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The Basic Ingredient Necessary

More and more Americans are agreeing with Helen Keller that "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all," and seeking something different from the traditional margarita-by-the-poolside vacation. There has been, in short, a profound revolution in the travel habits of many Americans. People are now more interested in participatory vacation experiences. They want to get involved, not just go along with a group and tour director. They seek change, an alien environment, and, most of all, challenge. The world has never been more accessible. From the highest mountains to the deepest caverns we can get there, and we do, in ever-increasing numbers.

All those years of watching National Geographic documentaries and "Nova" programs on television have whetted the appetites of many people to see those special places themselves. Organized adventure-travel expeditions represent one of the fastest growing areas in the travel industry. They are marvelous opportunities to learn about diverse habitats, see and photograph rare forms of animal and plant life, and experience some of the most exotic parts of our world. Accompanying naturalists turn such trips into learning experiences through slide shows, lectures, and films that pave the way for a greater understanding of our world's wild places.

For many travelers the major advantages of signing on to an organized adventure-travel trip through an operator are the stimulating companions and great dinner-table conversations they can expect to enjoy. The typical participant possesses a college degree, a keen interest in the outdoors, and a strong commitment to environmentalism.

There are important benefits to traveling with a group on an organized adventure-travel trip. Planning a trip on your own to a remote part of the Third World can often be a frustrating and stressful experience for the individual unfamiliar with the intricacies of distant government bureaucracies. By letting a knowledgeable operator handle all such details, the traveler is then free to focus on the experience itself without the host of distractions the solitary adventurer must endure.

The general public may naively think of adventure travel as the exclusive preserve of the younger generation. But adventure travel has nothing to do with age and everything to do with spirit. Most adventure-travel trip operators know that seniors frequently constitute a majority of their clientele and often put their younger counterparts to shame when it comes to patience and good spirits if events take an unexpected turn for the worse.

On the other hand, the field has become so popular that many of the larger operators now offer trips designed for families with small children. Adventure travel will always appeal as long as there is a Walter Mitty buried within us or a Tom Sawyer, struggling to be set free and eager to explore the wonders of McDonougal's Cave.

Adventure travel is for people in good health who have open minds, enjoy he outdoors, and want to explore remote and exotic parts of our planet. If that describes you, then you should consider an adventure-travel vacation. The basic ingredient necessary is an inquisitive, adventuresome mind.

Prospective adventurers should consider the following advice: Start off with an overnight camping experience. Remember that adventure trips are not deluxe tours and often lack certain creature comforts, especially if camping is involved. Book your trips through reputable outfitters, who will provide experienced guides with special expertise. Investigate the challenges you will face on the trip. Some operators rate adventures on a scale of I through V in terms of difficulty. Properly evaluating the fitness requirements - and making certain you meet them - can make the difference between the adventure or the fiasco of a lifetime. If in doubt, describe your physical condition to the operator and ask his/her advice. If you are not in great shape, then consider starting with something less physically challenging, such as an expeditionary cruise or a barge trip along a French canal. Most operators insist that people do a pretty good job of evaluating their own condition and few get in over their heads. Be safety-conscious and prudent at all times. Adventure travel can be as safe or as dangerous as you want to make it. The surest way to cut the risk to a minimum is not to do it on your own but rather to go with a reputable operator. Major operators will handle hundreds of clients every year and not have one serious injury. They have excellent safety records because with each group they send competent guides who know the areas and the risks involved and work to minimize them. Of course, some kinds of adventure travel (white-water kayaking, for instance) inherently involve more risk than others (such as tall-ship cruising in the Caribbean). If you have any questions about the risks involved, talk to the operator and ask for the names of previous participants whom you could call. And finally, always strive to maintain a flexible attitude when traveling through wilderness areas and Third World countries. Understand that no operator can guarantee you real adventure and accept the fact that the farther off the beaten path you go, the less predictable your journey will be.

The 19th century was the great age of adventure travel. Vast. blank spaces in the Middle East, Africa, Australia, North America, and Asia beckoned. From 1850 onward, hundreds of men and a handful of women made journeys into remote and savage regions: Traveling largely alone and for a variety of reasons, they endured enormous hardships, often risked death on an almost-daily basis, and left behind a library of travel books.

For many of these Victorian travelers Francis Gaitori’s Art of Travel, or Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries was an indispensable bible. The idea for a handbook of practical information on mounting adventure-travel expeditions came to the author during a -two-year exploration of southwestern Africa. Art of Travel first appeared in 1855 and became an immediate success, going through numerous editions and several revisions over the next 20 years. In it Galton touched on a wide variety of subjects, from how to handle the death of an expedition member to which insects were safe to eat. The book provides a fascinating window on Victorian attitudes toward exploring the world beyond Europe.

To Those Who Mediate Travel - If you have health, a great craving for adventure, at least a moderate fortune, and can set your heart on a definite object which old travellers do not think impracticable, then travel by all means. If, in addition to these qualifications, you have scientific taste and knowledge, I believe there is no career, in time of peace, can offer you more advantages than that of a traveller.

Engaging Natives - On engaging natives, the people with whom they have lived, and to whom they have becorne attached and learnt to fear, should impress upon them that, unless they bring you back in safety, they must never show their faces again, nor expect the balance of their pay, which will only be delivered to them on your return.

Reluctant Servants - Great allowance should be rnade for the reluctant cooperation of servants; they have infinitely less interest in the success of the expedition than their leaders, for they derive but little credit from it. . . it will, perhaps, surprise a leader who, having ascertained to what frugal habits a bush servant is inured, learns on trial how desperately he clings to those few luxuries which he has always had. Thus, speaking generally, a Cape servant is happy on meat, coffee, and biscuit; but if the coffee or biscuit has to be stopped far a few days, he is ready for mutiny.

Natives' Wives - if some of the natives take their wives, it gives great life to the party. They are of very great service and cause no delay; for the body of a caravan must always travel at a foot's pace, and a woman will endure a long journey nearly as well as a man, and certainly better than a horse or bullock. They are invaluable in picking up and retaining information and hearsay gossip, which will give clues to much of importance, that, unassisted, you might miss. Mr. [Samuel] Hearne; the American traveller of the last century, in his charming book writes as follows: "Women were made for labour: one of them can carry or haul as much as two men can do. They also pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night, and in fact there is no such thing as travelling any considerable distance or for any length of time in this country without their assistance. Women," he said again, "though they do everything are maintained at a trifling expense; for as they always stand cook, the very licking of their fingers in scarce times is sufficient for their subsistence."

Precautions in Unhealthy Places - There are certain precautions which should be borne in mind in unhealthy places ... such as never to encamp to the leeward of a marsh; to sleep close in between large fires, with a handkerchief gathered around your face; to avoid starting too early in the morning; and to beware of unnecessary hunger, hardship, and exposure.

Tooth-ache - Tough diet tries teeth so severely that a man about to undergo it should pay a visit to -a dentist before he leaves England. An unskilled traveller is very likely to make a bad job of a first attempt at toothdrawing. By constantly pushing and pulling an aching tooth, it will loosen and perhaps, after some weeks; come out.

Blistered Feet - To prevent the feet from blistering, it is a good plan to soap the inside of the stocking before setting out, making a thick lather all over it. A raw egg broken into a boot, before putting it on, greatly softens the leather. Of course, the boots should be well greased when hard walking is anticipated.

Washing Oneself; Warmth of Dirt - There is no denying the fact, though it be not agreeable to confess it, that dirt and grease are great protectors of the skin against inclement weather, and that therefore the leader of the party should not be too exacting about the appearances of his less warmly clad followers. Daily washing, if not followed by oiling, must be compensated by wearing clothes ... In Europe we pass our lives in a strangely artificial state; our whole; body swathed in many folds of dress, excepting the hands and face - the first of which are frequently gloved, We can afford to wash; but naked men cannot.

Proceedings in Case of Death - If a man of the party dies, write down a detailed account of the matter, and have it attested by the others; especially if accident be the cause of his death. !f a man be lost, before you turn away and abandon him to his fate, call the party formally together, and ask them if they are satisfied that you have done all that was possible to save him, and record their answers. After death it is well to follow the custom at sea - i.e. to sell by auction all the dead man's effects among his comrades; deducting the money they fetch from the pay of the buyers, to be handed over to his relatives on the return of the expedition.

Insects - Most kinds of creeping things are eatable and are used by the Chinese. Locusts and grasshoppers are not at all bad: To prepare them, pull off the legs and wings and roast them with a little grease in an iron dish; like coffee. Even gnats that swarm on the Shire River are collected by the natives and pressed into cakes.

Seizing Food - On arriving at an encampment, the natives commonly run away in fright. !f you are hungry or in a serious need of anything that they have, go boldly into their huts, take just what you want, and leave fully adequate payment. It is absurd to be over-scrupulous in these cases.

Buried, or in Holes - A European can live through a bitter night on a perfectly dry sandy plain without any clothes besides what he has on, if he buries his body pretty deep in the sand, keeping only his head above ground.

General Remarks - A frank, joking but determined manner, joined with an air of showing more confidence in the good faith of the natives than you really feel, is the best. It is observed that a sea-captain generally succeeds in making an excellent impression on savages; they thoroughly appreciate common sense, truth, and uprightness; and are not half such fools as strangers usually account them. If a savage does mischief, look on him as you would a kicking mule or a wild animal whose nature is to be unruly and vicious, and keep your ternper quite unruffled.

Flogging - Different tribes have very different customs in the matter of corporal punishment; there are some who fancy it a disgrace and a serious insult. A young traveller must therefore be discriminating and cautious in the licence he allows to his stick, or he may fall into sad trouble.

Resisting an Attack - In picking out the chiefs, do not select the men that are the most showily ornamented, for they are not the chiefs; but [rather shoot at] the biggest and the busiest. Of all European inventions, nothing so impresses and terrifies savages as fireworks, especially rockets ... A rocket, judiciously sent up, is very likely to frighten off an intended attack and save bloodshed.

Complete Your Collections - When your journey draws near its close, resist restless feelings; make every effort before it is too late to supplement deficiencies in your various collections; take stock of what you have gathered together, and think how the things will serve in England to illustrate your journey or your book. Keep whatever is pretty in itself, or is illustrative of your everyday life or that of the savages, in the way of arms, utensils and dresses. Make careful drawings of your encampment, your retinue, and whatever else you may in indolence have omitted to sketch, that will possess an after-interest. Look over your vocabularies for the last time, and complete them as far as possible. Make presents of all your traveling gear and old guns to your native attendants, for they will be mere litter in England, costly to house and attractive to moth and rust; while in the country where you have been traveling, they are of acknowledged value, and would be acceptable as keepsakes.

James C. Simmons. The Big Book of Adventure Travel (3rd Edition). Avalon Travel Publishing. 2001.

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