Upcoming Trips

Contact Michael for more information or to book

Mert Gunal and Hunter Ellis have spent the last few months planning what they believe is an ideal excursion thorugh Eastern Turkey, stepping through millenia of history, sampling the Turks’ vibrant culture and cuisine, and basking in stark and lucious beauty of the region. Mert was born in Istanbul and spent five years in finance before transitioning to the travel industry in 2012. He began to work with his family’s business Runner Tours, stepping in as the second generation to Yasmin and Cemil. Specializing in hiking, cultural, and gulet tours along Turkey’s and Greece’s coastlines, Mert combines his love for history and the outdoors with his skills as a musician, often playing the Turkish ney flute while guiding travelers through ancient ruins and scenic landscapes. Hunter has been fascinated by ancient history from a young age, studying Classics, learning ancient Greek, and translating papyrii in University. He’s also a chef, musician, and avid street food consumer. He’s excited to bring to life the ancient texts and stories, immersing ourselves in a present informed by the past.

Early summer is the perfect time to travel the less visited easten portions of Anatolia. We’ll begin in Istanbul, then fly to Gaziantep and continue overland through Urfa, Mardin, Van, and Kars, stopping to savor the food, culture, history, and natural beauty of Turkey. We’ll have the best baklava you can get, swim in the Euphrates, visit the Van cats, glimpse Mt. Ararat, and partake in a Sacrificial Feast celebrating the birth of the patriarch Abraham at his birthplace. From Neolithic settlements, thought to be the first of their kind, through the conquests of Alexander and the Hellenistic age, past the eastern reaches of the Roman and subsequen Byzantine Empires, to the Ottomans and Ataturk, we’ll get to experience first hand the rich and varied history of this cradle of civilization.
June 1-15, 2025
$8000 per person, single supplement $1100
To sign up, please email Hunter and he’ll send you a sign up form, instructions on where to send a deposit, and a request for information.
Hunter and Sonam are combining forces to lead an unforgettable adventure to the remote himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. We’ll travel from the western cities of Paro, Thimphu and Punakha, with their beautiful Dzongs and markets, to remote villages of the Lhuntse District in eastern Bhutan, farther into the country than most visitors ever go. We take numerous day hikes and experience firsthand the cultural diversity of the Bhutanese—medieval and modern, with large doses of mysticism. We’ll immerse ourselves in the breathtaking natural splendor of Bhutan—a region of incomparable biological richness and beauty. Its lush, temperate cloud forests of pine and rhododendron provide sanctuary for a great variety of flora and fauna. Its high valleys are covered in forests and embrace small monasteries, chortens, traditional stone houses, and markets. We travel with Bhutanese guides who have deep connections throughout the country; they freely share with us their intimate understanding of the environment and their people.
For centuries, Bhutan was isolated by its geographical situation, bound to the south by dense tropical jungles and to the north by the mighty Himalaya. As one of the world’s last strongholds of Tibetan Buddhism, it is home to people for whom compassion and happiness are more important than productivity and material wealth. In the last fifteen years Bhutan has slowly opened its frontiers to a few privileged visitors. Last year, only 80,000 tourists were allowed in the country, and then only with a government-sanctioned travel agency. This is a fascinating time, as the Bhutanese deliberately incorporate modern technology while reverently protecting their rich cultural heritage.
This is a moderate tour—not a trek—but you must be in reasonably good shape to participate. We will be hiking at elevations that range between 4500' and 11,000' on steep trails that may not be well maintained.
DATES: May 7th - 19th
Cost: $8250 (This includes $1,700 round-trip air costs from Bangkok to Paro and one internal Bhutan flight.)

Past Trips

During this 12-day boat tour up to a dozen different species of whales and dolphins, four species of pinnipeds, and scores of sea and shorebirds are possible. After leaving San Diego aboard The Searcher, we stop at Islas San Benitos off the west coast of Baja and hike through a remarkable wildflower display, witness a major elephant seal breeding colony, and see the rare Guadalupe fur seals. Then it is south to San Ignacio Lagoon, home of the famous friendly gray whales. We hop on small skiffs in the protected waters and venture out into hundreds of gray whales. The cow/calf pairs often come right up to the skiff and we have the privilege to touch these magnificent wild animals.
This is often a life-changing highlight. Rounding the Cape, we enter the calm southern Sea of Cortez where blue, humpback, fin, and sperm whales are found. We snorkel with tropical reef fishes, invertebrates, and sea lions at a variety of island and peninsula locations in the Sea of Cortez. The trip ends in Cabo San Lucas where you may fly home or stay and relax in that well-known resort town. Slideshow of Petting Grey Whales
DATE: Friday, March 24 to Tuesday, April 4, 2023
COST: $7500. Nearly full.
In a remote corner of western Sonoma County lies The Cedars, one of the most remarkable landscapes on the planet. This unique area is stunningly raw with a wild, otherworldly topography, including unusual geologic formations. Ancient forests of Sargent cypress trees, chaparral, seepage thickets, perennial creeks, waterfalls and pools are coupled and bound to massive talus slopes and barrens.
The Cedars is composed of 9,500 acres of terrain composed of ultramafic or serpentine rock. Over the past 200 million years, this specialized rock has been transported from deep below the Earth’s crust to the continental margin where it now sits above sea level. The bare cliffs and scree slopes that rise abruptly out of the Main Canyon are the result of this giant upswelling and are one of the best examples of such metamorphic reshaping.
Given the unusual composition of the serpentine derived soils, a unique group of plant communities has adapted to the conditions. The Cedars has numerous rare or unusual plants, including five species of orchid and seven endemic plants that occur nowhere else in the world. Perhaps the most unexpected feature within The Cedars are the hyperalkaline springs, where water emerges from cracks and is supersaturated with calcium bicarbonate, creating large crystalline formations that form spectacular patterns along the pools.
Land stewards David McCrory and Roger Raiche of Planet Horticulture and The Cedars Friends are facilitating access through their private lands in the Main Canyon. This is a CAMPING trip. The base camp makes an ideal place from which to explore and experience the magic this place offers. We are blessed with special permission to experience this limited access area all to ourselves. Moving beyond the “usual” Footloose Forays experience, we will stretch ourselves by discovering the wonders of such an alive and ever-changing outer landscape while simultaneously exploring our ever-evolving inner landscape. The invitation is to reconnect with our inherent nature as we come to understand the ecology of The Cedars.
By immersing ourselves in the botanic and geologic wonder of The Cedars, a land that continues to expand and evolve before our eyes, we naturally begin to resonate with our intrinsic rhythm. As we engage with the stillness and barrenness of the land, we drop into our senses, discovering what it is to unfold in tandem with the rest of Life. In this way, we may recognize somatically that we are an inseparable part of the miracle of 14.5 billion years of existence. Mind-blowing but true.
DATE: April 26-28, 2023
May 17-19, 2023
COST: $400
During this 15-day adventure in central Brazil we visit three of the richest biological regions on the planet - the Amazon, the Pantanal and the Cerrado. We fly to Sao Paulo and then on to Cuiaba, the vibrant capital of the state of Mato Grosso. One hour's drive northwest is the charming town of Chapada and our very comfortable and intimate lodge. The little-known Cerrado is the most diverse tropical savannah in the world. It has over 10,000 species of plants, of which 45% are endemic to the region. There are over 400 species of birds and a diverse assemblage of mammals including the maned wolf, the giant anteater, crab-eating foxes, and tapirs. The beautiful landscape is reminiscent of the American southwest except for those brilliant macaws and parrots flying overhead. The Cerrado feeds three of the major water basins in South America: The Amazon, Paraguay and São Francisco Rivers. And is an intersection of three biomes – Amazon Forest, Atlantic Rain Forest. We are in the exact geographic center of South America- a true power spot. We hike, bird and botanize in this wonderland 15 degrees south of the Equator.
Next, we drive south to one of the world’s most extraordinary natural areas and a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the Pantanal. It is an enormous wetland the size of Georgia. It is by far the best place to view wildlife in the New World. A mosaic of different vegetation types, this region teems with many of South America’s largest mammals—tapirs, jaguars, capybaras, marsh deer, giant otter, and giant anteaters. And so many birds! Even non-birders can easily see 100 species in a single day. The flora and fauna of the Amazon and Atlantic forests to the north, the Chaco grasslands to the east and west, and the pampas to the south intersect in the Pantanal to create one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. We stay in comfortable lodges. We explore by vehicle, on foot, and by boat. In 2019 we saw eight different jaguars, giant and southern anteaters, tapirs, ocelots, jaguarundi, armadillos, hyacinth macaws, capybaras, yellow anaconda, thousands of caimans and so much more.
Then it’s a short flight north into the Amazon Basin ecosystem. The remote and very comfortable Cristalino Jungle Lodge Reserve is a true rainforest sanctuary. This rich region of the Amazon has eight different species of monkeys, three kinds of sloths, frogs galore, toucans, macaws, screaming pihas, and more. Two amazing 164’ observation towers give us an extraordinary perspective of the canopy rarely glimpsed. It is the perfect ending to an amazing trip.
DATE: June 17 to July 2, 2023. Dates include long travel time. Filling fast but I may add a second trip.
COST: $9000 land costs.
The eastern Sierra Nevada is glorious in the fall, the air is crisp, the sky so blue. The aspen groves will be shimmering in brilliant shades of burnished gold and orange as we explore the wonders of Mono Lake and environs. This body of water is over 1 million years old - a remnant of a much larger inland lake. Its wildlife, unearthly scenery, and life-sustaining streams were released from hostage to the water needs of Los Angeles. Bizarre tufa towers, fantastic cinder cones, spooky lava caves, gurgling hot springs, and dramatic mountain canyons are its backdrop. We will get intimate views of California gulls, coyotes and the nearly one million eared grebes that stop here in the fall. American Avocets, Western and Least Sandpipers, Snowy Plovers, White-faced Ibises, and Dowitchers are stopping to feed on their journey south. While this is not an official photography seminar, bring your camera because the photo opportunities are incomparable.
DATES: October 3-5, 2023
October 6-8, 2023
COST: $400
The return of the waterfowl to California's Great Central Valley has been described as one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on earth, and it happens every winter. We'll visit the famous Gray Lodge Refuge to see thousands of Snow Geese joining Canada and White-fronted Geese. Around the defunct volcanic Sutter Buttes, we'll see aerial displays of the sandhill cranes and tundra swans.
We'll hike around the Colusa Wildlife Refuge and then to the Sacramento Refuge for more avian delights - ruddy ducks, pintails, shovelers, bitterns, night herons, mallards, harriers, rough-legged hawks, gallinules et al. Not only will we learn how to identify these birds, but also, we'll learn about their evolution, behavior and physiology. Discover why so many people make this an annual trip. It's a fun-filled two days
This played on KQED, NPR. I’ve been doing these Perspectives since 1989! Yes, I am a birding nerd and proud of it.
Amazing video of murmurations!
DATES: December 5-6, December 7-8 or December 9-10, 2023
COST: $375