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Along with our PRIZE-WINNING Snow Leopard Wintertime Quest, now running on our fourth trip, we have recently added some NEW cultural tours below.
Traveling with KarmaQuest is much more than a holiday adventure. It is experiencing a new culture and way of life from the inside out. It is helping to conserve the natural environment, endangered wildlife, and our world's rich cultural heritage by supporting conservation and sustainable tourism. It is about learning from studied and local experts in the field and on location.
KarmaQuest specializes in Custom Designed trips and Travel Consultations, helping you plan a one-of-a-kind travel experience. We operate a wide range of trips, from treks and mountaineering expeditions to cultural tours and educational programs. We are expert in Himalayan trekking, overland Tibet caravans, horse-back trips in Central Asia, and special interest tours to Central, South and SouthEast Asia. Please look inside at our scheduled trips, and see some of our favorites highlighted below. Or share your dream destination with us, and we'll be happy to design an itinerary to suit your own time schedule, interests and abilities.
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 A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity: KarmaQuest's
Wintertime Quests for the Snow Leopard have added nine
more Westerners to the few dozen foreigners who have seen a snow
leopard in the wild. Inquire NOW! about the 2011 Winter
Quest and we'll try our best to make you the tenth person!
Summertime Quest for the Snow Leopard and the Ancient Buddhist Culture of Ladakh ---- Trip dates: July 5 to 22 and August 24 to September 10, 2010. A trip to benefit the snow leopard, and the Ladakhi people who conserve its habitat.
KarmaQuest has teamed up with the Snow Leopard Conservancy and Ladakhi partners in ecotourism to offer this eco-trek through snow leopard country in Ladakh, India. Your visit will help encourage local farmers to protect these endangered wild cats, generate income for their children's education and create seasonal jobs in these remote mountain villages. In addition to the wildlife-viewing trek, you'll experience the rich culture and traditions of Ladakh, in village homes and at some of the best preserved Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the world. Some were built in the 10th century and still actively functioning today.
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Sikkim: KarmaQuest invites you to join one of two unforgettable trips to Sikkim, India this Fall. On A Cultural Tour and Home Visit with KarmaQuest (November 22 to December 6, 2010) -- hosted by KarmaQuest owner and native Sikkimese Karma Lama -- you'll be treated as honored family guests as you travel across this sacred and pristine landscape, staying with farming families and dining on home-grown organic produce. You'll learn from village leaders about efforts to conserve their cultural heritage and natural environment, assisted by a local NGO (Khangchendzonga Conservation Committee, KCC) and a UNESCO-supported program that KarmaQuest's Wendy Lama advises.
En route to Mt. Kangchendzonga, Sikkim
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The second trip - Treasures of Kangchendzonga, (November 17 to December 6, 2010) - takes you hiking up to 16,400 ft to the base of Mt. Kangchendzonga, third highest peak in the world, on a nine day camping trek through spectacular mountain scenery. Visit Karma Lama's home and tea estate in Temi (photo above) before heading to Gangtok and the sacred Kagyet dances.
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Homestay at Temi
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Both Fall 2010 Sikkim trips are scheduled to include the colorful Kagyet Buddhist dance festival to usher in the new year, with blessings for all who attend. This is a privileged experience that very few Sikkim visitors experience. Note that our Sikkim trips can be scheduled back to back with a Bhutan tour or trek, or extended for a visit of Delhi and the Taj Mahal. Please inquire.
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Nepal is back on travelers' radar, and KarmaQuest's
decades of experience in Nepal enable us to offer unique
travel experiences that also help disadvantaged Nepalis.
Our "Cultures,
Arts and Wonders of Nepal Benefiting Paropakar Orphans
(October 2010)" takes you to some of our favorite
spots around the Kathmandu and Pokhara Valleys, including
several World Heritage Sites, and on a mountain
flight for a bird's eye view of Mt. Everest. A
highlight of the trip is a visit to Paropakar Orphanage in Kathmandu. KarmaQuest has a long-standing relationship
with Paropakar and Virtue’s Children Nepal,
a charitable organization that will oversee the delivery
of your generous educational scholarship funds to some of Nepal's neediest children. Sign up soon for the trip, as space is limited.
A photographic exhibit of Drew Doggett's "Slow Road to China" exhibition opening and book launch event will be held on April 17th at New York's Dactyl Gallery in SoHo showcasing photographs from Drew Doggett's recent visit to remote Himalayan mountain villages in Humla, organized by KarmaQuest. Drew's generous donation of sales proceeds from his book will help Nepal Trust to provide primary health-care services and education programs to the underprivileged villages documented in Drew's photographs.
KarmaQuest organizes cultural excursions, ecotourism, educational and adventure trips to Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan (China), Nepal, Sikkim, India, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Kyrgyzstan. Please request a copy of our travel catalogue or email us if you do not see the destination of your choice on our website.
KarmaQuest is a proud member of The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), where we support the TIES Principles of Ecotourism. See if you can find us on the Ecotourism Explorer world map (hint: Half Moon Bay is just south of San Francisco, California).
KarmaQuest is also a founding member of the Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce & Visitors’ Bureau Coastside Eco-Tourism program. Please visit the website to learn more about how your visit to the Half Moon Bay/San Mateo coast (California) -- our home town -- can help support local businesses that are conserving the area's unique cultural heritage and fragile ecosystem.
Coastal Elegance, offering Coastside eco-tour adventures, is one.
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For more information
and a detailed itinerary... please contact
KarmaQuest Ecotourism and Adventure Travel
Tel: (650) 560-0101/
Fax: 712-8164
699 Spindrift Way, Half Moon Bay,
California 94019 USA
KarmaQuest@earthlink.net
Website: www.KarmaQuests.com |
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