Audley Seminars: Safari for Beginners

Walking safari in Zambia's South Luangwa National Park

This morning I grabbed a spare chair at the back of the Safari for Beginners seminar, and along with some Audley clients, listened intently to our Africa specialists go through the basics of safaris.

I sit in on these presentations from time-to-time to ensure that the content I am creating and maintaining for the Audley website is consistent with what we are actually offering clients. Secretly, I have to confess on this occasion I had an additional motive for being there.

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Audley seminar: Getting the best out of South Africa

The beautiful scenery in Franschhoek

On Friday I attended another of the travel seminars. This week’s subject was ‘Getting the best out of South Africa’ run by some of the South Africa specialists at Audley. I have never been to South Africa and was keen to find out more!

Visit our Audley Seminar Programme for more information on seminars coming up or call us on 01993 838 000 to find out more.

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World Water Day

Mara Rianda Charitable Trust

This Sunday (22nd March 2009) is World Water Day – drawing attention to the plight of 1.1 billion people worldwide who lack access to clean, safe drinking water. This global problem is estimated to kill almost 4,500 children per day.

Accordingly, a team comprising the following have now come together to deliver clean water to Aitong Primary School, located on the edge of the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya:

• The Mara Rianda Charitable Trust
• Governors’ Camp
• Audley Travel
• Prestige Promotions Ltd
• Oundle School, in Northamptonshire

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The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency on the BBC

The No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency on the BBC

Last night I enjoyed watching the first programme in a new 6 part BBC series of Alexander McCall Smith’s bestseller, ‘The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency’. This series comes after the 2008 film based on the novel and follows the exploits of Botswana’s only lady detective, Mma Ramotswe who is based in Gabarone.

If you missed the programme you can watch it again on BBC iPlayer.

If you would like to visit the places that inspired Alexander McCall Smith we have an itinerary that we have designed to enable you to do just that!

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Generous Audley clients help children in Namibia & Botswana

School children with their new books

Clients who recently returned from Botswana and Namibia have very generously donated the refund from their cancelled hot-air balloon trip to two very worthy causes. A donation of this kind really makes a difference!

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‘Explore’ on BBC2 – new four part series on Sundays at 9pm

Perito Moreno glacier, Argentina

Don’t miss the BBC’s new programme, ‘Explore’ on Sundays at 9pm. Last night was the first programme in an exciting and enlightening new four part series. It is led by Simon Reeve, author and presenter (Tropic of Capricorn and Equator) and a team of reporters, who travel on spectacular journeys of discovery to diverse parts of the world.

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Green Season offers in Africa

We have just released two excellent offers for Green Season in Tanzania and Zanzibar, or Botswana, Namibia and Zambia, with savings of up to £600 per person. Running from December until mid-March in Tanzania and between mid-November and April in Botswana, Green Season is a spectacular time in Africa when everything is bursting with life and colour, and wildlife viewing is spectacular.

Dates of travel for Botswana are between 1st December 2008 and 31st March 2009, and between 1st January 2009 and 31st March 2009 for Tanzania.

Click here to view full details of these amazing offers.

Audley’s South African Tree

Grootbos is a private nature reserve we send people to near Hermanus. It’s an area better known for whales but the flora is just as interesting – Grootbos actually supply the Eden Project in Cornwall with a number of their exhibits. They’re involved in a wide range of responsible travel initiatives, both environmental and social, including planting trees. Continue reading »

I’d forgotten how much I liked Windhoek

Last week I was in Windhoek for four days of meetings. After dark, cold, rainy Oxfordshire it was brilliant to spend 4 days under blue skies with temperatures of 30°C and cooling down perfectly in the evening. I stayed in a small guesthouse I hadn’t stayed in before, the Olive Grove, which is in my opinion is currently the best place to stay in Windhoek. Continue reading »

Flying with the Namibian Football Team

Last week Ruth, one of our Africa Regional Managers, and I flew to Windhoek for meetings with our ground agents. We flew down overnight on a Sunday night and back overnight on the Thursday night. The time in Windhoek was great, but pretty tiring with back to back meetings for four days. Ruth somehow managed to get food poisoning on the Wednesday. So by the time we reached Windhoek airport on the Thursday night for our flight home we were both pretty strung out and tired. We looked forward to a quiet 10 hours flying gently back above Africa to the UK. Imagine our delight on getting to the check-in desk to find the plane was taken a diversion – via Accra in Ghana. Continue reading »