BREAKING NEWS!!!

Our prize-winning Snow Leopard Wintertime Quest has just scored again! A phenomenal sighting has just occurred on KarmaQuest's fifth snow leopard WinterQuest. The 2012 winter group spent several hours observing a snow leopard in Hemis National Park, Ladakh.

Snow Leopard Conservancy Director and international snow leopard ecologist Dr. Rodney Jackson responds to the latest sighting: "This is wonderful news and is confirmation that the excellent work of the SLC-India team, with the close support of villagers and the Jammu and Kashmir Wildlife Department, is paying huge dividends for the conservation of snow leopards... Hemis National Park is truly the Snow Leopard Capital of the world." (Photo right: Snow Leopard Conservancy)

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. Please read on about some of our more popular trips.


A Once in a Lifetime Opportunity: KarmaQuest's Wintertime Quests for the Snow Leopard have added some 25 more Westerners to the few dozen foreigners who have seen a snow leopard in the wild. Inquire NOW! about our 2013 Wintertime Quest trip. Space is limited.

KarmaQuest introduces a second Summer 2012 trip "Land of the Snow Leopard and Traditional Life in an Ancient Buddhist Culture" in collaboration with the San Francisco Zoological Gardens andthe Snow Leopard Conservancy. 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 short trek through prime snow leoaprd habitat,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. Please inquire for details.

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 17 to 30, 2012) -- 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 (Kangchendzonga Conservation Committee,and a UNESCO-supported program that KarmaQuest's Wendy Lama advises.


En route to Mt. Kangchendzonga, Sikkim


The second trip - Treasures of Kangchendzonga (October 14 to November 3, 2012),takes you hiking 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.
A spring Rhododendron Trek reaches the same vantage point amidst spectacular
rhododendron displays on trees towering 30 to 40 feet in height! 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.

Homestay at Temi HERE




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 2012)" 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.

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.

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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