20 of the best new adventure holidays

Prices, unless stated, are per person and include flights from London, transfers, meals and accommodation

TIME TRAVEL: BHUTAN

Picture jagged peaks, sparkling rivers, enchanted forests and the least trodden trekking routes in the Himalayas, taking you to hidden villages and an enlightened people who worked out a sustainable lifestyle in the 14th century and have seen little reason to change. Peregrine (0844 736 0173, www.peregrineadventures.co.uk ) offers the Snowman Trek, a one-off expedition to Bhutan's rarely visited Lunana region. The four-week trip costs £3,075, excluding flights - from £764 with British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com ) and Druk Air. If 28 days off work is pushing your luck, try the eight-day version, from £1,165.

Fitness: high

Best time to go: September to November

HEART OF DARKNESS: THE CONGO

No two syllables evoke the essence of darkest Africa like the word Congo. If the Nile is the continent's jugular, then the Congo is its aorta, endlessly pumping from Africa's dark heart. Travel here isn't easy - the Foreign Office has placed tracts of the country off limits - but in a world where riding a mountain bike is considered adventure, the mighty Congo reminds us of the true meaning of the word. Undiscovered Destinations (0191 296 2674, www.undiscovered-destinations.com ) has a 12-day expedition, travelling along the river by dugout and 4WD, for £2,995.

Fitness: medium

Best time to go: December to March

THE MOONSTONE TREK: PERU

Reports from the overcrowded Inca Trail of gap-year students holding vicars-and-tarts parties in the camp site of Phuyupatamarca are becoming depressingly frequent, so the 11-day Moonstone Trek, from Exodus (0845 863 9660, www. exodus.co.uk ), is an intriguing alternative. Slightly higher (14,750ft) and longer (25 miles) than the Inca Trail, it offers the opportunity to explore the Inca world as Hiram Bingham might have done in 1911 - alone but for your guide, your porters and your curiosity. The price is £1,699.

Fitness: medium

Best time to go: June to August

TOP OF THE WORLD: NEPAL

Much to the chagrin of proper mountaineers, all that stands between the average merchant banker and the world's highest peak is a go on the Stairmaster and a payment of £25,000 to Jagged Globe (0845 345 8848, www.jagged-globe.co.uk ). Less costly is an Everest base-camp trek, a strenuous 12-day hike from Namche Bazaar, climbing ever higher beneath the peaks of Cho Oyu, Lhotse and Nuptse to base camp and beyond - to the 18,513ft summit of Kala Patthar, for terrifying views of Everest's south face. The price is £1,192, with Virgin Adventure (0871 222 5825, www.virginholidays.co.uk ).

Fitness: high

Best time to go: October to November

INDIANA JONES: GUATEMALA

You'll need a fedora from Herbert Johnson of St James (£220; www.herbert-johnson.co.uk), a kangaroo-hide bullwhip (£242; www.whipmaker.com.au ) and a .45calibre Smith & Wesson (call me), because there's a lost temple deep in the Guatemalan rainforest and, as usual, you need to find it before the Germans. This 12-day adventure from Journey Latin America (020 8747 8315, www.journeylatinamerica.co.uk ) involves 80 miles of trekking through tough rainforest to the Mayan site of La Mirador. Survive and you can reward yourself with a couple of days' R&R at Francis Ford Coppola's Turtle Inn resort, in neighbouring Belize. It costs £2,355, all-inclusive. Bring your own monkey.

Fitness: high

Best time to go: May to July

THE GREAT GAME: AFGHANISTAN

If you think a journey starting in Peshawar and crossing the Khyber Pass to Kabul before heading to Tehran sounds like fun, then a trip with the veteran tour guide Geoff Hann is right up your street. He's been bringing tour groups to the Middle East for the past 35 years, and won't let something as tiresome as a war stop him - although he warns that, for this trip, "we are having to avoid Kandahar and the road section between Ghazni and Herat, due to the military activity". Big girl's blouse. The next trip departs on April 12 and starts at £1,920 for 22 days with Hinterland Travel (01484 719549, www.hinterlandtravel.com ). Amazingly, there's still availability.

Fitness: low

Best time to go: after the war

THE SILK ROAD: CENTRAL ASIA

With China and India now the dominant forces in the world economy, a trip along the Silk Road seems especially apposite. You could explore the entire 6,803-mile trail from Istanbul to Beijing - travelling with Dragoman Overland (01728 861133, www.dragoman.com ) - but it takes 14 weeks and costs £4,140. The alternative is a 15-night taster, exploring the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan before travelling high into the Altai Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan. The price is £695, plus a £135 food kitty. Flights with Turkish Airlines (0844 800 6666, www.thy.com ) start at £550.

Fitness: low

Best time to go: April to June

INTO THE HEART OF THE AMAZON: BRAZIL

"The sky was cloudless; the just-risen sun was hidden behind the dark mass of woods, but the long line of forest to the west was lighted up with his yellow horizontal rays," wrote the explorer Walter Henry Bates in 1859. Explore the Amazon as he did, on foot, through the forest and along the tributaries by pirogue, camping on sandbanks and sleeping in hammocks, on the Deep Jungle expedition offered by Journey Latin America (020 8747 8315, www.journeylatinamerica.co.uk ). You'll see macaws, toucans, sloths and bejewelled poison arrow frogs, but beware: Bates warned that jaguars would enter camp sites to warm themselves beside campfires. By all accounts, they still do. The seven-day trip costs £2,255.

Fitness: medium

Best time to go: any time

SEA WOLVES AND SPIRIT BEARS: BRITISH COLUMBIA

According to legend, the orca is descended from the wolf, and the predator's predilection for hunting in packs, mating for life and caring for its old is evidence of its lupine instincts. Decide for yourself on a four-day, family-friendly kayak expedition through British Columbia's Johnstone Strait, where you'll paddle alongside dozens of the magnificent creatures before heading north to Klemtu to spend three days in search of the Spirit Bear. This ghostly, semi-mythological white beast is believed by the First Nations to have been sent by the Creator as a reminder of the dangers of climate change. Few have ever seen it, but one who has is your guide, Doug Neasloss of the Kitasoo tribe. If you follow him, you could too. The price is £2,881 with Frontier Canada (020 8776 8709, www.frontier-travel.co.uk ).

Fitness: low

Best time to go: September

AFRICA'S EDEN: GABON

Fly south from Libreville and the last intact lowland forests in Africa spread eastward from the empty Atlantic shoreline to the horizon - an unbroken, seemingly impenetrable canopy of green. More than 11,000 square miles of this little-explored West African nation have been protected in 12 national parks, but, despite the riches earned from offshore oil, the tourist infrastructure is virtually nonexistent and travelling here is not for the fainthearted. The rewards, however, are magnificent. Beyond the teeming bird life, expect to see forest elephants, red river hogs, surfing hippos and perhaps even the odd gorilla. Explore (0844 499 0901, www.explore.co.uk ) offers a 14-day trip for £3,995.

Fitness: medium

Best time to go: May to September

RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY: COLORADO

There's a scene in every western where the cowboys ride through the mountains, following rocky trails, before strumming geetars around a crackling campfire. There may be shootin', rustlin' or lynchin' waiting just past sunup, but for those few scenes, a cowboy's life seems idyllic. See for yourself on a six-night horseback trip with Equine Adventures (0845 130 6981, www.equineadventures.co.uk ), riding through the magnificent Sangre de Cristo mountains and camping out at night, with no guarantee that you won't encounter bad weather, mountain lions, rattlesnakes or coyotes along the way. The price is £1,495.

Fitness: medium

Best time to go: September to November

JUNIOR EXPLORERS: JORDAN

Having children doesn't necessarily mean that your holidays are suddenly limited to reading beside the shallow end of a Mark Warner pool. Infants fit neatly in rucksacks and older children are readily recruited as porters, saving valuable baksheesh in uncharted lands. The Adventure Company (0845 450 5316, www.adventurecompany.co.uk ) has an eight-day expedition to Jordan for £899 (children £809) - you'll sleep beneath the stars at Wadi Rum, explore the lost city of Petra and float in the Dead Sea.

Fitness: low

Best time to go: April/May or September/October

EMPEROR PENGUINS: ANTARCTICA

Anyone can see penguins. Hop on an expedition ship at Ushuaia and in no time at all you'll see gentoos, chinstraps, Adélies and king penguins in their thousands. But you won't find the emperors - the biggest and noblest species - unless you're onboard the Kapitan Khlebnikov, the only tour ship in Antarctica capable of punching through the pack ice to the breeding colony at Snow Hill Island. If the sea ice prevents you landing on the island by boat, the ship's helicopter will drop you ashore to meet the 8,000-strong colony. It's a rare privilege: last year, more than 5,000 Britons visited Antarctica, but fewer than 50 met the emperors. The 17-day trip - accompanied by the award-winning photographers Jonathan and Angie Scott - costs £9,595, with Exodus (0845 863 9660, www.exodus.co.uk )

Fitness: low

Best time to go: December

THE BLACK CAT TRACK: PAPUA NEW GUINEA

"I've seen central Africa, but it was never anything like the jungle of New Guinea," said Errol Flynn, who hiked the Black Cat Track as a gold prospector in his preHollywood days. This week-long yomp has lost none of its charm, offering landslides, cliff traverses and potentially dangerous river crossings in a leech-infested jungle with one of the highest snakebite mortality rates. But it's worth the pain to see Papua New Guinea's staggering flora and fauna - including birds of paradise, wild orchids and butterflies as big as crows. The 20-day trip costs £1,628, excluding flights, with Trekforce Worldwide (0845 241 3085, www.trekforceworldwide.com ). Return fares to Port Moresby start at £1,046 with Emirates (0844 800 2777, www.emirates.com ) and Air Niugini (www.airniugini.com.pg ), via Dubai and Singapore.

Fitness: high

Best time to go: June to September

MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON: UGANDA

If we're being pedantic, the two highest peaks in Africa - Mounts Kilimanjaro and Kenya - are actually freestanding volcanoes. The highest proper mountain is Mount Stanley, a rarely climbed peak in the mysterious Mountains of the Moon. Jagged Globe (0845 345 8848, www.jagged-globe.co.uk ) has a 16-day expedition to the summit at 16,760ft, involving an ascent through thick montane forest, giant lobelias and prehistoric monster growths of senecio to Afro-alpine meadows full of outsized blooms that give the uneasy impression you've been shrunk to Action Man size. The price is £2,745.

Fitness: high

Best time to go: June to September

DREAMING PLACES: AUSTRALIA

You need a permit to enter the mysterious country east of the South Alligator River, a place where the land is divided into dreaming places and sacred places by its Aboriginal owners. There be monsters, too: estuarine crocodiles far higher up the food chain than you are, so you need a good guide. That'll be Sab Lord (00 61 8 8948 2200, www.lords-safaris. com.) He is part Crocodile Dundee, part Bruce Parry, and his forays into Arnhem Land to search out ancient Aboriginal rock paintings are the stuff of true exploration. Join him on a five-day expedition as part of a 10-night Top End tour, with Bridge & Wickers (020 7483 6555, www.bridgeandwickers.co.uk ). Prices start at £5,390.

Fitness: low

Best time to go: May to August

THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE: CANADIAN ARCTIC

Ever since Elizabethan times, the lure of a sea route linking Europe and Asia via the top of the world has tempted explorers to seek the Northwest Passage. Frobisher, Hudson, Baffin, Cabot, Foxe and Franklin are among those who tried - but you could succeed where they failed. Peregrine (0844 736 0173, www.peregrineadvantures.co.uk ) is offering a Northwest Passage voyage - a wistful adventure, made possible only by global warming, although success can never be guaranteed. The passage has been navigable only since 2006 and, even though your expedition ship is ice-strengthened, conditions may thwart her attempt, but you'll have fun trying. The 14-night trip costs £4,440.

Fitness: low

Best time to go: July to October

IN THESIGER'S FOOTSTEPS: ETHIOPIA AND YEMEN

When Wilfred Thesiger sought the destination of the Awash River in 1933, the safe way to travel through Danakil territory was to pick up a local travelling companion. Not as a guide, you understand, but as a hostage. "Thus, if his tribe gave trouble, you could kill him," he said. It's still rough, and the Red Sea Explorer expedition offered by Wild Frontiers (020 7736 3968, www.wildfrontiers.co.uk ) is no stroll. Flying into Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia, you'll traverse the Awash to Djibouti before crossing the Red Sea to Aden and plunging into the beautiful void that is the Empty Quarter. The 17-day trip costs £2,300; flights start at £600 with Ethiopian Airlines (020 8987 7000, www.ethiopianairlines.com ).

Fitness: low

Best time to go: September to March

THE SIERRA MADRE: MEXICO

If you thought the Grand Canyon was big, you should see Copper Canyon, in the Sierra Madre, northern Mexico. A mile and a quarter deep in places, the biggest canyon complex on earth covers 20,000 square miles and is four times bigger than that ditch in Arizona. It's sparsely populated by the Tarahumara Indians, who have stuck to their traditional lifestyle, and is reached via the cliff-hugging, gravity-defying Chihuahua al Pacifico railroad. Then you walk, exploring the canyon floor by day and camping wild beneath the stars at night. An 11-day trip costs £2,525 with Walks Worldwide (01524 242000, www.walksworldwide.com ).

Fitness: medium

Best time to go: October to May

RING OF FIRE: KAMCHATKA

"Never had I seen a picture of such primitive loneliness," wrote the American explorer George Kennan of Kamchatka, in far eastern Russia, in 1865. "Smoking volcanoes, and snow-covered mountains, yet green as the vale of Tempe, teeming with animal and vegetable life, yet uninhabited by man." Nothing's changed. Forest covers 85% of the land, there are 40,000 rivers and, despite poaching, the brown bear population has increased to 12,000. But the volcanoes are the biggest attraction: of the 160 along Kamchatka's spine, 28 are active. Gaze on their fiery hearts on a 14-day trip with Explore (0844 499 0901, www.explore.co.uk ); from £3,599.

Fitness: low

Best time to go: June to September