Looking for cool vacationing ideas? Forget swimming with dolphins and driving safaris. Amp up your trip instead by swimming with killer whales and walking amongst the lions. These are just some of the adrenaline-pumping activities excerpted from 1,000 Ultimate Experiences, Lonely Planet's overview of places and activities to make your travels unforgettable.

Swim With Orcas, Norway
As you pile out of the boat in Tysfjord, it might help your state of mind if you think of the creatures below as orcas rather than killer whales. In this chilly notch in the Norwegian coast, 250km north of the Arctic Circle, visitors come to don wetsuits and swim the seas besides the misnamed killer whales (they're actually dolphins), which grow to around four times the size of an average person. The motto isn't quite 'If the cold doesn't kill you, the orcas might', but tell that to your brain as you enter the sea.

Storm Chasing in Tornado Alley, USA
In the USA's so-called Tornado Alley, stretching between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains, an average of around 1000 tornadoes strike each year, with winds traveling up to 500km/h destroying crops and homes and killing people and livestock. Instead of running from the storms, as common sense and reason would dictate, there are some people who sprint towards them to witness the undeniable beauty of a twister. Using satellite radar imaging, the tornado chasers tour the alley, swirling from twister to twister. The good news is that you can join them if you wish; there are now several tour companies offering tornado-chase holidays.



Walking Safari, Among Lions, Zimbabwe
On the shores of Lake Kariba in northern Zimbabwe, Matusadona National Park protects an area of land where many animals resettled after the Zambezi River was dammed to create Lake Kariba in the 1950's. Wandering its torpedo-grass plain is one of Africa's greatest concentrations of lions, a creature usually considered among the least desirable of walking companions. In Matusadona, however, walking safaris to see lions are the prize visitor ticket, and for a bit of extra 'fun' you can even camp out on the plain among your furred friends. Our tip: stay close to the person with the gun.


Chornobyl, Ukraine
Somehow, visits to the scene of the world's most infamous nuclear accident haven't quite hit the big time, bit that hasn't stopped a steady flow of visitors from treading through the Chornobyl ruins. Several travel agencies in the Ukraine capital, Kyiv, offer day trips to the site. You can wander through the reactor information center, among the abandoned vehicles used in the clean up, and into the deserted streets of Prypyat, where workers and their families used to live. For good measure, there are giant catfish to see in the river, though you'll be assured that their size has nothing to do with radiation.

BASE Jump at Voss, Norway
An acronym for 'building antenna, span and earth,' base jumping involves jumping (with a parachute) off fixed objects such as bridges, mountains and cliffs. With an average of around four base-jump deaths a year since 1981, it's been banned in many countries. But in the Norwegian town of Voss it's actively encouraged during Extreme Sports Week, an event held each June. Base jumpers leap from the 350m-high Nebbet cliff, plunging towards the fjord. Scary, but scenic.

Reproduced with permission from Lonely Planet's 1000 Ultimate Experiences © 2009 Lonely Planet