YOU'VE been reading about fellow Bermudians doing some very exciting things . . . climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, racing across the Sahara, challenging fellow Olympians in Greece. Now, perhaps you've decided your travel life needs a bit more adventure as well.

Name almost any destination and activity from mountain trekking to river rafting and the list of companies offering such tours is ever escalating.

Let's talk about some of the offerings this season and see if any hold appeal for your travel. These will not be for everyone, some maybe too challenging, a bit more physically demanding than you desire, or can handle.

Time was, not too long ago, such adventure travel was limited to the very few. A small number of companies catered to a privileged clientele who could afford this sort of thing. And because it's so unique, it doesn't come cheap.

But thanks to growing interest the market has expanded and so have activities available. Some quite literally reach to the "ends of the earth" . . . others are closer to home. Why not start with a polar adventure?

The Northwest Passage (1-880-Recreate, www.NWPassage.com and www.Northpole-Expeditions.com) follows in the footsteps of Admiral Richard Byrd and Roald Amundsen.

Adventure begins in the Arctic village of Longyearbyen on Norway's Spitzbergen Island. Both those explorers departed from here, but participants do it in far more comfort.

Their "dash to the pole" begins with a flight to the polar research station, Barneo, out on pack ice at 89 degrees north latitude. Then, it's via helicopter to the top of the world with unforgettable aerial views of that pack ice far as the eye can see.

There's time at the North Pole to celebrate with champagne and ample photo time to document achievements. Once back in Longyearbyen, there are opportunities for dog sledding, skiing or exploring the tundra by snow machine.

This is just a sample of the offerings. Another reaches the pole via skis while one combines both skiing and dogsleds. The outfitter also has packages following the itineraries of Amundsen, Scott and Shackleton to the South Pole.

These trips begin in Puenta Arenas, with a charter flight taking participants across the Drake Passage to Antarctica and the Patriot Hills base camp. From there it's on to the pole via smaller plane. That's the location of the Amundsen-South Polar Research Station. Can you imagine calling home from there to tell friends you're at the bottom of the world? That's all part of the package.

But flexibility is a necessity here because weather delays are a part of travel at the world's poles as many early explorers soon found out as their ships became imprisoned in pack ice, food rations ran short, dogs grew fatigued and their expeditions went into the history books in tragic detail. Such problems do not occur on these 21st-century trips!

We're just giving a small sample of possibilities available. Prices are determined by your specific choices. Obviously this takes more stamina and tolerance for cold than most adventures. But if the urge to explore is part of your personality, it's likely that this will definitely be a trip like no other you've ever taken.

It's difficult to generalise on prices because these itineraries are specially planned. There are also some simpler, less challenging itineraries . . . five days, four nights, including flight-seeing to the North Pole from Resolute, Nunavut in April cost $10,000. And that one calls for no skill, only a tolerance for cold!

If the idea of tropical warmth sounds more appealing, consider this possibility. Natural Habitat Adventures has 160 distinctive itineraries in 30 different countries. Its 162-page catalogue is also the stuff of which dream travel is made.

PARTNERING with the World Wildlife Fund, its expeditions penetrate the most remote corners of Africa . . . from Botswana and Zambia to Namibia and Tanzania. Very small groups follow wildlife migration across the Serengeti, research endangered mountain gorillas in Uganda and savour a fabled safari to the best of Kenya's wildlife encampments.

It's equally active exploring outer reaches of New Zealand and seldom visited Amazon regions, with tundra experiences also enjoyed by a privileged few.

All its conservation-minded itineraries include a selection of carefully chosen hotels and lodges with emphasis on as much luxury as available; www.nathab.com;1-880-543-8917. The emphasis in conjunction with World Wildlife Fund is protecting the planet. More than 70 per cent of its travellers are either repeaters or referred by someone who has travelled with the company.

Adventure comes in many varieties. Northern Vancouver Island is a wonderland that has fascinated us with its superb mountain scenery and sense of wooded wilderness on a number of trips there.

It's the launching point for a number of sea kayaking adventures reaching into coves and inlets stretching along British Columbia's Inside Passage.

Northern Lights expeditions have tours guiding enthusiasts to dramatic locations with names unknown to mass tourism. These are trips where you're more apt to see orca, humpback and killer whales along with bears and eagles than people.

They also visit Albert Bay which we've previously written about here; www.seakayaking.com. 1-880-754-7402 or 1-360-734-6334.

Also very much involved in trips that focus on cultural enrichment is Horizon and Company; 1-880-387-2977, www.horizon-co.com. This Canadian company focuses on places with more familiar place names, but visits them with emphasis on not just a superficial view as a tourist quickly passing through, but an in-depth, more off-trail approach focusing on a particular detailed aspect of an area.

For example, culinary focus is scheduled in Spain's Cantabrian region where travellers are taken into Basque kitchens and Tuscany where the Chianti countryside dishes up gourmet experiences.

Mountain Travel Sobek has a tempting series of programmes labelled "The Wild Side" and when prospective participants ask "Wild About The Wild?" everyone in the travel world knows by its reputation that definitely fits this company's description.

SOBEK has been leading travellers to wondrous places for 35 years. You name it, they go there; 1-880-MTSOBEK. www.mtsobek.com.

Bushtracks Expeditions is unusual in that it's owned by a family that has lived in Southern African for six generations. Its air safari covers some of that continent's best reserves and World Heritage sites. These are areas it knows very well personally.

Tour members are flown in private aircraft and some are co-ordinated with Lindblad Expeditions. Conservation challenges and education about local preservation efforts are very much a part of these very personalised trips. These are definitely wildlife experiences with a difference.

Its 17-day private air safari in August costs $13,885. Limited to 40 guests, the goal is to provide as much luxury as possible. This seems to be very much the rule with all these outfitters.

They are not the type who take travellers out into the wilderness to primitive tent camps.

As the former Prince of Wales once said: "I like to visit ruins, not sleep in them." They're catering to a similar kind of clientele; www.bushtracks.com; 1-880-995-8689, 1-880-Expedition.

There are many more offerings ranging from golf and sailing to cycling and snorkelling. Some take a fair amount of trekking and a reasonable high energy level. But others are relaxing, easily paced to less strenuous activities.

More about them another time.

Next week: A visit to the horrors of Auschwitz