1000 Ultimate Adventures-Final.Indd 1 17/04/2013 2:41:37 PM LONELY PLANET’ S
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LONELY PLANET’ S Hankering to tackle a long-distance trek, or an icy mountain peak? 1000 Ultimate Adventures brings together activities and challenges to captivate and inspire gung-ho adventurers and armchair travellers alike. From the epic to the local, on land, sea or even in mid air, the offer- ings here will encourage you to dream, plan and set off on your own adventure. Enjoy panoramic views of Cape Town after scrambling to the top of Table Mountain Pedal your way across Vietnam from the rice paddies of the Mekong Delta to the highlands Swim between continents in the Bosphorus swim, Istanbul Rumble across the dunes on a camel safari in Rajasthan Take in sublime vistas on a circuit of Mont Blanc ISBN 978-1-74321-719-1 1ST EDITION 99225 USA $22.99 9 781743 217191 UK £15.99 FROM THE WORLD’S LEADING TRAVEL AUTHORITY 1000 Ultimate Adventures-final.indd 1 17/04/2013 2:41:37 PM LONELY PLANET’ S FROM THE WORLD’S LEADING TRAVEL AUTHORITY 00a-frontmatter-title-ula1.indd 1 11/04/2013 11:45:00 AM CONTENTS 10 ICONS OF TRAVEL 70 BEST TREKS 124 EPIC RIDES WITH KILLER VIEWS 14 BEST SPOTS TO CATCH 128 BEST URBAN CLIMBING A BIG WAVE 74 ROCK STARS: WORLD’S ADVENTURES BEST BOULDERING 18 ULTIMATE DESERT 132 HAIR-RAISING ROAD DARES 78 BEST OFF-SEASON TRIPS ADVENTURES 22 MOUNTAIN QUESTS 136 SECOND-HIGHEST (NOT 82 MOST SECOND BEST) 26 BEST STEEP, DEEP BACK- SPIRITED HIKING & COUNTRY SKIING BIKING 138 MOUNTAIN BIKING’S MECCAS 30 WILDEST FLIGHTS 84 HOTTEST VOLCANIC VENTURES 142 GOING TO EXTREMES 32 GREATEST AIRBORNE ADVENTURES 88 FOR PROS ONLY – 146 MONKEY MAGIC: BEST THE MOST DANGEROUS ADVENTURES IN TREES 36 MOST ELECTRIFYING ADVENTURES TRIBAL ENCOUNTERS 150 WILD AT HEART: BEST 92 BEST HIDDEN HUTS ANIMAL ADVENTURES 40 MOST DANGEROUS AND SHELTERS PLACES TO TRAVEL 152 EPIC 94 ICONIC AMERICAS SEA-KAYAK PADDLES 42 COLDEST ADVENTURES ADVENTURES 156 EYE-CATCHING 46 SCARIEST ANIMAL 98 ULTIMATE ATMOSPHERIC ENCOUNTERS TRAIN RIDES EXTRAVAGANZAS 50 MOST SPECTACULAR 102 RETRO ACTIVE: OLD- 160 BEST CITY HIKES ROCK CLIMBS SCHOOL ADVENTURES 164 ENDANGERED 54 MOST STELLAR STAR-LIT 104 WILDEST SWIMS IN THE ENCOUNTERS ADVENTURES WORLD 166 SAIL OR BUST 56 MOST THRILLING 108 CRAZIEST CAVES CANYONING 170 BEST ADVENTURES 112 MIND-BLOWING FOUR-LEGGED MARATHONS ADVENTURES 60 MOST EXCELLENT EQUINE ESCAPADES 114 MOST 174 TALL ORDERS! – BEST ACTION-PACKED TOWER-RUNNING 64 ICONIC ASIAN JUNGLES RACES ADVENTURES 118 DOWNHILL DASHES 176 CLASSIC RIDES FOR 68 GOTTA BE IN CASUAL CYCLISTS IT TO WIN IT: BEST 122 BEST ADVENTURE RACES FESTIVALS 00b-frontmatter-contents-ula1.indd 2 12/04/2013 3:22:48 PM 180 ULTIMATE MOTORBIKE 248 ULTIMATE BORDER 308 GET YOUR ADVENTURES CROSSINGS THRILLS INDOORS 184 BEST ADVENTURE FILMS 250 LONGEST TREKS 312 ROUSING READS FOR ARMCHAIR 186 TOP 10 254 BEST POWDER IN THE ADVENTURERS ADVENTURE NATIONS WORLD 314 THE TWO OF US: 190 GET ON BOARD! 258 ESSENTIAL AFRICAN ADVENTURES ADVENTURES IN TANDEM 194 INTREPID TREASURE-HUNTING 262 MOST EXCITING 318 GREAT MOUNTAIN TRIPS MODERN CYCLES ADVENTURERS 198 BEST POOCH PURSUITS 322 BOY’S (AND GIRL’S) 264 BEST BIRDING IN OWN ADVENTURES 200 ICONIC EUROPEAN HIGHLANDS AND ADVENTURES ISLANDS 324 LEGENDARY ODYSSEYS 204 BEST WAYS TO BLOW 268 BEST MARINE 328 BEST SURF BREAKS FOR THE KIDS’ INHERITANCE ENCOUNTERS BEGINNERS 208 BEST ULTRA RUNS 272 SENSATIONAL 332 CLASSIC SOLO SORTIES SNOWSHOE ESCAPADES 210 ULTIMATE PILGRIMAGES 334 FAMILY-FRIENDLY 274 SPORTIVES FOR ADVENTURES 214 WORLD’S SERIOUS CYCLISTS HIGHEST TREKS 338 TOP DIVING 278 BEST UNDISCOVERED ADVENTURES 218 FAMOUS FOOTSTEPS US PARKS 342 IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF 220 ZIP IT UP: GREATEST 282 BEST ADVENTURES IN FILM HEROES ZIP-LINE EXPERIENCES THE BUFF 344 MOST SPECTACULAR 224 ICONIC MIDDLE EAST 284 SWEETEST SNORKEL HONEYMOON ADVENTURES SPOTS ADVENTURES 228 THE PLANET’S 288 BEST 348 ADVENTURE OFF THE FREAKIEST FOOTRACES HUT-TO-HUT TOURS PAGE 230 TRULY WILD 292 ADVENTURE 350 INDEX WATERWAYS INSTITUTIONS 234 FAMOUSLY 294 MOST VERTIGINOUS ADVENTUROUS VENTURES DESTINATIONS 298 BEST ‘PHOENIX’ 238 GIRLS-ONLY DESTINATIONS ADVENTURES 302 TOP ADVENTURE 240 BEST RAFTING RIVERS SKILLS 244 MOST MAGNIFICENT 304 BEST BEGINNERS’ COAST-TO-COAST CLIMBS MISSIONS 00b-frontmatter-contents-ula1.indd 3 12/04/2013 3:23:25 PM FOREWORD I sweat in the silence. All around me the sands chance to attempt an adventure large or small, stretch far away. Nothing moves. The crisp and to discover ourselves capable of more than curves and shadows of the dunes cut up into we realised. This book is a brilliant stepping stone the cloudless sky. There is no sign of life, no sign to our own adventures either epic or local. that anyone has ever been here before. I fi rst began plotting my adventures through Despite the heat, despite the struggle, I smile. stories of the great explorers. They inspired Perhaps I smile because of these things? Because me to dream big. I’ve been to the beach where adventures are not supposed to be easy, are they? Captain Cook was killed and I’ve followed Marco I’m walking across the Arabian Peninsula’s Polo across the Taklamakan desert (p326). But Empty Quarter desert (p21) – the Rub’ al Burke and Wills’ pioneering trek reminds me of a Khali – and the responsibility for my progress glaring omission on my own travelling CV: I have and safety is entirely in my hands. It is an never adventured in Australia. The world is so exhilarating feeling. But I am not the fi rst person big that I will never reach the bottom of my wish here. My quest is to retrace the great journeys list. There’s so much to do, as this book makes Wilfred Thesiger made here seventy years ago. deliciously plain. All the more reason to get Refl ecting the very diff erent worlds that dreaming and planning, and get out there! Thesiger and I pursue our adventures in, the My fi rst adventure was cycling the stunning end of my trek will be the peak of Dubai’s Burj high-altitude Karakoram Highway (p318) from Khalifa, currently the world’s tallest building. Pakistan to China. I’d been planning on cycling Thesiger would have been horrifi ed. But there’s in Tuscany when a friend cajoled me into no point living in the past. The world has thinking bigger. Not only was the ride cheaper changed enormously since Thesiger set out and more epic than Italy, it was also a catalyst. I across these plains. But the thrill of discovering was addicted. I haven’t looked back. new places remains. I love going to places I’ve Don’t make the mistake of reading this book never been, and seeing glorious sights that I fi rst without also making the adventures of your read about in books such as this one. choice actually happen. Flicking through these We live in fortunate times. The world is more pages I have noted several adventures that fi red accessible than ever before. These days we my imagination, mountain biking the San Juan have opportunities not only to be armchair huts (p291) and paddling the Queen Charlotte adventurers, dipping into the delicious Islands (p153) being just two. I’m sure you will do 4 photographs and ideas in this book, but to the same. There’s a wonderful world out there commit to an adventure of our own. We have the and this book is a fantastic appetiser. Let’s go! Alastair Humphreys Scotland, April 2013 00c-frontmatter-foreword-ula1.indd 4 12/04/2013 3:24:08 PM ALDO PAVAN/AGEFOTOSTOCK © ALDO PAVAN/AGEFOTOSTOCK The Empty Quarter, a seemingly endless expanse of wind-sculpted dunes – and limitless adventure 00c-frontmatter-foreword-ula1.indd 5 12/04/2013 3:24:12 PM ULTIMATE ITINERARIES ANIMAL ARCHETYPAL ENCOUNTERS AFRICA They may not be kings of the Zanzibar, mixing spice plantations, jungle, but spying a tiger from the pristine beaches and Swahili back of an elephant counts as a culture, hovers like an African majestic experience. p164 jewel in the Indian Ocean. p236 Great white sharks are best viewed The rolling dunes of Namibia are from a steel cage in the waters off perfect slopes for sandboarding... Port Lincoln, South Australia. p47 and soft when you crash. p19 An epic bike journey from Cape Town to Cairo puts you in touch with the sights, sounds and scents of this mighty continent. p10 Migration on an epic scale: 1.5 million wildebeest and zebra move through the Maasai Mara every year. p260 Sea turtles can live to a ripe old age. Be a witness to their hatching in the Padre Ramos Estuary, Nicaragua. p54 It’s a dog’s life, so why not come along for the ride, racing over an Alaskan glacier on a dog-sled tour. p172 In Ghana’s Kakum National Park How better to experience the guides lead night safaris through 6 vastness of the Mongolian steppes pristine African tropic rainforest. than as Genghis Khan and his p55 horde did: on horseback. p62 00d-frontmatter-ultimate-itineraries-ula1.indd 6 12/04/2013 9:46:47 AM MOUNTAIN NO-SWEAT ACTIVE HIGHS ADVENTURES AMERICAS The W Trek across the Torres del After travelling all the way to In the vastness of Big Bend, Texas, Paine National Park in Chilean Iceland, the warm waters of the you can raft down the Rio Grande, Patagonia wows with luminescent Blue Lagoon, near Reykjavík, or hike or horse-ride into the glacial lakes and awe-inspiring make for a relaxing and Chisos Mountains. p280 granite peaks. p73 rejuvenating dip.