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Hall of Fame
We pick seven of our all-time favorite adventures.
Gamewatchers Safaris’ new six-night Adventure Camping Safaris have all the trappings of an expensive tour—highly trained guides, Land Cruisers, chef-cooked meals—with two notable differences. Instead of swanky lodges, guests stay in simple Coleman tents (patrolled by armed watchmen at night), and instead of paying up to $4,200, clients pay $1,550. See the rare African wildcat and gerenuk, a long-necked antelope, in the Selenkay Conservancy, and watch a pride of 25 lions on the hunt in the Ol Kinyei Conservancy in the Masai Mara. Come evening, sit next to a campfire and watch the sun set behind Mount Kilimanjaro.
RUNNER-UP
Iceland
If there’s a silver lining to the 2008 implosion of Iceland’s banking system and the devaluation of the krona, it’s that the famously expensive country is now vastly more affordable for travelers—prices are down as much as 40 percent. Rent a car in Reykjavík and circumnavigate the island on the 830-mile Ring Road, stopping to dive the ultraclear Silfra Ravine between continental plates; hike over glacier-carved valleys to hot springs and waterfalls in the Skaftafell area of Vatnojökull National Park; sea-kayak through deep fjords; raft the Class II–III Hvita River; or fish for salmon on the newly opened Stóra Laxá River ($4,000 for seven days).
