Africa Travel Information

To many people familiar with the Africa travel industry, Egypt is, by far, the most preferred destination for archaeological tours and historical travel. The reason is obvious, no African country has as many interesting historical places as Egypt does.

If I were to include the sphinx, the pyramids, and all other monuments from the ancient Egyptian civilization in this article, they would take all the top ten spots. This previous post lists what I consider the top five must-see sites in Egypt. In a later post, I will hopefully expand the list to include all the other places in Egypt.

Outside of Egypt, there are several equally important places that you should plan to visit in Africa. And these are what I am focusing on in today’s post. Read the rest of this entry »

The summer holiday season is almost here. As usual, thousands of people will travel to Africa for a safari vacation, during which they hope to see elephants, lions, the big cats and other African animals in their natural habitats. Sadly however, this influx of tourists may also have a negative impact on the welfare of the wild animals.

To help you plan a sustainable and animal-friendly safari, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has compiled the following travel tips for you:

• Conduct a background check of the travel company before booking your trip: Some tour operators cater for very specific interests like hunting safaris or photographic safaris. Whatever your interests, ensure that the company uses professional and well-trained naturalists/tour guides, who are conversant with local rules, regulations, and acceptable practices. There are many operators that employ inexperienced persons as tour guides. Such individuals do not have adequate knowledge to make your safari trip enjoyable and at the same time animal-friendly. Read the rest of this entry »

A safari is the ultimate holiday experience for many people planning to travel to Africa. Like I’ve said here before, you should use a reputable travel agent to help you plan your trip, especially if it is your first time in Africa and you do not know anyone.

There are however some good-to-know travel facts that you may not hear from your travel agent.  Please read on to discover some of these:

1. There are many interesting places off-the-beaten-path
Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana are the most preferred countries for an African safari. This does not necessarily mean they offer a better experience than other countries like Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi for example. Even within these preferred countries, they are some favored destinations, e.g Masai Mara and Amboseli in Kenya, and Serengeti, Lake Manyara, and Ngorongoro in Tanzania. Yet there are some less-visited but probably more fascinating destinations within the same countries. For example Katavi and Ruaha national parks in Tanzania.

Read the rest of this entry »

The US State Department has done it again: issuing a travel alert for Kenya. They cite two main security concerns: the terrorist threat posed by Al-Shabaab, and the possibility of a repeat of violence after the August 4th constitutional referendum. You can see the travel alert here.

The concern over al-Shabaab is largely because of the Uganda bombings which I previously wrote about. The terrorist group acknowledged responsibility for the bombings. Since then, Kenya has been on a high security alert, considering that the country’s border with Somalia is very porous. Kenya has reinforced its security troops along the border. In the past one week or so, we have heard reports of some skirmishes between al-Shabaab militants and the Kenya police. But these are not very uncommon.

Read the rest of this entry »

A Male African Lion, One of the Most Popular Safari Attractions

So you are finally ready to take that trip to Africa you’ve been planning for for several years. Of course you are excited about the chance to see lions, elephants, the other African big five and other animals in their real wild habitats. Or probably the prospects of a luxury beach holiday in the Seychelles or Mauritius islands. Or the much anticipated tour to the great pyramids, Abu Simbel, and other monuments of ancient Egypt.  But, wait a minute, where do you start?

If you are like many other travellers, you’ll probably want to use the services of a travel agent to help you put your trip together. Even with the rising popularity of travel booking sites like expedia, kayak, orbitz, and others, you will at some point need to consult a “real” travel agent. Your choice will be between a travel agent based in your home country or one operating in the country/destination you will be visiting.

In a previous post, I mentioned that you should ideally use an agent in the destination country, but that does not mean you can not get a good deal from an agent in your home country. Whatever your choice, today I am highlighting what I think are the important things to consider when choosing a travel agent. The list in not completely exhaustive, is not arranged in any particular order, but I hope you will find it helpful.

1.  Destination and product knowledge
Your ideal travel agent should know more about your destination than the average guy on the street. You may not for example know that the bush lodge that your friends recommended last year is currently closed for renovations, or, say, the government has for some reason closed public access to a certain beach front. A good agent will have all this insider information.

Test the agent’s knowledge by asking questions.

Read the rest of this entry »

Two black rhinos in the Lewa conservancy in Kenya. The rhino is one of the African "big five". Image by Harald Zimmer courtesy of wikimedia commons.

1. Decide on what you are interested in
In a previous post in this blog, I mentioned five of the main Africa holiday activities, among them adventure travel, sightseeing tours, and wildlife safaris. If you are like most people, you may not have the time to do all of them in one visit. Which is why the first thing to do is to decide on want to see in Africa. This will help you narrow down on a few destinations.

For many first time visitors, the choice is easy: wildlife safaris, especially to see the big five in the wild. In this case, some of the most obvious options are East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania), and Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Zambia). However if your interest is to see rare and unique animals and plant species, you’ll definitely want to consider destinations like Madagascar.

If you are interested in cultural and historical sites in Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia are some of the possible destinations. Likewise, for a relaxing beach holiday, you may have to choose from among the Indian Ocean islands like Seychelles, Mauritius, Zanzibar, and Comoros. Sometimes, you may want to have a little bit of everything, in which case you may have to go on a multi-country tour, or pick a destination like Kenya which offers most of these attractions.

2. Research on the possible destinations, then pick one (or a few)
After prioritizing on your main area of interest, you should then compare each possible destination against others. For example, you may want to compare between East Africa or Southern African destinations for a wildlife safari. Botswana is ideal for exclusive safaris, because they deliberately regulate the number of visitors in their game reserves. Read the rest of this entry »