Discovery Adventures announces new trips for 2011

by Kraig Becker on

Discovery Adventures, the Discovery Channel’s foray into the travel industry, announced a number of new destinations last week, offering travelers several new adventurous options for 2011. Sticking to the themes of their previous excursions, these new itineraries offer cultural and historical immersion in some of the most exotic and spectacular places on the planet.

The company has partnered with Gap Adventures, one of the top adventure travel companies in the world, to help deliver some amazing new trips to such destinations as Japan, Kenya, Greece, Italy, France, Turkey and Indochina. The trips range in duration from 8 to 15 days and include comfortable accommodations and a selection of amenities to choose from, as well as some unforgettable experiences that can’t be found anywhere else.

The new trips include Classic Japan, during which travelers will have the opportunity to visit the Hiroshima Peace Park, explore an ancient Japanese castle, and visit the famous Geisha District. The new Kenya Wildlife Safari visits the Great Rift Valley and the Masai Mara Game Reserve in search of lions, elephants, and the rare black rhino, while the Historic Footsteps Through France tour takes visitors to the beaches of Normandy and the wine country of the Loire Valley.

Additionally, Discovery Adventures has also teamed with the Planterra Foundation, a non-profit organization that looks to have a positive impact on destinations around the globe through a series of voluntourism opportunities. These trips allow travelers to visit some distinct, and often remote, destinations, while working on important community building projects. These trips deliver an amazing cultural experience unlike any others, as travelers get to see the direct and immediate impact of their work on the places that they visit.

For a complete list of these new adventure travel options, as well as their existing catalog of trips, go to DiscoveryAdventures.com, and start planning your adventures for 2011.

“I just wanna dig into that eyeball”: Will Ferrell guest stars on Man vs. Wild

by Aaron Hotfelder on

A couple nights ago, Will Ferrell made his much-anticipated debut on an episode of Bear Grylls’ survival show Man vs. Wild. The pair spent several frigid nights in the north of Sweden, and like everything WIll Ferrell does (okay, Blades of Glory excepted) there were plenty of laughs. Check out the Discovery Channel promo for the show above.

The whole episode has already been uploaded by some unscrupulous rogue onto Youtube. Check out part 1 here.

Discovery Channel Gets Into The Travel Business

by Kraig Becker on

The Discovery Channel has announced that it is getting into the travel industry by launching “Discovery Adventures” later this year. The intent is to offer adventure travelers the chance to visit the places that often are depicted on the channel’s many outdoor related television shows.

Discovery has joined forces with established adventure travel operator G.A.P. Adventures and will soon be offering 30 trips to destinations around the globe. The website for Discovery Adventures is expected to go online in July, allowing travelers to begin booking trips at that time.

This new move from Discovery is in keeping with a strategy they announced some time back to extend their brand away from just television and into markets that make sense for their demographic. For example they intend to launch a line of outdoor gear under the Discovery Expedition label as well.

Personally, I’m big fan of the Discovery Channel. What adventure traveler isn’t? Hopefully they aren’t just slapping their logo on to existing tours from G.A.P. and calling it a “Discovery Adventure”, while charging customers an extra fee. I fully expect that these trips will come at a bit of a premium, but hopefully the Discovery brand will add something as well. For example, who wouldn’t want to explore the backcountry with Bear Grylls? The meals would be interesting at the very least!

Survivorman Calls it Quits

by Josh Lew on

Filmmaker and Discovery and Science Channel star Les Stroud, known for his show, Survivorman, is calling it quits after three seasons. The 47 year-old Canadian earned street cred amongst survivalists by filming himself completing various week-long survival challenges. Unlike Man Versus Wild’s Bear Grylls, Stroud traveled without a camera crew and survival experts. I, for one, found his solo approach to film-making and survival refreshing compared to Grylls’ preening in front of the camera.

Stroud explained his decision to call it quits to Reuters: “You can only do seven days surviving without food a certain number of times a year. I’m pleased with what I have done, I’ve been copied around the world, but 25 times I’ve not eaten anything for a week while sleeping on rocks. I need to move on.”

Filming for the third, and now final, season is wrapping up in Papua this month. Though the tag Survivorman will probably always remain with him, Stroud plans to move on to other projects. He is writing a book about wilderness survival and is planning a new show where he will follow in the footsteps of famous explorers.

Gadling Take FIVE July 25– August 1

by Jamie Rhein on

Since I missed last week’s Gadling Take FIVE, I am including posts from before last Friday and including more than five. As usual, it’s hard to pick.

  • Start off with Iva’s post about her trip to the Community Baboon Sanctuary in Belize. Like she said, don’t let the mosquitoes stop you.
  • Scott personally tested Travelon toiletry sheets. After reading what he wrote, I think these would work great in a pinch.
  • Josh sniffed out airfare deals to get you to Asia and the hotel room bargains to be found in Las Vegas.
  • After reading Jerry’s Talking Travel interview with Adelle and Ron Milavsky, authors of Take Your RV to Europe, you might find yourself considering this interesting travel option, particularly if you have a few months at hand.
  • If busy airports are not your thing, check out Jeffrey’s post on the busiest to know which ones to avoid. Atlanta’s Hartfield’s International Airport is first on the list.
  • Anna passed on the news that TSA shoe scanners are being tested at LAX so that passengers may not have to remove their shoes anymore.
  • And, in case this slipped past your radar, even though it was just posted today, Discovery Channel has a casting call for an Alaskan adventure TV show. You might have to beat out Aaron, though. He wrote up the post, and I think he should totally go for it.