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Speaking of conservation... KarmaQuest in partnership with the Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC) proudly claims 100% success at spotting the rarely seen endangered snow leopard on our prize-winning Wintertime Quest for the Snow Leopard trips in Ladakh, India. On the trip, guests stay in family homestays, generating income for the community that is protecting the snow leopard. And for every visitor we bring, KarmaQuest donates generously to snow leopard conservation, research and educational programs in Ladakh. This win-win situation has become a showcase for ecotourism and wildlife conservation around the world. (Photo left: by Jigmet Dadul)
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Bird- and wildlife watchers won't want to miss our Wildlife Safari to Sri Lanka. On previous trips, expert naturalists have led us to see wild elephants, monitor lizards, spotted and sambar deer, sloth bear, mugger crocodiles, even the elusive leopard! We've watched a leopard for over two hours, lazing in a tree as wild boar and buffalo, and elephant families walked nearby. We've tallied as many as 70 bird species, including some rarely seen. (Leopard photo left: Chitral Jayatilake. Elephant photo above right: Chandika Jayaratne)
A highlight of the trip is what s known as The Gathering -- the coming together of hundreds of wild elephants in Minneriya National Park: one of the world s ten greatest
wildlife spectacles. Watch for our exciting NEW Winter 2024 trip
Undiscovered Sri Lanka: Birds and Wildlife,
exploring wildlife areas of the recently opened northern Jaffna Peninsula as well as other renowned parks and preserves. |
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 and special interest tours and educational programs. Our carefully crafted itineraries -- built upon our own 30 years of adventure travel and ecotourism planning experience throughout Asia -- take you off the beaten track and into village homestays, yak herders tents, nomads felt
yurtas, as well as to some of the world s best boutique hotels, five star properties, and charming guesthouses.
We invite you to check out the trips listed on our Trips page.
If you have something else in mind, please talk with our team of Personalized Travel Planners to custom design a trip just for you -- one that fits your interests, time frame, budget and expectations. We are never more than a phone call or email away.
Many of our trip members return again and again. In the words of one repeat KarmaQuest traveler:
"I just returned from my third KarmaQuest trip, this time to Sri Lanka As in all my trips with KarmaQuest, the trip was highly factual, the local guides were excellent, the accommodations were clean, comfortable and attractive If you're looking for travel destinations that are a little out of the ordinary, KarmaQuest does an excellent job planning and executing a trip you'll long remember."
Steve Slomka
KarmaQuest also organizes cultural excursions, ecotourism, adventure travel and educational trips to Bhutan, Burma/Myanmar (Burma/Myanmar trips are temporarily on hold), Cambodia, China, India, Laos, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. Please see our selection of trips organized by country and season, or email us to request a copy of our travel catalogue.
Below are a few of our favorite trips that also help support worthy non-profit organizations that we personally know. Please read more.
Note: Due to the unsettled political situation in Myanmar/Burma, we are currently not operating trips there. We look forward to getting back to one of our favorite travel destinations. If you'd like to know how to help the people of Burma during this challenging time, please see our Our Partners page and read about Partners Asia's work there.
Sikkim: KarmaQuest invites you to join one of the "top treks in the world" on our Singalila to Kangchendzonga trek. On arrival in Sikkim, you'll be welcomed as a family guest at the home of KarmaQuest Director Karma Lama (right) before setting off on a two week challenging Himalayan trek. Hike along the ridge that separates Nepal from Sikkim before descending into a deep valley, lush with monsoon fed forests before heading to the base of Mt. Kangchendzonga, third highest peak in the world.
We do a number of other less arduous trips to Sikkim as well, featuring cultural tours, village homestays and shorter treks. On all, you will from a local non-profit Kangchendzonga Conservation Committee about its garbage management and ecotourism training programs. Its work launched a Sikkim-wide effort that recently earned Gangtok, capital of Sikkim, the accolade of "cleanest tourist destination in India." Go see for yourself! Or in the words of one KarmaQuest guest:
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En route to
Goechela, Sikkim
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Nepal warmly welcomes visitors as it always has. KarmaQuest's
decades of experience in Nepal enable us to offer unique
travel experiences that also help disadvantaged Nepalis.
"The Mysteries of Mustang" takes you into one of the most scenic and magical places in Nepal: Upper Mustang. On a previous trip, we lent a hand to villagers where needed (photo left). Before the trek, Dr. Loree Bolin (Health and Hope Foundation) and trip members provided free dental service to over 200 orphans and staff of Paropakar Orphanage in Kathmandu. KarmaQuest has a long standing relationship with Paropakar and Virtue’s Children Nepal,
a charitable organization that supports the education some of Nepal's neediest children. Please inquire.
In recent years, we have organized social service trips to deliver health services to nomads living in the remote mountains of far western Mongolia. Our team of medics and volunteers with (Health and Hope Foundation) led by Dr. Loree Bolin, provided dental, eye care, health and nutritional services to some 163 patients, most of whom do not have access to regular health care due to their nomadic lifestyle.
On a subsequent trip, KarmaQuest supported a film maker who is documenting the changing lives of the Mongolian nomads. We spent many days with eagle hunter families to better understand the challenges of their changing worlds, from climate change to the pull of urban life for their young college educated offspring. We rode horses over high mountain passes; slept in colorfully decorated felt gers (yurts); and recorded world-class throat-singing on the steppe. We'll be going back so please inquire if you'd like to be part of a humanitarian trip to Mongolia" in 2024/25.
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 Karma@KarmaQuest.com Website: www.KarmaQuests.com
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