December 2018 I looked out of the window of the Cessna Caravan 12-seater aircraft as it banked and descended. The aquamarine waters of Lake Tanganyika contrasted with the emerald vegetation of the fields. A couple of days ago Laurence and Alana, my two eldest children, were at university in opposite ...
Africa is still the Dark Continent. It is replete with mysteries, wonders and misconceptions, among other treasures. Consider Rwanda, for example. This is a tiny country in the Great Lakes region of Africa, a little to the west of giant Lake Victoria. Few people outside Africa know where it is, ...
Bisate Eco Lodge is tucked into the south-western slopes of a small extinct volcano offering stunning sunset views of two of the eight largest volcanoes in the Virungas (Karisimbi and Bisoke). The Virunga Mountains are a chain of mountains forming part of the Albertine Rift, and are the result of ...
The Engs family from California asked us where we recommend for their fourth safari with us, this time over Christmas. They loved their safari in Zimbabwe, but Christmas is not the best time to visit the Miombo/Mopane belt (northern South Africa, southern Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe). It is however, an ...
We disembark onto the beach and are welcomed to one of the most remote camps in Africa. The waves lapping gently onto the sandy shore are rhythmical and peaceful, but the atmosphere in camp is electric. Talk is centred on who will be the next President. Of course, this camp is not on the arid shores of the Libyan desert, and the executed President was not Muammar Gaddafi.
Many guests on safari have had their expectations of what they want to see on safari influenced by what they see on TV’s National Geographic and other wildlife channels. Because of these amazing wildlife documentaries, many people want to see large predators hunting and killing prey animals, but to see ...
On a recent safari in Tanzania, I was guiding my good friend John Geigert and his family. Having been on safari with me several times before, we are always looking for new things to do. One of the things the Geigert family wanted to see were chimpanzees, so we decided ...
The hike began on a misty morning passing through eucalyptus stands and rich loamy fields planted with blooming pyrethrum (a chrysanthemum flower, useful as insecticide) and potatoes. We passed smiling barefoot children and ladies dressed in colourful dresses and khangas. By some chance I was tracking with all the girls ...
Gillian and I had been to Uganda before to see the rare mountain gorilla, and this time we decided to travel there to see chimpanzees. Our first chimp track was at Kibale national park near Fort Portal. Here the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) have habituated three chimpanzee communities to the ...
The young Blackback came over and sat not far away, gazing into the distance, as if in deep thought. And then an interaction most people only dream about - being fifteen feet from a four hundred pound Gorilla picking scabs off his fingers and eating them. A curious gaze from ...
