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Welcome
to DESTINED TO TRAVEL's Newsletter
WISHING
YOU ALL A GRATEFUL AND WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
Dear Travel Associate,
I hope that you had an enjoyable Halloween and a wonderful
Thanksgiving. Christmas is just around the corner, so this
will be the final newsletter of the year. Thank you for your
patronage, thank you for your support and your business over this past
year. There is much to do in 2011 and I look forward to the
year with great anticipation. As always, if anyone is
interested in any of the planned destinations or have one of your own,
always feel free to contact me. I have just returned from South Africa
with a group of 12 travelers, and this newsletter will recount some of
my trip's highlights. I hope you enjoy it.
Kay
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SOUTH
AFRICA HIGHLIGHTS
I
can't say enough about the trip, but to sum it up, it was
FANTASTIC. Although I've traveled with several groups to
South Africa over the years, this one, was a little different and
perfect in every way. The group that went were celebrating my cousins
20th wedding
anniversary so many of the group were her friends that even she had not
seen in many years, friends from her former neighborhood in
Virginia. Carol and Hank now reside in Florida. So
that made the trip really special. Joining us was my friend
Aretha who has previously traveled with me on the fabulous Brazil trip
and my niece Rowena, who travels with me as much
and as often as she can. Here's the group having 'sundowners'
in the bush. Here's the safari anniversary couple Carol and
Hank. It took me a few years to talk them into traveling, but
I know they are glad they made the decision to go, and to bring their
friends. Now if they don't look like Out of Africa , I
don't know who does - what a way to
celebrate
an anniversary.
Here are the other travelers, Aretha, Rowena, Wanda and Punch, Earl and
Thelma and Sheron and James and Val who joined us the last three nights
on safari and continued on for another three nights at another
camp. Thank you to our exceptional tour directors, Deon shown
with his wife Colleen in Cape Town, and Eric shown with the driver
Willie in Soweto. I will make sure you are our directors on
my next scheduled South Africa trip. You provided us with a
great experience, moving and emotional at times, but definitely
enriching. THANK YOU!
  
  
and
Leader of the Group
 
The
itinerary was as follows: four nights in Cape Town, one night
on the Blue Train from Cape Town to Pretoria, two nights in
Johannesburg and three nights on a game drive (safari). I
hope to repeat a similar itinerary in the future. I think
everyone who traveled will agree that it was an amazing experience and
as I always say.....you just can't relay to anyone what the experience
is like traveling in Africa. For all those who say, 'Why
Africa', 'what does Africa hold for me', 'I lost nothing in
Africa', 'why why why', as I'm sure some of these travelers might have
thought, thought before taking the trip, but ask them now. I
am confident they don't have those thoughts now and that each of them
would say, 'it's definitely worth taking the trip', giving Africa a try.
We had a wonderful tour of Cape Town, our accommodations at the
Commodore Hotel conveniently located directly across for V&A
Waterfront. That's Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. Read about the history of the Waterfront
We
spent four lovely nights here and we all made use of the convenience of
the waterfront with it's infinite shopping possibilities and eateries.
From here, we took a tour of Table Mountain Read about it
Cape
of Good Hope Pensula
and Penguin Colony at Boulders.
Pictured
is Commodore Lobby, V&A Waterfront, Table Mountain, Good Hope
Peninsula, Penguin Colony and Lunch Break
 
   
We move on to the Blue Train where we enjoy a wonderful evening on this
LUXURY train, where dinner is a formal affair. We mingle,
play cards and have a ball with the staff who always come up with a new
drink to celebrate any occasion, from winning a hand at cards to
celebrating my birthday. What a treat. We continue
with a tour to Soweto, first home of Mandela and where Winnie Mandela
currently resides. We lunch and take a tour of Mandela's
house and one of the local townships, where we are invited into their
homes and walk in their area. Sad, but rewarding.
Oh, to be a philanthropist and to be able to help them, but we
supported them the best way we could, in buying their wares and
contributing to the village. Then on to the Hector Peterson
museum, dedicated to the death of Hector, a 13-year old, caught up in
the riots and protests when the Blacks of South Africa rose up to
protest their lack of equality, a fight that Nelson Mandela was
imprisoned for 27 years for speaking out, for 'terrorism' and
'subversive' activities. We are emotionally affected by what
we see and further at the Apartheid museum, we are visibly moved by the
activities that took place in the early 90's . It is just
heartbreaking, akin to the Holocaust.
Pictured are Kay exiting the train on an excursion, day care children
in the township, Kay and Carol (cousin) in Soweto, Aretha and Kay on
the boat to Robben Island, and our room at Royal Legend while on
safari, farewell dinner setting, Aretha partying on our last night on
safari, and under the watchful eye of our Ranger, Rowena visits with
the carcass we saw the previous evening on a lion take down (note, this is a very controlled
setting with the Ranger outside the vehicle)
      
And then off on safari, where our first sighting was a beautiful
leopard and our last sighting was below. Of course we saw
everything in between in these three days. Simply amazing.
These lions are only found in this area and it is a VERY rare sighting,
certainly not often seen. I think everyone realizes how
fortunate they were to see this. Even I had never seen them.
Yes, it is the beautiful Timbavati WHITE lion.
 
There are lots more photos, just too many to insert into this
newsletter. Feel free to go to my website
to link to both South Africa photo albums 1 and 2.
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True
Stories Reprinted from PTS Air Consolidator:
Weirdest Things Smuggled on an Airplane
Snakes
On A Plane, Almost
In a particularly memorable baggage
malfunction, headlines were made this September when the luggage clasp
of a known wildlife smuggler broke in an airport, depositing a pile of
live reptiles on a conveyor belt at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur
International Airport. The 95 boa constrictors, other snakes, and
turtles that the smuggler was attempting to export illegally earned him
six months in jail and a $61,000 fine.
Underpants
Full Of Geckos
Ants in your pants: Bad. Forty-four geckos in your underwear? Much,
much worse. In early 2010, a German man was caught trying to sneak 44
endangered geckos and skinks out of New Zealand in pouches sewn into
his underpants. The man claimed the lizards, which can sell for as much
as $2,000 each, were for his personal collection.
Carry-On
Chihuahua
Small dogs in handbags are as plentiful as paparazzi pictures of
teacup-dog toting celebrities. But in late 2009, customs officials in
Dublin Airport were surprised to find the outline of a Chihuahua in a
man's hand luggage on a security X-ray. Suspecting it was a toy dog,
customs officers got a second surprise when they unzipped the bag and
found a tiny, and very real, canine. The dog, which according to the
Mail Online, was to be a gift, was placed in quarantine.
Tiger
Cub surrounded by stuffed Animal Toys
Which one of these things is not like the other? Authorities found a
sedated two-month old live tiger cub tucked into an oversized bag
amidst stuffed tiger toys. The Thai Airways passenger who was heading
to Iran from Bangkok claimed she was carrying the bag for someone else.
Fish
Under Skirt
"Flipping noises" alerted officials to the 51 live tropical fish tucked
into the pockets of an apron hidden under the skirt of a woman
traveling from Singapore to Australia this June. She might have been
successful in the hoop skirt era, but not today. As it stands, if the
woman is found guilty of smuggling wildlife, she could face an $85,000
fine and serve a 10-year prison sentence.
Pygmy
Monkeys In Pants
Employees at Los Angeles International were tipped off to a smuggler
when a bird of paradise flew out of his suitcase. But that wasn't all:
The man's baggage held 50 orchids and three more birds tucked into
nylon stockings. And that still wasn't all. When asked if there was
anything else, the man admitted to having a pair of pygmy monkeys in
his pants. The monkeys were moved to the Los Angeles Zoo, but all four
birds died. How sad!
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Trip
Updates 
MOROCCO
is going, going and almost gone for sign-ups. If you are
seriously interested, please contact me ASAP for a September 2011
departure. Several have indicated an interest but that is as
far as I have heard. Putting together a custom trip is too
difficult unless I know who are interested. Interested is
defined as ready to deposit for this trip. It will not
operate if no response is received by January 1, 2011.
KENYA is
scheduled for November of 2011 and there are only FIVE spaces left for
this one. I have collected deposits on the trip, but I can
take additional travelers up to March 1, 2011. If you are
interested, please shoot me an email.
ISRAEL/JORDAN
is still anticipated for March of 2012, however, I have not heard from
but one or two people on this trip as well. If you are
interested, please let me know. I've only done preliminary
work on this trip until I determine whether there is any further
interest than the two who have let me know. I will be
marketing this trip until mid year 2011.
EGYPT
is also anticipated for 2012 in September. I would like to
know if you are interested. I will be marketing this trip
until mid year 2011 so you may hear more from me on this one.
However, if you are interested before you receive additional
information, please notify me.
TANZANIA
is again anticipated between end of March - May 2012, dates will depend
on my travel schedule as well as best time to do a layover in
Amsterdam/London. It will cover the SERENGETI,
Ngorongoro
and Lake Manyara. There will
most likely be a couple of different options. Trying to keep
the price in check, though Tanzania is quite pricey, I may consider
lodges for the first few days with an option to extend to a mobile
tented camp (not your stateside camping experience), to provide more of
a feel for being out in the bush, and then an optional excursion to
Zanzibar for those who would like to see that area. I will
offer a chance to break up the long flight with a layover in London or
Amsterdam or other cities as flight schedules permit.
I
do not have pricing at this time, but it will be the perfect time to
go. There is a quite a stir happening in the Serengeti and
this would be the perfect time to visit. Everyone is noticing
throughout Africa that animals are dramatically decreasing in numbers,
due to many issues, poaching, political decisions and drought
situations. In the Serengeti, a 'highway' is being planned
that will severely hamper the migration route of the wildebeest and
zebra. See Serengeti Highway
.
Those of us in the travel industry, conservationists around the world,
as well as scientists and other activists have been fighting this for
the past year. It appears as if the project will go through
despite the controversy. We all believe it will severely
hamper tourism to this area and have a negative impact on the
ecosystem, the animals and most importantly the migration route, a
necessity for the millions of wildebeest and zebra. Many in
the travel business would prefer to boycott the area if they go through
with this project., but the reality is for those of us who love the
Serengeti, we will continue to return time and again, to
support the community and the ecosystem. We would all prefer
that our family, friends and clients see it before these devastating
changes take place. I personally want to take as many people as I can
to this area before this happens, if it does. The Serengeti
is considered the EIGHTH wonder of the world and a World Heritage Site
and once you are there, you will see why. The project is set
to begin in late 2012. PLEASE consider this trip if you've
ever thought about seeing the migration or visiting the
Serengeti.
I
would love to have you join me! I have not started working on
this trip, but I will after my travel slows down in 2011, so you have a
few months to think about it. I urge you to let me know if
you want to at least consider it so I can begin the planning.
My plan for this trip to to offer several different itineraries at
different locations and costs to try to maximize the number of people
who want to go. My core group will still be 12-15 traveling
directly with me, but as others might like to travel at the same time,
also offer accommodations such as lodges with a shorter stay
duration.. This group would have a different ranger and may
or may not meet on safari, but not to worry, I will ensure everyone is
taken care of. As those who want to extend their travel to go with me
to one or more of the tented accommodations, they would be welcome to
do so, keeping in mind that those accommodations will house a minimum
number of people. Once I work out the details, which I plan
to do by June 2010, you'll have a better idea, but I urge you to let me
know if you think you would consider going, even before that
time. For those of you who think there is a lot of walking on
safari, it is NOT. The most strenuous thing about a safari is
the plane ride over, but don't let that frighten you. And as
I mentioned, most likely I will be offering the option of breaking up
the flight time with a stayover in London or Amsterdam.
As you all know, it take a minimum of a year to put together a custom
and private safari experience. Visit the Cradle of Mankind,
Olduvai Gorge, (Olduvai Gorge is one of the most important prehistoric
sites in the world and has been instrumental in furthering
understanding of early human evolution), a typical Maasai Village,
Serengeti Visitors Center to learn about the ecosystem, see Mt.
Kilimanjaro (if it is visible, as usually shrouded in clouds), and have
one of the best safari experiences ever.
Whether
you've traveled with me to Africa before, or this might be your first
time, there is something for everyone. I look forward to you joining me
on safari, or any of the other trips reference. I appreciate
your support as always.
Photographed
in the Serengeti in June 2010 at Serengeti Under Canvas Mobile Tented
Camp
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