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

In message <4310630a4f.LizUKL@liz13.uklinux.net>, Liz Leyden
<liz@liz13.uklinux.net> writes
>In message <o1ema3lntce22qhapsa74gmqhdlq4ij041@********>
> Hans-Georg Michna <hans-georgNoEmailPlease@michna.com>
>wrote:
>
>> 'Quick trip' to Africa proves to be a resounding success
>>
>> Well I just recently returned from my "quick trip" to Africa and
>> I am glad to say that it was a resounding success. One of the
>> keys to making this short long-distance holiday work was finding
>> an itinerary that covered many places that were not too far
>> apart. The other was selecting Kenya.
>>
>> 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]
>
>While, obviously, the longer you can spend on safari the better, there
>are companies who do 'long weekends' in Kenya, i.e. going out after
>work on Thursday and returning late on Monday, though that's from the
>UK: nightmare to have the much longer flights from Vancouver. (Don't
>ask *which* companies: it wasn't info I felt useful to store in my
>tiny brain.)
>I haven't seen this year's Kuoni brochure, but their safaris start at
>four days, though you would normally be spending up to 9 days at the
>coast afterwards. This is for people who either don't know if they'd
>like safari, or can't afford a longer one (beach is cheaper).
>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?"
>(Interesting the author came from Vancouver. As well as safaris, I do
>a city break each October with my sister, who isn't interested in
>wildlife. Vancouver was top favourite with me for this year, but the
>combination of the high likelihood of wet weather and the long flights
>(just from UK) were putting me off, so when she found an excellent
>'deal' to Boston ...)
>
>Slainte
>
>Liz
>
>
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.
--
Pat Anderson

Hans-Georg Michna schreef:
>>> [Had to laugh at, "Kenya is an amazing little country ..." Guess
>>> the guy hasn't looked at a map. [...] ... Hans-Georg]
>> Well, he is from Canada. Remeber Kenya is smaller than British
>> Columbia, the writer's home province. In fact most of Canada's
>> provinces and territories are larger than Kenya.
> Living in Germany, "little country" struck me as off the mark,
> because then Germany would be a "tiny country". Kenya has some
> 580,000 km² against Germany's 357,000 km², even after
> reunification. I'm envious of Canada's almost-a-million km².

I just got back from BIG Africa to my own VERY TINY country (Holland) of
just over 40.000km²......

Regards,
Hans

In message <43ec800a4f.LizUKL@liz13.uklinux.net>, Liz Leyden
<liz@liz13.uklinux.net> writes
>In message <oA2zEKA27crGJwGR@aicuk.demon.co.uk>
> Pat Anderson <pat@aicuk.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> In message <4310630a4f.LizUKL@liz13.uklinux.net>, Liz Leyden
>> <liz@liz13.uklinux.net> 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 before:
>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

In message <309cff0c4f.LizUKL@liz13.uklinux.net>, Liz Leyden
<liz@liz13.uklinux.net> writes
>In message <o1ema3lntce22qhapsa74gmqhdlq4ij041@********>
> Hans-Georg Michna <hans-georgNoEmailPlease@michna.com>
>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