Travel and Learn with IHO
Educational Travel At Its Best
The Institute of Human Origins has a long history of research in Africa and the world to understand the course and timing of human development—the history of how we “became human.” This is our human history, and we believe that sharing this knowledge with the public is as important as sharing the science.
Our expeditions are different from any other travel experience. This is not just travel—it is immersion in the span of human history, hosted by IHO and ASU scientists who add a richer understanding to the travel experience.
At the same time, our travel adventures have been designed for fun, excitement, and comfort and take advantage of the best accommodations and sailing vessels available in the industry. We partner with top travel providers who are specialists in exotic areas of the world.
Plus, tour leaders, like Don Johanson and other IHO scientists, have been accompanying our travelers since the 1980s to Ethiopia, France, Galapagos, Madagascar, South Africa, and Tanzania, and as well as being seasoned world travelers themselves. With years of experience, we understand the balance between a great travel experience and a rich learning program.
Contact us about traveling with IHO!
Aubree Morrissey
Email:[email protected]
Office:480-727-6580
2025 Trips - Fully Booked
Grand Canyon 2025
Two ASU geologists—IHO Research Associate Chris Campisano and School of Earth and Space Exploration Professor Ramon Arrowsmith—will lead the trip to engage you in understanding the deep geological history of the Grand Canyon. Campisano is an expert in ancient landscapes and evolution, and Arrowsmith studies geological faults, topography, and the geology of earthquakes. Both scientists have rafted the canyon in the past. In addition, Hatch provides seasoned river runners to guide the boats and daily logistics and also provide a wealth of knowledge about the river and canyon. For future opportunities, contact Aubree Morrissey, 480-727-6580
Primates Adventure and Trekking 2025
Experience field treks and behind-the-scenes research tours led by primatologist Ian Gilby, a long-time researcher who studies chimpanzees at Gombe National Park—Jane Goodall’s original research site. The tour will visit Tanzanian colobus monkeys and the Ellen DeGeneres campus of the Dian Fossey Center and trek to see mountain gorillas. Not only will you have intimate encounters with these incredible primates, but a safari day at Ngorongoro Crater—home to nearly all of Tanzania's diverse animal species including the “Big Five”—lions, elephants, leopards, rhinos and wildebeest. For future opportunities, contact Aubree Morrissey, 480-727-6580
Past Trips
Lucy! 2024
Begin in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa at the National Museum of Ethiopia to view the original fossil bones of Australopithecus afarensis—Lucy!—with world-renowned paleoanthropologist and Lucy discoverer, Donald Johanson PhD. Dr. Johanson will be joined by Ethiopian-born IHO Director Yohannes Haile-Selassie and leadership of the museum to reveal the fossils rarely seen outside of the museum laboratory. Dr. Johanson will explain how the fossil was discovered and why this fossil is so important to our understanding of how we “became human.”
Beautiful Ethiopia
Your adventure will continue to see the Lake Tana monasteries and the Blue Nile Falls. You will witness the Timkat Ceremony and see the amazing walled fortresses in Gondar.
In Lalibela, you will visit thousands-year-old rock-hewn churches, carved into the ground during the 12th century. Heading to the Simien Mountains, you will view the protected and fascinating “bleeding heart” Gelada baboons.
Hadar—In the Footsteps of the Discovery!
Finally, you will spend two nights at a tented camp close to the Lucy discovery site—just like researchers have done since Johanson discovered the Lucy fossil in 1974! You will see the Lucy site with Dr. Johanson and visit a nearby national park with local flora and fauna.
Raft the Grand Canyon with ASU geologists guiding you through the last 500 million years of Earth's history!
One of those trips of a lifetime—floating and splashing down the Colorado River! Sleeping under the stars (or in a tent if you wish!). Looking up at towering rock cliffs during the day and a star-filled sky at night.
IHO will secure two boats for a week-long trip down the Colorado River guided by two ASU geologists—Chris Campisano PhD and Ramon Arrowsmith PhD.
The trip will begin at Lee's Ferry and travel on quiet, motorized rafts from mile 0 to mile 187, where you will helicopter out to return to your car at Lee’s Ferry or catch a small plane back to the airport in Las Vegas.
You will be roughing it—but not totally! Sleep in tents or on cots under the stars, eat three freshly prepared meals each day under a bright blue Arizona sky, and travel down the river as we go back two billion years of Earth's history, revealed by our guides—ASU scientists with expertise in geology and the deep history of the Earth.
This is an amazing bucket list experience and includes not only some of the biggest, most famous rapids (negotiated expertly by long-time river operators Hatch River Expeditions) but also the awesome beauty of the Canyon itself!
Led by Donald Johanson PhD via Lindblad Expeditions
• This is the trip that is on everyone’s bucket list!
• Experience unique Galápagos where all the animals are trusting
enough to walk by your side! Blue-footed boobies, penguins, sea lions,
gian tortoises—animals rarely seen anywhere else—become dear
friends in this pristine environment.
• Cruise the islands from the luxury of a yacht with excursions to the
islands several times a day.
• Savor gourmet meals while basking in the sun or gazing at the stars.
• Attend talks by Donald Johanson for IHO travelers only about how
the Galápagos spurred Charles Darwin to form his ideas about
evolution and learn about the unique species that still inhabit the
islands today.
Trip Highlights
- Important prehistoric sites of Java
- Botanical gardens
- Buddhist Temple at Borobudur
- Original fossils in the National Geological Museum hominin collection, the Sangiran Museum, and the Java man fossil collection
- Amazing orangutans and wildlife of Borneo
- Craft, antique, and textile markets
- Exotic and beautiful culture of Java
- Group size limited to 20 for an intimate, flexible experience
Trip Highlights
- Ancient port of Old Jaffa
- UNESCO World Heritage Site of Nachal Me’arot featuring evidence of over one million years
of human activity - Qafzeh Cave with remains from the Holocene, Upper Paleolithic, and Middle Paleolithic periods
- Golan Heights and Mimrod Fortress built in 1228
- Nahal Amud Cave excavated by Kimbel and Rak in the 1990s
- Ubediyah Pleistocene site ca. 1.5 million years ago, yielding Achueulean-type hand axes, preserving the earliest migration of Homo erectus out of Africa
- Herod’s hilltop fortress of Masada where Jews held out against the Romans in 73 CE
- The Dead Sea and the Shrine of the Book, housing fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls
- Rockefeller Archaeological Museum
- Western Wall in the Old City
- Vad Vashem, the museum and memorial of the Holocaust
- Bauhaus architecture tour of the “White City” of Tel Aviv
Hidden art of early humans: Neandertals, early modern humans, and their places of expression
Hosted by independent researcher Roy Larick PhD, Magen O'Farrell PhD and Donald Johanson PhD, IHO Founding Director
Join paleoanthropologist Donald C. Johanson and archaeologist Magen O’Farrell for this unique journey into the depths of prehistoric cave art in France. Explore the ancient origins of art and symbolic communication and what these uniquely human traits tell us about where we came from and who we are today.
As we delve through time in dark, damp, scintillating underground sanctuaries, imagine the flickering light of smoking flames fueled by animal fat in shallow stone bowls as artists work charcoal and mineral pigments onto the rough cave walls...tens of thousands of years ago. Feel the emotion of standing in their very footsteps
as they communicate to us through time and space via the beauty and symbolism of their masterpieces. Contemplate what they tell us about ourselves...
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join an IHO chimpanzee research scientist at the Gombe, Tanzania research area.
Are you ready for a real adventure—more than just viewing wild animals from a platform or Land Rover? This is the trip for you! Follow long-time chimpanzee researcher Ian Gilby through the forest at arguably the world’s most famous chimpanzee research site—the Gombe Stream Research Center, founded by Jane Goodall in 1965.
Gilby is a Research Affiliate with the Institute of Human Origins and the Codirector of the Gombe chimpanzee database, which contains detailed daily observations collected at Gombe over the last 55 years, and continuing today. By trekking through the forest and observing this iconic chimpanzee population, you will learn from Dr. Gilby the life stories of individual chimpanzees and how their personalities affect their social relationships, how and why they cooperate, and how environmental challenges are changing their lives.
Our teams of scientists have taken explorers to amazing places over the decades in South Africa. There is sure to be something for everyone. Check in with us today about our next South Africa adventure.
- 2009 South Africa: In the Footsteps of Our Ancestors
- 2010 Ancient Voices: Exploring Human Origins & Wildlife in South Africa
- 2016 South Africa: Ancient Lives and Landscapes
- 2024 South African Exploration: From Cape to Cradle to Wilderness
A classic safari through the “cradle of mankind” in the shadow of Kilimanjaro
Hosted by Donald Johanson PhD, IHO Founding Director