Top Ten Activity Holidays by Martin O'Brien
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When Thomas Cook, the father of modern tourism, started his travel business in the middle of the 19-century, his excursions were tailored to a clientele who wished, for the most part, to improve themselves. There were sons and heirs and strictly-chaperoned daughters for whom a Grand Tour of the Continent would be arranged to broaden their world view and extend their range of acquaintance; ladies and gentlemen of independent means who yearned for the great cities of culture and antiquity - Paris and Rome, Florence and Athens, Cairo and the Nile Valley; and others, more prosaically, who travelled for the sake of their health, to places like the Alps the spa towns of Germany.
A century or more later, much has changed. We still travel to improve ourselves, to broaden our minds and revive our spirits, but new destinations and easier ways of reaching them have brought new considerations, introduced new possibilities. For many of us the museums and galleries of the world's great cities still weave their special magic; for others, a good book and the factor five are all it takes to recharge the batteries. But, for an increasing number of us, travel is more than simply reaching a chosen destination and spreading out a beach towel. Maybe it's a kind of 21st-century zeitgeist, or simply a collective guilty conscience. But, people are looking for more than palm trees, strong sun and a white sand beach to help them unwind. More and more we're looking for a sense of adventure and a notion of challenge in the holiday we plan, expanding personal horizons, as well as geographic ones. Nowadays it is not so much where we go, but what we do when we get there.
Suddenly we can fly to Kathmandu and follow in the footsteps of the world's great climbers, or board a yacht in Barbados, chart a course and set sail with our own hand on the tiller. We can raft down mighty rivers in South America and scuba dive into the coral wonderlands of the Indian Ocean, or fish the world's greatest rivers and ski its steepest slopes. Maybe this is the year to master that tennis backhand or saddle up for a Wild West cattle drive, the year to follow the big game across the plains of Africa or race with the thermals over distant wavetops.
Increasingly, there has to be a sense of purpose when it comes to planning a holiday, a notion of challenge, a spirit of adventure in the choice of destination. Maybe, too, it's just an extension of the corporate work ethic applied to vacation-time - a need to compete and a desire to accomplish. You sat on a beach in Bali; I rafted the Indus River through the Zanskar Valley. You took a villa in Capri; I lived in a tented yurt on my trek through the highlands of Ladakh. Nowadays, it's not so much the choice of destination, but what you do when you get there. Suddenly there are no boundaries, just our own imagination; no limits, just our own commitment. The only problem is deciding what we want to do, and finding the best place to do it.
Scuba-diving
Wherever there's coral reef, the chances are there's a dive shack nearby. Scuba-diving is one of the fastest-growing water sports in the world, and there are few coral reefs that haven't been dived. Among the world's favourite diving destinations are Cozumel's Palancar Reef off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and isolated Guanaja in the Honduran Bay of Islands; Lizard Island's Cod Hole at the northern edge of Australia's Great Barrier Reef; Micronesia's Truk Lagoon where the Japanese Fleet was sunk in shallow water in 1944; and the Red Sea with its dive-ship safaris. Acknowledged as the world's greatest dive destination, however, are the Maldives Islands in the Indian Ocean with enough coral atolls and underwater life to satisfy the most demanding diver. Most noteworthy are Makunudu in the North Male Atoll and Maakunufushi in the South Male Atoll.
Skiing
People have been skiing since 3000BC, but the birth of modern skiing - for pleasure rather than necessity - only began in the late nineteenth century. Since then, winter's premier sport has become an industry, with a bewildering choice of destinations. So which should you go for? Let's assume you've reached a level of expertise where you can handle intermediate blue runs and gentler red-run moguls without making a fool of yourself. Now you can start to explore more challenging ski destinations. In Europe, Meribel or Courchevel 1850 in France's vast Trois Vallees, Verbier in Switzerland's Quatre Vallees and Austria's Ischl, Lech, and St Anton all provide exacting piste and off-piste runs. In America, Wyoming's Jackson Hole, Colorado's Crested Butte, Utah's Snowbird, and New Mexico's Taos are all sure bets. But for the ultimate "steep and deep" experience try Heli-skiing the "champagne powder" of the Bugaboo, Monashee and Cariboo ranges in British Columbia.
Trekking
As well as a sturdy pair of boots you'll often need an equally sturdy resolve. Trekking holidays can be demanding and a certain level of fitness is essential, particularly if you're trekking at altitude. But the rewards far exceed any physical demands. Not surprisingly, the Himalayas have the world's most exhilarating routes: Nepal's rarely-visited Mustang Valley and the classic Lamjung Himal and Annapurna circuits; India's Markha Valley in the heart of Ladakh; Bhutan's Laya trek along its border with Tibet; and Pakistan's Baltoro Glacier which reaches to the foot of K2. But trekking is not limited to the Himalayas. For something new try the highlands of Sogn og Fjordane in western Norway's fjordland, New Zealand's Milford Track, or Chile's Torres del Paine trek in the heart of Patagonia. One of the newest trekking destinations is Morocco and the High Atlas mountains, where Mount Toukbal and Jebel Sahro are names to remember.
Safari
If you think safaris are a soft option, think again. In a zoo without bars, safaris are adventure in its purest form. They may not be demanding in physical terms, but coming into such close contact with the life and death struggles of an astonishing variety of wildlife, in one of the world's greatest natural arenas, gives an adrenaline buzz that really has no equal. But do remember the safari watchwords - small, select and privately owned. You do not want to share your game-viewing with a fleet of zebra-striped minibuses; you do not want to suffer second-rate catering and accommodation; and you should never accept anything less than first-class game guides and lodge hosts. With those criteria in mind consider Ol Donyo Wuas, a private lodge in Kenya's Chyulu Hills, set in a quarter of a million acres of Maasai land between the Tsavo and Amboseli national parks; or Abu's Camp in Botswana's Okavango Delta where you wade through the floodplains on an elephant's back. Also worth remembering are Mbuyu Camp in Tanzania's Selous game reserve, the deluxe tented Makololo Lodge in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, Tena Tena Camp in Zambia's Luangwa Valley and Londolozi in South Africa's Sabi Sand Reserve.
Riding
For holidays in the saddle the western states of America simply can't be beaten. If you're looking for a traditional "round 'em up, head 'em out" holiday, the working Grapevine Canyon Ranch, eighty miles from Tucson, Arizona, is the place to go. Set in the heart of Apache country, you'll learn to rope and brand steers with real cowboys and take part in real cattle drives. If that all sounds a little too committed, there are other ranches where the pace is more relaxed. Try a dude ranch, like the Flying L Ranch near Bandera, Texas, Cowboy Capital of the World; a guest ranch like Bitterroot Ranch near Dubois, Wyoming, with log cabins and turn-on-a-dime quarterhorses; or luxury ranches like The Home Ranch, north of Colorado's Steamboat Springs, where the Wild West meets Cap Ferrat. More prosaic, but no less popular, are riding tours: along California's Redwood Coast, on Wyoming's Outlaw Trail or across Arizona's Monument Valley. These tours usually involve camping out under the stars, but in Vermont's Green Mountains on America's east coast each day in the saddle ends luxuriously in one of the state's renowned historic inns.
White water rafting
At first it all seems rather gentle as you drift along with the current, the helmsman steering a steady course, the water only occasionally lapping over the sides of your raft. And then, suddenly, you realise why they call it white-water rafting. First comes the dull, distant roar of approaching rapids, then a preliminary wash of white water and finally the bucketing, roller-coaster ride that switches you mercilessly through spin cycle and adrenaline rinse. Amongst aficionados, the Bio-Bio River in Chile is a premier white-water destination, rising in the Andes and plunging through spectacular gorges to the Pacific. Level-pegging with Bio-Bio is Snake River in Idaho's Hell's Canyon with the biggest rapids in America's Pacific Northwest, Utah's challenging Colorado River, Ecuador's Toachi River, New Zealand's Shotover (once the richest gold river in the world) and, in the high Himalayas, Nepal's dreaded Sun Khosi. With rapids named Meatgrinder, High Anxiety and Jaws this 150-mile, nine-day rafting expedition is rightly ranked at the sharp end of the world's top ten.
Sailing
Ask anyone who knows and they'll tell you there's nothing quite like it: the wind in your sails, a tilting deck and the sea slicing away from your bows. Whether you sail "bareboat", skippered, fully crewed or as part of a flotilla, there is no other activity to match it. With its crescent of tropical islands, the Caribbean is a hard-to-beat classic. Favourite sailing grounds are the Abacos and Exumas in the Bahamas, anywhere in the British and American Virgin Islands, and the glorious Grenadines, a stepping-stone pattern of tiny coral islands between St Vincent and Grenada. In the Mediterranean, Greek islands dominate the sailing scene with favourite anchorages like Arki, Lipso, Gaidharos and Pharmako in the Dodecanese, Alonissos and Skopelos in the Sporades and the Ionian's isolated Dragonera Islands. Along Turkey's Lycian Coast, Kara Adasi, Knidos, Ferithye and Kekova are popular ports of call as are the Lavezzi and Maddalena islands between Sardinia and Corsica. Australia's Whitsunday Islands and the Andaman Sea off south west Thailand are also well worth considering.
Fishing
Whatever your preference, the world is full of fine rivers and rich seas. For salmon and trout the sporting rivers of Scotland, Ireland and England still take some beating - the Tweed, the Dee, the Tay and Spey in Scotland, the Erriff, Moy and Blackwater in Ireland and the timeless Test in southern England. Other dream streams are Norway's Jolstra, Gaula and Nausta, Idaho's Salmon River and, more exotic, India's Cauvery River, home of the legendary Mahseer fighting fish. Other great beats include Alaska's Agulawok River and Nonvianuk Lake, Canada's Restigouche and Miramichi, Iceland's Ellidaar and Laxa and New Zealand's matchless Tongariro. For game fisherman the great catches are marlin, sailfish, tarpon and bonefish. For striped marlin head for Shimoni in Kenya, for black marlin go to Cairns in Australia and for blue marlin make for Mauritius. For sailfish, the waters boil on the Yucatan Channel; for bonefish, Bimini and the Bahamas take some beating and for tarpon, the Florida Keys is tops. And if boats make you sea-sick, you can always wade into the surf and cast for bluefish and striped bass along North Carolina's Outer Banks or "the light" on Long Island's Montauk Point.
Tennis
Want to control that backhand? Want to master that smash? Want to make the most of your "sweet spot" and maximise your serve? Then maybe this is the year you should pass on the local tennis club and check into a dedicated tennis clinic for some high-octane on-court tuition. In England, Jonathan Markson's Oxford Tennis Camp offers a number of demanding summer courses, with an alternative year-round clinic at the Luz Ocean Club at Praia da Luz on Portugal's Algarve coast. But by far the biggest name in tennis clinics is Nick Bollettieri, a sixty-year old former paratrooper whose intensive, unforgiving coaching programmes attract Grand Slam performers like Agassi, Courier, Wheaton, Mayotte and Seles. At his 75-court campus in Bradenton, Florida, at the Bakrie Rasuna Sports Club in Jakarta, at Bangkok's Thana City, at Oahu's Turtle Bay and at more than a dozen other Bollettieri clinics around the world, it's tennis for tough guys and no prisoners taken.
Windsurfing
There's hardly a beach in the world where someone isn't learning to windsurf. For some it's an afternoon's entertainment, falling off their board and hauling themselves up again with a kind of Sisyphean hopelessness. In most cases the 'entertainment' is never repeated, but for those who persevere it's the start of a sport-holiday addiction. With consistently reliable May to September trade winds, the Canary Islands are a tried and tested windsurf destination, particularly Matagorda and Las Cucharas on Lanzarote and Bahia Feliz on Gran Canaria. In southern Spain Tarifa, a half-hour's drive west of Gibraltar, is a highwind hang-out for experienced wind and wave surfers, while Port Safaga and Hurghada on the Red Sea coast boast equally powerful year-round thermals. Further afield, the islands of Aruba and Margarita off the Venezuelan coast provide perfect conditions for wave jumping, chop-hopping and speed sailing, with Barbados beckoning aficionados from December to June when the north-east trades blow a steady force four to six. For the true enthusiast, however, two windsurf destinations stand out: the Hawaiian island of Maui for its north shore wave sailing and south shore slaloming and America's exhilarating Hood River Gorge on the state line between Oregon and Washington.