Trip Reports – Page 3 – EXTRAORDINARY AFRICA

A lovely email from Faye and Alan, who’ve just got back from a beach honeymoon in Zanzibar, where it was (allegedly) the short rainy season! Lovely reading on a chilly morning at Extraordinary Africa HQ- thanks guys!

Hi Alex

It certainly does feel like another world over there now we’re back! We had just the best time – really interesting place and so beautiful. We found everyone really friendly and lovely too.

Stone Town was great and a real eye opener. We had a good look around by ourselves and a big night out actually on our first night! Emerson Spice was wonderful – what a location! Thank you for the recommendation, it was the perfect start. We then want onto the bar on the seafront and had a lot of drinks with the owner of the bar, very random! Serena was amazing and so nice to arrive at after a long journey.

Shooting Star wonderful, the pool incredible and we really enjoyed the beach here. Had it to ourselves and swam in the sea for hours each day, which we loved. Only 5 cottages were in use, which was good as it meant there was plenty of space around the pool etc.

Anna was just incredible. Our favourite place… So attentive but relaxed at the same time. And the management were great too, really helpful. Nikki said to say hi!

Zanzibar Beaches — Relaxing at Anna of Zanzibar

We went to a spice farm from Shooting Star and added in a stop at Jozani on our transfer to Anna, which worked well. The monkeys were amazing! Then we did a morning of snorkeling at Anna. Apart from the first couple of days the weather was perfect and so hot. We loved every minute and didn’t want to leave at all.

So nice to remember it all again!! Thank you for everything, definitely somewhere we’d like to go back to and would recommend to others. Maybe with a safari first next time!

Thanks

Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Trip Reports

The reason we do this job (a trip report from Tanzania & Kenya)

September 16, 2014March 25, 2024 Alexandra Matts

The reason I absolutely love my job, is for emails like this, which kept a smile on my face for most of my working day:

We are safely back home in Tallahassee, Florida after the most wonderful trip ever! Really! My husband and I agree, that of all the places we have traveled, Africa trumps them all.

We loved each place we visited for different reasons…

Selous Sands River for the hippos and the Rufiji river and croc infested lakes teaming with bird life.

Sand Rivers Selous — Looking out over the Rufiji from Sand Rivers

The Safari Tent Camp (ed: this was Serengeti Safari Camp) for the simplicity of our accommodations while not sacrificing a bit of comfort. The Safari drives on the vast plains of the Serengeti were breathtaking. The wildebeest crossing was a highlight and we were fortunate enough to witness a Cheetah kill! Can’t say enough good about our Nomad guides. They were tops! The staff and managers at both Nomad properties were very, very good.

Gibbs Farm was a delightful stop. The staff was amazing, the accommodations lovely and the food was delicious!

Last but not least …Ol Malo. Oh My! I cried when I walked into the lodge! What a unique structure framing the most incredible views! The Francombe family couldn’t have been nicer and more gracious. Visiting a Samburu village and a Saturday market was so humbling and moving. What great things they are doing in support of their Samburu neighbors. We watched the tribal women make their beautiful beaded necklaces and visited the local school. Our Camel ride was pretty awesome too!

Ol MaloLaikipiaKenya — Camel Safari at Ol Malo

We cant wait to go back! Maybe in about 2 years. I will be in touch. We are thinking Namibia and Botswana with a stop at our new favorite place in the world, Ol Malo!

Thank you Calynne for this lovely report- it made our morning!

Adventure, Boat safari, Trip Reports

What is a boat safari like? A personal experience.

September 2, 2014September 2, 2014 Alexandra Matts

The first thing I should admit is that I wasn’t exactly canoeing down the Zambezi. Rather, as the lone wildebeest of the group, I’d been put in the guide’s boat and was admiring his broad shoulders and efficient paddling. And pretending to be paddling hard myself every time he turned around to ask how I was getting along. Obviously.

If you’re considering a boat safari the main thing to know is that it usually isn’t terribly hard work, even when you’re actually paddling yourself. You’re usually headed downstream, following the current with stops to inspect interesting birds, take a walking safari to stretch your legs or take a snooze on a sandbank. A snooze on a sandbank? On the ground? Was this safe, I enquired? What about thehipposandthecrocsandthesnakesand….? Well, nothing on safari is guaranteed safe (though crossing a road in London or New York isn’t 100% safe either), but I can confirm that once I got over my terrors I spent a blissful hour under the trees, listening to the lullaby of a fish eagle’s call and desperately hoping that I hadn’t snored in public.

When we first embarked on our canoe safari we were briefed about how to behave if we fell into the water (“Don’t do it”), but the closest we came to hippo was admiring the mighty tusks of a distant yawn. At night we were advised to keep close to the tents (hippos hop out to graze the riverbanks after dark), counted shooting stars, and chatted to our guides about life in the bush.

By day, life adapted a gentle rhythm. A somewhat early start, grumbling offset by a gloriously early sunrise, followed by a morning’s paddling on our canoe safari. Lunch (“Oh- I shouldn’t have a glass of wine. OK, I will then”) and then snooze. Later, a walking safari watching eagles and ellies and eland. (If the latter doesn’t sound too exciting, imagine an animal that can weigh nearly a tonne jumping a pile of logs taller than a man). Later, sundowners, dinner, and bed, being sung to sleep by crickets and chomping hippos.

Zambezi canoe safari — Early evening arrival in camp on our canoe safari

In all- a boat safari is probably something I’d combine with a big-game fix to make sure you get enough cat sightings in, but absolutely magical in its own right and not to be missed.

Namibia, Self drive, Trip Reports

Namibia: Phwoar.

June 2, 2014August 29, 2014 Alexandra Matts

Sorting through some old photos I found a series from my road trip around Namibia. In a fit of extreme modesty, I thought “Wow- I am a great photographer”. And then I remembered that it’s probably not my astonishing photographic skills, it’s just Namibia.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Namibia’s the most beautiful country I’ve ever visited. (Honourable mention for Mauritania though, which has the same amazing clear light, and a rugged coastline where the Atlantic meets the desert).

Though I’m not yet giving David Bailey a run for his money, I thought I’d share a few shots to show just how spectacular Namibia is, from the endless roads of Namibia’s Central Highlands via the sand dunes and petrified trees at Sossusvlei, to the parched Etosha pan. I think it might actually be impossible to take a bad photo there. Of the landscape at least…

Beware Warthogs!

Petrified trees at Dead Vlei

Watching sunrise in the Namib Desert

Climbing Big Daddy, Sossusvlei

Sunrise at Sossusvlei

Giraffe Drinking at Etosha

Etosha Waterhole

Extraordinary Picks, KZN, South Africa, Trip Reports

My latest crush: Montusi Mountain Lodge

May 12, 2014August 29, 2014 Alexandra Matts

If you have a temper tantrum because you have to leave your lodge, it’s got to be pretty good right? To be fair, my sulks on leaving Montusi were between me, the grasses and the birds, but I couldn’t help resenting the long drive and the perfectly blameless hire car that were to break me and Montusi apart. Why couldn’t the irritatingly efficient machine break down and leave me stranded, just for a day or two?

Night time at Montusi Mountain Lodge — Starlight at Montusi Mountain Lodge

My most recent trip to South Africa had got off to something of a rocky start, with unseasonal storms in almost every place I visited. After a long drive through rural KwaZulu Natal Montusi welcomed me with a cosy fire and vast windows that framed the lightening crackling along the top of the Drakensberg.

Wildflowers near Montusi Mountain Lodge

Bushman paintings

Hiking at Montusi Mountain Lodge

Opening my eyes the next morning to glorious sunshine and the sort of view you have to photograph (just so you can show off about it later) I headed for the peak of Mount Montusi. Hiking through meadows that smelled of wild mint and listening to the clanking cowbells only cemented my love for Montusi. Sadly, it seemed as if I had just a few brief stolen moments to admire the view and the bushman rock art (in the UK it’d be behind glass and a velvet rope, here it’s on an open cave wall), and then I had to leave.

Au Revoir Montusi, I’ll be back!

Culture, KZN, Self drive, South Africa, Trip Reports, Wildlife

The signs of modern South Africa: A Road Trip around Kwa Zulu Natal

May 6, 2014August 29, 2014 Alexandra Matts

We love visiting Africa, especially on a self drive trip- it’s the best way to experience a country as locals do, rather than flying into remote luxury resorts and never seeing a local village or experiencing an elephant firmly blocking the road. Sometimes it can be exhausting, at others frustrating (a huge thank you to our wonderful client Calynne for putting up with crackly phone calls from deep in the bush), but generally, it’s just wonderful. Most recently we took a road trip around Kwa Zulu Natal and felt as if we’d finally discovered the soul of South Africa (as someone else said- “KZN is where Africa starts…”) Rather than droning on ourselves, just click to let the signs of modern South African speak for themselves…

Road trip around some of South Africa’s wildest areas? No problem, but you need to look out for unexpected hazards! This picture was taken in the Isimangaliso Wetland Park.

7th May- Would you vote ANC? Kwa Zulu Natal is a stronghold for Jacob Zuma and the ANC. While the party still has a strong following from the anti-apartheid struggle, as South Africa celebrates 20 years of free elections, there’s growing resentment against public funding of “security upgrades” to Zuma’s personal home and frustration at perceived corruption.

And you thought magpies were annoying… the monkeys that frequent the upmarket beachside town of Umhlanga are utterly adorable, but love sparkly things, and even better food- keep doors shut and a close eye on your morning pancakes. We saw some swiped from the plate underneath the hovering fork of our breakfast companion.

Poaching is a sad and growing problem across Africa. Rhinos in particular are under attack. There are staggering sums of money involved, and huge demand for rhino horn in the far east, especially Vietnam. Prevention of poaching is a constant source debate around campfires in the bush and a serious concern to wildlife-lovers with many viewing it as an all out war. Some lodges we visited spend their entire annual profit on funding rhino protection.

While the culinary offerings in South Africa can leave even the most reluctant of gourmets wishing they had a booked a slightly larger airline seat on the way home, it’s the meat that really steals the show. During our visit we had steak that would’ve sold for hundreds in central London, and developed a love of Biltong. This is no mere snack, it’s the sort of thing that whole aisles of supermarkets are devoted to. Try ostrich or chilli flavoured. Eat it as crisps or sausages. Just don’t leave South Africa without trying some.

One of the things we loved about our visit was how wonderfully straightforwards the South Africans were. There was none of the unnecessary euphemisms we encounter with British officialdom- this sign says it all!