The world famous website for expedition news, ExplorersWeb, has covered nearly thousand expeditions in 2007. The staff write on its website: it's difficult to choose the best, as they all contributed in their own way, sharing their story - their very soul in fact - with us and the world.

Polè, polè! About 20,000 climbers attempt to reach the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania each year, the highest peak in Africa. Around 70 % of them succeed. Climbing high peaks can make people famous and admired. They get their names and photo in media. It also make them admired among friends and colleagues. After climbing Kilimanjaro in July 2003 one thing stands clear for me: the porters are the real heroes of Kilimanjaro.

The dramatic ascent the Italian Franco Mount Franco D'Astassi did was incredible. He knew that Mount Kenya – Mt. Kenya is the second highest peak in Africa after Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, but that didn’t stop him. The mountain is located in the central highlands a couple of hundred kilometres north of the equator. It is here where the Kikuyu god ngai resides. The name of the country Kenya has been known to have been derived from Mount Kenya which was formerly known as Mount Kirinyaga.

Get face-to-face with the wildest wild life in the middle of African savannahs. The tour operator Eriksen Adventure offers a wide variety of tour opportunities in East African countries as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. For travellers with genuine adventurous spirit, the dramatic wildbeast migration between Masai Mara and Serengeti is really something to experience.

The organiser Reiseliv 2008 will have a special focus on facilitating increased sales for exhibitors. Reiseliv offer them a bustling marketplace, access to professional buyers of business travel, leisure travel, course and conference services. Thousands of travel enthusiasts will attend this travel fair at Lillestrøm near Oslo from 11 - 13 January. Get ready for the big sales rush!

The travel fair Reiseliv 2008, Lillestrøm, Oslo, is a venue for Inspiration – Experiences – Exhibition offers – Planning! News are: Tanzania, Gambia, Libya, Kenya with Wild Kenya’s Adventure Safari, Mali in Vest-Africa, Mongolia and Philippine in Asia, Serbia with Beograd, Moldova, Lithuanian and Hong Kong will attend the fair this year. Also the Caribbean island Aruba. In addition tour operators offer new countries to go to.

In this article you find extract from stories and selected photos from exciting journeys during 2007. Our freelance journalists around the world have the ability to tell stories that make it interesting for others to read. Their journeys in Laos, Guatemala, Central America, Malta and Finland are about unique adventures, explorations and meeting of nice people with different lifestyle and culture than themselves. Here are our highlights from 2007......

Especially Merry Christmas to people with genuine passion for travelling. It's time to spread joy and bring smiles to faces! Whether people believe in Santa Claus or not, they continue their traditional Christmas celebration. People wait for the arrival of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. He is the world`s best traveller and the most popular person!

Look at trolls celebrating Christmas in Sandvika near Oslo. They are found in Sandvika Storsenter, which is the largest shopping center in Scandinavia. It covers 190 stores on 8 different floors, 1 km from one end to the other. Here you find a great mix of shops, boutiques and concept stores, but you find also small and big trolls around in the centre. The trolls look scarey, but they spread joy and happinnes in the Christmas time.

It was a beautiful day on Sunday 17 December 2007 when the sun broke through the dark skyes, and lightened up the ice on the fjord in Sandvika at Kadettangen, Kalvøya. In the middle of this day I observed two or more sundogs on opposite sides of the sun simultaneously. There was no snow in Sandvika near Oslo, but anyway the sun rays made the Christmas atmosphere here quite unique.

In the dark mid winter Norwegian do everything to have some fun. On the surface Christmas in Oslo looks quite similar as any other large European city, but you when walk along the main street in Oslo, Karl Johansgate, you will see there are trolls standing outside the shops. They are both guarding the people and spreading joy.

The opening celebrations of the Christmas Season are taking place at the Santa Claus' Village in Rovaniemi Saturday 24th November 2007. In Santa Claus’ Village you can meet Santa Claus and cross the Arctic Circle all year round. The mysterious place Korvatunturi in Finnish Lapland is where Santa Claus lives with his helpers, the elves. For a long time ago he decided to meet people whole the year around.

I dream about White Christmas song Bing Crosby for over 60 years ago. This dream can be mostly realized in the wilderness in Rovaniemi in Finland. It`s especially fun to drive reindeers. And even more: here it’s great opportunities for a wide range of winter activities. So take your time!

The show must go on in Rio next year too. It`s time to prepare for the 2008 Samba Parade, Rio Carnival Balls, Scala Balls, Samba Land, Samba School Nights and Samba City. Here you can experience the true culture of Brazil. The carnival is very important to the Brazilians being their very rich cultural manifestation. Rio Carnival 2008 starts on Saturday 2 February and ends on Fat Tuesday 5 February.

Staged annually in London under one roof, World Travel Market - WTM - is a must attend, business to business exhibition in November 2007. Here travel organisations and tour operators can find interesting business partners. WTM provides a unique opportunity for the whole global travel trade industry to meet, network, negotiate, conduct business and stay abreast with the latest developments in the travel industry.