Luxury Safari Holidays

An anthrax outbreak in the Queen Elizabeth National Park has resulted in the death of 82 hippos and nine buffalo. The most affected areas are those surrounding the Kazinga Channel and lakes Edward and George. Locals have been urged not to eat the game meat and to report any illness or death to domestic animals. The government has formed a task force which is implementing a multi pronged response including a base line study which is hoped will determine the cause of the outbreak as well as carcass management and sample management.

The task force will also co-ordinate a ring vaccination of livestock. Animals contract anthrax, which is caused by bacteria in the atmosphere, through contaminated grass, soil and water. Humans can only acquire the illness by consuming contaminated meat.

Over the years the park has experienced many anthrax outbreaks affecting mainly the hippo populations. Many of the animals have a natural immunity to the disease. Wild life authorities are saying there is no cause for alarm.

The Queen Elizabeth National Park is a 2,000 square kilometre area with a wide array of scenery, including maramagambo forest, savannah, crater lakes and swamps. It supports an excellent range of wildlife including elephant, buffalo, plains’ game, hippopotamus as well as tree climbing lion. Birdlife is equally diverse with 500 species including the rare shoebill stork.

Tags: Queen Elizabeth National Park, uganda safari

Send A Cow is delighted to have recently been awarded a $200 000 grant by the International Fund for Agricultural Development. The funding will be used to develop a project to improve the lives of 4,600 people in Ethiopia. The funds will be used in communities in the Gamo Goffa Highlands – an area of high population, malnutrition and chronic soil erosion. The people that inhabit the area also lack the relevant skills and knowledge to grow sustainable crops and the project will address these issues. The techniques that will be taugyht have been successful in other parts of the country and some farmers have managed to improve the fertility of the soil – resulting in an increased production of up to five fold.Demonstration sites will be set up where farmers can demonstrate their skills and techniques to others. The farmers will then go back to their communities and share this new found knowledge with others. 780 people will be trained – with a further 3,900 benefiting.Africa Exclusive is a proud sponsor of Send A Cow and for every booking made, we donate £10 to the charity. It has been very rewarding to see the many projects that have benefited from these donations over the years. Africa Exclusive is particularly supportive of Send A Cow as we appreciate the values of the charity which is committed to providing long term sustainable development programmes whilst acknowledging that gender equality, health and family harmony are also vital to the success of the projects they are involved in. They work with women, orphaned children and people living with HIV/AIDS. These people have often lived in extreme poverty and with the support of Send A Cow are able to start feeding their families, send their children to school and lead fulfilling lives.Strengthening people, farming and animals and caring for the environment are at the core of their work.

 

 

 

Tags: Africa Exclusive, send a cow

Watch great colonies of brilliant red carmine bee eaters nesting in the sandy banks of the Zambezi river from Chiawa Camp as elephants play at the water’s edge.

The Carmine Bee-eater occurs in sub equatorial Africa, ranging from Zululand and Namibia to Gabon, eastern Zaire and Kenya. The species is richly coloured – mainly carmine in colour with striking features. Its preferred habitat includes low altitude river valleys and floodplains, preferring vertical banks which are suitable for making tunnels during the breeding season where they lay 2-5 eggs.

The bee eater is a sociable bird, preferring to gather in flocks and roosting communally. They are migratory birds spending the breeding season in Zimbabwe and Zambia before moving to South Africa in summer and then migrating to equatorial Africa from March to August. Their diet consists mainly of bees and other flying insects.Chiawa Camp is a family owned camp situated in the Lower Zambezi National Park - a vast area of floodplains, hills and river valleys. The wildlife is prolific with excellent herds of elephant, large herds of buffalo sometimes numbering 300, around ten types of antelope and a range of other plains game including zebra and wildebeest. Chiawa Camp is also a very good base for predator spotting and there are lion, leopard and wild dog. The birdlife too, is rich and rewarding with over 300 species including fish eagles, storks, herons and kingfishers.Chiawa Camp consists of nine superior tented suites, each set on its own split level elevated timber platform with panoramic views of the wide, slow moving Zambezi River. The tents are insect proof and have twin or super king size beds and 24hr electricity. The luxurious en suite bathroom is semi open to the river and has a beautiful ball and claw Victorian bath, indoor and outdoor shower and flush WC. Chiawa serves excellent food, which includes champagne bush breakfasts, outdoor barbecues under the stars and lunch or private dinners on a specially adapted riverboat.

Tags: africa safari, Chiawa Camp, Lower Zambezi National Park, luxury safari, Zambezi River, Zambia Safari

Continue Reading »

Tags: africa safari, luxury Malawi, luxury safari

The carnivore viewing in the Kalahari has been superb of late – one of the most exciting sightings was that of a young female leopard stalking a pair of steenbok. The guests spent twenty minutes watching the leopard stalk a pair of steenbok. The leopard charged but failed in her attempt and then proceeded to roll and bask in the evening light. She came right up to their vehicle, providing excellent photographic opportunities. This usually shy animal sat and watched the vehicle for some time before making off towards the camp.Back at the camp, the guests heard the repeated call of a jackal during dinner. When the guides went to investigate they saw the same leopard they had seen earlier looking for water on the edge of a deck. She darted under the deck and proceeded to groom herself providing everyone with a wonderful view of her.

Tags: Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Kalahari Plains Camp, luxury Botswana safari

The Lodge has had a week of extremely cold weather – typical winters day starts with chilly mornings followed by afternoons with temperatures reaching the mid twenties Celsius.The Lodge has had regular sightings of four bat-eared foxes. The best time of day for spotting these creatures is in the mid afternoon as they forage for food. They feed mainly on termites and beetles and live on the open grasslands.

The Lodge has continued with its bird ringing project with another four species having being ringed in the last few months (including yellow canary, red headed finch, Cape turtle dove and the speckled pigeon) – taking the total to 14 species. Many of the Lodges guests were fortunate enough to get involved with the ringing project during their stay. Continue Reading »

Pafuri Camp - a partnership between Safari Adventure Company and the Makuleke Community - has been chosen by the Equator Initiative’s Technical Advisory Committee as one of the 25 outstanding winners of the Equator Prize 2010. The Equator Prize recognises and celebrates outstanding community efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation of biodiversity. Since its inception in 2002, the Equator Prize has honoured the work of 103 exceptional communities in equatorial countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Equator Prize winners are selected on the principal criteria of impact, partnerships, sustainability, innovation and transferability, leadership and community empowerment, as well as gender equality and social inclusion. Pafuri Camp joins an elite group of Equator Prize winners, constituting an influential grassroots movement of local and indigenous best practice in biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction”. – Wilderness Safaris, July 2010.

Continue Reading »

Tags: africa safari, luxury africa, Luxury South Africa, Pafuri Camp, South Africa safaris

Anyone who has often visited Africa, or who has African friends, will know about ‘Africa Time’.  It’s not that things always happen later than they’re supposed to, although that can happen. It’s more a question of attitude. Time doesn’t really matter; you can target a time for an activity, but if you don’t hit the target, it’s not of much consequence and nothing to worry about. As Douglas Adams wrote in ‘The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,’ “Time is an illusion: lunchtime doubly so!”

So, for those who want total relaxation, there’s a lot to be said for Africa Time. And yet, there are times when Africa Time is just too hectic! If so, what you need is Madagascar Time.

It’s not that things are sleepy; far from it. Antananarivo, the slightly and delightfully ramshackle capital, has lots of people milling about, and a great deal of traffic. And after you’ve watched it all for an hour or two, you notice something. Traffic moves about calmly, cars, trucks, pedestrians and rickshaws giving way to one another without any displays of temper or rancour. Then you notice something else. There are no traffic lights! Anywhere! It’s all done on the basis of give and take, no-one being bothered about who gives and who takes.

Continue Reading »

Tags: africa safari, Madagascar safari

The winter weather patterns in the Skeleton National Coast Park have been highly irregular over the month of July with blisteringly hot winds blasting sand into the camp for days. The only relief has been the odd cold breezes which have blown in from the coast, bringing the Atlantic fog. Towards the end of the month the cold weather returned and everyone was warming themselves by the fires at night. Hot water bottles greeted guests as they climbed into bed after an activity filled day.

Continue Reading »

Tags: africa safari, Namibia Safari, Skeleton Coast Camp, Skeleton Coast National Park

A group of wildlife enthusiasts were just finishing their lunch when they spotted an older lone buffalo limping to the pan in front of Makalolo Camp in Zimbabwe. He was quite obviously past his prime and everyone agreed that it probably wouldn’t be too long until he was taken by lions. Little did they know that their prediction was about to come true – sooner than they could possibly have imagined.

The buffalo hovered around in the shade towards the front of the pan for the rest of the afternoon and as the evening approached the predators emerged out of nowhere. One of the guides was heading back to the camp with a group of guests when they came across a leopard. The group was so overjoyed by the sight of the leopard that they almost missed out by what was unfolding at the pan. A group of seven spotted hyena had pushed the buffalo towards the waterhole where he eventually took refuge in the middle of the pan. The hyenas were not deterred by this and after some umming and aahing followed him into the water. Contrary to popular belief – hyenas are not just scavengers; they are formidable hunters when hunting in a group.

One of the quick thinking hyenas latched onto the buffalo’s tail which was ripped off with tremendous force. The group of hyenas were salivating and cackling with anticipation of their meal. The buffalo was surrounded and attempted to stand his ground – unable to flee. He did get a lucky break when a few of the hyenas moved – allowing him a chance to make a dash for it. He headed straight for the camp where he stopped just a few metres in front of the main dining area. For obvious reasons – dinner under the stars was cancelled that evening. The buffalo and the patient hyenas remained there until the camp lights went out. The hyenas launched another attack and eventually the buffalo gave up and collapsed into a bloody heap at which point the hyenas began to feed.

The next morning the camp staff got a detailed look of the buffalo carcass in the light of day. One of the hyenas was still present, watching as jackals and vultures arrived on the scene to finish off the carcass.

Tags: africa safari, luxury safari, Makalolo Camp, Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe Safari