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Great places to visit in Africa

Africa

  The land of beauty, nature and natural wonder, Africa is a continent where travelers from different parts of the world can experience its beauty, the people, the local culture and the magnificent wildlife. Africa is also the place that offers plenty of honeymoon experiences. Here is our pick of the top three places for newlyweds in Africa:Quirimbas Archipelago

The Quirimbas Archipelago located off the coast of Mozambique is for the honeymooners who prefer to enjoy the beach. The beautiful weather, the heavenly beaches and the privacy sets the mood for the newlyweds. The luxury lodges and bungalows serve mouthwatering Mozambique cuisines. There are various recreational activities where the honeymooners can take part like snorkeling, diving and swimming.

The unforgettable safari

An African Safari is the ultimate way to enjoy the wildlife, natural vegetation and the countryside of Africa. It is the best way to see the endangered animals in their natural habitat. For honeymooners interested in gorillas, monkeys and chimpanzees, a safari in the Kibale Forest National Park located in Uganda would be the best experience.

Home to 12 primate species, Kibale Forest National Park provides a perfect trip for honeymooners who can watch monkeys eat, play as well as swim. Botswana is another wonderful place for the newlyweds to explore the Okavango Delta which is the largest inland delta in the world. Home to a number of animals including elephants, cheetahs, lions and baboons Okavango Delta also has small resort lodges from which the honeymooners can enjoy the wildlife.

The Garden Route

For honeymooners craving for adventure, excitement and more should stop at the Garden Route. Located along the southeast coast of South Africa, honeymooners come to Garden Route for the nature preserves, luxury villas and sandy beaches. Newlyweds can also go for river rafting, bungee jumping from the Bloukrans Bridge, sky-diving and shark cage diving.

Bloukrans bridge jump, South Africa

What about a former rebel as a tourist guide?

The Tsunami in 2004 nearly washed the Aceh province of Indonesia. It has been restored now, and a new travel company has started hiring the former guerilla rebels as tourist guides. Chad Bouchard – a reporter from Aceh actually accompanied the former warriors to their old hideouts inside the jungle.
A foot soldier, Yuni,  became a tourist guide and gives now a vivid account of severe battles in the dense forest. Yuni and many others like him was a part of the atrocious civil war that went on for three decades. During those times, they mastered the survival as well as the mountaineering skills to overcome the Indonesian army. Today, those skills are helping them to lead tourists through the deep jungles acting as guides for them. The visitors are usually foreign aid workers who live in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh. Most of these moderately priced jungle treks are usually taken by these foreign aid workers.
With the Tsunami in 2004, the entire scenario changed and the Indonesian Government decided to sign a peace deal with the rebels within a few months. Thus, former combatants were left helpless with hardly any skills for earning a peaceful living. The next was to follow the reconstruction of the province that resulted in pouring of millions of dollars into the local economy but with time the money began to dry up and job opportunities became tougher.
 
Finally, the rebels thought of enrolling with Aceh Explorer Adventure Tours as tourist guides for trekkers heading towards the jungle. The founder of Aceh Explorer Adventure Tours, Mendel Pols who is a Dutch citizen said that they were not able to fetch investors here in Aceh previously but due to the history of the fierce battle and the tough jungle treks, they have ultimately come across few responses. The company presently runs with more than 20 guides and arranges various jungle trips every week.
 

http://www.acehexplorer.com/tours.html

Traveling with children

We all have memories of children « who do not travel well », as they say politely. The bad memories I have in this category are fortunately not concernning my children who have always been good travelers.

Often, however, we must say that adults can also be as disruptive either talking loudly on their phone on the bus or an airplane or those people having a real great time on the terraces - of an hotel room, just room over it. I remember having to endure a hard worker, a workaholic real at 6 am, aboard a train during a trip between Montreal and Québec. am sure you have been wakened by some people having so much fun in a pool late at night.

But, admittedly, some parents do not seem too concerned about their child shouting or crying in an  airplane, or restaurant or or during the explanations of a guide.

Our secret recipe is quite simple: build a program that will interest them and keep the activities that interest them most for the end of the day, with an hotel room.

To ensure that restaurant meals are not too chaotic, we started, At an early age, presents to our children to simple dinners and short first and by gradually increasing the sophistication of the food and encouraged them to stay at the table. An interesting game, compact and quiet is always a valuable tool for parents or coaches.

We realized quickly, by pure self-preservation, that it was not a good idea to gorge on sweets and food energy before a long flight or a long bus ride, since they store energy that has to be burned. I assure you, nuts and fruit are irresistible when a child is hungry.

Another tip for the trip: To maintain the children interest and keep them awake, tell them the destination, try the foreign language and have stories that they can understand. Let them talk about their projects and let them ask any question that pass through their heads.

Always  plan a surprise that will look like a terrific adventure for them, do not forget they are just children. It is easy!

Certainly those things that worked well for us does not necessarily give the same results with all children. Some never become good travelers. If this is your case, be patient or do other things during your vacation.

Especially, it is useless to think that other vacationers can find greater pleasure than yours to travel with your unruly children! …

Children on board, Bangkok, Asia