June 21st 2014 |
Family Safaris, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia | by
Richard Smith
One of the pleasures of helping people plan their holidays to Africa is the incredible diversity the continent has to offer. If you want to experience a dug-out canoe in a reed-lined channel, go to the Okavango Delta; for gorillas or golden monkeys in a bamboo forest, then Rwanda is the place to head for; and Lake Malawi has great snorkelling in clear fresh water. We also offer areas with dramatic sand dunes, Zulu battlefields, great leopard viewing, World Heritage Sites and intriguing historic cultures.
Sometimes the hardest decision is what to leave out and plenty of clients, who originally called for a one-off holiday of a lifetime, call again a year or two later to plan a trip to include the bits they couldn’t fit in the first time. It was variety I was aiming at as I planned my family’s holiday (me, my wife Jo and Megan 9 and Leo 6) earlier this year.
I’d negotiated a month out of the office, so knew we could cover a lot of ground, and started the planning with three areas which were definites: Kenya (there’s such good wildlife and incredible variety in just one country – I knew my family would love this), Malawi (after my trip there in October 2008 it’s become my favourite place in Africa) and Livingstone in Zambia.
Victoria Falls
My wife and I were raft guides on the Zambezi many years ago – we wanted to revisit the scene of past glories and show the kids we weren’t always such old duffers. For the first two we committed a week in each and then added a stay in the South Luangwa to make a week in Zambia too. We finally decided to add a week in Cape Town over Easter.
Loisaba pool
I could devote pages to a report of the trip detailing things like the look on my daughter’s face as we landed in the Masai Mara and saw giraffes in the distance, or my wife’s joy when I explained that we really were the only guests at luxurious Loisaba Cottage and that the six members of staff and swimming pool were just for us.
Loisaba star bed
It would take a couple of pages to cover the different activities we did, from kayaking, waterskiing and snorkelling on and in Lake Malawi, through exploring Laikipia on foot, by horse, on quad bikes and on camels, to the cable car up Table Mountain and scrabbling for gem stones at Scratch Patch (an indoor warehouse knee-deep in colourful stones) in Cape Town. It was an extraordinary success and although I’d rather still be on holiday, I’m pleased that my job allows me to share my love of Africa.
One of the founders of Aardvark Safaris, Richard comes from a background working in both Africa and travel. Shunning the exciting world of quantity surveying (with apologies to all exciting quantity surveyors out there)
One of the founders of Aardvark Safaris, Richard comes from a background working in both Africa and travel. Shunning the exciting world of quantity surveying (with apologies to all exciting quantity surveyors out there) Richard spent the first ten years after university flitting between summers on a river somewhere in the world as a raft guide, videographer or canoe instructor, and winters in the Alps as a ski guide, or the Operations Manager for a ski company.
His claim to fame (in his own mind) is that during his time working on the Zambezi River, based in Victoria Falls, he was one of the members of a group of kayakers who made the first moonlit descent of the rapids in the Zambezi Gorge. In addition he spent time in Botswana and Zimbabwe making promotional films for safari companies, and met the other Aardvark Safaris’ founder John Spence.
Richard is a keen sportsman but though he has tried many sports including football, volleyball, kayaking, canoeing, skiing, snowboarding, telemarking, bouldering, mountain biking and bmx-ing he’s not particularly accomplished in anything. With the ability to swim, ride a bike and run, he was gripped by a midlife crisis a few years ago and trained for enough hours to annoy both family and work colleagues and eventually became an Ironman triathlete, completing the 2.5 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and 26 mile run in something just over 14 hours. He also recently podium'ed as 3rd placed Grand Vet in a downhill mountain bike competition (and no there weren't only three in his category).
Having founded Aardvark Safaris with John in 1999, Richard travelled intensively throughout Africa for a number of years before his children grew old enough to start asking why they weren’t invited. Since then he’s travelled with his wife and kids to Mauritius, Kenya, Namibia, Zambia, Malawi and South Africa. With a wide breadth of geographical knowledge (in Africa at least) and having arranged safari holidays over the years for many of our clients, Richard is a good person to talk to about almost all of the countries we offer, no matter who you are or with whom you’re travelling.
Favourite African experience
I particularly enjoyed the look on my wife’s face when she realised the beautiful breakfast set up under an acacia tree in the middle of the African plains was for us – we were the VIPs that the chef (in full whites) and camp team were waiting for!
Favourite animal
It changes. Right now it’s warthogs. I love the way they stick their tails in the air as if radio controlled. Annoyingly they seem to always run away from you though, meaning a good photo seems almost impossible to get.
Favourite three camps
I saw three different leopard on a single wildlife drive from Mombo Camp in the Okavango Delta and on our return to camp there was a porcupine displaying its quills under the boardwalk. The density and quality of wildlife, together with rooms where ‘you can almost see from one end to the other on a clear day’ makes Mombo one for the memory banks.
[caption id="attachment_22991" align="alignnone" width="600"] Family of leopards, Okavango Delta, Botswana, Mombo camp[/caption]
I love the quirkiness of the rooms at Kaya Mawa on Lake Malawi; they're all different to each other and blend in with the granite outcrops fabulously. More an inland sea than a lake, the waters are great for freshwater snorkelling and diving – not only do you get great fish viewing, but you’re not sticky with salt afterwards.
[caption id="attachment_26437" align="alignnone" width="600"] On the shores of Lake Malawi, Kaya Mawa[/caption]
Stopping at three camps doesn’t feel right; I could go on for pages. However if I have to finish I’d end with Greystoke Camp in the Mahale National Park on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. You have a sandy beach in front of you, with forested mountains rising 600m behind you. In the forest are groups of habituated chimps whose interactions are as thrilling as the scenery is stunning.
Oh no, what about the pastel colours at Wolwedans in Namibia, the quirky rooms at Shipwreck Lodge, watching whales from Princesse Bora on Ile Ste Marie, or a sunset across the Luangwa from Nsefu Camp? Can’t we make it your ten favourite camps?
There can’t be many jobs where people want to buy what you sell. I can’t imagine people go into the service department of their local garage happy to plan their service and then part with their money. That’s what we get though; people who are excited about arranging a safari holiday and who just need us to use our knowledge to match them with the myriad of options for them in Africa.
It’s lovely to get so many people saying ‘thank you’ when the planning is complete and the decision made. It’s even better when they come back from Africa with the holiday having exceeded their expectations, thrilled by what they’ve seen and done and bubbling over with excitement. We share all the feedback we get around the offices and I know each of us gets a big thrill when the trips we’ve helped arrange work well and a bit of vicarious pleasure reading each other’s nice feedback too.
It’s a top job and there are few things I’d swap it for, and those I would I’m not skilled enough at (see the previous comments regarding my sporting prowess!)
Leave a Reply