Lady Gorilla-guides

Posted by Mark / in Africa, Blog, Featured Posts, frontpage, Tavistock Travel Agents, Traveller's Tales /

Many years ago while travelling in Uganda I met a guide with ambition: jog on through the decades to 2019 and Kazinga is a well-respected tour operator in Uganda with outstanding guides. It’s still run by that original founder/guide, Felex Musinguzi and Felex and his team look after all Venture Co clients visiting Uganda.

Our most popular trip (max 6 clients) is the 15 day Highlights of Uganda.

And to this day, we have never had a bad report.

Felex is a forward thinking chap and has been instrumental in establishing a formal guide qualification in Uganda, not dissimilar to the highly respected qualification that exists in South Africa, the Professional Filed Guide. He has gone one step further and pushed hard for more female guides so we can now guarantee a lady-guide.

Top Ten Travel Tips

Posted by Mark / in Blog, Featured Posts, frontpage, Tavistock Travel Agents, Traveller's Tales /

Last week I met up with a friend who has been flying airliners for a couple of decades; here’s a summary of our top travel tips:-

1. Write your name, address, phone number and email address on a sheet of A4 paper, laminated it and put it inside your suitcase, just in case your baggage tag falls off.

2. Photocopy your passport and leave the copy with your next of kin at home. It’s also worth keeping a copy on your phone.

3. Don’t order a vegetarian meal: apparently veggies hardly ever get upgraded, because there might not be a suitable meal available up front. You’re also more likely to be moved to the bigger seats if you’re in the airline’s frequent-flyer scheme, and don’t have any special dietary requirements.

4. Carry your phone charger and international plug adaptor in your hand baggage. Planes can be delayed or diverted so avoid the risk of a dead battery in strange countries. And turn off data roaming before leaving the UK.

5. Keep a change of underwear in your hand baggage. It won’t take up much space but will tide you over till the shops open if your main bag is delayed or disappears.

6. Make a copy of your travel insurance policy and carry it in your passport. After all, it isn’t much use if no one knows who your insurers are. Tell your travel companions where it is and leave a copy at home with your next of kin. Do all this and sod’s law states you won’t ever need it!

7. Keep any prescription medicine in its original packaging, ideally with a copy of your prescription, in case you’re questioned at customs. If you’re found carrying a stash of hard-to-identify pills your immigration experience is unlikely to go well.

8. Never fly in shorts – because you never know where your plane might land. A recent Swiss Air flight from Zurich was heading for Los Angeles where it was 21°C and sunny. But after a technical issue it spent nearly 12 hours in Greenland – where it was -21°C and snowing.

9. Don’t fly in flip-flops either. Emergencies are incredibly rare but if they happen you want to be in sensible shoes.

10. If you use the safe in your hotel room put a single shoe inside it, along with your valuables. Looking for that missing shoe should remind you to empty the safe when you pack to leave.

If Rhinos could fly ….

Posted by Mark / in Africa, Blog, Featured Posts, frontpage, Tavistock Travel Agents, Traveller's Tales /

And the good news is that they can! African Parks has just announced that five Black Rhino will be taking a trip from the Safari Park Dvůr Králové in the Czech Republic to Akagera National Park in Rwanda.

All five were born in captivity and are particularly valuable because of the genetic vigour they bring to the very small resident gene-pool. Since 2010, when African Parks took over wildlife management at Akagera poaching has largely been eliminated allowing wildlife populations to surge. In 2017 eighteen black rhino were reintroduced to Akagera after the last one was poached in 2007.

Akagera National Park has experienced an economic revitalisation and today welcomes more than 44,000 tourists a year, half of whom are Rwandan nationals, which is an unusual statistic in Africa, where local people don’t often visit their own national parks.

Read the full press release and please visit rhino move to follow their journey.

Beautiful Books!

Posted by Mark / in Blog, Featured Posts, frontpage, South America, Tavistock Travel Agents, Traveller's Tales /

The Most Beautiful Bookshop in the World?
Here’s a challenge for everyone who loves books as much as they love browsing bookstores: can you find a more beautiful bookshop than this Argentine gem?

El Ateneo Grand Splendid Bookstore in the centre of Buenos Aires has to be the champ! It’s a stunning building (used to be a theatre) it’s distinctively Argentinian and is just plain unique, packed with new editions, new books, new authors, and the broadest spectrum of subjects.

We have created an Insider’s Walking Tour of BA which includes the ‘Grand Splendid’ (half day or full day) accompanied by a local university lecturer to interpret the subtleties, innuendos and implications of Porteño life a street café level. Explore like a Porteño (South American Spanish for a person who lives in a port city) and visit the ‘hoods, café scenes and imaginative graffiti spots; feel the Latin pulse of this most charming of South American cities.

Kilimanjaro cable car ….. ?

Posted by Mark / in Africa, Blog, Featured Posts, frontpage, Tavistock Travel Agents, Traveller's Tales /

A cable car for Kilimanjaro? Is it April 1st?

This week saw the tragic and insane shenanigans on Mount Everest with a queue from the Hilary Step to the summit, and 12 fatalities. Last month the Peruvian authorities announced their cunning plan to build an airport at Machu Picchu to boost tourist numbers. And now we have the Tanzanian offering: a cable car for Kilimanjaro. Check the report from Reuters

Beggars belief: apart from anything else, how can a human being go from Moshi town (altitude 950m) to Uhuru Peak (5,895m) in an hour or so?! I hope their plans make good provision for body bags.

There are about 50,000 Kili trekkers annually and no matter which route you take to ascend, it’s hard work. The altitude is a definite challenge. Trekkers who climb neighbouring Mount Meru first do themselves a huge favour because they allow the acclimatisation process to work more slowly, thus avoiding the headaches and nausea. Besides, I’m old-school and believe achieving a peak should be personally earned rather than being helicoptered in.

Shame on the Tanzanian authorities for suggesting this nonsense and shame on the Chinese construction firm bidding for the contract.

Sign the protest here:

Release the Inner Cowgirl!

Posted by Mark / in Blog, Featured Posts, frontpage, Horse Riding Holidays, South America, Tavistock Travel Agents, Traveller's Tales /

Following a year’s research we have just released the “Gaucho Trail” which welcomes you to release the inner cowgirl (or boy!).

A couple of hours away from Buenos Aires in Argentina is a large estancia (ranch) which specialises in cattle rearing. The fertile land in this area is flat and criss-crossed with rivers creating a tapestry of rolling grassland which is ideal cattle country. The estancia’s gauchos are born and bred to their trade and the criollo horses they ride are ‘home made’, quick, agile and really well mannered. In February 2019 we had our first wanabee-gauchos return from Argentina and they really loved the experience, proving with complete confidence that this stunning farm, with outstanding accommodation, great horses and a genuine gaucho welcome delivers what it promises. Given its location, north of Capricorn in the tropics, it’s a 12-month of the year destination. Min stay 3 nights; the Gaucho Trail is 7 nights.

Pushkar: a Marwari ride to the greatest show in Rajasthan, India.

Posted by Mark / in Blog, Featured Posts, frontpage, Horse Riding Holidays, Tavistock Travel Agents, Traveller's Tales /

We are giving a free Venture Co daypack to welcome all Pushkar riders 2019.

Pushkar is a place in India you may have heard of: it’s a small desert town 150 clicks SW of Jaipur in Rajasthan. Unusually it’s a pilgrimage site, complete with sacred bathing ghats, for both Hindus and Sikhs. But what it’s particularly famous for is the annual autumn ‘Camel Fair’.

The stat’s are startling: ¼ million traders wash and adorn 50,000 camels, a similar number of Marwari horses, and rather more cattle, all of which swell the local population for the five day fair. Add in the holiday atmosphere, magic sideshows and of course the races (camels and horses, but not together) and the scene is set for an experience of biblical proportions. Vibrant colours combine with the dusty haze and set the stage for horsemanship that will stop you in your tracks. Badminton it ain’t but attention gripping it most certainly is.

Our host for this ride often buys a stallion or brood mare at the fare, so we, as part of his entourage, are very much ‘in’. The trading and bargaining is utterly unfathomable: no visible sign can be seen and few words are exchanged; just a rather intriguing sash draped across clasped hands, concealing an ancient, tactile communication. Eventually a price is agreed and a deal struck but no-one knows the detail except buyer and seller. And low and behold a new horse joins the herd!

There are a couple of things that set our riding group apart: as you might imagine, tourists are bussed in to the fair on day trips, click their cameras and depart. We ride in across the desert, riding Marwaris, and arrive very much in traditional style. More subtly, the Marwaris we’re riding are top class examples of the breed and have all the right physical attributes, but they also have the intangible spirit that sets a classy Marwari apart. Local dealers will recognise this at a glance, and you’ll get a different reaction compared to the bussed-in brigade.

We can organise this ride in a number of ways: with a tiger safari, or without, including a visit to the Taj Mahal, or not and visiting Pushkar at the beginning of the itinerary or at the end. We remain flexible and can even include the Diwali experience in a Rajasthan fort. Please contact us for a detailed, tailored proposal and price.

 

Patagonia – Latest News

Posted by Mark / in Blog, Featured Posts, frontpage, Horse Riding Holidays, South America, Tavistock Travel Agents, Traveller's Tales /

Several of you will know Cathy in Chile and Dominik in Argentina, the wonderful characters who guide the trans-Patagonia rides. There are big changes coming up for 2020.

The problem we have noticed over the last two seasons is water – or rather the shortage of water in the rivers. The Grand Traversée ride contains as a star feature several river crossings which can be several hundred metres wide with the water lapping your stirrups and the horse’s belly all the way! It’s a thrilling experience, particularly because you can dip a cup into the river (upstream of the horses!) and drink directly from it; it’s that clean and glacier fresh.

The trouble is that rainfall in Patagonia’s summer (Nov to March) has declined significantly, making the lakes and rivers run lower than usual. Global warming? Well, probably. The glaciers still produce run-off but it’s not being topped-up from rain. We have traditionally crossed the Chile-Argentina border by boat across a lake to the rapids, up the rapids and across another lake to the new border. During late Jan, Feb and March there simply isn’t enough water in the rapids to make them navigable. The alternative is a 14 hour road / trail trip – which ticks everyone off!

Sadly we will not be running the Grand Traversée after Jan each year.

The Huaso Trail remains as it is but in a truncated season. We’ll be tweaking The Andes Crossing itinerary which will continue to run between Oct and March each year, but note the contingency plans on day 6. Here’s a summary of the Patagonia rides:-

Ride title	Days	Season
Grand Traversée	14	Nov, Dec & Jan
Huaso Trail	7	Jan & Feb
Andes Crossing	6	Oct to March
Patagonia cattle drive	Twice p.a.	Oct & March

 

The Grand Traversée remains my favourite, by far. An epic ride that takes you into the heart of remotest Patagonia giving you a glimpse of a way of life that is as far from ‘digital’ as it’s possible to get on a horse. I wonder how much longer this ultimate riding experience will be able to operate?

Okavango Delta water level Apr 2019

Posted by Mark / in Africa, Blog, Featured Posts, frontpage, Horse Riding Holidays, Tavistock Travel Agents, Traveller's Tales /

Water level in the Okavango Delta. (17th April 2019)
Recent updates from Botswana suggest that it is likely to be a dry year. Rainfall levels have been lower than normal and flood levels are lower than previous years. This will limit water activities in areas without permanent water, such as rivers and lagoons. Water activities are expected to start later than normal in 2019, probably around August time. However, when water is scarce wildlife congregates around pools making the game viewing spectacular, particularly from the back of a horse. Riding and game drives have been good, as have walks. All transfers in and out of camps that we will be using in July will probably be by land / donkey, rather than by makoro.

Grow your own clarinet!

Posted by Mark / in Africa, Blog, Featured Posts, frontpage, Tavistock Travel Agents, Traveller's Tales /

Yes – you read that right!

Buffet Crampon is a French manufacturer of woodwind musical instruments, including oboes and bassoons, but they’re best known for their clarinets which are the brand of choice for many professional musicians.

Venture Co has been working with the African Blackwood Conservation Project  since 2002. ABCP collects ebony tree seeds; propagates; and gives saplings to shamba farmers (shamba = smallholding) to plant around their fields and homes thus establishing beyond doubt their boundaries. After all other field markers could be moved! Ebony trees take a lifetime to grow (70 or 80 years) to a useable size, so boundaries become well-established, and there now exists an incentive to protect the young ebony trees. The Makonde carving industry in Kenya and Tanzania, combined with sapling-nibbling goats, have devastated the ebony trees creating the need for some conservation.

Even with all our clever technology and material science degrees, the best woodwind instruments are still made from Dalbergia Melanoxylon or ebony, or Mpingo in Swahili. Ebony’s density, dimensional stability and machinability are difficult to replicate. So there are all sorts of stakeholders in the future of the modest Mpingo.

Last year Buffet Crampon visited the nursery and tree planting sites in Tanzania, and agreed to finance the project. They continue to lead the industry with the manufacture of “Greenline clarinets and oboes” made of recycled blackwood. This material has the same acoustic properties as the harvested wood, remains stable in all playing environments and is not prone to cracking. It is therefore reducing current harvesting demands for ebony. And before too much longer modest supplies of mature ebony will once more become available.

If you visit the project for an hour or so, after a Serengeti safari, who knows, you could plant a clarinet for your grandchild.

Contact us for safari ideas and quotes.