Intrepid Journeys

Kiwi actor Peter Elliott has played many jet-setters in his career but he's has never been anywhere like this! Peter discovers that shopping in Nairobi (aka Nairobbery) can be a contact sport, as he attempts to beat the statistics and not get mugged. But Kenya would not be Kenya without wildlife, and Elliott gets to go on safari in four of Kenya's best game parks packed with elephants, crocodiles, lions, rhinos and giraffes.

A serious foodie, Peta Mathias is asked to take one for the team in Bolivia, where the cuisine features 250 varieties of the potato and not much else. But the food isn't her only vacation hurdle. Peta also scales the heights, and at 5,000 m it's -21 C degrees! She gets to sample one unique Bolivian flavor- Bolivia's famous white powder salt from the country's salt plains.

Actress and former advice columnist Robyn Malcolm needed some advice of her own when she is sent to Vietnam. In heat reaching 36 degrees C and 90 percent humidity, she faced hardship and challenges, both emotionally and physically. But Robyn persevered, and this former luxury travel fan was won over to by the country and its spirited people.

Sacred cows beware, confirmed beeff eater Pio Terei is sent to India, where beef is strictly off the menu. But Pio adapts as a good comedian should, and goes vegetarian while rowing down the sacred Ganges. Traveling through Northern India, he is treated to such sights as dolphins and dead bodies. But he also gets the chance to see how the Maharajahs lived, and has a close encounter with a native. Unfortunately for him, that native happens to be a camel!

Talking your way out of a jam is second nature to politicians like Michael Laws, but he finds himself hampered in Ecuador since he doesn't speak the language. Michael takes a trip into another world as he floats down the Amazon River, beginning with sampling one of the local witch doctor's remedies. He later has the dubious pleasure of visiting a town that has been officially closed by the local government because it is in imminent danger from an erupting volcano nearby.

Craig may seem unflappable when he is playing the role of Dr Alistair Kingsley on Mercy Peak, but the trek into the foothills of the Himalayas has him hot and bothered. His trip requires him to carry his possessions on his back for seven days while hiking through the Nepalese hinterlands. He ascends higher than the height of New Zealand's own Mt Cook, but Sir Edmund Hilary mountaineering laurels are safely out of Craig's reach.

It takes something as spectacular as the pyramids of Egypt to take the words out of Marcus Lush's mouth, so that's where the first season finale of Intrepid Journeys sends him! He stops at all of the usual tourist attractions, but then strikes out on his own floating down the Nile in a felucca and also aboard one of the ships of the desert while traveling overland. Marcus has an adventure that he won't soon forget, and takes us along for the ride.