Everyone loves adventure with the chance of monetary reward.

On Sunday, the Travel Channel lets people live such excitement vicariously with "Gem Hunt." The one-hour special takes viewers along with veteran gem dealer Ron LeBlanc, geologist Bernie Gadboury and jewelry expert Diane Robinson, as they search remote regions of Madagascar for rare pink sapphires, premium blue sapphires and the country's best aquamarines.

Quests like these involve more than the ability to spot the prettiest jewels.

"You have to know your geology, your mineralogy, your topography, your politics, your economics," says Richard Houck, CEO of the Sterling Hill Mining Museum in Ogdensburg. "If you want to have a successful effort, you cannot go underprepared. Someone going down there without proper preparation and planning can find themselves in a very difficult and unproductive [situation]. You gotta do your homework."

Years ago, Houck went on expeditions at mining locations in Brazil, Peru, England, Sweden and Canada. He says that while such expeditions have gotten even more difficult now as so much of the planet has been explored and overmined the basic motivations remain the same.

"First is monetary compensation," says Houck. "You hope you are going to make some money, maybe some big money. [Second is] the adventure.

"There's also the Easter Egg Hunt Syndrome. We all like to seek, explore and discover."

Or watch others seek, explore and discover.

With cameras in tow, LeBlanc, Gadboury and Robinson travel to remote regions of the island nation off the coast of Africa. From them, viewers get a unique look into the gem industry, its risks and dangers and the obstacles faced getting a gem from a mine to the jewelry store.

It might even inspire a few to set off on adventures of their own.

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Seeking adventure and profit on Travel Channel's treasure hunt