Shooting Yellowstone Wildlife--With Camera

The Los Angeles Zoo will conduct a wildlife photography tour of Yellowstone National Park, Sept. 9 to 14. Guests stay at the Old Faithful Lodge and vans take participants around the park in search of photo opportunities. Cost: $875 per person, double occupancy, including air fare, ground transportation, accommodations and one group meal. Contact: Los Angeles Zoo, 5333 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90027; telephone (213) 666-4650, Ext. 403.

Stepping Into Scotland

A walking tour focusing on the legend, lore, drama and scenery of Scotland is being offered by European Walking Tours from Sept. 19 to 28. Participants will take guided two- to three-hour walks each morning and afternoon through the Scottish countryside to learn about the geology, culture and people of the Highlands and Borders regions.

Home base for the first half of the trip is the secluded town of Braemar in the Grampian Highlands. Braemar and Balmoral Castles, Loch Muick and Cariton Farms are seen on walks in this area. Lodging will be at the Invercauld Arms, an inn that has been open since the 1700s.

The final four days of the tour, in the medieval village of Melrose in the Borders region, south of Edinburgh, will be spent ambling through abbeys, ruins and moors. Visits are made to Neidpath Castle and Waverly Mills along the Tweed River, and the Roman ruins of Eildon Hill. Also planned is a walk through historic Melrose, noted for its Roman influences. There is also a short bus trip to Selkirk for a coastal walk.

Most routes are on gently rolling countryside with some uphill walking.

Cost: $1,995 per person, double occupancy including hotels, all breakfasts and dinners, two picnic lunches, motor-coach transportation, taxes and gratuities. Air fare is not included. Contact: European Walking Tours, P.O. Box 4765, Culver City, CA 90231; tel. (800) 231-8448.

Dracula’s Feast

Eat dinner at Dracula’s house in Romania on Halloween night on a tour that leaves Los Angeles on Oct. 26 and returns Nov. 3. The tour focuses on the life and sites of the cruel 15th century prince Vlad the Impaler, the basis for Bram Stoker’s Dracula character. Participants will begin the tour in Bucharest and stay in an 18th century hotel on Pantelimon Lake. After a city tour, the group travels to Tirgoviste, where 33 kings ruled; Sibiu, Vlad’s family headquarters; and Sighisoara, a well-preserved medieval city and Vlad’s birthplace. Halloween dinner is in this city, near the scaffolding where he impaled his enemies. The last stop will be at Bran to visit Dracula’s Castle, built in 1382 and now a museum with exhibits of medieval weapons, furniture and hunting trophies.

Cost: $2,387 per person, double occupancy, including air fare, hotels, porterage, all meals, entrance fees, ground transportation and guides. Contact: Destination World, P.O. Box 1077, Santa Barbara, CA 93102; tel. (800) 426-3644.

Greece and Turkey

Visit the Greek Islands of Samos, Mykonos, Santorini, Astipalaia, Symi and Rhodes on a 13-day cruise aboard the Star Clippers on Sept. 19 to Oct. 1. Other ports of call include Kusadasi and Bodrum on Turkey’s Aegean Coast, as well as a city tour of Istanbul. Included is sightseeing at the famous ruins of Ephesus.

The Star Clippers is a 360-foot sailing vessel that accommodates 170 passengers. Amenities on the ship include two outdoor pools, two lounges, a library, a dining room accommodating all 170 passengers in one seating, ship’s store and anti-rolling tanks. Water sports equipment include sailing dinghies, windsurfers, underwater viewing crafts and snorkeling apparatus.

Cost: from $2,990 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from New York, cabin, meals on board and sightseeing. Contact: Troy Tours, 6151 W. Century Blvd., Suite 1118, Los Angeles, CA 90045; tel. (800) 748-6878.

Insider’s Prague

Meet accomplished local Czech artists on a comprehensive tour of Prague and the Czech Republic from Sept. 12 to 23. The group is led by a Prague-born Czech-American, joined in Prague by local guides and experts. Guided walking tours of Prague are structured along the ancient divisions of the city and explore the Old Town, the Jewish Quarter, Prague Castle, Lesser Town and the Vysehrad fortress. Also included is an evening Ghosts and Legends tour and visits to art galleries and private lofts.

Stops include the historical UNESCO-recognized city of Cesky Krumlov, a private tour of the art school and open-air gallery in Horice, and the Karlstejn and Konopiste castles.

Evening performances include an opera at the National Theater, a black-light theater performance at Laterna Magika and a classical concert in the medieval convent of St. Agnes.

Cost: $2,700 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, private coach transportation, all scheduled admissions, sightseeing and entrance fees, theater and concert tickets, local guides, two meals daily, luggage handling and transfers. Not included: air fare. Contact: The Bohemian Express, 2308 Arizona Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90404; tel. (800) 962-9255.

Reefs and Ruins

The best of Belize, a tour Nov. 1 to 8, gives guests an inland jungle tour, an archeology expedition and a beach stay. The tour begins in Belize City and participants visit the Cayo district and the Belize Zoo en route to the Mayan site of Xauantunich.

The group will visit the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve and the 1,000-foot Hidden Valley Falls and the Rio Frio Cave. Guests will travel by dugout canoe up the Macal River to the Panti Medicinal Trail, Melchor Village and the Guanacaste Rain Forest Park.

After a short flight, guests will land in San Pedro, an island village on Ambergris Cay and stay at Ramon’s Village Beach Resort. Guests will spend three days there to enjoy the island and go diving or snorkeling to the largest coral reef in the Western Hemisphere, or fishing or sailing in the clear Caribbean waters.

Cost: $1,600 per person, double occupancy including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, hotel accommodations, tours, all taxes and some meals. Contact: Julie Fawcett at Adventures With Alice Travel, 1082 S. Seaward Ave., Ventura, CA 93001; tel. (805) 648-2542 or (800) 549-9071.

Indonesian Wildlife

Discover the island nation of Indonesia on Bolder Adventures’ 17-day Indonesia Wildlife Adventure. Participants will take a four-day cruise of the Komodo Archipelago aboard the Adelaar, a refurbished, 100-year-old tall-masted schooner. Home to the Komodo dragon, a giant monitor lizard, Komodo and nearby Rinca Island also have wild horses, macaque monkeys, wild buffalo, wild pigs, cockatoos and the barking Timor deer. Travelers will also visit Java, Borneo, Lombok, Bali and Sumba. Departures are scheduled for Aug. 2, Sept. 13 and Oct. 11.

Cost: $3,495 per person, double occupancy, including the cruise, hotel accommodations, airport transfers and most meals. Internal air fare and round-trip air fare to Bali are not included. Contact: Bolder Adventures, P.O. Box 1279, Boulder, CO 80306; tel. (800) 642-2742.

Lost Treasures

Legend Tours is offering several eight-day Russia tours through December, visiting Moscow and St. Petersburg to see the Ancient Troy exhibit at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the Scythian Gold Room exhibit at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

The centerpiece of the package is a private tour of the Ancient Troy Exhibit. The artifacts have been hidden since World War II, unbeknownst to scholars, by edict of the former Soviet government. They are now on display for the first time in decades. The exhibit closes Dec. 31. Guests also take city tours and attend a performance of the Moscow Circus.

Cost: from $698 per person, double occupancy including hotels, breakfast and dinner daily, entrance fees and guides. International air fare is not included. Contact: Legend Tours, 3990 Old Town Ave., Suite 100C, San Diego, CA 92110; tel. (800) 333-6114.

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