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Cultural Connoisseur

Travel, learn, and repeat with National Geographic Expeditions.

As part of its mission, the National Geographic Society pledges to sustain the character and integrity of each place it visits, ensuring the environment, culture, heritage, and local community all benefit from tourism. National Geographic Expeditions accomplishes this by providing authentic travel experiences designed to immerse travelers in the people, places, and cultures they visit.

You can experience mosques in Morocco, but why not go deeper and sip mint tea with a Berber family, or learn from an astronomer how to way-find by stars in the Sahara Desert? Eating tapas is a must in Spain but wait until you tell your friends about digging alongside archeologists on a guided tour of Atapuerca — where Europe’s oldest known hominin fossils were unearthed (some estimated to be 600,000 years old). Iceland is known for the mineral-rich waters of the Blue Lagoon, but listening to a geographer explain how volcanoes and icebergs formed the country amplifies the awe.

Need more inspiration? Here are a few itineraries to make travel even more authentic.

Costa Rica is home to national parks, exceptional wildlife, unbeatable coffee, and unforgettable clouds. Explore the endangered cloud forest ecosystem with researchers from the Monteverde Institute and participate in their ongoing cloud forest conservation projects. Together, identify and record unusual rainforest species.

Though few places can rival Kenya’s safari experience, wildlife on the move are far from the only attraction. Delve into Maasai culture and witness an initiation ritual followed by traditional singing and dancing during a visit to a Maasai village. Later, learn more about the work of local conservation groups partnering with Maasai communities to reduce poaching and human-animal conflict.

Witness the great wildebeest migration in the Serengeti alongside a renowned wildlife biologist who will also give fascinating insights into animal behavior. The Great Migration is an annual event where millions of wildebeest and zebra cross the Mara River. Lions, cheetahs, elephants, and other wildlife are easily viewed from the Ngorongoro Crater.

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