They’re Not Just Rocks --but Nature’s Eco-Art

Join an eight-day pilgrimage of nature’s art, exploring people’s relationship with the natural world, on a tour of Arizona, Utah and Nevada from Sept. 27 to Oct. 4. The trip begins in Phoenix, winds up through the central and canyon high country of Arizona and Utah, then concludes in the southern desert of Nevada.

Travelers will visit Toozigoot National Monument, Sinagua cliff dwellings and rock art sites, Red Rock State Park, Monument Valley, Utah’s Valley of the Gods, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and art projects outside of Las Vegas. Guests will tour a commissioned public eco-art facility and Arcosonti, a prototype experimental town north of Phoenix that was developed by an Italian architect.

Expert guides will discuss ecology, botany, anthropology, ethno-environmentalism, art and geology throughout the tour.

Cost: $3,500 per person, including accommodations, land transportation, entrance fees and some meals. Air fare is not included. Tour will be organized by Walk Softly Tours.

Contact: Tricia Watts; telephone (310) 202-6603.

Focus on Santa Fe

The Santa Fe Photo Safari Co. is offering a photo workshop tour to New Mexico Aug. 12 to 16. This five-day tour is for all levels, including beginning photographers. Santa Fe artist / teacher Marcia Reifman and tour director Philip Friedman will guide participants through the landscape of New Mexico to capture the unique light that is special to this area. Photogenic sights include Indian pueblos and ruins, petroglyphs and historic churches. Participants will explore historic Santa Fe and have an afternoon for shopping.

Cost: $945 per person, double occupancy, including air fare, lodging for four nights, continental breakfast, local transportation and workshop fees.

Contact: Philip Friedman, Santa Fe Photo Safari Co.; tel. (310) 442-0015.

Diana Remembered

A tour of places associated with the late Princess Diana--augmented with major London sites--is available from Insight International Tours. Among the features of the Aug. 14 to 22 excursion are: a first-night cocktail reception with Australian socialite Marie Sutton, who was a friend of Diana; a visit to the memorial garden at Diana’s residence, Kensington Palace; and a train and bus outing to Althorp, ancestral home of Diana’s family and site of her grave and a new visitors center.

Cost: $1,999 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from New York, transfers, seven nights at the Gloucester Hotel, daily continental breakfast, a dinner and a reception.

Contact: Insight International Tours; tel. (800) 582-8380.

Cruise to Mandalay

Traveling on the river cruiser Road to Mandalay is part of a tour of Myanmar (formerly Burma) for eight nights. Weekly Thursday departures begin Oct. 1 and extend through April 29, 1999. The tour begins in Yangon to see the Shwedagon Pagoda and moves on to Pagan, with its 5,000 ruined pagodas. Next, guests will board the boat and cruise overnight on the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River to Mandalay. Other sites visited are Mingun, with one of the world’s largest intact bells, the Sagaing monasteries and the old Pyin Oo Lwin (Maymyo) colonial hill station.

Cost: $3,170 per person, double occupancy, including on-tour transportation, guides, lodging and 21 meals. U.S.-Bangkok air fare is extra.

Contact: Pacific Delight Tours; tel. (800) 221-7179.

Fall in New England

Visit the East Coast when the leaves are their most colorful on a one-week trip that begins in Boston Oct. 3. Travelers will take a city tour of Boston to visit the Boston Common, the State House, Beacon Hill, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere House and the Old North Church. After a day trip to Nantucket, off the coast of Cape Cod, the group heads to Rhode Island to see the mansions of Newport.

Guests also will visit the Mystic Seaport Museum in southeastern Connecticut, Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts and take a cruise on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire to see mountain foliage. They will also visit Franconia and Crawford notches and take an aerial tram ride up Cannon Mountain.

Cost: $1,495 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, ground transportation, daily breakfast and two dinners, entrance fees and guides. Air fare to Boston is not included.

Contact: The Gurnham Group; tel. (800) 475-0004.

Film Cruise

Classic films from the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, enhanced by lectures from former 20th Century Fox executives, are the focus of a cruise aboard the Seabourn Pride, which will sail from New York Oct. 20 for 12 days. While passengers learn about the glories of early Hollywood, they will visit the ports of Philadelphia; Alexandria, Va.; Charleston, S.C.; Savannah, Ga.; Port Canaveral, Fla.; and Nassau, Bahamas.

Cost: $6,190 per person, double occupancy. Air fare to New York is not included.

Contact: a travel agent or Seabourn Cruise Line; tel. (800) 929-9595.

Adventure in Alaska

Two Alaskan regions, the Arctic Circle and Prince William Sound, are on the itinerary of a Natural Habitat Adventures tour of Alaska Aug. 15 to 25. The trip begins with a train ride from Anchorage to Port Whittier, where travelers board the Discovery, a 65-foot yacht, to explore the secluded inlets of Prince William Sound. Here on the Discovery, as well as from inflatable boats, travelers can view whales, sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, eagles, mountain goats and bears. In nearby Blackstone Bay, guests may join a guided skiff tour or explore on their own in kayaks.

Travelers then fly north to Gates of the Arctic National Park. Guests stay 120 miles north of the Arctic Circle in a rustic cedar cabin warmed by a wood stove. It’s common to see wolves, moose, grizzly bears and foxes from the front porch. Over the next four days, travelers may hike alpine valleys, view wildlife or even climb peaks. The trip ends with a day in Bettles, a remote bush village where guests can visit local people and their sled dogs, then fly home from Fairbanks.

Cost: $5,695 per person, double occupancy, including all accommodations, most meals, cruises, air transportation within Alaska and the services of a naturalist guide. Air fare is not included.

Contact: Natural Habitat Adventures, 2945 Center Green Court, Boulder, CO 80301; tel. (800) 543-8917.

Cooking Up Italy

Orange House Tours is offering a 17-day cuisine tour to Italy from Sept. 9 to 25. Guests will visit five different regions in Italy and take cooking classes in each region. There are nine gourmet dinners, winery visits and cultural stops along the route from Rome north to Lake Como.

Cost: $3,920 per person, double occupancy, including all ground transportation, most meals, cooking lessons, entrance fees, English-speaking guide and hotels. International air fare is not included.

Contact: Susan Gallup at Orange House Tours, 8536 20th Ave. N.W., Seattle, WA 98117; tel. (206) 783-4088 or (888) 529-9677.

South African Flora

The waning of winter in South Africa brings forth the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Sept. 6 to 23 “Wildflowers and Wildlife” excursion. The floral side of the trip features stops at private and public gardens and wildflower fields in and near Capetown, Lambert’s Bay, Hermanus, Stellenbosch and Durban. The highlight of the fauna side is two days at the Sabi Sabi Reserve.

Cost: $6,385 per person, double occupancy including transatlantic (from New York) and internal flights, 15 nights’ lodging, daily breakfast and dinner and nine lunches.

Contact: Brooklyn Botanic Garden; tel. (718) 622-4433, Ext. 250.

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