Anybody been to Africa before?
 

Planning next year's vacation having identified Zanzibar and Tanzania as the location. Looking for any tour operators.

Wouldn't mind seeing the Serengheti and the foothills of Kilamonjaro (sp?).

Would speaking some Swahili help?

Swahili is a Bantu language with Arabic wordstock influence and now English wordstock.

http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/swahili/swahili.html

closest that I have been is the Canary Islands...you can look out from the beaches and see Morocco across the water. Let me know what you decide Arachaea as I plan on visiting in 2008. My two choices are Morocco or South Africa

I was in Gibraltar and on the boat could see Africa, but Morrocco is more Islamic, than African from my research.

South Africa has become so dangerous that it's not as good a trip as is Tanzania. I do have one friend who loved South Africa but the consensus favors Tanzania or Kenya.

I envy you Arch.

My dream trip is to go to Africa. I saw once on the Travel channel where for a very hefty price you can go out on the water with some tour guide/"experts", they'll chum the waters and then you can get in a cage and have a Great White shark swim around you.

Ever since I saw that I was enthralled with the idea of doing that one day.

When did you go to the islands?

AA--It was a business trip back in 2001. I was at Tenerife and I loved it. Truly a remarkable place with the volcano, rain forests, white beaches, etc. Were you the one that served a mission there and if so, how was it?

I'd really like to go someday to go on a safari and see the animals, but I worry about the healthcare situation there. I'm not a person that tends to worry a lot, but the thought of having something happen that requires a hospital visit there does concern me considering the high HIV rate there -- it's 1 out of 3 in some places! I'm sure the hospitals are somehwat safe, but that's just one of those things that bothers me and would weigh heavily upon my mind if I had the opportunity to go to Africa.

That was me. I didn't spend much time on Tenerife, but it was a beautiful place to be sure. I managed to spend time on all five of the islands where missionaries are placed-- Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, and La Palma-- and saw sights on all five islands that made me glad that I wasn't catching pneumonia in some baptismal font in South America. Absolutely beautiful place. I wish the church could be doing better there than it is, but small strokes fell mighty oaks, right?

I spent 9 months of my mission in Africa
 

It is a small island country called Cabo Verde. There isn't much in the way of safari type stuff but it was cool none the less. And despite the being called "Cape Green' the islands I was on were not very green at all.