en route to Suwarrow, having been inspired by Tom Neale’s 1966 memoir about his experiences roughing it in the Cooks, . Will married Terupea in 2018 and is now building them their own home on the north side of the island.

It’s warm but threatening to rain as we drink sweet tea and devour curried chicken with potatoes, peas, and green beans. Although the islanders grow a few crops in small quantities—they harvest starchy staples like taro and sweet potatoes and rely on trees for breadfruit and star fruit—the soil is poor, and most of what’s eaten comes from the sea. They fish for black jack and parrotfish, both crucial for sustenance. The latter is exported throughout the Cooks as well.

“We have more than enough fish for our own diets,” Will says, explaining that other islands’ lagoons are affected by , a naturally produced toxin that can render seafood inedible. “Demand for reef fish is insatiable in Rarotonga and Aitutaki.”

To supplement the Palmerston diet, they raise pigs and chickens, and a supply ship comes through every few months from Rarotonga, carrying luxuries and goods like rice, sugar, and lamb from New Zealand. 

As we eat, Will regales us with a story about visiting another island, Niue, after having been on Palmerston for months. Approaching it in a boat, he saw what he assumed were the glinting eyes of animals visible onshore. “I resolved that I would not make landfall until I figured out what they were,” he says. “Soon enough I realized they were cars! It had been so long since I had seen a car that initially it did not dawn upon me what I was looking at.”

Despite their remote location, our hosts are able to keep up with current affairs abroad via Wi-Fi. The Cooks are politically associated with New Zealand, meaning that Cook Islanders are automatically granted Kiwi citizenship and can move freely back and forth. Many of the young adults on Palmerston, like Ed’s son David, have lived in New Zealand to work for a while before returning home.

Aside from exports, government jobs are the primary source of income on Palmerston. Three family heads and an equal number of deputies form the Island Council, the local governing body. The national government also compensates Ed for his duties as the constable, for example, and Arthur for his customs work.

I ask Arthur, a New Zealand national who’s lived on Palmerston since 2009, how he wound up here. “Like everyone else,” he replies. “By boat.”

After lunch, David gives the three of us a leisurely tour. Ambling past the crude structures that line the main street of the village, we learn that his family is descended from Tepou, Father’s second wife. He points out a sandy graveyard, where nearly every tombstone is inscribed with the surname Marsters. (The r is a phonetic addition derived from Masters’s rural English accent, which you can still hear reflected in the of some words.) 

Peering at Father’s grave, I see his death date and age, 78—though that figure is thought to be off by as many as 11 years—followed by an inscription in Maori and one in English: “Blessed are the dead which die in the lord.” What’s not included is the rest of the biblical passage. “That they may rest from their labours,” it goes, “and their works do follow them.”

The next morning at nine, Ed comes out to Serena, where we’ve spent the night, to ferry us back for the most important social event on the island: church. Nearly every one of Palmerston’s 35 residents is in attendance. Ed is looking dapper in gray slacks and a matching button-down—but no shoes.

Following an hourlong Protestant service with roof-rattling hymns in both English and Maori, we return to Simon’s and feast on grilled lamb and potato salad before convening in the shade in front of Ed’s house, 100 feet away. I notice that one of the cracked plastic chairs is braced with a scrap of plywood.

“It’s a day to rest,” Ed says, as a fuzzy replay of last night’s All Blacks rugby match blares from a television inside. Two Union Jacks hang by the TV. 

By this point, Mason’s knee is so swollen that it’s shiny, and he can barely bend it. Though it’s the Sabbath—no one is even supposed to swim on Sundays—Ed phones the island nurse, Sheila, who makes an exception and does a house call. She declares it a boil and administers antibiotics free of charge.

The prospect of more convenient health care is a bargaining chip that’s long been used by proponents of the airport. Still, the islanders have historically vetoed development. Only one dissenter is necessary to halt the project, and last time around, about a decade ago, one of the families voted against it: Ed and Simon’s. Ed told me their mother had gestured skyward and said, “Doctors do not hold my life. God does.”

Located on one of the motu—the trees razed—the airstrip would desecrate Palmerston’s natural resources. “Think of the lagoon in one year,” Ed says, comparing the potential effects of tourist infrastructure to the rampant pollution in Rarotonga. 

There are cultural reasons for rejecting development, too. The languorous island way of living would not—could not—exist as it does. “We would not be sitting here now,” says Ed, gesturing at our impromptu circle. According to him, he was largely thinking of future generations when he opposed the airstrip. “But if my great-grandchild wants it
” 

But Ed is losing ground. Despite the fact that South Pacific countries like the Cook Islands account for less than 1 percent of our planet’s greenhouse-gas emissions, even faster in the Cooks than the worldwide average. The —a detriment to coral reefs and the sea life they support—and , undermining traditional farming and water-capture practices. Meanwhile, cyclones, which can not only damage infrastructure but also erode invaluable land via storm surges and flooding, are predicted to decrease in quantity but worsen in severity, facts that are all the more troubling when you’re as far from aid as Palmerston is. 

Tropical hurricanes have hit Palmerston as recently as 2016, with really damaging ones occurring only a few times per century. The island just built a new cyclone shelter with funding from the Japanese government, but if a storm does hit hard, it could be back to ground zero.

On a national level, the Cooks are taking basic steps to preempt the effects of global warming, like in anticipation of droughts and to help fishermen and farmers get reliable, real-time information. Although the United Nations Adaptation Fund has poured $5,381,600 into projects like this, it’s a small comfort when a major storm is bearing down on you and your family.

“Ease of access would greatly benefit the Palmerston people,” Will says. He understands each side of the debate, though. “The more we expose ourselves to the outside world, the more we have to worry.”

For Will, the biggest threat to Palmerston is reliance on modern conveniences. “We are slowly losing our traditional subsistence techniques,” he explains. “Climate change will affect food production elsewhere, and in the face of resulting unaffordable prices, we will have no resort but to return to our traditional basic agriculture and foraging. If we have lost those skills, then a remote atoll can be very unforgiving.”

When I ask him if he worries about more acutely destructive crises, like severe cyclones, he gets defensive. “It is very easy to sound like a propagandist when you are talking about climate change to someone who has no motor car and catches fish with a palm frond, including myself,” Will says. “It’s almost like, ‘Hi, guys, you need to do this and that,’ without the acknowledgement that it was not the people of Palmerston who stuffed the environment up.”

Ultimately, he concedes that Palmerston’s way of life is fragile. “We try not to worry about it,” he says, “but we realize our vulnerability.”

As long as there’s a vestige of nonconformity on the island—someone like Ed, who’s willing to do things his own way, for better or worse—daily life on Palmerston will remain much as Father experienced it. Until the last holdout caves, there’s little that can change the fate of the atoll. So for now, we content ourselves on our wobbly plastic chairs, trying simply to enjoy the breeze as William Masters might have.

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Multisport Alaska

The philosophy behind Alaska Wildland șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűs’ new Ultimate Alaska trip is simple: guests try just about everything the 49th state has to offer. The eight-day journey begins and ends in Anchorage, and in between clients will sea-kayak with puffins in Kenai Fjords National Park, dogsled outside the gold-rush town of Girdwood, ride horses through the Chugach Mountains’ Sitka spruce forests, raft (or fish for rainbows) on the Kenai River, and hike the northernmost rainforest in North America following a floatplane flight. Nights are spent recuperating at AWA’s three lodges, including its two-year-old private log cabins located on a rocky beach in the middle of Kenai Fjords National Park. Views from the porches include Pedersen Glacier, sea otters, mountain goats, and bears aplenty. $4,495; July 4–11 and August 7–14;

: Trek Nepal

Hiking Nepal Tengboche Monastery

The trail to Nepal—s Tengboche Monastery

See the top of the world without the circus of Base Camp on REI șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűs’ new Everest Lodge-to-Lodge trek. On the 14-day trip, up to 15 guests hike through the lush, rugged Dudh Kosi river valley (elevation: 8,600 to 11,300 feet) before climbing out to views of Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse. By day, explore remote villages such as Thame, once an important stop on the ancient salt-trade route that’s accessible by traversing the slopes of Khumbi Yulha, a sacred mountain. By night, crash in simple, clean family-run lodges and fill up on traditional Nepalese fare. Highlight: an evening at the Tengboche Monastery with monks chanting, meditating, and playing traditional drums and horns. $2,850 plus $299 for round-trip airfare between Kathmandu and Lukla; trips run monthly from March through May and September through December; .

: Heli-Ski Greenland

Is Greenland the next Chugach? Arne Hardenberg, a former member of the country’s Olympic alpine ski team, thinks so. He leads a weeklong sail-and-ski trip on Greenland’s west coast. Up to 12 guests maximize their six days of chasing corn snow by sleeping in bunk beds on the Kisaq, an 83-foot wooden ferry. The helicopter follows the ship and shuttles guests from sea to 6,500-foot summits surrounding the 50-mile-long Eternity Fjord. Afternoons are spent sea-kayaking, water-skiing behind the Zodiac, or fishing for your own halibut dinner. April’s the best month for snow, daylight (14 hours), and temps, which hover in the high twenties. Tours start from Maniitsoq, a couple hours’ flight north from the capital, Nuuk, and motor four hours north to Eternity Fjord. $13,100; .

: Float Bhutan

Bhutan Forest

Bhutan opened two new districts to travelers last September

Northwest Rafting Company co-owner Zach Collier was one of just 25,000 travelers admitted to Bhutan last year. His first move: befriending Ugyen Dorji, local river outfitter and kayak instructor extraordinaire. This fall, the duo will host two commercial rafting trips through the 14,824-square-mile country, focusing on the Mo Chuu (Mother River) and Po Chuu (Father River). The whitewater ranges from Class II to Class IV, with confluences marked by prayer flags for good luck. Rather than a traditional multi-day float, expect half-day river trips with take-outs to mountain-bike and visit Buddhist temples. Nights are spent at a luxury base camp in the Punakha Valley featuring safari tents, home-cooked meals, and Himalayan views. $4,900; October 24–November 7 and November 7–21; .

: Climb Africa

Three weeks, three countries, and three 16,000-plus-foot peaks. That’s the ambitious premise behind a new itinerary from KE șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Travel. The trip starts with four days of acclimatization on the sharp, scree-covered slopes of 16,350-foot Mount Kenya. After summiting, drive to the Tanzania border for a five-day rapid ascent on the wild northern side of 19,340-foot Kilimanjaro. From there you’ll fly over Lake Victoria, the largest tropical lake in the world, to Uganda for an eight-day trek up glaciated, 16,750-foot Mount Stanley. Don’t expect posh accommodations: digs are safari tents and base-camp huts, and meals consist of mountaineer fare (porridge, coffee, pasta). Do expect some of the most remarkable views in Africa. $6,525, including park fees; July 7–30 and December 22–January 14; .

: Bomb Patagonia

Rio Manso Argentina

Over Argentina's Rio Manso

La Confluencia Lodge, a 16-year-old operation in Argentinian Patagonia, sits at the isolated confluence of the glacial RĂ­o Azul and RĂ­o Encanto Blanco. In the surrounding river valley, the lodge owner’s son—a former Argentinian downhill mountain-bike champion—has carved a five-mile maze of singletrack. So it was only natural that when British Columbia–based outfitter Sacred Rides began scouting its first mountain-bike trip in Patagonia, they looked here. Result: a nine-day lodge-based trip during which guests cruise through alpine meadows and forests, do morning yoga by the river, kayak Class II–IV rapids in the bright blue water (beginner lessons are available), and unwind in the lodge’s outdoor hot tubs. Highlight: an overnight trip featuring a 12-mile ride, a kayak trip to an isolated riverside cabin, a steak dinner, and a bonfire party. $2,250 plus $400 to rent a full-suspension Cannondale bike; November–March; .

: Paddle Polynesia

Moorea is one of the most beautiful islands in the world, a playground of jagged volcanic peaks and turquoise lagoons. The best way to explore it is in the unofficial local vehicle, an outrigger canoe. Tahiti Expeditions’ Moorea Outrigger Expedition offers a nine-day circumnavigation, during which guests paddle 37 miles of bays and reefs in a six-person outrigger and can opt to dive and snorkel with dolphins, surf, or hike tropical valleys on the side. Nights are spent camping on white-sand beaches or lounging in five-star hotels (guests choose). On day seven, indulge in a traditional feast of fish, taro leaves, plantains, and fruit pudding, all steamed in a pit oven between hot rocks and woven mats. From $2,850; .

: Trek Mongolia

Open steppe and emerald meadows. Forested valleys and thick marshland. Turquoise alpine lakes and glaciated peaks. Western Mongolia’s 2,456-square-mile Altai Tavan Bogd National Park, in the Altai-Sayan eco-region, near the Chinese border, has it all. Explore the park on Tusker Trail’s 15-day, 100-mile Mongolia Trek—16 guests, six camels, a local guide, and a cook cover eight to ten jaw-dropping miles per day by foot and horseback, traversing around the Five Holy Peaks of Altai and keeping eyes peeled for argali, lynx, and Saker falcons. Digs are sturdy mountain tents, as well as the ger camps of nomadic Kazakhs on days two and 12. If you’re lucky, your hosts may show you a thing or two about their 1,000-year-old tradition of hunting with golden eagles. $5,140; .

: Rafting Siberia

When Echo River Trips asked Vladimir Gavrilov, who literally wrote the book on Russian whitewater (Rivers of an Unknown Land), to lead a trip on his favorite river, expenses be damned, he picked the Kaa-Khem. The 166-mile float begins with an Mi-8 helicopter dropping you in the heavily forested southern province of Tuva, 50 miles north of the Mongolian border. With its vodka-clear waters, exceptional fishing, and swift current—one particularly rambunctious ten-mile section of river offers more than 30 Class III and IV rapids—the Kaa-Khem is reminiscent of the Middle Fork of the Salmon. Except for its location: near the geographic center of the Asian subcontinent, about as far from an ocean as you can get. Then there are the fish. The Kaa-Khem is home to both feisty grayling and harder-to-find taimen, leviathans that feed on mice and that Vlad and his buddies try to land using fur-wrapped pieces of wood with huge hooks. $5,660; July 24–August 7; .

: Ride France

Cyclomundo’s six-day, five-night ride from Lake Geneva (1,220 feet) to l’Alpe d’Huez (6,100 feet) is both beautiful and brawny. Over the course of the 224-mile trip, cyclists tackle some of the hairiest climbs in the French Alps—including Tour de France regulars ColombiĂšre and Galibier—taking in views of Mont Blanc and Lake Geneva en route. Cyclomundo offers a self-guided option—lodging, meals, a GPS, maps, and a bike mechanic are provided, but a guide is not. So if you need motivation, take the fully outfitted option, which comes with the same provisions but also a guide, a support vehicle, and a peloton of up to 15 other travelers. $910 self-guided; $1,250 guided; .

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Fakarava: Nature’s Aquarium

Above It All

Lagoon Resort

SOUTHERN COMFORT: A garden path at the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort

Bora Bora Lagoon Resort and Spa, Society Islands

WITH AN OPALESCENT BLUE LAGOON, views of a velvety green ancient volcano that juts 2,385 feet into the sky, and a banyan-tree-house spa, the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort and Spa—set on its own 150-acre jungle islet—is the original South Pacific idyll.

THE GOOD LIFE: Fifty Polynesian-style thatch-roofed bungalows stand over the water on stilts. Employees leave a supply of bread near the door so you can feed the fish below. The roomy digs also have private swim platforms from which you can cannonball into the water before breakfast, which arrives via outrigger canoe.

SPORTS ON-SITE: The 160-square-foot infinity swimming pool is the largest in Bora-Bora, perfect for serious laps. Drinking mai tais at the poolside bar should qualify as exercise, too. For salt water, take a complimentary Hobie Cat or kayak for a spin in the lagoon.

BEYOND THE SAND: Check out the shark-feeding excursion. Mask-wearing guests submerge in waist-high water—safely behind a rope—while a wrangler baits the toothy predators.

THE FINE PRINT: Over-water bungalows from $830, garden bungalows from $485; 800-860-4095, . Air Tahiti Nui flies direct from both LAX (from $923) and New York (from $1,223) to Tahiti (877 824-4846, ). From there it’s a 45-minute flight to Bora-Bora on Air Tahiti (from $320; 800-346-2599, ).

Royal Davui Island Resort

Fiji

FOR CENTURIES, UGAGA ISLAND, an inconspicuous eight-acre chunk of rock, sand, and coral about 20 miles south of Viti Levu, was little more than a resting place for local fishermen. Today it serves as a refuge of a different sort: Since it opened in November 2004, the Royal Davui has become one of Fiji’s most sought-after hideaways. The marble-and-onyx bar feels straight out of a slick L.A. club, giant two-foot clamshells line the walkway to the massage studio, and gnarled century-old tree roots run across the $8.5 million property.

THE GOOD LIFE: Each of the 16 multiroom villas is designed more like a house than a hotel room, with private plunge pools, a titanic Jacuzzi bathtub, and retractable bathroom skylights. Sit down for dinner under the branches of a 100-foot banyan tree and enjoy a four-course meal of mahi-mahi with freshwater mussels or papaya ravioli.

SPORTS ON-SITE: Reef sharks prowl the 25-foot wall drops along the private coral garden circling Ugaga Island. Myriad dive sites sit farther offshore, some of which have never seen a scuba diver.

BEYOND THE SAND: The resort offers tours of Beqa Island, where you can join the village chief of Naceva for a kava ceremony.

THE FINE PRINT: Doubles from $1,013, including all meals; 011-679-330-7090, . Air New Zealand (800-262-1234, ) flies from LAX to Nadi, Fiji, starting at $806 round-trip. Forgo the nearly three-hour car-and-boat transfer to the island and take the helicopter shuttle; from $690 round-trip.

Pacific Resort Aitutaki

Cook Islands

Pacific Resort Aitutaki

SOUTHERN COMFORT: Deckside at Pacific Resort Aitutaki

DURING WORLD WAR II, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built two miles of runway on the island of Aitutaki for use as a South Pacific refueling and supply station. These days, the bustle is gone on this fishhook-shaped atoll, 183 miles north of Rarotonga. But on an island of white-sand beaches and azure water, who needs action?

THE GOOD LIFE: Pacific Resort Aitutaki’s three beachfront villas, complete with Italian-marble bathrooms and woven-bamboo ceilings, sit atop black volcanic rock, crowning the three-year-old, 27-room resort. From garden-fresh mango-and-passion-fruit smoothies to the house specialty, ahi katsu—chile-spiced rare tuna wrapped in nori (paper-thin dried seaweed)—the resort’s restaurant is all about blending island flavor with modern flair.

SPORTS ON-SITE: The shallow waters of Aitutaki’s 20-square-mile lagoon make for some of the Cook Islands’ best bonefishing. Or ditch the fly and think bigger—because the volcanic island rises up from a depth of more than 13,000 feet, big game like marlin and sailfish are waiting to be hooked just minutes from your beachside sundeck.

BEYOND THE SAND: Guide Ngaakitai Pureariki teaches guests local medical and cultural practices on three-hour island tours. Slice your foot on coral? The meat of an utu fruit will ease the pain. Upset stomach? The juice from a noni tree eases gastroenteritis.

THE FINE PRINT: Doubles from $543; 011-682-31720, . Air New Zealand (800-262-1234, ) flies from LAX to Rarotonga starting at $806 round-trip. Air Rarotonga (011-682-22888, ) offers round trips from Rarotonga to Aitutaki starting at $263.

Traders’ Ridge Resort

Yap

OK, SO IT’S NOT EXACTLY in the South Pacific, but Yap is worth crossing the equator for. This collection of more than 130 low-lying atolls pockmarking the North Pacific between Guam and the Philippines has a mere 3,000 annual visitors. (By comparison, neighboring Palau sees 90,000 tourists a year.) The lack of outsiders, combined with sporadic access to Internet and TV, makes Yap’s culture the most intact in Micronesia—no staged luaus with stuffed pigs here. And at Traders’ Ridge Resort, the native staff loves to teach guests about their traditions, like the national addiction to chewing betel nuts. Bartender James Funwog makes it easy by shaking up betel-nut martinis.

THE GOOD LIFE: Atop a ridge overlooking Chamorro Bay, in the quiet capital town of Colonia, the 22-room Traders’ Ridge was built to resemble the 19th-century clipper ships that came here to trade. Each airy room has rich wood floors, carved paneling, and private decks. Expect Yap-inspired spa treatments (turmeric is a favorite ingredient) and seafood often caught by the chef himself. And don’t miss the spicy tuna sashimi.

SPORTS ON-SITE: Hike miles and miles through breadfruit, noni, and monkey pod trees lining millennia-old stone pathways.

BEYOND THE SAND: Hop in a skiff for the half-hour ride to Mill Channel, where you can dive with giant manta rays. Be sure not to miss the dancing in the resort’s Ethnic Art Amphitheater. The dozen basic steps are arranged into an infinite variety of hopping combinations.

THE FINE PRINT: Doubles, $215, including airport transfers; 877-350-1300, . Continental Micronesia (800-525-0280, ) offers flights from LAX, via Guam, starting at $1,925.

Sinalei Reef Resort & Spa

Samoa

WHEN WORLD LEADERS LIKE Australian prime minister John Howard visited Samoa for the 2004 Pacific Islands Forum, they stayed at the Sinalei Reef Resort & Spa. The locally owned resort, set on 33 manicured acres on the southern coast of Upolu, has open-air rooms with native teak furniture, giving the place an off-the-beaten-track Samoan spin.

THE GOOD LIFE: Each fale has three folding cedar walls that can be closed for privacy or opened for a 180-degree garden or beachfront view. Sinalei completed the most luxurious of the resort’s 27 rooms—including the Honeymoon Villa, which has a private spa pool framed between a large deck and the beach—in August 2004.

SPORTS ON-SITE: Sinalei offers something most luxury resorts can’t: world-class surf. More than a half-dozen surf breaks, including hollow lefts like Siumu and Nuusafee, break within a 30-minute boat ride. Maninoa Surf Camp (011-61-2-9971-8624, ), right next door, will take you wherever the surf is best.

BEYOND THE SAND: Begin the day scanning the horizon for whales at the South Pacific’s first national park, O Le Pupu-Pue (translation: “From the Coast to the Mountaintop”). Then hike past an enormous swallow-filled lava tube and take a shower under the powerful cascade of Cedric Falls. Or head to Samoa Breweries, just outside Apia, for a taste of the island’s award-winning national suds.

THE FINE PRINT: Doubles from $239, including breakfast, airport transfers, and various activities; 011-685-25191, . Air New Zealand (800-262-1234, ) flies from L.A. to Apia, Samoa, starting at $848 round-trip.

Reflections on Rarotonga

Cook Islands

Reflections on Rarotonga

SAVAGE MEETS SUBLIME: Mirror image at Reflections on Rarotonga

UNTIL RECENTLY, RAROTONGA, a 26-square-mile volcanic cone in the South Pacific, was known as a prime offshore tax haven and money-laundering center. It’s also a good place to cleanse the soul, and Reflections on Rarotonga, the Cook Islands’ charter member of Small Elegant Hotels of the World, wants to heal you one massage at a time. Reflections’ sister hotel, Rumours of Romance, opened in Muri Beach last September, offering all the cush of Reflections plus indoor and outdoor waterfalls.

THE GOOD LIFE: Whole days can slip away in your 1,500-square-foot-plus “room”—complete with super-king four-poster bed—but the champagne brunch might coax you out. For a private alternative to the ocean, head for your six-foot-deep backyard plunge pool.

SPORTS ON-SITE: Grab a sea kayak and paddle for the outer reef, less than a half-mile offshore. Drop anchor, slip on your snorkeling gear, and find Nemo or his parrotfish brethren.

BEYOND THE SAND: After your subaquatic survey of the reef, get a gull’s-eye view with a 30-minute șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Flights Rarotonga ultralight or paragliding flight that—in the right wind—can take you around the entire island. Soaring across clear skies and over a vivid multicolor ocean begs the question “How many shades of blue are there?”

THE FINE PRINT: Doubles at Reflections on Rarotonga start at $350, including airport transfers; 011-682-23703, . Doubles at Rumours of Romance start at $595, including airport transfers; 011-682-23703, . Air New Zealand (800-262-1234, ) flies from LAX to Rarotonga starting at $806 round-trip.

Kia Ora Sauvage

Tuamotu Archipelago

SAUVAGE MEANS “WILD,” which is what you get at Kia Ora Sauvage, set on an 11-acre islet accessible only by boat, one hour away from the island of Rangiroa. The resort has no electricity and no phone—nothing other than a white, sandy, palm-tree-dotted beach, five rustic thatch-roofed bungalows, and an open-air dining room. If you want to eat fresh, speargun-armed staff members will buzz out in a fishing boat and return with dinner; think grouper or snapper. Later, the only distraction is a sky full of constellations.

THE GOOD LIFE: The five bungalows all face the coral-studded lagoon and are separated by sand and palms. Each is equipped with the basics: a large bed draped in mosquito netting, a bathroom with a hot shower and seashell-stringed curtain, and a sink shaped like a giant clam.

SPORTS ON-SITE: Before boarding the boat at Rangiroa, guests are given snorkeling gear so they can swim among the harmless blacktip reef sharks. Or try spearing a parrotfish.

BEYOND THE SAND: Most guests combine a visit to Kia Ora Sauvage with one at its sister hotel, Kia Ora, on Rangiroa, a world-class scuba operation.

THE FINE PRINT: Doubles from $400 (two-day minimum). The round-trip boat ride to Kia Ora Sauvage is $200 for two people (011-689-931-117, ). Air Tahiti Nui flies direct to Tahiti from both LAX (from $923) and New York (from $1,223; 877-824-4846, ). From there it’s a one-hour flight to Rangiroa on Air Tahiti (from $326; 800-346-2599, ).

Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort

Fiji

LANGUID DAYS UNDER LEMON TREES at Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort drip by with such tropical serenity that the universe could be on the verge of collapse and few surf-soaked guests would bother to stir. Can you blame them? They’re on Vanua Levu, Fiji’s second-largest island, snoozing on orange futons by the pool under the swish of paddle fans.

THE GOOD LIFE: Twenty-five bures with vesi-wood floors pepper the grounds under mango and palm trees. Inside each, a king bed, private bath, and writing table sit under vaulted, thatched ceilings. Leave the wood blinds open to feel the night breeze pour through the screens.

SPORTS ON-SITE: Some of the best snorkeling on the planet is right off Cousteau’s pier, where myriad soft corals wave in the currents and big guys like docile eagle rays cruise off the shelf. Or work your core with a morning yoga class taught just off the beach.

BEYOND THE SAND: Head for the secret sandy beach around the point from bure number 25 with a stubby of Fiji Bitter and melt in the waves while the sun sinks. L’Aventure, the resort’s 37-foot dive boat, takes guests to Namena Island, a marine reserve an hour by boat from Cousteau, where you’ll find wall dives with a rush-hour volume of barracudas, sharks, and corals. Or paddle a kayak half a mile out to Naviavia, Cousteau’s private island.

THE FINE PRINT: Doubles, $535–$1,950 (minimum one-week stay may be required), including all meals, most activities, and airport transfers; five-day packages of daily two-tank dives cost $512; 800-246-3454, . Air Pacific flies nonstop from LAX to Nadi starting at $900 (800-227-4446, ). From Nadi, Sun Air offers daily one-hour flights to Savusavu, on Vanua Levu, for $123 each way (800-294-4864, ).

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BRAZIL (2006 Winner)

șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Trip of the Year

Tribes of the Amazon
Price: $5,386-$6,983
Difficulty: Easy
Very few outsiders have traveled to the heart of the Xingu Amazon Refuge. The 9,000-acre forest reserve is the isolated home of the Kamayura Indians; no roads link it to the modern world. Tribal elders have granted special access to trip leader John Carter, a former Texas cattle rancher, because of his years spent lobbying the federal government to protect their surroundings and way of life. This translates into one of the most authentic cultural-immersion experiences you’ll find anywhere in the Americas. After being deposited by Cessna on a hand-cleared runway, you’ll hike and canoe beneath the thick rainforest canopy, then sleep in hammocks inside the chief’s own hut before flying out the next day. The rest of the 12-day trip is only slightly less remote, with a visit to a frontier cattle ranch and the Xingu Refuge Lodgeñ€” simple riverside retreat built to resemble a native villageñ€”and an overnight stay with the Waura Indians.
Outfitter: Ker & Downey, 800-423-4236,
When to Go: June-August

PERU (New)
Cordillera Blanca Climb
Price: $2,750
Difficulty: Strenuous
This triple-summit foray into high-altitude climbing in the Andes requires little technical skill, but the thin air and occasional crevasses make the two-week journey anything but easy. After a few days of acclimatization in the foothills of the Cordillera Blanca above the town of Huaraz, you’ll trek through the lupine-carpeted meadows of the Quebrada Quilcayhuanca valley. The hike takes you on pre-Inca trails that trace the edges of alpine lakes. Here you enter crampon country, where you’ll camp and, in less than a week, top three snowy peaksñ€”aparaju (17,470 feet), Huapa (17,761 feet), and Ishinca (18,138 feet)ñ€”before returning to civilization and a well-earned Peruvian feast.
Outfitter: Mountain Madness, 800-328-5925,
When to Go: July

ECUADOR
Sea-Kayaking the Galåpagos
Price: $3,650-$6,280
Difficulty: Easy
When a turtle the size of a grizzly bear glides beneath your kayak, you’ll understand the significance of Lindblad’s new status as the first and only large-ship operator with a GalÃ¥pagos paddling permit. The conservation-minded company has been escorting visitors to the islands since 1968. Travelers onboard the 80-passenger MS Polaris have access to another perk when not snorkeling, beachcombing, hiking, or viewing wildlife: outdoor spa services administered on a glass-bottomed pontoon.
Outfitter: Lindblad Expeditions, 800-397-3348,
When to Go: Year-round

ARGENTINA
Northwest Trek
Price: $1,375-$1,735
Difficulty: Challenging
Amid the deep red gorges of Argentina’s rugged northwest, aboriginal adobe huts stand as reminders that this country’s rich history far predates the tango. This nine-day trip covers both past and present, from the pre-Spanish Calchaquis relics in Quilmes to the up-and-coming wineries of Cafayate. After a stay at a comfortable bodega lodge, you’ll embark on a three-day trek through the Cachi Mountains, where you and your packhorses will hoof it 29 miles up the Belgrano River Gorge to the multicolored sandstone formations of the Pukamayu Valley.
Outfitter: șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Life, 800-344-6118,
When to Go: April-October

CHINA (2006 Winner)
Hiking and Rafting in Yunnan
Price: $4,990-$5,490
Difficulty: Strenuous
The Mekong may be renowned for its starring role in Apocalypse Now and as the newest target of China’s village-displacing hydroelectric-dam campaign, but it’s never been known as a commercial whitewater hot spot—until now. Under the leadership of your veteran guides, kick off the beginning of what may be a Mekong revival: commercial rafting trips on the wilder Class IV-V sections of the upper river. You’ll spend the first week acclimatizing to Yunnan’s Tibetan culture and altitude, with hikes through the 700,000-acre, bamboo-dense Baima Nature Reserve and a 5,000-foot ascent to the 12,000-foot-high village of Yubong, while sleeping in traditional Tibetan homes. By the second week, drop your raft into the Class IV rapids beneath the flapping prayer flags of Xidang’s monastery for six days and 80 miles of gorge-squeezing whitewater bliss.
Outfitter: Mountain Travel Sobek, 888-687-6235,
When to Go: March

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Cycling Remote Bali
Price: $2,798
Difficulty: Moderate
Though the major Balinese tourist centers on the southern coast may still be reeling from the 2002 and 2005 bombings, the heady scents and lush foliage of the island’s secluded interior and northeastern coast remain as untouched as ever. On this eight-day sampler, you’ll get the full-immersion tour, biking 12 to 47 miles a day and sleeping in garden and seaside spa resorts at night. Starting inland, in Ubud, pedal to the Pura Taman Ayun, a “floating” 17th-century royal temple surrounded by a moat, and past acres of hydrangea and clove plantations. When you reach the northern coast and the black sands of Lovina Beach, strip off those Lycra shorts and take a dip in the Bali Sea. Then head east past volcanoes and verdant rice paddies, stopping to snorkel the coral reefs of the Blue Lagoon and dine on fresh coconut rice and rich green curry in the town of Candidasa.
Outfitter: Backroads, 800-462-2848,
When to Go: October, January-April

ČŃłÛŽĄ±·ČŃŽĄžéÌę(±·±đ·É)
Exploring the Mergui Archipelago
Price: $3,995-$4,495
Difficulty: Moderate
The Moken “sea gypsies” who travel the recently opened Mergui Archipelago, an 800-island cluster off the southern coast of Myanmar, are among the few who still practice their traditional nomadic marine life, fishing for sea cucumbers and lobsters and wandering from island to island in hand-built boats. For 12 days you’ll emulate this vanishing culture, hopping from the powdery beaches of Clara Island to the stunning old-growth coral of the underwater reef gardens around Hayes Island. Snorkel and dive uninhabited Lampi Island’s boulder-strewn seafloor and kayak through the limestone cliffs and tunnels along Horseshoe Island’s dramatic coast. Base camp is one of five air-conditioned cabins aboard an 85-foot wooden yacht, where meals are a merging of Moken and Thai flavors, such as fish fresh from the Andaman Sea steamed with coconut and lemongrass.
Outfitter: Wilderness Travel, 800-368-2794,
When to Go: November-March

INDIA
Tracking the Snow Leopard
Price: $3,575
Difficulty: Strenuous
Hidden in the Himalayan high-desert passes of Ladakh are some of the oldest untouched Tibetan monasteries in the world, as well as one of the highest concentrations of the near-mythic snow leopard. For 19 days, play Peter Matthiessen under the guidance of the Snow Leopard Conservancy. You’ll sleep in tents and mountain farmhouses while trekking and tracking the elusive cats through the 5,000-square-mile Hemis National Park, home to about 170 of the world’s last remaining 4,600 to 7,000 snow leopards. Along the way you’ll visit the spectacular tenth-century Hemis Monastery, enjoy the view at your 12,500-foot-high Rumbak homestay, and trek to the 16,700-foot-high pass of Kongmaru La. A portion of your trip’s fee is donated to the conservancy to help improve conditions for the locals—both human and feline.
Outfitter: KarmaQuest, 650-560-0101,
When to Go: April-October

SOUTH PACIFIC (2006 Winner)
Secluded-Isle Hopping
Price: $5,950
Difficulty: Moderate
In 1790, the mutineers of the HMS Bounty selected Pitcairn Island, some 1,200 miles southeast of Tahiti, to live with their Tahitian brides because it was so far away and nearly an impossible place for their pursuers to anchor safely. Today, their 50-some descendants see few visitors for the very same reasons. Get a feel for their isolationist way of life by spending a week hiking craggy hills, helping the residents maintain their longboats, and hearing tales of life on a forgotten island. That’s just the headliner of this three-week South Pacific voyage, most of which you’ll see from the comfort of a 60-foot luxury sailboat. You’ll also snorkel reefs teeming with tropical fish, hike the goat paths of Mangareva (a “floating mountain” in the Gambier Islands, 320 miles west of Pitcairn), and learn to trim the mainsails en route to uninhabited sand spits like Henderson and Oeno islands, where you can pretend you’re starring in your own episode of Lost.
Outfitter: Ocean Voyages, 800-299-4444,
When to Go: July-October

NEW ZEALAND
Circumnavigating the South Island
Price: $2,999
Difficulty: Challenging
During Active New Zealand founder Andrew Fairfax’s 2,700-mile cycling expedition from Istanbul to London in 2003, he thought, Why aren’t we doing this at home? The result of that epiphany is the Weka, a 13-day supported bike trip circling the South Island. It hits all the top spots, like the majestic peaks and gushing waterfalls of Milford Sound and the blue ice of the Franz Josef Glacier, while staying off most of the main routes, worn thin by tourist traffic. You’ll log roughly 400 miles on Specialized hybrids that can handle gravel farm paths and other classic Kiwi obstacles like cow dung and stubborn sheep. Typical day: Pull off the Central Otago Rail Trail, ditch your gear in a renovated millhouse that serves as home for the night, and head to a tiny rural-outpost pub for a Speight’s with the locals.
Outfitter: Active New Zealand, 800-661-9073,
When to Go: October-April

FRENCH POLYNESIA
Sea-Kayaking Raivavae
Price: $4,775
Difficulty: Moderate
Want to find out what Bora Bora was like in the days before tourism took over? Set out on a 13-day paddling recon mission to Raivavae (Ri-VA-vi), one of five time-forgotten archipelagos in the Austral chain, 2,244 miles northeast of New Zealand in French Polynesia. On this, one of the first outfitted kayaking trips from the island, you’ll hop from motu to motu (tiny uninhabited islands) in the outer reef in the mornings, set up camp for the night, and head to the lagoons on an underwater hunt to spear grouper for dinner. (Don’t worry, other provisions will be provided if you come up empty-handed.) Keep an eye out for blue whales—the reef’s horseshoe shape brings the deep-dwellers of the Pacific right up to the shoreline.
Outfitter: Explorers’ Corner, 510-559-8099,
When to Go: July

AUSTRALIA
Diving with Sharks
Price: $1,570-$1,950
Difficulty: Moderate
After three days spent exploring the ribbon of coral along the Great Barrier Reef, you’ll keep heading east, some 110 nautical miles off the northern coast of Oz, to the Coral Sea, where the currents converge and the heavies of the Pacific come out to play. That’s where Osprey Reef gives way to a 3,300-foot underwater shelf swarming with barracuda, tuna, manta rays, and scads of sharks—threshers, blacktips, whitetips, hammerheads, and leopards. Take it all in on four daily dives over six days. (If the deeps start to give you the creeps, try snorkeling.) Above water, watch and learn from Undersea Explorer’s resident marine biologists, who measure and tag the reef sharks in an effort to secure protection for this remote and still-pristine marine environment.
Outfitter: Undersea Explorer,
011-61-74-099-5911, When to Go: April-December

CYPRUS (2006 Winner)
Mountain-Biking the Trails of the Troodos
Price: $1,895
Difficulty: Strenuous
For a trip to fat-tire nirvana, try this six-day, 170-mile mountain-bike excursion on the island of Cyprus, south of Turkey. Pedal over rocky singletrack, fire roads, and chalky foothills, all of which have a mountain backdrop or a Mediterranean view. Your base camp is the Pendeli Hotel, in the high-country resort of Platres. From here, take daily cross-country explorations into the 6,000-foot Troodos Mountains, offering cool riding conditions even under the summer sun. Terrain is a mixed bag: technically demanding loose rocks and tight turns, scrappy climbs, fast traverses, and even faster descents. Ride up skittish slopes to the 6,401-foot summit of Chionistra and down to the sea, but be sure to pack that extra tube: The support vehicle can’t follow you here. Postride, swim laps, soak in the hot tub, or have a sauna back at the family-run Pendeli Hotel.
Outfitter: KE șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű, 800-497-9675,
When to Go: June, July, September

TURKEY
Sea-Kayaking the Mediterranean Coast
Price: from $3,495
Difficulty: Moderate
Scout Turkey’s dramatic Mediterranean shoreline from the cockpit of a sea kayak on this eight-day multisport adventure. Then explore it on foot with a local guide, visiting ancient Lycian rock tombs, Apollo’s birthplace, and tiny Kas, a chic and lively 2,400-year-old village. A luxurious wooden gulet with a gourmet chef is your floating hotel, but the starry nights will make you ditch your stateroom for a mattress on deck. Paddle your kayak along empty beaches before dipping into Greece to snorkel over sunken ruins.
Outfitter: The Northwest Passage, 800-732-7328,
When to Go: September-October

YEMEN
Arabian Trek
Price: from $4,995
Difficulty: Moderate
Once home to the Queen of Sheba, Yemen had an advanced civilization more than 3,000 years ago. While security concerns have deterred visits in recent years, conditions seem to be improving. Over 18 days, you’ll explore the diverse Arabian countryside. Begin in Sana’a, the 7,425-foot-high capital, then travel to the hilltop villages of the north before winding down in seaside al-Makallah. En route, sleep in castles right out of the Arabian Nights, wander through colorful, spice-infused souks, and four-wheel through steep-walled dry riverbeds.
Outfitter: Geographic Expeditions, 800-777-8183,
When to Go: March and November

BELARUS, UKRAINE & MOLDOVA
Touring New Republics
Price: $4,895
Difficulty: Easy
Newly designed for 2006—Ukraine recently dropped visa requirements for U.S. citizens, and expanded flights have made the area more accessible—this 16-day cultural traverse starts in Minsk and heads south, for visits to cathedrals in Kiev, Yalta’s seaside homes (where Pushkin and Chekhov summered), and the marble Livadia Palace. You’ll sleep in charming four-star hotels, hike the Black Sea coast, and taste wine in Moldova, the unsung charmer of Eastern Europe.
Outfitter: Mir Corporation, 800-424-7289,
When to Go: May, August

COSTA RICA (2006 Winner)
Cross-Country Traverse
Price: $2,790
Difficulty: Challenging
Here’s how to get off the tourist track in Costa Rica: Try crossing the country from the Pacific to the Caribbean by bike, foot, and raft. You’ll start this 18-day sea-to-sea journey by pedaling two days from the coastal pueblo of Dominical to the Tinamaste Mountains, where you’ll hike through the cloudforest to your first night’s campsite—a cave surrounded by waterfalls. The next day takes you over a ridge, where you’ll stay at a quaint hotel on the Chirripo River before starting a porter-supported weeklong trek through the highland forest of the Cordillera de Talamanca. You’ll spend the last several days on a rugged stretch of the Pacuare River, running Class III-IV rapids and floating through lush canyons where water cascades from hundreds of feet overhead. The river will deposit you in the Caribbean lowlands, and you’ll spend your last wilderness night camping at the rainforest’s edge.
Outfitter: World Expeditions, 888-464-8735,
When to Go: March, September, December

±ÊŽĄ±·ŽĄČŃŽĄÌę(±·±đ·É)
Darién Explorer Trek
Price: $4,995
Difficulty: Strenuous
As your piragua putters along the Tuira River en route to an abandoned mining town, you’ll see far more tapirs and peccaries than travelers. Total seclusion is the payoff for five to seven hours of daily trekking (and canoeing) across rugged, often muddy terrain on this two-week exploration of the DariĂ©n Gap, the mysterious 6.4-million-acre rainforest that separates Central and South America. When you do come across humans, it will be at the remote villages where you’ll stop to mingle with Embera elders. You’ll overnight at ranger stations and rustic camps, and wake to a cacophony of macaws and caracaras.
Outfitter: Myths and Mountains, 800-670-6984,
When to Go: December-April

BAHAMAS
Fishing Tutorial
Price: $3,190
Difficulty: Easy
This South Andros Island outpost will re-define your notion of “fishing lodge”; everything at Tiamo Resort—from its solar power to its banana-fiber office paper—is geared toward protecting the environment without sacrificing luxury. Breezy raised bungalows are steps from a secluded beach where you’ll spend four days kayaking, snorkeling, and learning to cast for bonefish and tarpon in the island’s legendary shallow flats. Beyond that, the Adirondack chairs on your beachfront porch lend themselves nicely to loafing.
Outfitter: Orvis, 800-547-4322,
When to Go: March-July, October-December

MEXICO
Scouting for Jaguars
Price: $1,500
Difficulty: Moderate
Jaguars roam the tropical forest, wetlands, and dunes of Mexico’s Sian Ka’an Biosphere Reserve, a Delaware-size protected zone along the YucatĂĄn coast. With the help of biologist guides, you’ll likely spot their tracks during your weeklong stay at the no-frills Santa Teresa research station, a ten-minute walk to a white-sand beach, and take daytime and nighttime hikes in a jungle that few outsiders get to explore after dark. You’ll also camp one night amid the spider monkeys and white-tailed deer, and visit nearby Maya ruins.
Outfitter: EcoColors, 011-52-998-884-3667,
When to Go: January-March

SEYCHELLES (2006 Winner)
Fly-Fishing the Cosmoledo Islands
Price: $6,000
Difficulty: Moderate
When you encounter the foot-and-a-half-long coconut crabs that reside in the Cosmoledo Islands, 500 miles off the coast of Tanzania, give them a wide berth: Their pincers can lift up to 65 pounds and crack coconuts with diamond-cutting precision. Then again, you won’t be spending much time inland on this outer subgroup of the Seychelles—the real action is casting in the turquoise flats surrounding the four atolls. The Cosmoledos, protected by a ten-mile-wide coral ring, have never been inhabited—they had their last documented brush with humanity in 1822, when British captain Fairfax Moresby came ashore during an Indian Ocean mapping expedition. This isolation has led to a freakish evolution of fish species, including the giant trevally, weighing in at 70 pounds. You’ll spend six days casting over the crystal water and seven nights aboard a retired 1935 North Sea research vessel, complete with teak-and-brass-appointed saloon and dining room.
Outfitter: FlyCastaway, 011-27-82-334-3448,
When to Go: November-April

BOTSWANA
Safari by Elephant
Price: $6,270
Difficulty: Moderate
The trouble with most elephant-back safaris is that you never properly bond with your transportation. This issue is smartly resolved at the elegantly understated Abu Camp, in the Okavango Delta of the Kalahari Desert, where you live alongside eight resident elephants that roam the 395,000-acre reserve outside the six handsome platform tents. With assistance from the camp’s wildlife experts and mahouts, spend four days and three nights interacting with the herd and riding them into the floodplains to graze undetected among zebras, wildebeests, giraffes, and impalas. At night, soak in the trill of some of the 500 species of birds while finishing off your five-star grub of sweet potato soup and harissa fish stir-fry by the campfire.
Outfitter: Classic Africa, 888-227-8311,
When to Go: May-October

SOUTH AFRICA (New)
Archaeological Expedition
Price: $7,995
Difficulty: Easy
Jump into the hottest archaeological debate going—the true origin of man—with an exploration of the 3.2-million-year-old “Cradle of Humankind” sites at Sterkfontein and Swartkrans caves, 45 minutes north of Johannesburg. Led by the top archaeologists and paleontologists in the country, you’ll spend 13 days poking around the gravesites of prehistoric Australopithecus africanus, from the limestone caves of Limpopo to the Knysna coastline, while bunking in wine-country estates and elegant hotels. You’ll also check out the Big Five at Mthethomusha Game Reserve and the success at Addo Elephant National Park, where the pachyderm population has grown from 11 to 420 in the past 75 years.
Outfitter: Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, 800-422-8975 ext. 146,
When to Go: June

NAMIBIA
Cheetah Conservation
Price: $4,400
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Though Africa’s largest population of endangered cheetahs—about 3,000—lives in Namibia, their propensity to snack on livestock keeps them in jeopardy. You’ll try to change that during this two-week safari, five days of which are spent working at the Cheetah Conservation Fund training Anatolian shepherd dogs, building fences, counting wildlife, and staying in a nearby farmhouse. On your first night in Namibia, take in the view from the 1914 castle of Count von Schwerin, where the wine collection is stored in a cellar carved out of a stone hillside. Later, you’ll check out the black rhinos of Etosha National Park, the shipwreck-littered Skeleton Coast, and finally the Namib Desert. After a day of sand-surfing the 1,000-foot-high dunes, refuge is in a kulala, an open-air bungalow with rooftop stargazing.
Outfitter: Mango African Safaris, 888-698-9220,
When to Go: July-August

ITALY (2006 Winner)
Walking the Piedmont
Price: $3,995
Difficulty: Moderate
This six-day introduction to the still-quiet agricultural region 40 miles southeast of Turin is a glutton’s guide to Italy. Long a gastronomic hot spot (the Slow Food movement began here), Piedmont produces the country’s noblest wines—Barolo and Barbaresco—and hearty and refined cuisine like wild boar and risotto with fresh truffles. After daily hikes of six to 15 miles, arrive at a farmhouse ringed with vineyards. When you’re not hiking with a naturalist or dining in an award-winning restaurant, taste wines with a local family, sip spumante with a top producer, trail a trifulao (truffle hunter) and his prized dog, or take cooking lessons—then soak in a hot bath enriched with crushed grapes.
Outfitter: Butterfield & Robinson, 800-678-1147,
When to Go: May, September

FRANCE
Cycling the French Alps
Price: $3,695
Difficulty: Challenging
A ten-day fantasy camp for serious cyclists: Accompanied by a former pro rider/professional photographer, you’ll ride stages of the famed DauphinĂ©-LibĂ©rĂ©, contested over many of the same roads as the Tour de France. Ditch the peloton at day’s end for elegant digs in picturesque mountain villages such as Uriage-les-Bains, where you’ll fortify yourself for the next day’s ride with local delicacies like goat sausage from Savoy Alps pastures and flinty white wines. Save your legs for the final 73-mile day (you can also opt for either a 55-mile or 93-mile route)—the MegĂšve-Mont Blanc Classic, with 9,000 feet of climbing over three magnificent cols.
Outfitter: Velo Classic Tours, 212-779-9599,

When to Go: June

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Swimming the Coast
Price: $1,200
Difficulty: Challenging
Caught in the narrows between Sicily and North Africa, Malta is a group of islands with some of the warmest and clearest waters in the Mediterranean. On this six-day swimfest, you’ll self-propel two to three miles a day, hopping from island to island and drying off in small family-run inns. You can always hop aboard the escort boat, but rest assured that your guides know their stuff—many have completed solo crossings of the English Channel. In the evening, the fun continues with talks on swimming technique and video analysis in the hotel pool.
Outfitter: Swim Trek, 011-44-20-8696-6220,
When to Go: April-June, September

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Dressage Training and Trail Riding
Price: $1,995
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate
Saddle sores will be your only worry on this six-day romp through Spain’s vast central plateau. HQ is the utterly tranquil El Molino, an 18th-century equestrian center on the fringe of the medieval town of Pedraza. Each morning, saddle up your horse, perhaps a purebred Andalusian, and train in dressage technique. Then take guided afternoon trail rides through the wheat fields and rolling hills of the Castilian countryside, galloping by deep gorges and velvety forests or trotting through Roman ruins. Come evening, you’ll dine on tapas, fresh seafood, and el frite—fried lamb with garlic and lemon—accompanied by dry local wines.
Outfitter: Cross Country International, 800-828-8768,
When to Go: January-November

BRITISH COLUMBIA (2006 Winner)
Mega-Yacht Heli-Skiing
Price: $36,000 per day (for 12)
Difficulty: Moderate
When the B2 A-star helicopter drops you at the apex of a powdery slope amid millions of glacier-rimmed acres in B.C.’s Coast Range, you may think you’ve achieved the pinnacle of exclusivity. But that’s only half the fun. After carving so many fresh tracks that your quads scream for mercy, you’ll chopper back to a 201-foot luxury yacht to sip Dom and soak in an eight-person, 80-jet Jacuzzi. Moving anchor between two inlets in the Georgia Strait, the Absinthe serves as home base for the most extravagant, over-the-top heli-skiing in the world. Should the mountain weather turn foul, take out the kayaks, fire up the 40-foot fishing boat, or simply bask in the opulence of it all.
Outfitter: Sea to Sky Helisports and Megayacht șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűs, 866-935-3228,
When to Go: March-April

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Hiking the Waterpocket Fold
Price: $1,375
Difficulty: Challenging
Grant Johnson has been exploring southern Utah’s Waterpocket Fold, a 3,000-foot-high, 100-mile-long dinosaur-era geological formation, for 30 years. Thanks to drought conditions in nearby Lake Powell, he recently discovered an ancient Anasazi trail that allows him to lead trips into this remote, unmapped backcountry region. For six days, shimmy through two-foot-wide narrows and hike on slickrock to incredible vistas, camping beneath the cottonwoods while listening to his stories of the prehistoric landscape.
Outfitter: Escalante Canyon Outfitters, 888-326-4453,
When to Go: April, October

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Paddling the William River
Price: $2,700
Difficulty: Moderate
Here in northern Saskatchewan, all life depends on the rivers that flow toward the Arctic. The Class I-II William River, congested with foraging moose, black bears, and ospreys, is no exception. This 13-day trip begins and ends with great fishing (grayling and walleye at the outset, trout once you reach Lake Athabasca). Take a pit stop in the middle at the 100-foot-high Athabasca sand dunes to explore the ever-shifting topography.
Outfitter: Piragis Northwoods Company, 800-223-6565,
When to Go: June

HAWAII
șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Boot Camp
Price: $3,075
Difficulty: Moderate
When you wake to the sounds of your personal chef whipping up an egg-white omelet in your oceanfront villa on Kauai’s north shore, you’ll know this boot camp isn’t Parris Island. Here you can customize all your meals and five days of activities to reach your fitness goals. Start out by surfing in Hanalei Bay or hiking to the base of 250-foot Hanakapeii Falls. After one-on-one yoga or weight training, recuperate with a massage, and cap off the day by learning how to grill fresh ahi.
Outfitter: Pure Kauai, 866-457-7873,
When to Go: Year-round

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The Epic Tour
Price: $2,398
Difficulty: Strenuous
Lance, Levi, and LeMond all trained on the 15-degree inclines of Northern California’s roads, and after you finish this seven-day epic, you may be able to keep up with them—for a few minutes, anyway. Starting from Santa Rosa, you’ll ride up to 75 miles a day on inland country byways. Once you hit Mendocino, you’ll return to Santa Rosa via the coast—with plenty of opportunities to regroup in some of the area’s finest restaurants and hotels, like Bodega Bay’s Inn at the Tides.
Outfitter: Bicycle șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűs, 800-443-6060,
When to Go: October-November

ANTARCTICA (2006 Winner)
Climbing and Photography Journey
Price: $5,190-$8,390
Difficulty: Challenging
Hundreds of unclimbed peaks form the towering spine of the Antarctic Peninsula. Your footprints could be the first atop two of them on this 12-day journey to the frozen south. A refurbished Finnish research vessel, the Polar Pioneer, will carry 56 passengers—including a photography expert and a naturalist guide—from the tip of South America through the Beagle Channel and across the Drake Passage to the peninsula’s west coast. First stop if the weather’s good: the South Shetland Islands, where Zodiacs will take you ashore with climbing guide Tashi Tenzing, grandson of the famed Norgay, who’ll help you navigate the crevassed terrain. As the ship makes its way south, you can scale the bluish bergs or paddle a kayak along the shore. You’ll pass leopard seals and penguin rookeries, and may even have some up-close encounters when you spend a night camping ashore. Life on the ship is comfortable; you’ll appreciate the onboard collection of polar literature and the porthole view from your cabin on the long cruise home.
Outfitter: Aurora Expeditions, 011-61-2-9252-1033, .au
When to Go: November-March

GREENLAND & ICELAND (New)
Arctic Odyssey
Price: $5,295-$6,995
Difficulty: Moderate
When you and your camera venture into the realm of polar bears and musk ox, it’s comforting to know there’s an expert on board whose input could turn a wasted frame into the shot of a lifetime. Award-winning nature photographer Frans Lanting—as well as renowned polar explorer Will Steger—will accompany you on this 11-day voyage from Spitsbergen, Norway, to KeflavĂ­k, Iceland. The 46-passenger polar research ship Grigoriy Mikheev carries a fleet of Zodiacs for explorations of Greenland’s east coast, where migrating seabirds and whales skirt the pack ice. The ship will make its way up Kaiser Franz Joseph Fjord in search of rare narwhals and visit Ittoqqortoormiit village en route to Iceland’s southwestern shore.
Outfitter: Wilderness Travel, 800-368-2794,
When to Go: September

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Emperor Penguins Safari
Price: $8,495-$15,495
Difficulty: Moderate
For March of the Penguins fans, here’s something new: A penguin specialist who helicoptered close to Snow Hill Island, in the Weddell Sea, during a 2004 Quark expedition, discovered an uncharted emperor rookery with 4,000 breeding pairs. You’ll be among the first to witness the penguins on this two-week journey to the Weddell. Starting in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, you’ll set out on the 108-passenger icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov, traveling to shore by Zodiac or helicopter, then hiking about a mile across the ice to the rookery. You’ll make up to three trips, and because it’s early in the season, you’ll likely see parents nuzzling chicks at their feet.
Outfitter: Quark Expeditions, 800-356-5699,
When to Go: October-November

KENYA (2006 WINNER)
The Great Walk, Tsavo National Park
Price: $6,900
Difficulty: Challenging

“You smell them as you come closer,” says safari veteran Nadia Le Bon, director of special programs at Mountain Travel Sobek. “You see the prints, which way they go, which way they come.” Lest you forget that humans are not at the top of the food chain, the fresh tracks of a Tsavo lion serve as a poignant reminder—especially when you’re traveling on foot through East Africa’s largest national park, home of elephants, rhinos, crocodiles, and the infamous man-eating felines that terrorized railroad workers a century ago.

This 11-day, 110-mile Kenya journey is a walk in the park for trip leader Iain Allen, an honorary warden and seasoned adventurer who once trekked 300 miles from Mount Kilimanjaro to the Indian Ocean. You’ll trace his steps along the wildlife-flush Tsavo and Galana rivers, tracking the Big Five (lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, rhino) as you cross the 8,300-square-mile park from west to east. As for the carnivorous critters that are bound to catch your scent, Le Bon says, “They tend to walk away.”

The trek begins at Mzima Springs, a hippo hangout at the base of the Chyulu Range, 149 miles southeast of Nairobi. From there you’ll follow the palm-fringed Tsavo River through giraffe and kudu habitat to your first campsite, at the base of the jagged Ngulia Mountains. After a nap beneath the down comforter in your plush safari tent, you’ll be ready for an afternoon game drive and cocktails by the fire. In the next few days you’ll track gazelles, impalas, and zebras en route to the park’s more arid eastern side, where it’s easy to spot hartebeest and fringe-eared oryx across the open plain. The journey ends with a night of pampering at the Hemingways Resort, a posh hotel on a white-sand stretch of Watamu Bay, where you can lounge by the swimming pool and ponder your epic feat.

Outfitter: Mountain Travel Sobek, 888-687-6235,
When to Go: March, June, September

2007 Trip Preview

LET THE RATING BEGIN: Istanbul, one of the stops on the Holy Places by Jet tour.

01 CHILE
Heli-fishing
Trout fishing in the Chilean fjords has always been popular, if a little rough around the edges. But you’ll be living large when the brand-new, 120-foot custom expeditionary yacht Nomadsofthesea begins offering heli-fishing excursions from its base in Puerto Montt in January 2007. The 22-passenger boat, equipped with a helicopter, Zodiacs, and jet boats, offers unprecedented access to both fresh- and saltwater fishing in the RĂ­;os Baker, Cisnes, and Simpson, among others. The myriad travel options mean that it’s possible to cast a fly every day, despite the sometimes dicey weather, during Chile’s peak trout season.
Price: About $10,000
Outfitter: Orvis Travel, 800-547-4322,

02 ITALY to TURKEY
Holy Places by Jet
On this crash course in world religions guided by renowned scholar John Esposito, travel to major sacred spots via private jet and come to your own conclusions about which faith works for you—or doesn’t. In late March 2007, a custom-fitted Boeing 747 will take you to nine countries on three continents in 24 days, starting with Vatican City and journeying on to the holy sites of Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, and Islam. The trip ends in the multi-cultural city of Istanbul, where you’ll visit the famed Hagia Sophia.
Price: $44,950
Outfitter: TCS Expeditions, 800-727-7477,

03 UNITED STATES
High-style Trekking on the Appalachian Trail
Brace yourself for a debate as luxury through-hiking arrives on the Appalachian Trail in spring 2007. Foot Travel, an outfitter based in Black Mountain, North Carolina, will begin offering gear transport and other logistical services at key points along the trail, which means that the only chores left to you on this 2,170-mile, 153-day slog from Georgia to Maine are carrying a daypack and setting up your tent. Foot Travel does the dirty work—from cooking to cleaning to carrying that heavy load of Russian classics.
Price: $10,120 ($66 per day)
Outfitter: Foot Travel, 866-244-4453,

The post The Wanderlist appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

What do you want—a printed invitation? OK, here it is: We’ve scouted the year’s coolest travel offerings—from new classics like cruising the Arctic, exploring the wild Caribbean, and journeying across Russia’s heartland to bold new frontiers like trekking Libya and tracking wildlife (and luxury lodges) in Sri Lanka. Going somewhere? We thought so.

Best Trips of 2005

Smooth Landing: Getting started in California’s Sierra foothills

PLUS:

Mix travel with philanthropy on one of these meaningful adventures

The Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America

Belize

The other barrier reef: Snorkeling off Belize

Panama
Kayaking the San Blas Islands
Price: $3,190
Difficulty: Easy
In 2001, Olaf Malver, the founder of outfitter Explorers’ Corner, kayaked with his family to a remote part of the San Blas Islands, off Panama’s north coast, where he met with a chief of the indigenous Kuna Yala Indians and requested permission to explore. Not only did the sahila agree, but he invited Malver to return with like-minded friends. On this ten-day trip to the Cayos Holandes, accompanied by two Kuna Yala guides, you’ll paddle 60 to 80 miles, tracing the shorelines of mostly uninhabited Caribbean islands, camping on pristine beaches, visiting a Kuna Yala community known for its vivid molas, or tapestries, and tramping through orchid-filled jungles.
High Point: Reaching the uninhabited island of Esnatupile after a mellow, nine-mile paddle across two channels.
Low Point: Being outpaced by local fishermen in low-tech pangas.
Travel Advisory: Don’t touch the coconuts! Your permission to visit—seriously— is contingent upon a hands-off agreement.
Outfitter: Explorers’ Corner, 510-559-8099,
When to Go: December, January

Mexico
Mountain-Biking the Conquerors’ Route
Price: $1,395
Difficulty: Moderate
This two-week mountain-bike adventure traverses the same terrain as the route of the 16th-century Spanish army through the former Aztec empire, wheeling along 200 miles of desert, mountain, and coastal singletrack and jeep roads. You’ll ride about six hours each day, from the outskirts of Puebla to the Sierra Madre hills and valleys near the base of 18,700-foot Pico de Orizaba, overnighting in tents, 18th-century haciendas, and lodges as you make your way to a Gulf Coast beach.
Outfitter: șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűs SelvAzul, 011-52-222-237-48-87,
When to Go: November to July

Trinidad and Tobago
Caribbean Multisport
Price: $1,799—$2,000
Difficulty: Moderate
Trinidad’s rugged coastline is as wild as its calypso culture, and sleepy Tobago boasts some of the Caribbean’s less-trodden beaches. Explore the best of both islands on this hyperactive nine-day, inn-based tour that takes you mountain-biking through dense rainforests and farmland, hiking amid howler monkeys and macaws, river-kayaking beneath bamboo archways, snorkeling among hawksbill sea turtles and green moray eels, and caving in an intricate system swarming with bats.
Outfitter: REI șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűs, 800-622-2236,
When to Go: February, April, June, November

Belize
Belize șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Cruise
Price: $2,095—$2,395
Difficulty: Easy
Spend eight days aboard a sweet four-cabin luxury yacht, exploring intimate coves that full-size cruise ships can’t get anywhere near. An onboard naturalist will point out the sea turtle nesting sites and the manatees as you cruise along the Caribbean coastline from Belize City. You’ll take a nighttime walking safari up the Sittee River, past Garifuna villages, visit Maya caves and an excavation site, and paddle kayaks with see-through acrylic bottoms over the world’s second-largest barrier reef.
Outfitter: șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűSmith Explorations, 800-728-2875,
When to Go: Year-round

Asia

China

Dusk settles across China’s rice paddies

India
Rajasthan on Horseback
Price: $4,800
Difficulty: Strenuous
When film producer Alexander Souri’s first expedition of “Relief Riders” trotted into a remote Indian village last fall, the caravan of nine Marwari horses, four pack camels, 50 goats, and 15 people caused quite a stir. “Across India it became front-page news,” says Souri, 35, whose inaugural Rajasthan Relief Ride delivered supplies like antibiotics and eye drops by horseback to five villages in northwestern India, and had doctors on board for impromptu clinics. Hardy travelers can join the next cavalcade on a 15-day journey carrying goods deep into the Thar Desert. You’ll saddle up in Mukandgarh, about six hours from New Delhi, then ride about 20 miles per day, camping or staying in 400-year-old forts en route to Jaipur.
High Point: Seeing villagers receive knowledge—such as AIDS education—plus food and supplies that they desperately need.
Low Point: Watching people wait in line at the clinics for hours in the midday heat.
Travel Advisory: Three to five hours per day is a lot of time in the saddle. Be sure your skills (and your posterior) are up to the task.
Outfitter: Relief Riders International, 413-329-5876,
When to Go: February, October

Sri Lanka
Wildlife Expedition
Price: $1,099—$1,390
Difficulty: Easy
Sri Lanka is serious about protecting its endangered elephants—the penalty for killing one is death. On this eight-day loop around the island, starting and ending in Colombo, you’ll witness the slow recovery of the species—thousands of these mammoth mammals now roam the jungles of Yala National Park. En route to the two-day park safari, you’ll visit Kandy and Polonnaruwa, two of Sri Lanka’s oldest cities, and an elephant orphanage, and stay at an Edwardian manor house amid the tea fields of a former British hill station.
Outfitter: Big Five, 800-244-3483,
When to Go: October to March

Tibet
Photo Exploration
Price: $4,695
Difficulty: Challenging
Red limestone cliffs front the sapphire-blue surface of Lake Nam Tsho, where Tibetan pilgrims gather at a shoreline dotted with migratory cranes and geese. Any amateur could produce stunning images here, but you’ll have expert guidance from Bill Chapman, whose photographic book The Face of Tibet has a foreword by the Dalai Lama. Starting in Lhasa, the 15-day adventure takes you on a challenging trek over 16,900-foot Kong La Pass. You’ll bunk in nomad camps as you make your way to the riding competitions and colorful dance performances of the Nagchu Horse Festival.
Outfitter: Myths & Mountains, 800-670-6984,
When to Go: August

East Timor
Island Touring
Price: $1,380
Difficulty: Moderate
In the five years since East Timor won its bloody battle for independence from Indonesia, few travelers have ventured into the world’s newest nation, where the tourist-free villages, coffee plantations, and verdant rainforests rival any in Southeast Asia. On this 15-day trip, you’ll hike up the country’s tallest mountain (9,724 feet), sail to a nearby reef-ringed island, watch villagers weave their traditional tais (sarongs), and spend your nights in humble guesthouses and thatched-roof seaside bungalows.
Outfitter: Intrepid Travel, 866-847-8192,
When to Go: May to November

China
Minya Konka Trek
Price: $5,595
Difficulty: Strenuous
In the shadow of 24,790-foot Minya Konka, spend 19 days exploring Tibetan villages, Buddhist temples, and a high-alpine landscape where rhododendrons and wildflowers line paths leading to hot springs and crystalline lakes. The trip centers on a 12-day trek that tops out on a 15,150-foot mountain pass before dropping into the Yunongqi Valley, where you’ll sip butter tea in a village home, then set up camp nearby.
Outfitter: Geographic Expeditions, 800-777-8183,
When to Go: April, September

Africa

Kenya and Tanzania
Safari Through Masailand
Price: $3,750
Difficulty: Moderate
In partnership with the Masai Environmental Resource Coalition, a network of Masai organizations advocating for tribal rights and sustainable use of the great ecosystems of East Africa, this 12-day safari-with-a-conscience combines classic game drives and walks with daily visits to local schools and villages—well off the usual tourist path. The journey begins in the wide, lion-rich plains of the Masai Mara Game Reserve, then heads to the important elephant migratory ground of Amboseli National Park, at the foot of 19,340-foot Kilimanjaro. Tanzania’s rustic tented Sinya Camp, a private Masai concession in the acacia woodlands, is the final stop.
High Point: Searching for game on foot with a Masai warrior in the Sinya bushlands—littered by giant elephant dung.
Low Point: Realizing that for many years the Masai have not reaped equitable benefits from the tourism trade.
Travel Advisory: Don’t expect your guides to drive off-road to get a better look at wild animals. It damages habitat, harasses wildlife, and is strictly prohibited on this trip.
Outfitter: Wildland șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűs, 800-345-4453,
When to Go: February, March, June to October, December

Libya
Overland Exploration
Price: $4,750 and up
Difficulty: Moderate
On this 17-day expedition from Tripoli—one of the first outfitted trips to Libya since the travel ban for U.S. citizens was lifted last March—you’ll take in all five of Libya’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the ruins of the Roman-walled cities of Sabratah and Leptis Magna; the labyrinthine 2,000-year-old mud-brick western border town of Ghadames, a key stop on the great trans-Saharan caravan routes; and the haunting, desolate Greek temples and tombs of Apollonia and Cyrenaica, on a bluff overlooking the sea. Along the way, you’ll camp in the desert and sleep on beds carved out of rock in the below-ground troglodyte houses of Ruhaybat.
Outfitter: Geographic Expeditions, 800-777-8183,
When to Go: April, September

Botswana
Guiding șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű
Price: $2,700—$3,300
Difficulty: Moderate
Aspiring safari guides, take note. This nine-day educational foray into the wilds of the Okavango Delta—among antelopes, lions, giraffes, Cape buffalo, and zebras—will give participants a strong introduction to the finer points of African bushcraft and survival skills. You’ll be schooled by professional South African guiding instructors in four-wheel driving techniques, navigation, tracking, fire starting, canoe poling, food foraging, rifle handling, game spotting, and (optional) venomous-snake wrangling. Though your graduation certificate won’t qualify you as a professional guide, it will certainly look impressive on the wall of your den back home.
Outfitter: Explore Africa, 888-596-6377,
When to Go: Year-round

South Africa and Mozambique
Fishing and Diving șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű
Price: $4,395
Difficulty: Moderate
This two-week coastal foray starts in South Africa’s Maputaland Coastal Forest Reserve, where you’ll spend five nights in one of Rocktail Bay Lodge’s 11 stilted chalets, tucked behind forested dunes. Between surfcasting for kingfish and snorkeling amid a confetti swirl of subtropical fish, you’ll view freshwater lake hippos and crocs and hit the beach at night to track nesting leatherback and loggerhead turtles. After a quick flight to Mozambique, you’ll board a boat for Benguerra Island, just off the mainland in the Bazaruto Archipelago, and check in to the thatched bungalows of Benguerra Lodge. Here, scuba divers may encounter 50-foot whale sharks and endangered dugongs, and anglers will work some of the world’s best marlin-fishing grounds.
Outfitter: The Africa șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Company, 800-882-9453,
When to Go: Year-round

Eastern Europe and the Caucasus

Siberian Railroad

Back to Go: Start your trip along the Siberian rail at Moscow

Georgia
Trekking the Caucasus
Price: $3,390—$3,690
Difficulty: Strenuous
Rob Smurr, a seasoned expert on the former Soviet Union, is your guide on this 15-day trip, the heart of which is a nine-day trek through the south-central Caucasus, a largely untouristed area of high glaciers, waterfalls, and massive granite peaks. From your first campsite, at the base of 12,600-foot Mount Chauki, you’ll hike eight to 15 miles daily—along the Chanchakhi River and up some of the range’s highest passes, skirting 16,558-foot Mount Kazbek. Camp out or stay with locals in villages where medieval towers mirror the peaks.
High Point: Joining families for lamb and baklava, in their ninth-century villages.
Low Point: Occasional rerouting due to security issues.
Travel Advisory: Corruption can be common, so keep up your anti-scam guard.
Outfitter: Mountain Travel Sobek, 888-687-6235,
When to Go: August

Croatia
Mountain-Biking Istria
Price: $1,325
Difficulty: Challenging
Istria, the sunny Adriatic peninsula in Croatia’s northwestern corner, bordered by Slovenia, is an undiscovered mountain-biking destination. Locally harvested olives, figs, and almonds provide fuel as you pedal 30 to 50 miles a day, through Pazin, the region’s elegant old capital, to the vineyards outside of Motovun and the historic west coast, staying at four-star inns and family farmhouses.
Outfitter: Saddle Skedaddle, 011-44-191-265-1110,
When to Go: June to September

Romania
Walking Romania’s Countryside
Price: $2,895
Difficulty: Moderate
This 14-day romp through Transylvania and the Caliman Mountains is a low-key way to explore Romania’s still intact natural beauty. After gathering in Bucharest, with its belle Ă©poque architecture, hit the countryside for majestic views of giant white cliffs in Piatra Craiului National Park, Bran Castle, of Dracula legend, and the verdant Bucovina region, where valleys are dotted with painted monasteries. Bed down in small hotels, B&Bs, homestays, and, for one night—after a nip of plum brandy by the campfire—a kober, or shepherd’s hillside shelter. Trail tip: “Sa traiesti” (“Cheers”) is the common hiker’s greeting.
Outfitter: MIR Corporation, 800-424-7289,
When to Go: June to September

Russia
Siberian Rails
Price: $8,495—$12,865
Difficulty: Easy
The ultimate classic in Russian travel is the Trans-Siberian Express, a legendary 17-day luxe train journey from Moscow to Vladivostok that rumbles for nearly 6,000 miles. The onboard experts are a font of knowledge, especially during stops at the charming village of Irkutsk and mile-deep Lake Baikal.
Outfitter: American Museum of Natural History Discovery Tours, 800-462-8687,
When to Go: August

Western Europe

Matterhorn

The Middle Earth of the Northern Hemisphere: Switzerland’s Matterhorn

Switzerland
Cycling Camp
Price: $6,500
Difficulty: Strenuous
This first-of-its-kind European offering is the ultimate two-wheeled fantasy: On this nine-day trip, there’ll be seven days of personalized training in Aigle, at the International Cycling Union’s new ultramodern World Cycling Center (WCC), and in surrounding alpine terrain. With your coach, seven-time world track champion and Frenchman Frederic Magne, you’ll train on the WCC’s state-of-the-art 200-meter wooden track and on daily rides ranging from 25 to 75 miles. Base camp is a Victorian-style four-star hotel on Lake Geneva’s eastern shore. From there, ride along Rhone Valley roads and into the Vaud Alps, with views of the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc providing inspiration as you grind up legendary mountain passes. Out-of-the-saddle luxuries include thermal spas, private wine tastings, a trip masseur, and regional specialties like saucisson Vaudois (local sausage).
High Point: Cranking up the famous hairpin turns of the Grimsel and Furka passes before hopping the cable car to the top of 9,603-foot Eggishorn Mountain for a view of Europe’s largest glacier, the Aletsch.
Low Point: Trying to avoid too much pinot noir at the farewell dinner, knowing there’s a timed 91-mile race in Bulle—the Pascal Richard Cyclosportif—still to come.
Travel Advisory: High-altitude climbs combined with August heat can mean easy dehydration, so keep the fluids coming.
Outfitter: Velo Classic Tours, 212-779-9599,
When to Go: August

Portugal
Kayaking the Douro River
Price: $3,590
Difficulty: Easy
On this 11-day flatwater float on the Douro River from Quinta das Aveleiras to Peso da RĂ©gua, through northern Portugal’s fertile port-wine region, you’ll paddle three to five hours daily, stretching out with afternoon hikes across golden-terraced hillsides. In the fall, glide through the grape harvest, feasting on feijoada (bean-and-meat stew) and the ruby-hued regional wines (you can pick tinta amarela grapes off the vine from the seat of your kayak), staying at manor houses and 18th-century blue-tiled quintas (wine estates).
Outfitter: Explorers’ Corner, 510-559-8099,
When to Go: June, September

Italy
Sicily and the Aeolian Islands by Sea
Price: $8,950 and up
Difficulty: Moderate
The intimate 32-passenger Callisto is your luxurious floating hideaway on this nine-day sail through Italy’s southern islands. Begin with an architectural tour of Palermo’s 11th-century splendors, then set sail for the sun-blasted Aeolian Islands, seven volcanic spurs north of Sicily. When you’re not scuba-diving, snorkeling, and swimming in tucked-away coves or hiking up a live volcano, lounge at Lipari Island’s San Calogero, the oldest-known spa in the Mediterranean, or take a siesta deckside, grappa in hand.
Outfitter: Butterfield & Robinson, 888-596-6377,
When to Go: July

Britain
Hiking Hadrian’s Wall
Price: $3,495 and up
Difficulty: Moderate
Follow the winding route of Hadrian’s Wall on Britain’s newest long-distance trail. The Roman-era engineering feat stretches for 70 miles along the Scottish border, connecting two coasts. Start in Bowness-on-Solway, where the wall meets the sea on the west coast, and hike eight to ten miles a day through a magical landscape little changed in 2,000 years: lush hills, heather-covered moors, and rolling dales pocked with deep forests. En route, explore Roman forts, archaeological sites, and the bird-rich tidal estuary of Budle Bay. Your guide, Peter Goddard, has hiked the area for more than 30 years and is a local-history buff, as you’ll learn over family-style dinners at country B&Bs.
Outfitter: Wilderness Travel, 800-368-2794,
When to Go: July

Polar Regions

Antarctica

Ice, Ice, Baby: The mammoth icebergs of Antarctica

Sweden
Skiing the King’s Trail
Price: $2,295
Difficulty: Challenging
Ditch the wimpy groomers at American nordic centers and dig into a real cross-country challenge: The Kungsladen, or King’s Trail—which links Abisko and Sarek national parks, above the Arctic Circle—is Sweden’s crĂšme de la crĂšme strip of snow-covered track. For seven challenging days, you’ll slide your way along a 58-mile section of trail through the Kebnekaise Range, with plenty more payoff than pain. On day three, your dogsled support team will await at a rustic hut with a hefty platter of reindeer steaks and potatoes. After huffing up 3,773-foot Tjaktja Pass on day six, glide into the Tjaktjavagge Valley, stopping to bunk at the Salka Mountain Hut. If cross-country touring isn’t your thing, you can opt to explore the Kungsladen on foot during the summer and climb to the top of Sweden’s highest peak, 6,965-foot Mount Kebnekaise, for views of distant Norway.
High Point: Bringing your core temperature up with a sauna at the Abisko, Alesjaure, and Salka huts.
Low Point: Having your circadian rhythms thrown off by 24-hour twilight.
Travel Advisory: Beware snowmobiles—they are an essential part of life in Lapland but can shatter your hard-won solitude.
Outfitter: KE șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Travel, 800-497-9675,
When to Go: February to April

Norway
Svalbard Photo Expedition
Price: $5,290
Difficulty: Easy
The Svalbard Archipelago is one of the inhabited spits of land closest to the North Pole, just over 600 miles away, but it’s anything but barren—in summer the islands are blanketed with wildflowers, seabirds swirl en masse, and walruses, whales, seals, and bears gorge themselves during the 24-hour days. This expedition is all about capturing it on film—for 11 days, naturalists will help you spot the critters, and one of the world’s top nature photographers, Art Wolfe, will teach you how to take advantage of polar light, among other skills. Each day you’ll load into Zodiacs to shoot the glaciers, icebergs, fjords, and herds of reindeer that catch your interest from the bow of the ice-class ship Endeavor.
Outfitter: Lindblad Expeditions, 800-397-3348,
When to Go: July

Antarctica
Across the Circle for Climbers and Divers
Price: $4,490
Difficulty: Challenging
Why go to Antarctica if you get to stand on solid ground for only a few hours? This cruise gets you some real time on—and under—the great white continent and takes you south across the Antarctic Circle, a feat only true polar explorers can brag about. You and 53 other adventurers will stay aboard the Polar Pioneer, your floating base camp, where you’ll have input in planning the ship’s day-to-day itinerary. Experienced drysuit divers can explore the undersides of icebergs and get a krill’s-eye view of whales; hikers can summit unclimbed mountains on the western side of Antarctica and name them after their grandmothers. Other possibilities include visits to the defunct volcanic crater of Deception Island, the glaciers of Paradise Harbor, and the narrow 2,300-foot cliffs flanking Lemaire Channel.
Outfitter: World Expeditions, 888-464-8735,
When to Go: February

Oceania

French Polynesia
Surfing the Tuamotus
Price: $2,300—$4,717
Difficulty: Moderate
This is the ultimate surf safari in one of the world’s last great undiscovered wave frontiers—the mostly uninhabited, low-lying 78-island Tuamotu Archipelago, 200 miles northeast of Tahiti. Spend seven to 11 days riding clean, hollow three- to ten-foot barrels as you shuttle from one heartbreakingly flawless break to another aboard the 64-foot Cascade, a five-cabin power cruiser equipped with surf-forecasting technology. When surf’s down, fish for abundant black marlin and reef fish, kitesurf, sea-kayak, snorkel the jewel-like lagoons, and scuba-dive the deep “shark alley” passes, where hundreds of reef sharks ride the currents at feeding time. Evenings are reserved for surf videos, surf magazines, Hinano beer, and fresh sashimi and sushi.
High Point: You and your nine surf brahs will have these waves all to yourselves.
Low Point: If you hit it right, the waves can be so consistent you may actually start to get bored. Snap out of it!
Travel Advisory: No need to bring your own surfboard; the Cascade travels with a diverse quiver of more than 60 boards.
Outfitter: Wavehunters Surf Travel, 888-899-8823,
When to Go: Year-round

Australia
Training Ride
Price: $1,310
Difficulty: Strenuous
Join a peloton of serious cyclists for this tough ten-day, 780-mile loop from Hobart that hits both the east and west coasts of the rugged, cycling-mad Australian state of Tasmania. Be prepared for staggering scenery—desolate white beaches braced by sheer cliffs, emerald rolling farmland—and punishing ascents with names like Bust-Me-Gall and Break-Me-Neck. The final day includes a grind to the summit of 4,166-foot Mount Wellington—followed by a 13-mile cruise back to Hobart. On the lone day of rest, you’ll undergo flexibility, strength, and aerobic testing, administered by the Tasmanian Institute of Sport. If this sounds hardcore, take heart: Three sag wagons and two masseurs accompany the trip.
Outfitter: Island Cycle Tours, 011-61-36234-4951,
When to Go: March

Micronesia
Snorkeling Yap, Ulithi, and Palau
Price: $3,890 (airfare from Honolulu included)
Difficulty: Moderate
Twelve days of shallow-water bliss begin on the island of Yap, where you’ll see tide-driven manta rays passing beneath you in the channels. A short flight north takes you to rarely dived Ulithi, a former U.S. military base opened to tourism within the past few years, where a huge population of giant turtles can darken the water and coral walls plunge just 400 feet from shore. The final five days are spent among the green, tuffetlike isles of Palau, famous for landlocked saltwater Jellyfish Lake, where you’ll snorkel among thick, drifting clouds of harmless, if somewhat spooky, pale-pink Mastigias jellyfish.
Outfitter: Oceanic Society, 800-326-7491,
When to Go: April, June

Solomon Islands
Sea-Kayaking Journey
Price: $3,790
Difficulty: Moderate
Spend 18 days exploring the remote string of jungly, Eden-like islands of the nation’s Western Province. You’ll paddle translucent blue lagoons and cool, dark, vine-strung rivers, hike high volcanic ridges, snorkel a shallow-water WWII plane wreck, and discover shrines built partially of skulls—remnants of the headhunters who lived on these Ring of Fire islands about a century ago. Transfers between islands are by motorized canoes piloted by native guides; most nights are spent camping on empty sand beaches.
Outfitter: Mountain Travel Sobek, 888-687-6235,
When to Go: November to December

North America

Hells Canyon

Welcome to Hell…Hell’s Canyon, that is

Texas
Lance and the Texas Hill Country
Price: $10,000
Difficulty: Moderate
What could be better than a long road ride? Try a long road ride interspersed with a yuk-it-up session with Lance Armstrong himself. You’ll be treated to a 20-mile “morning spin” with the six-time Tour de France winner, just one of the highlights of this eight-day whirl through the Texas Hill Country from San Antonio to Austin. You’ll spend 30 to 45 miles a day in the saddle, overnighting at a dude ranch and the Hangar Hotel before settling in at Austin’s superluxe Driskill Hotel. There you’ll join 8,000 volunteers and survivors in the weekend-long Ride for the Roses, a 100-mile Lance Armstrong Foundation benefit for cancer research.
High Point: Spinning wheels with Lance.
Low Point: Parting with a whopping $10K, half of which goes to the Ride for the Roses.
Travel Advisory: You’re in Texas—don’t mess with it. Outfitter: Trek Travel, 866-464-8735,
When to Go: October

Alberta
Royal Canadian Rails Fly-Fishing Odyssey
Price: $5,450
Difficulty: Moderate
Board the Royal Canadian Pacific Railway luxury train for a six-day, 650-mile loop from Calgary to some of the Canadian Rockies’ most pristine rivers. Accompanied by local guides, you’ll float in driftboats down the Elk River and chug through the most scenic rail corridors in Banff and Yoho national parks. Spend nights exaggerating your catch over Scotch and bunking in vintage 1920s Pullman cars.
Outfitter: Off the Beaten Path, 800-445-2995,
When to Go: August

Idaho
River Soul Journey Through Hells Canyon
Price: $1,130
Difficulty: Easy
This five-day, 34-mile raft trip down the Snake River is a Class IV adventure—and an inward journey. Days begin with riverfront yoga, and shore time allows for journal writing, side trips to view Nez Perce rock art, and meditation. But cleansing your mind doesn’t mean you can’t indulge in the arsenal of lasagna, Idaho trout, and double-fudge brownies.
Outfitter: ROW (River Odysseys West), 800-451-6034,
When to Go: September

Oregon
Mountain-Biking the Umpqua River Trail
Price: $925
Difficulty: Challenging
The 79-mile Umpqua River Trail, completed in 1997, is a line of undulating singletrack from southern Oregon’s Maidu Lake to Swift Water Park, perfect for a five-day blast through Douglas firs, cedars, and ferny hillsides. You’ll chase the river along sheer drop-offs and to low points where you can cool your feet—as a chase van ferries your gear to camp.
Outfitter: Western Spirit, 800-845-2453,
When to Go: July to September

Labrador
Hiking the Torngat Mountains
Price: $3,200
Difficulty: Strenuous
Northern Labrador can be as hard to reach as parts of the Arctic, but after 12 years studying caribou herds there, these outfitters have the place dialed. Following a two-day boat ride from Maine to the Torngat Mountains, you’ll carry your own pack off-trail for eight of the trip’s 18 days, camping under the northern lights, crossing river valleys, and absorbing the solitude of this remote coast.
Outfitter: Nature Trek Canada, 250-653-4265,
When to Go: July to August

South America

Rocha On! Hoofing it on a Uruguayan playa.

Peru
Rafting the Lower ApurĂ­mac
Price: $2,500
Difficulty: Strenuous
To reach some hard-won whitewater, this ten-day trekking-and-rafting expedition starts with a six-hour hike down the western slope of Peru’s lush Cordillera Vilcabamba. Follow this the next day with a 5,900-foot ascent to Choquequirau, ruins of one of the most remarkable Incan cities discovered to date. Then make history of your own, on the rarely run, Class IV–V Lower ApurĂ­mac River, home to parrots, monkeys, cormorants, and countless waterfalls.
High Point: Peering into what guides call the Acobamba Abyss and realizing you’re headed for expert-kayaker territory.
Low Point: If water levels are low, portaging a particularly narrow section of the Abyss.
Travel Advisory: This is an exploratory trip, so be prepared for changes and delays.
Outfitter: Bio Bio Expeditions, 800-246-7238,
When to Go: October

Guyana
Wildlife Watching Price: $2,835 (airfare from U.S. included)
Difficulty: Easy
Picture Costa Rica pre–tourism boom—gorgeous, wild, and practically empty—and you’ve got Guyana, a new frontier in South American travel. For ten days you’ll head from lodge to lodge (some run by local Amerindian communities), exploring savannas and jungles and possibly adding jaguar and exotic-bird sightings to your life list. You can kayak lazy rivers to watch giant otters, venture out with flashlights to see black caimans hunting at night, and stand at the rim of Kaieteur Falls, which drops more than 740 feet, almost five times the height of Niagara.
Outfitter: Journeys International, 800-255-8735,
When to Go: April, August, November

Uruguay
Galloping the Deserted Coastline of Rocha
Price: $1,850
Difficulty: Easy
It’s hard to find a beach so deserted you can take a solitary stroll, let alone a weeklong horseback ride like this one, through eastern Uruguay’s Rocha region. On this 140-mile journey, you’ll visit fishing villages atop South American criollo horses, fuel up on lamb and steak, and gaze at capybaras (the world’s largest rodents). Worthy detours include a sea lion conservation area and a botanical garden filled with dozens of orchids.
Outfitter: Boojum Expeditions, 800-287-0125,
When to Go: March to April, October to December

Argentina and Chile
Backcountry-Skiing the Andean Cordillera
Price: $2,000
Difficulty: Challenging
On this ten-day trip, combine volcano climbs with lift-served skiing and snowboarding. In Chile, you’ll ascend the back side of 9,318-foot VolcĂĄn Villarrica, where you might see lava boiling below the caldera rim. In Argentina, you’ll ascend the flanks of VolcĂĄn LanĂ­n (12,388 feet) and VolcĂĄn Domuyo (15,446 feet), recuperating in the area’s łóŽÇČőłÙ±đ°ùĂ­ČčČő and abundant hot springs.
Outfitter: ATAC (șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Tours Argentina Chile), 866-270-5186,
When to Go: July to October

The Trip of the Year

Machu Picchu

Fly By: Machu Picchu, one of the many stops in the trip of the year

Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador
Safari by Air
Price: $19,950
Difficulty: Moderate
Forget all that time-consuming land travel: Now you can knock off a slew of South America’s ecological hot spots—the Atacama Desert, Lake Titicaca, Colca Canyon, the Pantanal—in one 19-day extravaganza. The trick is a privately chartered airplane, a 46-passenger Fokker-50 that whisks you from flamingo-flecked salt flats to open savanna to Peru’s magnificent city of Cuzco (for a visit to the Manu Biosphere Reserve or a hike around archaeological wonder Machu Picchu). And thanks to a close partnership between the World Wildlife Fund and Zegrahm & Eco Expeditions, you’ll be introduced to some of these wild places by the people who are fighting to keep them wild—and who know them best. In Chile’s Atacama Desert, you’ll ascend to 14,800 feet in the Andes to walk among spouting geysers and fumaroles, see cool salt formations in the Valley of the Moon, and visit a pink flamingo colony on Chaxa Lagoon. In Brazil’s Pantanal, South America’s largest wetlands, you’ll stalk giant anteaters, armadillos, maned wolves, and jaguars—as well as meet with WWF field staff to learn about conservation projects in collaboration with local ranching communities. On Lake Titicaca, on the Peru-Bolivia border, keep an eye out for the rare Titicaca flightless grebe; in Peru’s Colca Valley, look for condors, Andean deer, and llama-like vicuñas. The place to watch red and green macaws feasting on clay from behind biologist-developed viewing blinds is Peru’s Manu Biosphere Reserve, where you’ll also hike to see five kinds of monkeys—emperor tamarin, black spider, capuchin, squirrel, and red howler—perform acrobatics above your head in the forest canopy, and spy 550-pound tapirs, a.k.a. “jungle cows,” foraging about a mineral lick at dusk. End up in Quito, Ecuador, for a day trip to the famous Otavalo market.
High Point: Seeing the giant, cobalt-blue hyacinth macaw, which measures three feet from tail to beak, high in palm trees on the Pantanal’s savanna.
Low Point: Realizing that at least 10,000 hyacinth macaws were taken for the parrot trade in the 1980s, and that these exotic birds now number fewer than 10,000 worldwide.
Travel Advisory: You’ll be hitting five countries in 19 days: Because this trip is highly scheduled, leave your taste for a moseying, come-what-may pace behind. This is all about getting the most out of your time down south.
Outfitter: World Wildlife Fund, 888-993-8687, ; Zegrahm & Eco Expeditions, 800-628-8747,
When to Go: April

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1. ISLA ESPÃSANTO MEXICO

Guana

Relaxation Redefined: Guana Island

Twenty miles off Baja’s La Paz, this arid, Manhattan-size island in the Sea of Cortez, with its towering cliffs and deeply carved inlets, is home to a third of the world’s whale and dolphin species. Though kayakers flock to the island’s electric-blue waters, you can always find an empty cove to call your own.
Hideaway: There are no accommodations, but camping is allowed on most beaches.
Exploring: Besides world-class kayaking, there’s snorkeling, scuba diving, and fly-fishing for black skipjack and topsail pompano; you may find yourself in the water with sea lion pups or giant manta rays.
The Fine Print: Baja Outdoor Activities (011-52-612-125-5636, ), in La Paz, runs four- to seven-day guided trips starting at $370 per person.

2. SEABIRD KEY FLORIDA
A five-minute boat ride from Marathon, in the central Florida Keys, this wooded ten-acre island has one old-Florida-style stilt house with lots of decks, a widow’s walk, and an eco-conscious setup using solar power and a rainwater-collection system.
Hideaway: The house sleeps eight in two double bedrooms, with private baths on the main level, and four bunks in a sleeping loft. Cook the snapper you catch, or cruise over to Marathon for dinner out.
Exploring: The house comes with a 19-foot runabout, a canoe, kayaks, sailboards, and snorkeling and fishing gear.
The Fine Print: $4,695 per week for up to four people, $350 per additional person; 305-669-0044,

3. MUSHA CAY BAHAMAS
Rent this entire 150-acre island, in the aqua shallows north of Great Exuma, for yourself and up to 23 of your closest—and luckiest—pals. You’ll be doted on by a discreet, sworn-not-to-name-drop (OK, Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks have been here), live-in staff of 37.
Hideaway: Of the five guest dwellings, the most lavish is a 10,000-square-foot hilltop English colonial manor house with two bedrooms. The others are brightly painted two- to five-bedroom beachside villas and an ultraprivate thatch-roofed beach house for two. Enjoy multicourse feasts prepared by a world-class chef in the waterfront dining room, the beach bar, or your villa.
Exploring: Play tennis, snorkel, fish for blue marlin, take advantage of a flotilla of speedboats and sailboats, or hop over to Nassau on the resort’s Twin Otter (unless, of course, you’ve brought your own plane).
The Fine Print: Except for two weeks each year when guests can rent an individual house, the island is reserved exclusively for one party at a time; the nightly rate is $24,750 for one to eight guests (all-inclusive), $43,150 for 24 guests; 877-889-1100,

4. GUANA ISLAND BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS
You’ll share this mountainous 850-acre island wildlife preserve, just north of Tortola, with flamingos, screech owls, six-foot iguanas—and a maximum of 30 people.
Hideaway: Fifteen rooms in seven simple stone cottages, most with decks overlooking tranquil Muskmelon Bay, are strung along a ridge. West Indian–style cuisine is served on the terraces of the main house, built on the ruins of an 18th-century sugar plantation.
Exploring: Miles of hiking trails lead to lookouts and empty ivory beaches. You can circumnavigate the island by kayak, search for black-necked stilts, sail small boats, and snorkel the reefs off White Bay beach.
The Fine Print: Doubles, $895, including all meals; rent the island for $15,500 per night; 914-967-6050,

5. PETIT ST. VINCENT GRENADINES
After the golf-cart ride from the dock to your cottage, you may not see another soul during your stay on this hilly 113-acre island, 40 miles south of St. Vincent—if that’s how you want it. Need something? Hoist a yellow flag on your personal bamboo flagpole. If you want to be left alone, fly the red one.
Hideaway: Twenty-two airy stone cottages with terra-cotta floors and private sundecks are tucked in the palms along, and above, a sugary two-mile strand. Dishes like spicy tannia-root soup and grilled local snapper are served in the stone-and-timber dining pavilion, in your cottage, or in one of the many thatched palapa huts dotting the island.
Exploring: Help yourself to glass-bottom kayaks, sailboards, and catamarans. Hike through banyans and rubber trees to the top of 275-foot Marni Hill, where a lone hammock—and killer views—await. Larger yachts and sportfishing boats can be chartered for daylong fishing or scuba-diving trips.
The Fine Print: Doubles, $585–$910, including meals; for two weeks each year, rent the island for $12,870 per night; 800-654-9326,

6. ISLAS SECAS PANAMA
In the little-visited Las Secas archipelago, off Panama’s Pacific coast, lies lush Isla Cavada, a ladle-shaped 1,000-acre enclave with jagged cliffs and waterfalls that’s home to a one-year-old, low-impact resort for just 12 guests.
Hideaway: Stay in one of six secluded, cove-front, canvas-sided casitas, each with a queen bed and full bath. Dine on seafood specialties, including the superb ceviche de corvina—raw white sea bass marinated in lime juice—in the open-air cocina, or in your casita.
Exploring: Deep-sea fish for giant black marlin and tuna; scuba-dive among sharks, dolphins, and 400-pound jewfish; search for humpback whales; or surf the epic barrels at Morro Negrito, a 12-mile boat ride away.
The Fine Print: Doubles, $600 (four-night minimum), including all meals and some activities; 805-729-2737,

7. WILSON ISLAND AUSTRALIA
Just north of the Tropic of Capricorn and a 40-minute boat ride from Heron Island, this coral platter in Great Barrier Reef Marine Park welcomes only 12 guests at a time.
Hideaway: Six permanent tented cabanas with raised wooden floors offer king beds, battery-operated lamps, and water views. Simple meals of fresh fish and local fruit are served family-style in the community tent.
Exploring: The emphasis is on appreciating the fragile environment, with snorkeling, birdwatching, and, from December to April, guided walks to view the hatching of green and loggerhead turtles.
The Fine Print: The five-night Wilson Island Experience ($1,425 per person) includes two nights on Heron Island and three nights on Wilson Island, all meals included; 800-225-9849,

8. DOLPHIN ISLAND FIJI
A ten-minute cruise from the north end of the Viti Levu mainland, this nine-acre coral islet hosts just two couples at a time. Hideaway: A pair of elevated, open-to-the-breezes bures are decorated Fiji-style with tapa cloth and lashed beams. One has two double suites for sleeping; the other is where chefs work magic: Think papaya, mud crabs cooked in coconut milk, and poisson cru. Exploring: Kayak around the island, look for clownfish on the reefs, sail a Hobie Cat, and scuba-dive sites like Dream Maker, where sheer walls sport multihued soft corals.
The Fine Print: $1,540 per night for two, $1,940 for four (four-night minimum); 011-64-7-378-5791,

9. MOTU HAAPITI RAHI BORA BORA
A nearly perfect circle of coconut palms and white sand, this islet in the coral barrier reef encircling Bora Bora is only big enough for two houses—the owner’s and a three-bedroom cottage that holds up to five guests. Hideaway: Decorated with traditional bamboo furnishings, the solar-powered house sits on stilts just 15 feet from the clear lagoon. Buy groceries en route to the island, and cook at home.
Exploring: Kayaks, fins, and masks are at your disposal; the snorkeling—look for eagle rays and giant wrasses—is superb. Buzz over to Bora Bora by motorboat for scuba diving, water-skiing, and horseback riding.
The Fine Print: Rent the house for $550 per night; 011-689-74-24-73,

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Timbuktu

Open for business: the Ruwenzori Mountains.

WHERE THE HELL? Mali, 558 miles northeast of Bamako. WHAT IN THE WORLD? For the last thousand years Timbuktu has been the Sahara’s central exchange hub, a tiny mud-and-rock-walled city linking nomadic workers from the Taoudenni salt mines up north and crop farmers from the lush Niger River valley to the west. Although not as isolated (Air Mali now serves the city) or deadly (the desert’s legendary bandits have been kept outside the city limits) as it was 50 years ago, Timbuktu’s parched and perpetually sandblasted location has sealed its reputation as one of the planet’s most sequestered cities. To reach it, rent a pinasse, a thatch-roofed wooden boat with an outboard engine, at Mopti, the Niger River’s largest shoreline market. A 100-mile float past traditional mud villages with neither bridges nor electricity will take you within a four-mile jeep ride of Timbuktu. After visiting the 700-year-old Djinquereber mosque and bustling bazaar, hike several days north along the Bandiaghara Escarpment, where the Dogon, West Africans who have resisted both Islam and Christianity, still roam the desert on camelback. ACCESS: Contact Journeys International ($2,295; 800-255-8735; ), which offers a trip to Timbuktu including 14 days of hiking, camping, and pinasse boating. RISKS: Bandits. “U.S. citizens visiting or residing in Mali are urged to avoid all non-essential road travel in the region surrounding Timbuktu,” warns the U.S. Department of State Web site. “Robbers seem particularly interested in stealing vehicles.” ESSENTIAL: A traditional Saharan turban. Sandstorms in and around Timbuktu are legendary.

Ruwenzori Mountains
WHERE THE HELL? Southwestern Uganda, 175 miles west of Kampala. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Closed for the past three years because of nearby rebel skirmishes, the Uganda Wildlife Authority announced plans to reopen the Ruwenzori National Park’s trekking trails this year. Encompassing the headwaters of the Nile river, the eternally mist-covered 16,000-foot Mountains of the Moon, and lush lowlands choked with prehistoric-looking red-hot pokers (Kniphofia), 20-foot lobelias, and 30-foot heathers, the region would have served well as the setting for Jurrasic Park. Exploration into the verdant interior is best done on foot, hiking the rugged Ibanda Trail, which skirts 15,889-foot Mount Baker and 16,763-foot Mount Stanley, two glacier-lined peaks offering mountaineers unique African alternatives to the tourist highway on Kilimanjaro. After winding through dark bogs and waterfall-lined valleys, you’ll top out on a 14,000-foot alpine ridge where deep snow can crush your preconceived notions of the African equatorial climate. ACCESS: Fly into Entebbe and drive eight hours west to Kasese, your last outpost to pick up supplies. Continue three hours north to the Ibanda trailhead at park headquarters in Nyakalengija. RISKS: The gorillas won’t harm you; the guerrillas might. ESSENTIAL: Warm clothes. It’s Africa, but Africa at a nippy 14,000 feet.
Eastern Cameroon
WHERE THE HELL? Congo Basin, 500 miles east of Cameroon’s capital, YaoundĂ©. WHAT IN THE WORLD? BaAka pygmies have been able to thrive in the thickest parts of the Congo Basin, and the result is an advantageous biological adaptation: They’re able to see better than most humans in the rainforest’s misty dark. Thank goodness. Without the pygmies’ guide services you’d likely drop 15 links on the food chain inside what is the largest contiguous jungle in Africa, home to tree leopards, elusive gorillas, rainforest elephants, and more venomous snakes than you’d care to know about. On Wilderness Travels’ 16-day jungle trek, the BaAka will teach you to set traps, track blue duikers (mini antelope) and forest pigs, and gather medicinal plants like cough-curing mebeke during a bushwhack from YaoundĂ©. You’ll cross the impossible-to-patrol border into the Central African Republic’s Bayanga region—an area where The World Wildlife Fund is working to form the largest rainforest national park in Africa. ACCESS: Get in touch with Berkeley-based Wilderness Travel ($3,500; 800-368-2794; ), which launches its first Congo Basin trip in October 2002. RISKS: Poisonous snakes such as gabon and rhinoceros vipers, black and green mambas, cobras. ESSENTIAL: Night-vision goggles (to help you avoid stepping on a gabon).

Here and Gone

Our Homeland’s Backyard Boondocks

Greeting the midnight sun, Brooks Range, Alaska.

Baffin Island
WHERE THE HELL? Northern Canada, just shy of the Arctic Circle. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Baffin Island harbors some of the best big-wall climbing on the planet, but it’s no mystery why the vertical-minded masses haven’t exactly turned it into the next Yosemite. Nine months of below-freezing temperatures, no roads to the lonely interior, and the high cost of getting there are a few of the more delightful characteristics that keep its five-star granite cliffs the exclusive domain of die-hard or well-sponsored climbers. But roughly 12,000 Inuit occupy the coastal fjords, and their traditional dogsled routes provide highways for hardy explorers wishing to take on the spire-studded interior via sled or skis. The 125-mile Southwest Baffin Traverse takes you over sweeping snow valleys, frozen waterfalls, and the 3,000-foot Meta Incognita Peninsula, where nothing but the muted sound of skis breaking snow will cut the silence. ACCESS: Fly into Iqaluit from Ottawa ($375; First Air and Canadian North). NorthWinds Arctic șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍűs offers a 12-day dogsled trip on the Baffin Traverse in March 2002 ($2,700; 800-549-0551; ). RISKS: You’ll be asked to mush the sleds for part of the time—hold on tight. ESSENTIAL: A four-season tent built to withstand nylon-shredding Arctic winds.

Everglades National Park
WHERE THE HELL? Florida, 50 miles west of Miami. WHAT IN THE WORLD? The biggest wilderness east of the Rockies, the Everglades looks roughly the same as it did in 1889, when outlaw Edgar J. Watson went on the lam for an Oklahoma murder and successfully found sanctuary in its mazelike saw-grass jungle. Though near Miami’s urban fray, the park’s interior offers an untamed, island-speckled waterworld—home to crocodiles, manatees, panthers, and porpoises&3151;in which fit canoeists can reach mangrove-veiled chickees (wooden camping platforms), 500-year-old calusa-shell mounds with dry ground for camping, and meditative silence save for the late-night, Zen-like splashes of jumping mullet. Odds of seeing a ranger deep inside the park are low, so if Watson’s success inspired any modern-day fugitives, you’ll have to fend for yourself. ACCESS: Call Everglades National Park (305-242-7700; www.nps.gov/ever) for itineraries and $10 backcountry passes. For guided trips, contact North American Canoe Tours Incorporated (941-695-3299; ). RISKS: The labyrinthine mangrove swamps will leave inexperienced navigators lost in five minutes. ESSENTIAL: GPS receiver; Peter Matthiessen’s chilling tale of Watson’s demise, Killing Mister Watson.
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness
WHERE THE HELL? Idaho, 100 miles north of Boise. WHAT IN THE WORLD? The 1.3-million-acre Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness has changed about as much as cold winters in Fargo since it was established nearly four decades ago. There are no roads, more than half of its trails haven’t been maintained for 20 years, and the Forest Service’s prescribed-burn policy allows wildfire—along with wolves and mountain lions—to govern land management. With a map and backcountry smarts, make tracks in September to the high and cool Bighorn Crags, a 10-by-30-mile stretch along the Lochsa Divide where deep ponderosa forests, glacial lakes, headwater streams, and barbed 8,000-foot peaks form a hermitworthy kingdom. Only four trails encroach on the entire area, says Bill Goosman, wilderness resource assistant at Moose Creek: “The likelihood previous to this article—and who knows what will happen after this article—of seeing another person is very low.” ACCESS: Backpack into the Bighorn Crags by launching at the trailhead northeast of Selway Falls, at the dead end of Fog Mountain Road. RISKS: “It’s very intimidating,” Goosman says of the frequent wildfires. “Mother Nature’s in full control.” ESSENTIAL: Bear repellent (encounters are probable).

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
WHERE THE HELL? Northeastern Alaska, 258 miles north of Fairbanks. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Compliments of President Bush’s energy plan, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has been, well, drilled into the national consciousness. Result: A whopping 65-percent increase in tourism is expected this summer. Before you lose sleep over this potential second coming of Yellowstone, consider that if all 2,500 expected visitors arrive on the same day, each could still grab his own 8,000 acres of solitude. In an area the size of South Carolina, ANWR comprises a continent’s worth of ecosystems in the form of coastal plains, rolling tundra, 18 major rivers, miles-long glaciers, and the 8,000-foot peaks of the Brooks Range, which fan down the North Slope to the Beaufort Sea. No visitor services exist here, but with bush plane—and bushwhacking—access only, all you’ll need is crack orienteering skills, plenty of provisions, and an unlimited supply of free time. ACCESS: Fly commercially to Kaktovik, where you can hire a bush plane to your destination ($1,200­$3,000). Contact the refuge manager (907-456-0259; arcticrefuge@fws.gov) for a list of outfitters. RISKS: Fording raging rivers. Frequent grizzly encounters. ESSENTIAL: A fly rod. Arctic grayling and arctic char could provide an emergency meal.

Into the Mystic

From the Steppes to the Heights

Mongolian horsemen in the Altai Mountains.

Taklimakan Desert
WHERE THE HELL? Northwest China, 3,000 miles west of Beijing. WHAT IN THE WORLD? To the resident Muslim Uighurs, the 125,000-square-mile Taklimakan is “the desert of no return.” Bone-dry riverbeds and dunes second in size only to the Sahara’s have left its interior uninhabited, and most expeditions that have challenged it without motorized vehicles ended in disaster. Swedish explorer Sven Hedin lost 12 camels during his 1893 expedition (Hedin and his men survived by drinking the camels’ blood). Now you can get in on the fun. From the small farming village of Tongguzbasti, China, Uighur guides can take you six days on foot to the ruins of an eighth-century fort at Mount Mazartagh, where trucks await to transport you up dry riverbeds toward Aksu, at the Taklimakan’s northern edge. You probably won’t have to crawl from the wasteland on hands and knees Ă  la Hedin, but the sight of the Aksu’s green poplars should still leave you whimpering. ACCESS: Don’t try turning up at the Taklimakan on your own. KE șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Travel ($4,300; 800-497-9675; ) can take you from Islamabad, Pakistan, across to Tongguzbasti, and will organize your truck pickup on the other side. RISKS: Hurricane-force spring sandstorms can choke the air as high as 13,000 feet. ESSENTIAL: A copy of Charles Blackmore’s 1994 out-of-print ode, The Worst Desert on Earth.

Arunachal Pradesh
WHERE THE HELL? India, 450 miles northeast of Calcutta. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Surrounded on three sides by tightly controlled Bhutan, tourist-paranoid Myanmar, and off-limits Tibetan China, India’s Arunachal Pradesh has until recently taken its restrictive cues from its neighbors—outsiders were barred from the region’s northernmost reaches for over a century. Finally looking to expand tourism, last March the government invited field biologist George Schaller and guide Jon Meisler to plumb the area’s untapped trekking prospects. Linking timeworn hunting and trading paths and crossing raging streams on swinging bamboo bridges, the two charted a 150-mile route connecting sea-level subtropical rainforest to 16,000-foot passes below the Gori Chen peaks—and found a region little changed since the British Raj closed it in 1875. The trek offers the prospect of exploring an uncommercialized Himalaya calmly unaware of the 20th century’s passing. “This area has never had tourism,” Meisler insists. “Period.” ACCESS: Call Meisler’s High Asia Exploratory Mountain Travel Co. ($5,100; ). They have the first U.S. permit to guide in Arunachal Pradesh in November. Solo travel is still prohibited. RISKS: Rickety swinging bamboo bridges may not be up to code. ESSENTIAL: Small gifts—lighters, pens, photos of the Dalai Lama—are diplomatic olive branches in this region.

Southern Siberia and Altai Mountains
WHERE THE HELL? Central Asia, between western Mongolia and Tuva, Russia. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Russia’s autonomous republic of Tuva is a bastion of nomadic sheepherders whose hybrid of shamanism and Buddhism was disrupted by years of Soviet communist rule. Just over the border west of Ulaangom, Mongolia’s arid, monochromatic steppes dissolve into sprawling grasslands that roll out beneath glaciated mountainscapes. The result is a forgotten realm where prayer flags are surrounded by the odd offering of vodka bottles and where Tuvan throat singers (who recently took America by storm) have been left alone long enough to learn to sing two notes at once. Mongolian nomads sleep in gers (a type of yurt), riding horseback over roadless terrain framed by the 14,000-foot Altai Mountains. The entire region remains an unwired world where camels, horses, cattle, and sheep far outnumber two-legged inhabitants. Just getting here is the closest thing to time travel the world can offer. ACCESS: Sign up for Geographic Expeditions’ ($5,990; 800-777-8183; ) 24-day trip in July through Tuva and Mongolia. RISKS: Few. The guerrilla fighting affecting other central Asian republics hasn’t penetrated this far east. ESSENTIAL: A digital audio recorder, to make bootlegs of multioctave Tuvan throat singing.

Get Lost, Mate

How to Disappear Down Under

So far gone: limestone pinnacles in Nabung National Park, western Australia.

Fiordland National Park’s West Cape
WHERE THE HELL? New Zealand’s South Island, 44 miles southwest of Queenstown. WHAT IN THE WORLD? “Fiordland?” the jaded traveler scoffs. “The place is riddled with cruise ships and Handycam-toting day hikers.” Fair enough, but the park’s well-known tourist traps—majestic Milford Sound and hut-to-hut hiking on the Milford Track—overshadow a far different reality: Head west of these attractions and you’ll find a giant peninsula completely up for grabs. Why? Annual rainfall west of Lake Te Anau is 350 inches, and with no trails, the tangles of moss-cloaked beeches, podocarp trunks, vines, and rotting branches will impede your every move. Try hiking overland from the park’s Lake Manapouri to West Cape on the coast, a distance of 105 miles that requires three rigorous weeks to cover. If you can follow the red-deer tracks to ascend ridges—which offer more reasonable freedom of movement—the reward at West Cape is your own delectably forlorn beach, pinned to the mainland by giant swells cruising in from the empty Southern Ocean. ACCESS: From Queenstown, a two-hour bus and one-hour boat ride brings you to Lake Manapouri. From there, hike the Dusky Sound Track to Loch Maree and then head west. Arrange for a pick-up with Southern Lakes Helicopters ($831; 011-64-3-249-7167; www.slhqt.com) and a guide ($215 per day) with New Zealand Encounters (011-64-7866-2250; ). RISKS: Exceedingly rugged terrain, with sheer bluffs and crevasses. ESSENTIAL: Fungicide to ward off trench foot; expert compass skills to avoid having these words uttered after your name: “was never seen again.”

The Canning Stock Route
WHERE THE HELL? Western Australia, 450 miles northeast of Perth. WHAT IN THE WORLD? To truly appreciate the intimidating scope of the outback, consider a two-week four-wheel-drive rampage through its core via the Canning Stock Route, a 1,240-mile cattle trail etched out in 1906 by drilling 51 watering holes in a line through the Little Sandy, Great Sandy, and Gibson Deserts. Stockmen, long since turned off by the region’s sparse vegetation and lifeless sand expanses, wisely ceased cattle drives here by 1960, but the route can still be covered with a well-provisioned vehicle. According to Dutchman Cees Broekhuizen, who’s braved several of the outback’s toughest driving challenges, the Canning most poignantly embraces its emptiness at trailside campsites between Well 5 and Well 9: “It is so quiet, you hear the slight movement of a lizard.” Which, along with kangaroos, feral camels, and scorpions, are the only living creatures within miles. ACCESS: For well-appointed vehicles with experienced drivers, check with Diamantina ($3,300; 011-61-357-770-681; ) in Alice Springs. RISKS: Mechanical troubles are likely, but extra provisions will render death a negligible possibility. ESSENTIAL: Nine spare tires, a rehydration kit, 67 gallons of water, and wallaby repellent.
Gambier Islands
WHERE THE HELL? French Polynesia, about 1,000 miles southeast of Tahiti. WHAT IN THE WORLD? If Tom Hanks’s relationship with his volleyball in Cast Away left you somewhat envious, try reaching the reef-encircled Gambier Islands. Guidebooks mention them only in passing, likely because (a) there are no hotels or resorts, and (b) French nuclear testing on the nearby Mururoa atoll kept them off-limits until just after 1996. Begin at the largest of the Gambiers, Mangareva, a five-mile-long island with twin 1,400-foot volcanic peaks, trees with ripe mangoes, breadfruits, and guavas, and a perimeter of pristine white-sand beaches ignored by the few hundred affable locals, many of whom farm black pearls. Once you’ve adjusted to the laid-back lifestyle (which takes about four seconds), hire a local fisherman to haul you out to one of several smaller islands—Taravai, Akamaru, Aukena—where you can snorkel in the undisturbed coral reefs, king of your own paradise. ACCESS: From Tahiti, Air Tahiti makes weekly 3.5-hour flights ($204) that land you on Mangareva’s sole airstrip. Book your first few nights at Mangareva’s lone pension, through Iaora Tahiti Ecotours (011-689-48-31-69; ). RISKS: Don’t eat fish you catch inside the atoll—a poisonous alga infesting the lagoon has rendered many of them toxic. ESSENTIAL: A volleyball.

Cold Heaven

Remoteness, on the Rocks

Blue velvet: a moonlit iceberg in Greeland.

Thule District
WHERE THE HELL? 2,000 miles north of Greenland’s capital, Nuuk. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Greenland’s Thule District is one of the last pockets of isolation where local haute couture—polar bear­fur pants and caribou­hide jackets—is still dictated by the region’s available wild game. If you can manage to get to its capital seat at Qaanaaq (an official invitation is required to land at its air base), your only potential recreational competition for the surrounding 10,000 square miles of treeless landscape, 3,000-foot-high gouged fjords, and sharp limestone cliffs are the town’s 650 Inuit residents and their trusty sled dogs. Once you’re there, navigate a kayak around icebergs, accompanied by narwhals and beluga whales; observe a lonely skyline of tidewater glaciers, ice cones, and black rock spires illuminated by 24-hour daylight; feast on the blueberries that thrive on the thawed-out strips of walrus-fertilized land; and doze on serene granite beaches where resort lounge chairs have yet to appear. ACCESS: True isolation ain’t cheap—charter a Twin Otter plane on your own from Canada’s Resolute Bay and it will set you back about $10,500. On a tighter budget? Book a trip through Canadian outfitters Whitney & Smith, which runs 15-day guided kayak trips ($4,000; 403-678-3052; ) starting from Resolute. RISKS: Charging walrus and polar bears. ESSENTIAL: A waterproof rifle to defend yourself against such charges. South Georgia Island


WHERE THE HELL? 1,000 miles southeast of Tierra del Fuego. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Stoic Norwegian ship captain Thoralf SØrlle burst into tears at the sight of frostbitten, sea salt­ crusted Ernest Shackleton staggering into South Georgia Island’s Stromness whaling station in May 1916, after his and his crew’s epic 17-month journey of survival. These days, you can retrace Shackleton’s trip across South Georgia, with only slightly less hardship. Schlepping 60 pounds on skis and snowshoes, you’ll cross the island’s largely barren landscape of glaciers, tundra, and 9,000-foot peaks in some of the toughest trekking conditions on earth. The payoff? Your friends may have read Endurance, but you’ll actually endure: Taking on the island’s consistently stormy weather, you’ll gain a much purer appreciation for Shackleton’s exploits—cocktail-party bragging fodder for years to come. ACCESS: Geographic Expeditions runs the island’s only commercially guided trip, in November 2002 ($11,000; 800-777-8183; ). RISKS: Pausing for a few minutes en route can ensure hypothermia and frostbite. ESSENTIAL: Bombproof raingear.

Vaya con Dios

Undiscovered South America

“The Peak of the Mists”, northwestern Brazil.

Pico da Neblina
WHERE THE HELL? Northwestern Brazil, 506 miles northwest of Manaus. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Few foreigners have ever attempted to scale 9,888-foot Pico da Neblina, Brazil’s highest mountain; even fewer have been rewarded with a view. The “Peak of the Mists” is almost perpetually shrouded, so much so that it wasn’t discovered by outsiders until 1962. But on the odd clear day its cuspidated summit, looming some 1,600 feet above a grove-dotted grassland, offers Kodak-moment potential: a lush, unbroken rainforest as far as the eye can see. Of course, you’ll have to earn it. After a ten-hour canoe ride from outside SĂŁo Gabriel da Cachoeira to a base camp on Tucano Creek, native guides march you into an untarnished jungle, part of the 5.4 million acres of Pico da Neblina National Park, an inky realm of howler monkeys and three-toed sloths. After three days of machete hacking, vines give way to the 8,000-foot-high savanna and the start of the nontechnical but slippery ascent. You’ll fight your way up Neblina through swirling mists, praying for sun like an Aztec with every step. ACCESS: Contact KE șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Travel ($3,545; 800-497-9675; ), which will run the first commercial trip here in September, beginning in Manaus. RISKS: Malaria, typhoid, yellow fever. Get your full range of recommended vaccinations for this one. ESSENTIAL: Mosquito netting. The forest floor is crawling with creatures you’d best know nothing about.

Valle Turbio 4
WHERE THE HELL? Argentina, about 22 miles south of Lago Puelo National Park. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Decades of outdoor-clothing marketing may have softened Patagonia’s remote mystique, but where else on earth exists an unmapped region of rock and ice so unexplored that a valley roughly the size of Yosemite can be the hidden lair of a mere handful of climbers? Just last February, clutching a hand-drawn map from the 1960s (a gift from a local family whose patriarch explored the area in his free time) with enigmatic instructions inscribed&3151;”Still need exploration in this area of peaks and glaciers”—twin brothers Damian and Willy Benegas and three team members took a chance. After three days of hacking through bamboo thickets and leech-infested muck, they headed up a small tributary branching off the Turbio River’s main channel. A day later, jaws dangling, the trio took in the view: Waterfalls shot from cliffs; glacier tongues wagged off others; 2,500- to 4,000-foot unclimbed walls soared up on both sides. After a few days of having the granite all to themselves, they rafted the Turbio back to Lago Puelo—leaving the three higher valleys largely unexplored by climbers. The race is on. ACCESS: From Argentina’s Lago Puelo National Park, hire a boat (the Benegas used a local fishing guide) across the lake to the mouth of the Rio Turbio, and start the four-day upriver scramble to the granite playground. Bring a raft to float back out. RISKS: Meet trouble and your chance of getting rescued is not likely. Leeches, on the other hand, are. ESSENTIAL: A camera (for proof).
Tuichi River
WHERE THE HELL? Bolivia, descending northwest from Lake Titicaca. WHAT IN THE WORLD? On the two-week journey from the high Andes to the bottom of the jungle-coated canyon of the Tuichi River, the last hazy memories of your prior, civilized existence usually wear off around day eight. Flying to La Paz aside, getting to Upper San Pedro Canyon requires driving over a 15,300-foot pass and two days of four-wheeling to the outpost village of Apolo, then trekking another 15 miles across “dry jungle,” or rain-shadow deserts, to the Rio Tuichi put-in, where you will descend Class II-­IV rapids for two days. Now you can relax: Perched in your tent near the riverbank, as spider monkeys scream from vegetated cliff walls and harpy eagles soar above, your former life dissolves into murky recollection; only two more days of rapids remain before a motorized canoe takes you down a broader, lazier Tuichi. Maybe your team can get along without you? ACCESS: Join a trip leaving in late June 2002, run by Mukuni Wilderness Whitewater Expeditions ($2,950; 800-235-3085; ). RISKS: Scout a clean line on El Puerto Del Diablo, or The Gate of the Devil, a 150-yard, Class IV+ rapid where flipping in its hole will wash you into a giant boulder. ESSENTIAL: A flask. “Dry jungle” doesn’t mean you can’t bring liquor.

Wild Surprises

Europe’s Last Hideaways

Delta down: views from above in Sarek National Park, Lapland, Sweden.

Luottolako Plateau, Sarek National Park
WHERE THE HELL? Northwestern Sweden, just north of the Arctic Circle. WHAT IN THE WORLD? “An extremely inaccessible wilderness with no facilities whatsoever for tourists.” In Europe, that’s saying something, and that’s what the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency says about the lonely highland of Sarek. One of the wildest of the continent’s last legitimate wilderness areas, Sarek is 746 square miles of abundant glaciers, 200 mountains over 4,000 feet, and perpetually stormy weather. The 4,406-foot Luottolako Plateau, a moonscape of lichen-covered stones and alpine lakes, offers some of the loneliest terra firma in the park, a place to get unhinged and embrace your barbaric roots. Sneak up on grouse and reindeer, crush pestering hordes of mosquitoes, and belt Abba anthems on howling plains. Trust us, there’s no one there to stop you. ACCESS: From Kvikkjokk (pronounced, well, um, we have no idea), begin on the King’s Trail, breaking off at Lake Unna-Tata to orienteer northwest to the Luottolako. Physics professor Ulf Mjörnmark maintains an informative route-finding site at . RISKS: Stream crossings are a leading cause of death here, so spend time finding safe fords. ESSENTIAL: A four-season tent and anything—cards, Game Boy, the collected works of Shakespeare—to ward off storm-induced cabin fever.

The Outer Hebrides
WHERE THE HELL? Scotland, 150 miles northwest of Glasgow. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Aye, the far-flung Outer Hebrides are home to an ancient, oft-forgotten cluster of Gaelic speakers whose rustic way of life is quickly vanishing. Thanks to plague, economic irrelevance, and the cruel hand of nature—a single storm in 1897 wiped out one island’s entire adult male population as they fished at sea—few inhabitants have held on south of the 1,200 residents of Barra, leaving a group of abandoned wind- and rain-battered isles ideal for yacht exploration and summer sea kayaking. A proficient paddler can spend weeks here surfing turquoise waters onto soft white-sand beaches and crimson kelp fields. Ride wild tides into jagged inlets of sea caves and rock arches, where campsites become launchpads for exploring your personal fiefdom of 400-year-old churches, prehistoric rock megaliths, and empty dwellings (where you can house your serfs). ACCESS: A five-hour ferry ride from Oban, in northwest Scotland, gets you to the island of Barra, where you can set off solo or contact Actual Reality Scotland, which leads expeditions from May through September for strong intermediate and expert paddlers ($480 and up; 011-44-1369-870-249; ). RISKS: Rough Atlantic swells can arise unexpectedly, and most islands have only one or two practical landings, so sharp sea skills are required. ESSENTIAL: A three-millimeter (or thicker) neoprene wetsuit to buffer the wickedly cold waters.

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