Food....just curious
What type of food was served in the various places? salads? soups? meats? veggies?
And Drinks? Bottled water, carbonated beverages, beer, wine, tea, coffee (of course coffee)?
Any thoughts on what was better or what should be avoided? I know fruits need to be peeled for instance.
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We ate everything that was served. We did not peel any fruit. On our first K&T some game was offered, on our second K&T we could not get game even though we asked for it. Go figure. ?
You may want to look at the thread entitled Water/Ice Kenya Tanzania. I respectfully disagree with Sealord. He may have an iron stomach. Everyone's stomach and tolerance for change in diet is different. Contrary to what was discussed in that thread, my view and a couple of others is NOT a reflection of the hotels and lodges that Tauck chooses. Of course, they pick excellent properties with known good sanitation practices. However, I've seen too many work colleagues in underdeveloped countries that weren't careful in their eating choices while staying at some of the finest hotels in the world that have gotten VERY sick. It's up to each individual, but I prefer to be more conservative than Sealord and British.
Unless you extend on either end of this tour, all meals are provided at the hotels (unlike many other Tauck tours where you dine on your own in various spots). With that said, we encountered no problems and enjoyed a wide variety of food and beverages! For instance, we had an outstanding octopus appetizer at the Four Seasons in the Serengeti...whoda thunk that??? We enjoyed all of your listed beverages and foods. The food or drink on this trip was not an issue for us. We ate all of the fruit that was offered. What one has to be mindful of is not using the tap water for rinsing toothbrushes, keeping one's mouth shut during a shower, drinking only bottled water, keeping one's hands clean (and away from your mouth) and steering clear of anyone with a cold.
Agree as previously mentioned with Sealord and Joyce. We ate everything you mention Nedda. Tauck are not going to take you to camps and hotels where people are getting diarrhea and vomiting on a regular basis, that’s ridiculous. That’s a lot of paperwork and mess to clear up and doctors to find and people to evacuate home. Your bowel habits may become different and look different but that can happen anywhere when you are away from home and not eating the regular diet you normally eat. That is not food poisoning or infection.
I’ve also said before, that in places like Africa, working in a hotel is a prestigious job, people want to keep those jobs, so they often do a better job than in equivalent hotels in the US where such jobs are not thought of as impressive and the pay is poor.
I’ve been to Africa five times and I am still here and not contracted Malaria, so I must have dome something right.
Nedda, you say you have traveled a lot, Africa is just like everywhere else apart from scenery, people and animals. Please dot worry about anything, Tauck takes care of you. Have you traveled with Tauck before?
I particularly love the soups in Africa, they are not salt laden like in the US.
"Tauck are not going to take you to camps and hotels where people are getting diarrhea and vomiting on a regular basis, that’s ridiculous." British, I really don't want to argue with you, because you have much good advice for people. No one ever said what I just quoted from you. As a matter of fact if you read what I said carefully, I said the exact opposite. You don't know everything. The point is people are different and unless you have seen what I and some other posters have seen in this area don't assume you know it all. IF someone gets sick and they don't have the proper meds or medical care quickly it can turn into a major problem. In the other thread another poster said they had fellow travelers get sick. They didn't make it up. So please, that's GREAT you have never gotten sick and can eat anything. Others are more careful and for you to criticize what they do is shameful. We are all trying to help other travelers enjoy their wonderful adventures with Tauck, and indeed they will.
Every hotel offered soups, salads, steamed veggies, chicken, and vegetarian dishes. A lot of Indian food such as chicken and bean curries. Our tour director said that you can eat uncooked veggies and fruits bc they wash everything with purified water. However, a few of us felt upset during our stay in Amboseli. I think I got food poisoning from the fruit bc I was vomiting it up all night. Just be cautious if you don’t have an iron stomach.
Fruit juices, sodas, coffee, and tea was offered at each place. The coffee I have to say was quite good in Tanzania! So smooth!
WOW, lots of responses!!! This could be long....
XOSTEPH had the answers I was looking for...thanks. We know not to drink tap water, use bottled water for everything! We were told to also not get "tap" water aka shower water up our noses. For me that is important for medical reasons but not important here. LOL We love Indian food so that is good! And definitely using bottled water for our portable Water Pik. Yes, have to have that to get sand out of our teeth!!!! LOL
Husband got pneumonia on a Viking River cruise but otherwise both of us haven't gotten ill from food on any trips. British, yes, we have traveled a bit... but never to a place as exotic as Africa. We were in Columbia,Belize, etc. this past January but on a cruise. Ate our way through Scandanavia and Russia in the past years without issue. Hiked into the jungle in Guadaloupe, been to most of the Caribbean Islands (not exotic) but did go to out of the way places on our own like a banana plantation. So not adverse to adventure.
BRITISH: We did one other Tauck trip, the Canyonlands of the West last July which was our test run to see how Tauck operated before deciding whether or not to go with them again for this trip. Do you not take the malaria pills at all? We have set a reminder/alarm on our phones to be sure to take them every day.
JOYCE: Both of us would not eat octopus here in the States so certainly not going to have it elsewhere. Have eaten it by mistake once and won't do it again. Have had whale, turtle, reindeer, and tried squid once and won't do that again either.
We have two days pretty much on our own at the front of the trip, the 9th and the 10th since the tour doesn't officially start until dinner on the 10th. And one full day at the end of the trip in Nairobi since our plane doesn't leave until really late at night. But I suspect we will eat at the hotels those days.
I was kidding and said we should just order whatever the tour director eats...they should know what is safe!
Oh, must tell you all a funny story....when we were in Israel centuries ago we were having some Falafel sandwiches from a street vendor...we were just about to get them from this one particular person when he SNEEZED! NOPE, NOT HAPPENING. SO we moved to another vendor...delicious...no illnesses. But from then on every so often we will ask each other if we want something with or without sneeze. Sorry but it is/was funny to us.
Again, thanks for all your responses. BTW, my neighbor has been reading all the posts and learning from them too. For some reason he was told he needed the rabies shot. We were told we didn't and from the same place we all have to go for the yellow fever shots. Odd.
CathyandSteve: when i was a child, decades ago, I was bitten and had to get the rabies shots. We opted to not get them this time either.
Hello Taxare, sorry f I offended you. I still say that the foods served on the Africa tours are safe to eat. If people know in advance that they have sensitive stomachs, then of course they have to be cautious of what they eat, perhaps avoiding foods they have not eaten before. I’m not criticizing anyone.That still does not mean that the hotels and lodges are serving dangerous food., that’s what I am trying to say. Some people may feel unwell because of the affects of jet lag, that can throw your digestive system off. Even different bottled water could make people feel off.
There are people who have posted on the forum that DO think that they may be served unsafe food. Yes, apart from small changes in toilet habits, we have been fine so far. We have eaten game at the hotels, Mr B. even ate zebra last trip in Africa, Having nurse and midwife training, I do have some knowledge and i have friends who work and advise in travel clinics. I once had a hospital office that was right opposite the toilets, I can’t tell you how many people walk straight out of there without washing their hands. Hand washing is so important. In Africa, I’m suggesting hand washing before eating and as a second best, hand gel.
The most common illness I have seen pass round on Tauck tours are upper respiratory tract infections and we have both caught those.
Nedda, yes we take malaria pills with food. No problems.
Rabies shots, never been offered the Rabies shots for Africa but were offered on our first trip to Costa Rica and we declined. On the Tanzania Zanzibar tour, a stray dog came running up to our group and a number of people were playing and fussing with the dog. We stayed clear of it. So if you are likely to do that kind of thing, then maybe rabies shot should be considered.
I’m interested to see how the food differs in the Four Seasons when we go in December, because when we went to K and T in 2007 it was not one of the hotels. Back then, when eating gluten free was unusual, I remember someone we were sitting with had celiac disease asking about gluten free choices. I was so impressed when the waiter spoke the chef, who came out and escorted the person around all the foods, pointing out what was safe to eat, then he reappeared with gluten free bread and later a gluten free chocolate cake.
Nedda - we did not get the rabies shot for this trip, and it was not recommended for us by our travel clinic because of the nature of the trip.
Food - obviously, you need to make your own decisions based upon as much information as you can gather and your own health situations.
We chose to be very careful, as we did not want to ruin our trip by getting sick. After a lot of research and discussion with our travel clinic, we decided to avoid any food that was not cooked and any fruit that was not peeled (we ate the bananas). Although I love salads and fruit, I avoided them and it was not a hardship.
The soups were very good and I ate them with most dinners.
All of the breakfasts were buffet - plenty to choose from, usually eggs too. The lunches were mostly buffets, but a couple of boxed lunches too. Dinners were mostly buffets, but a few menu dinners too. I am not a big meat eater, so did not try too many of those options. The fish was decent - not great. There was always a cooked vegetable at the dinner buffet, and Indian food. There was plenty to eat.
Drinks - coffee was good, I saw people order tea and diet coke and other soft drinks. The beer and wine were very good!
As noted by others, it is important to drink bottled water only, and to use it to brush your teeth. Keep your mouth closed in the shower.
We took the malaria medication at breakfast each morning. While there were not many mosquitoes, I did get two bites. We brought all sorts of other meds - antibiotics, Imodium, Tylenol, Advil, etc - just in case.
As I indicated in a previous post, a number of people in our group did have diarrhea issues, sometimes missing a game drive or being miserable while out. We were happy to avoid that.
This was a wonderful trip and I would do it again.
British, thank you for your apology! We look forward to hearing more about K&T as we are going next year. The Four Seasons sounds awesome. Tauck did a great job on our B,SA&Z adventure. My wife is a pescatarian and the TD did an excellent job with the hotel/lodges teams in making sure there was plenty for her to eat. Unlike me, she is petite and doesn't eat much anyway. In Zambia, they had fresh Sea Bream caught that morning in the Zambezi river, yum....Mr. B eating zebra (by the way for the posters who have not gone yet they called them ZEB RA's as opposed to ZEE BRA's) reminded me of a story. I was at a wonderful lodge on the west coast and the server told us about a wonderful venison dish that evening. I look to the window next to me and I see Bambi looking at me through the window, blinking her beautiful eyes...I ordered the fish.
Our travel doctor prescribed an antibiotic to take with Imodium in case of a severe case of diarrhea. We also brought over the counter medicines for coughs and colds along with Benadryl, Advil, Neosporin, etc. You won't find any of these on K & T tour even in the hotel shops. Bring any medicine you think you might possibly need, if you get sick.
HAHAHA you wouldn't believe the amount of meds we are taking...After he got pneumonia on a Viking River Cruise and no meds or doc on board or near by until the last day we now go prepared!!!! Face masks, Senokot, Benadryl, Aleve, PeptoBismal, Prescription Anti-biotics/anti diarrhea, band aids, moleskin, Hydrocortisone Cream, Alcohol in small plastic bottle inside a prescription bottle, Eye Drops, Hand Sanitizer, Tums, Tylenol, Zyrtec, thermometer, tweezers, to name a few. Plus the malaria pills, and our normal prescription meds. Not bringing our supplements, figure we can live for 20 days or so without them.
I once noticed an open tour director’s bag in Africa and noticed among other things he even had an epipen there.
Re Viking....having just returned from our first Tauck River Cruise, our information was that even though we did not have a dr on board, we were on a river and minutes away from land and transport to a dr if necessary. Couldn’t the tour directors help you like Tauck directors would?
re the Viking cruise...We were told the same thing...because of being so close to shore they could provide medical services by taking you inland. However, when we inquired whether they had any sort of aspirin, cold pills like Contact, etc. we found out that there was not only no medical facilities on board but you couldn't even by a band aid in the little store. The day before we were due to go home they took me into town to a pharmacy and all I could get was paracetamol for him. Fortunately we met two doctor couples and they had some things they gave him to help. He missed several excursions as well. Plus there were some other things like docking up against rusty piers so we couldn't use our balcony that made this the trip from hell!!! We complained and they gave us some credit towards another cruise but I told them I would never use Viking again and would bad talk it whenever I could. He came home with double phenmonia and had to be on two courses of anti bionics because of the lack of care.