Traveling to the same destination(s) each year can get a bit stale and mundane. Why not make 2012 your year to explore your passions in a new and unfamiliar way by traveling to a place you’ve only dreamed of visiting?

Below are 5 fresh trip ideas for the discerning traveler who is looking to branch out and make 2012 the best travel year ever:

1. Lend a hand through a family service trip: From uneducated children to endangered wildlife, and poverty-stricken communities and countries to unsatisfactory health facilities and conditions, the world needs the help of philanthropists and volunteers who are passionate about making an impact on those in need. With a great deal of our planet affected by these unfortunate circumstances, there are hundreds of thousands of opportunities for individuals to give back to the people and wildlife in need.

Although there are thousands of areas around the world where your family can lend much-needed assistance, Africa enables families to learn about unique cultures and help produce a measurable impact on common issues that affect much of Africa (both in the environment and in local communities). In fact, many of these issues are seen primarily in Africa and are not as commonly seen in other parts of the world.

Must-include features for a family service itinerary:

• South Africa: Half-day community service tours and full-day community service tours through the volunteer provider, African Impact. These tours will take place in two local communities near Cape Town: Red Hill Community and Masiphumelele Community.
• ***African Impact also offers community service tours in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zambia.

2. Discover the fascinating flavors of Africa’s food and wine scenes: When travelers think of food and wine destinations they often think of France and Italy. What many travelers don’t realize is that South Africa is home to some of the world’s most spectacular wines and an authentic tasting and touring experience that is often more personalized and unique than a touristy wine destination.

In addition to being home to an exceptional wine region, South Africa is also famous for its award-winning chefs, diverse restaurants, and traditional Cape Malay cuisine. From charming bistros and wine bars to trendy cocktail clubs, and elegant seafood eateries to rustic steakhouses, South Africa’s culinary scene is one of the most broad and colorful in the world.

Must-include features for a food and wine itinerary:

• South Africa: Cape Malay cooking classes / tours, Mother City Tour, Cape Winelands private wine tasting tour, wine making classes, horseback riding tours

Cape Malay cooking class

3. Photograph one of the world’s most enchanting animal kingdoms: Looking at starting up photography or exercising your current master photography skills? Let Africa be your blank canvas. With colorful wildlife, enchanting patterns, earthy textures, and uninhabited landscapes, Africa is a place where novice photographers and professional photographs, alike, can come to practice their skills and capture some of the most spectacular sights on planet earth.

Must-include features for a photographer’s itinerary:

• Zambia: walking safaris through South Luangwa National Park
• Botswana: game drives and mokoro safaris in the Chobe and Linyanti Game Reserves

4. Follow the Great Migration: Known as one of the world’s few natural phenomena, the Great Migration is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that should be had by all nature enthusiasts. Each year, the great migration takes place with millions of wildebeest and thousands of zebra following the moving rains in a continual circle across Kenya and Tanzania.

The best way to view the Great Migration is on a mobile or non-mobile tented camp safari. Both types of camps enable you to sleep close to where the Great Migration is currently situated.

Must-include features for a Great Migration itinerary:

• Kenya: Great Migration safari in late July
• Tanzania: Great Migration safari in March

5. Challenge your inner adventurist: Whether you’ve always dreamed of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, horseback riding through the untouched savannah plains, white water rafting down the Zambezi River, ziplining along one of the seven natural wonders of the world, or diving with the great white sharks of South Africa, Africa has it all. In fact, many consider it one of the most unique playgrounds for adventurists. And even if you wouldn’t consider yourself the adventurous type, it is never too late to break free from your fears and explore the world through fresh eyes. Make 2012 your year to challenge yourself and discover the beauty of the unexplored.

Must-include features for an adventurist’s itinerary:

• South Africa: great white shark cage diving
• Zimbabwe: Victoria Falls activities, which include bungee jumping, flying fox, gorge swinging, abseiling, and ziplining

Start painting your dream African safari vacation by downloading our PDF on Your Unique Guide to Southern & Eastern Africa.

If you missed Part I of this post, feel free to check it out here.

See below for some tips on how to pack the stress-free way for an African safari vacation:

Temperature Changes:

Whether you’re visiting two countries in one day or experiencing an early-morning game drive, temperatures can change dramatically across country lines and throughout the day.

For example, if you’re visiting Cape Town during the winter (June through August) you might experience cold, rainy days, while other days might be sunny but chilly. Then, you might visit Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe the following day, where it is freezing at night and in the early morning, but hot during the mid morning to afternoon.

For situations such as these, you want to be sure not to pack bulky items, but rather, layer your clothing so that heat is trapped between each layer and you can easily eliminate articles to accommodate the temperature and your comfort.

Also, consider packing moisture-wicking clothing such as Under Armour®, Bamboosa®, or Athleta. These materials are often thin and form fitting, yet are designed to breath while holding in heat.

Varying Terrains:

There are so many wonderful and different ways to enjoy the beauty of Africa including canoe safaris, game drives, walking safaris, gorilla trekking, wine tasting, relaxing at the beach, golfing, and more. And often, travelers to Africa will have a combination of these activities on their itineraries, which can create a challenge when packing.

Because you’ll most likely be participating in both land- and water-based activities, it’s important to bring attire that can be worn various ways and works well with all activities. Fabrics to look for should be quick-dry and easy to remove, and be sure to wear proper, secure footwear.

One of my most versatile clothing pieces is my pashmina, which I use to keep the sun and dust off of me while on a game drive, and I also use it as a scarf to keep warm.

Lee Heyward, style expert and owner of Charleston Style Concierge, suggests using a packing chart to plan a versatile and functional wardrobe for your trip to Africa.

To create a packing chart, take out a piece of paper and a pen. Draw a column for each day you’ll be in Africa. Then make a column for the activities you’ll be participating in during that day, and divide that column into what you’ll be doing during the day and evening.

The chart works to outline your specific needs each day and enables you to visualize and map what you need to wear during your entire trip to Africa.

Toiletries:

Toiletries are notorious for taking up too much space in a suitcase. From bulky packaging to oversized toiletry bags, making room for your essentials can make you work up a sweat.

Consider leaving your massive toiletry bag at home and opt for Ziploc bags that you can squeeze the air out of and close. Or, use a small, soft makeup bag to store some of your toiletries.

Also, many accommodations provide guests with necessary toiletries such as mosquito and bug spray, shampoo and conditioner, body lotion, and body wash. This way, you don’t have to pack all of your toiletries—just the ones that you are not provided with.

Another great way to reduce the space your toiletries take up in your bag is to get rid of unnecessary packaging. Deodorant, toothpaste, face lotion, baby oil, and other essentials can be bought in trial aisles (small sizes) of various drug stores. These aisles also have empty plastic spray bottles that you can transport some of your liquid toiletries to. Just make sure you label each bottle. You don’t want to be rubbing foot cream on your face.

And don’t forget to think outside the box. Purchase two-in-one products such as SPF face lotion and shampoo and conditioner in one.

Shoes:

Shoes can take up a TON of room in a suitcase. In order to reduce your load, bring 2 – 3 pairs of shoes. I suggest a pair of comfortable walking shoes and a pair of flip flops that can work as fashionable dinner shoes as well. Be sure that your flip flops are supportive as well in case you’ll be doing lots of walking.

Also, separate the pairs within your suitcase. Don’t worry—they won’t be apart for too long. When you separate each pair, you can strategically place them where there is space and, you can even place small items inside each shoe, such as toothpaste.

Evening Attire:

At some time during your African vacation you’ll probably want to enjoy fine dining in a city atmosphere. Although almost all restaurants in Cape Town and Johannesburg are casual, you don’t want to feel underdressed in your safari gear. With that said, wear your dinner outfit on the plane and when you’re traveling. This way, you’re not only using the outfit once during your trip.

Do you feel confident to pack for an African safari vacation? Let us know in our comments section.

This past week, I was reading a blog written by a good friend in the safari industry.  Do you want to hyperlink and share this blog?  One of the comments on his blog was that travel agents and tour operators are going to become a thing of the past.  This got me thinking.  One of the reasons why I plan African Safari Vacations is because I love what I do.  Isn’t this what it’s all about?  Shouldn’t we all being doing something that we love and are passionate about?  I love planning trips to Africa for our clients. I feel very fortunate to be able to spend my days dreaming up African vacations that will change people’s lives.

Sandy on safari in Madikwe

Why do I do this and why do clients come to me to do this?  We in the travel industry are facing lots of consumers scouring the internet looking for deals, when to go on vacation, where to go, how long etc?  So the question begs …. why should you book your vacation with a specialist?  It shouldn’t only be because I love what I do.  I have spent the past week thinking about this question and the comments posted on my friend’s blog.  If you are in the travel industry, I would love to hear your feedback, but in the meantime I’ve come up with some answers.

Here are 10 reasons travelers should book with a specialist.

1. Clients come to a travel agent or tour operator for their expertise, knowledge and advice. Most travel agents have a specialty or niche.  At Hills of Africa we have three specialists who have been in the industry working as guides, working at hotels and working in the travel industry for over 15 years.  We spend large amounts of time investing in ourselves to make sure we know our product.  In my case I take 2-3 three-week trips to Africa every year to educate myself on my product and the destinations I promote.  I never recommend a product to a client that I have never visited.  It is important for me to be able to talk with my clients about the different types of accommodation, the game viewing experience, the cuisine, the quality of guides, even their names.

2.  More for your money. If you are scouring the internet for the best deals, you might not come up with the best deal.  Those of us in the industry are kept up to date on deals, for example some properties offer a “stay for 3, pay for 2″ deal, or even a combination of staying at three different properties with a “stay for 9, pay for 6″.  As they say, the lowest price isn’t always the best deal, travel agents are aware of the deals that are only available to the travel agent trade.

Surprises for our clients

3.  Personal Service. Even if you are not going for a special occasion, it is worth noting that travel agents and tour operators take the time to get to know you; they find out what your favorite drink is, what type of chocolate you like, what your favorite flower is.  Now I might be giving away trade secrets here, but how surprising and special would it be to receive a bottle of your favorite bubbly with a welcome note in your room on arrival, or a surprise “massage for two” after a long flight from your travel agent.  We enjoy spoiling you.

4.  Preparing you for your Trip. We like to prepare you for your trip from the moment you leave home to the moment you return.  You are our responsibility once you get on that airplane, and so it is important for us to make sure you are well prepared.  At Hills of Africa, we send you a Question and Answer document which answers every question you might have about an African safari vacation, from how long your passport needs to be valid after entering the country to what type of inoculations and medicine you might need for Africa, to whether or not you should take a hairdryer with you.  We also prepare destination guides for the countries you will be visiting which will include restaurants (and of course we know which table to book!), tours, bank hours, markets worth visiting.  Travel agents leave no details out and our mission is to help prepare you for your vacation so that you will be able to enjoy yourselves without worry or hassle.

A friendly face welcoming you

5. We are there to help you when something goes wrong. Every step of the way, travel agents are with you.  Because we know your itinerary, we will be there to help you when something goes wrong.  If your flight happens to be canceled or delayed we are there to help ensure that you get on the next available flight.  Not only that, because we have staff on the ground in the countries that you will be visiting, our staff will know that you have been delayed.  They will be waiting for you, you won’t have to go find a tax and make your own way to your destination. We will have informed the hotel or safari camp that you are staying at, and on your arrival you’ll have your favorite beverage ready for you (because we have taken the time to get to know you and your preferences!) with a warm and inviting smile.  Having a travel agent working with you, can save you hundreds of hours and money when something goes wrong.

Celebrating after a soccer match in the local community

6.  Custom designing your vacation of a lifetime. I think most travel agents and tour operators are like us at Hills of Africa Travel.  When a client comes to us with a request we spent a lot of time designing their itinerary to meet their travel needs and desires.  I love the fact that we are small, we are proud of it too.  As a small tour operator we don’t have to worry about volume discounts with specific properties and then having to push clients to those properties to meet contractual obligations.  What we take pride in is actually listening to our clients, incorporating everything they desire and then presenting them with an itinerary that matches exactly what they are looking for in terms of budget, time frame and travel tastes.  This could be something like a family wanting to be more involved in the community, so arranging a soccer match in the local village they will be visiting, or arranging a surprise dinner in the African bush, or volunteering for a day in a local community to prepare a field for vegetable gardening.  All travel agents and tour operators are passionate about their work, but we are even more passionate about our clients’ experiences.

Giving back

7.  Giving Back. Travel agents have a desire to give back.  At Hills of Africa Travel our mission is “changing lives one journey at a time, every time”.  What I mean by this, is that it is our intention for you to have a life changing journey to Africa by being mesmerized by it’s beauty, captivated by its animals and your hearts warmed by the smiles of the people you will meet.  It is also so that the people of Africa to get to know you and their lives are changed forever by having been given the chance of getting to know you and learning about your family, your history and your culture. Now I know that everyone has the right intention to do good, but is it going to the right place?  We make sure that your travel dollars go into the right hands, by choosing travel providers who make a difference, who are passionate about Fair Trade and equality for their staff and their families and who are willing to make a difference.

8.  Booking with a travel agent, saves you bank fees! When you book your travel with a travel agent, you are only paying one bill.  We organize your itinerary to include someone to meet you as you exit the airplane, transfers, hotel and safari accommodation, tours, restaurant bookings.  If you were to organize this yourself you would have to pay numerous companies (let alone keep track of all the confirmation numbers, dates, times, places, etc), we take this hassle away from you and pay all of these suppliers on your behalf.  With African bookings as well, the travel agent takes the exchange currency risk, not you.

Relaxing at Azura in Mozambique

9.  More time for you. A travel agent can save you countless hours of scouring the internet, when you could be making money doing your own job.  A travel agent has many more avenues to search from, we know our business well and we take pride in what we offer to you.  We spend a lot of time researching and making sure that each transfer is with a trusted agent, each hotel room is in perfect condition, your flights have you in your preferred seating.  We have taken the time to be the very best agents by investing in our education and knowledge so that you don’t have to spend your time doing planning a vacation when you could be spending quality time with loved ones, or making money in your own day job.

10.  We think of you. Travel agents have the knowledge, expertise and the “in” on what you need to do to plan your vacation, what you need to do make your dream trip a reality and not just a dream.  We make sure that you are looked after from the time you leave home to the time you return.  All the worry and stress of having to sort out the details are taken away from you, leaving you with the opportunity of being able to enjoy every single treasured moment of your vacation.

If you are planning a dream vacation will you trust your vacation of a lifetime to a travel agent?  Travel agents, I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts and what actions you take to make your clients’ dream vacations a reality.

Herewith an update from the boys on their wild African safari vacation in Zambia collecting crocodile eggs.

Leaving the farm for camp proved to be quite an ordeal. Our convoy of pickup trucks arrived at 10:30am on the dot, however it would only be 5:00pm before we set off on the Sefula armada of  fishing/egg collection vessels.

Sefula boats ready to leave for the Zambezi River

The normal 20 minute drive from the farm to the harbor took 2 hours in the first vehicle, however it would be another 6 hours before the truck with the motors arrived with a broken fuel pump. Mark and Jim used the time wisely though and did some last minute shopping for ice, vegetables and phone/data cards…phone cards being integral in the collection process as ‘scouts’ locate nests and report back to main camp for a lucrative bounty. Data card, purely for “if the phone works maybe the internet will as well”.

Mongu Harbor

The harbor is not the place to be sitting around for 5 hours (as Mark & Jim found out) and a huge fire in the distance made one wonder if we were ever going to make it to Main Camp.

Fire near Mongu Harbor

At last all boats and equipment finally made it to the harbor and we set of for Main Camp, roughly 20 miles away or 2-3 hours on the boats (normally). Today however instep with the rest of the day it would take us four.  We optimistically gauged the sunset to occur at 7pm (more like 6) so Mark & Jim got their first experience of the Mongu channel and the Zambezi in pitch darkness. We arrived at 9:00pm  a little frazzeled but happy to be on land again. The river being very low for this time of  the year produced countless sandbars which we all had turns trying to maroon ourselves on. We readied camp as much as we could, unloaded the boats and turned in for the night.

Main Camp

Wednesday morning we continued setting up camp, sent one of our collection agents down river for a few days to spread the word that we were collecting crocodile eggs and then were treated to a delicious meat pizza expertly designed by Leatherman Jim.

Pizza for dinner

We also set up our water heating unit being a 4 x 20 foot strip of black conveyor belt, which had been discarded after years of use up in the mines at Kitwe.  We rolled the belt into a concave curve and molded it together to hold 80 litres of water.  We then dug a huge hole and covered the “new water unit” with plastic to minimize evaporation and sand getting in from the wind.  The logs are to hold the plastic down.  A day of sun beating down on Jim’s invention gets us a 130 degree 10-minute shower every night.

Our solar powered water heater

With our home for the next 10 days sorted out, the past two days have been spent dropping business cards up and down the river and fishing, which is crucial for dinner and to supplement our smallish cooler box of meat.

Thursday 10th September

Today saw the return of Aston (who went down river on Tuesday) with two boxes of collected crocodile eggs from today, and one from yesterday. We have word that there are four more nests 3-4 hours upstream and Graham and Jim will collect those tomorrow, as well as taking a visit to the ferry to collect more supplies.

What the boys have been doing, besides looking for crocodile eggs:

• We set up a 5 holes frisbee golf course
• Jim has been handing out shoes to the local African children that his daughters collected from school.  You should have seen their bright smiling faces, it gives me immense pleasure giving them something they would never have if we weren’t in the area (no one comes to this part of the world)

Handing out shoes to the African children

Please leave us a comment and let us know what game you think the boys are going to be making up next.  Golf Frisbee is their first, what’s next?

Mfuwe Lodge in South Luangwa National Park, Zambia has some unusual visitors…. elephants in the house.

Elephant in the lobby at Mfuwe Lodge by Johan Elzega

Last year the herd of elephants that frequented Mfuwe Lodge to feed on the wild mangosteen entered the lodge on the 9th of September to check the state of the fruit.

Elephants in the lobby at Mfuwe Lodge

Once again and almost to the day they checked in September the 10th…

Elephants at Mfuwe Lodge

The fruit aren’t ripe yet so they anticipate a daily guest until they are when the entire family will follow!

Elephant in the lobby at Mfuwe Lodge

Checking in to hotels can be a real drag when the lobby is crowded and full of people.  Checking into Mfuwe Safari Lodge can be pure exhilaration.

Don’t you think it would be fun to have breakfast with an elephant having his in the same lodge whilst on an African safari vacation?  I would love for you to leave us a comment and give us your thoughts…..

All photographs are copyright to Mfuwe Lodge and The Bushcamp Co.

This post is written by my brother, Graham, who is married to my partner, Meredith Hill.  The boys, Graham and my husband, Mark, are in Zambia helping my dad collect crocodile eggs.  Every few days I will be posting updates on their African Safari vacation adventure.

Well everything arrived in Zambia!! There was a lot of hilarity in our family last week when Mark and I were packing our bags. We had a small generator weighing in at 56 lbs, a huge cooler box stuffed to the brim with all sorts of tools, fishing gear, skinning knives, bungee cords, yeast, pumps and many other odd and sods that weighed in at 69 lbs, our clothes bag weighed in at 48 lbs and lastly a small fishing rod holder. Virtually everything is left on the farm after the trip, either to use the following year or to be used by the old man on the farm. Clothes and shoes are given away to the locals, so we travel very lightly on the way home. I never really expected to see all our luggage arrive in Lusaka, especially as we had a fairly tight connection in Joburg, but there it was a bit battered but safe.

It took us 2 days to get to the farm, Charlotte to Atlanta, Atlanta to Joburg, Joburg to Lusaka, overnight in Lusaka and lastly a 7 hour drive to Mongu in a rental car. That 15 hour flight from Atlanta to Joburg was not the most comfortable, Delta must have the most uncomfortable seats in the world. My bum was numb an hour into the flight and 2 days later I still feel the effects, so not looking forward to the return leg now.

Crocodiles in the small pens

Dad was moving the yearlings from the small pens to the grower pens, so we got to help out. The process goes something like this, carefully catch a crocodile, put it in a bag, when there are four crocodiles in the bag, walk it quickly to the grower pen, hand the bag across to a handler in the pen, open bag and let the crocodiles into the water. Generally this is a very smooth operation, but once in a while they escape. Jim, our American outdoors expert, better known as Leatherman Jim, got to test his reflexes catching an escapee, getting it safely into the bag. Not to be outdone by a Yank I decided to catch one myself and promptly registered my first eve crocodile bite. How am I ever going to live this one down!!

Moving the crocodiles to the grower pens

I would say that the length of them averages out at about 1 metre and they are born about 30 cm long, so that is fairly decent growth in 9 months. The temperatures at the moment are 30° Celcius during the day and 20° at night. They have been used to a constant 32° so this will stress them out for a few days at the most until they get used to their new environment and temperature variation.

We do try to give them a calmer for 5 days before the move which does help stop the piling up in the corners.

The grower crocodiles have grown a lot in the last year, however it is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of them are almost 1.75 metres long, while others are not much bigger than the yearlings we have just put out, which means almost no growth this last 12 months. It is really disappointing to see the smaller ones, however now that it is heating up they should start growing rapidly.

The next big project day is taking on is to move the 300 biggest crocs to a retirement pen. They will have their teeth clipped, put into a pen with very smooth concrete ponds and left for a month or two to allow any cuts, scratches or disease to heal.

The boats are ready for the Zambezi River

Today has been dedicated to packing for the river where we go tomorrow. Yeta Sisi, one our agents on the river, walked in from the river, 20 miles away, to report that the laying has started so we need to get there quickly before we loose to many nests to the water monitors and other predators. Leatherman Jim, ably assisted by Mark, fixed the water pump on the Johnson, Dad fibre glassed the fuel tap on the generator which we found broken, damaged on the journey, and I pottered around setting up our shower and light fittings, moved the rod holders on the boat, fitted in-line water fuel separators on all the outboard engines, made lists and packed a few boxes for the river.

We are ready and leave for the river at 10 am.

Beautiful Zambia sunset

A few thoughts…

….The full moon is playing havoc with my star gazing

….The bright red sunsets are out of this world

….Fiberglass will fix anything

….Cane spirit should be consumed with caution!

….Everything in Africa takes a little longer than anticipated.

Do you think this could be a trip you would enjoy?  How do you feel about visiting Camp Crocodile Mongu? I’d be interested to know your thoughts.