Yay - Africa it is.

[Mich the Tester]

So off you trot on your "safe as houses", organised, sanitised all you have to do is pay for it- package tour alongside Doris the typist from Croydon and her boring partner and imagine yourself to be living some kind of adventure to liven up your tedious existence.
I dare you... I double dare you muther fooker to travel independently through the continent without the safety blanket of an organised tour,then return and post your experiences - if you survive then and only then will you have a fund of memories rather than some glossy magazine view of the world.

Done that in Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda and Kenya and I wouldn't recommend you do the same; given your attitude you might not find it easy to get along with the locals. But for an open minded person with a bit of common sense it's do-able. Yes, even Nigeria.

[Troll]

Done that in Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda and Kenya and I wouldn't recommend you do the same; given your attitude you might not find it easy to get along with the locals. But for an open minded person with a bit of common sense it's do-able. Yes, even Nigeria.

Probably easier for you to blend in with the locals

[sasguru]

So off you trot on your "safe as houses", organised, sanitised all you have to do is pay for it- package tour alongside Doris the typist from Croydon and her boring partner and imagine yourself to be living some kind of adventure to liven up your tedious existence.
I dare you... I double dare you muther fooker to travel independently through the continent without the safety blanket of an organised tour,then return and post your experiences - if you survive then and only then will you have a fund of memories rather than some glossy magazine view of the world.

Seem to have hit a nerve there.
First of all Doris the typist (how old are you? no one is a typist anymore ) couldn't afford a safari holiday.
As for glossy magazine view of the world, if seeing the clear night sky in the Rift Valley, watching a family of elephants from about 20 feet away, or deep sea-fishing in the Indian ocean is "glossy magazine", so be it.
You will have none of these experiences, you sad, sad, little man.

[EternalOptimist]

Mrs EO latest worry is having to service a line of ten well-oiled six foot muscled zulu warriors.
She says if I cant get that organised , she wont go

[sasguru]

I find it amusing that throwback bigots like Troll and EscapeUk (how ironic is that moniker for someone who's too scared to go anywhere) probably hanker for the good old days of Empire, yet if the country had been populated by timid scaredy-cats like them who disliked the "other", there wouldn't have been any Empire just an in-bred, insular island of thickos.

[Mich the Tester]

Mrs EO latest worry is having to service a line of ten well-oiled six foot muscled zulu warriors.
She says if I cant get that organised , she wont go

Zulu warriors have been getting a bit chubby lately; they’re making so much money from showing off their dancing to tourists they’re eating in fancy restaurants instead of going out hunting game.

Perhaps better to take her to one of the posh gyms that are turning up all over the continent.

[Troll]

Seem to have hit a nerve there.
First of all Doris the typist couldn't afford a safari holiday.

t'was an allusion to the Monty Python travel agent sketch... but obviously lost on the audience

As for glossy magazine view of the world, if seeing the clear night sky in the Rift Valley, watching a family of elephants from about 20 feet away, or deep sea-fishing in the Indian ocean is "glossy magazine", so be it.

like I said all sanitised and touristy stuff

You will have none of these experiences, you sad, sad, little man.

If only you knew! - my memories and experiences are real and not just what some tour guide wants you to see - seriously try the travelling independently approach - I found without exception the people I met on my travels were friendly & hospitable and the conclusion I came to was that the scenery may change but people the world over are all just doing the same thing- raising kids & trying to do what's best for their families

[Mich the Tester]

If only you knew! - my memories and experiences are real and not just what some tour guide wants you to see - seriously try the travelling independently approach - I found without exception the people I met on my travels were friendly & hospitable and the conclusion I came to was that the scenery may change but people the world over are all just doing the same thing- raising kids & trying to do what's best for their families

So why all the negative crap about Africa?

[Troll]

So why all the negative crap about Africa?

What else we going to talk about?... don't take it personally

[Mich the Tester]

What else we going to talk about?... don't take it personally

Two things;
- I don’t take it personally, but I don’t like to see people discouraged from visiting Africa by scare stories. Sure, there are risks, but in most places they’re manageable for sensible, well informed people. The more people visit Africa and find out a little bit of the truth and the other side of the news, the better.

- I’d like to be able to recommend that everybody visits Nigeria, because my own relation to that country means I know that the picture that’s often painted in the rest of the world is very unfair to the nearly 200 million people that live there and because I certainly have an emotional connection to it. But unfortunately I have to admit that Lagos is a bit of a mess and the north is very unstable right now, although the culture and history is fascinating and as I said, 99% of people there are just fine. However, Ghana is culturally very closely related and probably easier for first time African travellers.

The one country I’d really like to visit is DR Congo, but right now, given the problems with the rebels regularly approaching Kinshasa, I don’t think the time is right. I hope I can go some day because the music and art of the Congo has influenced all of southern Africa and in fact the whole world and still does. Looks to me like a fascinating place.