Murray has been researching where to go and what to do in Africa pretty heavily lately. I am not so patient with investigating, so much of this is left to Murray. I go on the web to look at a couple of tour operators that friends had used and I can’t help but get excited. I just want to go! Let’s go!!! A good sign that this is the right trip to be taking next.
We have narrowed the destination countries down to Tanzania, Botswana. We are talking about doing two safaris. One along the Okavango Delta and into the Chobe National Park in Botswana perhaps and another in Tanzania going through the Serengeti. Some of the prices we are encountering are quite high, so we are also thinking about one tour as part of a larger group (to keep the cost down) and one tour in a smaller, more costly, group. There is so much information on the web that it is hard to digest, and make sense of, it all. We are also going to go to Zanzibar. It will be at the end of the trip as it is a beach and scuba diving destination.
Murray is working on a letter to send to a number of tour operators that outlines what we are looking for. When it is ready we will send it to about 10 operators and see what we get back.
We have narrowed down the months to either September into October or November into December. We have a time constraint in that our daughter’s convocation for her Master’s is on November 3 in BC and we want to be there. So Africa has to be worked around being back in Canada on that date. The rainy season starts in November, so I am leaning toward the September/October option.
We have discovered a number of miscellaneous items. No visas needed for Canadians to these countries. Yellow fever vaccinations will be required. Malaria meds will be required. There are strict weight limits for baggage on some local airline carriers. We should each carry a pair of binoculars.
We are slowly progressing towards the east and the African continent. I am so excited!