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Falkland Islands: Live and In Person If spending a week among penguins, whales, and elephant seals with a group of strangers appeals, you'll come away a winner from this weeklong, mock-Survivor getaway. You and five others will fly from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to a bare-bones cabin with a fully stocked pantry on a rocky, uninhabited island in the Falklands. Each morning for the next seven days, the group will vote off one of its members. (According to what criteria? That's up to you and your fellow travelers.) The banished will be flown to a second cabin on another remote island. Spend your days strolling warm, white-sand beaches or (if you're feeling hearty) taking an icy dip in the South Atlantic. No Letterman appearances await the winner, but the stargazing is exceptional. Outfitter: Tread Lightly, Ltd. When to Go: February–March Price: $1,500Difficulty: Easy —Philip D. Armour Click here for more information Go to Extremes Botswana: Hard-Core Safari No five-course catered meals, no hand-holding by guides, no hot showers—there aren't even tents to sleep in on this weeklong Okavango Delta walking safari. Instead, schlepp your own 30-pound pack; machete your way through the thick papyrus forests; fish, hunt, and forage for food (roots and wild tubers); and sleep under mosquito nets in primitive, open camps, taking two-hour turns standing guard (with .458 magnums) against predators. Your one indulgence: quality time with lions, elephants, and cheetahs. Outfitter: Explore, Inc. When to Go: May–September Price: $2,450–$3,500Difficulty: Strenuous Click here for more information Global: Who Wants to Be a World Traveler? A quiz show for overzealous, overpaid wanna-be world travelers. Twenty-five two-person teams will spend three weeks jetting across the planet, earning points for answering location-specific riddles in each of the cities they visit. (Sample questions: What is Marrakech's "Assembly of the Dead?" What does Bobby do there? And what food does his cousin's stall serve?) The itinerary is top secret, but "contestants" can expect to travel by foot, bike, camel, elephant, ricksha, and oxcart in a minimum of ten countries on four continents and stay in first-class hotels as the teams battle for the grand prize: $50,000 and the honorific title of "World's Greatest Travelers."Outfitter: GreatEscape Adventures Inc. When to Go: MayPrice: $22,000 per team (includes international airfare) Difficulty: Easy Click here for more information North and South Poles: Skiing to the Ends of the Earth Few people ever reach one of the earth's poles, fewer still go to both the North and South Poles, and only the most masochistic attempt the two in one year. If you fit the bill, you'll ready yourself for the physical beating at a February training session in northern Minnesota. In April you'll battle minus-15-degree temperatures, 40-mph winds, and perilously thin, unstable ice on a 120-mile, 21-day dogsled-assisted ski from the 88th parallel to the geographic North Pole. In December, you'll do it all over again down south, skiing 60 miles from 89 degrees south. Outfitter: The Northwest Passage When to Go: February, April, December Price: $50,000 Difficulty: Strenuous Click here for more information Argentina: Paraglide from the Summit of Aconcagua Introducing the latest in high-adrenaline, high-cost sports: para-alpinism! Climb up, glide down. Ultimate Ascents, the only outfitter running such trips, launched a group from Kilimanjaro last February, and this year will be the first to soar with clients from 22,834-foot Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Americas. After a week of glider training in Mendoza, Argentina, you'll begin a 21-day trek up Aconcagua on the Chile-Argentina border, for which you'll need basic mountaineering skills (familiarity with ice axes, crampons, and harnesses). At the top, you'll strap into a tandem paraglider with an expert pilot/guide and spend three glorious hours soaring over the Andes.Outfitter: Ultimate Ascents When to Go: January–February, December Price: $6,500Difficulty: Strenuous Click here for more information
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