Beyond sightseeing: gallivanting for adventure takes the true traveler through lively lands and legends - Off-Road Fitness Section

American Fitness, Sept-Oct, 1993 by Jeanette Dvorak

Not everyone vacations to "get away" and relax. Many of the adventurous at heart prefer more action-packed quests. Such as spirited travelers who go Gallivanting.

Gallivanting, The Club For Adventure, arranges all types of rugged and cultural excursions around the world. In North America, the towering Canadian Rockies, wild whitewaters of Colorado and serene mesas of the southwest are a playground for climbing, rafting, biking and horseback riding. Down under, Australia's Great Barrier Reef is the spot for diving, kayaking, snorkeling and sailing. Exotic settings like the Kenya and Botswana safari regions, Amazon rainforests and New Zealand glaciers transform hiking into unforgettable trekking expeditions. As the Gallivanting brichure states, "There's no limit but the sky."

As a traveler, Alysia Cohen, president of Gallicanting, says she had little success finding active vacations to intriguing locales. Most travel agencies offered her only a few dusty brochures for destinations like Africa. So Cohen began her Gallivanting company in 1990 with a first-year itinerary to Kenya, Australia, New Zealand, Belize, Guatemala, Singapore, Bali and Hong Kong. Today the company tours over 25 ultra-scenic spots each year with over 100 departures year round.

According to Cohen, her trips appeal to professionals from every field, ages 25 to 55, who like to be active. "It's for people who like to go beyond sightseeing, and learn what makes other countries tick," says Cohen, an avid traveler who takes as many Gallicanting tours as she can. "Singles can have a hard time finding groups to travel with. Seniors and younger people are already catered to, but I wanted to enable single people in their 30s to travel with other like-minded singles."

Gallivanting pursuits vary grom intrepid to treacherous. Some tours are more attuned to outdoor sports activities and others to arts and culture. Cheryl Lyons, a deputy sheriff from Los Angeles, California, took a city tour through Italy as well as a photographic safari in Africa last year. "It was an adventure, and I'll definitely book future trips," says Lyons. "For the cost, I feel I experienced triple in return. The safari didn't even seem rugged because Alysia provides the best accommodations, food and tour guides."

Gallivanting trips are independently contracted with local companies, so they're led by guides familiar with the land and its legends. Any special sports training or gear involved is provided by the on-site expert guides. As for skill level, all that is required is good health and a good attitude. "There's always a sense of comraderie on these trups, and the guides become like old friends," says Dave Claire, owner of Roads Less Traveled, the company which leads Gallivanting's "New Mexico Knockabout" featuring desert biking, hiking and rafting. "After a week outdoors doing all the activities, people go home with a sense of accomplishment," he adds.

The American west offers some of the most challenging, and rewarding, gallivanting. Colorado's "Wild Westwarer" tours sends rafters adrift in the Colorado River where it cuts through a narrow black granite gorge. After splashing through whitewaters and relaxing to al fresco camp-out dining, there's jeep riding over rugges four-by-four trails to the hiking grounds of Indian land--a natural museum of historic, tribal life. In Utah, gallivanters explore the largest expanse of unspoiled canyonlands in the United States. Rafting through 60 rapids and camping for three nights is followed by a stay at the Ute Indian tribe's Florence Creek Lodge. "Surf and Turf" gallivanters in Colorado Springs enjoy majestic mountain terrain or horseback, cozy lodge accommodations and two days of wild riding down the Arkansas River.

International adventures have made the most of Australia with a taste of sea kayaking over coral reefs, snorkeling and diving in crystal clear waters. Inland, there is a rare opportunity to explore rainforests. A nocturnal safari exposes the Aussies' more unusual nightlife, while city walks in Sydney show off the civilized side.

Also sporting a rainforest experience complete with whitewater rafting is Costa Rica. The lush jungle is carved by the Reventazon and Pacuarre rivers, where the scenery mixes waterfalls with exotic wildlife. Costa Rica's coastal reserves ar ehome to a vast array of birds, monkeys, iguanas and beautiful white beaches for sea kayaking to pristine coves.

Not so tropical but just as primitive is the untainted wilderness of Alaska. An intimate tour of the inside passage between Letchikan and Juneau crpsses paths with humpback whales, porpoises, bald eagles, deer seals and black bears. Glaciers, misty fjords and soaring cliffs dramatize the landscape, while rich, native culture flavors the atmosphere of each region. "Alaska was a fantastic trip, the scenery was awesome," recalls Jack Rammelsburg, a private investigator from Detroit, Michigan who firstr gallivanted last year. "On the way home, I knew EHd be going on another Gallivanting trip. I just had to decide which one."