Читать книгу African Safari Adventures - Thomas Walsh - Страница 4

Nine months earlier, my wife Lee and I attended a charity fund raising event hosted by Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree, a well- known philanthropist in Santa Barbara. We each grabbed a glass of wine from a waiter when we came in and looked around for people we knew. Our friends Steve and Nancy were in a circle with some other people we knew. Steve and Nancy are east coast transplants. My wife Lee and I are from the Midwest. It seems like most of the people you meet in Santa Barbara are from somewhere else. We joined the group in the middle of a story Steve was telling.

A group of people we knew from Santa Barbara had just come back from an African safari. Steve was very animated as he relayed what he had heard about their trip. It was a customized safari, filled with exciting once in a lifetime experiences. They had stayed at remote eco-lodges with delicious meals, and excellent service. The guides were top notch. The trip was truly seamless with every detail planned flawlessly.

Steve’s enthusiasm in telling the story was so infectious that when he finished and asked the people in the circle if we wanted to take a safari trip with them, we of course said yes. Lee had a safari on her “bucket list” so she jumped at the opportunity. I wasn’t as enthusiastic initially, but was certainly willing to look into it. Nancy was also more reserved in her reaction. She probably wanted to save her comments for when they got home. Another couple said they were interested as well.

I asked Steve who had planned the safari for the other group and he said, “Chuck the Safari Planner”. Steve explained that Chuck was Charles Aljian, a local man who runs a safari travel business under the name “Safari Planner”. He said the other group had raved about him.

We left the fund raiser that night with the understanding I would contact Charles Aljian to get the ball rolling. I had no thoughts whatsoever of Africa or a safari when we went out that night. When we got home Lee was already on the way, in her mind. I wasn’t as sure.

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I made contact with Chuck the next day. By then I had already received dates from Steve and Nancy, and the third couple had decided not to go. Chuck came to our house a few days later for an initial planning session with both couples. Chuck is a big man with a very friendly and relaxed demeanor. He took copious notes on what both couples wanted, dates, etc.

Each couple had different ideas on arrival and departure dates, and travel to and from Africa. My brother and sister in-law, a doctor and nurse respectively, were volunteering at a hospital in Uganda. We wanted to visit them either on the front or back end of the trip. Steve and Nancy wanted to stop in Amsterdam on the trip over. We wanted to stop in London.

Lee wanted to be sure to see the great migration of wildebeest. Chuck explained that it was possible to see the migration at various places during the year because it was an ongoing 800 mile circular movement of animals between Tanzania and Kenya in search of grass to feed on. The wildebeest follow the zebra and antelope, gazelles and other animals come after the wildebeest.

We all wanted to see the Serengeti, a Maasai word meaning “endless plain” and stay in “Hemingway” style tents. And of course we wanted to see the “Big Five” game animals in the wild – elephant, rhino, Cape buffalo, lion and leopard. Chuck pitched the benefit of his service versus other luxury safari tours like Abercrombie and Kent or large tour groups like Overseas Adventure Travel. He said we would get closer to the animals and be at the best viewing sites well before the other groups arrived. Chuck said he had the best network of safari guides and lodges. We would stay in luxury hotels and the meals would be wonderful. It all sounded great and seemed to make sense considering he offered a customized trip for small groups. I could see Lee was getting more excited by the minute.

Chuck suggested adding a visit to the mountain gorillas in Rwanda to the itinerary. He described the uniqueness of the experience and what it would entail. He did warn that it would add about $5,000 to each couple’s cost due to the additional flights, park passes to visit the gorillas and lodging. We all agreed it was an experience that we did not want to pass up.

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Each couple received a preliminary itinerary and cost estimate in about a week. We would leave toward the end of May and be gone for 25 days. It would be dry season then in East Africa, perfect for enjoying the safari. After a couple rounds of tweaking we arrived at the final plan. Both couples would fly to London, but there Steve and Nancy would leave us to head to Amsterdam. We would meet up with them again in Rwanda to see the gorillas and continue the safari in Kenya and Tanzania. It would be a marvelous adventure. The trip of a lifetime!