Q: Who is the father of adventure travel? A: Many consider Leo Le Bon, co-founder of Mountain Tours, the father of adventure travel. In 1967, Le Bon and eight travel mates made the first commercial expedition to the Annapurna region of Nepal and founded the first adventure travel company after returning stateside.

­Imagine yourself paddling a kayak through the dense belly of the Amazon rainforest. Can you picture walking side by side with the mighty elephants of Africa? Maybe a bike trek along the Great Wall of China or a cattle drive through Patagonia is more your speed. How does traveling into outer space sound? If any of these wild trips sound like a great way to spend your holiday, then adventure travel may be for you.

One of the fastest-growing trends in the travel business is adventure tourism. Defining exactly what it means is a little tricky. For some, adventure could mean leisurely biking and hiking tours. For others, it might entail BASE jumping into an underground cave in Mexico. The main facets of adventure tourism usually include traveling to a distant location, interacting with different cultures and undertaking a physical activity of some kind.

 
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Paragliding in the south of France can be an adventurous and relaxing experience.

Adventure travel is typically grouped into two categories -- "hard" and "soft" adventures. Hard adventures involve some kind of extreme and often dangerous sporting activity. Paragliding, rock climbing, surfing, spelunking and scuba diving in remote and exotic locations are some examples of a hard adventure. Soft adventures are leisurely, often educational and don't involve hazardous and strenuous adventures. Culinary and wine tours, bird watching, architectural tours and religious pilgrimages are activities that are likely to be found on a soft adventure.

The father of adventure travel is Leo Le Bon, co-founder of Mountain Tours, the world's first adventure travel company. In 1967, Le Bon and eight travel mates made the first commercial expedition to the Annapurna region of Nepal and founded their travel company after returning stateside. Now retired from Mountain Tours, Le Bon still consults for various travel entities through his aptly named firm, Wanderlust Consulting. The industry has grown by leaps and bounds since Leo went to Nepal, with thousands of companies offering adventure vacations to every corner of the globe.

Space Tourism ­One way adventure travelers can satisfy their wayfaring compulsion is to take a voyage into the great unknown -- outer space. Space tourism is a new breed of high-end travel that's very expensive and somewhat limited in scope at this point. At $20 million for a one-week stay, very few people are able to afford the price tag for this niche travel segment. Russia has led the way, but American companies are not far behind them. Most experts agree that space tourism is going to be a huge money-making segment of the travel industry in the future, and Hilton Hotels has even begun initial plans to open the galaxy's first space hotel. Just how far space tourism will go is anyone's guess, but the world's richest adventurers have confirmed a serious interest in traveling to infinity…and beyond! You can read more about space tourism in How Space Tourism­ Works.

In this article, we'll look at who might be likely to go on an adventure tour and how you could benefit from taking one yourself. We'll also look at some of the more interesting adventure vacations that are on the market today.

­Video Gallery: Off the Beaten Path Marathon swimmer Martin Strel swam the entire length of the Amazon River -- through piranha schools, snakes and crocodiles. ­ Lewis Gordon Pugh was the first man to swim at the North Pole. World champion paraglider Ewa Wisnierska survived a freak storm in Australia. Videos courtesy of Reuters.