CALLING ALL CAT LOVERS: LOISABA INVITES GUESTS TO JOIN THEM IN THEIR CONSERVATION OF KENYA’S BIG CATS

Loisaba, a member of the esteemed C&P Portfolio of eco-luxe safari camps and lodges, has long been a proponent of responsible tourism. In their continuous effort to support and protect their local community and environment, they now offer guests the chance to get in on the conservation action too – by tracking and monitoring the area’s leopards and lions.  

Loisaba has partnered with the Laikipia Predator Project, a local program that aims to protect the area’s large cats by studying their behaviors, monitoring their response to conservation actions and improving livestock practices (to diffuse human-wildlife conflict). Guests are able to become involved in the Laikipia Predator Project’s conservation efforts by using receivers and antennae to monitor the movements of Loisaba’s leopards and lions.

Marc Napao, the Laikipia Predator Project’s key researcher, is based at Loisaba and has developed an online database which allows guests to report their predator sightings after each game drive. They can upload pictures and even provide their own reports on what they saw. It’s a fun, hands-on activity for families or couples, and it adds a more personal element to the standard game drive.  

The assorted accommodations at Loisaba gives guests the choice to have a private safari experience, at the House or Cottage (their own exclusive home-away-from-home), or to mix with others, at Loisaba Lodge or the Star beds.

Rates at Loisaba Lodge and Star Beds start at $ 520 per person per night during mid-season. Rates at the House begin at $ 3,060 for a family or group of four people per night and at $ 2,200 for a family or group of four people per night at the Cottage. Package includes full board, an assortment of drinks and spirits, day and night game drives, guided bush walks, transfers to cultural visits, bush breakfasts and sundowners, airstrip transfers, river rafting and fishing, horse riding, camel riding, quad biking, limited laundry and of course, lion tracking.

For more information about Loisaba or the Laikipia Predator Project, please contact info@chelipeacock.co.ke.

FULL MOON CHIAWA ISLAND DINNER: A SURPRISE ZAMBIAN TREAT

Once a month, Chiawa Camp, offers the Full Moon Chiawa Island Dinner in a romantic location under the full moon. The surprise is when the event will take place, a decision the managers make depending on the weather and moon. So, if your timing is right, enjoy an authentic African menu in a magical setting on an island in the Lower Zambezi National Park.

The ambiance is nothing short of romantic as you take in 360 degree views of the Zambezi River, the glow from the moonlight dancing on the water. Dinner itself is lit with hurricane lamps and a blazing campfire, firing up an appetite for a sumptuous meal. The menu is a very African one in honor of the setting and location. Chiawa Camp offers a braai (BBQ) with popular entrees including pepper crusted fillet steak, chicken and vegetable kebabs, boerewors (South African spicy beef sausage) and Chiawa’s famous “lion stick bread” from the grill. Of course there’s a story behind the lion stick bread, named for a close encounter with a roaring lion as a stick was sharpened for placement in the delicious dough – so ask a guide to dish out the details.

From the campfire and cooked in traditional three-legged pots comes a selection of satisfying Zambian dishes. This includes maize meal (like grits), pumpkin or sweet potato (helped along the way with cinnamon), “kariri” – a tomato and onion sauce that perfectly enhances the maize meal and boerewors, kapenta (deep fried “whitebait” fish from Lake Kariba) and a three bean mix. Alongside this already succulent meal are beer bread, baked on the fire in the pot with Zambia’s infamous Mosi beer as a chief ingredient, and malva pudding – also cooked on the fire. Malva pudding is a sponge bake with syrup, served with crème anglaise.

The meal is accompanied with fine South African wines, the harmonic tones of the Chiawa Camp choir and, of course, the distant roars of lions often drowned out by the not-so-distant hippos.

As one of Africa’s premier safari camps, Chiawa Camp offers attentive yet unpretentious personalized service, wonderful cuisine and nine fantastic “tents” with spectacular views of the Zambezi River and its resident wildlife. While you are able to leisurely take in the scenery, you will also be able to partake in game drives, canoeing, boating and angling.

The Full Moon Chiawa Island Dinner is included in the accommodations. Nightly rates start at $565, depending on the season. Even if your timing doesn’t coincide with the Full Moon Chiawa Island Dinner, all guests will experience a floating lunch on the Zambezi, and some will be able to relish a bush BBQ that occurs once a week.

For more information, e-mail info@chiawa.com or visit the website at www.chiawa.com.

CRUCEROS AUSTRALIS COMMEMORATES WHALE CONSERVATION WITH SPECIAL DEPARTURES

This year marks the 30^th anniversary of the vote to end whaling. To show future generations the importance of the conservation of whales and dolphins, cruise specialist, Cruceros Australis, invites travelers to come to Patagonia and join one of four special departures that will take place early 2013. With Zodiac excursions and complementary lectures, Cruceros Australis displays both the beauty and history of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego at the bottom of the world.

These four-night expedition cruises include special programs that incorporate the observation of humpback whales in the Strait of Magellan to effectively demonstrate that education is part of conservation. Guests are taken to Francisco Coloane Park, Chile’s first marine park. In this protected area, they will be on the lookout for humpback whales and will be able to speak with a leading scientist while surrounded by the typical landscape encountered in Patagonia: fjords, canals and glaciers.

The newest ship, Stella Australis, will host the first departure on January 12, 2013. The Via Australis will then take over for February 4, February 20 and March 8, 2013 departures.

Day 1: Departure from Punta Arenas, Chile

Day 2: Humpback whale watching around Carlos III Island

Day 3: Disembarkation at the bays of Garibaldi and Pia Glaciers

Day 4: Disembarkation on Hornos Island and Wulaia Bay

Day 5: Disembarkation in Ushuaia, Argentina. Check-out is 8am

(Whale sightings cannot be guaranteed due to their natural habits and constant movement.)

A cruise with Cruceros Australis is an all-inclusive experience including sea transportation, shore excursions, onboard entertainment, all meals and an open bar. Passengers will also enjoy local Chilean and Argentinean wines. The menu combines international cuisine and local recipes to highlight the delicious and varied regional fare. Rates start at $1,989 for these departures.

For more information, visit www.australis.com.

BATH IN THE BUSH: ROMANTIC RETREAT WITH KENYA CANVAS BATH

An outdoor bath that overlooks the Masai Mara and Serengeti plains while in a canvas bathtub is just one of scintillating activities couples can choose from at Cottar’s 1920s Safari Camp. Renowned for reaching back to its American roots (the Cottar Safari business is in its fifth generation), the camp utilizes authentic safari pastimes and decoration with luxurious modern twists.

Honeymooners can request the canvas bathtubs to be set up by the canopied verandah of a private tent, or in the middle of the open savannah – a true safari experience. Hear the sounds of the bush, watch a giraffe or dyk dyk pass by and sip on sparkling wine or champagne. Insider’s tip: a bath at sunset is ideal for anyone wishing for a swoon-worthy mood. The bath is lit by hurricane lamps as the sky changes color over the Mara and a sense of nature and wellbeing becomes the ambiance.

Without question, the honeymoon tent is the most romantic of all accommodations at the camp. An added perk is the fire pit just outside, a nighttime setting for a private dinner for two. With the tent not too far from the new swimming pool (one of the only small luxury properties in the Masai Mara with a pool), everything is at your fingertips. Game viewing is superb at all times of the year, especially during the Great Migration (July through November). A game drive with millions of wildebeest and zebra, as well as dramatic river crossings, is something everyone must have on the bucket list.

There are 10 tents and the option to stay in Cottar’s Private House which can accommodate 10 guests in five large en suite bedrooms. The house is given for exclusive use with its own living areas, staff and vehicles – completely separate from the rest of the camp.

Rates start at $490 per person sharing, depending on the season, and include guided bush walks, candlelit bush dinners, sundowners, day and night game drives, ½ hour complimentary massage per tent, transfers to cultural visits, a range of drinks and laundry. Game drives can be taken in either state of the art Land Cruisers or in an authentic vintage wooden car (for fun and atmosphere).

Cottar’s 1920s Safari Camp is one of the prestigious eco-tourism lodges in The C&P Portfolio. For more information, visit www.cottars.com or www.thecpportfolio.com.

THE KASANKA BAT MIGRATION – ONE OF WORLD’S HIGHEST-RATED WILDLIFE SPECTACLES

Robin Pope Safaris (RPS), a classic safari company known for its innovative safaris, invites wildlife lovers on a unique and exotic excursion – the annual Bat Migration to Kasanka, Zambia’s smallest national park.

The Kasanka Bat safari package starts at US$4243 per person sharing, and comprises three nights at RPS’ Nkwali Camp, three nights in Kasanka National Park and one night in Lusaka. Included: round-trip internal flights to and from Lusaka; all safari costs.  Excluded: international airfares, Visa and airport departure taxes.

Set departures:  November 23, 2012; November 22, 2013. Alternative dates can be booked for late November, early December, but rates will vary.

In the center of Kasanka National Park in Zambia’s north lies 100-acre Fibwe Forest, host to an extraordinary phenomenon – the annual visitation of some 10 million, “straw-colored fruit bats.” When in full swing, the bats of Kasanka form the highest mammal concentration in Africa, and most likely the world. Each bat weighs 8.82 ounces.  As numbers reach up to 10 million, the skies are weighed down with 5,505,267 pounds of fruitbats!  As RPS’ Emily Haynes mused, “This is equivalent to 700 elephants flying around.  All I can say is, ‘Poor trees,’ as the bats all come to roost.”

Of the Kasanka Bat Safari, trailblazer and veteran safari-goer Jo Pope said, “I have spent three hours with half a million King Penguins on South Georgia, so my wildlife bar is high, but the bats impressed, inspired and left me awestruck!”

The bats take off from their roosts at dusk and fill the skies, turning the sunset almost black, as they disappear for a night of foraging in the ripening fruit trees. They return again at dawn, and take up their cozy spots next to each other high up in the trees, covering the trunks like thick icing, as branches buckle under their weight. Best time to witness the phenomenon is pre-dawn. Standing in a 60-foot tree-top hide watching the roosting bats and the raptors hunting them is a sensory phenomenon like no other, not only for its visual effect, but for the sound of pulsating life. 

Kasanka National Park is also regarded as one of the country’s best birding destinations, inhabited by no fewer than 457 different species.  It’s home, too, to elephants, sitatungas (swamp-dwelling antelopes), hippos, bush pigs and blue monkeys.

For more information visit  www.robinpopesafaris.net

STEENBERG HOTEL’S WORLD OF WINE & FOOD JUST GOT “FUNNER”

In keeping with culinary trends, Steenberg Hotel & Winery, one of the oldest wine farms in South Africa’s Western Cape and winner of numerous awards and accolades, is changing its food and wine direction from the formal to the fun.  Now, Steenberg offers so many options that guests can dine the whole day through.  And, with 80 staff and only 50 guests, the fun is sublimely served up.

Catharina’s Restaurant

“We believe people want a more casual ambiance and lighter fare,” says Gaby Gramm, General Manager of the hotel.  “Beginning now, we’re turning Catharina’s from a fine dining establishment to a more casual, light-hearted restaurant, with fresh summer feasts.” (Summer in South Africa is mid-October to mid-February.)

Catharina’s courses are pared down to two or three and matched with the winery’s award-winning wines such as Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc 2010 and Steenberg Red Blend 2009. Local produce is brought from the farm to the table under the deft hand of “celebrity chef” Garth Almazan.  Sample menu:

Starter:  Pear and Courgette Soup

Main:  Snoek fishcakes with sweet pickles; Apricot relish; Salad of soft greens and snap peas

Dessert:  Steamed custard or Farm yogurt, roasted quince, star anise compote with toasted pistachios

Plus Steenberg wines to match.

Family platters will feature such items as free-range baby chicken stuffed with herbed sausage; sides of roast potatoes; farm green beans and baby carrots; salad of sliced tomato and onion with tarragon vinegar.

Gorgeous by Graham Beck

The first brand-exclusive bubbly bar in South Africa is contiguous with Catharina’s and is being integrated more closely with the restaurant.  Gorgeous offers a full selection of Graham Beck Wines’ award-winning bubbly (called Méthode Cap Classique) along with tasty canapés prepared exclusively for Gorgeous by Executive Chef Almazan. The canapés – one is a decadent dessert – have been created to complement the Graham Beck sparkling wines, available either by the bottle or the glass. Prices start at $4.50* per flute and $22.50* per bottle.

Bistro Sixteen82

Named after the year in which Steenberg was first established, the 70-seater cellar door eatery under the direction of Chef Brad Ball serves classic bistro fare, incorporating the rustic style of Provencal food, and Steenberg wines. Sumptuous breakfasts are available in the morning, snack platters from the Raw Food Bar throughout the day, and Tapas in the late-afternoon and at sunset.

Picnics

Picnics come in wine boxes, a small feast of charcuterie and other goodies plus the choice of a bottle of red or white Steenberg wine.  Picnickers can opt to take their repast on the Steenberg Estate or travel out to Cape Point and savor it there.

Interactive Dining

When his schedule permits, Chef Almazan will involve guests in cooking demonstrations and discussions of the why behind his famous dishes.

*Based on exchange rate 10/08/2012

For more information visit www.steenberghotel.com