Russia: Venturing out onto Lake Baikal

The world's deepest lake, Russia's Baikal is a 7.8-million-acre (3.1-million-hectare) giant deep in the heart of Siberia—getting there requires two overnight flights and a five-hour drive. Ever ponder how you might set out to explore it? This year, in partnership with Russian trip specialist Mir Corporation, Maine-based H20utfitters aims to show you through their novel program, the Coastlines of Adventure. The intent is to make visiting far-off locales such as Baikal more affordable.

After a day exploring Moscow, you'll fly overnight to Irkutsk and drive to the shores of Lake Baikal. The next week is spent kayaking the lake's islands, scouting hidden bays, camping among sand dunes, and staying at a mix of guest houses, residential homes, and a barge hotel. When you're not paddling, the cultural experiences are decidedly local: You'll soak in hot springs on the Holy Nose Peninsula, visit a Buryat village, and meet the chief lama at Ivolginsky Buddhist monastery.

Vitals -

Length: 14 days

Price: $5,495

Difficulty: Hard

Departs: August

For more details - http://www.h2outfitters.com

Tanzania: A Coastal exchange of sustainable island and game safari

For 15 years Berkeley-based nonprofit Seacology has worked to preserve the environments and cultures of undeveloped islands around the world. It does so by collaborating with local communities in places such as Fiji and Tonga to provide critical social services—medical clinics, schools—in exchange for locally backed conservation initiatives. This year, for the first time, the organization has opened its expeditions to the public, and in February, Seacology leads its debut trip to Tanzania's Chumbe Island, Lake Manyara, and the Ngorongoro Crater.

With staff ecologists as guides, you'll check out Zanzibar's spice markets, snorkel and hike Chumbe Island (the first official marine park in Tanzania). The trip wraps with six days of safari game drives through Lake Manyara National Park, also called "the loveliest park in Africa," and in the Ngorongoro Crater, where your arrival coincides with the greatest annual wildebeest migration. So get ready to explore!

Vitals -

Length: 11 days

Price: $5,600

Departs: February

For more details - http://www.seacology.org/travel/index.html

China: Cycling terraced hillsides in Guangxi Zhuangzu

Aussie duo Naomi Skinner and Scott Spencer have guided biking tours everywhere from Mongolia to Vietnam, but their favorite routes lie inside southern China's lush rural hinterlands. The itinerary passes through dramatic and varied landscapes—lush rice fields, bamboo-lined rivers, jutting limestone peaks—that have inspired some of the nation's most famous poets. One of them said, "It's like cycling through a traditional Chinese painting". Starting from Guilin, in Guangxi Zhuangzu, you'll combine long biking days—at altitudes ranging from sea level to about 2,000 feet (610 meters), on a mix of paved and unpaved surfaces—with visits to remote villages such as Zhaoxing, known for distinctive Dong architecture, including palatial drum towers and bamboo waterwheels. The trip provides unparallel access to rural China, as you travel through one of the nation's most diverse and scenic regions.

Vitals -

Length: 15 days

Price: $1,650

Departs: March through November

For more details - http://www.bikeasia.com/cycle-tours/china/bcg.html

Zambia: Africa's Untouched Game Preserve

This past summer, southern Africa specialist Wilderness Safaris opened a series of camps in Zambia's Kafue National Park, on and around the expansive Busanga floodplains. One of the largest national parks on the continent, Kafue is relatively untouristed—far from the masses that descend on other preserves, its animals are still shy of humans. Over 150 mammal species roam the park, including Lichtenstein's hartebeest, defassa waterbuck, leopards, cheetahs, and tree-climbing lions. In 2007 the outfitter offers a Zambia trip that will visit this area and include stays at the renovated Lunga River Lodge and Busanga Bush Camp.

On the ground, the first two days are spent on game drives, hikes, and canoe trips from Lunga's thatch-roof bungalows set in the Miombo woodland; the next three are based at Busanga in the heart of 290 square miles (751 square kilometers) of wildlife-filled wetlands reserve. Busanga's three posh tents give you front-row seats for spotting herds of puku and antelope crossing the plains in front of the camp. In the evening you'll head out on nocturnal safari drives in search of big predators that stalk the darkness.

Vitals -

Length: Seven days

Price: $5,180

Opens: January

For more details - http://www.wilderness-safaris.com/safaris/detail.jsp?safari_id=299322&method=searchresult

Rwanda: Tracking Gorillas

Face-to-face with mountain gorillas—beloved for their humanlike mannerisms and massive grace—it's easy to see a reflection of yourself in one of the world's most endangered species. Less than 700 of the primates remain, most of them in the volcanic forests of northwestern Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, where tracking parties limited to eight visitors can spend an hour with the giant apes. As Rwanda's domestic strife has settled in recent years, these rare creatures have become a major tourist attraction. But until now there has been little infrastructure near their protected stomping grounds. That changes early next year when Kenya's Governors' Camp safari company opens an eight-room luxury lodge on the park border.

After gorilla-watching, you can dry your boots and sip cocktails as the sun sets behind the peaks of the Ruwenzori Range. "We’re not shy saying - Rwanda will be expensive, but visiting the gorillas will be one of the wonders of the world."


Vitals -

Length: Three days

Price: $450 a night

Departs: August

For more details - http://www.governorscamp.com

Thailand's Ko Phi Phi Leh, near Phuket

Early next year, the regal 170-passenger Star Flyer sets sail on the Andaman Sea, touring a series of beguiling tropical islands that have rebounded rapidly from 2004's devastating tsunami. The vessel is the only cruise boat allowed by the Thai government to stop at many of these islands; this privileged access means that passengers aboard the ship, which is stocked with sea kayaks and small sailboats, can explore shallow reefs and uninhabited beaches that other seafarers miss. National Geographic underwater zoologist Clyde Roper—whose research was featured in the film Sea Monsters: Search for the Giant Squid—will lead the expedition. Isn't that Exciting ?

Launching from Phuket, the ship first travels to the little-visited Batong Group, where you'll pause to snorkel, kayak, and windsurf along the secluded beaches and coves of KoAdang. You'll then sail to Pinang, Malaysia, where a local expert will lead a tour of the shrines and lush gardens of Kek Lok Si, one of the largest Buddhist temple complexes in Southeast Asia. Other tropical gems include the Similan chain, famous for its vibrant indigenous bird species and unusual mammals such as the flying lemur. As the trip loops back to Phuket by way of mangrove-lined Phang-nga Bay, you can see spinner dolphins as they frolic nearby and also underwater oddities, including fire coral and blue-ringed octopuses. So are you ready for the fun?

Vitals -

Length : 14 Days
Price : $5,375
Departs : February

For more details - http://www.nationalgeographicexpeditions.com/~Destinations~Asia/Pacific.html

Antarctica : Discover a Penguin Colony

WHAT'S NEW: Two years ago a new emperor penguin colony was discovered on the south side of Snow Hill Island. You can be among the first to witness this 4,000-breeding-pair rookery of majestic birds in October journey, aboard the icebreaker Kapitan Khlebnikov. Setting sail from Ushuaia, Argentina, the icebreaker will cruise the 500-mile (805-kilometer) Drake Passage—where guests on deck can photograph whales and swooping albatross—and crash through frozen waters to reach the Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea. There, giant tabular icebergs dot the horizon and crabeater seals drift by on ice floes. "Emperor penguin colonies are usually much harder to reach," says Zegrahm. Once on the island, if weather permits, helicopters will carry you to the rookery to watch newborn penguin chicks cluster and brood at their parents' feet. So, That's what makes Snow Hill so special.

Vitals -

Length : 15 Days
Price : $16,980
Departs : October

For more details - http://www.zeco.com/destinations/Antarctica-cruise-penguins.asp