June 16 2018: Kenya & Tanzania: A Classic Safari (Back to Back Tour)

Derek

Greetings

Another advantage to traveling with Tauck is their attention to detail in coordinating multiple journeys. Today a Tauck Reservations Sales Counselor confirmed a revised itinerary for me making it possible to do back to back tours.

It required canceling my original reservation, changing the order and dates of the two journeys I had originally requested, and taking advantage of a cancellation on one of the them.

Now I am off the wait list and will be joining the June 16th Kenya & Tanzania: A Classic Safari, followed by a post tour "A Gift of Time", a connecting flight, followed by a pre tour "A Gift of Time", and then joining the June 30th Botswana, South Africa and Zambia journey.

The best part is I now have a complete back to back journey with two days of free time in between at each of the Tauck hotels, and Guest Protection for both journeys at no extra charge for the 2nd journey.

Thank you, Tauck!

Sealord

We have done both of these trips and loved them both. They are quite different, but both really spectacular, so it was difficult to choose which we wanted to do again next year. We decided upon the K & T because we did not feel that we needed to do the 'touring' part of the South Africa trip a second time ... but it was very nice. A part of the SA trip that was removed probably for liability reasons was the 'walk with the lions' in Zambia. If you are interested in doing that, you can contact Bush Tracks, they are conveniently located at the Royal Livingston as they run the excursion desk. We called them the moment we got to the hotel, and they had an opening for a morning walk. It was a 'bucket list' event for us. They do have this 'amazing' waiver that you must sign. You spend about an hour with the lions, including walking them by holding on to the tail ... they don't have leashes. (;-)

AlanS

Sealord wrote:

We have done both of these trips and loved them both. They are quite different, but both really spectacular, so it was difficult to choose which we wanted to do again next year. We decided upon the K & T because we did not feel that we needed to do the 'touring' part of the South Africa trip a second time ... but it was very nice. A part of the SA trip that was removed probably for liability reasons was the 'walk with the lions' in Zambia. If you are interested in doing that, you can contact Bush Tracks, they are conveniently located at the Royal Livingston as they run the excursion desk. We called them the moment we got to the hotel, and they had an opening for a morning walk. It was a 'bucket list' event for us. They do have this 'amazing' waiver that you must sign. You spend about an hour with the lions, including walking them by holding on to the tail ... they don't have leashes. (;-)

Sealord, I think all the providers of 'Walking with Lions' in the Livingstone area have been forced (coerced, convinced) by the government and/or animal rights folks to stop the encounters. A year or two ago an investigative report discovered that contrary to what was claimed, the juvenile lions were not orphans being prepared for return to the wild, but in fact, were being raised in captivity for the tourist dollar. The only thing similar I found on what may have been an older version of the Bush Tracks website, is a Cheetah encounter- from the photos it looked like an interaction with a single, adult, raised in captivity (pet?) cheetah, like the one at the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy outside the gate of the Safari Club.

British

It's also likely that the lions once too old and big to interact with humans were sold to companies that had hunt and shoot to kill safaris where you pay to shoot them, think Cecil the lion who was shot by the US dentist.
We took the tour that replaced the lion encounter with the walking with rhinos and it was fantastic, we saw a large group of rhinos.

Sealord

AlanS wrote:

Sealord, I think all the providers of 'Walking with Lions' in the Livingstone area have been forced (coerced, convinced) by the government and/or animal rights folks to stop the encounters. A year or two ago an investigative report discovered that contrary to what was claimed, the juvenile lions were not orphans being prepared for return to the wild, but in fact, were being raised in captivity for the tourist dollar. The only thing similar I found on what may have been an older version of the Bush Tracks website, is a Cheetah encounter- from the photos it looked like an interaction with a single, adult, raised in captivity (pet?) cheetah, like the one at the Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy outside the gate of the Safari Club.

No intent to debate the intent of the provider that we used. Bushtracks is a 'big' safari company. "Hunting" is now legal in many countries in Africa, and how they maintain the animal population is certainly a question. I am a carnivor, and recognize that my steaks come from animals that are bred, raised, and processed for their meat. They are not as cute as lions, but I have participated in the entire process of raising beef. On any of these Africa trips you will be offered 'game' alternatives on the menu in the dining rooms. I had several. I don't know where they get there lions, nor what they do with them when they get old. The lions we met 9 months ago were twenty-two months old, and appeared to be quite happy. Even Ilsa the lion from "Born Free" was ultimately in the wild where she could have been hunted. (Actually in this same area.). These concerns I think were also a consideration when Tauck stopped the walking with the lions excursion on the South Africa trip. It was part of the trip when we booked it, and was the reason we booked this particular trip, but cancelled before we went. I don't think they were using Bushtracks. If you prefer to see animals in a protected environment, perhaps the zoo is the proper destination where they are 'humanely' treated. After our first trip to Africa, we could no longer even consider going to a zoo. Better to live free for a while than to be in jail forever.

Derek

Regarding Visa(s) for my Tauck Back to Back June 16, 2018 Kenya & Tanzania: A Classic Safari and June 30, 2018 Botswana, South Africa and Zambia Journey, I used the Tauck Visa Central link.

I recommend any novice traveler take advantage of Tauck Visa Central.

Using the Tauck Travelers link I received Tanzania and Kenya Visa applications via email, and added my Malawi Visa application request by telephone.

Although confusing at first, I called Visa Central and they walked me through each visa application.

I did have all of the items listed on the document checklists when I called Visa Central.

I submitted my Visa Applications on March 22, 2018 using the FedEx Overnight shipping label provided by Visa Central. Visa Central responded on March 23rd confirming that my documents were received and provided the time table for processing.

Right on time today my credit card was charged.

When I checked my order status via the Visa Central website it showed my order was being shipped by UPS Next Day Air.

Checking the UPS Tracking website it showed my order had been picked up and will be delivered tomorrow April 27, 2018.

I am now ready to depart my home on Saturday May 26, 2018 for a mission trip to Malawi, Africa, followed by the Tauck Back to Back journey. and returning home on Thursday July 12, 2018. My 48 day epic archetypal heroic quest.