Getting Early Morning Coffee Fix in Kenya

Two trips to Kenya, Feb. 13 to 27 and July 17 to 31, 1998, combine visits to African coffee estates with a wildlife safari. Guests, escorted by an executive from the Kenya Coffee Board, will attend an international coffee auction in Nairobi to learn how the experts taste and rate coffee beans before they bid. They will also visit the Ruiru Coffee Research Station, where scientists study coffee cultivation. Guests visit coffee estates in the Kenyan Highlands.

Next the group can photograph wildlife at Samburu and Masai Mara game reserves during the wildebeest migration. There they will also see elephants, lions, cheetahs, leopards, gazelles, zebras and baboons. At Lake Nakuru there are pink flamingos.

Cost: $4,895 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from New York, accommodations (including a luxury tent camp at Samburu), meals and guides.

Contact: Diana Altman at FPT Special Interest Tours, 186 Alewife Brook Parkway, Cambridge, MA 02138; telephone (800) 645-0001.

Cooking in Tuscany

Chef Paul Bertolli, of Oliveto restaurant in Oakland, will accompany culinary enthusiasts on a weeklong trip to Italy’s Tuscany region to teach traditional Italian cooking. The trip will include ample opportunities to explore the area. This journey, organized with New York’s Toscana Saporita Cooking School, will take place Nov. 2 to 8.

Hosts include cookbook author Anne Bianchi and Elena Pecchioli, owner of the Camporomano estate where the classes will take place and participants will lodge. The 15th century estate is perched atop a hillside in the province of Lucca. Guests will stay in the newly refurbished stone houses with kitchen, living room, modern bathroom and country-style bedrooms. The property has a formal herb garden, a vegetable garden, olive groves, a swimming pool and riding trails.

Participants will tour Florence, Pisa and several Tuscan villages, where they will sample locally produced olive oils, cheeses, sausages and wine.

Cost: $3,000 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, cooking courses, daily breakfast and side trips. Air fare is not included.

Contact: Toscana Saporita Cooking School at 265 Lafayette St., Suite A-22, New York, NY 10012; tel. (212) 219-8791 or (800) 648-2484 (Agenzia Italia Travel).

Peru and Amazon

Join a 12-day exploration of the Inca Empire of Peru, including Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Pisac, Chincheros and the Amazon, from Oct. 10 to 22 and Dec. 19 to 31. Visits to some of the local Indian tribes in the Andean villages and in the Amazon are on the itinerary.

Cost: $2,599 per person, double occupancy, including air from LAX, first-class hotels, all sightseeing, flights within Peru, two days on the Amazon at a naturalist lodge and some meals.

Contact: Escapes Unlimited, 626 E. Chapman Ave., Orange, CA 92866; tel. (800) 243-7227.

Opera Cruise

Arias at sea on the Silver Cloud from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, are highlights of a seven-night cruise. Featured artists are singers Roberta Peters, Boris Martinovic and Brian Hunter and conductor Thomas Conlin. Passengers fly to Rio on Jan. 29 and board the ship the night of the 31st. There are shore visits at Parati, a Brazilian national monument city founded in the 16th century; Paranagua, a coffee port; Punta del Este, the Uruguayan resort town; and Buenos Aires. A concert and buffet dinner in the Argentine capital is planned. The trip ends Feb. 7.

Cost: from $5,795 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from LAX and one-night hotel stay in Rio.

Contact: Dailey Thorp Travel; tel. (800) 998-4677.

Exploring Vietnam

Bolder Adventures Asia Transpacific Journeys is offering a small-group tour to Vietnam April 3 for 17 days. The Trek Vietnam tour lets participants experience life among the northern region’s minority villages. This journey includes hikes through rugged mountainous country, overnight stays in villages of the Hmong, Dao and Black Tai people, a cruise along the Perfume River past the tombs of Nguyen emperors and a tour of Saigon. Travelers will tour the historic city of Hanoi and the old French hill resort of Sapa, with its alpine-like setting, tribal market and views of the surrounding valleys. The trekking portion of the trip is strenuous at times with minimal accommodations. Participants will be traveling by foot, pedal rickshaw, bicycle and the Reunification Express train.

Cost: $2,895 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, all meals, sightseeing fees and guides. Air fare is not included.

Contact: Asia Transpacific Journeys, 3055 Center Green Drive, Boulder, CO 80301; tel. (800) 642-2742.

Big Bend, Texas

Santa Fe Workshops is offering a weeklong photography tour to Big Bend National Park in Texas Jan. 25 to 31.

Starting out from the historic Gage Hotel in Marathon, Texas, participants visit photogenic locations on both sides of the Rio Grande, including two days in the Chisos Mountains, visits to ghost towns, the Mexican border town of Boquillas, a western movie set and ranches. The final day is spent visiting the MacDonald Observatory for a star-gazing party and photography session.

The group is guided by fine arts photographer and writer Bill Wright; with guest curator Anne Tucker of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and assistant professor of fine art Don Stephenson of Hardin-Simmons University.

Cost: $575 per person, which includes the workshops. Transportation to Texas, hotels and meals are extra.

Contact: Santa Fe Workshops, P.O. Box 9916, Santa Fe, NM 87504; tel. (505) 983-1400.

Dive Honduras

Diving off the coast of Honduras in a protected marine reserve is part of a seven-night program at the Plantation Beach Resort available year-round. Situated in the Bay Islands, the establishment also rents kayaks and snorkeling gear. Onshore activities include hiking to the local lighthouse and a native fishing village. Guests can reach the resort from the mainland via La Ceiba. A daily local air service charges $70 per person, round trip. Cost: $895 per person, double occupancy, including cottage lodgings, all meals, three boat dives daily and one night dive. The rate for non-divers is $850. Air fare to Honduras is extra.

Contact: Reef & Rainforest Tours; tel. (800) 794-9767.

South Africa’s Parks

Trips That Make a Difference is taking a small group of people interested in social and environmental issues to South Africa Jan. 24 to Feb. 8 to meet with politicians, naturalists and ecologists.

Tour participants will visit parliament and four tribal villages, where they will participate in a boma, an evening of dance, stories and traditional cuisine.

Biologists and game experts will guide them in three national parks to observe a cheetah breeding project; to view zebras, rhinos, elephants, lions and bird species; and to examine plants and flowering orchids.

Cost: $4,225 per person, double occupancy, includes all transportation (land and air) from San Francisco, accommodations, entrance fees, guides and most meals.

Contact: Trips That Make a Difference, P.O. Box 9217, Canoga Park, CA 91309; tel. (818) 992-4526.

Egypt and Jordan

See landscapes, archeological sites, colorful markets and daily life that has remained relatively unchanged for centuries as you explore Egypt and Jordan (Feb. 15 to March 3) with travel photographer Michele Burgess.

Highlights in Egypt are the Pyramids at Giza and the colossal temple of Abu Simbel. Travel by motor coach allows in-depth visits to the many villages and archeological sites along the Nile, including Dendara, Abydos, Kom Ombo, Esna, Edfu, Aswan and Luxor. In Jordan, visit the rose-red “Lost City of Petra” and the Roman ruins at Jerash.

Cost: $4,650 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, deluxe and first-class hotels, most meals, entertainment and sightseeing.

Contact: In Focus With Michele Burgess, 20741 Catamaran Lane, Huntington Beach, CA 92646; tel. (714) 536-6104.

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