5 Historical Routes That You Can Follow Today

Within every traveler there is an explorer waiting to break out. Indeed, it is the enticement of the unknown and the chance to experience new cultures that sends us on our adventures in the first place. 

There are not as many undiscovered places as there used to be, but following in the footsteps of some of the great explorers is a fantastic way to discover a new adventure.

From the Silk Road to the seas of the Antarctica, here are five historical routes that you can follow today.

 

1. Shackleton's Footsteps

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton was a polar explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic, and one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. With shipping restricted by impenetrable pack ice to just two brief months each austral summer, few people have ever visited the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. Join Adventure Life on a 30-day voyage, helmed by skillful sailors and knowledgeable guides, to experience nature on a scale so grand there are no words to describe it.

 

2. Greenland Explorer

Hans Poulsen Egede was a Dano-Norwegian Lutheran missionary, it is credited with revitalizing Dano-Norwegian interest in Greenland after contact had been broken for hundreds of years. Join Big Chill Adventures on a trip designed to highlight all that Greenland has to offer, including calving glaciers, palatial icebergs, dogsledding, hut camping with Inuit people, wildlife viewing, a speed boat tour of the fjords surrounding Nuuk, kayaking amongst icebergs, mountain biking primitive trails, and helicoptering to a supra glacial lake.

 

3. Follow the Silk Road

Marco Polo is probably the most famous Westerner who traveled the Silk Road. Silk, spices, teas, precious metals and jewels, carefully lashed to pack camels, once made their way from one world to another along this route. Visit Kashgar, one of the most exotic cities in the world, skirt the infamous Taklamakan Desert on camelback, and admire the breathtaking views across 12,000-foot Torugart Pass on MIR Corporation's most comprehensive Silk Road offering.

 

4. Visit Amazon Tribe

Despite the fact that indigenous people had been living in the Amazon for at least 10,000 years; the Amazon River was "discovered" by a Spanish explorer and conquistador, Don Francisco de Orellana. Gondwana EcoTours offers a 10-day tour of Ecuador that visits the Achuar, a tribe of 6,000 indigenous people still living traditionally in small Amazon communities along the Ecuadorian and Peruvian border.

 

5. Hannibal Expedition

Hannibal led the military forces of Carthage that fought against Rome in the Second Punic War. Join Ride & Seek on a ride of historical proportions cycling in the footsteps of Hannibal from Barcelona to Rome. Biking some of Europe's most iconic and picturesque touring routes through Spain, France and Italy, this epic journey has it all. Traverse some of the iconic climbs of the Grand Tours, roll through the vineyards of the Languedoc, Provence, Piedmont and Tuscany, and sample the delights of the diverse gastronomy to be found along the route.

 

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