Have just finished reading Woman in the Mist, Farley Mowat’s book on zoologist Dian Fossey. If this doesn’t make you want to go gorilla watching in Africa, then I don’t know what will. The book studies Fossey’s fascinating (and often turbulent) life and also her incredible dedication to gorillas, the preservation of the African jungle and campaigns against illegal hunting.

The book is a must – and a trip to the forests of Uganda and Rwanda even more so. You can also check it out in glorious technicolour in the film based on the book, Gorillas in the Mist.

We will be at Badminton Horse Trials, the premier UK FEI Horse Trials (and Rolex Grand Slam Event), which takes place from Friday 30th April to Monday 3rd May inclusive.

Oliver Townend and Flint Curtis on their way out of the Lake, 2009. © Tim Nicholls

The exciting cross-country day is this year on Sunday 2nd May (a change to the normal Saturday), with the final show jumping phase on the Bank Holiday Monday.  We are always delighted to see existing and new clients there to discuss their safaris, riding and holidays in either Africa or India.

As usual our stand will be very near to the central arena and very close to the event scoreboard and main facilities. Our stand number is 85, located on the north/south roadway to the east side of the main arena.

Nicky, Hashim and others from the office here, all of whom have travelled extensively in the last few months to bring you the latest from both Africa and India, will be available to talk about holidays and safaris (whether riding or not!) to India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and all the countries we feature in Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa as well as the Indian Ocean Islands and Madagascar. We will also be able to discuss our new Northern Africa/Middle East portfolio, including Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Libya.

Riding On The Kenyan Plains - Equine Exhilaration!

For a taste of riding in Kenya here is a short video made by our great friends at Riding Wild (part of SCC) based at Borana, a ranch in the northern Laikipia region of Kenya’s great central plateau. We often include this sort of riding, which is adventurous yet very high quality, as part of an overall safari/holiday that is completely tailored to each participant’s personal requirements, something we are renowned for getting “just right”!

Jonathan and Nicky were in Kenya’s Masai Mara in March. They stayed at Richard Roberts’ wonderful, genuine camp: Richards Camp. The old-style permanent camp is one of our favourites and has only six, authentic, tasteful Manyara tents, with a separate dressing room area and en suite bathroom, an excellent place from which to game view in Kenya’s Mara.

Interior Of Tent at Richard's Camp, Masai Mara, Kenya

The permanent tents are lovely, light and spacious and, whilst ensuite, there is another separate outdoor bathroom area in an enclosed wooden boma complete with loo, outside shower and massive Victorian bath which belonged to Barclay Cole of Out Of Africa fame – a great place to sip a G&T and soak away the dust of a day’s game viewing in Kenya’s Mara. The camp is beautifully shaded, set in a grove of acacia trees with lawns normally manicured by passing hippo!

View From Your Tent - Richard's Camp, Masai Mara, Kenya

Meals are eaten outside or in the main “homestead” which has a sitting room and fireplace. Richard and Liz Roberts are the owners and hosts, thus giving a wonderful family atmosphere which is completed by the presence of their 4 year old son.

Richard Roberts, Owner/Manager at Richard's Camp, Masai Mara, Kenya.

A few kilometres away is Richards Private Camp which, as a bush camp, is simply lovely with a super, evocative, mess area and, in the guest tents, the most amazing bathrooms made out of sisal wood poles with candelabras, shower, loo and double basin plus a large bedroom with a huge, comfy bed; all fronted by a verandah. The setting is completely different to the main camp and we suggest doing a two day walk, fly camping en route, to get between the camps – a true safari! There is frequent lion activity around this camp; this is a place to come to for several days.

Aerial Shot of Richards Private Camp, Masai Mara, Kenya, leading to....

………the reason for this blog entry: to highlight Richard’s amazing “scenic flights”. Richard owns a Cessna 180 four seat single engine plane and keeps it at Richards Camp, from where he will take guests, complete with your choice of music in the headphones(!), on a tour of the area.  Richard does a great deal of low level game counting for KWS and is an expert, “proper”, aviator with a full commercial licence. Game is viewed from above and both the change of perspective and the scenery are stunning. It is excellent value when compared with the somewhat expensive (if longer) commercial balloon trips and has the advantage not only of starting and ending at the camp and taking place when one wishes, rather than having to travel miles to get to the balloon launch site, but being completely personal.

Richard's Cessna 180 with Nicky and Richard's Superb Local Guides

If one flies in the evening you might land on the edge of the Mara at a sundowner spot for champagne, bitings and a chance to relax watching the famed African sunset. Richards Camp is fabulous and the Masai Mara game viewing is excellent. The video here really does “hit the spot”.

Anyone who has an interest in conservation or luxury safaris to Africa (or India) in general as well as walking safaris, elephant safaris or special interest safaris will welcome the CITES decision late last month to uphold the ongoing ban on ivory trading. The story is well reported by CNN, which we precis as follows:

Quote:
(CNN) — Conservationists have welcomed the decision to reject a bid from Tanzania and Zambia to temporarily suspend a worldwide ban on trading in African elephant ivory so they can offload legal stockpiles in a one-off sale.
The 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meeting in Doha, Qatar, on Monday, voted to reject the proposal amid concerns about elephant poaching.
A petition from the two African countries to remove elephants from a list of animals “threatened with extinction” to allow trade in other parts of the animal was also thrown out.
“It’s welcome news, but my anxieties remain about the increased levels of poaching in Africa,” Save the Elephant’s Dr. Ian Douglas-Hamilton told CNN.
“There are huge problems ahead for the elephants,” he said. “I do see this huge demand which is emanating mainly from the prosperity of China. We have to win their hearts and minds for conservation and for the elephant so that they have more of an idea of sustainable use and not over-taxing populations.”
CITES banned the international commercial ivory trade in 1989 after elephant populations dropped dramatically across the world due to widespread poaching.
But in 1997 and 2002 it permitted Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to sell limited stocks of ivory to Japan, in recognition of the fact that some southern African elephant populations were healthy and well managed.
Five years later at a CITES meeting at The Hague further sales of stockpiled ivory were permitted in return for a nine-year moratorium on further sales.
Both Zambia and Tanzania claimed elephant numbers in their territories were on the rise after years of decline. They also said the proceeds from the sale of government stockpiles would be put back into conservation and enforcement projects. But wildlife experts in Kenya, part of a coalition of 23 African elephant range countries calling for an outright ban, say poaching has increased since the announcement of the last sale.
“Though Zambia’s anti-poaching enforcement measures are better than those of Tanzania, there is no justification for downgrading the elephants from the endangered list,” said Douglas-Hamilton, an expert on Kenya’s elephant population. Tanzania has increased poaching and increased illegal markets. Their main elephant population has decreased by some 30,000 in the last three years. In Zambia there were huge declines in the elephant population in the 1970s and 1980s. Whereas other elephant populations across Africa have recovered slightly since the introduction of the ivory trade ban, Zambia’s never have. They remain the same. In the mid-1970s the population was something like 160,000. It is currently estimated to sit at around 26,000.”
He added that the situation was particularly desperate in central Africa where there are estimated to be just 20,000 elephants left from a population numbering 1 million 30 years ago.
CNN’s David McKenzie contributed to this report.
Unquote

Naturally we are all delighted at the announcement but it is clear that charities such as Iain’s Save The Elephants, which can be visited as part of an itinerary to Kenya (and is a charity we support, as is the Sheldrick Elephant Foundation, see the video below), and those involved with our special interest safaris and Elephant safaris in the Okavango Delta need ongoing support, as do all those with a focus on elephant conservation in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana and Zambia.

Financial Times Article

We recently sent the celebrated journalist Lucia van der Post on a luxury adventure safari to Mozambique. The trip has resulted in a superb four-page article for the Financial Times “How to Spend It” magazine, published on Saturday 3rd April 2010.

The article’s title, “Where The Really Wild Things Are”, encapsulates Lucia’s argument that Mozambique remains largely untrammelled by tourism and is a genuine and adventurous safari destination that is perfect for African aficionados. A considerable degree of comfort is also now available in Niassa, Gorongosa, the offshore islands and on the Mozambique shore of Lake Niassa so Mozambique is now at the forefront of African luxury adventure travel.

The article makes excellent reading. However the National Geographic Channel recently spent time making a wonderful film called “Africa’s Lost Eden” in Gorongoza and, for a taste of what Mozambique can offer, here’s the trailer: