Australia & Oceania

Irian Jaya: Searching for Lost Tribes
OUTFITTER: Asia Transpacific Journeys; 800 642 2742 (U.S. and Canada); www.southeastasia.com.
DATES: May, July, and September.
RATES: $5,045 all-inclusive, departing from Jakarta.
BOOKS: Islands in the Clouds, by Isabella Tree (Lonely Planet, 1996); New Guinea, by Kal Muller (Passport Books, 1996).

French Polynesia: Beyond Gauguin
OUTFITTER: Wilderness Travel; 800 368 2794 (U.S. and Canada); www.wildernesstravel.com.
DATES: May, June, and October.
RATES: $3,395, all-inclusive departing from Tahiti.
BOOKS: Tahiti and French Polynesia, by Tony Wheeler et al. (Lonely Planet, 1997); Cruising Guide to Tahiti & the French Society Islands, by Marcia Davock (Westcott Cove, 1985).

New Zealand: Flying for Fish
OUTFITTER: Best of New Zealand Fly Fishing; 800 528 6129 (U.S. and Canada); www.bestofnzflyfishing.com.
DATES: October through April.
RATES: $5,085, all-inclusive departing from Auckland. Price without helicopter fishing at Lake Rotaroa, $3,285.
BOOKS: Twenty-one Great New Zealand Trout Waters, by Tony Orman (Stackpole Books, 1994).

Australia: The Outback by Camel
OUTFITTER: Peregrine Travel, Australia; +1 61 7 3854 1022. (No Web site available.)
DATES: July 25 to August 21, 2000.
RATES: $2,600, departing from Adelaide.
BOOKS: Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1,700 Miles of Australian Outback, by Robyn Davidson (Vintage Departures, 1995).

South Georgia Island, Britain: Sailing in Shackleton's Wake
OUTFITTER: Zegrahm Expeditions; 800 628 8747 (U.S. and Canada); www.zeco.com.
DATES: November 4 to 23, 2000, and November 20 to December 9, 2000.
RATES: Starting at $7,990, departing from the Falkland Islands.
BOOKS: The Endurance, by Caroline Alexander (Knopf, 1998).

Asia

Mongolia: Hunting with Eagles
OUTFITTER: Boojum Expeditions; 800 287 0125 (U.S. and Canada); www.boojum.com.
DATES: December 27, 1999, to January 3, 2000.
RATES: $1,800, departing from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
BOOKS: In Secret Mongolia, by Henning Haslund (Adventures Unlimited Press, 1995); Lonely Planet Mongolia, by Robert Storey, Paul Greenway, and Gabriel Laffitte (Lonely Planet, 1997).

India: Kashmir on Two Wheels
OUTFITTER: Snow Lion Expeditions; 800 525 8735 (U.S. and Canada); www.snowlion.com.
DATES: July through September 2000.
RATES: $3,200, departing from New Delhi.
BOOKS: Ancient Futures, by Helena Norberg-Hodge and Peter Matthiessen (Sierra Club Books, 1992).

Vietnam: Kayaking a Honeycomb Coast
OUTFITTER: SeaCanoe; 800 444 1043 (U.S. and Canada); www.seacanoe.com.
DATES: Year-round.
RATES: $1,800 to $2,000 for 12 days, depending on hotel accommodations in Hanoi.
BOOKS: Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos Handbook, by Michael Buckley (Moon Publications, 1998).

China: Running a River of Golden Sand
OUTFITTER: Earth River Expeditions; 800 643 2784 (U.S. and Canada); www.earthriver.com.
DATES: November 6 to 20, 1999, and November 4 to 18, 2000.
RATES: $3,600, departing from Kunming in 1999; $4,000 in 2000.
BOOKS: Riding the Dragon's Back, by Richard Bangs and Christian Kallen (Atheneum, 1989; out of print).

Bhutan: Sacred Lairs of the Thunder Dragon
OUTFITTER: Geographic Expeditions; 800 777 8183 (U.S. and Canada); www.geoex.com.
DATES: November.
RATES: $4,990, departing from Paro.
BOOKS: Essential Tibetan Buddhism, by Dr. Robert Thurman (Harper San Francisco, 1997).

Africa

Tanzania: Walking with the Masai
OUTFITTER: Geographic Expeditions; 800 777 8183 (U.S. and Canada); www.geoex.com.
DATES: November 5 to 21, 1999.
RATES: $6,495, departing from Arusha.
BOOKS: Wilderness Guardian, by Tim Corfield (Longman Kenya, 1993).

Botswana: The Okavango by Elephant
OUTFITTER: Explore; 800 596 6377 (U.S. and Canada); www.exploreafrica.net.
DATES: Year-round.
RATES: $6,000 for five days in 1999; $6,500 in 2000, departing from Maun, the main access point to the Okavango.
BOOKS: Back to Africa, by Randall Moore (Southern Book Publishers, 1989).

Morocco: Touring by Bike and Camel
OUTFITTER: Backroads; 800 462 2848 (U.S. and Canada); www.backroads.com.
DATES: Five trips from February to early April 2000.
RATES: $3,398, departing from Marrakech; $120 bike rental.
BOOKS: Lonely Planet: Morocco, by Frances Gordon (Lonely Planet, 1998).

Europe and the Middle East

Iran: Behind the Headlines
OUTFITTER: Geographic Expeditions; 800 777 8183 (U.S. and Canada); www.geoex.com.
DATES: April 15 to 30, October 7 to 22.
RATES: Starting at $3,390, departing from Tehran.
BOOKS: The Iranians, by Sandra Mackey (Plume, 1998).

Italy: The Dolomites—The "Iron Way"
OUTFITTER: Adventures to the Edge; +1 970 349 5219.
DATES: From late June to late September 2000.
RATES: $2,400 per person; minimum group size is four.
BOOKS: For climbers: Dolomites: Selected Climbs, by Ron James (Alpine Club, 1988). For hikers: Walking in the Dolomites, by Gillian Price (Cicerone, 1991).

Egypt: Trekking the Sinai
OUTFITTER: Contact the U.S. office of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel at +1 718 645 3370 or www.spni.org.
DATES: Year-round.
RATES: $360, departing from the SPNI field-study center in Elat, Israel, on the Gulf of Aqaba.
BOOKS: The Rough Guide to Egypt, by Dan Richardson (Rough Guides, Ltd.; 1997).

Russia: Cosmonaut Boot Camp
OUTFITTER: Zegrahm Expeditions; 888 772 2366; www.spacevoyages.com.
DATES: March to June.
RATES: $14,950 from Moscow.
BOOKS: Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon, by James Harford (John Wiley & Sons, 1997).

Central and South America

Panama: Sea Kayaking Among the Kuna
OUTFITTER: Mountain Travel/Sobek; +1 888 687 6235; www.mtsobek.com.
DATES: Four departures from late December to early March.
RATES: $2,190 for eight to ten participants; $2,490 for five to seven participants, plus $300 per person for charter flights from Panama City to Isla Tigre in the San Blas Islands.
BOOKS: A People Who Would Not Kneel: Panama, the United States, and the San Blas Kuna, by James Howe (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1998).

Mexico: Diving the Big One
OUTFITTER: Nohoch Expeditions; +1 52 987 35147. (No Web site available.)
DATES: December 1999; and, in 2000, January, February, November, and December.
RATES: $2,850 departing from Cancçn, all-inclusive. Nohoch's separate eight-day cave-diving certification program costs $1,300, with private lessons.
BOOKS: The Darkness Beckons, by Martyn Farr (Cave Books, 1991).

Chile: The Fu on Foot & Horns of Paine
OUTFITTER: Wilderness Travel; 800 368 2794 (U.S. and Canada); www.wildernesstravel.com.
DATES: February and March.
RATES: $2,395 from Santiago.
BOOKS: In Patagonia, by Bruce Chatwin (Penguin USA, 1988).
LODGING (TORRES DEL PAINE): Starting at $1,347, three-night minimum, from Punta Arenas: +1 011 562 206 6060; www.interknowledge.com/chile/explora.

Galápagos, Ecuador: Exploring Darwin's Lab
OUTFITTER: Backroads; 800 462 2848 (U.S. and Canada); www.backroads.com.
DATES: Five departures January through March.
RATES: $4,598, including airfare from Quito to the Galápagos and the national park entrance fee.
BOOKS: The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Own Time, by Jonathan Weiner (Knopf, 1994).

Peru: Afloat in the Green Ocean
OUTFITTER: International Expeditions; 800 633 4734 (U.S. and Canada); www.ietravel.com.
DATES: Year-round.
RATES: $2,698 departing from Miami and Dallas.
BOOKS: In the Rainforest, by Catherine Caufield (University of Chicago Press, 1986).

Canada

British Columbia: Bagging Rights in the Selkirks
OUTFITTER: Selkirk Mountain Experience; +1 250 837 2381. (No Web site available.)
DATES: Late November through May.
RATES: $860 for seven days and seven nights, including round-trip helicopter flights to the lodge.
BOOKS: Summits and Ice Fields, by Chic Scott (Rocky Mountain Books, 1994).

Nunavut: Ghost Ship of the Arctic
OUTFITTER: Zegrahm Deep Sea Voyages; +1 888 772 2366; www.deepseavoyages.com.
DATES: March and April 2000.
RATES: $9,980 departing from Resolute.
BOOKS: The Land That Devours Ships: The Search for the Breadalbane, by Joe MacInnis (David & Charles, 1986).

Yukon: Paddling the Tat
OUTFITTER: Canadian River Expeditions; 800 898 7238 (U.S. and Canada); www.canriver.com.
DATES: Seven departures from June through August.
RATES: $2,350 departing from Whitehorse, Yukon.
BOOKS: Tatshenshini: River Wild, edited by Ken Budd (Raincoast Books, 1993; out of print, but Canadian River Expeditions has copies for sale).