AfricanMecca Newsletter - Winter 2012 - Update from Americas, European and Africa Offices

In This Edition:

• Africa News Reference
• Tanzania History & Culture
• Top 10 Reason For Visiting Tanzania - Reason # 3
• Selous Game Reserve & Beho Beho
• Mnemba Near Zanzibar & Mnemba Island Lodge
• Tanzania Video Guide
• African Safari Vacation 
• Another Perfect AfricanMecca Customer Experience
• Newsletter Notes

- Feast: Warrior Blood

- South Africa Recommended As Your Luxury Safari Destination By American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) in 2011 (Winter Edtion) and AfricanMecca As Your Africa TOP ASTA Operator Member Specialist Safari Company

- Orphaned Elephants No More - National Geographic

Tanzania - History & Culture

Tanzania has a long history of tribal habitation stretching back at least 10,000 years, to the early hunter-gatherers who lived around Olduvai Gorge. Later tribal migrations, occurring between 3,000 to 5,000 years ago, brought agricultural and pastoral knowledge to the area as competing tribal groups spread over the country in search of fertile soil and plentiful grazing for their herds. European missionaries and explorers mapped the interior of the country by following well-worn caravan routes, including Burton and Speke who in 1857 journeyed to find the source of the Nile. Traditional ways of life remained largely intact until the arrival of German colonizers in the late 19^th century...

Review complete guide to Tanzania

Tanzania Travel Guide

Top 10 Reason For Visiting Tanzania - Reason As Experienced By AfricanMecca

Reason # 3 - Active Adventure

Climb the "Natural Wonder Of The World". Mount Kilimanjaro being easily accessible has been the dream of many athletes and adventurers who wish to experience and pride themselves of having been to the roof of Africa. The variety of routes suited for varying lifestyles makes Mount Kilimanjaro a must climb for people who just want to experience nature or view the ecosystems and terrains. For those ready to take up the challenge, opportunities exist to make it all the way to the top with the help of professional and certified guides and porters. If climbing Mount Kilimanjaro isn't a thrill enough, AfricanMecca guests can trek up Ol Donyo Lengai Mountain of God, which remains an active volcano mountain to date. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life was filmed at Ol Donyo Lengai - Mountain of God....

Review all Top 10 Reasons for visiting Tanzania

Tanzania Safari Guide

Selous Game Reserve

Selous Game Reserve lies in a region that is too familiar to us. It is a reserve, which is just a hop, skip and jump away from our maternal grandparents homeland in Southern Tanzania. From a non-scientific perspective, the Selous Game Reserve and some of the regions surrounding it, are in the same pristine conditions they had been decades back, as we recall, with dense forests, wildlife seeping out to homesteads, impressive concentrations of wildlife in the Selous Game Reserve as well in the pockets surrounding it, and diverse vegetation types which included tall palm trees on the Rufiji River, acacia, and savannah grassland scattered all over the reserve. I remember our mother telling stories of how during the good old days when they had to go fetch water from the well in the middle of night, the bushes would produce two small watchful eyes reflected by the light from her lantern, which was quite normal to encounter such moments.... (Report Presented by AfricanMecca Tanzania Resource Team)

Review complete guide for Selous

Tanazania Safari Accommodation Guide

Beho Beho Camp In Selous
AfricanMecca Tier 1 Accommodation. Click here for details on Safari Tier

Beho Beho excites and surprises. It is perched on a hillside deep inside the Selous. It enjoys outstanding panoramic views, cool breezes, and is completely isolated from the outside world. There is a small river gorge in the front while the lakes shimmer in the distance. Beho Beho is an island in 55,000 square kilometers of the world's largest unspoilt animal kingdom. Upon you arrival at Beho Beho, you will be welcomed and shown to your banda by the camp's friendly and warm staff. After drinks, you dine under the stars listening to the music of the African night. You awake at sunrise to admire a view as far as the eye can see, perhaps with elephants eating peacefully in front of your banda. Such is the Beho Beho experience!

Review Selous Camps information on Beho Beho Camp

Africa Beach & Coastal Guide

Mnemba Island Near Zanzibar - Tanzania

Mnemba Island lies 15 minutes by boat from the North east coast of Zanzibar, protected by a lagoon with over 10 miles of reefs rich in colorful fish and corals. This private island resort offers "barefoot luxury" in ten self-contained cottages, positioned discretely amid the lush tropical vegetation. This is where Bill Gates comes to unwind and savor Mother Nature's delights, on the heart-shaped splash of sand in the blue depths of the Indian Ocean. Mnemba is an Arabic word for octopus.

Recognition: Conde Nast Traveller chose Mnemba Island as one of the three most romantic ocean destinations in the world.

Review complete guide to Mnemba

Africa Beach & Coastal Accommodation Guide

Mnemba Island Lodge Near Zanzibar - Tanzania
AfricanMecca Tier 1 Experience. Click here for details on Beach & City Hotel Tier Rating

Mnemba Island Lodge features just ten ensuite banda cottages, bordered on three sides by tropical beach forest and overlooking the beach and coral reef. Each exquisite banda has been hand-woven and thatched from tree branches and traditional Zanzibar palm matting. The materials were chosen to allow the cooling sea breezes to move through the bungalow and assisted by overhead fans, the cottages remain cool all day. From each room, a palm-covered walkway leads to an en suite turquoise bathroom. The shower water comes from the island's well or boiled rainwater. Each banda also has a spacious outdoor verandah. As is befitting an earthly paradise, Mnemba has near-perfect weather. The architecture of the lodge reflects this blissful serenity. You can wander through your lattice-wood doors across the wraparound verandah and stretch out on the beach on daybeds of wood and leather weave with soft white cushions. Zanzibar is famous for producing intricate and detailed woodcarvings and some of the island's most skilled artisans have created the scrolled headboards adorning the beds

Review Zanzibar Hotels information on Mnemba Island Lodge

1. Where is... ? Highlights Of Tanzania Attractions
2. I Want To Know - Tanzania Attractions!
3. Zanzibar  - History, Culture, Attractions & More - National Geographic

Best Of Africa Safari & Tour II - 16 Days

AfricanMecca's Best Of Africa Safari & Tour selects Africa's 8 key destinations with inclusion of 3 separate countries - Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia i.e. visiting Kruger National Park (Timbavati), Cape Town, Johannesburg, Victoria Falls (Livingstone, Zambia), Zanzibar Island, Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Crater & Conservation Area, Serengeti National Park by superbly experiencing 3 different and complementing Africa country ecosystems in one awesome program. Countries visited are: South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania Including Zanzibar. 

The Best Of Africa Safari & Tour is offered in 3 Safari Tiers offering similar nature and ecological experiences. Learn more about AfricanMecca Safari Tier Ratings

Review Best Of Africa Safari & Tour II - 16 Days - Itinerary & Prices

Review other Africa safari programs.

Another Perfect AfricanMecca Customer Experience

Wow Raza! What a wonderful adventure in Kenya & Tanzania! We had such a great experience in your country, and learned so much about the way of life in Africa. The contrasts are hard to imagine, in an hour we see dry parched land, and then suddenly there is coffee, tea, bananas, greenhouses with flowers, and rice paddies, very hard to believe! The game drives were exceptional, and the animals posed perfectly. Our drivers always joked that they put the animals there just for us!

The driver/guides made our trip a success. We were always met outside the airport with a smile and "Karibu".

Rajab in Nairobi, was a wonderful man, who made sure that we saw everything we could when we were with him. I think we were always first on scene when an animal was spotted, and he obviously loved his job! Bernard, from Tanzania, asked us what we had seen in Kenya. When we told him everything but the leopard, he said, "OK, we will watch the animals habits here." And we did. A baboon family for an hour, elephants playing after a bath, and giraffes interacting, and then the leopard with his kill in a tree. Both guides made sure our experience in their countries was enjoyable and complete.

Raza organized every detail, and things were just as he said they would be, there were no last minute problems or changes. It was a pleasure to work with Raza, and we felt completely confident as we went through the many stages in our planning. We did not have extensive knowledge about the area or the logistics, and so after communicating with Raza, we happily trusted his recommendations. Now that we are home, we know that we made the right decision to work with AfricanMecca Safaris on this once in a lifetime trip.

Every day brought new sights and sounds. When we thought we had seen the very best, a pride of lions, a cheetah nursing her babies, the next day we would see elephants playing as they relaxed in the shade, or the leopard in the tree with it's kill, a reed buck. I suppose the story we will always tell first is of the monkey that jumped in our van through the roof and stole our lunch as he left! Our driver/guides were excellent companions, and we learned much about the people and life in Kenya & Tanzania.

Our thanks to you Raza for organizing and advising us on our trip. Your suggestions made our trip planning easy, and we felt confident the whole time that you were looking after the details!

Asante sana!

Amanda & John Cornell, Alberta Canada