SOUTH AFRICA & BOTSWANA
Big-Game Spotting in Africa
There are few thrills like the first yellow flash of a lion's mane or its guttural roar, which makes the whole veldt shudder. And there are few places you are more likely to experience such things than South Africa's Kruger national park, one of the oldest wildlife reserves in Africa. Within its 5 million acres almost every major species of African animal thrives, including 1,500 lions and 8,000 elephants. Explore (888-596-6377, exploreafrica.net) has led safaris to Kruger for 15 years, putting travelers up at luxe bush camps, such as Royal Malewame, a six-room lodge built on stilts and connected by aerial walkways. How you view the game is up to you. Guides lead dawn and dusk trips -- when you have the best chance to see a kill -- either in an open-topped Land Rover or on foot, when encounters with animals take on a more intimate quality. Either way, go in July or August, when the grass is low, and you're virtually guaranteed to see the Big Five -- leopard, lion, buffalo, elephant, and rhino. For the ultimate two-week safari (custom trips start at around $6,000 for two weeks, including air transfers, meals, and luxury accommodations), combine Kruger and a smaller park in South Africa (such as Madikwe Hills, known for its rare wild dogs and boulder-strewn landscape) with Botswana's Okavango Delta, a 6,000-square-mile maze of channels that empty into the vast Kalahari Desert. Accessible only by plane or boat, the Okavango is best explored from Stanley's Camp, eight tents overlooking the Boro River in the most wildlife-dense part of the delta. Guides lead game-paddles in m0koro canoes, silently approaching elephants, black rhinos, and water buffalos. And, if you're lucky, more lions.

ALASKA
Sea Kayaking Prince William Sound
No other place in North America provides one-stop shopping for superlative arctic wilderness -- massive peaks, calving icebergs, and breaching humpback whales -- like Alaska. Wade Willis, a sea kayaker and retired biologist, knows better than perhaps anyone how to pack all of the above into one trip: Willis has spent the past 15 years exploring the most remote fjords of Prince William Sound, keeping tabs on orca pods and humpback feeding grounds, hiking windswept ridges with views of the 13,000-foot Chugach Mountains, and searching for the best camping spots. As the owner of Vision Quest Adventures, Willis now arranges custom weeklong sea kayaking trips from May to September that tap the best of what he's found. Clients launch away from the tourist ships and into the wilderness with a 70-mile boat ride out of the town of Whittier, and spend several hours each day paddling and hiking. Rare is the day anyone sits on the beach due to poor conditions: Barrier islands protect Prince William Sound from rough seas. And come nightfall, when paddlers camp on beaches fringed by oak groves, Willis whips up drinks using glacial ice for cocktail hour under the inky, star-filled sky (from $1,999 per person for seven days; 866-529-2525, alaskavisionquest.com).

AUSTRALIA
Diving the Great Barrier Reef
Rather than staying in touristy Cairns, the traditional gateway to the reef, where the scene can be more of a raucous party than a wildlife outing, make remote Wilson Island your base camp. Reachable only by boat, this white-sand island (and its six permanent luxury tents with ocean views) lies 48 miles offshore and is actually part of the Great Barrier Reef (five-night all-inclusive packages from $1,428; 612-8296-8010, wilsonisland.com). Wilson is a coral cay, which means snorkelers can wade in from the shore, dip their heads, and immediately start seeing coral and fish ($320 for half-day diving charters from nearby Heron Island). Though the island's staff leads daily nature and reef walks, your schedule will likely revolve around whatever wildlife is active during your stay. May visitors spot green- and loggerhead-turtle hatchlings emerging from their nests and reef herons preparing their rookeries. In July humpback whales migrate from the south with their calves, and come August, you have a good shot at witnessing them breach. No matter the season, pick up a cup of steaming coffee and watch the sunrise each morning from the Flintstone Chairs -- naturally sculpted stone seats situated on the eastern side of the island.

ITALY
Cycling Through Tuscany
In Tuscany, the most bike-crazed region of one of the world's most bike-crazed countries, two-wheeled tourists are treated like family. Those who pedal Tuscany's quiet back roads past Roman viaducts and through ancient walled villages are likely to get stopped by cars -- not for a scolding, but for a prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich. Any Tuscany cycling trip should center around the region's most beautiful city, Siena, and should incorporate plenty of planned lunch breaks. (Ribollita, a hearty, fortifying bread soup, is a local specialty.) The classic route is a two-week loop on rolling roads past Siena's medieval ramparts and famous clock tower, heading south through the towns of Montalcino and Castelnuovo Berardenga, and ending in Montepulciano. In the lowlands olive presses, cheese-making shops, and vineyards are often open for tastings -- and on steeper stretches, there's always wine at the top of the hill. For information on cycling in Italy, including specific routes, visit www.trentobike.org/bycountry/italy.html. If you'd rather leave the details to someone else, join a guided tour with U.S. Olympic medalist Connie Carpenter and Tour de France stage winner Davis Phinney, who live in Italy and offer Tuscany bike camps in May and September (from $2,750; 303-442-2371, bikecamp.com). You'll get pointers on riding and a killer tiramisu recipe, and with Carpenter, Phinney, their kids, and nearly half their clientele as repeat customers, you'll feel even more like part of the family.

CAMBODIA
Exploring the Angkor Monuments
The Hindu temple of Angkor Wat, a 200-acre sandstone monument, is the headliner in an archaeological showcase of more than 100 Khmer monuments -- including monasteries and entire cities that date back to the 13th century -- scattered across a forested area in northwestern Cambodia roughly the size of Philadelphia. If you make the common mistake of scheduling Angkor as a quick stop on your way to Thailand or Vietnam, you'll miss out on its less-explored side. Instead, plan on staying for a week (late October and November bring the least humid weather of the year), basing yourself in the nearby town of Siem Reap. When you arrive, take advantage of the jet lag that wakes you before dawn and head over to Angkor Wat first thing in the morning, when the stone corridors are blissfully silent. You'll have the ancient carvings all to yourself before the sun bakes the granite walls and the unlicensed "guided tour" peddlers start vying for your attention. Hire an official guide from the Angkor Tourist Guide Association ($25 per day; angkorguide.org) -- the organization's rigorous licensing process ensures that your questions about Cambodian culture and the Khmer Empire won't go unanswered. In addition to Angkor, the must-see list includes Bayon, where serene, eerily lifelike faces are carved into the pillars, and Ta Prohm, the jungle-choked temple recently reborn as a Tomb Raider movie set.

SWITZERLAND
Skiing the Haute Route -- the Right Way
We don't mean to knock the classic Haute Route, an eight-to-10-day, 90-mile roller-coaster of a hut-to-hut ski tour through the heart of the Alps between France and Switzerland. Sure, it was first completed in 1861 (historic!), it passes the likes of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn (stunning!), and it crosses 23 glaciers (sketchy!). But come April, when dozens of guides embark from Chamonix with hundreds of clients, the route starts looking more like a giant conveyor belt -- moving skiers up couloirs and down valleys on the march to Zermatt. What's more, everyone tends to go straight from point A to point B, not taking time to downhill ski. That's where Swiss-born Ruedi Beglinger, a longtime guide with Selkirk Mountain Experience in Revelstoke, British Columbia, has carved his niche. He's done some variation of the Haute Route 54 times since he was a teenager, and his annual West Alps trip ($2,490 per person for 10 days; 250-837-2381, selkirkexperience.com) turns the traditional traverse on its head: Beglinger starts in Saas Fee, Switzerland, and goes against the flow, ending in Chamonix. The upshot? You get 59,000 feet of downhill skiing compared to the classic route's 20,000. You only have to climb 36,000 feet, not 47,000. You get the potential to summit and ski off 11 peaks -- including Mont Blanc du Tacul, part of the Mont Blanc massif, and 13,213-foot Allalinhorn -- when the regular route scales just three. Best of all, you avoid the hordes -- until night falls, when the true Haute Route experience comes to life: You leave your stove and sleeping bag behind, crash in high-alpine huts like Schonbiel and Cosmique, and share cheese hash browns, omelettes with lardons, and bottles of Kronenbourg 1664 (classic!).

CHILE
Fly-Fishing Patagonia
To fly-fishermen, Patagonia is the promised land. Not only are there thousands of miles of pristine rivers and lakes spread across the region (in southern Chile and Argentina), it's more than twice the size of California and has one of the lowest population densities on earth. It's just you, the gauchos, and the fish down there. In March, normally strong winds die off, making for easy rod work, and lower water levels expose deep holes where the really big fish lurk. Patagonia Adventures (5429-44493-280, argentinachileflyfishing.com) has a network of fishing lodges, camps, and guides on both sides of the border, and can lead you to lake and river trout and the salmon runs. Trophy hunters who hitch a helicopter ride from Puerto Montt to Dos Rios, Chile, for a seven-day stay at the outfit's salmon camp ($3,795) have a shot at netting monster 50-pound Atlantic Salar and Pacific Chinook salmon feeding in the same fast-moving river -- one of the few places on earth where they both congregate. Over the border at Argentina's Los Alerces Park, where Patagonia Adventures has another lodge, three rivers, five lakes, and two spring creeks host browns and rainbows that don't come any smaller than 18 inches. The glacier-fed lakes are so clear you can eyeball rainbow trout 20 feet below the surface of your boat, and if you hit Lake Menendez you're all but guaranteed a 30-fish day.

NEW ZEALAND
Hiking the Routeburn Track
Roughly the size of Great Britain, the South Island of New Zealand is small enough that you can explore much of its glacial valley -- marbled with waterfalls, mossy beech forests, and alpine lakes -- just by walking. Of the island's eight legendary hiking trails, called the Great Walks, the 33-mile Milford is the most popular; it attracts 14,300 hikers each year. But the 19.2-mile Routeburn crosses the same kind of terrain, minus the waiting list for a reservation or the significant time commitment -- you can easily do it in a couple of days and still have time for New Zealand's other highlights. Most hikers stay in bare-bones communal huts kept up by the country's Department of Conservation; you can upgrade by signing on with Queenstown-based Ultimate Hikes, which leads guided three-day treks (from $630; 64-3-442-8200, routeburn.co.nz), with nights spent in homey lodges along the trail. Chefs prepare three-course dinners and set you up with breakfast and lunch. Naturalist guides are on the alert for parakeets and keas, New Zealand's cheeky native parrots, on the mostly singletrack trail, which links Fiordland and Mount Aspiring national parks. The highlight is the view from Conical Hill, a mile-long detour starting six miles in, which stretches all the way to the Tasman Sea.

MINNESOTA
Paddling the Boundary Waters Canoe Area
The fur-trapping voyageurs didn't pack freeze-dried stroganoff when they plied the lakes of the Boundary Waters, and you'd be wise to follow their example. Within the endless chains of lakes set in a million square acres of dense birch and pine forest in northern Minnesota -- the country's prime canoe-tripping region -- there should be no problem keeping your posse fed with a fishing permit, a few choice jigs, and a filet knife, especially on the classic Knife Lake Loop. Set out for a week's paddle -- September is a great time to avoid crowds -- on the 30-to-50-mile, 29-lake route at the Snowbank access point in the Superior National Forest 20 miles northeast of the town of Ely (from $32 for a camping permit at BWCAW Permit Reservation Center; 877-550-6777, bwcaw.org). Battle the north wind across the big waters of Thomas Lake and quietly troll the deeps beneath the stained black cliffs of Kekakabic for lake trout before pitching camp on the banks of Knife Lake, a massive body of water separating the U.S. and Canuckistan. Spend your layover days casting the big lake for smallmouth, pike, and walleye, or try your luck on smaller nearby gems like Cherry or Star, where you may run into a moose or a black bear. Make sure to pack light, opt for a featherweight Kevlar canoe, and leave the cooler of Schlitz at home -- the key to the Boundary Waters is portaging, humping your boat and gear between lakes on muddy and rocky trails that range from a few feet up to a mile long. Note: The Knife Lake Loop has 28 burly carries.

ZIMBABWE
Rafting the Zambezi River
Over the past decade, kayaking gods from Brad Ludden to Steve Fisher have drained their adrenal glands getting worked over on Africa's Zambezi River, the world's whitewater hot spot and host to what is considered the best rafting trip on earth. East of the grand 300-foot curtain of Victoria Falls, the muddy brown Zambezi flows through Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, snaking its way through the Batoka Gorge, where it boils up in 42 massive rapids. The zingers range from foaming Class V-plus bow-beaters, like Stairway to Heaven and Ghostrider, to sweet kayak play holes like the Tube, which curls over Rapid Number 11. But don't let the water bogart your attention -- this is still southern Africa after all, so the river is home to crocodiles, hippos, giant monitor lizards, and fish eagles. Onshore, a little trekking brings you face to face with lions, baboons, zebra, and bathing elephants. Global Descents offers a 10-day rafting expedition into the Batoka Gorge, hitting all the Zambezi's wild things -- animal and water -- capped with evening sundowners (a.k.a. cocktails) and nights on the river's sandy banks ($2,350; 800-775-6976, globaldescents.com). More independent and advanced kayakers can set up base camp in the town of Livingstone, Zambia, and opt for Kayak, the Zambezi's seven-day play-boating excursion, which includes daily shuttle trips to the river's hottest holes ($1,360; 260-95-838408, thezambezi.com).

BAJA, MEXICO
Surfing Scorpion Bay
Ever since the 1940s, when the first California surfers crossed the Mexican border in search of desolate point breaks and empty barrels, the Baja surf trip has become a rite of passage. These days, hordes from San Diego make regular day trips to northern Baja, causing jams at surf spots like K38 and Baja Malibu. For a less crowded classic Baja experience, go way south, either road-tripping from San Diego straight through Tijuana on Highway 1 to the town of San Juanico and Punta Peque–a, a.k.a Scorpion Bay, 16 dusty hours to the south, or flying to La Paz and driving north three and a half hours. In September, powerful south swells march up the coast and wrap into Scorpion Bay, and offshore winds can blow all day long, grooming the bay's six right-hand point-break waves to perfection. Most surfers set up camp along the cliffs overlooking the bay, old-school style (campsites are $7 per person per night, first come, first served; bring a tarp for shade and a bug-proof tent). If you want modern amenities rent out the two-bedroom house ($125 per night; scorpionbay.net). Leave the cooking up to the folks at the campground's cantina, whose prices hark back to the 1940s: Fresh fish tacos and a cerveza go for $3.

AMERICA
Hiking the Appalachian Trail
Of all the country's long walks, the 2,175-mile AT is the coveted one -- it's the most rugged, but with enough huts and towns to smooth out the edges. If you have time to do the whole thing, the best route is to start from Springer Mountain, Georgia, and head north toward Maine (appalachiantrail.org). Six months is the traditional time frame, but most fit hikers can do it in five. Plan to cover about two miles per hour and to finish hiking altogether by late September, when 5,267-foot Mount Katahdin's Baxter Peak, the terminus, can get nasty. The best monthlong itinerary -- undulating terrain through blooming rhododendron -- is from Hot Springs, North Carolina, to Atkins, Virginia. If you can only carve out a weekend, head straight to Katahdin, where hikers who complete the journey are rewarded with panoramic views of northern Maine's lakes. No matter the length of your trek, look out for the little gifts called trail magic -- a reminder that the AT is one of the last places in America where the simple act of leaving an ice cold grape Fanta for a stranger becomes transformative.

For the complete list of "Classic Adventures" pick up the May 2006 issue.