Egypt happenings

Check out a few snapshots from Kent's recent trip to Egypt on AAC's Facebook page.

Also, if you're in Denver and you can't get enough Egypt, check out this upcoming event at the Denver Art Museum:

The Phenomenon That Is Tutankhamun
Tuesday, June 8, 7 pm

What is it about King Tut? He wasn't the richest pharaoh or the most powerful, yet millions of people are fascinated by his brief life and mysterious death.

Egypt scholar David Silverman will explore the Tutankhamun phenomenon at the DAM on June 8 at 7 pm. Don't miss this rare opportunity to hear from an internationally recognized curator, advisor, and academic content creator for Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs.

Tickets are $12 for DAM members; $15 for others. Download a brochure for details. To order tickets, call 720-865-5000 and press 0.

iGorilla

The first iPhone and iTouch application dedicated to protecting the critically endangered mountain gorilla has been launched, and millions of iPhone and iTouch users worldwide can download the app to follow the daily lives of the mountain gorillas and stay up-to-date with the efforts of the rangers to protect Virunga National Park.

The application costs $3.99 and can be downloaded from iTunes. It allows users to select a gorilla family, find out about individual members and follow them through blogs and videos directly from the remote forests of eastern DR Congo.

“The survival of Congo's mountain gorillas relies on our ability to reach out to individuals around the world who care, and to keep them informed on a daily, even hourly basis, of the rangers’ efforts to protect the wildlife in Virunga National Park,” says Emmanuel de Merode, Director of Virunga National Park. “iGorilla provides us with exactly that opportunity.”

Kent's Top 10 Tips for travel to Egypt

As you have heard, Kent is just back from visiting Egypt. Here are his 'top 10' tips for travel there:

1. Travel in shoulder season. Low season (summer) is extremely hot, and during the cooler months (October to March) prices are higher and sites are crowded.

2. Sharpen up on your bargaining. Egyptian shop keepers will take you for everything you are worth if you let them. Try to get 30 to 50 percent off the asking price.

3. Take a side trip to Abu Simbel. This impressive site is a short flight from Aswan.

4. Expect to pay a premium for alcohol. If you like wine, beer or mixed drinks, bring some extra cash. (Credit cards are widely accepted at hotels.)

5. Visit the Egyptian Museum's mummy room. It's worth the extra $20.

6. Pack light. We saw many guests with giant suitcases and can't imagine how they used all they brought. Laundry services are available at most hotels and cruises.

7. Don’t worry if you can’t get your preferred cabin on your cruise ship. Don't worry too much about the view from your cabin as you'll spend a lot of time docked next to other ships with your only view being the side of the ship next door!

8. Explore on your own. With a bit of prudence and some common sense, you can safely walk the major streets and markets during the day to get a taste of real life in Egypt which you won’t find on your cruise ship or in your luxury hotel.

9. Dress appropriately. We saw many women and some men dressed too scantily to be culturally appropriate in this Muslim nation.

10. Visit Mt Sinai and one of Egypt's awesome Red Sea resorts. We skipped these areas on our recent visit and but they remain my favorites from past travels.

Babies!

Have you been to the movies lately? If not, here's your chance for a fun evening out! The film follows the lives of four babies from birth to their first steps. The babies are from Mongolia, Tokyo, the United States and Namibia. Ponijao (pictured above) lives with her family including her parents and her eight older brothers and sisters. They live near Opuwo, Namibia and is one of the films adorable stars. Ponijao is of the Himba tribe, and lives in a small village with other tribes.

If you want to have a Namibian adventure and perhaps visit the Himba tribe, check out our Namibia itineraries including our Spirit of the Namib safari, or call us so we can arrange your own customized trip.

Kent returned from Namibia earlier this week - keep an eye out on the blog for excerpts of his trip report later this week!

Have you seen Babies yet? Let us know what you think of the movie. Post a comment.

Support Omo Valley Tribes and Stop Gibe 3 Dam

Ethiopia's Omo River


Southern Ethiopia is a fascinating destination. Ethiopia's Omo Valley is home to dozens of tribal peoples--unique cultures found nowhere else on earth which provide insight into more traditional ways of living. Unfortunately, this could all be threatened if the Gibe 3 Dam on the Omo River is completed.

Completing the Dam would flood a vast portion of the Omo Valley, creating a 150 km long lake that would damage the fragile ecosystem of the river, while increasing tensions over land between the peoples who live there. The dam would end seasonal floodings which leave behind silt deposits critical to farming. The expected result: food shortages and more conflict between tribes.

Further south, the peoples of the Turkana region of Kenya would also be affected; reduced water flow to Lake Turkana would lead to increased salinity which would negatively impact fishing, the life-blood of the region.

For more information about how the tribes of the Omo Valley depend upon the river, read this report from International Rivers. For additional documents, click here.

Construction of the Gibe III Dam has already begun, but it will not be completed without international financing. This is where you can help. Go to Stop Gibe 3 Dam and sign the petition. Let your voice be heard, and help protect the livelihood and lifestyle of the Omo peoples.

New Gorilla Rescue Center to Open in Eastern Congo

10 orphaned gorillas which were rescued from poachers in Rwanda and Congo will be airlifted to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), by the U.N. Peacekeeping Force in DRC. They will be at the new Gorilla Rehabilitation and Conservation Education Centre (GRACE). The gorillas have been traumatized by violence and mistreatment and need treatment; they must learn how to survive in the wild. GRACE centre is located next to 222,000 acres of forest in the community-based Tayna Nature Reserve.

Two South African Restaurants Make World's 50 Best List

Two South Africa Restaurants have been voted to S. Pelligrino's 50 Best Restaurants in the World 2010. Very few countries have multiple restaurants in the top 50, and this speak in general to the many world-class restaurant offerings that South Africa provides.

Jumping up 26 places from last year, Cape Town's La Colombe takes the number 12 spot for 2010. "Under the new stewardship of British Chef Luke Dale Roberts, La Colombe has won praise for his Asian influenced French cuisine. Nestled between the Constatina Uitsig Estate, La Colombe has a stunning wine list, and Dale Roberts creates outstanding dishes such as Home Cured Ox Tongue with Jerusalem Artichoke, Lentil Puree and pickled Shimeji."

Le Quartier Francais, located in the Franschhoek Winelands region, takes the number 31 spot in 2010, up six places. "Le Quartier Français is a heavenly rural retreat, and Margot Jansen runs a restaurant to match. Margot uses seasonal local ingredients, so visitors can expect to see Wildebeest, Franschhoek Trout or Ganzvlei Vastrap Cheddar on the menu." Recently AAC's Gretchen Healey visited Le Quartier Francais and says that the corn soup was some of the best she has ever tasted. Gretchen notes that are plenty of other fantastic restaurants in the area, which makes Franschhoek a true destination holiday for the gastronomically inclined. Check our our South Africa Wine & Safari for an excellent culinary adventure, including a 6-course tasting dinner at Le Quartier Francais!

British Airways Strike?

There are reports today that British Airways cabin crews are planning to strike up to 20 days between May 18th and June 9th, 2010. At the moment, all flights are operating normally. If you are booked on BA during these dates, check their website or phone them to ensure your flight is operating normally.

Also, that pesky Icelandic volcano is acting up again causing some havoc in Europe. The ash cloud has reached Morocco this time. The impact to air travel is less significant this time, but significance is all about who is affected - especially if it is you. All of this is a reminder to purchase travel insurance when you invest in a trip! It gives you peace of mind knowing that should a problem arise, you are protected.

Cape Town - township tour

During my recent visit to Cape Town, I had the good fortune to take a Township tour of Guguletu and Khayelitsha in the Cape Flats area for the first time in several years. I immediately saw immense change from my last visit. It is evident that the government is working hard to keep its promise of building real homes for people in the townships. Whole blocks have been transformed from shanty's to real homes.

Vicky's B&B in Khayelitsha, 'the smallest hotel in South Africa', probably isn't the smallest anymore! When I was last there, her establishment was 2 rooms for let and was on a street of falling down, cobbled together houses. Her B&B is now a two storey, six room establishment that is often fully booked during high season. The surrounding street has been transformed with newly built, colorful houses with tile roofs.







Vicky is one of many entrepreneurial community members that has found a way to start an informal business to support her family in an area with high unemployment. She has inspired others in Khayelitsha to do the same.

Any visitor to South Africa should consider a Township tour as an activity during their visit. We can set up an excellent tour in Cape Town or Johannesburg, or in smaller communities outside of the major cities. (I also did a township tour in Knysna on this most recent trip; it was very different but equally interesting and touching). Even if you overnight in Johannesburg, you could take the opportunity to visit Soweto and see the thriving communities, the homes of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu (among others) and get a very real glimpse into the way the majority of South Africans live.

Call or email us to schedule your South African adventure or to add a township tour to your upcoming South Africa or World Cup trip.

AAC Offers New Ethiopia Small Group Adventures

Since being named one of National Geographic Traveler's 2010 50 Tours of a Lifetime, Africa Adventure Consultants has been flooded with inquiries regarding our 12-day Ethiopian Epic Tour.

Many of these inquiries have been from groups of one or two people; for a private Ethiopian Epic departure, we need a minimum of four passengers. In response, AAC has decided to offer a small group version of the Ethiopian Epic. Currently we have an October 2010 Ethiopian Group Epic and an October 2011 Ethiopian Group Epic available for booking. These trips go to all of the same great destinations, with a group size of between four and eleven people.

We are also offering a longer 18-day Best of Ethiopia Group Adventure with Addis Ababa start dates on July 11, 2010 and September 26, 2010. This trip is for someone who has the time, and wants to see it all. It visits all four historic cities in the north (Bahir Dar, Gondar, Axum, & Lalibela) along with the Simien Mountains. In the south you will visit a variety of tribes including the Dorze, known for their beehive-shaped houses, the Mursi, famed for the lip-plates worn by some women, the Hamer, famous for their bull-jumping ceremony, and the Dasanech, who practice scarification. For more information on this trip please call us at 866-778-1089.

If none of the above dates works for you, please let us know which dates would work. We will enter your preferred dates in our client database, and do our best to pair you up with other travelers. Private departures are also available.

May Newsletter Quiz Answer

Can you put these animals in order by their gestation period - shortest to longest??

Lion - 3.7 months
Mountain Gorilla - 8.5 months
Cape Buffalo - 11.5 months
Giraffe - 15 months

Another fun fact - the animal with the longest gestation period for any land mammal is the elephant - at 22 months!

Beef Stew from Kalahari Plains Camp

Kent just returned from a fantastic visit to Botswana and Zambia and brought back a terrific recipe for Beef Stew from Kalahari Plains Camp. You can visit this camp on our Botswana Wild Kalahari itinerary, or add it on to a custom itinerary to Botswana. Take a gander at this recipe before the warmer weather has you back in front of the braai.

Beef Stew
Serves 4-6

210 ml sunflower oil
2 onions peeled and sliced
1 kg stewing beef
salt and pepper to taste
500 ml beef stock
2 potatoes peeled and quartered
15 ml freshly grated ginger
1 chili, deseeded and chopped (careful what you touch afterward!)
5-10 ml curry powder
65 g tomato paste
1/2 can tomato puree
30 ml smooth apricot jam
30 ml mango chutney
10 ml brown vinegar
200 g vegetables (yellow, green & red peppers in large dice)

Method
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Saute the onions and garlic until soft. Remove from the pot and set aside. Brown the meat in the same pot. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then add the onions back along with the beef stock. Simmer for 40 minutes and add the potatoes. Simmer for a further 20 minutes. Add the ginger, chili, curry powder, apricot jam, chutney and vinegar. Stir thoroughly. Add vegetables and simmer until just soft.