Geography River Studies

Our field work programs bring learning to life, with innovative program design, real world experience and expert staff.
We take our knowledge of the outdoors and education, fusing them together to create the best facilitated learning experiences ever.

Contact us for more information on your next: coastal studies, river studies, or environmental science program in China.

Our experienced team have travelled the breadth and width of China and much of the world in search of the most interesting and rewarding programmes both for outdoor adventure, business education and cultural/environmental diversity.

The locations we use are diverse and exotic with culture and adventure abound. Visit our locations page to read about some of the places we have travelled to. For international schools, expats and organisations interested in running student learning programmes in China, they are often met with logistical and cultural challenges. This is where our expertise comes in handy.

This gives us an unparalleled edge in running Chinese expeditions. All our staff are proficient in Mandarin and English, capable of delivering all program contents in English, with back end staff operating and dealing with local people in their respective local languages. Our edge lies in seamlessly smooth logistics, and the savings we bring for your institution as we are able to negotiate a better price for everything from transport to accommodation and food.

In Curriculum outdoor education and field studies

Liaising with international schools in China, Hong Kong and the USA. One thing that comes up time and again is justifying their extra curricular activities, outdoor education and field studies to the education board, the parents, and the schools examination system. They all require not only resources, but taking time away from classroom learning. However for many students experiential learning in the natural environment can be more effective and powerful in facilitating understanding than traditional classroom education. This begs the question as to why most outdoor learning conducted off school grounds are still classified as extracurricular instead of being an integral part of students school life? We think the key factors are: risk, cost, time, understanding & a lack of measurability under conventional examination systems.

Our team conduct in depth conversations with teachers, as we believe the best information with regards to student learning is provided by the amazing people who dedicate their lives to providing student education. The consensus amongst them is simple: they would like their students to conduct more of their research in the real world, then use the classroom to enforce that learning with theory backed up by hard data. To this end we have been, working on a range of field studies programmes for IB and IGCSE.

Contact Us to get more information on our Geography Field Studies programmes, like our IGCSE River Ecology Program, which is run partly in the classroom and partly on the river.

Starting in 2013 Zen Quest Adventures made it a top priority to designing programmes that could be run in conjunction with IB, GCSE and A Levels. Where entire lessons, student research and experiments can be delivered in the field. We can achieve this by working with educators, facilitators and teachers in collaboration. Where you are more than just our client as we work together, providing the leaders of tomorrow with the best educational experiences possible today.

Shigu (事故) is located on the first bend on the Changjiang River (金沙江，长江河) and is famous for being the place where the red army crossed during the long march. One small old bridge still remains and there is a small museum in the village dedicated to this event.

Rainbow valley (彩虹谷), nicknamed for the many rainbows that can be seen here during the summer months, is 4km up into the hills behind the Village. The valley has steep sides rising over 3000m in all directions and is characterised by its conglomerate limestone walls. The first rock climbing was established here in June 2014 on the annual Kailas Rock Search, Eben Farnworth and Zhoulei were on this initial trip. Since then over 100 routes have been established in the valley. Climbing styles include sport, multi pitch and some traditional routes as well.

The local people are mainly Naxi and Lisu; they farm: maze, tobacco, water melons and a range of vegetables. Many of these people do not natively originate from this area, but settled over the last 150 years to work in the timber trade, cutting down the now nearly non existent forests.

We are going to integrate the Internet of Things into our Earthship. Something which the team in Taos seams lacking in is scientific research and precise measurement of their buildings performances. We will start with temperature and install temperature sensors in the walls floor and ceiling of our Earthship. We will feed the data live to our website where it can be collected and analysed by anyone. Second we will design a micro computer management system to open and close the cold and hot air vents in our Earthship based on readings from the temperature sensors embedded throughout the building. This will make for a much more controlled living environment without the need to get up in the middle of the night to close a vent, and this is just the beginning.

Shaxi (沙溪) Valley is located in the Himalayan foothills of North-western Yunnan, China. Its inhabitants are the Bai and Yi tribes who are the guardians of one of the last surviving market towns on the tea horse caravan route coming in from the Himalayan Plateau.

The village farms rice, tobacco and barley, is home to ancient sandstone temples and has a musical theatre both for the purposes of religious worship and entertainment alike. Visits to Shaxi can involve:

Open farm and homestays

Micro Campusing

Service learning

Cultural programs

Trekking

Biking

Rock Climbing

Abseiling

Site seeing.

Shennongjia is located in the heart of western Hubei and it covers an area of over 3,000 square kilometres. There are six main peaks hovering above 3000 metres surrounded by rustic and diverse terrain. Here, the highest mountain, Shenongding, stands at a height of over 3105 meters while its lowest depth Shizhuhe is situated on the south west (398 meters). Its highland terrain coupled with its geographical location affords Shennongjia a temperate climate which attracts many tourists to the area in the hot summers.

Known as the Oriental Botanical Gardens, Shennongjia boasts a rich tapestry of biological diversity. It shelters some of the world's rarest fauna and flora such as Chinese dove trees and an impressive list of endangered species such as South China Tigers, white bears and white snakes. In 1986, with the approval of the State Council, Shennongjia became the National Nature Reserve of Forests and Wild Animal Species. In 1990, UNESCO accepted it into the Protection Plan for Man and Nature.
Taking a stroll in the rustic wilderness of Shennongjia, one is continuously reminded of the rich cultural heritage that underpins this majestic environment. Situated in the cradle of Chinese civilisation, the cultural heritage of the local population stretches all the way back to ancient China. Here, you will find yourself lost in time and experience the authentic way of life in the most ancient civilisation on this planet.

A little known location 2:30 drive up river from Chongqing. The road was only completed in 2007 and before that the only access to the mountainous riverside town was by boat taking over 3 days. The Karst topography of the area has now become a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the giant natural arches and caves in the area. This area is well off the normal tourist trail for now and makes for a beautiful summertime retreat up on the plato above the town at around 1300m and an average temperature of 22 degrees.

Shangri-La, a name synonymous with paradise on Earth, immortalised by James Hilton's 1933 seminal novel the Lost Horizon. Originally a fictional location, the name was later adopted by a town in Yunnan called Zhongdian in 2001. Following this name change the town of Shangri-la saw an explosion in its development during the past ten years, through its sheer beauty and cultural diversity, it attracted many outdoor enthusiasts and tourists from all over the world. With exponential growth however, comes a heavy price.  The rustic beauty of the town has been replaced by skyscrapers and generic shopping malls; local Tibetan culture has been overshadowed by rapid assimilation.

However, not far from the sprawling concrete blocks of Zhongdian, there remains a place of immense natural beauty, unscathed by the hand of urban expansion, a small Tibetan village named Nizu, which we endearingly refer to as the real Shangri-la. Here, the landscape is bound to take your breath away. Situated in a highland plateau with unbounded horizons, the beauty of Nizu is further accentuated by the rugged mountain ranges that surround it.  

Here, you will have an opportunity to experience the most authentic Tibetan way of life without the constraints of getting into the Tibeten Autonomous region!  You will spend three days exploring areas of interest around the Nizu village, including the majestic "rainbow waterfalls" and caves of religious significance. Another 3 days will be spent in the Nan-Bao Plateau, where local villagers have been herding yaks and sheep for centuries. The area embodies a sense of timelessness; you may feel like you have travelled back in time, untouched and unaffected by modern technology. It is a place for introspection and spiritual growth.

Liming (黎明) is a small village situated in Laojunshan National Park (老君山), the second national park to be created in China and is home to many unique species of animals and plants. Most famous of these include the Yunnan golden Monkey, Giant flying squirrels and the Red Panda. The local tribe is called the Lisu, who still lead quite an isolated life from the rest of China.

Liming is good for many outdoor activities including:

• Trekking
• Camping
• Rock Climbing
• Abseiling
• Field studies
• Off road karting
• Cultural exchange programs.

There is a good variety of accommodation in the village and everything is within walking distance. The rock climbing development started in late 2009 and has really put Liming on the Asia climbing map. There is a gate entrance fee to get into the park of 115rmb (one off payment to enter the park).