By Rahul Sharma

The northern part of India is blessed with the beautiful ranges of the mighty Himalayas. Crowned with snow-dressed mountains, sheer valleys and mesmerizing green meadows, the Indian Himalayas preserve a plethora of natural beauty. Along with picture perfect sights, Himalayan ranges offer one of the finest treks for adventure tours. Read on to learn more about the thrills wrapped in the arms of these grand mountains.

By Leif Ryman

Kyabobo is Ghana’s newest national park, stretching over 360 square kilometres and contiguous with Fazao National Park, just across the border in Togo. Kyabobo’s Breast Mountains, so named for the distinctive shape of two adjacent hills, are at its front door. The rest of the park is surrounded by dry plains that rise into hilly terrain covered in semi-deciduous forest.

By Divij Pasrija

With my rucksack lightly packed, I travelled from summery Delhi to the small town of Leh and the start of my trekking adventure in Ladakh in snowy northern India. There, surrounding Leh, the legendary mountains and valleys of the Himalayas proudly invite many thousands of tourists from all over the world to the thrill and joy of nature.

By Chris Barclay

I first came to Yangshuo, China in 1996 on a rock climbing trip with some expat friends from Guangzhou, where I was living at the time. Back then Yangshuo was a sleepy western backpacker’s hangout, with only a few local guesthouses, and cafes serving strong coffee and banana pancakes. What drew my friends and I to Yangshuo were the dramatic limestone karst towers, perfect for climbing, and the unspoiled countryside, with its fresh air and river water so clean you could swim in it.

Everyone has heard of the Annapurna trail, Mount Everest and other Himalayan hotspots, which draw thousands of trekkers and mountaineers to Nepal every year. Now there is a new trail in development which is likely to go straight to the top of many adventurers’ To-Do list, and the people behind it hope it will, to spread the benefits of trekking tourism to little visited regions of the Himalayas.

The Great Himalaya Trail (GHT), a network of existing trails which connect popular trekking areas with areas that are less explored, is the highest and one of the longest walking trails in the world. Winding beneath the world’s highest peaks and visiting some of the most remote communities on earth, the Great Himalaya Trail, roughly 4,500 km in length, passes through lush green valleys, arid high plateaus and incredible landscapes, crossing through Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, India, and Pakistan.

By Shams Uddin, Chitral Association for Mountain Area Tourism (CAMAT)

Booni is a village 80 kilometers to the north of Chitral town. Just like the rest of the villages in the Hindu Kush region, Booni is a fan-shaped landmass formed by glacial deposit at the mouth of what is called ‘Booni Gol’ or the stream of Booni, which cultivates the tracts of crops, vegetables, fruit bearing apple, pear and grape trees, and so on. On the afternoon of July 26th, 2010, a huge flash flood that originated from Booni Zom glacier smashed road networks, telephone and water supply lines

By Eva Mossberg, TIES Travel Ambassador
Temuco, located 670 km south of Santiago, is the capital of the Arauncanía Region of Chile. The name means “water of temu”; “temu” is the name of a tree used by the Mapuche Indians for medicinal purposes. It is a town with poetic history: this is where Nobel Poet Pablo Neruda lived as a young man before travelling away from his disapproving father to Asia and beyond to further his career as a writer.

By Jenn Holderied, Owner, Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort – We are fortunate to live and play in the Adirondack Park, and believe that this beautiful protected area is something worth protecting, not only for ourselves and our children, but for the thousands of visitors who pass through this wilderness each day. As you are swimming in the clean clear waters of Mirror Lake or sipping coffee from the lake-view balcony of your guest room, we think you will agree that it is worth it too.

Nepal is regarded as one of the adventure capitals of the world, and Social Tours are local trekking and adventure specialists who are leading by example. They are fast gaining a reputation as an expert group absolutely dedicated to their principles of respect, honesty, social inclusion and environmental protection. Social Tours also played an instrumental role in developing the green circuit responsible tourism initiative, coordinate volunteer programs in the area, and dedicate 10% of profits every year to charities