Family activity/ adventurous holiday recommendations

[noarguments]

We are toying with the idea of doing something a bit more adventurous and memorable next year, ds 13 and 11 won't want to holiday with us forever etc etc. We need something that will tear them away from iPods etc, so not a cultural trip at all, am thinking a small group tour of some kind which includes activities such as rafting, or elephant ride. Looking at Exodus catalogue for ideas.... Any ideas ......? TIA mumsnet.

We had a family holiday in Yellowstone and Grand Teton this year - really fab. Climbed mountains, saw wildlife (bears, moose, deer, eagles, osprey, bison etc) went rafting, canoeing, cowboy horseback-riding, swimming in hot springs. We organised it ourselves, but I'm sure Exodus have a subsidiary called Trek America (did 10 years ago, anyway) who would organise similar. I did a trip with them to the Canadian Rockies which was excellent.
There are downsides of doing that kind of trip in the summer (national parks incredibly busy), but it was great fun

we have been looking at this and have a ton of brochures. however the cheapskate in me knows I can do it all myself so much cheaper so I am pulling together a package which includes some experiences/guided bits that we pre book but we do our own flights accom etc.

We went to Jordan for a week with the family adventure company. We had a fab time and I would recommend the holiday we did and I thought the organisation of the company was great.

They do all sorts of different adventures and we would certainly use them again. The children loved it (which surprised me to be honest)

Yes, I have picked up the family adventure company brochure today which looks great - need to have a proper look. Not sure I'm brave enough to organise it myself, Mummymeister, but would be interested to hear your plans.

pm me noarguments and I will give you all the details. no need to worry about being brave. its a lot easier than you think and lets you tailor it to your family. mine love the outdoors and doing adventure and what they call "stuff" but like to do 2 days out then 1 day lazing so by doing it ourselves we can suit what we like. plus I want to stay somewhere with space not all 5 of us crammed into 1 room hotel rooms.

Although I think its a good idea to see if you can do it better/cheaper on your own I think I should point out that we always had two rooms when we where in Jordan as there are 5 of us

We have found family adventure co holidays to be excellent and we were not crammed into one room. They organise everything and some of the activities we did with them was down to the personal knowledge of the guide and would be difficult to replicate. We also liked meeting other families so DCs got to mix with others. We have done Peru with them and also previously been to Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands with another company who had a family slot on the boat in the Galapagos. Both the South America trips included several days in the rain Forrest. Spectacular! We have done numerous safari holidays too. South Africa is interesting. I think the USA holidays look great for lots of action and we have also been to Alaska although the Yellowstone /Grand Teton holiday looks wonderful. I think the family adventure co have teen departure dates so this could be useful. You can ride on elephant back to look for tigers in Nepal and India. We went to India one year and had a great time in the tiger reserves. There is such a great choice you will find something to suit.

Would 2nd the guide bit, forgot about that bonus

I booked my own action packed holidays to South Africa and to South America and both holidays worked out well but quite a lot of time was needed to plan the holidays (which I enjoy). I really agree with you about the DC not wanting to go away with you for many more years, DS1 stopped coming with us years ago and DS2 is reluctantly going next year but then that will probably be it. I'm sure you will have a very memorable trip and take lots of photos.