Safari Holidays

Archive for February, 2009

In terms of African wildlife Safari, Tanzania is without doubt east Africa’s leading attraction.

Together with Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia Islands, it offers a combination hard to come by.

Tanzania is one of the few countries with a very large portion of the land dedicated to wildlife. Over a quarter of Tanzania is made up of National Parks, game reserves, and controlled areas. In the North, the remarkable Serengeti plains support over three million animals; further east is Ngorongoro Crater, a magnificent caldera which reveals on its floor an amphitheatre of natural wonders, teeming with animals of different types; nearby, Lake Manyara at the foot of the Rift Valley is a bird watchers paradise. Tanzania has 53,000 sq. km. of inland water. Lake Tanganyika is Africa’s deepest and longest fresh water lake. In the north-west, Lake Victoria, the second largest on earth, lies in a huge shallow depression.

Whether you as a potential African Safari seeker appreciates these facts, is another matter all together. It certainly depends on how much information you have come across about Tanzania as a holiday destination.

It is hard to introduce Tanzania without getting distracted by the might Kilimanjaro. At 5,895 m, there is mighty Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, which rises majestically out of the dusty bush of the northern Maasai Steppe. Its densely forested sides give way to the blue glaciers and unbelievably white snow of its rounded peak.

A visit to Tanzania will almost certainly lead to interaction with some of the more prominent places in Tanzania. Just a short introduction to some of the places your safari is likely to take you to.

Arusha town

Set almost on the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, Arusha was once a small trading post. If you are looking at doing a safari into the northern part of Tanzania, Arusha town is likely to be your starting point after you land at Kilimanjaro International Airport. Arusha town’s other significance, is due to its geographical position in the centre of Africa, it is said to be mid way between the Cape and Cairo. The Arusha National Park, just outside the city is a string of lovely lakes with a miniature volcanic crater hidden in a forest of mahogany and olive on the slopes of Mount Meru.

Mount Kilimanjaro

This is the highest free-standing mountain in Africa. It is also a national park which extends from mountain rain forest to scrub and alpine moorland and finally snow and ice fields at the summit. For the adventures, reliable tour operators will be organize scenic climbs to the roof of Africa.

The Ngorongoro Crater

Certainly one of Africa’s true wonders of the natural world and an extraordinary place of haunting beauty, with its grand majestic mountain ring and lake, Ngorongoro, an active volcano some 8 million years ago, covers an area of 264 sq. km and is the largest intact caldera in the world.

Approaching Ngorongoro Crater is a unique experience. The road winds upwards through a beautiful area of tropical rainforest and meadows carpeted with wild flowers. Its enduring charm stems from its overwhelming physical beauty and the abundance of wildlife permanently resident on the crater floor.

Lake Manyara

Set around a shallow alkaline lake, surrounded by ancient baobabs, ground water forest of fig and mahogany and open grasslands, this park lies at the foot of a dramatic escarpment, offering a rich diversity of scenery and wildlife.

Considered as one of Tanzania’s most attractive game sanctuaries, it is home to the famous tree- climbing lions. Birdlife is prolific, and a very high density of elephant population coexists with buffalo, zebra, wildebeest and other big game.

Olduvai Gorge

Between the Ngorongoro Conservation area and the Serengeti National Park lies Olduvai Gorge. This remote spot has become famous as the archaeological site where, in 1959, Dr Mary Leakey discovered Australopithecus Boisei, a hominid said to have lived almost 1.5 million years ago.

A museum overlooking the gorge displays many of their finds, such as prehistoric elephant, enormous ostrich and giant horned sheep, explaining the significance of the geology, fossils and artifacts.

The Serengeti National Park

With 14,500 sq kms. the Serengeti plain is undoubtedly the most famous wildlife sanctuary in the world, unequalled for its natural beauty and the greatest concentration of plains game anywhere. It lies between the shores of Lake Victoria in the east and the Maasai Mara to the North West.

Serengeti is renowned for its black-maned lion and other predators including wild dog, spotted hyena, jackal, cheetah and leopard. The wealth of birdlife is of a special interest including colorful rollers, bee-eaters, kingfishers and sunbirds and a large number of birds of prey.

During the months of May and June, Lake Ndutu at the foot of the Ngorongoro highlands, is the starting point for one of the great natural wonders of nature - the famous annual migration. Nearly 2 million wildebeests and a quarter of a million zebra move in winding columns several miles in length towards the Maasai Mara. An African Safari scheduled to coincide with this event is one that you are not likely to forget.

Solomon Okila
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/northern-tanzania-safari-your-best-bet-yet-on-an-african-wildlife-safari-vacation-541658.html

We recommend you to bring one safari vest during your trip. And that’s it.

Leave all your dressy clothes at home unless you are to attend a special function in Africa while on a trip.

The trick in safariing is to be as lightweight and functional as possible. Lightweight, due to the fact that you cannot (and must not) carry as much gears as you prefer while on the field. Despite from being too impractical, too many luggages would only cause you terrible mess and less ease of travel.

In the early years of African safaris, people are fond of taking with them unnecessary materials (a huge wooden chair for example) that are obviously unneeded. Well, travelers are far more comfortable with such form of practice since they have carriers to do the works for them. after all, most early safari guests came from the up society.

Yet, for the present, no one is truly certain that she can walk as comfortable while goofing around with extra (and unnecessary gears) while transferring from one vehicle to another or while crossing a remote trek.

Wearing safari vests, while treated more as a traditional part of all Safari Trips should be viewed as something practically important.

The rule of thumb is to apply casual comfort. Carry an average of 3 to 4 shirts for your entire trip and those must be pure cotton. On top of these, you need to have a safari jacket or safari vest.

A safari vest is vital for carrying with you small but essential gadgets such as a Swiss knife, extra films or a pocket size camera. In fact, anything will do so long as they fit in the pockets of your vest.

From 8 to 10 pockets, it would be impossible that a safari vest would not hold enough of your stuffs.

You may place them in your backpack off course but accessibility makes everything less complicated.

Actually, because of this specific property of safari vests, they are also popular among photographers and other professions that require the use of extra pouches.

Safari vests typically appear in neutral shades, following the idea of not being too loud when on the trek.

This practice can also be observed for your long sleeves, shirts and other safari clothing. Not only do neutral shades lessen the possibility of attracting animals, these may also allow proper ventilation. They are not as heat absorbent as other darker colors and they somehow help heat bounce back away from your body.

Low Jeremy
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/behind-safari-vests-and-pockets-93976.html

Activity holidays a great way to spice up your vacation, so if you are stuck for ideas then why not try one of these:

SCUBA-DIVING

Scuba-diving is one of the fastest-growing water sports in the world. The Maldives are acknowledged as one the world’s greatest dive destinations, as are many of the Red Sea resorts such as Sharm el Sheikh, Hurghada and Taba. Diving in the Red Sea is popular due to its amazing underwater scenery with coral gardens, deep blue canyons and famous wrecks.

SKIING

Bulgaria is a perfect destination to try out skiing and snowboarding for the first time as it is really good value and tuition is cheap. For more experienced skiers, Charmonix in France or St Anton in Austria may prove more testing, while further afield, Jackson Hole in USA and Colorado’s Aspen boast some of the most challenging ski terrain in the world.

HIKING

As well as a tough pair of boots you’ll often need an equally tough mentality. The Canary Islands are ideal for discovering on foot. Whether you decide to venture to the summit of Mount Teide on Tenerife or simply stroll through the lush tropical greenery on La Palma you are sure to enjoy a fascinating experience.

SAFARI

Kenya is undeniably the best known destination for Safari Holidays. Hosting some of the most spectacular and varying wildlife in the world, Kenya features mountainous rainforests and large game reserves which take in lion, cheetah, elephant, and an abundance of bird life.

HORSE RIDING

Horse riding holidays in many destinations can combine both daily riding with time to relax on the beach. In Greece, the unspoilt Pelion Peninsula on the east coast is an excellent riding resort. Italy is famous for good horses, beautiful landscapes, delicious food and plentiful wine, so Tuscany is an ideal location for a horse riding holiday with several challenging long-distance rides from village to village.

WHITE WATER RAFTING

A fun family activity, rafting can take in spectacular scenery and the natural beauty of surrounding areas, as well as providing a natural roller-coaster ride through ferocious mountain rivers. White-water rafting in Dalaman, Turkey is one of the most exciting holiday experiences and is perfect for active thrill seekers. The Dalaman River is rated as one of the top rafting destinations in the world, but don’t worry - professionals will guide you every step of the way for an unforgettable adventure.

SAILING

Whether you sail on your own or opt for luxury crewed sailing, whereby a crew takes care of everything for you, there is no other activity to match it. With its tropical islands, the Caribbean is a particular favourite sailing holiday destination. In the Mediterranean, the Greek islands dominate the sailing scene with the Ionian Islands. Turkey’s Lycian Coast is also very popular.

GOLF

Golf holidays are an increasingly popular way of exploring the world while playing some of the most exciting golf courses on the planet. The all-year-round sunny mild climate of the Canary Islands and Florida make golf holidays an ideal break. Spain offers famous courses like Valderama and plenty of cheap golf holidays in Catalonia and the Costa Brava. Golf holidays are particularly popular on the Costa del Sol (nicknamed the Costa del Golf!), which has the biggest concentration of courses in Europe and of course offers plenty of options for the 19th hole!

CYCLING

Leaving your troubles behind on a cycling holidays is a refreshing and liberating experience. The concept of being free to go where you want is very luring to many cyclists. Of course, you can follow established routes which are littered throughout Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and - a relative newcomer - Croatia, which boasts ancient roads criss-crossing through the stunning countryside.

WINDSURFING

With consistently reliable winds, the Canary Islands are a favourite windsurf destination, particularly on Lanzarote and Gran Canaria. In southern Spain Tarifa, is for the more experienced windsurfers, while Hurghada on the Red Sea coast boasts equally powerful year-round conditions. Further afield, Aruba and Barbados provides perfect conditions for windsurfing.

Visit directline-holidays.co.uk for more information on all these activity holidays, plus more.

Travel Guru
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/exciting-holidays-138628.html

Kenya offers african safari enthusiasts so much more than open plains, jungles and wildlife; that’s if you were wanting more more. I was amazed to learn Kenya can provide plenty of tropical paradise to visitors via it’s amazing beaches.

African safari club members have been enjoying the wonderment Kenya has to offer for over 40 years and the amazing thing is, this magnificenr land is no secret!

Top Five Kenyan Attractions!

Let’s examine the best of the best Kenya has to offer. Going on safari in Africa is for most, a once in a lifetime experience so make the most of your visit. That’s why Kenya is such an attractive part of Africa to visitors; it has it all.

Kenyan Beaches

From the north in Lamu, all the way to Mombassa in the south, Kenya’s beaches are a holiday zone on their own. White sands, relaxation, water sports: just about any activity you can imagine and exploring it’s wonderful marine reserves adds further gloss to a beachside stay in this country. Taking in an all encompassing safari in Kenya would normally mean winding down on a sandy beach and this is a path many decide to choose… they leave the beaches till last!

Masai Mara

The Masai Mara is particularly attractive to visitors during the migration period for the wildbeest during the second half of the year. However, don’t let this put you off not visiting this wildlife-filled haven during the first half of the year. The added attraction of seeing some of the world’s most feared natural predators on the open plains of the Masai Mara is mouth-watering for many african safari club enthusiasts.

Samburu Safari

This may not make many people’s top three Kenyan attractions but that is hard to understand. Samburu is a classic dry and arid African landscape cut in the middle by water which is a magnet for a great variety of wildlife. Elephants abound in this environment given the water available but you’ll see everything from lions to leopards in Samburu.

Mount Kenya

A snow covered mountain top adds a further majestic touch to this usually hot and dry environment but that’s what Mount Kenya offers. The second tallest peak in all of Africa, Mount Kenya is popular to hikers and mountain climbers. It’s certainly a top five must see for african safari club devotees when visiting Kenya.

Amboselli National Park

While it’s not the largest national park in Kenya, it’s location is popular to tourists because of it’s close proximity to Mount Kilimanjaro. Amboselli national park is a phoyographer’s dream and apart from the scenery, is abundant in wildlife including lions, giraffes and zebras. It definately makes my top five list!

Dean Caporella
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/five-reasons-why-you-should-join-the-club-on-an-african-safari-in-kenya-119292.html

When it comes to travel in South Africa, there are many things for you to see and do. The first thing however that you should keep in mind is that South Africa is a nation in which you might run into a lot of problems. Like any African country, you should check with your own home country to make sure that there aren’t any tourist restrictions on South Africa or on you from South Africa. Once you have checked with your home country, and everything is set to go, there are several things that you should know before you continue to travel to South Africa.

First of all the most important place for you to see is the biggest city, Johannesburg. While it isn’t the capital, it is a place that is full of much cultural diversity and many beautiful and historical sites. You are going to want to spend most of your time there, because this is where you can truly learn about South Africa and talk to people who know the history surrounding this beautiful country.

In Johannesburg, which is nicknamed Egoli, you can visit the capital of the province. You can see the mine dumps, which stand from South Africa’s richest past, and also look at the modern Architecture. In Sandton, you can visit a business, commercial and residential district. This is known as the richest square mile in all of Africa, so it is the financial hub of South Africa. About 50 KM north of Johannesburg you can visit Pretoria, where you will find that City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, which began in December of 2002. This is of great interest because it is a newly formed group of townships, an experiment that you can witness taking place. Don’t forget to visit Dinokeng, which is north east of Joburg and Tshwane. This is a region that has natural, cultural and historical attractions that you can visit.

There are other things that you are going to want to take in while you are in South Africa. You should definitely take in some of the local festivals. South Africa has one of the largest numbers of cultural festivals per capita, cause of the fact that they are a nation hugely seeped in cultures and diversity. These festivals, however, are not very well known. The best thing to do, if you are interested in witnessing one of the festivals, is to contact a local person who would know when and where they are going to be going on.

G. Chadwick
http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/safari-in-south-africa-131531.html

I'm on vacation with my family and my father needs to use the internet for financial news. However, I'm leaving today and he will need to use it for the rest of the week. I don't want him or anyone else in my family to use snoop around on my computer. I need some way to lock everything except access to safari.

Create a new user account as a standard or managed account. As long as your family does not have your password (assuming you have it set), all of your info will be secure!

I plan to go to South Africa with my eight years old son. I would like to know the best park and the best month of the year to do safari.

Kruger is nice but huge. You can drive a lot and see little or you can see a ton of stuff. It's a great place to go but if this is your first visit and you really want to see a lot, I would recommend Kapama. This is an answer I put up a while ago that the asker seemed to really like. I like September - not too hot and not too cold.

The housing part of Kapama is fenced in to keep the animals out but there were a few giraffes hanging around the entrance the entire time we were there. There are early morning safaris and evening safaris and you would want to go on both as the animals are different. They take you a number of places but the best place was a watering hole. There was a herd of elephants and they were so close it felt you could reach out and touch them. We also, after a wild drive through the bush - no road, came on a lion who had a warthog down. We were very close and he was quite funny to watch after he had eaten. Acted like a kitten rolling and playing with his tail. There were a couple of ostriches, all manner of antelope which I referred to as deer much to the dismay of our guide. If you go remember - there are no deer in South Africa, only antelopes. We then came across three lionesses who were nowhere near as entertaining as their male counterpart. And monkeys. Buffalo, Rhino.

On the night trip we saw hyenas and had a bush baby fly onto our vehicle and take off just as fast. Those two things left the biggest impression for the time we spent out after the sun went down. we saw all manner of birds but the ones I remember most were the storks and the vultures.

Kapama also have safaris taken on elephants instead of vehicles. but I didn't do that. Have kicked my own butt a lot about turning that one down.

We had a wonderful guide and tracker. Both men were walking encyclopedias on the subject of African wildlife and shared as much information as any human beings can without losing their voices

Part of the package we took also took us to Hoedspruit Centre. Cheetahs mostly but at the time they had a wild dog or two as well in the hospital part.

This was 6 years ago and I may get the order of things mixed up and I am using the photos we brought back. I know I have left out a lot of stuff.
Was it expensive - This was a while back and I was using Canadian dollars. I thought it was good value for my money but expensive is relative - depends entirely on how much you can afford to spend at the time.

Below are three links - the first two are NOT my experiences but one shows some of the amazing things you can stumble on. The second is my favourite lion clip and the third is the Kapama site. If you watch the youtube clips, turn up the sound.

You might also want to check this answer and especially it's links out.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ag8GlGyKVK00Gd5eJpFz._bty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080714072932AAdC76S&show=7#profile-info-rZuxtNl9aa

I would like to do 1 weeks safari at least and I will be there for about 4 weeks seing the country. I am a budget traveller on my way home to the UK from Asia wanting to fit Kenya in. Any tips, advice welcome, eg renting cars (I have a full UK licence so is this possible? Really like the idea of renting a car for some of the time here depending on costs) How much would a weeks standard lodge safari cost? lots of info on the net but typically no prices! anyone been recently?

I have done much of the south of Africa many years ago but no idea where to start here! should I book accom or are there hostels etc?

In fact is it even possible to go given the flooding I recently heard about (havernt had TV, radio or papers for a while so updates all good!)

thanks all!

hi there,
Good to hear that you want to come for a one week safari to Kenya. I am a tour guide / consultant in Nairobi Kenya specialising last minute and budget safaris. I can assist you with your safari. Your UK driving licence can be used locally here. The cost for self-drive car for one week rental will cost you about US$ 880.(fuel not included). For the safari i will need you to be more specific like your main areas of interest and the type of accommodation you require but i can give you a rough estimate of US$ 3000 (car included). This is a really rough estimate. Depending on what you want we can work out the specifics feel free to consult me further. Don't worry about the floods there are no floods currently. The Safari circuit is quit safe. For accommodations you need to get prior bookings i can do this for you once we confirm the dates. Get me at xkcox@yahoo.com for further consultations. Waiting to hear from you soon.

I would like to plan a trip and would like any helpful guidlines, tips, etc..

I went in December and it was wonderful, very warm in Zambia. I booked my trip with an AAA travel office and got a great deal. Have a great time.

I need to no reasons why people are for and against wildlife parks and Safari Holidays. This is for school, so your help would be great.
Thanks (:

Wildlife and Safari parks in Europe are keeping a variety of animals out of their normal context or climate zone, prisoners even though they may be free to roam in a restricted space.They are informative and allow people to see animals that they would never see in real life, and these animals are well cared for, supervised by vets who make sure that they are in good health. Some animals that are there are in fact being protected as there are very few left and it allows a breeding programme that help to save certain species (like some tigers for instance) that are being slaughtered in the wild. In Safari parks which are in their normal environment, for instance Africa, the animals enjoy more freedom but are not always cared for and poachers shoot them illegally for their skins or their ivory. People fly long distances to see them, which is bad in terms of carbon footprints, even if it is bringing prosperity to those countries through tourism.