Expert Advice for African safaris

For most Americans who take an African safari, it's a once-in-a-lifetime adventure planned well in advance. If a safari is on your dream list, whether you hope to go in six months or two years down the road, here are some things to consider from Mark Nolting of the Africa Adventure Co.

Two of the top countries for wildlife safaris in Africa are Botswana in Southern Africa and Tanzania in Eastern Africa, but the experiences are completely different in the two areas. In Botswana, most safari camps and lodges are operated by private concessions. You've got tremendous wildlife, such as huge herds of elephants, but you may be in an area of 50,000 acres that only allows 42 people in at one time. You're able to go out in the bush and explore it the way people did a couple hundred years ago with nobody else around.

In contrast, in Tanzania national parks can be crowded, but the scenery is spectacular, including Mount Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti plains, and the Ngorongoro Crater, which is populated by wildebeests, zebras, and many other animals.

Safaris are available in many other African countries as well, from Kenya to Namibia, but the emphasis is different depending on location. In Rwanda and Uganda, for example, trips center around gorilla-trekking.

Safari trends include voluntourism and ecotourism. Many customers want to spend part of their trip volunteering in a school or village, or sometimes they want to go in and see a project, then they come home and donate towards it. In addition, we're seeing a greater interest in community-based eco-lodges. This has really taken off all over the continent. A lot of people want to go to properties where the community benefits from tourism and where there is a very small ecological footprint because of efforts to use solar power and other renewable resources.

Not all safaris are luxury trips. Safaris can range from under $300 per person, per night, including accommodations at a tent camp, fees, and game drives, right up to a five-star experience of $1,700 per person per night, where the most work you do is lift up your hand for another gin and tonic.

The Africa Adventure website offers a chart showing the best months to go on safari to the top 30 or so parks in Africa and what wildlife is found there. Rainy season is best avoided in some countries, such as April and May in East Africa, but in others the weather is fine year-round.

Ex. 1. Answer the questions:

1. What are the two of the top countries for wildlife safari?

2. Where can national parks be crowded?

3. How do customers spend time on their trips?

4. How much are safaris per person?

5. What seasons are not good for safaris?

Ex. 2. Remember the following words and word combinations:

a once-in-a-lifetime adventure; top countries for wildlife safaris; the scenery is spectacular; to be populated by wildebeests; gorilla-trekking; customers; community-based eco-lodges; luxury trips; accommodations; tent camp; fee; game drives.

Ex. 3. Make-up sentences using the following words. The first word is underlined.

1. We’re, community-based, seeing, interest, eco-lodges, greater, in, a.

2. crowded, National, be, parks, can.

3. different, completely, areas, The, are, in, experiences, two, the.

4. safaris, that, all, luxury, trips, He, not, are, noted.

5. Safaris, countries, are, many, available, in, African.

Дата добавления: 2015-12-01