A once in a lifetime opportunity, to travel an age-old route across Africa from Cairo to Cape Town, but this time by private plane…Imagine – a flying safari from Egypt to Cape Town, taking in the sights of both and everything in between. Cross the desert of Khartoum on camel back then sit back and [...]

Tanzania Tour Diary
Our Safari Honcho, Jeff Ward, recently spent a week exploring the beautiful country of Tanzania. The below are excerpts of his trip as he recounts his amazing experiences… Day 1: I arrive at the Mount Meru Hotel in Arusha after a long spell of travelling. It’s the perfect spot for a one night pre [...]
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Birders vs non-birders on safari
Non-birders on safari Now here is a dilemma. We recently had a couple who all in all had a fantastic safari in Botswana and Kruger except for one recurring problem….They proclaimed to not be very interested in birds, but just as luck would have it, they found themselves on game drives with keen birders, or [...]
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Pic of the week : Hippo by Stephen Raffay
Hippopotamus amphibius – “river horse” This great shot of a hippo showing off his incisors was taken by Stephen Raffay, a professional photographer who is currently on safari in the Kruger National Park area care of africansafaris.com. Contrary to popular belief, this old guy is not yawning or opening up wide for the dentist…! This [...]
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We’ve been nominated for Travel & Leisure magazine’s A-List Travel Agent awards!
“As long time T&L (Travel & Leisure Magazine) readers and subscribers, we want to tell you about our recent trip to South Africa, Botswana, Zambia & Namibia, and to nominate our Tour Operator, African Safari Consultants, for your 2012 A-List. We were celebrating our 20th anniversary, and wanted to plan a “trip of a lifetime.” [...]
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Wildlife pic of the week: The African Buffalo
The African Buffalo is a respected member of the Big Five even though he might look like a mellow bovine. His cousins in the East, the Asian Water Buffalo, can be domesticated. Not this guy! He is extremely dangerous, and is capable of killing a lion. He is on the trophy wish list of big [...]
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The great migration – the gory aftermath
Being in East Africa’s Masai Mara and Serengeti national parks during the annual migration is high up on every animal lover’s wish list. The awesomeness is in the sheer numbers and the opportunity to witness one of nature’s most incredible spectacles. Not everybody is lucky enough to be at the right place at the right [...]
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World Rhino Day – 22 September 2011
One of the Big 5 – Rhinos on Safari I have done a blog post before on Rhino poaching when it was all looking like it was getting out of control a couple of months ago. There was a huge outcry and then things looked like they calmed down a bit and some progress was [...]
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Photo of the Week: Kruger Park Sunset
Why the Kruger Park is such a Safari favorite One of my colleagues has recently done a trip up to the Kruger Park, and it is always awesome to see the pictures they come back with. As much as I love the animals, I also love those sunsets! Here is my favorite one from her [...]
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Client Feedback: An Awesome African Safari
African Adventure - South Africa, Zambia & Botswana Some great in depth feedback from clients who have recently traveled with us. Open, honest & some super footage at the end too. Enjoy the read and if you need any advice or thoughts on the properties or itinerary they mention please get in touch with us and we [...]
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View of the Week – Sunrise in Busanga Plains
Wilderness Safaris Shumba Camp – Zambia We were chatting in the office this week about Zambia and what a fantasic safari destination it is. That of course reminded me of my Friday photo of the week and more importantly this week – the View of the Week! My colleague Lise was recounting her time on [...]
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Vultures & their International Day of awareness
Vultures in Africa’s food chain I learnt this week that International Vulture Day occurs on the first Saturday in September each year. So this year falls on 3rd of September which amazingly (the year is flying by) is this coming weekend. The event was started by the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Birds of Prey Programme and [...]
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Every aspect of our trip was spot on - no delays, missed connections, late flights or missing transfer drivers. We came home with thousands of pictures and many incredible memories. Thanks to your expert consultation, we had the trip of a lifetime and have been smitten by the people and places we've experienced. Thank you for being so attentive and responsive to our questions. I have already provided your contact info to several colleagues who are interested in planning a trip to Africa. We hope to plan another adventure to Africa - perhaps Namibia next time and will be sure to call you!
The McClays
Dear Jeffrey and Ilze, We will forward more pictures as we edit them. A friend recommended that we trek a second day, wished we had. It was an incredible experience. Be sure to tell you customers to wear really good gloves, the nettles are bothersome! I had only a knit glove that did not help. David wore very heavy gloves and he had no problem with his hands but those nasty nettles are everywhere. Makes no difference because after a certain point you forget the stings. Our mountain guide, Fidel, was great, very professional and very helpful preparing us for the trek. On the mountain we were met by 3 trackers that were equally wonderful. Our next trip will probably in 2014 unless I can talk David into an earlier one. Thank you again for making this so special. Carol
Dear Liesl, Thanks for your note. We did have a wonderful trip and thought you would be interested in the following comments. 1. The Westcliff Hotel was just adequate. But we did get a good nights sleep. 2. We found all of the lodges to be wonderful. The accommodations, the food, and most importantly the staff at each place were extraordinary. 3. One criticism. If we were to plan the trip again we would eliminate Jao and substitute Mambo. We would have liked to have seen far more big predators, which were scarce in the Delta. We were told over and over again that Mambo offered much better viewing of predators. We would love to return one day to Abu. We found it a very special place. We did have a memorable trip and we thank you for your arrangements. Lynne and Harold Handler
Hello Liesl, I am so pleased with this trip to Botswana. The country was beautiful and green. The weather was very comfortable. We saw many of the animal life, certainly a successful safari with lions; leopards; cheetah; painted dogs; elephants; hippos; giraffe; zebra; impala and much more. The lodges were marvelous, really. The food was great, no one became ill. Everything went exactly as planned, everything. I thank you so much for arranging this adventure for our family. I am so impressed that a trip of this sort with so many different arrangements to be made, that it can go as flawless as it did. We had a great time. Thank you so much, and thank you to all that did such a memorable and remarkable job in a service of providing a great safari. Happy New year! I will send a picture or two.
Good morning! It sure was a terrific trip for all of us...thanks to both of you for putting up with my endless emails---I guess I worried unnecessarily! The stay at the Stanley was a perfect introduction to the city, and the hotel is wonderful, well preserved, very helpful and friendly staff, great location. We did the Kazuri bead factory one day, and volunteered the next. We had a really nice dinner in an alley down the road from the hotel...called BoBos which is a Turkish outdoor restaurant. Certainly nothing formal, outdoor seating with few amenities, but very good inexpensive food. Worth a look. Then had Gamewatchers pick us up to begin the safari...our driver Stephen was an excellent guide, full of info, very interactive. Took great care of us. The other driver, Tony, was also very good though I was not in his RangeRover too often. Sweetwaters was a great choice. Nothing negative to say there. Lodging very nice, food good, game sightings excellent, fun nighttime entertainment. We all enjoyed. Lake Nakuru was the following day. Unfortunately, I would say that of all the experiences, this was the least favorite. The lodge was quite good, food good, good location within the park. The lake water was apparently very high for this season due to prior months' rains, so the bird life was marginal. Game viewing ok, but of course nothing like the Mara. Mara Entim was one of the favorites of all the camps. Beautiful location, top quality staff, camping on the river's edge couldn't be beat, though the sounds of the hippos grunting all night long was very disruptive to our sleep! The game drives with the park staff were incredible with awesome sightings, just overall magnificent! We got to the NBO in plenty of time for flight out to EBB. I was very impressed with Gamewatchers and our guides. The only negative was Nakuru and the long drive. I think we would have been better off hitting a different park between Mt. Kenya and Mara making the drive less intense. In Entebbe, as you know, we changed lodging to the Karibu House instead of the Lake Vic Hotel. I would strongly suggest you look at Karibu. It's a guest house with about 6 rooms, excellent ownership, very secure location, great staff, good chef in the kitchen, all in all a perfect stop over. First day was Ndali Lodge which a beautiful setting. The owner is very friendly and spends time with the guests, though his staff is not as well trained as I would have expected given his British background, quality of the lodging. Enjoyed Kibale. Could have passed on the Bigodi walk I think, esp during mid day when very hot. Then QE park at Mweya...what a great setting. We loved it! A perfect end to the travel. The Kazinga channel ride as lots of fun as were the game drives, though I was a bit underwhelmed with the volume and diversity of the game in QE. Especially as I compared to the Mara or Mt. Kenya. The landscape and views are unbeatable, but not many animals. Example no giraffe, rhino, few lions. Despite that, we had a marvellous time there. The setting really is unbeatable. Entertainment at night with tribal dancers was fun. Our Wild Frontier guide was named Ham, and he was outstanding. Very personable, soft spoken, courteous, well informed, etc. I would highly recommend him to future travellers. We all really liked the variety that Uganda gave us after a week in Kenya. The varied terrain and different cultures were educational, and it fulfilled the desire I always had to get to this area of Africa. I would not really change anything on the itinerary except the Nakuru stop. Otherwise all lodging and guides were very well chosen You both did a great job for us....thanks loads. I wish we were headed back to the continent soon, but I fear it will be a few yers. Garth












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