From hiking in Peru to sea-kayaking in Australia, participating in out-of-the-ordinary experiences is becoming a must-do for many people particularly for female travelers. In fact, adventure travel defined as a travel experience that involves the combination of nature, culture and physical activity is on the rise.

Women make up over half of the bookings with adventure travel companies, according to data from the Adventure Travel Trade Association . A global study of 1,000 women found that adventure travel was the most sought-after type of travel among those over age 50. And Kelly Kimple, chief executive officer of Adventures in Good Company , an adventure travel company for women, said that shes seeing more clients over the age of 40.

Were seeing more women aged 40 and older gravitate toward adventure travel for a few key reasons, Kimple said. These travelers are often taking more adventurous vacations as a way of navigating life transitions. They may be at a soul-searching stage and desire something to jar them out of the mundane. Or maybe theyve always wanted to try it, and it is only now that they have the financial resources and time to do so.

Additionally, the adventure travel space itself has become more welcoming and inclusive, providing women with more opportunities to embrace this type of travel, Kimple explained. For the most part, these opportunities allow women to immerse themselves in the destinations culture while also participating in activities like traipsing through caves, crossing a tortuous mountain pass, dog-sledding in the snow or quietly observing African gorillas.

You might even travel on a long wooden boat for three hours, deep into the Amazon rainforest. Thats what my aunt did at age 63. With seven of her colleagues, all women, they took a guided tour into the jungle. They caught and ate a piranha, trekked to see vibrant Amazonian birds and towering Brazil nut trees, battled swarms of relentless mosquitoes and a large hitchhiking roach, stayed in a lodge that only had an hour of electricity a day, and carefully avoided stepping on snakes each time they left their room for dinner. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, she told me.

My aunt wasnt always this dauntless. But over the several adventure trips shes done, she has always been rewarded with the bliss of experiencing something shed never imagined before. Now, her appetite for adventure is whetted.

Itching to try something similar? Heres your expert-backed guide on preparing for an adventure trip, if youve never done it before:

Narrow down where you want to go and make an itinerary.

To get some inspiration, click through trip offerings on adventure travel websites . Youll start to notice that a trip doesnt have to be as physically challenging as you might expect, it may simply include an outdoor activity that is out of your usual routine.

Adventures in Good Company has their itineraries rated between levels 1 to 5, with level 1 being the most relaxed and level 5 being the most physically challenging. On level 1 trips, youll get to do lighter activities, like a couple miles of kayaking or a short bike ride, Kimple said. But if youre opting for a level 5 trip, We emphasize that people give themselves time to train and prepare because its back to back days of physically challenging experiences with not as much rest time in between.

Ask yourself where youre at in terms of physical capacity, then match it up to one of the offerings. This can help you make decisions for your own itinerary planning as well.

Karen Warren , an outdoor adventure program risk assessment expert who has decades of solo adventure travel experience, is a lover of itineraries. Her top tip for adventure itinerary structure? Start the trip with easier or lower mileage activities, build to more challenging activities in the middle, then taper it down toward the end. Avoid packing out the itinerary during the first and last couple of days.

Her main reason for bookending the itinerary with relaxed days is that people are most distracted at the beginning (theyre still checking everybody out, trying to figure out their own confidence, where they fit in.) and at the tail end of a trip (theyre distracted by the thought that theyre leaving soon, or maybe they had a terrible time so are distracted by this guilt that they paid all this money for the trip.) Being distracted can increase the risk of accidents, said Warren.