Peak Scenery on Nepal Trek

A 10-day trek Sept. 22 in the Everest region of Nepal takes participants to the land of the Sherpas. Guests will get views of Mt. Everest and other 26,000- to 28,000-foot peaks and will camp by the turquoise water of Gokyo Lake. En route to Nepal, participants will stay overnight in Bangkok, Thailand. After resting a day in Katmandu, the group will fly to Lukla and begin the trek at Phakding. The hike continues to Namche Bazaar, Phortse Khola, Luza, Gokyo Lakes, Gokyo Peak and Jorsale. Back in Katmandu, participants will have a day to shop or do more sightseeing in the heart of Thamel, which is close to restaurants and shopping.

Cost: $1,625 per person, including all hotels in Katmandu, 10-day trek, all guides, cooks, porters, pack animals, trekking permits, Everest National Park fee, meals, equipment including two-person tents, flights or helicopter to and from Lukla. Not included: international air fare, lunch and dinner in Katmandu; travel insurance. Contact: Andrea Wulfing, tour leader; telephone (303) 449-5578.

Sailing Indonesia

Adventure cruises through the Nusa Tenggara region of Indonesia leave Sept. 14-23, Oct. 5-14 and Oct. 15-24. Participants travel from Bali on a pinisi , a 100-foot traditional Indonesian sailing vessel made entirely of wood. There are 16 cabins, most having a shared bath. Stops are made at the islands of Gili Meno, Lombok, Sumbawa, Moyo, Satonda, Komodo, Bidadari and Flores. Cultural traditions flourish in these remote islands east of Bali. Guests will see a water buffalo race, dance and cultural performances in Sumbawa and Flores, temples, traditional villages and uninhabited islands. They will also go snorkeling and take a sunrise tour to Mt. Keli Mutu on Flores to view a mysteriously colored trio of lakes within volcanic craters. Guests will see the world’s largest monitor lizard, the Komodo dragon on Komodo Island.

Cost: $1,095 per person, double occupancy, including daily sightseeing, all transfers and meals. Not included: air fare to Indonesia. Contact: Natrabu Indo-America Travel, 433 California St., Suite 630, San Francisco, CA 94104; tel. (800) 628-7228.

Native Festivals

Far Horizons Archeological and Cultural Trips has scheduled a 12-day tour of the American Southwest, designed around two important Native American festivals: St. Stephen’s Day at Acoma Pueblo and the Navajo Nation Intertribal Fair and Rodeo in Window Rock, Ariz.

The itinerary begins in Albuquerque, N.M., Sept. 1 with a visit to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center to see dancers in native costume and to examine exhibits on the history of New Mexico’s 19 Indian pueblos. Several Native American villages will be visited including Taos Pueblo in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, N.M. The Sept. 2 St. Stephen’s Feast Day at Acoma Pueblo, N.M., will be highlighted by the enactment of the corn dance, giving thanks for the fall harvest. The celebrations are a blend of Roman Catholicism and age-old native customs. Participants will join hundreds of celebrants in the central plaza of the village to watch performers dance and chant. Built on top of an 800-foot-high mesa, Acoma was until recently inaccessible except by footpath up the cliff face.

The archeological emphasis of the journey includes the cliff dwellings and mesa-top pueblo of Puye Ruins; the cliff-face settlements and prehistoric farming terraces of Mesa Verde; the rarely visited site of Hovenweep whose masonry-walled “castles” were built hundreds of years ago to guard water sources; Canyon de Chelly in Arizona, with ancient villages carved into towering cliff faces that overlook the lush valley floors where Navajo families still live in hogans, and Chaco Canyon, a center of the ancient Anasazi culture. Archeologist Rebecca Orozco, who has worked and studied in the area for more than 20 years, will lead the trip.

Cost: $2,095 per person, double occupancy, including all ground transportation, entry fees, hotels and most meals. Not included: transportation to New Mexico. Contact: Far Horizons, P.O. Box 91900 Albuquerque, NM 87199; tel. (800) 552-4575.

Artist’s View

Locations of painter Thomas Kinkade’s works of picturesque England are seen on a 12-day tour sponsored by Mill Creek Galleries of Genoa, Nev. Participants will visit London, the Cotswolds, York and the Lake District. The last stop is Windsor to attend the David Winter Cottages Carnival ’95 Festival. Accommodations will be at manor houses and hotels. Departure is Sept. 6 from San Francisco or Los Angeles.

Cost: $3,495 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare, most meals, sightseeing and ground transportation and accommodations. Contact: Linda Margolin at the Travel Shoppe, 15714 Los Gatos Blvd., Los Gatos, CA 95032; tel. (800) 540-9343.

Forkful of Italy

A tour of the culinary history of Campania and Lazio, Italy, leaves Oct. 5 for 12 days to visit the Paestum ruins, ancient Pompeii, Naples, Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast, Capri, Rome and the vineyard-covered hills of the Castelli Romani. In each place, participants get a chance to taste specialties of each area, such as peppery taralli, fresh buffalo mozzarella, pasta and bean soup, fresh fish, pizza from wood-burning ovens, antipasto, and local wines.

Cost: $2,950 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air travel from Los Angeles via Alitalia, hotels, guides and meals. Contact: Lee Hansen Travel Service, 712 Foothill Blvd., La Can~ada Flintridge, CA 91001; tel. (818) 403-9113.

Egyptian History

A tour to Egypt that leaves weekly follows old trade routes in Egypt into the desert to inspect excavations of royal tombs. The tour also visits the World War II battlefield of El ‘Alamein, where British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery defeated German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in the battle for control of Egypt. Guests spend a full day sightseeing in Cairo, stopping at the Egyptian Museum, Saladin’s Citadel, and the Alabaster and Sultan Hassan mosques. Also, there is an excursion to the pyramids of Giza, the Sphinx and the Valley Temple, with a visit to the museum housing Cheops’ royal ark. In Luxor, visitors see the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, with stops at Queen Hatshepsut’s temple and the Colossi of Memnon. Nearby are the Temple of Luxor and the Great Temple of Amon at Karnak.

Cost: $840 per person, double occupancy, including air transportation within Egypt, accommodations, breakfast daily and five lunches. Not included: air fare to Egypt. Contact: Nabila Tours & Cruises, 605 Market St., Suite 1310, San Francisco, CA 94105; tel. (800) 443-NILE.

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