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The Pakistani contingency are doing a great job of selling us their country. After Ibraar Hussain’s super pictures last week, his fellow countryman Imran Schah sent in these marvellous ones. Yet again it was difficult to choose the best – so we’ve put an extra few below.

“The first picture is of some girls from the pagan tribes of Kalash, from Hindu Kush, Kalash valleys of Chitral,” says Imran. “They have been living in the three valleys (Rumbur, Bamborate and Birir) for centuries.

“In the other pictures, the lonely tree is a landscape from Chitral Gol National Park of Hindu Kush of Chitral Pakistan, famous for its lofty cedars and unique fauna and flora,” he continues. “The luscious green one is rice fields in the terrace farming from Ghizer valley of North Pakistan, and the final one is the famous Trango Towers in the Karakorum mountain range.

“Pakistan is still a hidden treasure that the world looks very little about.”

There’s nothing like blowing your own trumpet, or in this case a Peruvian panpipe might be more appropriate. Issue 86 of Adventure Travel is out, and it looks glorious.

And it’s not just a pretty cover. Inside, our roving reporters are biking over the Himalayas, taking awesome pictures of an unknown area of India and investigating whether the Inca Trail is still worth a trip.

Adventurer Tim Moss gets to try skiing for the first time, but forget Meribel – he learns the ropes (planks?) on an exploratory expedition in the Arctic.

Wanna go to Africa? We meet the couple who hiked round the Gambia, and have seven inspirational ideas for your own trip.

And if you’re short on time, budget or both, Sarah Stirling has some cracking ideas for closer-to-home breaks.

A British couple have completed an extraordinary mission – they hiked round the whole of the Gambia, a country in West Africa.

Helen Jones and Jason Florio, plus three guides and two donkeys, completed the 600-mile trip in December after six weeks on the road. They were raising money for Gardens for Life – a charity that teaches children to grow gardens so they can sustain their villages and ultimately have a way of trading.

“We walked from village to village, camping in the village compounds after introducing ourselves to the Alkalos, or village chiefs,” says Helen. “The people were incredibly welcoming, and always so excited to see us.

With the rip off half term prices behind us tour operators are looking to dump excess capacity and are offering great late season deals on accommodation in the Alps. Erna Lowe are currently offering 4 berth  self catering apartments for £100 per week (£25 per person) in a number of choice destinations in France and Austria. 

If you budget on £150 for a weeks lift pass, £100 for ski hire and £150 to travel to the resort you could have a week on the piste for approx £425 – and then there's the booze and food bill.

Here's the details;

One of the most endearing characteristics of being a Brit is that we all secretly love a big brute of a man clubbing us into complete and total submission. There's something about our stiff upper lip psyche that tells us all is not right unless we're being totally submissive, humiliated and abused and it almost goes without saying it's what we crave most from our hols.

So, with that in mind here's Adventure Travels top tips to help you know if you're on the perfect adventure with a top tour guide.

The acid test is...

This week’s super reader pic of the week is from Pakistan, and was sent in by AT reader Ibraar Hussain.

Ibraar says, “I travelled to Chitral and Gilgit in Pakistan last October for around 16 days.”

“I fancied a bit of adventure, so went there,” he continues. “The places are far off the tourist trail, and wild, but stunningly beautiful with welcoming, warm and hospitable people.”

A team of three Americans has completed a bike ride from Alaska to Ushuaia in Patagonia, the most southern city in the world – after 3.5 years of travelling.

Jacob, Sean and Goat (er, that’s a name), who called themselves Riding the Spine, covered over 34,000km on their epic expedition and went through 14 countries.

Wild camping most nights and cooking their own food, they had some hairy moments, like being chased by a wolf in Alaska and getting held at gunpoint by the military during a drug bust in Mexico’s Copper Canyon. They also got to ride down America’s tallest peak, white water raft Peruvian waters and sleep at the foot of active volcanos in Costa Rica.

This week’s winning picture was taken by Danny Sweeney on a recent climb of the Cobbler (Ben Arthur) in the Scottish Highlands. We especially like the colourful hiker in contrast to the moodiness of the Highlands (gosh that almost sounded artistic).

“The weather wasn’t great but it made for a dramatic atmosphere, emphasised by the craggy cliffs of the summit,” says Danny.

“There were some hairy moments standing on the cliff edge, but it was well worth the climb,” he finishes.

Danny is actually a bit of a professional at this photography business, and you can see more of his shots at Escape Images, www.escapeimages.com.

But you don’t have to be an expert to enter our photo comp and win a free subscription to Adventure Travel like Danny has. Last week’s winning shot was taken from a phone camera. All you have to do is email your (preferably landscape-shaped) photos to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

And you can check out our Photo Hall of Fame on our Facebook site here.