Africa
Traveller Testimonial:
[The highlights were] visiting Goree island in St Louis, Senegal; taking a late
afternoon camel ride into the desert to have dinner with a nomadic tribe in Tomboctou;
the incredible architecture and spectacular dance performance in the Dogon Country; the
largest mud building in the world in Djenne (the most impressive mosque in the world); the huge arts
and crafts festival in Ouagadoudou.
-Felicia Grey Tour WA1 Senegal, Mali & Burkina Faso (West African Wonder)
Bordered by five other African nations—namely Namibia, Swaziland,
Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique—and completely surrounding the
small nation of Lesotho, South Africa is the most racially diverse
country on the continent. The country recognises 11 official
languages, along with a further eight non-official ones, and is a
nation without a single and unified defined culture. It is, rather,
an amalgam of different cultures all occupying its territory at the
southernmost tip of Africa, and with the highest continental
population of European, Indian and mixed-race peoples, a tour to
South Africa guarantees the traveller an amazingly diverse cultural
experience. Sampling the various foods or enjoying the different
traditional dances of the many cultures in one locale are but a
couple of features that make a tour to South Africa so enriching and
some of the reasons that travellers return to the country year after
year.
Despite its designation as semi-arid when it comes to climate, there
is a great deal of variation across the land. On one end of the
spectrum, there are the dry deserts near Namibia, and on the other,
there are the fertile subtropical areas near Mozambique and South
Africa has just about every degree in between. The vast majority of
the South African landmass is constituted of grassland and with its
abundance of plant species (about 20,000 or more), the country
houses around 10% of all the known plant species on the planet.
This, along with the close to 900 species of bird, means that
touring nature enthusiasts will particularly enjoy the bounties of
South Africa.
South Africa also has a lot to offer the sun-worshipper and the
active holiday-maker.
The 2,500km of coastline that skirts the Indian and Atlantic Oceans
is a prime location for travellers looking to take it easy on the
glistening white-sand beaches and for the more active traveller will
be delighted to discover that the country’s reputation for housing
some of the best wildlife parks in the world is no exaggeration.
Kruger Park in particular is a destination not to be missed on a
tour to South Africa.
WEST AFRICA
- by Tour Leader Claude Morency 
Over the last four years I had the pleasure and also faced the challenge to develop and lead our Adventures Abroad West African series. This is not a trip for the faint-hearted. The going is tough. We link together six different West African countries. And most of them are among the least economically developed nations in Africa. A lot of travel is done overland. In often difficult road conditions across serious bush country. We reach remote destinations where the infrastructure is poor. No fancy restaurant or super lodge at the end of a long day.
But the rewards are many. The natural and cultural diversity is incredible, the sites fantastic. They resonate like drum beats in the night. They bring you right back to the origins of civilization in Africa: the arid Sahel; the acacia-studded savannah region; the living rainforest; the Senegal River; the Niger Inland Delta; the stunning Bandiagara escarpment; Dakar; Bamako; Ancient Djenne; fabled Timbuktu; the Kumasi market; the Abomey palaces.
Great peoples form an interwoven fabric of countless languages and traditions. Wolofs, Bambaras, Dogons, Tuaregs, Lobis, Ashantis, Ewes, Dahomeys. Ancestral beliefs, fertility cults, Voodoo spirituality, Christianity, Islam.
Nomadic cattle herders share the land with sedentary farmers in vast seasonal cycles. People and land form one. Spectacular traditional architecture provide the background to village markets and celebrations where music, mask dances and rituals bring you back to the true values of the African spirit.
I strongly believe that Adventures Abroad offers here in West Africa the most extensive and comprehensive tour ever, unequalled by anyone else in the field in its scope and approach. It is a real odyssey.
We take our people from one end of West Africa to the other providing our travellers, along this dusty West African track, in this modern age of technology, movement and globality, a true human connection and a deep personal experience.
Almost a millennium ago, the great empires and civilisations of West Africa flourished with riches unimagined by the Europeans and though these kingdoms have long since vanished, their cultural legacy lives on in the traditions and lifestyles of its diverse peoples. A visually stunning blend of antiquity and modernity greets travellers on our West Africa tours; quaint country villages untouched by time and 'progress' and the much misunderstood and widely practised ancient religion of Voodoo sharing ground with booming metropolises boasting gleaming skyscrapers and distinctive architecture that rivals cities of the Western World in modernity.
Join our Africa Travel Tours for an experience not soon forgotten as we journey through vast lands of untamed wilderness, traditional ancient civilisations and excitement without end on a continent that boasts more countries within its boundaries than any other. Long has Africa captivated the imaginations of avid explorers, intrepid adventurers and enthusiastic naturalists for its unsurpassed safari opportunities and our extensive range of Africa Travel Tours guarantees wild times in this unique and special destination.