Safari and Wildlife

On our trip to Guayaquil, Ecuador, we decided to take a half-day tour to the Historical Park. It was a good decision.

If you would like to go to Africa, go with 2Afrika, Inc. (444 Washington Blvd., Ste. 2526, Jersey City, NJ 07310; phone 866/462-2374 or visit www.2afrika.com). Our 13-day trip to Tanzania was $2,595 with air from San Francisco, and the Kenya trip was $895. We left on our safari Jan. 29, ’05, and returned on Feb. 16.

I have often read articles on Africa. Having taken, in 1999, a 7-day trip to Tanzania and a 7-day trip in Kenya in which we visited several reserves, I know that it is a complete waste of time to visit the Giraffe Manor in Nairobi as well as The Ark (famously written up) in Kenya and the Mt. Kenya Safari Club (also written up often). My friend and I agreed. If one is going to Kenya or Tanzania, there are many other places to view the animals than those mentioned above.

We took a trip to Tanzania arranged by Roy Safaris (P.O. Box 50, Arusha, Tanzania; phone 255 27 250 8010, fax 255 27 254 8892, e-mail roysafaris@intafrica.com or visit www.roysafaris.com).

We flew to London on Dec. 16, ’04, and then to Nairobi, Kenya. After a slight glitch on our flight from Nairobi to Kilimanjaro, we met our guide/driver, Salvatory, who with a gracious, warm smile welcomed us to Tanzania. We spent the next 13 days on a private safari for two in Tanzania, including a 3-night beach stay in Zanzibar.

My wife and I took the 14-day “Highlights of VIET-NAM” offered by Bestway Tours & Safaris (8678 Greenall Ave., Ste. 206, Burnaby, British Columbia, V5J3M6, Canada; phone 800/663-0844). The tour, in April ’05, cost approximately $1,500 per person, ground only. My wife and I were the only ones in our “group.”

Our 2-week trip began in Ho Chi Minh City (still referred to as Saigon by locals) and ended in Hanoi. Along the way we visited Da Lat, Nha Trang, Hoi An and Hue.

Here are a couple of the latest travel-book reviews written by an ITN reader.

December 26, 2004, is a day Sri Lankans will not forget in a hurry. In fact, it might take a couple of generations, considering the number of children left without parents because of the devastating tsunami.

Places with names like Weligama, Mirissa, Matara, Tangalle, Galle, Hambantota and Unawatuna may sound foreign and exotic, but today they hardly exist. Some are ghost towns. Most are struggling to cope with displaced people, and many survivors are still mourning their losses.

I read the article on visiting Southern Africa during the rainy season (Jan. ’05, pg. 36). The writer’s trip was arranged by Leora Rothschild of Rothschild Safaris (1685 S. Colorado Blvd. #197, Denver, CO 80222; phone 800/405-9463 or visit www.rothschildsafaris.com).

I made my ninth trip to Africa in July ’04, this time revisiting Uganda and Tanzania with three friends. We landed in Kampala, UGANDA, and spent two days there and a day in Jinja (the source of the Nile). Then we headed with our guide, Cliff Kisitu, to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, the home of the mountain gorillas. The trip took 10 hours, most of it over potholed dirt roads.

My sister and I had a fabulous 11-day tour with South African Airways Holidays (814 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Ste. 203, Coral Gables, FL 33134; phone 888/777-1138 or visit www.saaholidays.net) in March ’04. The cost from Atlanta, Georgia, was $2,250, including airport departure fees, all the meals for five days on safari and breakfasts at the city hotels.