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AFRICA

SOUTH AFRICA, NAMIBIA & BOTSWANA

23 DAY - PHOTOGRAPHY TOUR

AUGUST 22 - SEPTEMBER 13, 2003

NEXT AFRICAN TOUR PLANNED FOR AUGUST - SEPTEMBER, 2007

INSTRUCTOR GARRY BLACK

AFRICA PHOTO GALLERY

Group Photo of Trip Participants

Everyone that we spoke with when we started planning for this trip said, "that if they were going to Africa, they wanted to make it worth their while and see everything!" Obviously you can't see everything in 3 weeks, but this tour takes you to the best photographic areas that Southern Africa has to offer and more importantly it also gives you enough time at each location for some serious photography. Garry has travelled and photographed throughout Southern Africa (spending more than a year in this area) and has come up with what he considers the "Ultimate African Landscape and Wildlife Photo Safari".

The tour will start in Cape Town on August 23rd. Depending upon which airline and route you fly it may take you 2 days to arrive here. Our hotel is located in the Victoria & Albert Waterfront. After a brief visit and getting adjusted from jet lag, we will depart Cape Town and head north into Namaqualand, which is situated in the northwestern corner of South Africa. This is a land of great contrast, for most of the year this sun-scorched, barren semi-desert is a land of sandy plains and granite hills, yet after the winter (June - July) rains, the landscape comes to life as the plains and valleys are carpeted with wall to wall multi-coloured blossoms. Seeing Namaqualand in bloom is truly a wildflower photographer's dream come true. The town of Springbok will be our base for exploring the surrounding countryside. We will travel the back roads of this area in search of the most spectacular displays to photograph. The Goegap Nature Reserve, a few miles outside of Springbok and the Skilpad Wild Flower Reserve, to the south of Springbok will be two of the areas that we will thoroughly explore.

Our next journey takes us north through the desert-dominated landscape to Keetmanshoop, for an overnight stop and then on to Sesriem/Sossusvlei, our base for photographing the magnificent sand dunes of the Namib Desert. This is the world's oldest desert and has the world's highest dunes some measuring up to 300 meters in height (100 meters higher than the dunes of the Sahara). The solitude and beauty of these huge towering dunes is truly an impressive sight which provides for exceptional photographic imagery.

We will next fly from Sossusvlei to Etosha National Park, which will save us 3 days of driving through an area that really doesn't have much to offer photographers. Etosha is another story however, there are 144 mammal species in the park. This includes elephant, black rhino, giraffe, wildebeest, zebra, and various species of antelope. Among the predators are lion, cheetah, leopard and several species of wild cat. Etosha is unique for game viewing since it has water holes where each species of animal congregates in turn. We will also go on sunrise and late afternoon game drives from our camp at Ongava Lodge. Without a doubt we will shoot quite a few rolls of film here.

From Etosha we depart for Botswana and the Duma Tau Lodge for the next 3 nights. The Savuti/Linyanti area is described in most safaris as "wildlife-packed". This area is most famous for its lions, as well as Elephant, Leopard, Cheetah, Wild Dog and Hyena, Zebra, Giraffe, Wildebeest, Water Buffalo, Impala, Waterbuck, Sable, Roan, Eland, Red Lechwe, Baboon, Monkey, Bushbabies, Warthog, and Crocodile.

Next we take a short flight to Kasane and the Chobe National Park. Here we will stay at the Chobe Game Lodge, which is the only accommodation located within the park. It provides us with an excellent base to explore this region. Out on the open plains of Chobe are wildebeest, zebra and buffalo that concentrate in massive endless herds The elephant population here is estimated to number in excess of 30,000, and is the largest single concentration in Africa. Chobe not only offers wildlife but also astounding natural beauty. This park has an amazing variety of habitats, ranging from floodplains and woodlands, to verdant grasslands bordering the Chobe River.

From Chobe it's around an hours drive to our last stop Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. The falls are twice as high and one and a half times wider than Niagara Falls. It's only a five-minute walk to the falls from our accommodation at the Ilala Lodge. We will have opportunities to photograph the falls that afternoon and the next morning before we catch our flights for home.

Itinerary
DAY	DATE	LOCATION	ACCOMMODATIONS	MEALS
1	22-AUG-03	Depart Home	Flights	Airline
2	23-AUG-03	Arrive Cape Town -Transfer to hotel	Commodore Hotel	b&b
3	24-AUG-03	Cape Town	Commodore Hotel	b&b
4	25-AUG-03	Drive to Clanwilliam - Namaqualand	Strassberger Hotel	b&b
5	26-AUG-03	Drive to Springbok - Namaqualand	Annie’s Cottage	b&b
6	27-AUG-03	Namaqualand	Annie’s Cottage	b&b
7	28-AUG-03	Namaqualand	Annie’s Cottage	b&b
8	29-AUG-03	Namaqualand	Annie’s Cottage	b&b
9	30-AUG-03	Drive to Keetmanshoop, Namibia	Canyon Hotel	b&b
10	31-AUG-03	Drive to Sossusvlei - Sand Dunes	Little Kulala	fb
11	1-SEP-03	Sossusvlei - Sand Dunes	Kulala Tented Camp	fb
12	2-SEP-03	Sossusvlei - Sand Dunes	Kulala Tented Camp	fb
13	3-SEP-03	Charter Flight Etosha	Ongava Lodge	fb
14	4-SEP-03	Etosha	Ongava Lodge	fb
15	5-SEP-03	Etosha	Ongava Lodge	fb
16	6-SEP-03	Charter Flight /Maun/Duma Tau	Duma Tau	fb
17	7-SEP-03	Savuti - Linyanti Reserve	Duma Tau	fb
18	8-SEP-03	Savuti - Linyanti Reserve	Duma Tau	fb
19	9-SEP-03	Fly Savuti/Kasane - Chobe	Chobe Game Lodge	fb
20	10-SEP03	Chobe	Chobe Game Lodge	fb
21	11-SEP-03	Chobe/Victoria Falls	Ilala Lodge	b&b
22	12-SEP-03	Fly Victoria Falls/Johannesburg	Airport Transfer	Airline
23	13-SEP-03	Arrive Home	Flights	Airline

DETAILS

FEE:

Land-only price with credit card payment: $6,757.45 US per person sharing. Approximately $10,720.00 CDN – Exchange rate Oct. 23/02

Medical Insurance < 60 years old: $325 US

Single supplement paying with credit card: $1,468.80 US

Note: A 2% discount applies to payments made by cash or check.

DEPOSIT:

$1,350 US per person - Final payment due 70 days prior to departure.

Deposits and Final payments (check or credit card) for this trip can be made through either:

Africa Adventure Consultants , contact Kent Redding, Tel: 303-778-1089 or Toll Free from the US or Canada: 866-778-1089

Or Garry Black, Tel: 613-824-9295

The price includes accommodation at the hotels, lodges and camps listed above, meals and drinks as indicated, domestic flights in Namibia and Botswana, transfers, services of professional guides provided by Wilderness Safaris.

Not included - airfare from your home to Cape Town and return from Victoria Falls, meals other than indicated, items of personal nature (souvenirs, phone calls, etc.), gratuities, passport and visa fees (if applicable), airport and government taxes (if applicable), and medical insurance.

Cancellation Policy: If cancellations are made after the due date for full payment, charges will be levied as follows: Less than 8 weeks notice, deposit plus 25%, less than 4 weeks notice, 50%, less than 3 weeks notice, 60%, less than 2 weeks notice 100%

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