Rare Journeys Expeditions explore places and subjects that enrich both our individual and collective lives, inspiring the mind, delighting the senses, and promoting the ideals of Geotourism – an approach to travel that sustains and enhances a region's geographical character, including its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the wellbeing of its residents.

In addition to co-creating educational travel experiences for private groups and institutions, Rare Journeys offers its own signature journeys. Travel with anthropologists, writers, filmmakers, and indigenous wisdom holders to some of the world's most exotic settings, learn new skills, and engage in spirited dialogues on subjects ranging from the evolution of culture to myth, religion, and the nature of reality itself. Highlights for 2009 and 2010 include the following offerings:

This journey to the source of Tibet's spiritual, healing, and yogic traditions begins in Lhasa. After visiting the Dalai Lama's Potala Palace and other sites, the trip continues to the sacred valley, hot springs, and meditation caves of Terdrom, where Tibet's tradition of Tantric Buddhism originated in the 8th century and continues to thrive. Based at the newly opened 'Shambhala Source' Tibetan Medical Spa, we will explore Tibetan yoga and rejuvenation practices while meeting with practitioners in their high-altitude caves. The trip will culminate with a five-day pilgrimage trek through one of Tibet's most spectacular and culturally rich environments, visiting mountain hermitages on the way.

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This journey follows the ancient tea caravan route between China and Tibet, highlighted by a pilgrimage to Tibet's sacred mountain, Kawakarpo, and the spectacular scenery and culture of eastern Tibet. Beginning in Lijiang in China's Yunnan province, we will travel through Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Yangtse River to the ancient city of Gyalthang- renamed now as "Shangri-La"- and continue westward to Kawakarpo and, from there, across the Mekong-Salween divide to the region of Powo, a once independent kingdom within Tibet. The journey culminates with a visit to the spectacular meditation caves of Terdrom and the colorful markets, palaces, and temples of Tibet's capital city.

For more information please contact info@rarejourneys.com

Mongolia is one of the last remaining horse based cultures in the world. Enjoy comfort, elegance, and adventure as we travel on horseback through Mongolia's pristine Hovsgol region and adopt the rhythms of the nomadic tribes who inhabit this realm of crystalline lakes, deep forests, and snow capped mountains on the Siberian frontier. Highlights of this journey include the warm hospitality of the nomadic reindeer-herding Tsaatan tribe as well as encounters with the Darhat shamans who intermediate between the known world and the realm of light and revelation that they call the "Dark Heavens". Leading us on this journey will be guest scholar and award-winning filmmaker, Dr. Hamid Sardar.

For more information, contact info@rarejourneys.com

This journey from Lhasa through the stunning landscapes, temples, and markets of southern and eastern Tibet will culminate in a pilgrimage to the inner sanctum of Kawakarpo, a sacred mountain equal in status to Mount Kailash, but held by many to far surpass its beauty.

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At the heart of the eastern Himalayas lies a paradisiacal realm known to Tibetans as Beyul Pemako, the Secret Land Arrayed like Lotuses. Following the Brahmaputra River to the frontiers of Tibet, this expedition will explore the Buddhist and indigenous tribal traditions of this remote region that has only recently been opened to foreign visitors. The journey will culminate with an ascent through luxuriant forests to a sacred temple held to emerge from the womb of a Tantric goddess.
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For more information contact info@rarejourneys.com

A 8th century queen and a female Buddha who transmitted the heart-essence of the Buddhist Tantras, Yeshe Tsogyal helped define the revealed treasure tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, and her current emanations embody her timeless wisdom. This journey through Central Tibet will visit the principal places associated with Yeshe Tsogyal's life and liberation - from ancient palaces to high mountain caves - and introduce her core revelations on the nature of mind and reality through the texts and practices of the Khandro Nyingtik , the "Heart-Essence of the Dakinis".

For more information contact info@rarejourneys.com

This ultimate journey to Mount Kailash, a mountain in Tibet revered by millions as the meeting place of Earth and Heaven, begins in Nepal where we will follow an ancient pilgrim's trail through a rarely visited region held to be a beyul, or "secret land", prophesized in ancient Tibetan texts. After reaching Kailash, we will circle the sacred mountain and visit its inner sanctuary. We will then drive across the "rooftop of the world", arriving in Lhasa, Tibet's capital city, on the full moon festival of Sagadawa when Tibetans celebrate the Buddha's birth, death, and enlightenment.

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Following the development of the Buddhist legend of Shambhala, a paradisiacal kingdom hidden from the outside world by towering mountains, this journey will travel by horse and camel from the Gobi desert into the wilds of Hovsgol where shamans and nomadic reindeer herders live at the frontiers of what they call the "Dark Heavens". Leading us will be guest scholar and award-winning film maker, Dr. Hamid Sardar.

For more information, contact info@rarejourneys.com