Africa Safari Blog

Kayaking around Madagascar can be mind-numbing

Source: Weekend Argus 13 December, Article by Riaan Manser

Everyone always asks me whether I have seen a shark. Before, my answer was always “No, thankfully not!” but today it is an emphatic: “Yes, not again!” A Northern Kilometre out from the Island of Kalakajaro which I had planned to set camp on for the night, I was aggressively rammed from behind by a three-metre shark.

Usually the last kilometres of each other of each day are strenuous and seem never to come to an end so it’s understandable that I wandered into a mental lull.

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Catching her smile just before embarrassment kicked in, I snapped the shutter.  I anticipated the phrase so common to a tourist – “Bonbon, Stylo, cadeaux, CADEAUX….” yet it didn’t come.
Tourism innocence still prevails in the south of Madagascar, be it from lack of exposure or from a higher awareness of responsible tourism.  Parts of Madagascar may have been spared the fate of other well travelled countries due to lack of exposure, but with more and more people coming to Madagascar to enjoy the countries extensive offerings, we must act responsibly to ensure the destination is not spoilt.

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Jenman African Safaris staff members, agents, guides and clients were all lucky to get the official Jenman End of year party invite! As one can imagine this caused a lot of excitement around the office – well especially in the Marketing department! This was to be my first Jenman Christmas party and I couldn’t wait! I was lucky enough to get to design the email-invite so; I had a sneak preview of all the important details: food, venue and drinks… The venue was to be the Orange Kloof Tented Camps in Hout Bay.

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Source: Cape Times – 21 November: Sydney Alexander

Sydney Alexander received mountaineering training, which entails skills like night navigation, how to work with the ropes in case of emergency and emergency management training in case someone gets lost on the mountain. That entails knowing what you need to do, what equipment you need you need to have and general mountain safety.
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If I were a rich man….. goes the song as I lazily stroll down the alleys of the Marché l’Artisan in Antananarivo.  With money in your pocket and a 30kg weight allowance, a girl could easily lose her head over the hundreds of colourful stalls.

As I wander at will, I discover each stall displays a number at the top – something I find very useful later, when I need to re-discover the stall with the best selection of silk scarves.  I don’t shop a lot usually, but when I do – I go to town.  I also need a lot of time, because I can’t just buy the first thing I see, choosing instead to painfully review all the options before making my choice.
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We (Elana from the Sales Department and Wiebke from the Product Department) were very privileged to recently embark on an educational journey highlighting the Caprivi Strip in Namibia, the Western Okavango Delta in Botswana, as well as Livingstone in Zambia.  Together with our trusted tour guide, Thomas Dhilwayo, this proved to be an awesome and eventful experience…

Bright and early on Friday morning (21 Nov) we met up at Cape Town Airport (well, one of us was a little late due to oversleeping) for our flight to Johannesburg.  We then boarded the aircraft to Livingstone, where we arrived just after lunchtime.  Thomas and our trusted vehicle, Endesha (and we will get back to this later), met us at the airport and off we went for our first three site inspection of this trip.

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Not so long ago a few Jenman African Safari Staff members went on the ‘Day 2’ part of our exclusive Hoerikwaggo Trail. Unfortunately, I was not able to go as I was working on the ever-popular and demanded Jenman Safaris Newsletter! However, when the group came back bursting with stories and fun-filled tales it felt as if I was there too… This week’s hike included Garth, Wayne, Patti, Nomsi and Hilka – and by the sounds of it they ALL had a wonderful time! Due to time constraints, this Hoerikwaggo Hike started at Constantia Nek (usually it starts at Orange Kloof Camp) and ended at the Silvermine Dam.

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Source: Cape Argus ‘December’ – Melanie Gosling (Environment Writer)

Table Mountain National Park and provincial Department of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism have forged a three-year partnership that will enable tourists and South Africans to hire personal guides to take them hiking on the mountain.

The programme , launched yesterday, is aimed at increasing the safety of visitors on the mountain and broadening the base of black economic empowerment in tourism.

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