Africa
I first went to Africa in in the early 1990's. To say it was a culture shock to my usual holiday that I took in the 1990's is or was an understatement.
My first trip - a guided tour to Kenya and Tanzania - was fairly luxurious - staying in good quality hotels and not venturing out too far off the beaten track.
Then after a few years travelling to other places I came across - by chance - an opportunity to explore southern Africa by way of a camping trip to Botswana and Namibia.
The series of events that lead to that trip involved a somewhat hastily - for me anyway - arranged holiday after a frustrating few months trying to find the 'right vacation'.
Having had a few years of stargazing experience under my belt I thought that it might be good to 'sleep under the stars'. This you can do in many of southern Africa's game parks - provided that you have a guide who knows how to use a gun - as you can get very close to wildlife.
In fact on that holiday a Cheetah padded through our camp one night while we were all sleeping - and we had a 'dangerous worm' incident - which actualy turned out to be a 'bootlace' Viper!.
Also on that trip I saw my very first Total Lunar Eclipse - I had checked the sky calender out beforehand so on one night, whilst most of my group were watching the flood-lit watering hole for all-manner of wildlife, there I was observing the Moon turning a rosy red colour at least for an hour or so.
On this same trip I caught my first glimpse of a really good view of the southen Milky Way - which then provided me with further opportunities in the years since 1997 to go back to Namibia - in 2014, 2018 and 2022 - for both wildlife and stargazing holidays - with more trips likely in the future - and South Africa - 2001 [Garden Route S.A., Solar Eclipse in Zimbabwe], 2002 [South Africa, KwaZulu NP, Kruger NP and Solar Eclipse] and 2016 [South Africa - Capetown, Karoo wildlife and stargazing] - with future trips also likely in years to come.
My first trip - a guided tour to Kenya and Tanzania - was fairly luxurious - staying in good quality hotels and not venturing out too far off the beaten track.
Then after a few years travelling to other places I came across - by chance - an opportunity to explore southern Africa by way of a camping trip to Botswana and Namibia.
The series of events that lead to that trip involved a somewhat hastily - for me anyway - arranged holiday after a frustrating few months trying to find the 'right vacation'.
Having had a few years of stargazing experience under my belt I thought that it might be good to 'sleep under the stars'. This you can do in many of southern Africa's game parks - provided that you have a guide who knows how to use a gun - as you can get very close to wildlife.
In fact on that holiday a Cheetah padded through our camp one night while we were all sleeping - and we had a 'dangerous worm' incident - which actualy turned out to be a 'bootlace' Viper!.
Also on that trip I saw my very first Total Lunar Eclipse - I had checked the sky calender out beforehand so on one night, whilst most of my group were watching the flood-lit watering hole for all-manner of wildlife, there I was observing the Moon turning a rosy red colour at least for an hour or so.
On this same trip I caught my first glimpse of a really good view of the southen Milky Way - which then provided me with further opportunities in the years since 1997 to go back to Namibia - in 2014, 2018 and 2022 - for both wildlife and stargazing holidays - with more trips likely in the future - and South Africa - 2001 [Garden Route S.A., Solar Eclipse in Zimbabwe], 2002 [South Africa, KwaZulu NP, Kruger NP and Solar Eclipse] and 2016 [South Africa - Capetown, Karoo wildlife and stargazing] - with future trips also likely in years to come.
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Above are a few
highlights of my trips to Africa. If you wish to take a more
in-depth look then please take a browse of some of my on-line image
and picture albums, from the links below:
Below you wil find some links relevent to my website. I neither recommend nor endorse any of these.