The legend, Nelson Mandela, turns 94 today! Happy birthday from Africa Ubuntu Safaris, and the rest of South Africa, and the world!
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60 Minutes Australia recently filmed with Natural History Film Unit in the Okavango Delta, by scuba diving with crocodiles! Apparently this footage will be shown this Sunday (15 July). For anyone who has been to the Okavango Delta, I'm sure you also wondered what happens underneath the water. Here is your chance to see! These guys are definitely a lot braver than I am. Botswana will always hold a special place in our hearts. Botswana Tourism's video below will give you some idea why! Some of our elephant photos taken recently in Uganda, Botswana and Zimbabwe. We saw literally thousands of these amazing creatures. This photo was taken by Courtnay in Hwange National Park. What a beauty!
Here is a snippet of footage from our recent gorilla trek in the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda.
This little guy played it like a seasoned pro in front of our eager cameras. He'd feel at home on the red carpet! Nothing beats an African sunset. Except maybe an African sunset. Is it possible to choose the best one though? We are going through our thousands of photos, and seeing if it is possible to pick a winner! Below are some of the scenes we experienced over the past month, from the shores of Lake Albert, to the vast flatness of the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans and the dry savannah of Hwange. Which is your favourite? If you'd like to see them for real, give us a shout! Click on each photo to see a larger image. Writing a trip report on our past 12 days spent travelling through Uganda and Rwanda is going to be difficult for 2 reasons. Firstly, we saw, experienced and learnt so much, and secondly, I am going to run out of superlatives!
Courtnay and I are now in Johannesburg, picking up Louise and Gerald, in order to leave at 04h30 in the morning to drive into Botswana on the second leg of our educational trip in Africa. The last 12 days were spent visiting Entebbe, Murchison Falls, Lake Albert, Kibale Forest, Queen Elizabeth National Park, Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Volcanoes National Park, Lake Kivu and Kigali. Our experiences included viewing the Murchison Falls from a boat cruise on the Nile; chimp trekking in Kibale, boat cruise on the Kazinga Channel in Queen Elizabeth, numerous game drives, gorilla trekking in Bwindi and Volcanoes N.P., hiking through Bwindi from Buhoma to Nkuringo, and cruising on Lake Kivu. Amongst heaps of other highlights. From our 2400 photos taken, we will be able to upload some great shots onto the destination pages of the website, and will do so when we get back from Zimbabwe. During our trip we visited 30 lodges and hotels in Uganda and Rwanda, and will be able to give some great advice on where to stay and what to do in each country. We can't wait to share it with you! If you have any interest in an unbelievable safari experience, contact us to get some Although it is always rewarding sending other people to Africa, it is wonderful when we have our chance to head back on our own safari! Under the guise of work (we will be visiting a huge number of lodges on site inspections and learning about areas and activities we have not yet experienced), Courtnay and I will be travelling to South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda, Botswana and Zimbabwe from 13 April until 21 May.
Louise and Gerald will also be joining us for the Botswana and Zimbabwe portion, as we self-drive up the eastern border of Bots past the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans and up to Chobe, before visiting Vic Falls and heading back down through Zim, stopping off at Hwange and Matobo National Parks. I will then be attending the Indaba travel trade show in Durban, which is a manic 4 days of meeting with operators and learning about new developments and properties in the African safari industry. So by the time I come back to Oz I will either return with a wealth of new knowledge, or a complete blurred memory of seeing so many places in the space of a few weeks! Hopefully it is the former! During this time, I will be monitoring e-mails, and answering phone calls, but there will be periods when we have no access to internet or phone signal, so responses may be slow over the next month. We will put together a full trip report, when we have a chance, giving some updated info about lodges, gorilla and chimp trekking, Zimbabwe, and anything else we learn or think will be valuable to potential African safariers. I apologise in advance for any lack of, or delay in, response to any enquiries sent through over the next few weeks, but if you can wait until the end of May, you will be able to pick our brains for some of the latest African travel info. This is the only way we can make sure we are providing the best service possible, by going out there and seeig and doing it ourselves. Also, we just love it. As light aircraft are used for the majority of flights into the game reserves and wilderness areas in Africa, it is always requested that you use soft bags for luggage on safari, and some airlines will refuse to carry bags with any frames or wheels, even if the bag is soft.
This can naturally cause a bit of discomfort if you are unable to wheel your bag around like other suitcases. However, never fear, there is a solution! Take a look at the compact folding cart for sale at Amazon, which can solve all of your problems and make you the envy of all other travellers lugging their heavy bags over their shoulders. |
AuthorCuan McLaren Archives
October 2014
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