Aside from seeing a personality rise to a challenge, there is also the chance to gather knowledge and understanding of places, lives, events and happenings foreign to Western culture.

Destinations include Libya, Borneo, Iran, Uganda, Myanmar, Tibet, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba, Vietnam, Ecuador and Mali.

Elliott sees four of Kenya’s game parks packed with elephants, crocodiles, lions, rhinos, hippopotamus, giraffe and zebra Chef and celebrity foodie, Peta Mathias attempts 12 days in Bolivia.

Actor Robyn Malcolm finds trekking in 36 degree heat and 90 percent humidity in the Northern reaches of Vietnam more confronting than she ever anticipated.

Comedian Pio Terei makes a good fist of going vegetarian while rowing down the Ganges and exploring the cultural riches of Northern India.

Life is far from ordinary in the villages, highlands and coastal towns with strange forms of illicit gambling, playing Russian Roulette on nearly impassable roads and tracking crocodiles.

Reporter Hugh Sundae spends an uncomfortable night on the floor of a ger, a traditional communal wool-lined tent with a local Mongolian family.

She walks amongst a huge city deserted as it has been evacuated and will soon go underwater visiting a place the Chinese consider their spiritual equivalent of Cape Reinga but discovers it is more like a fairground.

On the road he tries rickshaw driving, attends a ritualistic animal sacrifice and visits a cockfighting meet – the sport was banned but is allowed for spiritual cleansings and other traditional purposes.

Musician Dave Dobbyn wanders the medina of the ancient city of Fez, a world heritage site where not a great deal has changed for 500 years.

Talk show host Marcus Lush rides the Trans-Siberian railway, one third of the way around the globe, crossing several time zones and discovers that this is the only practical way for Russians to get to Vladivostok as there are no roads.

She meets a group of dancers who are worshippers of the Hoodoo religion and is invited to their Sunday worship and a roadtrip to The Bay of Pigs with Lola and her aging wheels.

Playwright Roger Hall treks into the jungle of Uganda to see the endangered gorillas who live protected in a wild habitat but are still likely to be extinct within ten years.

Newscaster Bernadine Oliver-Kerby travels to the former war-torn area her brother served in as a peacekeeper, sees the still all to obvious ravages in the form of minefields and ruined buildings and on the brighter side, joins in a traditional Croatian dance and is then put through a ceremony that happens before locals wed.

She treks the epic and inspiring Tiger Leaping Gorge and finds a doctor, the quirky Dr Ho, with an impressive reputation and an array of alternative treatments.

Sports commentator, John McBeth has a close call with drugs officers at the border but makes in through to see the highest waterfall in the world, the ravages of old-fashioned mining and what appears to be a plethora of contenders for the title of Miss Venezuela.

Actor Jeremy Wells explores Tripoli's medina, dines in Berber settlements, journeys through the Jebel Nafusa highlands, and rides an angry camel.

He drives to the desert border of Algeria to show Ahmed Zaoui a glimpse of his homeland, wanders the ruins of Leptis Magna, and views the theatre of Sabratha while embracing the Arab custom of 'hand-holding' between men.

Broadcaster Mary Lambie haggles over a Persian rug, ponders life in Persepolis, drops into an Iranian wedding, and gets dirty with Nomads on her travels in Iran.

Radio presenter and former politician John Banks heads to the stunning mountains, beautiful rainforest, idyllic beaches and endangered lemurs of Madagascar.