WORLD TRAVEL PHOTOS AND COMMENTS

Many practical questions arise when planning international travel. Many are simply the result of the traveler never having traveled to the area before. Such questions as “what is the best route to get to the Chobe Game Park and the Okavango Delta in Bostwana?” or such as “is it practical to allow three days to tour Tasmania while on a vacation to Australia?”. These are very appropriate questions that can be very easily addressed on a travel blog such as this. If you are planning an international trip to a destination not listed on this website and have a number of questions, you are encouraged to submit your questions to the moderator and the general audience of this website. You can expect to have some helpful feedback regarding your questions.

Any questions regarding what to see in a country, routes to take through a country, visa requirements and procedures, hotels, self-driving versus commercial trips and the best times of the year to visit a country are very appropriate questions to be posed. The answers should very much help you in your planning. Other, more involved, questions are also appropriate, such as “is it practical to rent a car and drive around Iceland?”  Basically, any question that you have regarding an international vacation that you are planning to a destination that is not one listed on this website is fair game in this category. If you are going to one of the 11 countries or areas listed , submit your questions to that proper area. If you are planning to travel to any other international destination, then please submit your question as a Post or Comment in this category and obtain the feedback that will help you.

                                                                          Dave Harrington, Moderator

Bolivia is a country that does not experience a large volume of tourist traffic. Their neighbors of Peru, Brazil and Chile certainly have more tourism. However, Bolivia does offer an excellent opportunity to experience South American culture at a reasonable cost. The heart of Bolivia is La Paz, which is its largest city. La Paz is a large, modern metropolis of a million people. The airport at La Paz is the world’s highest at nearly 14 1/2 thousand feet, which is even higher than the airport at Lhasa, Tibet. Flying into La Paz airport is a unique experience. As the Captain announces that he is landing, you expect the plane to descend, but you do not, You just land! After departing the plane a number of smokers who have waited 5 to 7 hours for a cigarette try to light one using matches or a lighter, but find that they won’t light. There is not enough oxygen! That happened to my wife.

A large portion of Bolivia is at very high altitude, so if you are susceptable to altitude sickness you should use caution. Acclimation at a lower altitude for a few days is recommended before staying in La Paz, which has an altitude of over 14,000 feet. Cochabomba is ideal for this at a mere 8000 ft. Staying in Cochabomba offers a great way to experience the South American culture, to shop and to interact with the local people. All the while you are doing this your body is acclimating to the higher altitude. In Cochabomba you can visit the huge statue of Jesus on a hill at the edge of town. Its not as large or high as the one overlooking Rio de Janeiro, but it is certainly large.

After acclimating in Cochabomba, you can fly to La Paz and stay there as a base for touring the area. You can rent a taxi for the day (cheap)and and tour all areas of the city, or you can go up in the Andes mountains to the Craters of the Moon area. It seems odd to be saying ” go up out of La Paz” which is already at 14,000 feet, but it is true. There are Andes mountains nearby which exceed 20,000 feet of elevation. All roads out of La Paz go up to even higher elevations, such as to the Alti Plano (a high desert region at 15,000 feet) and into the foothills of the Andes. The Alti Plano is an interesting region. It is a very large, and high desert that is interspersed with a number of small villages. One main railroad runs through it. The white or light-colored landscape is generally flat, with an occasional outcropping of small hills. Roving bands all of llamas may be observed, along with many dust devils. One road out of La Paz that you could take, but definitely should not, is the “Road of Death” through the Andes, which has been named as the most dangerous road in the world and has been documented in a TV documentary. Avoid that road! Another road goes up to Lake Titicaca on the border with Peru. This is not a long drive from La Paz. Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world.

As you can tell from all these descriptions of “the world’s highest …”, this is high country. Bolivia should be considered as a lower cost vacation for experiencing South American native culture, or as a vacation with Bolivia and Peru combined. Peru is easily accessible from La Paz, Bolivia. If you go there you will notice that most of the adult population regularly chews coca leaves, and bags of such leaves are for sale in every market. My wife and I tried chewing one and they were horrible tasting. We did not see the attraction! The weather and Climate in Bolivia is very pleasant. Although Bolivia is not far from the equator, it is mostly at high altitude, so the weather is not hot. The political climate and stability of the country is not quite as good as it was 15 or 20 years ago, but it is still a safe place to visit.

What can you say about the Woodward Dream Cruise that is held annually north of Detroit during the third week of every August? It is the largest collection of classic and custom cars in the world. It is officially a one-day event on a Saturday, but over the years it has grown to nearly a full week, with the number of vehicles building up each day as Saturday approaches. Where else can you sit in your lawn chair and see a Kaiser, Henry J, Delorean, Nash, Edsel, Fraser, DeSoto, Packard, Hudson, Tucker and Studebaker pass in front of you in just a two-hour.period? Nowhere! The volume of Classic, hot rod and cuistom cars is enormous, in fact by the official day of Saturday it is gridlocked with such cars.You will see more supercharged, full-race engines that you would at a drag meet, and will likely see one of every car that you have ever owned. In addition to cars that are cruising, there are miles of such cars parked in lots and along the road so that you can inspect them and talk to their owners. It is a carnival atmosphere, with a good time being had by all.
If you are restoring a classic car (any make or model) you are very likely to find the very same make and model restored and cruising around or parked. You can visit with the owner and get valuable advice, contact info and restoration tips. It represents a monstrous gathering of classic car and custom car buffs. Over a 13-mile stretch of Woodward avenue there are perhaps 60,000 people in lawn chairs along the road watching and photographing the cruisers. It goes on each day from mid-morning until about 9 p.m., with the peak time being from 6 pm until 8 pm. Many experienced attendees prefer Thursday or Friday instead of the official Saturday date because there is more cruising and less gridlock then. It can be a great family outing to grab your lawnchairs and a cooler full of soft drinks and sandwiches and go sit next to Woodeard Avenue for 3 or 4 hours. It makes for a fine picnic. If you have never attended and the opportunity arises, you should definitely attend once.

   As many of you have realized, there has been a significant drought of total solar eclipses in the USA for nearly 40 years, and not just in the USA, in all of North America. Eclipse chasers were spoiled in the 1970s with a total eclipse nearly every other year, then the drought of USA eclipse began. But now, at last, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and the drought will soon end for millions of Americans who have never seen a total eclipse of the sun. On August 21st, 2017 (a Monday), the path of a great total solar eclipse will come ashore on the Pacific Coast just south of Portland, Oregon, and will progress eastward through the center of the country, exiting on the Atlantic Coast in South Carolina. It will pass over many large cities, including St. Louis, Nashville, Lincoln and Charleston on a fine summer day. This is a time of year when the USA cloud cover is near a minimum, thus it is likely that millions of Americans will experience their first total solar eclipse.

  The prime spot along the path in terms of the duration of the eclipse will be near the Illinois/Kentucky border. How long will totality last? It depends upon where you observe. It will be one minute and 50 seconds in Oregon, two minutes and 44 seconds (the maximum) south of Carbondale, Illinois, and two minutes and 27 seconds in South Carolina. The brevity of a total eclipse may come as a shock to those who have never seen one, but the duration of such an eclipse is never more than 7 minutes and 30 seconds, with the average eclipse being about 3 minutes. Plus, as you will find out, those three minutes will seem to pass much faster than the time it takes you to cook a three-minute egg. It will be over in what seems like 45 seconds, so be ready with your tripod, camera, telescope and binoculars.

  Where should you go to observe this? If you want to minimize travel time and distance, just plan to go to the point very near the central line of the path that passes the closest to your home area (consult the map of the path). You should also have two alternate locations that are a couple of hundred miles each way (east and west) from your primary point. This is in anticipation of clouds at your primary location. Watch the weather predictions for these three locations starting on Friday, August 18, and plan accordingly. if you want to experience an extra 25 to 54 seconds, plan to go to a spot on the centerline of the path between St. Louis, Missouri and Charleston, South Carolina. You will get 2 ½ minutes or more in that segment. A final word … stay mobile, watch the weather and don’t miss it!

Today we have the great advantage of knowing where and when they will occur well in advance. In the not so old days of the 1700s and the 1800s, expeditions used to be sent out six months in advance, with most having  little luck because of poor map coordinates and poor predictions of the latitude, longitude and timing. But today, in the great field of predictions, the prediction of a total solar eclipse is probably among the most accurate that can be made. Unlike most other natural events such as earthquakes and volcanoes, and even weather, total solar eclipses can be predicted (or calculated backward in time) for thousands of years to within a fraction of a second. And you know for sure that it will occur as promised; there will be no delay or cancellation… it will occur right on time at the spots predicted. Modern astronomy, GPS systems, measurement accuracy of orbital elements and supercomputers have combined to allow super prediction accuracy. That is how a space probe to Saturn can be navigated through the ring after an eight-year voyage. What else in life has that degree of predictability? NASA has a book with detailed predictions of location and timing for every solar eclipse that will occur in the next thousand years. If you look in there and see that a total eclipse shadow is going to pass over your town in 873 years, you can rest assured that it will, even though you will not be there to see it!

With an eclipse of the sun occurring at least twice per year, why have so very few people seen a total solar eclipse? Well, for starters, most solar eclipses are not total, they are only partial, and many more people have seen a partial eclipse of the sun than have seen a total eclipse. There is another point that is perhaps the most important reason. A total eclipse of the sun is visible only within a narrow path on the earth that is 15 to 150 miles wide, whereas a partial eclipse is visible anywhere in a band more than 2000 miles wide. If you are not in that narrow strip of totality, you will not see a total eclipse. When the fact of a narrow strip is combined with the fact that the earth’s surface is 70% water, then most of the path of a total eclipse is over an ocean. Therefore, entire continents can go decades without a total solar eclipse. In fact, North America has gone since 1979 without one, and will not get another one until 2017. That means that hundreds of millions of Americans have never experienced one. Another factor is that the narrow path of totality can be anywhere on the earth, and that truly means anywhere! It can be in the Gobi desert (2008), Antarctica, in the southern Pacific not touching any continent, northern Greenland in winter, etc. Therefore they are not generally easy to get to … in fact they are almost always not. The rule of chasing total solar eclipses is that you have to go to them, they will not come to you. If you stand on a spot on the earth (such as your front yard) and wait for a total solar eclipse to come to you, you will wait (on the average) 700 years. Thus a contributing reason for people not seeing a total eclipse of the sun is that they do not chase them; most people wait for an eclipse to come to them. The final factor in having so few people who have actually experienced this phenomemom is the weather. If it is raining, or even just cloudy, you will not see it. A classic example is the July, 2009 eclipse over southern China. The path of totality went directly over Shanghai, where tens of millions would have seen their first total eclipse, but it was cloudy and raining at that exact time. Only small numbers actually saw part of it about 30 miles from Shanghai.

What is a total eclipse of the sun? Well, it is truly one of the most spectacular natural events that we can witness. In ancient times it was one of the few things that could stop armies in the midst of a battle. Some planning work (and expense) is usually required to get to the predicted narrow path of totality on the earth. If you do get to this predicted path, and the clouds cooperate, you will be rewarded with a two-hour spectacle that you will never forget, with the sun being gradually covered by the moon over a one-hour period, and then uncovered for another hour, with a spectacular period of a few minutes in the middle where the sun is totally covered. This produces a few minutes of “night” during the day. The darkness will come on rapidly as the sun is nearly covered,and strange sky colors that are not normally seen will be evident. The sky brightness will fade very rapidly, then return, as the last fraction of the sun is covered and then uncovered. When the sun is covered you will not need special glasses to view it. The birds will become silent and Venus and Mercury will pop out rather quickly as the sky becomes dark, and you will see a “sunset” line of red all around the horizon. You may see some bright stars and some moving shadow bands. When the sun bursts out again the birds will sing, and roosters will crow. It will all be over in just a matter of minutes, so don’t blink. Everyone should have the opportunity to observe this spectacle at least once during their lifetime. For detailed information on where, when and how to observe and photograph the upcoming great USA total eclipse of August 21, 2017, check out the pages on that eclipse at   www.worldtravelreports.org/solar-eclipse-gallery-listing/upcoming-eclipses .

  Greece offers extensive opportunities to see a blend of beauty and ancient history. The sights of Athens alone would be enough to justify a trip, but there are many, many more sights within the country as a whole. To stand on the highest of the hills of Athens and observe the panorama of Athens, with the Acropolis jutting up in the center of the view, is a sight that you will never forget. To walk around the Parthenon will provide a sense of appreciation of history and the passage of time.

  The wonderfully preserved area of Delphi is another superb attraction. This entire mountain complex is spectacular, and especially so when it is remembered how important this area was to the rulers of the known world at that time. It must be visited and toured, along with the excellent historical museum there. Throughout Greece there are many fine historical sites to visit, and many restaurants to provide you with fine Greek food.

  The Greek Islands are another wonder that is combined with a fine cruise, which adds to an excellent vacation. Each of the numerous islands has its own beauty and history, and the cruises will stop at the most appealing of those. Enjoy the trip to the hilltop of Santorini, and take the bus and shopping tour. Then take the old sailing ship trip over to the Santorini volcano. See if you have the stamina to climb 1600 feet to the top for a wonderful view of Santorini a mile across the water. The volcano is still steaming gases through many vents, so be cautious. If you have never been to Greece or the Greek Islands, you should consider them as future destinations. You will not be disappointed.

The Xinjiang Autonomous Region within China, and the enormous Gobi desert that it contains form a very interesting place to visit. Unfortunately, like Tibet, this is a part of China that most tourists never see. Unlike the much-visited eastern seaboard of China, the far-west regions are entirely different. This includes the Gansu province that adjoins Xinjiang. The landscape is extremely rugged, and the population density is much lower. There are enormous desert areas, with some almost impassible except by camel. There are mountain chains and huge sand dunes. The cities that are encountered, such as Dunhuang, Hami and Urumqui, are like oases in the desert, with sand dunes up to the city limit and vast stretches of open land between the towns. As with most extensive desert regions, it is scorching hot in the summer, and much too cold in the winter. It is generally a harsh land. The ancient silk road passes through many points of this region, and there are many interesting artifacts that remain to document this. The region is rich in Muslim and Buddist culture. You have truly not seen China until you have visited the three western Regions of Xinjiang, Gansu and Tibet. 

The city of Beijing is one of the main destinations in China, because it has so many outstanding attractions. Millions of people have come to see the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, and to walk through Tiananmen Square. It also offers the Temple of Heaven and the old city area (the Hutong). In addition to these world-famous landmarks, Beijing has many other attractions such as the Chinese acrobats, the Chinese Opera and the Olympic Stadiums. It is easy to spend an enjoyable week there having an enjoyable Peking Duck dinner (highly recommended), a long walk and some contemplation on the great wall. The Great Wall will leave you with the same question as with the Great Pyramids … how could they have possibly built this? Also plan to spend a day in the park that houses the Temple of Heaven. You will hear Chinese musicians playing ethnic music throughout this fine park. An evening visit to a performance of the Chinese acrobats will leave you amazed at their skill, and should not be missed. An extensive tour of the city is obligatory, and will impress upon you that Beijing is indeed a large, modern, dynamic city that offers much to those who visit. It is also the departing gateway to Lhasa, Tibet all across 5000 km of China on the new Qinghai Railway, the world’s highest, if you have the desire and the proper permits.

  The country of Turkey has much to offer the world traveler. The area of Istanbul is perhaps the most well known, and has numerous outstanding viewing sites to offer. There is, of course, an entire series of truly great mosques that you can visit, such as the Blue Mosque and the Aya Sofya Mosque. These are truly beautiful and awe-inspiring, and you will not forget your visit there. This is also true for the palaces within Istanbul, including the world-famous Topkapi palace and the Sultan’s summer palace on the water. You will see opulence on a scale that you have probably never seen before, including a harem for a thousand concubines. Carved ivory, gold candlesticks, diamonds, emeralds and Ming china are everywhere, as is Jade, marble and gold leaf in every one of hundreds of rooms. Your own house will seem very commonplace by the time you leave these palaces. 

  Istanbul also has many ancient Roman artifacts that can easily be seen and visited, such as the Roman Cistern system (still operating), the aquaduct and the ancient wall around Constantinople. There is the Bosporus for a great day cruise, and dinner at the old Orient Express train station, which was the end of the line, and which still has ticket flyers displayed. With a population of more than 12 million people, Istanbul has significant traffic, so don’t plan to drive there unless you are very brave. There are also a number of very interesting museums, including the Kariye Museum of ancient Christian culture. Throughout it’s history, Constantinople has alternated a number of times between Christian and Muslim domination, and there is much history for both on display. Southwest of Istanbul is the ancient city of Ephesis, which for many years was the seat of the ancient eastern Roman Empire. A visit to Ephesis is highly recommended, and the marble ruins are still in good shape and recognizable for many of the buildings and ampitheaters. You can walk down the main street where Antony and Cleopatra walked some 2000 years ago. It is still in good shape.

   In south-central Turkey is perhaps the next most famous tourist area, that of Cappadocia. This large region may be reached by flying into Kayseri, then taking a 1.5 hour drive to the heart of Cappadocia country. There you can even stay in a cave hotel room carved out of solid rock (as is the entire hotel). Cappadocia has many attractions, but the most stunning are the thousands of beautiful and unusual rock formations. Weird shapes and blazing colors of mountain, hill and rock formations are everywhere, where volcanic activity over eons, coupled with wind and water erosion have created truly unique formations. The area also has many caves and even complete underground cave cities (muli-level) where the Christians lived and hid from the Romans. There is also beautiful mountain scenery south of Kayseri, with snow-capped mountains. Other areas for tourism include Ankara, the seat of the Turkish government, and the mountainous Black Sea area north of Ankara. The areas of eastern and southeastern Turkey near the borders with Iraq, Iran and Syria are not normally visited by tourists, for obvious reasons.

   Although it is unfortunate that there are some political instabilities in Egypt currently (2015) that are reducing tourism, there is still some tourist travel that occurs. If you have the opportunity to go there, then you will find that a trip to Egypt is a true step back into time … lot’s of time; in fact, many thousands of years. Egypt has so many antiquities to display that you will no doubt become overwhelmed with pharoah overload. Cairo and Giza offer the wonders of the world, and you will stand in awe at the base of the great pyramid and wonder as many others have wondered … “how did they do it?” A camel ride that provides a wide view of all of the pyramids and the Sphinx will not be forgotten. You can even stay at a hotel (The Mena House) adjacent to the Great Pyramid that offers an amazing close-up view through your bedroom window. And the pyramid is illuminated at night, so you can gaze out of your window at it at any time.
   The Egypt museum in downtown Cairo will similarly overload you with thousands of great displays of antiquities. Outstanding museum touring shows of Egyptian artifacts are created in other countries with displays that are only a tiny fraction of a percent of what exists in the Egypt museum. The mummy room and the King Tut displays are must-see items. Be aware that cameras are not allowed, and that the mummy room has separate hours and tickets. As you did at the Great Pyramid, you will stand in awe at King Tut’s Gold sarcophagus, and will be amazed when you see and touch his numerous carriages.
Cairo itself is a city of wonder, with over 20 million people, and a driving trip through the streets is an adventure comparable to a ride at an amusement park. You have to experience it firsthand to believe it. The city never sleeps, and it seems like there are more people on the streets at 2 a.m. than at noon. The old shopping Bazaar has nearly everything … you could shop there for a week straight and not see everything.
The city of Luxor is well south of Cairo, and offers a further astounding list of antiquities. It will take you many days to view just part of what is available. It has many world-famous temples, as well as the Valleys of the Kings and Queens. With temples such as Karnac, Habu and Luxor, there are huge complexes of 5000-year-old statues, columns, carvings, engravings and other antiquities that will leave a lasting impression on the visitor. Karnac is a huge place, in fact too large to view in one day. The carved columns, statues and obilisks there must be viewed and touched to be fully appreciated. The great statue of Ramses at Habu temple is one obligatory photo that everyone must take. A visit to the Valley of the Kings (and Queens) will leave you with a true sense of ancient history. The tombs of the pharoahs are amazing, and the tomb artwork will leave a lasting impression on the visitor.  From Luxor there are many ships that cruise the Nile down to Aswan Dam. Further south, near the southern border of Egypt, is the great statue complex at Abu Simbal. A photograph of yourself in front of the enormous statues there is another great picture that you will proudly display over your desk.

   The autonomous region of Tibet within China is an adventuresome place to visit. The people, culture, landscape, altitude and scenery will very likely be different from anything that you have experienced previously. The mountains, canyons, rivers and white water in Tibet must be seen to be believed. Tibet is perhaps a little more difficult to visit than most destinations, and requires a bit more advanced planning, particularly in recent times. Advanced permits are required, as are approved guides, so planning must be done well ahead of time. This increased difficulty and planning is perhaps why so few world travellers actually visit there.

   What can be said about the himalayan landscape … except that it is the highest in the world and provides breathtaking views that will never be forgotten. The country’s altitude of 11,000 to 18, 000 feet will also take your breath away (literally), so make sure your health permits you to travel there before you arrange to go. A visit to Mt. Everest base camp will put you above 16,000 feet for nearly a week, with hundreds of switchback roads, and auxiliary oxygen bottles are required.

  There is a new method of getting into or out of Tibet that is an alternative to flying into and out of Lhasa; it is the new Quinhai railway, which is the world’s highest rail line. It runs all the way from Beijing to Lhasa, and has oxygen pumped in to the rail cars for the ten hours that it is in Tibet. It provides some beautiful views from the large viewing windows in the rail cars, and it is recommended that you take this train when you leave Tibet, as that train leaves in the morning daylight. The train into Tibet arrives late at night, which prevents good views of the scenery.

   In addition to outstanding mountain scenery, Tibet offers a view into ancient Asian culture. It has outstanding religious and cultural sites such as Potala palace and Tashilhunpo Monastery that are world renowned. The rural life away from Lhasa and Shigatse appears to function as it did hundreds of years ago; basically unchanged. A trip to Tibet will not be a relaxing vacation, but will be an adventure! You will be short of breath and living on Yak meat and Yak butter tea. If you are lucky to get a view of Mt. Everest from Base Camp on a clear day, it will take your breath away, at least what little breath you have available! This trip to Tibet and Mt. Everest was a life experience for my wife and I, and we often talk about it. It is safe to say that if you are ever able to visit Tibet, it will be a life travel experience for you that you will never forget. View the numerous slideshows on the Tibet destinations to get a feel of what such a trip is like.

The country of South Africa is a tourist’s dream. There is a great variety of things to see in such a vast country, and the weather and roads are outstanding. There is no problem in renting a car and driving by yourself anywhere in the country. The weather is always good at any time of the year. With mountains, deserts and ocean beach scenery available, and with some of the world’s finest wildlife parks, South Africa is a great country to visit, and is highly recommended. The area around the Cape Peninsula in the extreme southwest is truly beautiful. Cape Town is great, with fine shopping and dining, and has much to offer. It offers a cable car ride … to the top of the famous Table Mountain for spectacular views both north over the bay and south all the way to Cape Point.

Capetown also has the historic Signal Hill, where you can still see the noon cannon being fired. This cannon has been fired every day for centuries at exactly noon so that passing ships could set their clocks for the long trip around the horn. At Greenmarket Square in central Cape Town you can shop for about anything a tourist would want, and the amazing thing is that this entire large shopping complex is completely dismantled every single night, and recontructed every morning. You have to see it done to believe it. The Cape Peninsula has a penguin colony at Boulder Beach, and has the famous and rugged Cape Point. It is a must-see for tourists to visit Cape Point to see the “End of Africa” and the beautiful and rugged scenery there. You will likely have an encounter with a baboon there, particularly if you have a sandwich or a candy bar on you!

East of the Cape Peninsula is the Garden Route to George, which passes by the scenic Sunrise Beach. At Hermanos you can enjoy watching the Southern Right whales, and can take a boat to view great white sharks. North of George are enjoyable ostrich farms (you can ride an ostrich if you desire) and the famous Cango caves. Passing over the scenic mountain passes there provides a great view of the South African interior landscape. To the west of that lies the extensive Cederberg Wilderness area. If you are adventurous you could head northwest toward Namibia and the desert country near the Orange river. Kimberley offers a visit to the world’s largest and deepest diamond mine … the “Big Hole”.

The interior plains of South Africa between Kimberley and Johannesberg offer many scenic views such as Gariep Dam and Lake. East of Johannesberg and Pretoria is the beautiful area of Blyde River Canyon. It has many beautiful canyons, rock formations and waterfalls, plus many unusual plants and flowers. It is the gateway to the world famous Kruger National Park. This huge wildlife park offers some of the best wildlife experiences and interactions that you will ever experience. It is another must-see. Plan on at least 3 or 4 days there, preferably in your own rental car where you can drive out each day and be alone with the animals. But don’t get out of your car! The south coast of South Africa south of Durban, on the Indian ocean, provides excellent ocean scenery and great seasonal whale watching. There are many Zulu tourist areas there, as well as scenic attractions such as Oribi Gorge. While you are in South Africa it is also fairly easy to visit another country within a country, such as either beautiful Swaziland or Lesotho.

The country of Tanzania is one of the outstanding tourist destinations in the world. It offers two unique and unrivaled attractions in Mt. Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti, and has numerous additional national parks that feature great wildlife and scenery. The northern park circuit of Kilimanjaro, Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro and Serengeti form a chain of northern national parks that are reasonably spaced, accessible and are sure to provide you with outstanding and unforgettable wildlife experiences. You can have a self-drive safari if you so desire, and can go where you want and do it on your own schedule. I would recommend it if you have a little adventure within you. You can drive in your own rented 4-wheel-drive vehicle across the entire northern portion of Tanzania from Kilimanjaro to Lake Victoria and back, or leave your vehicle at Serengeti and fly back . My wife and I did it in two weeks, and it was one of our most memorable trips. We did it in early June after the rainy season was over, and when the wildebeest were migrating north. We did not want to miss that sight, and we didn’t!

You can fly into Kilimanjaro airport and stay at the lodge that is right there while you pick up your vehicle and visit the mountain that is only an hour away. Even if you don’t attempt to climb Kilimanjaro (add another week if you plan to try it), you can drive up about 6000 feet to the Machame trailhead for some great closeup views of the peak. If you want to hang around for a couple of days there is a nice Protea Hotel right there with a beautiful view of the peak.

Later in your trip you can stay in a Bush Camp just outside the northern park boundary and watch the wildebeest go around your camp on both sides, all the while (24 hours per day) making their odd, grunting sound. I highly recommend that, as it was another experience that we will never forget. In between Kilimanjaro to the East and Serengeti in the West, are two outstanding sites … Tarangire National Park and Ngorongoro Crater. Do not miss them! You will see more elephants (and baby elephants) in Tarangire two hours than you will see in a week in most other African countries. Ngorongoro Crater is unique; you will never see anything else like it. Stay in a lodge on the crater rim for great views during your dinners.

Each Park has a selection of outstanding lodges that really take care of you (Sopa, Wildlife, etc). You don’t need to be in a canned tour to book those lodges. Tanzania is very safe (we never felt threatened even once), and the weather is fantastic. Blue skies and nice temperatures every day even though it borders the equator. Yes, it is true that it is not cheap to spend a couple of weeks in Tanzania … bring lots of money … but you will be rewarded with some of the best wildlife views and experiences on the planet, and it will be ingrained in your memory forever. See the slideshows on the destinations in Tanzania for more information.