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'Quick trip' to Africa proves to be a resounding success



 
 
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  #11  
Old July 30th, 2007, 10:29 PM posted to rec.travel.africa
Pat Anderson
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Posts: 101
Default 'Quick trip' to Africa proves to be a resounding success

In message , Liz Leyden
writes
In message
Pat Anderson wrote:

In message , Liz Leyden
writes


Just back myself from Uganda, where I heard that it's not unheard of
for people to fly out, drive to Bwindi in a day (nightmare) do a
gorilla trek, drive back to Entebbe the next day (or sometimes they
stay one more day at Bwindi) then home again. "What will we do next
weekend?"


Hi Liz,
you are just back from Uganda? Tell us where you went, what you did,
have you been before? I`m interested to hear your safari story!
Pat.


All in good time!
First trip to Uganda.
First impressions are just what people here have said befo
Ugandans very friendly and not hassling, like often in Kenya.
Not so many animals in the parks (QENP has an ongoing problem with
displaced people (specifically, allegedly, Rwandan refugees) shooting
lions and hyaenas etc, even in the past week).
Much greener/lusher overall than Kenya/Tz in July: they say a walking
stick stuck in the ground would sprout roots overnight. A country made
poor by a dictator. :-(
I went specifically for the gorillas, chimps and my No 1 wish bird,
the Shoebill and saw all three. Gorilla trek nearly killed me, I'm so
unfit! Discovered that tea grown in Bwindi sells for 125USh, about 5p,
per kg, and the pickers have to be paid out of this. Renewed my
commitment to being a Fair Trader.
Not successful photographically, because apart from the first two and
last two days it varied from bland heavy grey overcast to bland light
grey overcast. In the forests, bright light would have led to heavy
shadows anyway, and the enormous difference between dark and light
caused me all sorts of problems with the gorillas. We saw and heard
chimps, but in a really dark piece of forest. Flash not allowed with
the gorillas or chimps.
It was officially a group bird trip, a bit too birdy for me, really,
in that it was often running up a list of species seen at the top of
the forest through telescopes. The one time we saw elephants in nice
light, drinking and bathing, *no one else was interested* (how weird
is that?), so we didn't go closer, and I didn't get pics! That's the
compromise when you have to go on group trips and are limited to July:
just have to take what's going. :-(
I'll put info on my website and will post here when it's done. Could
take some time (weeks, not days), as I shot mostly in RAW (don't know
why I bothered!) which will take ages to process. Am transferring
images s-l-o-w-l-y - via CF cards as I can't find the cable - between
my P-2000 and the pc as I type this!

Slainte

Liz


Liz,
thanks for taking time to tell us about your safari to Uganda, the
gorilla trip sounds gruelling but worthwhile when you got up there, a
great experience!
You have been in the three main East African countries now so you have
seen differences in each one.
Glad you saw the shoebill and I agree, not being interested in the
elephants was weird, certainly to me as I love them.
I look forward to looking at your website when it`s done, a lot of work
for you! Enjoy the rest of your summer holiday.
Pat.
--
Pat Anderson
  #12  
Old July 31st, 2007, 08:56 AM posted to rec.travel.africa
Marc Lurie[_1_]
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Posts: 209
Default 'Quick trip' to Africa proves to be a resounding success

Well, each to his own I guess. I find that visiting a place like
Kruger gets too much after about three days, but maybe that's because
I go there often, not just once or twice a year.

I have become used to visiting countries for only a week or ten days
at a time, so it feels normal for me, and I tend to cram as much as
possible into the time.

As for Kenya being a "little country", the author clearly has never
been to Lesotho or The Gambia :-) but he is from Canada, so just about
everything else IS small. ;-)

Just for interests sake, Canada is 4 times larger than Africa's
biggest country Sudan, and 884 times larger than The Gambia!!!!

Marc


On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 14:39:27 +0200, Hans-Georg Michna
wrote:

[Had to laugh at, "Kenya is an amazing little country ..." Guess
the guy hasn't looked at a map. Besides, I don't agree with him.
I've tried different safari durations and invariably liked the
longer ones more. Nothing shorter than two weeks ... Hans-Georg]

  #13  
Old July 31st, 2007, 12:36 PM posted to rec.travel.africa
Wildpicture
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Posts: 50
Default 'Quick trip' to Africa proves to be a resounding success

Marc Lurie schreef:
Well, each to his own I guess. I find that visiting a place like
Kruger gets too much after about three days, but maybe that's because
I go there often, not just once or twice a year.


Hi Marc, that is a luxury "problem". :-) I have just returned a few days
ago from a month in Kruger. I was very glad to be there for a month as
we did unfortunately have several mishaps. First of all Air France lost
our bagage (and they did so again on the return flight!!!) and we were
without any clothes or anything for five days. Specially hard for the
kids. I got ill (40 degree fever) for two days. One day SANP messed up
our booking and we ended up in Malelane in the pitchdark with no
accomodation and no staff to assist us. One of my (two) cameras broke
down. With the public service strike being over on the day we left, SANP
staff went on strike. We had rain for three days and one day a leaking
roof (in Sirheni).

All that happened in the first week of our stay! Had we been there only
for one week, we would have hated this trip. Luckily we three more weeks
to have a great time and a great experience, specially for our young
kids as it was their first time here.

Also, we hardly saw any wildlife during the first three weeks. Just
elephant, buffalo and hippo. But we drove hours without even seeing
impala. After three weeks mopane trees definitely get very boring. :-)
The last week made up for that as we had great sightings, even saw the
"big 5" within a few hours!

We mostly stayed at all the bushcamps and even though the first two
weeks were in the middle of South African school holidays with
everything fully booked, we had the roads to us most of the time. Only
directly around main camps we saw lots of cars, specially Skukuza was
awfull. Away from there, we usually saw no other cars for hours.

Regards,
Hans
  #14  
Old August 1st, 2007, 12:32 AM posted to rec.travel.africa
Alan S[_1_]
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Posts: 2,163
Default 'Quick trip' to Africa proves to be a resounding success

On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:36:52 +0200, Wildpicture
wrote:

First of all Air France lost
our bagage (and they did so again on the return flight!!!) and we were
without any clothes or anything for five days. Specially hard for the
kids.


Doesn't bear thinking about. I mean, I couldn't imagine the
anguish my kids would go through if we had to spend five
days naked together...



Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltraveloz.blogspot.com/
latest: Mossman Gorge in the Daintree Rainforest
http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/
latest: Self-Testing and Type 2 Management
  #15  
Old August 1st, 2007, 07:28 AM posted to rec.travel.africa
Marc Lurie[_1_]
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Posts: 209
Default 'Quick trip' to Africa proves to be a resounding success

Sounds like a nightmare week?!?

One of my greatest fears is getting ill far from home. As I am usually
travelling for work rather than pleasure, getting ill is doubly bad.

I did get ill once in Uganda (salmonella), and I really thought I was
going to die. Ever since then I travel with a course of Ciprofloxicin
just in case.

I'm glad you ended up having good sightings eventually. People don't
understand that about Kruger. The animals are unpredictable and you
can go for days without seing much. It's not "canned" game viewing
like so many other places.

Marc
  #16  
Old August 4th, 2007, 09:29 AM posted to rec.travel.africa,soc.culture.kenya
Liz Leyden
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Posts: 85
Default 'Quick trip' to Africa proves to be a resounding success

In message
Hans-Georg Michna
wrote:

To be honest, like most people, I would not have thought of a
quick trip to Africa when planning for a vacation. By quick I
mean eight days with my feet actually on African soil. Add three
days to get there and back and you have 11 days away.


Whatever we might think, short safaris seem to be The Thing.
The other day I was in a local travel agent's. As the assistants were
both on the phone, I started to browse the brochures and soon homed in
on the Safari one - by a company I didn't know. A quick shufty
revealed several short (I mean 3 or 4 nights ex Maun) safaris in
Botswana before an excited clerkess was available (only to be
disappointed when I was just booking a seat on the bus for the camera
club's day trip!)

Next, I browsed the Trailfinders brochure, where I find:
Gorillas through the mist: a walking safari in Rwanda - 3 nights ex
Kigale.
Fly-in Masai Mara (2 nights ex Nairobi)
... and several seven nights safaris.

Slainte

Liz



--
http://www.v-liz.com - Kenya; Tanzania; Namibia; India; Galapagos


  #17  
Old August 4th, 2007, 09:57 PM posted to rec.travel.africa,soc.culture.kenya
Pat Anderson
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 101
Default 'Quick trip' to Africa proves to be a resounding success

In message , Liz Leyden
writes
In message
Hans-Georg Michna
wrote:

To be honest, like most people, I would not have thought of a
quick trip to Africa when planning for a vacation. By quick I
mean eight days with my feet actually on African soil. Add three
days to get there and back and you have 11 days away.


Whatever we might think, short safaris seem to be The Thing.
The other day I was in a local travel agent's. As the assistants were
both on the phone, I started to browse the brochures and soon homed in
on the Safari one - by a company I didn't know. A quick shufty
revealed several short (I mean 3 or 4 nights ex Maun) safaris in
Botswana before an excited clerkess was available (only to be
disappointed when I was just booking a seat on the bus for the camera
club's day trip!)

Next, I browsed the Trailfinders brochure, where I find:
Gorillas through the mist: a walking safari in Rwanda - 3 nights ex
Kigale.
Fly-in Masai Mara (2 nights ex Nairobi)
... and several seven nights safaris.

Slainte

Liz



Liz,
I too have seen these safari ndogos ( bad Swahili! ) such as leave
London on Thursday, visit Zanzibar or go on safari and return the
following Monday. A short trip like that would kill me, I need at least
two weeks! I have met many businessmen on flights to Nairobi who have
been going out to attend meetings and then back home a few days later, I
suppose we are all different. Good on those who can do the short
safaris.
Pat.
--
Pat Anderson
 




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