Q – We’re in our late fifties, still quite active, and we travel from our home in Southern California about three times a year. We’ll spend somewhere between $15,000 – $20,000 on average per trip. Our problem is that we’ve done most of the destinations that our travel agent has been to and we are looking for something in, say, Africa that is really different. I own my own company and I can get away for up to three weeks at a time. We love seeing authentic peoples and we love to line our walls with blow-up prints of our travels. In fact we actually have a room thst is a complete travel photo gsllery. My agent suggested we visit traveltruth and I wonder if anything comes to mind that might be different than South Africa, done two safaris, or Kenya and Tanzania, where we’ve been before?
A – The good news is that you will never be able to visit the places you should see in your lifetime. Exciting, off-the-tourist-track destinations exist all over the world. There is just no justification for boredom. We are seriously thinking about getting a hotel room near Dupont Circle in Washington D.C. during Election Weekend, just to watch the anxiety on the faces of the locals as America votes. But that is not what we will recommend to you.
Look into a new, and fascinating discovery tour called “The Great Empires of West Africa” operated by luxury tour operator Travcoa. This 19-Day tour includes Bamako, Timbuktu, Mopti, Dogon Country, Kumasi, the Cape Coast, Accra, Lome, Ouidah and Cotonou. You can see a rare presentation of the Dogon Mask Dance and watch a war dance performed for the King ofr Abomey in his palace. If you think the shopping is good on Melrose Avenue, try walking the voodoo market in Benin. There are opportunities to dine in the homes of locals and you will get to ride across Saharan sand dunes on a camel en route to meet the Tuareg, the nomadic “blue men” of the desert. Have you done all of those already?
