Mastering a basic kayaking technique is relatively simple and intuitive. To move straight, you push one blade of your double-sided paddle through the water and then do the same with the other blade, paddling with each blade at an even pace. If you need to move right, simply push your left-hand blade with greater force through the water. To move left, you use this same technique, but with the right-hand blade. To brake, push either blade backwards through the water.

When participating in adventure travel activities, you might find yourself in contexts where you’ll need to master more complicated techniques than you at first imagined. In most cases, kayaking especially, you can set your own pace and explore nature’s beauty without being distracted by complicated maneuvers.  Or, you can choose to learn them to feel like you have mastered the sport more thoroughly.

As you settle into a regular paddling rhythm, you might not be aware of  how much physical exercise you’re getting. Like all forms of water exercise, kayaking offers gentle, but effective resistance training, as well as a solid cardiovascular workout. There’s no need for the gym.

Kayaking is one of the better adventure travel activities when it comes to people’s ages. Children pick up kayaking techniques quickly, building their confidence by competently exploring rivers and lakes. Kayaking is also a great way for the elderly to experience the great outdoors, with its minimal stress on the body.

Whether you are helping along your partner in a double-kayak, or giving instructions on the best way to navigate through a bend in the river, kayaking offers plenty of opportunities to build teamwork in a beautiful environment. Kayaking brings out the adventurer in all of us, and encourages team building through exploration. It’s no wonder that summer camps often offer kayaking as part of their core curriculum.

Kayaking also encourages mental clarity and balance. Your thoughts become more grounded as you settle into a regular paddling rhythm, surrounded by nature. The sound of the paddles lapping against the water is as soothing as any meditation music.

All adventure travel activities offer the chance to explore, to discover.  Imagine paddling up to islands in lakes that rarely see visitors or observing animals in their natural habitats.

A camping trip is one of the best opportunities to utilize the practical advantages of kayaking. If properly fitted, a kayak can provide adequate storage space for camping gear.

In the world of boats, kayaks are one of the simplest vessels. This simple elegance is an integral part of the kayaking experience, there are no  buzzing motors to remind you of the modern world. This is one of the most endearing qualities of the kayak—it gives you the ability to discover Mother Nature without any distraction.

Mountain biking not only gives people the opportunity to get in touch with nature and discover the hidden gems that have been waiting in their backyard, but it is also a great way to get a little exercise in the process. Riding a bike is a fantastic cardio workout and a good way to workout one’s legs and even upper body, as most people do not realize the full body workout that this activity requires. For most, the physical toll that mountain biking takes does not take away from the mental escape that it offers.

As is true of many adventure travel activities, biking gives people the chance to step away from the routine and do something new or discover something they never knew existed. It gives people the chance to see something or witness an occurrence they have never seen before. Biking with the family or with friends can be good for bonding as well. As a family or a group of friends bikes through nature, they will likely talk and comment on the raw beauty of their surroundings. This helps to build teamwork and can be a good way to get people working together or cooperating with one another. This is an especially good experience for kids or teens.

Mountain biking is a popular sport, as it is relatively cheap and can be done by just about anybody. As long as the proper safety precautions are taken, such as wearing a helmet and making sure that everybody is comfortable riding the bike, this can be an easy adventure travel outing. Mountain biking implies riding a specially equipped bike off-road through a nature trail or on rough terrain or other unconventional surfaces. Some people ride through the desert, along the coast, over a mountain or across a hilly terrain. Whatever one’s preference, this can be a fun and fulfilling adventure for people of all ages and backgrounds.

It is important to stay hydrated while biking, as is true of most other adventure travel activities. As alluded to earlier, wearing proper safety equipment is important. While biking, be sure to wear the proper shoes and clothing for the weather and environment. Some bikers opt to wear gloves to protect their hands from blisters.

Carrying on our series we have Mountain Biking, have a read –> Adventure Travel

Sailing can be a nice relaxing fun filled vacation, or as you are about to see, a very wet and adrenaline pumping roller coaster ride.

Turn up the volume on the PC and enjoy the ride!

When out on the open seas with wind in the sails sailing is often considered as one of the more romantic adventure travel activities. This is often the case, for many sailors choose to cruise around the warmer tropical regions of the world, where is water is crystal clear blue and swimming off the back of the yacht is a daily ritual.

Sailing offers various challenges due to the location one wishes to sail in. Coastal sailing has many tidal influences and weather patterns that are created by the land shape of the coast itself. Off-shore sailing has the challenges of facing whatever weather is thrown at you because there is nowhere to hide. Sailing up rivers or estuaries is a challenge due to currents and moving sandbanks not yet charted.  Obviously the region you are sailing in as well influences many decisions that need making – the warmth of the weather, the availability of food, fuel and water in remote areas, seasonal weather hazards (hurricanes in the Caribbean).

One thing also that needs mentioning is the marine life. Dolphins, whales, seals, sea otters, all the different fish species, the bird life, even, when on coastal cruises, the wildlife on the shores.  The list of potential wildlife encounters is a long one indeed. Remember to take plenty of film (or memory cards and batteries) for the camera and even a good set of binoculars.

Sailing is one of those adventure travel activities that can be a bonding experience capable of bringing friends and family closer. When sailing, a person or group of people not only bonds with Mother Nature and the beauty of the body of water surrounding them, but they also bond with the people that are sharing the vessel with them. Passengers of the boat have to have a good firm confidence in their skipper, assured that he or she knows what they are doing. This sort of confidence and trust creates a great bond between friends and family alike.

Carrying on our series we have Mountain Biking, have a read –> Adventure Travel

Not only is mountain climbing a great learning experience, but also it has enormous physical and mental health benefits. The physical benefits are clear in that you will be moving nearly the entire time and challenging your body to do things it may have never done before. This can build muscle mass, increase your stamina, and keep your heart in shape. The mental benefits may not be so obvious, but once you get out there, you will know that this experience is great for your psyche. It is proven that vitamin D can increase your endorphin release, which can give you the feeling of happiness, so make sure you go on a day when the forecast is sunny. Oxygen is also plentiful, and usually much cleaner near mountain climbing areas because of the surrounding countryside, lack of vehicles and plentiful vegetation, so this can clear your head and help boost your energy as well. Although, if you are going on higher mountain routes the air will actually become thinner so be aware of altitude sickness. Another great part of climbing in the outdoors is reconnecting with nature, and with the people you care about, so make sure you go with a group. It’s always safer that way, and you can work on teamwork skills as well as you pull each other through any rough patches.

Mountain climbing can be as simple as hiking along well beaten trail up to a mountain vista point, or it can be as complicated as climbing the face of a nearly vertical cliff with just your toes and finger tips for gripping. There are many well marked, maintained and mapped trails on the mountains of the world so it can be very easy to plan a trip. Make sure you take lots of water, healthy snacks like fruits and nuts and suitable outdoor clothing and safety gear. Whichever way you choose to go, you are guaranteed to have a wonderful time full of learning and exercise outdoors, which will surely create lasting memories for you and whomever you choose to go with. Mountain climbing is a fabulous type of adventure travel that is a great way to expose your family to new places and learn more about the world, and how you can appreciate it in a healthy and rewarding way.

In the future, when planning your next series of adventure travel activities, whether it be mountain climbing, or something else, that you always tell someone you know exactly where you are going in case of an emergency. Remember to have fun, be safe, and keep learning about the outdoors! It’s an exciting place out there; isn’t it time you enjoyed all the world has to offer?

Carrying on our series we have Sailing, have a read –> Adventure Travel

Not all adventure travel activities are for athletes, there are many things you can do no matter your age, or even disability, even families can enjoy there time together whilst they all go sailing, horse riding or trekking, for example.

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One of the reasons we, S2Si, are different to many other organisers of adventure travel activities is that we pride ourselves on our excellent safety record.  On certain expeditions, due to their length of time and location, we provide our own medical team and equipment.  This will offer families, older travellers and travellers with disabilities much ‘piece of mind ‘.

We are sure that if you went around the world on a vacation, called into a local tour operator and booked some adventure travel activities that you would have a good time and most trips end with everyone satisfied, camera full of pictures and plenty of memories to share later.  However, the ones that don’t always end so good are the ones that we hear about – fatalities or survival situations, for example.

So you don’t become one of the unlucky few who are not happy with their trip or, even worse, suffer due a lack of safety equipment or experience whilst outdoors, here is a basic guide for things to watch out for in the early stages:

• Does the equipment used seem excessively worn or abused?  Check belts or straps for wear and tear, are ropes fraying, brakes on mountain bikes, leaks in kayaks, etc.
• Are you given the right safety equipment for the chosen activity?  Lifejackets for all water sports, a proper lifejacket (not a floatation vest) when sailing, helmets in nearly all sports, if diving and partnered with a stranger make sure they know the safety procedures.
• No matter which activity or where, is there a first aid kit available and someone trained to use it?  Ask to see the first aid kit, does it contain a suitable array of equipment for the activity you are about to engage in?  Is is well packed, clean and items in-date?
• Actually ask about safety concerns.  What is their plan is for emergencies, how have the dealt with issues in the past? If they say they have never had any issues at all then they are probably lying – all the staff at S2Si have had to deal with medical emergencies in the past and would be happy to discuss the procedures used.
• Finally – trust your instinct and don’t be affraid to say NO and leave the agency/office!  If something doesn’t feel right then there might be good cause for that feeling. You can’t thoroughly enjoy a day rock climbing if you have a nagging concern over the safety of the kit!

Our series is up and running, starting with Mountain Climbing, have a read –> Adventure Travel

A few years ago, impressive feats in the out-of-doors by persons with limitations such as amputations, visual impairment, or advancing age were rare. Now, spurred on by new attitudes about abilities, and often aided by technology, more and more differently abled adventurers are accomplishing extreme feats.

One of the best known disabled athletes is Mark Wellman. Injured in a mountain descent in 1982, he became a paraplegic, but has worked his way back to climb El Capitan and Half Dome in Yosemite. He was the first paraplegic to sit-ski the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Wellman shares his experiences to motivate others to accept no limits.

Walt Balenovich, on the other hand, has been in a wheelchair all his life after contracting polio as an infant. He set out to backpack around the world, alone. His adventure is chronicled in his book “Travels in a Blue Chair.” Like Wellman, he aims to give back. Some of the proceeds from the book go to vaccinate children against polio.

Bill Irwin became the first blind person to hike the entire Appalachian Trail alone, guided by his dog, Orient. He humorously explains how he was as unprepared for a long solo hike as many of the sighted people who set out to hike that trail. Bill says, “Let no one kill your impossible dreams.” It might be noted that the first woman to hike the entire AT was “Granny” Emma Gatewood. She did so at age 71.

The number of people attempting to scale Mount Everest has grown significantly in recent years, with over 3000 total ascents. In 2008, Min Bahadur Sherchan, a 76-year-old Nepalese man became the oldest person to climb the earth’s highest peak. He beat the record set in 2007 by Katsusuke Yanagisawa of Japan who was 71 at the time of his climb.

A classic story of accomplishment by an older man is that of Joshua Slocum. “Sailing Alone Around the World” chronicles his 1895 voyage. By today’s standards perhaps Slocum wasn’t ancient, but at age 51 he set off on a home-built boat to circumnavigate the globe alone. He succeeded, and inspired many younger sailors to give it a try.

At the 2002 Winter Paralympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, Sarah Will, mono-skier, took first place in the slalom, Super-G, giant slalom, and downhill. She became the first woman to sweep all four events at the Paralympics. Will was paralyzed in a 1988 ski accident.

These stories are only a small handful of the many heros who have proven that equipment can be adapted, obstacles overcome, and dreams can come true. Truly, people are only differently-abled, no longer disabled and pushed to the edges of society. Anyone with the desire for adventures can have their dreams fulfilled.

Now then, before you pack your bags and hop on a flight there are a few things to take into consideration before exploring Borneo and Papua New Guinea. Both Borneo and Papua New Guinea are tropical countries so there are health considerations.  Papua New Guinea is in a tropical cyclone area (Asian version of a hurricane).  Also, Borneo and Papua New Guinea are considered third world countries, so the in-country infrastructure will not be what you are used to at home.

Let’s look at some of the health issues you need to look into before setting off for an adventure holiday exploring Borneo and Papua New Guinea.

• Vaccinations – before setting off you will need to have a good chat with your doctor or, preferably, a specialised travel clinic where you can get a decent and well planned set of vaccinations.  It would be wrong of us on here to comment further on what jabs you need, please seek professional medical advice.
• First aid kit – always keep with you a decent first aid kit with everything in it waterproofed, sealed and in-date. There are many pre-made kits out there on the market, some of which we will review soon. For now please visit Nomad Travel to see their collection.
• Water – two things about water, one is that you’ll need to drink lot of it…. sorry, did I say a lot, I meant A LOT!!! So have a good water bottle (or two) and secondly, just as important, make sure the water you drink is of a good quality, so take along with you a means of water purification.  Iodine is good for short term emergencies.
• Food – read up on all the foods you should and shouldn’t eat.  Make sure food is cooked thoroughly, avoid salads if you think the food hasn’t been washed properly. It is very very important that you prepare yourself for the worst because it doesn’t matter how careful you are, you WILL get a dodgy tummy sooner or later, so make sure you know what to do when it happens.

Next …. picture the scene, you are deep in the jungle, exploring Papua new Guinea…. then you are told a typhoon is coming your way.  This will put a real downer on your trip I assure you.

Whilst on an expedition in Belize, Rob (the Managing Director of S2Si) who was at the time in-country manager, sent a messenger out to my expedition base camp with the news that Hurricane Mitch was coming! After a very swift but highly professional pitch-black, middle of the night, evacuation we got to the capital. The rest of our time in-country was spent in the British High Commission where we boarded up windows, secured doors, did night patrols to make sure looters didn’t come into the compound and watched the news as the Caribbean took a beating.  The normal season for the cyclones is November to May, but you would be wise to check recent updates on any fluctuations.

Borneo might escape the tropical revolving storms but it has a wet and dry season which can seriously affect roads, rivers and your enjoyment.

Lastly in our small but highly useful advice section for exploring Borneo and Papua New Guinea we cover the basic infrastructure problems that you need to be aware of before setting of.

• Electricity – in  smaller towns power cuts can be frequent and when you get off the beaten track you’ll be lucky to find electricity.  So a head torch and spare batteries are essential.
• Water – running water in places might be intermittent. Pack your wash kit with things like all-in-one  soap (good for clothes as well) or a shower gel. Learn how to improvise by making your own showers out of plastic water bottles or a water bag.
• Roads – poorly maintained roads can mean transport delays so keep an open mind regarding timings and schedules. Don’t plan a long bus journey right before your return flight home .
• Communications – you are going out there to get away from the modern world and back to basics, when you get away from civilization don’t expect all the phones to work, if they have an internet connection you can bet it will be a slow one.

There you have a few basic points to exploring Borneo and exploring Papua New Guinea – we should have called this article “Travel tips for exploring Borneo and Papua New Guinea – The tip of the iceberg!!!” as we have really just given you a taster of the adventure ahead of you.  Anyway, it wouldn’t be called exploring if we held your hand for you.

So get reading and send us a postcard!

The new genre of ecotourism strives to solve the issues surrounding travel into undiscovered areas with a combination of responsibility and social consciousness. For most people the age of the “great white hunter” is long gone and ecotourists take an even more stringent approach. Following the concept of “take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints” ecologically aware individuals seek to see remarkable, rare vistas while leaving as minimal an impact as possible.

Allowing such tourism into wild and beautiful places like the Northwestern areas of Canada helps people develop a deeper appreciation of these wildernesses. It is very difficult to engage people in a cause if they have no understanding of what they are being asked to protect. The real challenge is then, can people learn how valuable such areas are without spoiling them. By letting people explore Canada and it remote regions people become more aware of what there is to save.

Places like Greenland are rapidly losing their icepack. That means that regions of that country that have been relatively undisturbed for millennia are now suffering tremendous changes. There is an understandable desire to see these environments before they have disappeared. Whales, icebergs and Viking ruins draw people to this island nation, but the impact of tourism can damage the very things people want to view. Here, like in all other areas of life, we must be very aware of our impact, and strive to leave things as they were when we arrived.  When you explore Greenland you will see the fragile ecology of the place and it  makes clearer how profoundly we are changing our world.

Another place you can find an undiscovered paradise when you explore is New Zealand. With a native culture all its own this island off the coast of Australia has not received as much attention as its neighbor. Perhaps unfortunately, with people wanting more and more to visit places that aren’t part of the normal tourism curriculum, the untrammeled areas of New Zealand are being visited more often. It is a constant struggle to maintain a balance between encouraging an appreciation of beauty in the wild and rugged places that remain in our world, and trying to protect them.

Perhaps the best solution is to accept that sooner or later, people are going to reach every remote corner of this planet and stop fighting it. Instead, time, energy and education should be focused upon how critical it is to preserve these areas so that every generation after ours can have the privilege of seeing wide expanses of nothing but nature, beautiful and unspoiled. We are the wardens of this incredible world, and it is our responsibility to protect it.

Do you want to explore New Zealand? Here is our in-country page for some more information – New Zealand

Information on Canada is here.  So read up on the beautiful country before you decide to explore Canada.

Explore Greenland by being pulled across the snow by a team of huskies!  Here is the Greenland information.

History of ecotourism

Many debate that ecotourism dates back centuries to early explorers, philosophers and educators. Others claim that it began sometime in the 1950’s when national parks and protected areas came into existence.
While there is little doubt that history has played a precursor to the development of social consciousness about the environment, natural resources, and surrounding cultures, the concept of modern ecotourism itself generally is accepted to have developed sometime in the mid to late 1980’s with a growing perception of environmental issues and concerns. This ecological awareness, combined with the attraction of exploring natural, pristine environments, led to the development of ecotourism.

What are the benefits of ecotourism?

Ecotourism benefits not only the traveler, but also the local people of the area, the environment itself, and even future generations. Because ecotourism is focused on developing tourism in primitive areas with a responsible approach that will not harm the surrounding environment, money is flushed into the community with little, if no, adverse effects on the natural habitat. Ecotourism creates awareness about the environment while providing education about ways of protecting and preserving it for future generations.

How does ecotourism help the environment?

Human beings are a part of the environment. It is therefore to be expected that humans will have some impact upon nature. It is an inescapable fact that human beings will, in some way, shape, or form, leave a “footprint” upon the environment on which they trod. By practicing responsibility in the ways we impact the environment, we are helping to conserve the eco-system of which we are a part. The funds collected from ecotourism businesses can be used to further conservation efforts and education. By educating more people about safe and responsible ways of tourism, and introducing them to the excitement and beauty the natural earth offers, we in turn are creating a greater desire in humans to explore and investigate these natural areas and their local cultures, thus stimulating the economy of these areas through tourism practiced in a responsible fashion, leaving minimal marks upon the surface. Ecotourism also promotes and offers an alternative means to local people and landowners of profiting from their land. By promoting ecotourism, they can avoid having to exploit the land for profit and help preserve and protect the natural resources upon it.

Here is another article on Ecotourism.