Ultimate Vacation Spots

posted by Travel Cat on Jul 4

Planning a Trip to Africa? 

Listed below are 10 experienced tour operators and the countries in Africa that they specialise in tours to - just to get you started:

Botswana: Africa And Beyond
From the lush Okavango Delta to the parched Kalahari Desert - this is a country of extremes. Landlocked in the south of Africa, this country is able to offer tours as different as walking tours, camping safari’s and even elephant-back guided hikes through the diverse landscapes tailor made to suit the individuals and the seasons.

Gabon: WildLife WorldWide
This small, relatively undiscovered, country on the Atlantic coast is home to Mountain Gorillas, Forest Elephants, Chimpanzees, Mandrills and Humpback Whales off the coast. Expect an amazing tour here with the specialists.

Kenya: Tucan Travel
As in South America, this company specialise in overland tours in state-of-the-art vehicles - powerful Mercedes-Benz trucks with custom built bodies and luxurious interiors. As part of the tours you get to camp under the stars, freshen up in small hotels and guest-houses and just soak up the whole atmosphere….

Madagascar: Nature Trek
This UK-Based company offer 2 week escorted tours to the intriguing island of Madagascar to view their host of endemic and highly restricted wildlife. Whether it’s lemurs, birds, bats, or one of the many other groups only found here - your expert guides will make sure you get close up and hands on.

Namibia: Chameleon Safaris
Neighbouring South Africa & Botswana, you can’t fail to find yourself in deserts one day and jungles the next. This eco-operated company is locally based, committed to training local people and supporting communities, using traditional and locally owned lodges.

Rwanda: Aim 4 Africa
This small, country in East Africa is fast becoming a tourist hot-spot with the mountain Gorillas being a great draw. Aim 4 Africa offer tailor-made tours far every individual taking into account age, experience and specific interests.

South Africa: Acacia African Adventures
Based at the tip of Africa, Acacia offer small group adventures and overland tours across the country. Whether you are looking for wildlife or just beautiful scenery, they can offer the tour to suit. With such a large area of coastline around the main ocean routes, you also have access to a whole host of whale migrations at various times of year.

Tanzania: Noah’s Ark Travel
This company claim to work alongside other ethically responsible tourist companies in this larger country bordering Kenya. With tours based on a small number of customers only they strive to ensure minimum impact on the wildlife and environment whilst offering ‘away from the crowds’ tours.

Uganda: Volcano Safaris
They call themselves the Number 1 Gorilla Safari Company, and offer tours doing exactly that. This eco-tourism business specialises only in tours to visit the endangered mountain gorillas, and have created eco-lodges close to the volcano habitats of these gentle giants, and have invested heavily in supporting the local communities and environment.

Zambia: Busanga Safaris
Whether you are single, a couple or a small group - this company can offer guided or unguided tours of the great national park. With advice on camps, lodges and tours this company really have this country covered and specialise in the Kafue National Park and Busanga Plains.

.

posted by Travel Cat on Jul 2

In the shadow of the Volcano….

As with all the other destinations we visited in Costa Rica, booking in advance direct through company websites wasn’t always easy.

We actually ended up having trouble making up our minds in the end, as there was a great option in each of the different areas we were considering - 1 in La Fortuna itself, 1 under the volcano with hot springs, and 1 in a small town just outside of the main area to avoid all the fuss.

In Arenal:
We chose the basic hotel of Las Colinas in the end, as being in town does have it’s advantages.  They had a great location in town (opposite a great coffee house and friendly small restaurant - and next to a supermarket) and most importantly - they responded to our emails with pride!  We had seen the rooms on their web-page and were sent details of tours they recommend in advance - and at only $27 for a double - worth a look in!

Make sure you ask for one of the rooms that face the volcano if you go there (at no extra cost), but you can see it beautifully from the seated terrace anyway. The breakfast was modest, with free internet, and the main receptionist was just the friendliest and most helpful lady ever - who seemed to know everyone and everything!

With Hot Springs:
Tabacon Hot Springs was one of the favourite places for tours as it is the largest of the hot spring areas under Arenal Volcano, and it really is massive.

The rooms are very well presented, as are the grounds in this luxury hotel (around $230 minimum per night, not including taxes) - however as all the tours come here - your hotel is crammed full of strangers every night being dropped off in the bus load to spend 3 hours dunking their toes into the various pools!

You have it to yourself all day though, so we thought it might be worth the extra cost for just a few days……

Out Of Town:
We had read that the main town of La Fortuna was over-run with con artists and touts selling non-existent tours (which wasn’t 100% true from my experience), so we had considered the option of staying just the other side of the volcano in El Castillo - a small village that was away from it all.

For $75 a double, you could stay in a delightful bed and breakfast with butterfly garden and monkey visitors just off the main road - the Hummingbird Nest B&B.  It is hugely recommended by Lonely Planet and we were very nearly tempted until we spoke to a couple who stayed in the area and said that you would definitely need your own transport to get into town as it was quite a drive on the famous bone-shaker roads…… Ahh, not for us then…..

Other Accommodation:

You don’t have to take my recommendations as there are plenty of hotels and hostels, B & B’s as well as luxury accommodation around La Fortuna and Arenal. Use a site like HotelsCombined.com to find hotels (which you can compare by price, location or star rating to suit your needs).  Try these links to view rooms available in Arenal or to view some great hotels for the one night stop-over on your arrival in San Jose.

Hopefully - the problems I had will help you avoid such hang-ups for yourself, and get on with your vacation with the minimum of fuss…..

.