Yay - Africa it is.

[Mich the Tester]

The Okavngo Delta in Botswana is great, not sure what the weather will be like there then - might be a bit dry. Same with Vic Falls - although I'd stick to the Zambia side.

Check out the various overland trekking companies like Dragoman, Kumuka etc. I suspect that they'll all have pretty safe itineraries. How are you planning on travelling? I suspect hiring a car (you'd almost certainly need a ruggedised Landrover or similar) and taking it between countries would be a ******* nightmare.

I genuinely feel sorry for the ignorant, small-minded people who believe everything they read and thus haven't experienced a safari in the Tsavo, the white sands of Diani Beach and a starlit night in the Rift Valley.
One of life's greatest experiences, was my holiday in Kenya.

As for crime any reputable 5 star hotel will look after you from arrival to departure.
If you follow their advice you'll be safe.

What they said, but a Toyota Land Cruiser's better than a Landy in southern Africa as the locals can repair them and get the parts easily.

I would add to what they listed; the friendliness of the locals, the music, the enterprise you see everywhere and the general good humour with which people get through life in very difficult circumstances.

[Zippy]

My sister was born in Zambia so you should go there (the roads are still shit: apparently). Botswana is supposed to be nice, the bits of SA I saw were lovely.
Go to Victoria Falls (Zambian side, obv.) and the Kariba dam (awesome - we used to go for picnics)
Lots of potentially dangerous creatures, but don't worry about it. I wouldn't recommend a dip in the rivers though. Look out for ants - amazing.
Decent footwear is your friend.

[Troll]

I genuinely feel sorry for the ignorant, small-minded people who believe everything they read and thus haven't experienced a safari in the Tsavo, the white sands of Diani Beach and a starlit night in the Rift Valley.
One of life's greatest experiences, was my holiday in Kenya.

As for crime any reputable 5 star hotel will look after you from arrival to departure.
If you follow their advice you'll be safe.

Ahh the Serengeti

Lindsay Jones, her 12-year-old daughter Kiara-Leigh and her 52-year-old mother Penny Jones may never fully recover from the trauma of being overrun by bandits wielding AK-47s in the middle of the night on an African safari.

“I can’t get the vision and the sound of the knife slicing through the tent out of my head,” said 30-year-old Lindsay.

The nightmare happened last Wednesday. They were on Day 9 of a three-week trip Penny had dreamed of since she was her granddaughter’s age.

Since her daughter had just been accepted into nursing school at TRU, Penny wanted to share the experience with Lindsay and Kiara-Leigh before another four years went by, so she sprung for the $30,000 cost, she now says with head hung low.

It had been everything she dreamed of up to that point, “and more,” said Penny. They’d been awed by the animals and exotic sights, sounds and smells of the jungles, lakes and plains of Africa. All amid the comfort and safety of a large number of tourists and guides.

Then on June 20, the trio was in a tourist camp with about 40 other visitors in the outskirts of Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. They were going to head out to Kenya the next morning.

Around 11 p.m., they were bedded down in their cabin-sized tent when Kiara-Leigh heard gunshots.

At first Lindsay tried to convince her daughter it was nothing.

“I know that they’re not allowed guns in the Serengeti. So I lied to her and said, ‘It must be a truck coming in and it just backfired.’”

Even the security guards carried just bows and arrows.

But as she suspected, that wasn’t the noise. Bandits had raided the tourist camp in the Wildlife Management Area, according to a press release from the country’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.

About 15 minutes after hearing the shots, they heard men yelling in Swahili and a voice in the neighbouring tent yelling: “Don’t take my passport! Don’t take my passport!”

Then they heard boots on gravel and steps on their porch. A hunting knife punctured the tent wall and ripped it open, and a head poked through before three men walked in carrying AK-47s and machetes, pointing flashlights in their faces and screaming in Swahili.

Strangely, they were also all wearing the same uniform.

Lindsay pushed her daughter down into her bed in the corner of the tent and huddled with her mother in an adjacent bed.

The men wanted money, cameras, phones, wallets, passports — anything of value.

They got everything the women had and then one of them saw Kiara-Leigh and ran over to her bed with knife raised. He sliced through her mosquito netting and yelled at her in Swahili.

Kiara-Leigh, who already had “safety issues,” according to her mother, had made sure the tent was zipped up and locked, and hid the key under her pillow. She was holding the key, but the bandit thought it was a phone so she threw it at him.

Apparently satisfied they had everything, the men left.

Lindsay rushed to the back of the tent and unzipped the panel leading to the shower and ushered her mother and daughter in. They huddled and prayed. Lindsay became cold as the showerhead dripped down on her so she snuck back out into the tent, petrified, to grab a blanket.

They heard more gunshots. She thought: “We’re going to get killed, they’re going to come back, we need to leave.”

They continued to huddle and pray for an hour, she said, repeating the same prayer over and over.

“Please God wrap your arms around us. Protect us. Please God, help these men find kindness in their hearts and stop hurting people.”

An hour went by. At one point they could smell cigarette smoke. Lindsay thought: “That’s it. They’ve come to finish the job.”

“I prepared myself for me and my mom and my daughter to be killed,” she said.

More time went by and then they heard a name called. “Lindsay!”

She ignored it. Then “Penny!”

Lindsay recognized a German man they had met during their tour, leaving the tent and hugging him.

The park security guards gathered the tourists in the large restaurant that’s part of the camp.

At some point they found out two people were dead.

[EternalOptimist]

Ahh the Serengeti

Umbongo

I get it, take a female decoy.


<cough>

[escapeUK]

Erm, has it occurred to you that I was born in Africa

It didnt, but it makes sense now you say it.

I genuinely feel sorry for the ignorant, small-minded people who believe everything they read and thus haven't experienced a safari in the Tsavo

You know you are on to a loser when something is recommended by assguru.

I always chuckle when I hear about these stupid people like him, who go their to volunteer to help out and end up kidnapped and murdered. I love Darwin, I really do.

[EternalOptimist]

I love Darwin, I really do.

G'Day

The last time I was in Darwin, this 23 foot salt water crocodile came up out of the sea, over the dunes and into a pool on the golf course.

The guy who ran the pavillion had a riot on his hands so he ordered a free bar. Then he went and got all his golf balls and put them on the bar at 10 dollars a ball

pretty soon the poor old saltie was being bombarded dozens of drunken ozzies firing golf balls at him and the bar man made a fortune

[Troll]

Umbongo

I get it, take a female decoy.
<cough>

...and earplugs

[sasguru]

Some anecdotal pish

Thousands of people go on safari every year. Your point is?

[redgiant]

If you make it over to South Africa try and drive the garden route - the coastal road between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. Stunning!

Also the Kruger National Park in the north of the country is worth a visit and huge as well - you can spend 5 days driving around easily. Just make sure you have a decent 4x4.

Heard good things about Mozambique too.

[sasguru]

I always chuckle when I hear about these stupid people like him, who go their to volunteer to help out and end up kidnapped and murdered. I love Darwin, I really do.

Yes because that's what I did/that's what happened to me
Hello <<knocking on EUK's dense cranium>> - I'm here posting.
Like thousands of others every year I went and had a great holiday.
You stick to Butlins. Face it it's all you can afford.
Stupidity on your scale is truly epic.