• Enjoy canoeing and white-water rafting. A favourite destination is the Nahanni River in the southern Mackenzie Mountains, featuring falls, rapids and torrents in a highland wilderness. A trip along its length takes 10 to 20 days. The Mackenzie River also offers good canoeing.

• Go fishing on the thousands of clear, unpolluted lakes. Chief catches are trout, great northern pike and grayling.

• Take a camera with a macro lens and get beautiful photographs of the hosts of tiny wild flowers that cover the tundra area during its brief spring.

• Stay in a wooden wilderness lodge alongside a lake, accessible only by air and with only wildlife for company. For a real getaway experience, the Nahanni Mountain Lodge (website: www.simpson-air.com) sits alongside Little Doctor Lake, near the Nahanni National Park.

• Choose between five national parks that provide trails for hiking and other facilities. Sandy hills known as eskers offer easy hiking with good viewpoints. More challenging hiking can be found on the Canol Heritage Trail, through mountains and valleys to the Yukon.

• Hire a boat to take a trip on the Mackenzie River and the Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes. These tours often follow old trapping and fur-trading routes. An experienced guide is essential.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.