Cruise Ship: Renaissance VII
Cruise Destination: Three Trips to Africa in One: A Photo Safari, Island Cruising, and Egyptian Monuments
Cruise Dates: December 19, 2000 - January 4, 2001
Guest Contributor: Cynthia Forbes
Cynthia's African Cruise Tour Photo Album
The Renaissance Cruises Africa trip is really like 3 trips in one because each leg of the vacation is so different from the others. The vacation begins in Kenya, continues with cruising in the Seychelle Islands, and ends up in Luxor, Egypt. We wanted to do something special for the REALmillennium so we decided on this vacation, which left JFK Airport in New York on December 19th and returned on January 4th.
We arrived in Kenya about noon on the 20th. I took the city tour of Nairobi that first afternoon and was very glad I did. Among other things, I got to feed orphaned giraffes and scratch their little pointy heads - love those long purple tongues! Another highlight of Nairobi was having dinner at the Carnivore Restaurant, where we were serenaded by frogs (that sounded like birds) and ate zebra, eland, and crocodile. Servers kept bringing various roasted meats to our table on swords until we asked them to stop. We had roasted potatoes to "cleanse our palates" between meats.
The next morning, our flight to Masai Mara Game Preserve took less than a half-hour. We all jumped into Range Rovers for a short game drive on the way to our camp, Siana Springs. Less than 15 minutes after getting off the plane I was taking pictures of a herd of giraffes running through the forest! Although we stayed in tents, they had all the conveniences of home (though at home I don't have to tie down the front door so the monkeys won't get in). While on safari, I got wonderful pictures of lions, cheetahs, zebras, etc. and even got chased by an elephant! Other highlights included a hot-air balloon ride and a visit to a Maasai village. After the balloon ride, we had the traditional champagne brunch out on the Serengeti Plains - Cape buffalo grazing in the distance; a lioness strolling past; and an elephant flapping his ears and watching us. At their village, the Maasai warriors welcomed us with traditional singing and dancing, which included giant leaps.
After 4 days, we flew on to the Seychelle Islands, which are over 1,000 miles east of the Kenyan coast, to cruise for 8 days. Their capital is called Victoria and, with a population of about 30,000, it is the smallest capital city in the world. The islands have beautiful white sand beaches that have been in many advertisements. As you might expect, all water activities are very popular -both the snorkeling and scuba diving were fabulous! However, we weren't able to enjoy the last few days of our cruise as much as we might have hoped. The bad news was that the seas were a little rough; the good news was that the cyclone that caused them went south to Madagascar and I got some great sunset shots!
After relaxing on board ship, we were full of energy when we got to Luxor. We saw the Temples of Karnak and Luxor as well as tombs and monuments in the Valleys of the Kings and Queens. The highlights for me were going inside King Tut's tomb and sailing on the Nile. I was amazed at how fresh the tomb paintings were. And having afternoon tea while cruising up and down the Nile on feluccas at sunset is my idea of a good time!
This was my eighth cruise - my second with Renaissance. My first was a Barcelona to Lisbon trip on one of their 700-passenger ships. This was a more intimate ship with only about 100 passengers. I liked both of the Renaissance cruises because they are non-smoking ships and have a "country-club-casual" dress policy so I didn't have to bring dressy clothes. I also appreciated not having required times and seats for meals. The crewmembers of both ships were professional and well organized on board ship and during shore excursions. Happy Third Millennium to All!!
