TOURS & CRUISES

AFRICA

Culture, history for credit

DISCOVER South Africa on an educational tour Jan. 9, offered by Santa Monica College. The monthlong trip visits Soweto, Cape Town and Kruger National Park.

Participants will meet with “people of all political backgrounds, who have lived through elements of South Africa’s history ... and facilitated change,” said Barbara Baird, who, with Frank Dawson, will lead the tour. Both are communications professors at the college.

The group will talk with members of the media, spend a night in one of the townships and visit the Apartheid Museum on Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held from 1964 to 1991.

“It’s going to be a great learning experience,” Baird said.

Participants will see cultural and scenic spots in Cape Town.

The tour also includes the natural wonders of Kruger National Park.

The 7,700-square-mile reserve is home to hundreds of bird, mammal, reptile and tree species and holds many archeological sites.

Students will earn six units in communications.

Cost: $3,950 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip airfare from L.A., rooms, most meals and six credit units.

Contact: Overseas Studies, Santa Monica Community College, (310) 434-4159, or Barbara Baird, (310) 434-4530, www.smc.edu/southafrica/classes.htm.

EUROPE

10 nights on the blue Danube

CRUISE the Danube from Nuremberg, Germany, to Budapest, Hungary, on a holiday season trip Nov. 30 aboard the 162-passenger Symphony.

The 10-night land-and-cruise journey begins with a tour of Prague, Czech Republic.

The cruise stops in Bavaria and the Wachau Valley as well as Vienna.

The tour includes Christmas markets in Nuremberg, Regensburg and Passau in Germany, and in Linz and Melk in Austria.

Cost: $1,699 per person, double occupancy ($750 single surcharge), including accommodations, meals aboard ship, airport transfers and shore excursions. Airfare from Los Angeles and optional tour of Salzburg, Austria, are not included.

Contact: Concord Tours, Beverly Hills; (800) 404-3681, www.concordtours.com.

NEW YORK

The Met and ‘Mary Poppins’

FEAST your eyes on art, architecture and theater on a tour of Manhattan beginning Dec. 18.

The six-night tour visits the Whitney, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and several art galleries.

The group will also take in three Broadway shows, including the London hit musical “Mary Poppins.”

Cost: $2,120 per person, double occupancy ($993 single surcharge), including round-trip airfare from Los Angeles, accommodations, breakfast daily, tickets, airport transfers and museum admissions.

Contact: Broadway Melody Tours, Los Angeles; (323) 227-8370.

CALIFORNIA

Desert boulders in a site to behold

CLIMB a rock in Joshua Tree National Park’s Wonderland of Rocks on Nov. 12.

The area is known for huge granite formations and twisting corridors.

Mark Wheeler, a guide with the Desert Institute, an adult educational field program offered by the Joshua Tree National Park Assn., will explain the geology and ecology of the the area on a daylong hike that begins at 8 a.m.

Participants must be physically able to hike eight miles and scramble over rocks.

Cost: $45 per person. Bring food, water and hiking boots.

Contact: The Desert Institute at Joshua Tree National Park; (760) 367-5535, www.joshuatree.org.

The Times is not responsible for changes in tour prices, dates or itineraries. Send information to Tours & Cruises, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012; e-mail travel@latimes.com.