In light of Responsible Travel Week 2011, we at Gunyah – specialists in short-duration experiential packages for independent travellers eager to connect with local people – have selected our favourite local travel experiences… in Argentina, Vietnam, Nepal, Australia, Zambia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. We want to inspire travellers to seek out more meaningful travel experiences, the kinds that can only come through real contact with locals and genuine enjoyment of local culture and tradition.

Some adventure travellers like to distinguish between ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ experiences. Hard adventure tours are a little more extreme and often involve a heightened sense of risk and danger, with adrenaline as a necessary and obviously exciting part of the ride. Here is our pick of five tours guaranteed to give you your fix. Travellers beware – adrenaline is known to be highly addictive!

Tours and treks regularly circuit the far-flung areas of Nepal to take in the astounding scenery, cultural diversity and the warm hospitality of Nepal’s rural people. Unfortunately, these remote places and the people who call them home have seen very little of the dividend from tourism. Today, though, at least one local organisation is currently trying to change all that. Outdoor Himalayan Treks seeks to share the benefits of travel at a grassroots level.

The Indian subcontinent, stretching from the snow-capped Himalayas in the north to the white sandy coves of Kanyakumari in the south, is one of world’s most popular destinations for travellers in search of diverse experiences. After all, South Asian countries have a distinct energy that combines the spiritual, natural, cultural and human. The pace of…