Such is the diverse nature of an eco-tour in Thailand.

All of the country’s four regions offer a mind-boggling array of wildly different activities, from sea kayaking to bird-spotting, in a cornucopia of settings, from mountains to mangrove swamps.

In western Thailand, for example, the national parks of Erawan and Khao Yai are hotspots. Both of them offer hilly jungles, daubed with splashes of forest green and shades of tropical flowers, with waterfalls for refreshment, and enough species of wildlife and exotic birds to fill a few dozen issues of National Geographic. Whether you just want a day-long walk on the wild side, or a few days of nature packed with World War II history that includes stopovers at Hellfire Pass and a languid cruise down the legendary River Kwai, these package deals are just the ticket.

Many of the eco-tours are led by local English-speaking naturalists. They teach visitors how to spot the footprints of different beasts; how to distinguish between their various calls and cries; and how the eco-systems flourish. This is one of the major roots of eco-tourism: combining education with relaxation. With debates on environmental issues such as global warming heating up, they are lessons we can ill-afford to ignore.

But nowadays, the term “eco-tourism” has become such an overused buzzword that it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. And how do you tell the real deals from the pretenders? For a prime example of ecologically correct tourism in action, check into the Lisu Lodge in northern Thailand. It’s won several prestigious honors such as Conde Nast Traveler magazine’s Ecotourism Award for 2001. And here are a few of the reasons why. Built from all natural materials, the lodge sits on the edge of a Lisu hill-tribe village. It’s been designed like the houses in the surrounding community to blend in with them. Since one of the most important tenets of eco-tourism is that it must benefit local communities, most of the staff comes from the surrounding village.

On one particular tour package, a Lisu elder takes travelers to a shrine where the village’s guardian spirit resides; in the process, he imparts a few lessons about the world’s most ancient creed: animism. Derided by some people as being ‘backwards,’ and often ridiculed on comedy shows on Thai TV, the mountain-dwellers possess a fount of wisdom we can immerse ourselves in, like how to live in harmony with the land and how their belief in nature spirits ensure a devotion to the jungle and the many creatures that inhabit it. For overworked urbanites, getting in touch with these elemental aspects of the relationship between humankind and the natural world can be a liberating and empowering experience.

Oftentimes, the lessons are reciprocal. Travelers showing interest in their traditional cultures also demonstrates the importance of safeguarding them to the hill-tribes. Eco-tourism’s often reiterated catchphrase “sustainable development” – which means tour groups must be kept small so as minimize damage to the environment – have cultural, as well as spiritual and environmental, implications.

One of the best things about eco-tours is how many activities can be fit into your itinerary. A package like the aforementioned one from the Lisu Lodge also includes an hour-long oxcart ride through the forest, a visit to a mountainous waterfall, a chance to go rafting and/or ride through the greenery atop a lumbering elephant. These outings in the great tropical outdoors usually include a detour to an elephant camp. Here, visitors can see the largest living land animals perform tasks like pulling logs and study them up close.

At night the Lisu Lodge stages cultural shows so visitors can get in tune and in step with local songs and dances. Such a lively itinerary, with a range of activities, banishes boredom to the boondocks; it also shows why eco-tours appeal to such diverse age groups from all over the map and why this genre of tourism has mushroomed into the fastest-growing segment of the business.

Moving south, Phang Nga Bay, in the Andaman Sea, is one of the world’s most stunningly natural phenomena. Rising out of the sea for hundreds of meters are limestone karsts in shades of grey, cream and ochre. The bay is studded with them. It’s possible to sail through here on a junk-rigged luxury schooner. En route, you can stop at deserted islands for swimming, sun-basking and snorkeling.

Even more photogenic, however, are the sea caves that open up into lagoons with monkeys, kingfishers, and water like liquefied emeralds, surrounded by soaring cliffs of limestone. Often included is a stopover at a floating, fishing village of 500 homes, propped up on stilts and sheltered from the elements by a miniature mountain.

For the hardy adventurer in search of a natural high, Krabi province is hard to top. The cliffs around the peninsula of Railay Bay have been staked out with rock-climbing routes galore, from the simplistic to sheer Spider-man territory. Known as the oldest continually inhabited part of Thailand, millions of years ago Krabi was part of a gigantic coral reef that stretched all the way to what is now Borneo. And you can still get a glimpse of prehistoric cave art in such spooky, subterranean passageways as the “Big-headed Ghost Cave,” which earned its name after an abnormally large human skull was found inside it.

But if caving doesn’t float your boat, then scuba-diving and snorkeling certainly will.

The archipelagos of Surin and Similan are consistently ranked right up there with the world’s best diving sites. Manta rays, hammerhead sharks, and lionfish, along with hard and soft corals glittering in iridescent colors that bedazzle the eye are but a fraction of the surreal sights in the Andaman Sea.

Then again, you could opt for a kayaking tour, camping out on deserted islands, and exploring some of the increasingly endangered mangrove forests, which put up a barricade against coastal erosion.

Even this list leaves plenty of latitude (and many activities) unexplored. In which national park can you find the world’s biggest flower? Where can you study how to become a mahout, or elephant-handler? Is Thailand really home to the world’s smallest mammal and the last significant tract of lowland rainforest in SE Asia?

But this is only the first installment. For the answers to these questions stay tuned to this regular series, as we go in search of wild times, exotic creatures and adrenaline-boosting adventures in, around and above the eco-frontiers of Thailand.