With a guide, a map and lots of tea breaks, Simon Calder retraces the steps of Felice Benuzzi, a PoW who escaped to climb Mount Kenya – then snuck back into camp.

Three in the morning is a tough time to start a walk, especially if it involves clambering over scree, snow and ice to gain half-a-mile of vertical altitude. But you need to begin at "stupid o'clock" if you are to tackle the final stages of Shandy Mountain. This is the uncharitable title given to Mount Kenya by those who have conquered Kilimanjaro. Africa's highest mountain, known as Kili or "the Hill" by braggarts, is located fractionally south of the Kenyan border in Tanzania. It towers over the continent at 5,895m – almost a kilometre further from the centre of the earth than the target of my climb.

Apus Peru Adventure Travel specialise in unique treks to little known places - their routes cross remote mountain ranges, skirt around snow capped peaks and visit out of the way communities. Yet their latest offerings - Christmas hikes - take the idea of participative tourism to a new level.

These hikes feature a day in a remote community bringing to these isolated, often undernourished, and unkempt children the most distinctive Christmas tradition - the Chocolatada. This tradition sees businesses or institutions giving to the less needy through giving out hot chocolate, bread and gifts.

A ‘HISTORIC’ trek to Siachen, which caused a furore last month after Pakistan raised objections to tourism activities in the disputed region, ended on a disappointing note for civilian trekkers after they were declared medically unfit to climb the glacier.

Three civilians—the only professional mountaineers in a 27-member delegation that consisted of NCC, RIMC, IMA cadets and mediapersons—had to stay put at Siachen Base Camp after the initial training as Army doctors found them unfit to proceed.

It's not often something stops you in your tracks, makes you pull the car over, get out and stand there, gawping. But then I had never seen a tepui before. Let alone thought about climbing one.

In the far southeast of Venezuela, the grasslands of La Gran Sabana stretch across an area the size of Belgium, accessed by only one road and home to the Pemón people. The Angel Falls tumble 979m (3,212ft) to earth from one tepui, making it the world’s tallest waterfall. And across the landscape, rising almost mythically out of early morning mists, are more of the huge, flat-topped table mountains, the tallest of which, Roraima, inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write The Lost World.

The Indian army has gone ahead with plans to allow trekkers to visit the disputed Siachen glacier, despite protests from Pakistan.

Three civilians were among 42 members of an expedition which left Leh in Ladakh on Wednesday for the glacier area, an army spokesman told the BBC.

It is not the first time that civilians have been to Siachen, between Pakistani and Indian-administered Kashmir.

But new Indian plans for "adventure tourism" there have angered Pakistan.

Part One

We pulled out of Seminyak, Bali's posh playground, late on a Tuesday afternoon. We'd planned to be on the road much earlier, but circumstances conspired against us, and we wound up leaving at 5:00 p.m.

Driving on the island of Bali is something best left to the locals, but if you aren't easily deterred, it can be done. What you want to avoid is (1) driving at night and (2) in the rain. With our departure from Seminyak at 5:00 pm we assured ourselves of driving at night. Shortly thereafter, it began to rain.

If you are looking to take an adventure travel lasting a day or two, or over a long holiday weekend, a backpacking adventure travel may be a perfect solution. This type of adventure travel is usually easier to plan and will give you a nice break away from your everyday routine. Before you begin, you first have to decide how long you plan on being away.

Like so many avid hikers, Mary Narrod had always put Machu Picchu, the ancient Inca citadel in Peru, high on her wish list of places to visit. She planned to someday take a hike to get there.

But her husband, James, was not fond of the idea of camping along the way. "It's not that I won't do it," said Narrod, an active traveler himself, whose recent vacations have included hiking and heli-skiing. "But I like a shower after a day or two."