Africa Safari Blog

As you know I suffer from Parkinson’s disease, which I don’t think, impacted on any aspect of the tour and didn’t cause any problems for me. I want to express my deep gratitude to Jenman for allowing me to participate in the tour. The fact that somebody has a disability should not bar them from participating in this type of tour and I applaud Jenman’s enlightened policy in this regard. It was particularly satisfying for me when at the end of the tour Mike shook my hand and told me that he would have me back on tour any time. This means so much to me that I am writing these lines with tears in my eyes.

I’m quite rested now so I will detail how our holiday safari went. Our flights to Livingstone went without incident and we met Mike and our fellow travellers at the Waterfront on the night prior to the tour. Mike struck me as being a very quiet and gentle type of person, which he is, but I must say that he is a very personable and an efficient guide with profound knowledge of Southern Africa.

He was able to enlighten us about the history of the in habitants of the areas we travelled through, and was a fountain of knowledge with regards the diverse flora and fauna of these areas. He was also a very good cook – even managing to facilitate my vegetarian diet. I think I can speak for the other 9 group members when I say that ‘nobody does it better’ then Mike! He is a true professional and a real asset to Jenman.

The only bit of confusion at the start of our tour was with the local payment. Some people seemed to be unaware of it and were quite surprised to have to pay this sum. We did know about it but I must say the logic of this payment still evades me. It would surely be better and safer if the guide didn’t have to carry such a large amount of cash… if the payment was incorporated into the cost, and the guide could be provided with a credit or debit card, it might be more satisfactory.

Our fellow travellers were quite simply, and without a single exception, a great bunch of people. I don’t remember even one instance of friction over the whole trip. In fact the whole trip was marked by good humour and at times (most of the time) was just a barrel of laugh. In fact at the dinner we had in Crook Camp I laughed so long and hard that I nearly gave myself a hernia. They were great group of very funny, good humoured, like minded people who just got on with the job without having to be asked. My first criticism is with the very uncomfortable, very hard nature of the seats in the vehicle. On some of the longer driving-days, most of us found our poor bums were extremely sore and our legs and back extremely stiff. It does detract from the trip when one has to endure what becomes, after a few hours and even with a number of stops, a form of torture. So please Jenman, at least when you are purchasing new vehicles, can we have more comfortable seating in your otherwise excellent vehicles…

My second criticism is with some of the tented accommodation, which was of a fairly low standard. In particular the tent at Kwando River was painfully dull and basic. The same goes for the tented accommodation in the Delta. The zip at the rear of our tent was broken which necessitated a trip around the front and side of the tent to reach our open air, en-suite bathroom even in the middle of the night. The redeeming feature of these camps was their stunning and beautiful locations.

I offer these criticism’s in a positive way… I’m sure a company like Jenman will be interested in such comments with a view to improving their product. I’m also sure that Jenman is interested to hear the more positive aspects of our tour. The itinerary was excellent, food (thanks to Mikes excellent cooking) was very good and in particular the friendly nature of our fellow travellers made our tour extremely enjoyable and memorable. As you know I suffer from Parkinson’s disease, which I don’t think, impacted on any aspect of the tour and didn’t cause any problems for me. I want to express my deep gratitude to Jenman for allowing me to participate in the tour. The fact that somebody has a disability should not bar them from participating in this type of tour and I applaud Jenman’s enlightened policy in this regard. It was particularly satisfying for me when at the end of the tour Mike shook my hand and told me that he would have me back on tour any time. This means so much to me that I am writing these lines with tears in my eyes.

When our tour finished we spent 4 extra nights in the Zambezi Waterfront Hotel. Well Hilka, I can tell you that Basil Fawlty of Fawlty Towers could have run the place better. Most of the staff seemed to only move at one speed – Very slow! Even with Parkinson’s I was able to outpace most of them! And what do these people have against light? We paid Eu140 for our room and were ‘upgraded’ to a Eu200 room. When we were leaving we needed to use torches to check the room! To read at night we had to take the shades of the lamps to get some extra light. And some of the electrics looked quite dangerous to me.

One very important point is that Jenman might consider warning clients not to WALK into Livingstone from the Waterfront Hotel. I rather stupidly lost my wallet containing some money and more importantly my credit cards so our funds were on the low side. Because of this we decided not to take a taxi into the shopping centre so we walked. Outside the shopping centre there was a craft market and when we mentioned to one of the stall owners that we had no funds he suggested that we might trade some clothes for some carvings. As we didn’t have enough money to purchase any souvenirs we immediately walked beck to the hotel, put some clothes in a rucksack and returned to the shopping centre and traded some of my tops for some souvenirs. But on the walk back to the hotel two youths, one brandishing what looked like a homemade knife, jumped out of the bush grabbing the rucksack and demanding money. Luckily a man who I think was a security guard was walking about 50 yards behind us and shouted at the youths who took off into the bush with the rucksack full of souvenirs. Then a very large taxi driver stopped and when we told him what had happened he immediately gave chase and managed to recover the rucksack and its contents. The muggers seemed somewhat amateurish in their approach, as they didn’t spot my expensive Citizen watch in plain view on my arm. However nobody was hurt so all’s well that ends well. I relate this incident because I think that Jenman should consider warning clients of the likelihood of perhaps an even more serious assault happening to other walkers.

On the positive side, after I lost my wallet we spoke to Chantell – the Jenman guide who was waiting to begin a tour. I want to commend this lady in the highest possible terms. She is another great asset to Jenman. She was just so helpful. She told us to just enjoy the rest of our holiday and let her and Jenman do the worrying. Somebody mistakenly informed us that we would have to pay $50 airport duty to get out of the country which shocked us as we had no US$ left by this time. Chantell checked this out for us and informed us it was not the case and that if we had any problems at the airport to ring Jenman who, she assured us would sort things out for us. What a refreshing and enlightened attitude from your company! And if Chantell and Mike (and of course Hilka) are typical of Jenman staff I can only applaud your choice and high standards. I will have no hesitation in recommending your splendid and caring company to anybody who may be even remotely interested in an African Experience. And finally Hilka, I want you to once more stand up and take four bows this time, one for yourself, one for Mike, one for Chantell and one for Jenmans.
Thanks for a wonderful African Experience.

Frank & Irene Gaffney.
P.S. Irish citizens don’t have to pay for a visa on entering Zambia, they looked at our passport, said you’re Irish and stamped it. Sometimes in life God lets the good guys win and it feels great!!