PHOTO: It's actually possible to compress an African safari into little more than a week. (Photo by David Cogswell)
Americans have less vacation time than people in any other developed country, and that presents a problem for tour operators who offer trips to long-haul destinations to American tourists.
Even safari operators have been forced to come to terms with the fact that if you want to attract Americans, you have to come up with a package they can complete in a week.
Even though an African safari is a trip of a lifetime, creating experiences that travelers will cherish forever, if you want to attract Americans, you'd better be able to wrap it up in a week.
This is a challenge because Africa is in another hemisphere and it will take the better part of a day to fly there. But it is unavoidable because most Americans won't go anywhere if it can't be done in a week.
African Travel, an operator of safaris for 38 years, has come up with a series of safaris designed to surmount the problem of shortage of time.
"While our core product remains extended moderate-to-premium custom safaris, we saw a significant need for short-duration packages in the marketplace," said Jim Holden, president. The company has answered the call with a series of programs lasting from seven to nine nights.
African Travel's shortest safari package, for the most vacation-starved Americans, is the Kenya Discovery Safari Vacation, which provides a safari experience concentrated into a six-night/seven-day package. But though it may be a compressed experience, it is in Kenya, where the Great Migration takes place and where the panorama of charismatic wildlife, including elephants, giraffes, lions, leopards, hyenas, cheetahs, etc., is unsurpassed.
It starts with a layover of one night in Kenya's capital city of Nairobi, followed by five nights of pure safari wilderness adventure: two nights in the Samburu National Reserve and three nights in the Masai Mara Game Reserve.
Once they get to Kenya and the hypnotic hold of the office has loosened, they may wish they could stay longer. But with this package they will get the full-blown safari experience in these six days and five nights in the African bush. There is no dilution; it is straight bush.
The package is priced from $3,525 per person including air within Kenya, but not transatlantic air.
For those who want to combine the city pleasures of South Africa with a safari and still do it in about a week there is the South African Escapade Safari Vacation. It includes four nights in Cape Town then three nights on safari at Pilanesburg National Park. This one is priced at an astounding $1,899 per person, not counting transatlantic air. So it's a bargain package as well as a relatively short trip.
A variation on that is the Classical Cape Town and Safari Vacation, which includes four nights in Cape Town and a three-night safari in Thornybush Nature Reserve.
Other possibilities on the short list of short safaris are: Coastal Cape Town and Safari Vacation, seven nights; Botswana Winged Safari Vacation, seven nights; Tanzania Odyssey Safari Vacation, seven nights; and Captivating Kenya Safari Vacation, seven nights.
So get going! Time is wasting.
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