Adventure tours are perhaps the fastest-growing segment of travel, and there is nothing wrong with them, other than price. Many of these daredevil journeys—whitewater rafting, mountain trekking, diving, yachting, canoeing, hang gliding, and mountain biking—cost from $500 to $1,000 dollars per person more than they need to because of the middleman-piled-on-middleman structure of the adventure tour industry.
Consider this: a local travel company known as an “outfitter” actually operates most of these adventures — supplying the equipment, the personnel (escorts and guides), and the day-to-day planning. By and large, outfitters are a simple, hardy lot who charge reasonable sums for their work.
But here at home, a big adventure tour company often advertises, markets, and sells the tour without having a single one of its own employees at the destination to operate the tour. Rather, in many cases, it (the adventure tour company) hires the local outfitter to perform that task, and then marks up the outfitter's charge to cover its own costs of advertising, marketing, and selling the tour — and, of course, its profit.
If you can buy your adventure tour directly from the local outfitter, bypassing the main adventure tour company, you can often save a bundle. And I've listed many such outfitters, known to me, that will sell their services directly to you.
Biking in Brittany
Kate and Geoff Husband were two British teachers who spent most of their holidays biking in northern France. Eventually, their vacations became their profession when, in 1989, they opened Breton Bikes Cycling Holidays in the small town of Pontivy.
Based smack in the middle of Brittany, the northwestern section of France that juts out into the Atlantic, Breton Bikes offers one and two-week guided or self-guided tours to some of the Husbands' favorite haunts. With small rural towns, exquisite coastline views, and very few tough climbs (the highest point in Brittany is just over 1,000 feet), this region of France is ideal for biking. Price of one-week tours, including rooms at small B&Bs and half-board (breakfast and dinner), is a mere $635. If you prefer to camp, the cost plummets to $345 (excluding food). The Husbands supply all equipment necessary and will pick you up at the St. Brieuc train station in Brittany after your three-hour high-speed train ride from Paris (the cost is $126 round trip, second class).
You can reach Paris from a great many U.S. cities for around $450 round trip, using the services of airfare consolidators. Call Breton Bikes in France (33-2-96-24-86-72) or visit its web site (www.bretonbikes.com).
Sea Kayaking in Baja
Warm water, uninhabited islands, sheltered coves, and abundant marine life including dolphins, porpoises, and a variety of gray whales, are the reasons that Baja's Sea of Cortez is one of the premier kayaking playgrounds. Mexican Ana Lopez Uriarte and her Canadian husband Peter Marcus, owners of Gabriola Cycle & Kayak, have been guiding kayakers for 11 years. Their seven-day trips in winter start in Loreto (Baja California, Mexico), paddling four hours each day and spending the rest of the time snorkeling, fishing, lounging on the beach, and setting up camp. Trips cost $650 and include sea kayak rentals. No experience necessary. AeroCalifornia flies from Los Angeles to Loreto daily for $325 round trip (800/825-3477). Call Gabriola (250/247-8277) or visit the web site (www.gck.ca).
Canoeing the Allagash
Mention Maine's 92-mile Allagash Wilderness Waterway to a canoeist and he's apt to get a bit dreamy-eyed. Perhaps it's the way this thin blue line of river snakes through America's northeastern most fringes, hundreds of miles from the nearest metropolis. Or possibly it's the legacy of writer, philosopher, and inveterate traveler Henry David Thoreau, who ventured down the waterway 142 years ago. The best way to ply this American classic is to do it as Thoreau did, with a local guide. Registered Maine Guides Alexandra and Garrett Conover are two of the finest. Choose their five-day excursion in early October and you'll find the normally mute Maine moose as talkative as Bullwinkle (they're in heat) and the hillsides ablaze with prime New England foliage. Cost is $925, including all food and canoe rentals. All trips start at the Conovers' house in Willimantic, a three-hour drive from Portland. For those flying to Maine, the Conovers will arrange for pickup at nearby Bangor Airport. Call (207/997-3723) for a list of their trips.
Trekking in Nepal
Positioned in the foothills of the tallest mountains on earth, including Everest, Nepal serves as the gateway to the Himalayas. Yet, you don't have to be as fit or fanatical as Jon Krakauer to hike amidst these mighty peaks. Himalayan Encounters, a Nepalese/British venture founded in 1983, takes six to 14 fortunate hikers on treks through the Himalayas. One of their finest hikes is the eight-day Macchapuchare Trek that climbs the flanks of this 23,000-foot peak, rewarding hikers with spectacular views of Annapurna Massif (where five of the world's 12 highest peaks reside). A team of porters carries all gear, including your backpack as you trek three to four hours in the morning and two to three hours in the afternoon. Cost of this all-inclusive trip is $575. As for reaching Nepal, Visala Travel will fly you from New York to Kathmandu, home of Himalayan Encounters, on Austrian Airways for $1,154 (212/563-0707). Call Himalayan Encounters in Nepal (977-1-417426) or e-mail them (niraj@mos.com.np).
Mountain Biking in Thailand
Wild Planet, Thailand's premier adventure outfitter, is now running a 4-day biking tour through the Golden Triangle. Notorious for its opium fields, this area of northern Thailand is also known for its indigenous hill tribes, thick tropical vegetation, and ubiquitous Asian rice paddies. Starting in Chiang Mai, Thailand's second-largest city, you'll ride along the Mae Kok River, through remote villages. Cost is $320, including accommodations, board, and biking equipment. Best Travel (800/477-4528) will fly you from Los Angeles round trip to Bangkok, via Japan Airlines, for only $559. It's another $108 round trip on Thai Air for the one-hour flight to Chiang Mai. Then, call Wild Planet in Thailand (66-2-712-8748) or visit its web site (http://wild-planet.co.th).
Whitewater Rafting the Zambezi
One glance down at Zimbabwe's Victoria Falls tumbling into a churn of froth at the mouth of the Zambezi River and you'll quickly understand how the Zambezi earned its reputation as the whitewater rafter's ultimate conquest. Victoria is twice as high and wide as Niagara, and this being Africa, there are no railings. Shearwater, Zimbabwe's largest adventure tour operator, starts its five-day descent of the Zambezi at a spot just below the falls. You'll travel the toughest 68 miles of this 1,700-mile river in an exhilarating blur of Class V (the most challenging) rapids. Along the way, between bouncing off boulders, you'll meet six-feet-long crocodiles and those cute, cuddly hippos. Pat their heads and you'll soon realize why hippos kill as many people in Africa as the next five animals combined. Cost of the jaunt is $555, including all food and equipment. Getting to Vic Falls is a bit more expensive. Your best bet is an African consolidator like Premier Travel Services (800/545-1910), who will fly you from the East Coast to Victoria Falls for $1,300 on South African Airways. Call Shearwater (27-11-888-4037) or visit its web site (http://africanadrenalin.co.za/shearwater).
A Walking Safari in Zululand
Few people outside of South Africa have heard of Zululand, a region dotted with game reserves, wetlands, and national parks. With black and white rhinos, baboons, giraffes, elephants, lions, hyenas, leopards, and cheetahs, the only animal that's a rarity here is the Homosapien. Wilderness Leadership School, a non-profit organization based in Durban, offers five-day walking safaris into the heart of Zululand's Umfolozi Game Reserve. You'll walk five to ten kilometers a day on low-impact trails that are designed for eight or fewer participants at a time. Price for this unparalleled safari is $875, including all food and equipment. For the first part of your trip, Picasso Travel offers flights from New York to Durban for $1,615 round trip on South African Airways (800/368-6822). Call Wilderness Leadership School (27-31-462-8642).
