Fueling the Fossil Search in Israel

Prospect for fossils in Israel with Jere Lipps, Ph.D., of the UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology and a team from Ben Gurion University March 22 for 14 days. The largely unpopulated Negev Desert in southern Israel is a treasure trove for paleontologists. Vertebrate and invertebrate fossils found in the area range in age from the time of the dinosaurs to early mammals. The trip helps support University of California research programs. Academic or field experience is not necessary.

Cost: $1,495 per person, double occupancy, including lodging at Ben Gurion University, meals, ground transfers and research equipment. Not included: round-trip air fare to Israel. Contact: University Research Expeditions Program, University of California, Berkeley, Calif. 94720; telephone (510) 642-6586.

Death Valley Days

A photography and sightseeing tour of Death Valley, America’s newest national park, will leave Dec. 2 for two nights. Participants will tour the giant sand dunes, Twenty Mule Team Canyon and Badwater, which is the lowest point in the Western Hemisphere. Included are campground reservations at the Furnace Creek oasis, instruction in landscape, wildflower and travel photography techniques and a picnic lunch. Optional motel accommodations are also available.

Cost: $100 per person. Contact: Death Valley Natural History Assn., P.O. Box 188, Death Valley, Calif. 92328; tel. (619) 786-3286.

Amazon Rafting

Amazon natives, the rain forest and whitewater rafting are the ingredients for a nine-day tour to Ecuador. Offered on various dates through March, the trip combines three days exploring the Andes with five days of whitewater rafting (Class 3 and 4) on an Amazon tributary. Trip participants leave behind all traces of civilization as they float through canyons where waterfalls cascade and past dense jungle. Naturalists point out wildlife and snails as big as baseballs. Members camp on sandy beaches and get to meet the Shuar people. Before and after the adventure portion of the trip, members will visit Quito, the capital city. An extension is available to visit Inca ruins and market towns including Cuenca.

Cost: $1,445 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, guides and meals. Not included: air fare to Ecuador. Contact: River Odysseys West, P.O. Box 579-PR, Coeur d’Alene, Ida. 83816-0579; tel. (208) 765-0841.

Shopping Istanbul

A one-week shopping tour to Istanbul and Bursa, Turkey, leaves Dec. 2 and focuses on shops specializing in jewelry, leather, carpets, brass and copper items, silk scarves and spices. Participants will have plenty of time to visit world-renowned sites such as St. Sophia, Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace, the Hippodrome and the Underground Cistern.

Cost: $1,685 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, hotels, most meals, entrance fees and guide. Contact: Newport International Travel, 3355 Via Lido, Suite D, Newport Beach, Calif. 92663; tel. (714) 673-2500.

Lands of Myth

A 21-day art and mythology tour of the Greek Islands, Sicily and southern Italy leaves April 22 with art instructor-guide Jean Tinelli. Participants will visit Athens and the Acropolis and take a four-day cruise of the Aegean Sea with stops at museums and historical sites on Crete, Santorini, Mykonos and Rhodes, and Ephesus in Turkey. In Sicily, members see the ancient ruins at Syracuse, Agrigento, Sellinunte and Segesta; the Roman and Byzantine mosaics at Piazza Armerina and Palermo, and three archeological museums. Three days are spent in Sorrento with tours of Pompeii and Herculaneum and a drive to Paestum along the Amalfi coast.

Cost: about $6,950 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, hotels, cruise, most meals, entrance fees and motor-coach transportation. Contact: Bryan World Tours, 98 Battery St. Suite 302, San Francisco, Calif. 94111; tel. (415) 986-0967.

Himalayan Journey

The majestic peaks of the Himalayas and its neighboring cultures are the focus of three 21-day trips to Tibet and Nepal on April 25, July 24 and Oct. 2. The group will spend time in Katmandu Valley visiting the templed cities of Katmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur. Members can choose between options to visit Pokhara, nestled beneath the looming Annapurna ranges with time for optional trekking or going to the Chitwan National Park for a jungle safari by elephant. The group then takes an overland journey along the “friendship road” into Tibet to see Xigaze, Gyangse, Tsetang and Lhasa.

Cost: $4,031 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, hotels, most meals, guides and entrance fees. Contact: Seagram Pearce Travel, 112 St. Clair Ave. West, Suite 500, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 2Y3; tel. (800) 871-7410.

Canadian Christmas

Spend Christmas in Vancouver, Victoria and Whistler, British Columbia, on a seven-day trip that begins in Vancouver Dec. 20. Participants will stay at a historic hotel and take a city tour of Vancouver to see the totem poles in Stanley Park, Chinatown and take an evening ride up the Fraser River aboard a lighted Christmas carol ship. On the third day, guests take the ferry to Victoria and visit Butchart Gardens lit with Christmas lights in the evening. Guests stay two nights at the Empress Hotel, known for its afternoon high tea. Once again, a ferry is taken across the Strait of Georgia to Whistler Resort, where guests take a gondola ride up Whistler Mountain and a Christmas feast at Blackcomb Lodge.

Cost: $1,128 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, most meals and sightseeing. Not included: air fare to Vancouver. Contact: Maupintour, 1515 St. Andrews Drive, Lawrence, Kan. 66047; tel. (913) 843-1211.

Grand Canyon Cycling

Mountain bike the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on either of two six-day trips that leave June 18 and July 2. Cyclists ride along the North Rim with a minimum of ups and downs through old-growth forests and wildflower meadows. At several stops are views of the Grand Canyon. Trail days allow time for short hikes. Evenings are spent on the rim before camping out. Vans carry all equipment.

Cost: $650 per person, double occupancy, including meals (your guide-naturalist-cook prepares the food). Riders need to bring their own camping gear. Bikes may be rented for the week for $120. Not included: transportation to Arizona. Contact: REI Adventures; tel. (800) 622-2236.

Rhone Cruise

Cruise round-trip from Lyon, France, up the Saone River and down the Rhone on a nine-day trip that leaves March 30 from Santa Barbara or LAX. Stops are made each day on the cruise for passengers to visit Lyon, where they will see St. Pierre Palace and Place Bellecour, one of Europe’s largest squares. In Tournus, guests will see the cloister of St. Philibert, the medieval town of Beaune and the Hotel-Dieu, which houses Van der Weyden’s painting of the Last Judgment. Also on the itinerary is Macon, to see the Benedictine monastery of Cluny, the Chapelle de Bourbon and a local winery; Arles to visit Roman antiquities such as St. Trophime and remains of a Gallo-Roman burial road; Vienne, and Avignon, to see the Palais des Papes, and the nearby town of Orange, best known for its Roman theater and Arc de Triomphe, dating back to AD 26.

Cost: $2,500 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare, one night at the Grand Concorde Hotel in Lyon, seven nights on Cunard’s Princess de Provence, all meals, ground transportation and some entrance fees. Contact: Carlson Travel Network, 1005 Casitas Pass Road, Carpinteria, Calif. 93013; tel. (805) 684-6685.

The Times is not responsible for changes in prices, dates or itineraries. These should be confirmed with cruise lines, travel agents or tour operators.