Jetsettersblog

Holland America Line is offering new World Cruise tours and Overland Adventure tours in South America, Africa and India. Overland Adventures allow guests to extend their holiday or world cruise with an in-depth exploration of regions such as India, the Far East, Africa and South America.

The adventures range from two- and three-day tours to eight-day explorations.

The 2010 “Grand World Voyage” guests can take an eight-day train tour from Mumbai. The “Palace on Wheels Overland Adventure” stops in Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Sawai Madhopur, Chittaurgarh, Udaipur, Bharatpur and Delhi, and concludes with a flight to Kuala Lumpur.

The adventure also includes a sunset camel ride through the Great Indian Desert and a four-wheel drive in the Ranthambore Wildlife Sanctuary, known for tigers and leopards. In Udaipur, guests will explore the city of lakes and then journey to Bharatpur and the National Bird Sanctuary.

From there, it’s a short train ride to Agra and the Taj Mahal.

In Africa, the three-day Ngala Overland Adventure from Port Elizabeth to Durban, South Africa, flies guests to the Ngala Private Game Reserve.

The safari offers accommodations and several game-drives in an open, four-wheel-drive vehicle. Guests catch a return flight to Durban to board the ship.

Other Overland Adventures trips in Africa and the Far East include the “Chobe National Park and Victoria Falls Overland Adventure,” a five-day tour from Cape Town to Durban; the “Cambodia and Angkor Wat Overland Adventure,” a three-day tour from Singapore to Sihanoukville, Cambodia; the “Terra Cotta Warriors, Great Wall and Beijing Overland Adventure,” a four-day tour from Shanghai to Xingang, China; and the “Kyoto and the Shinkansen Bullet Train Overnight Tour,” a two-day adventure from Kobe to Yokohama, Japan.

On the other side of the world, guests sailing South America in 2010 also have enticing new adventures: the “Galapagos Islands Cruise Overland Adventure” and “Mendoza: Land of Wine.”

From Manta, Ecuador, to Callao, Peru, the four-day Galapagos adventure takes guests by motorcoach to Guayaquil, Ecuador, to board a plane to the easternmost Galapagos Islands.

From there, guests will board the Galápagos Explorer II, a 293-foot vessel for 100 guests. A naturalist guides shore expeditions to search wildlife such as blue-footed boobies, brown pelicans, whimbrels and sanderlings, Darwin’s finches and yellow warblers.

In Argentina, the “Mendoza: Land of Wine” begins with a flight from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, Argentina, for a city tour in the heart of the Argentine wine country. Guests visit a vineyard and sample acclaimed local wines before returning to comfort of their ship.