Looking for ideas about a honeymoon safari

Hi all,

my girl-friend and i are looking for some ideas for a honeymoon safari.
We are not newcomers as we spent some time in Africa : two years in
Cameroon, two safaris in Kenya, 1 in Tanzania and one in Botswana.

We are looking for a romantic and luxurious place where we may have two
weeks of safari in a rich wildlife area.

Requirements are the following :
inside a wildlife reserve
beautiful landscape
luxurious tented camp or lodge
highest quality of game guides
opportunities for having other activities like walking, night
safaris, ....
balloon or aircraft trips
fine place for bird watching also

So, your best ideas even the craziest ones are expected.

Thanks for all.

Carine and Frederic

In Kenya - Finch Hattons in Tsavo. http://www.finchhattons.com/
the NEW Larsens in Samburu. http://www.wildernesslodges.co.ke/ (then
select Larsens)
No balloons either place.
Bateleur Camp @ Kichwa Tembo in the Masai Mara. Balloon here, of course.

http://www.ccafrica.com/accommodatio...11/lodgeid-2-1

In South Africa, anyplace in the Sabi Sands reserve - great wildlife -
but these are truly costly.
My favorite is not the most pretentious: Londolozi
http://www.ccafrica.com/reserve-1-id-2-6

Since you have been on safari in Tanzania, Kenya, and Botswana, you have
already experienced
the natural world for safaris. It is less so in South Africa; much more
managed.
But - in fairness - if it is luxury you are seeking, you will find it
there.

Dear Dave,

thank you for your advice, recommandations and adresses.

In fact, luxury is not our primary requirement. The first one is
wildlife !

We have already been to Larsen's Camp in Samburu which is tipiccaly the
kind of place we are looking for. May be do you remember, my story
about our last trip in Kenya and the few days we spent in Larsen's.

Best regards.

Fred

Dave Patterson a écrit :

In Kenya - Finch Hattons in Tsavo. http://www.finchhattons.com/
the NEW Larsens in Samburu. http://www.wildernesslodges.co.ke/ (then
select Larsens)
No balloons either place.
Bateleur Camp @ Kichwa Tembo in the Masai Mara. Balloon here, of course.

http://www.ccafrica.com/accommodatio...11/lodgeid-2-1

In South Africa, anyplace in the Sabi Sands reserve - great wildlife -
but these are truly costly.
My favorite is not the most pretentious: Londolozi
http://www.ccafrica.com/reserve-1-id-2-6

Since you have been on safari in Tanzania, Kenya, and Botswana, you have
already experienced
the natural world for safaris. It is less so in South Africa; much more
managed.
But - in fairness - if it is luxury you are seeking, you will find it
there.

Fred, I do now remember your posting - in fact, I forwarded
it to the owners of Larsens. It was helpful to us as well..
and, as it turned out, the group of 18 clients who traveled
with us in September named it as their favorite stop!

Dave,

i am happy this posting has been useful and that people spent a
delicious moment in Larsens.
For my girlfriend and i this si tippically the kind of place we are
enjoying.

Regards

P.S : you can see some of my pictures at the following address :
http://picasaweb.google.fr/Frederic.Salein/


Dave Patterson a écrit :

Fred, I do now remember your posting - in fact, I forwarded
it to the owners of Larsens. It was helpful to us as well..
and, as it turned out, the group of 18 clients who traveled
with us in September named it as their favorite stop!

In message om
"Fred" wrote:

Dave,

i am happy this posting has been useful and that people spent a
delicious moment in Larsens.
For my girlfriend and i this si tippically the kind of place we are
enjoying.

I suspect your best bet will be Botswana, if its within your budget.
Small camps, personal service and guiding, great wildlife and birds.
Hearsay only, it's way outside my budget!

Since I see you're interested in birds, the best places in Kenya are
Lake Baringo, Kakamega Forest and Arabuko-Sokoke Forest.

At Lake Baringo you have two main choices of accommodation in the
non-basic category: Baringo Island Camp and the Lake Baringo Club.
The Camp is more romantic and secluded, not as luxurious as Larsen's.
At weekends it can be quite busy with expats and residents coming out
from Nairobi. The Club has a much bigger variety of bird species (more
habitats), but since Block lost it, it's been going downhill: I was
there in July and although it was more than adequate for my needs, it
might not be small/luxurious enough for you. Both the Club and the
Camp have bird guides and boats. Also on the mainland there's a local
guy called Cliff who can take you into the village areas and take you
a boat trip, though it will be expensive if no-one else wants to share
the boat. He took us to see Heuglin's Courser, which is pretty
difficult to see normally (it's nocturnal). He puts his money back
into the local community, and since he's looking towards marriage,
he's training up some young lads in bird guiding so they can take over
when he goes for personally paid employment in the next couple of
years. From the boats, the guides whistle down Fish Eagles for fish,
so you can get some nice photos: mind you, it depends who goes out
first - if they've already been fed, they just stick in their tree
when whistled! I got some nice pix on the boat trip especially, we
were out for about 3 hours (wear a hat and take water!), but still
haven't had time to get any of my pics form this trip onto my website.
Bird list from two earlier visits:
http://www.v-liz.com/safari/baring.htm

At Kakamega Forest you can stay at Rondo Retreat and they will find
you a bird guide. We had Wilberforce Okeka who was great; we heard
from others that at least two of the other guides are excellent too.
Bird list: http://www.v-liz.com/safari/kakamega/kaklis.htm

If you're going all the way out to Kakamega, you might as well go to
Rusinga Island Camp on Lake Victoria, small, remote, very romantic.
It's mostly for fishing, but if you're not interested (I'm not) just
tell them you want to watch birds, and they'll help you. The Luo
boatman took us out on the lake and told us lots of his tribe's
stories and traditions (because I asked). I think he was a bit
perplexed by us not wanting to fish (I don't know what kind of fish
they get, but they had one of these seats they strap you into when
going for sailfish off the coast), but was happy to show us the birds
and otters.
List: http://www.v-liz.com/safari/lakvic/rusin2.htm

For Arabuko-Sokoke Forest you can stay at any of the Malindi/Watamu
hotels and hire a car. We stayed at Ocean Sports (aka Open Shorts) in
Watamu. At the forest, you can hire a bird guide. We had David Ngala
who was mega excellent, but he isn't always there nowadays, but he
certainly was about for part of last year, so you could ask. Anyway,
if he's trained the other guides, they should also be very good.
List: http://www.v-liz.com/safari/aralis.htm

I hear the luxurious lodge at Meru is fantastic and very romantic.

Safari njema

Liz

--
http://www.v-liz.com - Kenya; Tanzania; Namibia; India; Galapagos
Photo Gallery:
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/g...emberID=165111

In message .com
"Fred" wrote:

Hi all,

my girl-friend and i are looking for some ideas for a honeymoon safari.
We are not newcomers as we spent some time in Africa : two years in
Cameroon, two safaris in Kenya, 1 in Tanzania and one in Botswana.

We are looking for a romantic and luxurious place where we may have two
weeks of safari in a rich wildlife area.

Requirements are the following :
inside a wildlife reserve
beautiful landscape
luxurious tented camp or lodge
highest quality of game guides
opportunities for having other activities like walking, night
safaris, ....
balloon or aircraft trips
fine place for bird watching also

Have you set a date yet?
This may make a difference to our suggestions ...

Slainte

Liz


--
http://www.v-liz.com - Kenya; Tanzania; Namibia; India; Galapagos
Photo Gallery:
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/g...emberID=165111

Dear Liz,

thank you for your answer.
In fact, we really do not know the season we are going to travel ...
So this is completely open !
Thank you for your advice.

Fred

Liz Leyden a écrit :

In message .com
"Fred" wrote:

Hi all,

my girl-friend and i are looking for some ideas for a honeymoon safari.
We are not newcomers as we spent some time in Africa : two years in
Cameroon, two safaris in Kenya, 1 in Tanzania and one in Botswana.

We are looking for a romantic and luxurious place where we may have two
weeks of safari in a rich wildlife area.

Requirements are the following :
inside a wildlife reserve
beautiful landscape
luxurious tented camp or lodge
highest quality of game guides
opportunities for having other activities like walking, night
safaris, ....
balloon or aircraft trips
fine place for bird watching also

Have you set a date yet?
This may make a difference to our suggestions ...

Slainte

Liz


--
http://www.v-liz.com - Kenya; Tanzania; Namibia; India; Galapagos
Photo Gallery:
http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/g...emberID=165111

In article . com, "Fred"
wrote:

Dear Liz,

thank you for your answer.
In fact, we really do not know the season we are going to travel ...
So this is completely open !
Thank you for your advice.


This makes considerable difference. During the dry season there are
considerable difference in where animals go than during the wet season.
The Chobe Game Lodge in Botswana would be an OK place during the dry
season, but when the rains start to come a lot of the wildlife starts
moving inland because the water holes start to fill up.

Kruger Park in South Africa and its surrounding areas offer a considerable
variety in activities. They have night drives (must be reserved in
advance due to limited space and popularity), evening drives, etc. There
are places outside the park, reasonably close, where one can also do such
things as hot air baloon trips. Other places in South Africa offer quite
a variety, including a breeding site for Jackass Penguins.

Depending on how long you are there, you might want to try a variety of
places. Even, for example, within Kruger itself there are several major
centers to stay the night. The same spot on the Sabie River gets awfully
boring after a while after you have seen it over and over again over the
course of several game drives. Given enough time you could spend several
days in each place within Kruger and get a lot of variety in both
locations within the park and the wildlife you see. Or, you could do what
I did and spend some time in Zambia (Victoria Falls), Botswana and South
Africa.

--
-Glennl
The despammed service works OK, but unfortunately
now the spammers grab addresses for use as "from" address too!
e-mail hint: add 1 to quantity after gl to get 4317.

Dear Glenn,

thanks for your message and advice.

First of all, i understand the season is a quite important choice (i
have been living in Cameroon for two years) but we would like to choose
the best season for the best place !

Then, we do not wanna have a trip with several stop and go and plenty
of hours on the road to go from place to place. We have done that
before in several countries, but this time, we wnt to choose a
wilderness area and have may one or two different romantic place inside
or around that area.

Our original idea was to go in Masai Mara for two weeks and having may
be one week in the north-west of the park and one week in the south in
two luxurious tented camps.

Moreover, we have already been to Botswana and i must recognize that we
had a really wonderful time there especially near Chobe in Elephant
Valley Lodge (Kasane Forest Reserve).

I am also very interested in your advice and comments about South
Africa and especially Kruger park and its neighbourood. I have heard
that the park has several different part (north, south) with also nice
private reserves around like Sabi-Sabi or Sabi-Sand.

Tell me : if you were getting there for two weeks in which place will
you go and stay ?

I am also very interested in another region of South Africa which is
Natal with parks and reserves like Umfolozi, Hlulluwe, Santa Lucia and
Pindha. Have you been there ?

Thank you for all
Best regards

a écrit :

In article . com, "Fred"
wrote:

Dear Liz,

thank you for your answer.
In fact, we really do not know the season we are going to travel ...
So this is completely open !
Thank you for your advice.


This makes considerable difference. During the dry season there are
considerable difference in where animals go than during the wet season.
The Chobe Game Lodge in Botswana would be an OK place during the dry
season, but when the rains start to come a lot of the wildlife starts
moving inland because the water holes start to fill up.

Kruger Park in South Africa and its surrounding areas offer a considerable
variety in activities. They have night drives (must be reserved in
advance due to limited space and popularity), evening drives, etc. There
are places outside the park, reasonably close, where one can also do such
things as hot air baloon trips. Other places in South Africa offer quite
a variety, including a breeding site for Jackass Penguins.

Depending on how long you are there, you might want to try a variety of
places. Even, for example, within Kruger itself there are several major
centers to stay the night. The same spot on the Sabie River gets awfully
boring after a while after you have seen it over and over again over the
course of several game drives. Given enough time you could spend several
days in each place within Kruger and get a lot of variety in both
locations within the park and the wildlife you see. Or, you could do what
I did and spend some time in Zambia (Victoria Falls), Botswana and South
Africa.

--
-Glennl
The despammed service works OK, but unfortunately
now the spammers grab addresses for use as "from" address too!
e-mail hint: add 1 to quantity after gl to get 4317.