Back from Tanzania - a fantastic trip and thanks for all the input!
Jan 1st, 2010, 06:55 AM
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Back from Tanzania - a fantastic trip and thanks for all the input!
Happy New Year everyone!!
Our family of 5 (3 kids- 17, 15 and 9) just returned from a 12 day northern circuit safari and wanted to share our experience with everyone, mainly in the hope that someone planning a safari in the future, especially with kids, would benefit. Therefore I will not go too too much into the game sightings, but more into the accommodations and other little things that make big differences. Our trip was booked through Access 2 Tanzania. They are a US/Tanzania co-owned outfit, and did a great job with our booking as well as reacting to unforeseen circumstances, as you will see below!
Our itinerary was (although that was not how it turned out):
Overnight Nairobi (Upperhill Country Lodge) - more about it below.
2 nights Serena Serengeti
2 nights Olakira Ndutu
2 nights Sopa Ngorongoro
2 nights Ngorongoro Farmhouse
2 nights Tarangire treetops
1 night Nairobi on our way out, also at Upperhill.
We decided on Access 2 Tanzania after contacting a couple of other larger Arusha operators, who were much less attentive and responsive. Karen, the US owner of Access, was exceptionally helpful throughout and handled my hundreds of questions with promptness and patience. Our guide, Said, was simply the best. Aside from being a top notch animal spotter, driver, and repository of wildlife information(and sounds!), he had a wonderfully charismatic personality and a dry wit and sense of humor that fit perfectly with our family's temperament. My husband and son are huge soccer (football as we call it in our part of the world, as well as in Tanzania) fans, like Said. They support rival teams, so there was a lot of good natured bantering about whose team was better.
If I had to find fault with anything here, it was that the vehicle (an extended 4X4) had a canvas rather than a pop up top, and when we did our all day drives by noon I did find myself looking a little enviously at other safari-goes sitting in the shade of their pop-up tops. Would we have traded Said for some shade? Not in a million years. The kids adored him and he turned a great trip into a truly special experience. In the end we found a way around it, we left the roof partly covered (first passenger row shaded) so my youngest and I stayed shaded (she burns easily, I get a bit woozy after too much sun). We were still able to see out the top when needed, and my husband's camera access remained unaffected.
Let me start right off the bat that our trip did not follow the itinerary as planned. We had structured it to begin at the Serengeti, rather than end there (as seems to be the more popular choice), because we wanted to stay at Olakira and we turned the direction around to suit their availability. So, surprise of all surprises, as we were about to board our plane at midnight from Hong Kong airport, I checked my phone for e-mails one last time and got one from Karen at Access telling us that Olakira had just informed her that they had overbooked and couldn't accommodate us (my first question - how the heck does one overbook 6 tents???). Karen attached the e-mail from them and I did not doubt her for a second. What were our options? First option was to spend one night at Olakira, then moved to Lemala Ndutu. We really hated that idea because we did not want to move daily. Then there were some other camps in the area we had not looked into at all. In the end, we decided to forgo Olakira, start at Lemala Ndutu, then go to Serena Serengeti and finish out trip as planned. We had looked quite hard at Lemala before and it was really a toss up with Olakira at the time. This, however, means we have to backtrack a little bit but at least we did not have to move everyday. Karen and her colleagues were able to switch our flight out of Arusha, flying us directly to Ndutu instead of Seronera, saving us some time on the road. So a word of warning here to those booking Olakira in the future... not sure how you can protect yourself completely, but just bear in mind you can be out in the cold at the last minute!!!
Back to our journey. For the benefit of those living in Asia, we flew Qatar Airways out of Hong Kong with a transit in Doha to Nairobi, and found it to be a really great airline. Suffice to say that living in Hong Kong we are spoiled by airlines like Cathay Pacific and Singapore, with new aircraft, state of the art inflight entertainment and great service. Qatar did not suffer in comparison at all. Good economy legroom on the larger airbus as well.
We arrived in Nairobi, were met by Dixon from Waymark Safaris (arranged by A2T) and battled an hour of horrific traffic to get to our hotel, to be told they were overbooked (again!!!), but would accommodate us at Fairview, Upperhill lodge's sister property next door. It is actually a pricier hotel so we were kind of lucky, I guess. It was an older property with an historical feel, and we did enjoy the pool for the hot afternoon. And hoped that there would be no more surprises coming our way.
The next day (after the requisite Sheldrick and Giraffe centre visits) we drove to Arusha, for reasons that now escape me. Next time, I fly. Six hours of heat and dust on bumpy roads. Access 2 Tanzania met us at the border, everything went without a hitch. We were to spend the night in Arusha before flying down to now Ndutu airstrip the next morning. We stayed at the Arumeru River Lodge that night. Nice enough Lodge, but probably for our purposes not ideally located. Would have fared better with a hotel closer to the Arusha airstrip - this lodge was on the other side of town and was a 45 minute drive away. Driving in from Nairobi we had to go all the way through Arusha town the evening before, and back again at 6:00 the next morning. Just something to keep in mind - Arusha is a lot bigger than I thought, and with a lot more traffic.
I should say outright that the Olakira fiasco turned out to be a wonderful mishap in our favour. We loved Lemala!!! It was our first time in a tented camp and I struggle for the words to describe how special it was. The staff and manager Tim at Lemala were genuinely friendly, and the food was absolutely fantastic. We wanted to take chef Paul back to Hong Kong with us! The dishes were as good as any 5 star hotel anywhere in the world. The little touches like the hot toasted cashews by the "bush TV" ( a fire) before meals where we chatted about our day with Tom and listened to his stories. Then you look up to the African night sky... sigh...
I'll speed up a little here. From Ndutu (where the game viewing was fantastic - you could go off road here so we were metres away from lions, cheetahs, elephants, hyenas, and a honey badger, which apparently is quite difficult to come by), we headed to central Serengeti, stayed at the Serena. Maybe because everything at Ndutu had been so wonderful, we had to adjust our expectations a little. The Serena was adequate, and we had opted for a balance of the chain lodges with pricier camps/lodges so as not to break the bank! If I were to go again, I would probably look for alternative accommodation to the Serena. The rooms were a little tired and the bathrooms more so. Food surprisingly satisfying. And watch out for vervet monkeys in the Serengeti - my daughter was eating a sandwich in the vehicle and one came in through the top and despite our shouts, waves and thrashing of bags came right in to the vehicle and snatched it out of her hand! So thankful that she was not bitten or scratched.
On to the Crater. Sopa was everything we had expected and good value for money. Great view, good access to the crater, and for those who mind these things, a wonderfully bright and clean bathroom with great water pressure. I will be the first to admit that free cocktails with the holiday celebrations may have clouded my memory a little...
15 rhinos that day. Lion sleeping among the jeeps. Wow!
2 nights in Karatu at the Ngorongoro Farmhouse. Great hardware, software somewhat inadequate. The property and rooms were gorgeous, as was the view over the plantation and the rolling hills beyond. Service was, at best, spotty. Both nights we were there we did not get turn down service, both mornings we did not receive our morning calls, requested the night before. Food was nothing to write home about, less exciting than even the Serena or the Sopa. House wine came out of a box! Rude waitress in the dining room, we promptly requested seating in a different section the next day.
On our first Karatu day we did a bike tour with CTP (Cultural Tourism Program) which was great fun. Starting with a downhill ride on the Lake Manyara NP access road, then through a village, finally an acacia grove before ending in great plains on the shore of Lake Manyara, as the zebras, wildees and buffalo looked on with mild interest. Friendly and efficient outfit. I am not a very established biker, and they sent out a truck to pick me and my 9-year old up so we did not have to ride back. Stopped by an artist workshop in the village and bought local paintings... I think we we spent $150 for 6 paintings.
Last stop Tarangire Treetops. I had known that it was not really the right time of the year for this park, but wanted to see it anyway. Loved its landscape, most beautiful of the parks we visited this trip. The haunting beauty and serenity of the boabab trees. Game viewing was not great, since during the rainy season the animals usually leave the park for the surrounding areas. But there were plenty of elephants, which are by far my favourite and if you ask me, I would be happy to watch nothing but elephants anyway! Treetops was far from the park entrance (an hour of a very bumpy ride from the Boundary Hill gate), but a truly lovely property. Rooms so well designed, great food, beautiful lounge and dining areas. We did a bush walk with them, and while game sighting was limited (warthogs and a few hartebeests), we really enjoyed looking at tracks, droppings, insects and trees. Gave us a taste of what it would be like in the dry season, and it was there and then we resolved to come back.
And before we knew it, it was the last day. We visited the Samaritan orphanage in Arusha (my daughter's class had sent school supplies), hung out with the children. We said goodbye to Said with genuine sadness
and promised to stay in touch. We had all grown immensely fond of him over the past ten days. After an incredibly expensive dinner at Kilimanjaro airport ($64 for 5 of us), we headed back to Nairobi.
Finally got to stay at the Upperhill Country Lodge, which I would recommend without reservation to those transiting Nairobi. Brand spanking new, free wi-fi, great breakfast, a no frills business hotel which for about $100 a night was a great deal.
Hindsight is always 20/20, so if I could rewind 6 months and re-book my trip, I probably would have allocated my 10 days differently - spent 2 days in central Serengeti (probably NOT the Serena), 4 days Ndutu (definitely Lemala), a night at the Crater and end with 2 nights in Karatu, doing Lake Manyara one day and the bike ride the next. I probably would not stay at the Ngorongoro farmhouse again, maybe would try the Manor as people we ran into had such lovely things to say about it. Beautiful though Tarangire was, and as much as we loved Treetops, I probably would save it for the dry months. I would have invested in khaki shirts and left my white running tees at home. I would have brought a flask of some sort for hot tea during morning drives. I would have brought more snacks for the kids, on those long days when the hotel lunchboxes were really not quite enough for growing teenagers. And definitely spare sunglasses. I lost mine the second day, was so lucky to find a $10 pair at the Arusha airport and saved my life. Did I mention I don't do too well in the sun?
However, I must say that even on days where the game drives were not a thrill a minute as they were in Ndutu there yielded some truly memorable sightings. In Manyara we watched for a long time 3 male giraffes at play from close quarters, tangling necks and butting each other with horns. At Tarangire 2 minutes after entering the park we came across, again metres away, a herd of old bull elephants (upwards of 12?) congregating in the shade. And the smallest elephants babies I ever saw. Birds so beautiful I finally begin to understand what the ornithologist are going on about.
We love Tanzania. The people (save for that one waitress at Farmhouse) friendly and welcoming. Said, especially, whom we all grew so fond of. The landscape varied and so beautiful. We will be back, soon I hope. The kids have categorically stated that they don't want to go on safari anywhere else ever, any future safaris must be with Said!
Thanks again to everyone's input from several months back when I was booking the trip. A happy 2010 to all, and happy safaris!
Our family of 5 (3 kids- 17, 15 and 9) just returned from a 12 day northern circuit safari and wanted to share our experience with everyone, mainly in the hope that someone planning a safari in the future, especially with kids, would benefit. Therefore I will not go too too much into the game sightings, but more into the accommodations and other little things that make big differences. Our trip was booked through Access 2 Tanzania. They are a US/Tanzania co-owned outfit, and did a great job with our booking as well as reacting to unforeseen circumstances, as you will see below!
Our itinerary was (although that was not how it turned out):
Overnight Nairobi (Upperhill Country Lodge) - more about it below.
2 nights Serena Serengeti
2 nights Olakira Ndutu
2 nights Sopa Ngorongoro
2 nights Ngorongoro Farmhouse
2 nights Tarangire treetops
1 night Nairobi on our way out, also at Upperhill.
We decided on Access 2 Tanzania after contacting a couple of other larger Arusha operators, who were much less attentive and responsive. Karen, the US owner of Access, was exceptionally helpful throughout and handled my hundreds of questions with promptness and patience. Our guide, Said, was simply the best. Aside from being a top notch animal spotter, driver, and repository of wildlife information(and sounds!), he had a wonderfully charismatic personality and a dry wit and sense of humor that fit perfectly with our family's temperament. My husband and son are huge soccer (football as we call it in our part of the world, as well as in Tanzania) fans, like Said. They support rival teams, so there was a lot of good natured bantering about whose team was better.
If I had to find fault with anything here, it was that the vehicle (an extended 4X4) had a canvas rather than a pop up top, and when we did our all day drives by noon I did find myself looking a little enviously at other safari-goes sitting in the shade of their pop-up tops. Would we have traded Said for some shade? Not in a million years. The kids adored him and he turned a great trip into a truly special experience. In the end we found a way around it, we left the roof partly covered (first passenger row shaded) so my youngest and I stayed shaded (she burns easily, I get a bit woozy after too much sun). We were still able to see out the top when needed, and my husband's camera access remained unaffected.
Let me start right off the bat that our trip did not follow the itinerary as planned. We had structured it to begin at the Serengeti, rather than end there (as seems to be the more popular choice), because we wanted to stay at Olakira and we turned the direction around to suit their availability. So, surprise of all surprises, as we were about to board our plane at midnight from Hong Kong airport, I checked my phone for e-mails one last time and got one from Karen at Access telling us that Olakira had just informed her that they had overbooked and couldn't accommodate us (my first question - how the heck does one overbook 6 tents???). Karen attached the e-mail from them and I did not doubt her for a second. What were our options? First option was to spend one night at Olakira, then moved to Lemala Ndutu. We really hated that idea because we did not want to move daily. Then there were some other camps in the area we had not looked into at all. In the end, we decided to forgo Olakira, start at Lemala Ndutu, then go to Serena Serengeti and finish out trip as planned. We had looked quite hard at Lemala before and it was really a toss up with Olakira at the time. This, however, means we have to backtrack a little bit but at least we did not have to move everyday. Karen and her colleagues were able to switch our flight out of Arusha, flying us directly to Ndutu instead of Seronera, saving us some time on the road. So a word of warning here to those booking Olakira in the future... not sure how you can protect yourself completely, but just bear in mind you can be out in the cold at the last minute!!!
Back to our journey. For the benefit of those living in Asia, we flew Qatar Airways out of Hong Kong with a transit in Doha to Nairobi, and found it to be a really great airline. Suffice to say that living in Hong Kong we are spoiled by airlines like Cathay Pacific and Singapore, with new aircraft, state of the art inflight entertainment and great service. Qatar did not suffer in comparison at all. Good economy legroom on the larger airbus as well.
We arrived in Nairobi, were met by Dixon from Waymark Safaris (arranged by A2T) and battled an hour of horrific traffic to get to our hotel, to be told they were overbooked (again!!!), but would accommodate us at Fairview, Upperhill lodge's sister property next door. It is actually a pricier hotel so we were kind of lucky, I guess. It was an older property with an historical feel, and we did enjoy the pool for the hot afternoon. And hoped that there would be no more surprises coming our way.
The next day (after the requisite Sheldrick and Giraffe centre visits) we drove to Arusha, for reasons that now escape me. Next time, I fly. Six hours of heat and dust on bumpy roads. Access 2 Tanzania met us at the border, everything went without a hitch. We were to spend the night in Arusha before flying down to now Ndutu airstrip the next morning. We stayed at the Arumeru River Lodge that night. Nice enough Lodge, but probably for our purposes not ideally located. Would have fared better with a hotel closer to the Arusha airstrip - this lodge was on the other side of town and was a 45 minute drive away. Driving in from Nairobi we had to go all the way through Arusha town the evening before, and back again at 6:00 the next morning. Just something to keep in mind - Arusha is a lot bigger than I thought, and with a lot more traffic.
I should say outright that the Olakira fiasco turned out to be a wonderful mishap in our favour. We loved Lemala!!! It was our first time in a tented camp and I struggle for the words to describe how special it was. The staff and manager Tim at Lemala were genuinely friendly, and the food was absolutely fantastic. We wanted to take chef Paul back to Hong Kong with us! The dishes were as good as any 5 star hotel anywhere in the world. The little touches like the hot toasted cashews by the "bush TV" ( a fire) before meals where we chatted about our day with Tom and listened to his stories. Then you look up to the African night sky... sigh...
I'll speed up a little here. From Ndutu (where the game viewing was fantastic - you could go off road here so we were metres away from lions, cheetahs, elephants, hyenas, and a honey badger, which apparently is quite difficult to come by), we headed to central Serengeti, stayed at the Serena. Maybe because everything at Ndutu had been so wonderful, we had to adjust our expectations a little. The Serena was adequate, and we had opted for a balance of the chain lodges with pricier camps/lodges so as not to break the bank! If I were to go again, I would probably look for alternative accommodation to the Serena. The rooms were a little tired and the bathrooms more so. Food surprisingly satisfying. And watch out for vervet monkeys in the Serengeti - my daughter was eating a sandwich in the vehicle and one came in through the top and despite our shouts, waves and thrashing of bags came right in to the vehicle and snatched it out of her hand! So thankful that she was not bitten or scratched.
On to the Crater. Sopa was everything we had expected and good value for money. Great view, good access to the crater, and for those who mind these things, a wonderfully bright and clean bathroom with great water pressure. I will be the first to admit that free cocktails with the holiday celebrations may have clouded my memory a little...
15 rhinos that day. Lion sleeping among the jeeps. Wow!2 nights in Karatu at the Ngorongoro Farmhouse. Great hardware, software somewhat inadequate. The property and rooms were gorgeous, as was the view over the plantation and the rolling hills beyond. Service was, at best, spotty. Both nights we were there we did not get turn down service, both mornings we did not receive our morning calls, requested the night before. Food was nothing to write home about, less exciting than even the Serena or the Sopa. House wine came out of a box! Rude waitress in the dining room, we promptly requested seating in a different section the next day.
On our first Karatu day we did a bike tour with CTP (Cultural Tourism Program) which was great fun. Starting with a downhill ride on the Lake Manyara NP access road, then through a village, finally an acacia grove before ending in great plains on the shore of Lake Manyara, as the zebras, wildees and buffalo looked on with mild interest. Friendly and efficient outfit. I am not a very established biker, and they sent out a truck to pick me and my 9-year old up so we did not have to ride back. Stopped by an artist workshop in the village and bought local paintings... I think we we spent $150 for 6 paintings.
Last stop Tarangire Treetops. I had known that it was not really the right time of the year for this park, but wanted to see it anyway. Loved its landscape, most beautiful of the parks we visited this trip. The haunting beauty and serenity of the boabab trees. Game viewing was not great, since during the rainy season the animals usually leave the park for the surrounding areas. But there were plenty of elephants, which are by far my favourite and if you ask me, I would be happy to watch nothing but elephants anyway! Treetops was far from the park entrance (an hour of a very bumpy ride from the Boundary Hill gate), but a truly lovely property. Rooms so well designed, great food, beautiful lounge and dining areas. We did a bush walk with them, and while game sighting was limited (warthogs and a few hartebeests), we really enjoyed looking at tracks, droppings, insects and trees. Gave us a taste of what it would be like in the dry season, and it was there and then we resolved to come back.
And before we knew it, it was the last day. We visited the Samaritan orphanage in Arusha (my daughter's class had sent school supplies), hung out with the children. We said goodbye to Said with genuine sadness
and promised to stay in touch. We had all grown immensely fond of him over the past ten days. After an incredibly expensive dinner at Kilimanjaro airport ($64 for 5 of us), we headed back to Nairobi.Finally got to stay at the Upperhill Country Lodge, which I would recommend without reservation to those transiting Nairobi. Brand spanking new, free wi-fi, great breakfast, a no frills business hotel which for about $100 a night was a great deal.
Hindsight is always 20/20, so if I could rewind 6 months and re-book my trip, I probably would have allocated my 10 days differently - spent 2 days in central Serengeti (probably NOT the Serena), 4 days Ndutu (definitely Lemala), a night at the Crater and end with 2 nights in Karatu, doing Lake Manyara one day and the bike ride the next. I probably would not stay at the Ngorongoro farmhouse again, maybe would try the Manor as people we ran into had such lovely things to say about it. Beautiful though Tarangire was, and as much as we loved Treetops, I probably would save it for the dry months. I would have invested in khaki shirts and left my white running tees at home. I would have brought a flask of some sort for hot tea during morning drives. I would have brought more snacks for the kids, on those long days when the hotel lunchboxes were really not quite enough for growing teenagers. And definitely spare sunglasses. I lost mine the second day, was so lucky to find a $10 pair at the Arusha airport and saved my life. Did I mention I don't do too well in the sun?
However, I must say that even on days where the game drives were not a thrill a minute as they were in Ndutu there yielded some truly memorable sightings. In Manyara we watched for a long time 3 male giraffes at play from close quarters, tangling necks and butting each other with horns. At Tarangire 2 minutes after entering the park we came across, again metres away, a herd of old bull elephants (upwards of 12?) congregating in the shade. And the smallest elephants babies I ever saw. Birds so beautiful I finally begin to understand what the ornithologist are going on about.
We love Tanzania. The people (save for that one waitress at Farmhouse) friendly and welcoming. Said, especially, whom we all grew so fond of. The landscape varied and so beautiful. We will be back, soon I hope. The kids have categorically stated that they don't want to go on safari anywhere else ever, any future safaris must be with Said!
Thanks again to everyone's input from several months back when I was booking the trip. A happy 2010 to all, and happy safaris!
Jan 1st, 2010, 09:39 AM
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Thank you for sharing your experiences!
Glad to hear you enjoyed Lemala and as you mention TIM it's good to know he is doing fine We met him when he was manager at Oliver's (Asilia) and had great fun there. I think it's 2 years now that he moved to work for Lemala; good to know he is still there!
The question regarding overbooking a 6 tented camp would also come up to my head. I'm wondering how the decision making process works as to WHI is "overbooked" ?
After lengthy consultation and reading, evaluating one decides on an itinerary particularly built around one camp (camp to me is not just a bed in a tent but means experience) and that camp is "overbooked" must have been a setback initially. It's wonderful it worked out so greatly! I would had gone mad - desite it doesn't help.....
Happy New Year!
SV
Glad to hear you enjoyed Lemala and as you mention TIM it's good to know he is doing fine
We met him when he was manager at Oliver's (Asilia) and had great fun there. I think it's 2 years now that he moved to work for Lemala; good to know he is still there!The question regarding overbooking a 6 tented camp would also come up to my head. I'm wondering how the decision making process works as to WHI is "overbooked" ?
After lengthy consultation and reading, evaluating one decides on an itinerary particularly built around one camp (camp to me is not just a bed in a tent but means experience) and that camp is "overbooked" must have been a setback initially. It's wonderful it worked out so greatly! I would had gone mad - desite it doesn't help.....
Happy New Year!
SV
Jan 1st, 2010, 02:24 PM
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Happy New Year, madalinahk. Thank you for your well written report.
Last year I was confirmed for 2 nights at Sayari (another Asilia property). On our drive to the camp, we were informed that they had overbooked and we had <i>nowhere</i> to go!!! Having admitted their error, Asilia had little choice but to open up their mobile camp north of the Bologonja gate (Serengeti) for us which turned out to be a lovely experience, but it wasn't what I had booked and paid for!! Asilia seriously needs to review their reservations practices.
Thanks for your thoughtful report. I'm glad to read that you'll be returning to Tz....one visit is never enough!
Last year I was confirmed for 2 nights at Sayari (another Asilia property). On our drive to the camp, we were informed that they had overbooked and we had <i>nowhere</i> to go!!! Having admitted their error, Asilia had little choice but to open up their mobile camp north of the Bologonja gate (Serengeti) for us which turned out to be a lovely experience, but it wasn't what I had booked and paid for!! Asilia seriously needs to review their reservations practices.
Thanks for your thoughtful report. I'm glad to read that you'll be returning to Tz....one visit is never enough!
Jan 1st, 2010, 07:11 PM
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Spassvogel
Apparently the excuse they gave was they only allocated us one tent, when we were 5 people... hmmm.
Indeed, it was a bit crazy at the airport. I am by nature a more "Hakuna Matata" type of person, but dear husband was foaming at the mouth. So you can imagine me, on the phone, past midnight after a crazed day of packing and getting everything in order for the trip, trying to work something out with Karen. You can imagine my relief when I got to Doha 9 hours later and received the e-mail titled "good news"...
Calo:
I guess sometimes life works itself out in wonderful ways! Glad to hear that your overbooking experience also worked out well!
atravelynn:
Yes, a fantastic time was had by all. I really recommend the biking, especially for kids. I am still struggling to get used to the urban jungle that is Hong Kong. Now I understand why members of this forum return again and again. If I had the time ( and the money) I'd be back this summer!
I will post a link to the photos once my husband finishes sorting, for anyone who is interested.
Apparently the excuse they gave was they only allocated us one tent, when we were 5 people... hmmm.
Indeed, it was a bit crazy at the airport. I am by nature a more "Hakuna Matata" type of person, but dear husband was foaming at the mouth. So you can imagine me, on the phone, past midnight after a crazed day of packing and getting everything in order for the trip, trying to work something out with Karen. You can imagine my relief when I got to Doha 9 hours later and received the e-mail titled "good news"...
Calo:
I guess sometimes life works itself out in wonderful ways! Glad to hear that your overbooking experience also worked out well!
atravelynn:
Yes, a fantastic time was had by all. I really recommend the biking, especially for kids. I am still struggling to get used to the urban jungle that is Hong Kong. Now I understand why members of this forum return again and again. If I had the time ( and the money) I'd be back this summer!
I will post a link to the photos once my husband finishes sorting, for anyone who is interested.
Jan 1st, 2010, 08:09 PM
#7
Welcome back! I'm glad you had a great trip despite a few bumps and unexpected changes. Sounds like Said was a good match for you--and this is one thing I like very much about the driver-guide set-up so typical of East African safaris. You get a chance to spend time with people otherwise you might never meet.
