Nomadic Adventures October 2008 Newsletter

In March / June 2009 28 climbers, 14 vision impaired participants (VIP) and 14 sighted will attempt to break the record for the number of vision impaired climbers to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. 14 of these climbers will come from Australia and New Zealand, and the other 14 from South Africa.

We are honoured to be involved and partly sponsor the High Sight Adventure Expedition to Kilimanjaro, a joint venture between South Africa and Australia, set up by Stephen Hilton-Barber from Brisbane.

The organisation is looking for people to pair with the VIP's for the climb as well as any donations and/or sponsorships for the group. The charities being represented are an Australian organisation for the blind and the Horizon Farm Trust / S A National Council for the Blind. If anyone is interested, please email us

Important Information for all customers travelling from South Africa to Australia

The Australian government has mandated enhanced security measures at OR Tambo International Airport resulting in new procedures regarding Duty Free purchases and a second screening requirement.

DUTY FREE purchases : Passengers travelling to Australia may take on board liquids, aerosols and gels purchased at duty free stores only if they are delivered to the gate in a sealed bag with proof of purchase and only collected by the passenger at the boarding gate. Duty Free shops at OR Tambo International Airport will deliver your purchases to the gate for collection after you have been through the secondary screening at the gate.

Secondary Screening : All passengers will go through a secondary screening at the boarding gate for all Qantas/SAA flights from Johannesburg to Sydney/Perth.

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED TOP OF PAGE
1) Which is the best country to see Iguazu Falls from? Actually, it is best to see the falls from both Argentina and Brazil. In our tours we combine both sides and from the Argentina side include a "Macuco Safari", which is an exhilarating boat ride on the Parana River, heading towards the Iguazu falls themselves Tour itinerary

2) Can we do chimpanzee tracking in Volcano's National Park after the Gorilla's? Unfortunately not, there are no Chimpanzees in Volcanoes NP, only in Nyungwe NP. However, you can track the Golden Monkeys in VNP. Tour itinerary

3) I would like to go to the Amazon to see the Piranha and Anaconda. Do your Amazon tours include that? As much as we would like to guarantee that you will see both in the Amazon, we cannot. There is a misconception that one will easily see both. In fact, sadly, a lot of the Anaconda have been hunted out of the populated areas of the Amazon and while you may see small ones, the larger snakes are generally only found deep in the Amazon. Most local people kill these snakes on sight, out of the fear that they are man-eaters. In fact, most Anaconda will move on if they sense humans in the area, and human death by an Anaconda is quite rare. Anacondas themselves are preyed by jaguars, large caimans and by other Anacondas, and a wounded one will often fall prey to piranha. As for piranha, they are only seen when there is blood or meat in the water and are not in the habit of attacking humans. In fact, according to one fish expert, more Piranha are eaten by man, than man eaten by Piranah. Tour itinerary