DIY Bookings vs Travel Agent Bookings

Posted on December 30, 2012 by debbie

Murray had a few rants while we were away, so now it is my turn. I feel I need to say something about “do it yourself” airline bookings vs travel agent airlines bookings. So, here it goes.

When we were in Maun, Botswana, we were checking our emails after being out of WIFI range for 10 days and found out that our flight from Maun to Johannesburg had been cancelled and Air Botswana had put us on another flight 2 1/2 hours later. Unfortunately, that new flight put us into Johannesburg after our connecting flight back to Dar es Salaam departed.

We scurried over to the Air Botswana office, explained the situation to an agent there, handed her the South African Airways flight confirmation to show her that we had flights, and the first thing she said was “We didn’t know you had these flights. If you had booked through a travel agent, the flights would have been linked and we would have known you had a connecting flight.”

She then started to get all caught up with that particular fact and I had to suggest to her that regardless how we booked the flights, the cancellation of our flight is causing us to miss the South African Airways flight and that we needed to fix the problem. I then suggested she reroute us through Gabarone, or somewhere else, to get us to Johannesburg on time. Which she did and it all turned out just fine.

So, the airlines and the web have allowed the populace to book their own flights. Almost every airline in the world has a website to book tickets on. We have booked flights on Indian airlines, Belize airlines, Tanzanian airlines and Botswanan airlines from the confines of our home. They all let us do it!

For those savvy enough to plan and book their own flights, a travel agent is a redundant service. It is also a costly service. During our early African trip planning, we had a discount travel agent give us a quote on our flights. The routing was terrible and the cost was considerably more than we could do it. WHY WOULD WE USE A TRAVEL AGENT??????

Oh, wait a minute! Using a travel agent would link all our flights together so the airline agents would know our connecting flights. As far as I am concerned, that is the ONLY reason to use a travel agent.

So, now it is up to the airlines. If the airlines allow us to book flights all over the world, they should provide a method for us do-it-yourselfers to link the flights together. It could be a simple “Comment” box that gets attached to the “locator number” that ticket agents access. This comment box would allow us to type in information such as “This Air Botswana flight AB YYY connects with South African Airways flight SAA XXX, to Dar es Salaam that departs at 12:30 on the same day.”

The airlines have to move forward and realize that more and more people are planning their own travels and booking their own flights. They have to provide a method to link together flights on different airlines.  Until they do, situations such as the one encountered in Botswana will continue to happen.

Phew!

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Elephant

Posted on December 28, 2012 by debbie

Tembo in Sawhili. These giants are gentle beasts. We never tire of watching them. The females’ maternal instincts are evident every time we find a mother and her young one. Our Landcruiser passes between a female and her baby and her agitation shows immediately. Pascal speeds ahead quickly and the mother’s anger abates. Pat says that a mother elephant will mourn the loss of her baby and will return to the spot where the baby died.

It is amazing how much they must eat, disseminating an entire tree for lunch. They break off branches, strip off the majority of the leaves and if they cannot reach the top the will push over the tree so the tasty bits are closer to the ground. Whole sections of bushes and trees are torn apart and we know that an elephant herd, or parade, has passed.

The bull elephants are solitary creatures and roam the plains alone. A bull will join a herd to mate. The others travel in herds that are lead by a matriarch.

The Elephant Graveyard is a myth started by Walt Disney, or someone like that. It does not exist.

One would think that as they moved they would make much noise due to their size, but they have ‘pillows’ on the bottom of their feet and set each foot down gently so you cannot hear the slightest sound when they move. They are very graceful. The tracks the adults leave in the dust are the size of dinner plates or serving platters. HUGE!

Of all the animals we saw in Tanzania and Botswana, the elephant remains my favorite.

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Budget Analysis (Warning: May put you to sleep!)

Posted on December 26, 2012 by debbie

After paying for our safaris, flights and most of our hotels, we calculate how much cash we need to take with us to Africa.  We create a fairly in-depth cash budget. It is an excel spreadsheet with each day we are away across the top, one column for each day. Down the side, there are groups of categories, as listed below.

Budget Amt

  • Departure Tax                                                                                                           $ 164
  • Hotel                                                                                                                           $ 663
  • Safaris (sub categories for Tips and Extra Safari Costs)                                  $ 465
  • Diving (sub categories for Diving/Equipment and Tips)                                $ 795
  • Transport                                                                                                                  $ 285
  • Meals (sub categories for Breakfast, Lunch, Supper and Snacks/Drinks)  $ 895
  • Entertainment/Fees                                                                                                $ 117
  • Spending Money (sub categories for Presents and Artwork)                         $ 620
  • Miscellaneous                                                                                                           $     0

Grand Total Budgeted                                                                                                $4,004

Under each category, we specify the specific location, for example for hotels, we listed Dar es Salaam, Arusha etc. This budget is strictly a CASH budget – what funds will we need while away. It does not include anything that is prepaid (safaris, hotels, flights). We are taking US cash with us and do not want to take an excess amount in case it got stolen, lost etc.

Murray did his normal research and found out what departure taxes we may have to pay, average meal costs, average tipping requirements etc. We fill in the spreadsheet and total the rows and columns and the grand total budgeted is $4,000. We feel this sounds reasonable so we take this amount in cash. We also, as insurance against theft, take $1,000 US in traveler’s cheques. We expect to use these only in an emergency. (We both also have credit cards.) We had read that credit cards were not widely accepted, and this turns out to be very true.

While traveling, we keep track of what we actually spend. I had copied the budget into another worksheet and we use the same format for the “actuals”. It works quite well. Here are some comments about what we budgeted compared to what we actually spent.

Departure Taxes – We only paid $10 departure taxes in one airport, so we were under-budget by $154.

Hotels – We spent $686 ($23 over-budget), which was due to the extra hotel costs in Gabarone that we were not expecting. This was due to having our flight in Maun canceled and getting re routed through Gabarone.

Safaris – We budgeted $465, made up of $420 for Tips and $45 for Extra Costs. We actually spent $550 on Tips and $0 on Extra Costs, making us $85 over budget. We had budgeted for tips for the safari guides and camp staff, but did not budget for tips for staff in the hotels/lodges where we stayed. It seems to be the norm to leave a tip in the “tip box” for staff, so we did this. We also tipped the 3 fellows who were our camp staff in Botswana a little extra as we were the only clients on the safari out of a potential 9 client safari. These two items caused us to go over-budget.

Diving – We budgeted $795 and spent $785. Not bad! $10 under-budget.

Transport – We budgeted $285 and spent $144 ($141 under-budget). This is what bargaining can do. The guide books etc give a pretty conservative amount which can always be bargained down. We also budgeted to take a taxi for every trip to/from the hotel in Dar es Salaam and ended up walking twice and getting a free ride once.

Meals – Meals are always hard to budget for. Murray looks in Lonely Planet and makes his best guess as to prices. We used three pricing ranges, one for Tanzania and Botswana mainland (B $10, L $10, S $20), one for Zanzibar coastal (L $15, S $ 35) and Zanzibar Stonetown (L $15, S $ 40). If breakfast was included with hotel, we did not budget for it. The prices are for two people. We budgeted for $5 per day for snacks and Coke.

Tanzania and Botswana mainland – Breakfasts averaged about $7.50 for two. Lunch averaged about $15 for two. Suppers averaged about $15 for two. Lunches were over budget but suppers were under budget, so it came out fairly even.

Zanzibar coast – Lunches averaged almost $17 for two. Suppers averaged about $26 for two. Again, lunches were over budget but not by much. Suppers were cheaper than anticipated by about $9 per meal for two.

Zanzibar Stonetown – The one full lunch we had was about $7.50 for two, under-budget by $8. Suppers averaged about $15 for two, quite abit lower than anticipated.

Over all, we spent $578 on meals and budgeted $895, under-budget by $317. We do not eat at expensive restaurants, making the Lonely Planet our main source of possible restaurants. We could have spent quite abit more if we ate at more upscale touristy restaurants.

Entertainment/Fees – We budgeted $117 for a spice tour and entrance fees to museums while in Stonetown. We paid entrance fees to a couple of parks in Tanzania mainland and did a cheaper spice tour, so ended up underbudget by ($117 – $92) $15.

Spending Money – Because we travel with carry on bags only, we do not do alot of shopping. What we do buy, is small and usually not costly. We budgeted $120 for presents for us and family and $500 for artwork that we were hoping to buy at one of the lodges we stayed in. The artwork did not materialize, so we saved the $500. We ended up spending $203 for presents for family and stuff for ourselves, which included 4 cds for $88. I think that we need to budget more for this type of shopping in the future. Even with the over-spending on shopping we came out ahead by $417.

Miscellaneous – We hate to admit this but with all our care and attention to funds and budgets etc, when we did a mid trip calculation of funds, we were missing $137. My theory, and I believe it to be true, is that a $100 and a $20 (or 2 maybe) bill were stuck to other bills when we exchanged money and the clerk, of course, did not say anything. New US bills are terrible for sticking together and somehow we did not catch that they were stuck together. So, we lost about $137. We also had some miscellaneous expenses of a pair of reading glasses for Mur when his broke and some dental floss. We did not budget anything for Miscellaneous and spent $153.

Looking at the overall budget vs actual for cash only, we budgeted for $4,000 and spent $3,200. When we counted our US cash when we got home, it was $800, so it agreed to our tally.

London – We incurred extra expenses of about $103 in London for two meals, Undergound fare, luggage storage and a present. These were unexpected expenses and go against the overall cost of the trip, but we paid for them using a credit card, so they did not affect the cash tally.

Westjet flight – We also incurred the cost of a Westjet flight (credit card) that we had to book when we couldn’t change our existing flight when our return flights got messed up. Murray is trying to get all or some of this money back from British Airways.

Lessons learned from this exercise:

  • Crinkle new US bills so they do not stick together!
  • It’s okay to over budget meals, as you don’t really know what the prices are going to be.
  • Allow for tips for hotel staff regardless where you travel.
  • Expect unforeseen expenses and make sure you have a way to pay for them.
  • Tracking daily expenses is a good exercise if you really want to know what you spend.
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Must Haves for a Safari

Posted on December 24, 2012 by debbie

Here are a few items that we think are essential to pack for a safari.

Lens cover to protect against dust – If you have an SLR camera with a large, expensive lens, take some sort of lens cover to protect it against the dust. The Serengeti is very dusty and there is no escaping it. Murray’s lens has dust in it and we have to send it away to get cleaned, if it can be cleaned. To avoid possibly wrecking a lens, take a cover for it.

Binoculars for each person – Each person should have his/her own binos. This avoids having to share and potentially missing something.

Flip Flops – We wear flip flops in our rooms and tents so not to tread in bare feet. With unknown bugs, it is safer to have some protection on the soles of feet. We wear them into the shower for non slip protection and in case the shower is not so clean.

Rain Poncho – The best protection against the rain in an open sided safari vehicle is a rain poncho. It covers torso, arms, legs, shoes and bags (sitting on laps). A rain jacket would not provided this much protection. Pat, our guide in Botswana, uses a rain poncho!

Warm Layer, Fuzzy, Jacket or Sweater – Even if it is hot during the day, the evenings often turn cool. Evening game drives, when sitting in an open vehicle in the wind, can be cool, so a warm layer is essential.

Clear Lens Glasses – Murray had a hard time with bugs flying into his eyes in the open vehicle when he didn’t wear his sunglasses. This was a problem on evening game drives and cloudy days. He was wishing he had brought his clear lens cycling glasses to protect his eyes.

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Learning Swahili in Tanzania

Posted on December 22, 2012 by debbie

When we travel to a far off country, we like to learn a handful of words in the local language. Saying phrases like “The check please” and “No thank you” can make a waitress beam or a hawker walk away. While in Tanzania we learn Swahili.  We pick up the main words very quickly and we decide that Swahili would be easy to learn if given 6 months.

We greet people with Jambo (Hello) and they reply See Jambo (Hello to you, or something like that).  La La Salaam (Good night), Mambo (How are you?) and its response Poa (Good or Cool) get smiles from folks when we say them.

Assanti (Thank you) expands into Assanti Sanna (Thank you very much) or to Appana Assanti (No thank you). We used the last one many times while in Stonetown to discourage the hawkers and touts.

Kariboo (you are welcome) doesn’t really mean you’re welcome as said after thank you, but it means you are welcome to come into my shop.

A Kuna Matata (take it easy, easy does it or hang loose) was uttered by a few touts to Murray when Murray had to get terse with them to leave us alone. Isn’t the saying a song from the Lion King?

Pole-pole (slowly-slowly) as we hiked up and over Mt Makarot or crossing a busy street.

Dojo (hot) was Murray’s favorite and he said it many times as a start to a conversation. It always got a chuckle as Murray could not quite get the j to sound quite right.

We learned that there are many goodbyes in Swahili. There is a good bye for when you do not expect to see the person again and a goodbye for when you will – more like a see you soon. Unfortunately we cannot remember which one Wahari (g00dbye) is, so I will just say La La Salaam.

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Hippo

Posted on December 20, 2012 by debbie

Hippopotami live with a bad rap. They are quite docile and not overly aggressive. Things  get ugly if you piss one off, like this fellow above, but if you don’t bother them, they lounge about in their pool like over sized ancient Romans in the spa. Bodily contact appears to be an important sensation as the pool is large but the hippos are all in one part so close together that the ones in the middle can not get out.  The day passes slow for a hippo with nothing to do but wallow.

Hippo Pool

Hippo Pool

There is a symphony of sound coming from the hippo pool. Grunts, puffs, burbs, farts, huffs, squeals and growls.

Hippos emerge from the pool at night to feed. Sometimes they will walk far to graze. In Botswana, we see darker shapes against the dark sky munching.

Pat tells us that hippos share some similar DNA with whales. I believe this as one hippo we spot is jumping up out of the water and performing a breaching like splash back into the water. Most whale like.

Whalelike Hippo

Whale-like Hippo

 

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The Hippo and the Crocodile

Posted on December 18, 2012 by debbie

A Folk Story from Botswana….

The hippo wanted to come live in a pool, but there was a crocodile there already. The hippo asked the croc if he could come live in the pool and the croc said, “But you will eat all my fish.” The hippo replied that he wouldn’t because he only eats grass. They discussed this for a time and finally the croc suggested that the hippo go ask the creator.

The hippo went to the creator and asked if he could live in the pool with the croc and the creator said, “But you will eat all the croc’s fish”. The hippo explained that he only ate grass. The creator said, “But how will I know you are only eating grass and not eating the fish too?” The hippo told the creator that he would poop on the land and the creator will see that there are no fish bones in his poop. So the creator allowed the hippo to live in the pool.

After a time, the croc went to the creator and said that fish were disappearing from the pool. The creator immediately went to the hippo. The hippo said “Check my poop! Surely you can see that I have not been eating any fish!” The creator checked and agreed that the hippo was not eating any fish. “But who is eating the fish?” the creator asked.

The hippo agreed to help the creator search for the culprit eating the fish and that is why the hippo can be seen in the pool with only eyes, ears and nose above the water. He is watching for the fish thief.

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Debbie’s Packing Comments

Posted on December 16, 2012 by debbie

Here are the clothes that went to Africa with me:

  • 2 pair pants – 1 linen, 1 technical
  • 2 cotton T-shirts
  • 2 long sleeved linen shirts
  • 1 long sleeved wool undershirt
  • 1 pair wool leggings
  • 1 down sweater
  • 1 lightweight rain/wind jacket
  • 1 thin plastic rain poncho
  • 1 cotton scarf
  • 1 toque
  • 1 wide brimmed sunhat
  • 1 swimsuit
  • 2 bras
  • 3 pair of undies
  • 2 pair of socks
  • 1 pair of light hiking shoes
  • 1 pair of flimsy shower flip flops

I basically had two sets of clothes – pants, T-shirt, linen shirt – which I used as daytime/nighttime wear. I switched them around depending on where we were. On safari in Botswana the technical pants were daytime wear in case we got wet (fast drying), but in Zanzibar the linen pants were the daytime wear. I found out that the technical pants were not good in the extreme heat – I got heat rash on my legs from ankle to thigh!

Safari Debbie

Tanzania Safari Debbie

I think an extra T-shirt would have come in handy as I would not have had to wash so frequently if I had a third T-shirt. I still find the linen shirts abit too heavy in the extreme heat so I will have to continue my search for a lighter weight linen.

The wool undershirt and down sweater were worn on the long haul flights and one evening/night when we were camping. The wool leggings got worn, and slept in, that same night too.  All these articles got worn in London when we went into town. If we hadn’t got delayed in London, the leggings would have been worn only once. I still think that it was good to have these three warm layers with me even though they were not worn alot. I hate being cold, so they are a must for me and are not bulky like a fuzzy.

I had bought a lightweight rain jacket at Goodwill before we left and I am glad I had it. I wore it almost every early morning and late evening on safari in Botswana. It did not repel rain well, but it kept the wind out. The rain poncho came in extremely handy on two occasions in Botswana and kept me dry. If I didn’t have a poncho, I would have gotten soaked. A poncho is a must have for a safari, especially in an open vehicle.

I must find different bras to travel in. I also got heat rash under my arms were my bra covered. The material in the bras must not breathe well and they were too hot.

I wished I had an extra pair of socks. I had one lightweight short rise pair and a heavier higher rise pair. I got the higher rise pair for the hiking to protect my legs, and was glad for them but they were too heavy to wear in the heat of Zanzibar, so I ended up wearing the same socks for about 4 days straight. They will never be the same!

The footwear worked well. My only comment is that it would have been nice to have sport sandals in Zanzibar, but extra footwear means extra weight and bulk. Do I take them to wear for 1 week out of a 6 week trip? No.

Overall, I think what I took for clothing worked very well. I did get tired of wearing the same clothes over and over, but I also did not want to carry any more weight.

Shopping during our hike on Mt Makarot

Shopping during our hike on Mt Makarot

We took sleep sacks with us in case we stayed in a hotel with questionable bed linens. They got used once when we were camping and it was more for warmth than cleanliness. We could have left them at home, it’s always a gamble whether we will need them.

We took small drawing books that only got used a few times. Should have left them behind.

The first aid kit came in handy for a couple of small wounds incurred. It is always a good idea to travel with a small first aid kit and we will always take one. We took a partial role of toilet paper. Unnecessary and it got left behind somewhere.

I get better at deciding what to pack on each trip we take. We will just have to take more trips to practice!

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Zebra

Posted on December 14, 2012 by debbie
Zebra in Tanzania

Zebra in Tanzania

There is an abundance of Zebra everywhere we go. Unfortunately, they become a bit ho hum after a couple of days. Our guide says that most tourists get snooty about it and do not even stop to watch after the first day. We stop. I guess we are a bit odd. It is the stripes that make this horse like creature interesting. The pattens of the stripes are as unique as our fingerprints. The zebras in Tanzania have different stripes than the zebras in Botswana. Each time we stop to observe a group of them we try to get pictures of the Op Art patterns.

As they move across the plains they march along in single file – the line can stretch a very long way. Zebras can often be found grazing amongst wildebeest. Zebras do the great migration along with wildebeest, eland and Thompson Gazelles.

Our guide says that someone tried to domesticate zebras but it was not successful. Somehow I cannot picture a cowboy riding a zebra!

Zebra in Botswana

Zebra in Botswana

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Water

Posted on December 13, 2012 by debbie

I am in the shower this morning at the Days Inn Airport, in Vancouver, and realize that we take water for granted here in Canada. Traveling to countries like Tanzania and Botswana remind me of how lucky we are to have an abundance of clean water.

I usually drink some of my water intake while in the shower. I let the water run into my mouth, even take a drink. It was very hard for me to keep my mouth closed while showering in Africa. If I thought I got water in my mouth, I would spit it out so not as to swallow it. The water cleanliness in these countries is not what our bodies are used to.

We brushed our teeth using bottled water and only used the barest amount of water to conserve the precious resource. Here we use water straight from the tap and let the water run more than is truly necessary.

While on our mobile tented safari, we showered under a metal bucket with a shower head attached to the bottom. We turned the water lever on, wet our bodies, turned the lever off, washed hair, soaped bodies down, turned lever on, quickly rinsed off and turned the lever off again. I always went first, so I was super quick to not use all the water so Murray would have water left for his shower.

In the shower at the Days Inn, I turn on the shower and let the water pour over my body the whole time. It felt so good to be able to do this. We are so lucky to have lots of available water.

I love the concept of hot water.While traveling in under developed countries, we often had cold showers. If I was hot and sweaty, it felt quite nice, but if it was cool, a cold shower is not fun. Hot water is a luxury that we assume will be there.

Water, we take it for granted – the abundance, the cleanliness, the availability and the warmth. Whenever I return home I am thankful for what we have.

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