Five of the best adventure travel companies around have just released a fresh crop of adventure trips for 2024. Some of them are staking out a claim to fairly untrammeled places—Cape Verde, for example. Others are rethinking wilderness trips in North America. As popular destinations continue seeing more visitors to the point of overcrowding, these trips promise a respite far from the madding crowd.
Wilderness Travel: Hiking Cape Verde
The Cape Verde Islands lie off the West Coast of Africa, and this trip island-hops between Santo Antão, São Vicente, Fogo and Santiago. It’s focused on hiking pristine trails in an Edenic volcanic landscape, exploring sleepy seaside villages and engaging with the folk music culture, such as morna, sung in Cape Verdean Creole. The organizers promise encounters with local storytelling, culture and artists.
Wilderness Travel is one of the most respected companies in the world and forges new itineraries when the opportunity arises. This 10-day trip is so new that dates and prices have yet to be released. Visit Wilderness Travel for more information.
Adventure Life: East Greenland Explorer
There are fewer and fewer remote places around the globe, but Greenland still seems to qualify as one of them. Adventure Life has organized an eight-day cruise on the MV Vikingfjord in East Greenland’s Scoresby Sund that promises a small-scale adventure.
It starts with a private charter flight to Constable Point, where you’re transported to the ship via Zodiac. The MV Vikingfjord takes just 12 passengers and was rebuilt in 2022 as a modern expedition vessel with cruise ship comfort. She offers grand amenities on a small vessel with nine ensuite cabins, featuring an open-concept living area.
The MV Vikingfjord sails the wilderness coastline of Greenland, past icebergs and along the glacier-covered Volquart Boons Coast. There is a chance to explore the ancient Inuit settlement at Danmark, with its well-preserved archaeological sites, and hike to the glacier. From $10,885 per person: visit Adventure Life.
Geographic Expeditions: Namibia’s Wild Wonders
One of Geographic Expeditions’ Women of the World Collection trips, Namibia’s Wild Wonders provides a chance to go behind the scenes with veterinary staff at the female-founded AfriCat Foundation. It’s an opportunity to track endangered black rhino with a female ranger from Save the Rhino Trust, discover UNESCO-listed Twyfelfontein petroglyphs and the Great Namib Sand Sea, go on safari in Namibia’s wildlife-rich Etosha National Park and take a scenic flight over the Skeleton Coast. There’s also a visit with the women at Penduka Development Trust, who create illustrative embroidery, and the opportunity to learn about education initiatives near the Sossusvlei Dunes. From $14,325 per person: visit GeoEx for details.
REI Adventures: Isle Royale National Park Kayaking And Hiking
Want to get away from it all in the Lower 48? Head to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and spend six days kayaking and hiking in Isle Royale National Park, an archipelago of 400 islands in Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake. REI Adventures has organized this trip, which starts with a ferry ride to Isle Royale, the largest island at 50 miles long and 9 miles wide, in the middle of Lake Superior. From there, you’ll find yourself kayaking along the rocky shoreline, paddling past lighthouses and then hiking through pine forests. Wildlife sightings can include moose, gray wolves and Sandhill Cranes.
This is a wilderness trip with overnights in lakeside campsites and a paddling trip, from $3,799, that’s rated “moderate.” Visit REI Adventures for details.
Backroads: Azores Multi-Adventure
This trip explores the volcanic island of São Miguel, the largest and most diverse island in the Azores, a remote island chain in the mid-Atlantic Ocean.
As a multi-adventure trip, it includes biking from one village to another in a lush volcanic landscape and taking a wildlife cruise where spotting sperm whales and dolphins is a possibility, not to mention sea kayaking, swimming and morning yoga. There’s also time for soaking in geothermal springs and enjoying the comfortable hotels and local cuisine. This six-day trip features activity levels one through four (out of five). From $4,299 per person; details at Backroads.