A recent visitor to our office was Paul Cripps.  Originally from Wales, Paul and his young family now live in Cusco, where he runs an excellent agency that handles several of our Peruvian adventures, including Choquequirao to Machu Picchu, the exciting Multi-Activity Peru, the Lake Titicaca to Machu Picchu bike ride and our Land of the Incas family adventure. Environmental issues are very important to Paul and he has a pet project that involves re-establishing significant areas of native forest in and around the Lares Valley. Since 1997, Paul and his friends and associates have planted 170,000 trees and he has an ambitious target of one million trees by 2020. KE and our partner charity, the Juniper Trust contributed £1000 towards a tree planting session that took place at Huiloc in December 2011. Have a look at his great video on tree planting.

Emerging from a period of political uncertainty, Colombia was another exciting new destination for KE in 2011. Our first trek into Colombia's Sierra Nevada del Cocuy was a little rough around the edges, but our ground agent soon learned how to do things the KE way and got it just right for our second departure. That's the way it is with adventure travel.... looking back to the early 80's we had to go through exactly the same process in Pakistan's Karakoram Mountains. Colombia produces excellent coffee and fantastically colourful flowers. Football is a national passion and each year the country manages to turn out some pretty legendary road cyclists. But above all that, it's an adventure travel destination that we can heartily recommend. It's refreshing to be able to find places where distinctive cultures remain intact and there are high mountain trails and peaks to explore that have seen very few outside visitors. 

Yes, it's true! The Ahansal River offers action-packed and scenic whitewater rafting in the central Atlas Mountains. You can extend any Spring KE holiday in Morocco with a 3-day rafting adventure, with all equipment and professional river guides included.

Four new species of tiny chameleon's, just milllimetres in length have been discovered on the island of Madagascar.  In fact about 80% of plants and animal life found on this island are only found here.  Why not see for yourself and Explore Madagascar?    

Recently launched British comedy drama 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' reinforces the charms of India, and in particular Rajasthan.  Don't miss out with our fantastic selection of holidays such as Tigers, Temples and Taj or our Cycling Tour of Rajasthan.  

For those of you urgently in need of a holiday, but unable or unwilling to take time off during the busy Easter period, we have a fantastic collection of guaranteed dates during late April and early May. We've picked out some great holidays that we reckon take some beating! It's not too late to book an Easter adventure, however - see link below.

Jebel Sahro Trek - Two week Moroccan adventure

Annapurna Circuit - One of Nepal's finest walks

Mera and Island Peak - Full on Himalayan expedition

Moab, Fruita & Festivals- Amazing mountain biking

Dhaulagiri Circuit- A tough Nepal trekking challenge

Off-Road Toubkal - Rugged Atlas Mountains biking

Choquequirao - Machu Picchu via the 'back door'

White Mountains of Crete - Mediterranean walking

Venezuela Lost World - Tepui trek and Angel Falls

Nanda Devi- Tranquil trekking in the Indian Himalaya

Sicily Volcano Trek - Black lava, blue sea, red wine

Luxury Everest - Comfortable Khumbu lodge trekking

Singalila Ridge - Walking between India and Nepal

With the British team gaining 5 'gold's' and 2 world records in the recent Track World Cup and Cavendish winning stages in Qatar and Belgium classics, there is a real buzz in air about cycling. Demand for our road cycling holidays has been fantastic, with all our Geneva to Nice dates running and the September departure of Across the Pyrenees also guaranteed. Kit Wilkinson is heading off to lead our Tour of Toubkal in Morocco this weekend and the Bangkok to Phuket classic ride has been an instant hit. Our most popular mountain bike holiday is Dead 2 Red in Jordan, but watch out for the addition of a NEW spectacular road cycling holiday in this wonderful country. With our biking holidays selling better than ever, we would like to know what has been enthusing you to bike? Also tell us if there are new areas you want us to feature, easier or harder trips, or if your prefer mountain bike to road. We will send a 19 in 1 Airace Multi Tool for the best reply.

We thought we'd give a different twist to this month's competition. Just tell us Where in the World you think the above image was taken. Provided by Allcord, the Karrimor Hot Rock 40 is ideal for any of our climbing holidays, such as Mera Peak in Nepal.

To be entered in the draw, email us your answer along with the name and address of a friend who would like to receive the new 2012 KE brochure - please also include your own name and address!  

Last month's prize draw to win a Deuter ACT litebackpack was Claire Woodward. Congratulations!