Hunting for Orchids in South Africa

Brad Carter, assistant director of the Arboretum at the University of California, Irvine, will lead an orchid study tour to South Africa Jan. 20-Feb. 4, where he has photographed more than 60 species of blooming orchids. Participants will explore the Cape Peninsula, the botanical gardens at Kirstenbosch, Table Mountain, Harold Porter Botanical Garden and Piketberg. Members will then fly to Durban for an afternoon reception at Durban Botanical Garden to meet with the Durban Orchid Society. A day trip is made to the Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve to look for orchids.

Guests will follow the Indian Ocean coastline to the St. Lucia estuary for an overnight cruise at Umfolozi Game Reserve. Early morning game viewing with a ranger naturalist is followed by a tour of Giants Castle in the Drakenberg Mountains’ most scenic areas, to look for orchids along the mountain trails. The group explores the Sani Pass leading to the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, accompanied by members of the Durban Orchid Society. Optional extension tours to neighboring areas will be available.

Cost: $4,350 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from New York, accommodations, some meals and ground transportation. Contact: Geostar Travel, 1240 Century Court, Santa Rosa, CA 95403; telephone (800) 624-6633.

Real Rio

Head for the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 11-18. Guests will stay in a hotel facing Copacabana Beach and within walking distance of shopping areas. A half-day city sightseeing tour includes a visit to Sugar Loaf Mountain.

Cost: $1,085 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, transfers, six nights’ accommodation, daily breakfast buffet and guides. Optional tour extension to the Amazon and Iguacu Falls. Contact: Frank Tyson, Fun and Fantasy Tours, 15012 Del Gato, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403; tel. (818) 501-4100.

Turtle Races

The Reef Explorer’s Green Turtle Expedition lets participants see turtle hatchlings make a mad dash to the sea at the Great Barrier Reef in northern Australia. Between September and January each year turtles come ashore to nest. About January the hatchlings appear and then struggle to scramble down the beach to get to the surf. Departures are Dec. 30-Jan. 12 or Jan. 15-28, 1996.

Cost: $2,885 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, some meals and tours. Contact: Reef and Rain Forest, 4000 Bridgeway, Suite 103, Sausalito, CA 94965-1444; tel. (800) 794-9RNR.

Ireland in Autumn

See what colors the Emerald Isle turns in autumn with a four-night Taste of Ireland trip. Tours leave weekly from Oct. 19 through November and start up again in March. Participants tour Dublin and take a motor-coach tour to Cashel, Blarney, Cork, Killarney, the Ring of Kerry, the Clare coast and the Cliffs of Moher. A ferry ride across the Shannon River, a night at the Abbey Tavern in Dublin and a medieval banquet are included.

Cost: from $899 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare via Aer Lingus from New York, lodging, breakfasts and dinners daily. Contact: CIE Tours International, 100 Hannover Ave., Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927-0501; tel. (800) CIE TOURS.

Goodness Reef

Island Expeditions, a Vancouver, Canada-based adventure travel company specializing in Belize, is offering a Christmas tour that includes sea kayaking and camping at Glovers Reef National Marine Reserve. This tropical marine park preserves the unspoiled marine environment of Glovers Atoll. Located 45 miles from the mainland, the 80-square-mile atoll has more than 700 coral reefs and an abundance of marine life. Glovers Reef is named after pirate John Glover, who used this remote island cluster as a base for raids against Spanish galleons in the late 1600s. The waters are warm and exceptionally clear for sea kayaking, snorkeling and diving.

The eight-day Glovers Reef Adventure departs every Sunday in December. Participants can also go fishing, windsurfing and participate in daily talks by a naturalist on reef ecology. The group will also take a guided rain forest walk and explore the caverns of the Caves Branch River in central Belize. The final night includes a traditional dinner followed by colorful Garifuna drumming and dancing under the stars. Accommodations are a mix of lodges and camping.

Cost: $1,159 per person, double occupancy, including a flight from Belize City to the coastal town of Dangriga, hotels, guides, equipment, transportation and all meals. Four-day extensions into Tikal in Guatemala can be added to this trip. Not included: air fare to Belize. Contact: Island Expeditions, 368-916 W. Broadway, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 1K7; tel. (800) 667-1630.

Happenin’ Napa

A minivan tour of the Napa wine country takes guests to small, off-the-beaten-track wineries, where guests eat a picnic lunch and hear informal talks about the history and background of this wine region. At the smaller wineries visited, tour participants can discuss oenology with winemakers and see how wine is made. Cost: $283 per person, double occupancy, including two nights in a hotel, wine tour and picnic. Tours are available throughout the year. Contact: Holidays With Style, 485 East 17th St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; tel. (800) 899-4848.

Christmas in Paris

Three tours to France are planned to coincide with Christmas celebrations in Paris. Participants arrive in the Paris, the last part of the tours, on Christmas Eve, in time for a drive through the city and dinner. On Christmas Day a festive noontime meal with traditional specialties and city sightseeing are scheduled. The Eiffel Tower glows from 30,000 lights in the shape of a Christmas tree. Some churches hold special organ concerts before the traditional midnight Mass and cabarets offer special shows and dinners.

Tours that spend Christmas in Paris are the 10-day “Best of Switzerland and Paris,” which costs $662, and two multi-country grand tours, the 11-day “Continental Sampler” at $704 (visits England, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg and France) and the 16-day “Europe’s Highlights” (visits England, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy and France) at $1,083. Departures on various dates in December.

Tour prices cover hotels with private bath, daily continental breakfast, Christmas lunch, some dinners, motor-coach transportation, tour escort and sightseeing.

Contact: Cosmos Tourama, 5301 S. Federal Circle, Littleton, CO 80123; tel. (800) 851-0728, Ext. 518.

Italian in Italy

Study Italian in Florence this spring while living in and exploring the ancient Tuscan city. The semester-long program will begin March 1. The program includes all levels of Italian language study at the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci. Additional courses include Western civilization and art history (taught in English), and Italian conversation. Academic credit may be earned through the Los Angeles Community College District. Participants will take two excursions outside of Florence to the cities of Pisa, Lucca, Siena, Arezzo and Ravenna. A three-day, two-night weekend excursion will be taken to either Rome or Venice. The group will also attend a ballet, opera or concert performance during the program.

Cost: $3,600 per person, including accommodations, tuition at the Scuola Leonardo da Vinci, daily breakfast, and all group activities and excursions. Not included: LACC tuition fees and air fare. Contact: International Education Program at (213) 891-2282.

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