Where to go in Africa?

Pat Anderson wrote in message ...
In message , Leo Kerner
writes
I am considering my first trip to Arica, for 4-6 weeks. I want to see
wild animals, natural beauty, local culture. Where in that vast
continent should I go on such a first trip?
Leo

You can find all those in Kenya. It is a country of mountains, lakes,
beaches, savannah and wildlife in abundance.
Pat

My wife and I are now planning our 5th trip to Africa. We have been
in seven countries and hope to see many more. We do not use group
travel, but rather book our own safaris whether they be in the bush or
in towns. We have never felt unsafe, particularly in the bush. I
highly recommend Cape Town and the surrounding area for culture and
some game opportunities. We have been to Zimbabwe and felt very safe
- though that was in 99. I would go there again today but keep to the
national park areas. Botswana is great but expensive. If you go try
to see Chobe, the Okavanga Delta, and the Kalahari. Zambia is a
beautiful country and safe for the most part - you should be able to
drive around on your own without much difficulty. Malawi lies along
the Great Rift Valley has unique geographic features. It has a huge
population for its size with a lot of poverty. We travelled in the
Serengetti (Tanzania) and saw wonderful wildlife. I understand that
Kenya is rather touristy and we will avoid it until we have seen many
other places. In general we have found the people to be very are
friendly - most want to talk to Americans. I recommend staying in
smaller tented lodges for safaris, avoiding the "hotels in the bush".
In towns B&Bs are the best bet.

Chris

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 19:23:08 -0400, Leo Kerner
wrote:

Thanks- but I am confused now. First you say that "Arusha
is one place I went that I would just as soon not see again" ie, you did not
like. Then you say
"Arusha National Park ... packs more bang for the time
and dollar." ie, you did like. Are they different Arushas?

Leo,

Arusha is a town.

Hans-Georg

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No mail, please.

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 19:23:08 -0400, Leo Kerner
wrote:

Thanks- but I am confused now. First you say that "Arusha
is one place I went that I would just as soon not see again" ie, you did not
like. Then you say
"Arusha National Park ... packs more bang for the time
and dollar." ie, you did like. Are they different Arushas?

Leo,

Arusha is a town.

Hans-Georg

--
No mail, please.

Arusha is a city in Tanzania. It is a tourist business center where many of
the tour companies have their offices because it is central to many other
attractions. It is not a very interesting, or pleasant city in its own sake.
It is not a bad place, but rather dreary and too many very pushy street
vendors. I found Stonetown, Zanzibar to be a much more hospitable,
attractive, and interesting city, and recommend a visit highly. Arusha
National Park is near the city of Arusha. It is a great park for both
wildlife viewing and climbing Mt Meru, nearly as high as Kilimanjaro. Many
climbers do Meru as a Kili warm up. (Not me, Kili, as far as I got, was more
than enough.)


"Leo Kerner" wrote in message
...
Thanks- but I am confused now. First you say that "Arusha
is one place I went that I would just as soon not see again" ie, you did
not
like. Then you say
"Arusha National Park ... packs more bang for the time
and dollar." ie, you did like. Are they different Arushas?

Leo

None wrote:

My first trip was just completed. I went to Tanzania for Kilimanjaro,
Zanzibar, Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti. All were worthwhile.
Arusha
is one place I went that I would just as soon not see again. Zanzibar is
one
place I would definately see again and for a much longer stay than 4
days -
2 weeks on a motorcycle would be much better. Kili just about killied
me.
Ngorongoro and the Serengeti were superb for animal viewing, but not
nearly
as easy and cheap as Arusha National Park which packs more bang for the
time
and dollar.

"Leo Kerner" wrote in message
...
I am considering my first trip to Arica, for 4-6 weeks. I want to see
wild animals, natural beauty, local culture. Where in that vast
continent should I go on such a first trip?
Leo

Arusha is a city in Tanzania. It is a tourist business center where many of
the tour companies have their offices because it is central to many other
attractions. It is not a very interesting, or pleasant city in its own sake.
It is not a bad place, but rather dreary and too many very pushy street
vendors. I found Stonetown, Zanzibar to be a much more hospitable,
attractive, and interesting city, and recommend a visit highly. Arusha
National Park is near the city of Arusha. It is a great park for both
wildlife viewing and climbing Mt Meru, nearly as high as Kilimanjaro. Many
climbers do Meru as a Kili warm up. (Not me, Kili, as far as I got, was more
than enough.)


"Leo Kerner" wrote in message
...
Thanks- but I am confused now. First you say that "Arusha
is one place I went that I would just as soon not see again" ie, you did
not
like. Then you say
"Arusha National Park ... packs more bang for the time
and dollar." ie, you did like. Are they different Arushas?

Leo

None wrote:

My first trip was just completed. I went to Tanzania for Kilimanjaro,
Zanzibar, Ngorongoro Crater, and the Serengeti. All were worthwhile.
Arusha
is one place I went that I would just as soon not see again. Zanzibar is
one
place I would definately see again and for a much longer stay than 4
days -
2 weeks on a motorcycle would be much better. Kili just about killied
me.
Ngorongoro and the Serengeti were superb for animal viewing, but not
nearly
as easy and cheap as Arusha National Park which packs more bang for the
time
and dollar.

"Leo Kerner" wrote in message
...
I am considering my first trip to Arica, for 4-6 weeks. I want to see
wild animals, natural beauty, local culture. Where in that vast
continent should I go on such a first trip?
Leo

Leo

First trip to Africa for wildlife should preferably be focused around
the Great Wilbebeest Migration. Subsequent trips can be more
specialized.

1. Choose the time of year for your trip.
2. Find out where the Migration is during your period of travel
3. Arrange the rest of your trip around this.

So, the first question is: When can you travel?

Then we can take it from there!
Eben
www.go-kili.com

Any one know what the flowers are expected to be like this
year?

If exceptional when would be the best time to visit?

Thanks
Harold

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 09:23:56 -0700, none wrote:
Arusha is a city in Tanzania. It is a tourist business center where many of
the tour companies have their offices because it is central to many other
attractions. It is not a very interesting, or pleasant city in its own sake.
It is not a bad place, but rather dreary and too many very pushy street
vendors. I found Stonetown, Zanzibar to be a much more hospitable,
attractive, and interesting city, and recommend a visit highly.

I think a lot depends on where you made "first contact". For me, that
was Nairobi. By the time I reached Arusha, I had spent almost a month
in Africa with something like a week in Nairobi. I found Arusha quite
relaxing and easy going. The tauts are pushy but insignificantly so,
next to Nairobi. Excellent food in quirky restaurants run by friendly
and interesting people. It isn't Stonetown, but then, not much of
Africa is.

--
Photos and travelogues from Africa and Southeast Asia: http://www.exile.org

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 09:23:56 -0700, none wrote:
Arusha is a city in Tanzania. It is a tourist business center where many of
the tour companies have their offices because it is central to many other
attractions. It is not a very interesting, or pleasant city in its own sake.
It is not a bad place, but rather dreary and too many very pushy street
vendors. I found Stonetown, Zanzibar to be a much more hospitable,
attractive, and interesting city, and recommend a visit highly.

I think a lot depends on where you made "first contact". For me, that
was Nairobi. By the time I reached Arusha, I had spent almost a month
in Africa with something like a week in Nairobi. I found Arusha quite
relaxing and easy going. The tauts are pushy but insignificantly so,
next to Nairobi. Excellent food in quirky restaurants run by friendly
and interesting people. It isn't Stonetown, but then, not much of
Africa is.

--
Photos and travelogues from Africa and Southeast Asia: http://www.exile.org

On Thu, 19 Aug 2004 12:15:30 -0400, Leo Kerner
wrote:

I am considering my first trip to Arica, for 4-6 weeks. I want to see
wild animals, natural beauty, local culture. Where in that vast
continent should I go on such a first trip?

Leo,

allow me a second answer. Actually I will only show you a
picture, then you can give yourself your own answer.

I just found a very beautiful picture of Africa. It was created
from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM, see
http://srtm.usgs.gov/), which measured the earth's topography
with radar. Some of the results have been turned into stunningly
beautiful topographic maps through color-shading according to
altitude.

So I looked at the 47.5 KB
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpe...965_modest.jpg,
which is a low resolution rendering of the almost 20 MB
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA04965.jpg, not to
mention the 146 MB
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/tiff/PIA04965.tif. If you have
a fast Internet connection, treat yourself to the second, 20 MB
high-resolution version. I think it is worth the wait.

And while I looked, I asked myself, where would I go? Imagine
you are an alien, looking from above at the continent of Africa
and looking for a place for an emergency landing. Where would
you go? Where is the most interesting place in Africa, judging
only by this neutral, non-artistic, radar and computer generated
map?

Does it surprise you as much as it surprised me? My (fairly
obvious) opinion is at the very end of this message.

While we're at it, I also found one picture there that I wanted
to use as a background, a shaded and height-colored relief of
the Olduvai Gorge area including Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.

I prepared it as a background picture by cropping it to 4 : 3,
reducing the resolution to 1,600 x 1,200 and moderately
compressing it to a JPEG file of some 400 KB. If you want to
check whether you want to use it as well, have a look at the
result:
http://www.michna.com/temp/images/ol...ropped 43.jpg

To use it as your Windows background image, first download it to
your computer and save it in a suitable folder. Then right-click
on the empty background, select Properties, click on the Desktop
tab and click on the button to search for the picture. Navigate
to the folder where you stored the picture, select the picture
and back out by clicking on the OK buttons.

Hans-Georg

p.s. I think east Africa looks very much like the most
interesting place in Africa from far above. It is the Great Rift
Valley that causes the structure of the mountains and the chain
of lakes. Not only does it look most interesting, it may also be
the cradle of mankind, when you believe the anthropologists. If
God exists, he must have looked at the map a little bit like I
just did, and picked that place to make us, or to let us evolve,
whatever you want to believe.

--
No mail, please.