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Old February 11th, 2004, 08:07 PM
BAC
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Default African Safari - Good Earth Tours (Austin Texas)

Just want to say that I've really enjoyed the wisdom that Liz and others
have passed on. I have heard good things about Good Earth Tours...usually
for a friend of a friend sort of thing...so I have no personal knowledge.
One of the best pieces of advice that I've gotten and read is to not spend
all your time traveling....travel less and see more critters.


"Liz" wrote in message
...
In message BrRSb.3321$1O.1579@fed1read05
"Mark" wrote:

Thank you Liz for your detailed response.

Sadly, I can't recommend any US companies
for tailor-making (because I don't live in the States, not because

there
aren't any!), but I'm sure someone will be along soon who can.....


However, I see that there are four of you, so it would be very easy to
arrange a tailor-made tour, maybe confining yourself to the Northern

circuit
of Tanzania.


Hopefully, I will get some responses regarding US Tour Companies

(including
Good Earth Tours and others). Notwithstanding that, we also are

considering
a stop in Great Britain before and/or after our trip to Africa. In

light of
that, it may make sense to consider a european tour company for our
tour/safari (either brochure or tailor-made) in Tanzania and Kenya.

Should
we consider other location(s) in lieu of either Tanzania or Kenya?

I really think in June your best bet is Tanzania. With two weeks you'd be
best to confine your trip to Serengeti, Ngorongoro, Lake Manyara and
Tarangire (not necessarily in that order!) I understand Arusha National

Park
is also worth a visit.Stay at least two and preferably three nights in

each
of Ngorongoro, Manyara and Tarangire and as long as you can in Serengeti.

We
stayed three nights in Seronera and three nights at Lobo. Make sure you

get
a slight detour into Olduvai Gorge: it's pretty well standards, just make
sure it's actually written in to your itinerary: what you don't see is

what
you don't get on a safari itinerary.
You can see pics of all of these places on my site, with lists of species

we
saw in each.


Could you recommend a European tour company in the event that we are

unable to
find a US Tour company that is satisfactory to us? Keep in mind that
although we want to get out in the wild, we are four seniors and prefer
comfortable accomodations.

We travel (five of our trips to Kenya (in July) and our trip to Tanzania)
with a London-based company, Worldwide Journeys and Expeditions. Their
'brochure' safaris are pretty expensive, as they quote homestays and

smaller
camps, but if you are going tailor-made you can choose whatever
accommodation you like. The tourist-grade lodges and camps are all very
comfortable: more like what Americans call a 'resort' than for example

your
National Park lodges. (I'd no more 'rough it' than pull out my hair!)
http://www.wildlifejourneys.co.uk/home.html

Last year, I went to Namibia booking through Rainbow Tours and everything
was dealt with very efficiently. I really don't recommend Namibia over

East
Africa for wildlife viewing (it has its own, different, attractions) but I
notice that they have expensive-ish brochure safaris (private), but offer
tailor-mades in East Africa too.
http://www.rainbowtours.co.uk

BTW, if you have the budget, you'd love the smaller camps and homestays!

Slainte mhath

Liz
--
Virtual Liz at http://www.v-liz.co.uk
Kenya; Tanzania; India; Seychelles; Namibia
"I speak of Africa and golden joys"