HOLIDAY NEWSLETTER ~ December 2024
Winter has arrived with a bang! It’s snuggle weather, and time for thoughts of future holiday travel planning to somewhere else! Soon everyone will be heading to family and friends over the holiday’s and making fun future plans.
Whether you are considering a scuba dive holiday somewhere warm, with sublime blue warm water. Trekking across Costa Rica on the El Camino, which is a fantastic way to see this gorgeous country!
Or some of the 2025 travel ideas from T&L, CNN Traveler or NYT; there will be something to please all of us! Fiji comes up a lot, as it should. The culture of the lovely Fijian people is still strong and the diving and snorkeling sublime!
We love Taveuni for many reasons, the diving is really wonderful. The Nai’a Liveaboard is still one of my top 5 favorites in the world. They never miss a beat!
Peru offers so much in terms of its rich history as the cradle of the Inca civilization, the iconic Machu Picchu ruins, the mysterious Nazca Lines, Lake Titicaca. The Amazon rainforest with boating on the river from Iquitos to see the nearly extinct pink dolphins. The Rainbow colored mountains, high up in the Andean mountains. It’s truly a country with so much to offer. I love to send people here after a visit to the Galapagos. It makes for a tremendous holiday!
Ecuador is also an easy add on to Galapagos; whether you wish to scuba dive or snorkeling with the naturalist cruises the islands have so much to offer. Combing the 2 countries is easy!
New Zealand an easy country to get to know as the locals are so very friendly & warm. Diverse and breathtaking natural landscapes, Maori culture. It’s a great choice for nature lovers and adventure seekers. Self-drive or guide/driver we have a fun team to make that happen.
I have had quite a year of travel, whew. A bit too much even for me 😊 Started with 3 times postponed group trip to Nepal for Red Pandas and India with our amazing guide and friend Surya! The Red Pandas were certainly our highlight!!! Nepal/India trip report
January was a most incredible experience swimming with the friendly Sperm Whales of Dominica. They love humans, and are often happy to interact with us snorkelers! Dominica trip report
April & May was a bit of a 5-week whirlwind; started in Indonesia with my group diving Komodo, I then flew to Cape Town, South Africa to attend the Luxury Trade show We Are Africa! After this show I planned a wonderful FAM trip to see my friend Beks camps, African Bush Camps. I sell these camps a lot as they are high quality in lovely areas of Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. I had a marvelous time and just missed some of my different guests I had booked in May also! It was spectacular! Sadly I don’t have my trip report finished yet!
June was spent snorkeling like mad in the Sea of Cortez looking for Mobulas and Orcas! Our group had some very lucky peeps on board and we all benefited from this! Finally after sooo many years of trying to be up close and personal with Orcas, my wish was granted on the very last day! MAGIC!!!! Mexico trip report
Not to be outdone was our trip to Brazil in the Pantanal to seek out Jaguars! And boy oh boy did we have Jaguars and so much more! What a fantastic photography trip this turned out to be! WOW! Simply put, we saw more wildlife in this Pantanal than any place other than Africa! Brazil trip report
Finally, In October I was back in Africa on a MEGA AGENT FAM trip to Zambia!
Meeting these girls for the first part of the FAM was pure luck, 5 of us bonded on the first day and we never looked back. I have not laughed and smiled that much in a long time. It was so fun spending quality time with very knowledgeable industry people. We all LOVE Africa with all our hearts. We were in a new camp every night, sight inspecting other camps on the way to the new camp on our game drives! Our wildlife encounters were incredible with a ton of Leopard in the Lower Zam and in South Luangwa along with every single beautiful animal Africa can throw at you!
Up at 5:00am and got to bed at 11:00pm every day! It was fun and exhausting at the same time! And we smiled & laughed through the pain! 😊
You know how much I love Africa, especially Zambia as its not yet as busy with so many camps like the rest of Africa is! Wildlife is incredible! We are still Whatsapping our fun group every week!!! Planning a reunion FAM somewhere next year, maybe Malawi!
So many wonderful countries in Africa, each offers something unique and special. Uganda has a new baby gorilla which is always celebrated. It’s a great country to visit with chimpanzee trekking, safaris in the national parks, mountain gorillas and more.
Rwanda is a very special place. It’s been 19 years since I was there with a group of friends, it has recovered well from the Genocide days and prospered like no other.
NOW there are 5 star and a couple 6 star lodges offering incredible options for the very discerning. It’s a small country, 3 areas of interest; Volcanos national park, Nyungwe Forest one of the most beautiful parks, and Akagera National park where the wonderful Africa Parks organization has gone in to bring back all the wildlife that once prospered there.
This Country is a HUGE success story that I wish other countries would follow!
CHAD, Zacouma National Park as some of you may know, I am escorting a group there in March of 2026. The park is home to many threatened and endangered species, including 50% of the world’s Kordofan giraffes, black rhinos, and Lelwel hartebeest.
There are more than five hundred elephants in Zakouma National Park, forming one of the largest populations in Central Africa. Thanks again to AfricaParks.org. Take a look at their website and the work they are doing in Chad with the help of the government.
In order for humanity to survive, we need nature. It’s a HUGE success story! This is the country all the safari guides from all over Africa, lust to get to. It’s how Africa was 30-40 years ago or more!!! Tens of thousands of birds flock here, great for birders and non birders as the numbers are astounding. Friends of mine went and counted 56 lion in a week. When was the last time you could see 500 Elephant at once? I am beyond stoked to get there in March of 2026. I still have a little space for those who may be interested. It’s a once in a lifetime experience! Chad group trip
South Africa is special country with so much to offer everyone!
Safari in many different game parks for all budgets offering the Big 5!
Hiking in the Drakensberg and Cape Town areas and more!
Scuba diving, shark diving, whale watching, wine tasting in lovely Stellenbosch and Franschoek, my favorite village!
The spectacular Sardine Run in South Africa is another adrenaline activity I HIGHLY recommend for all to do! It’s mostly snorkel since the easiest way to quickly get
into the water when bait balls are spotted! This fish soup of sardines bring in sooooo many predators; thousands of dolphins, 7 species of shark, cape Gannets falling out of the sky to grab the sards. Brydes whales come in to gulp hundreds of these fish. What show!
When bait balls remain static, we can don scuba tanks to get under the balls and watch this show and get amazing images!
This occurs from early June to end of July, a short time. It’s great to combine with safari, and a lovely visit to the Mother City, Cape Town!!!
We offer 2 lovely options:
Our wonderful long time Debbie and Rob combo team.
And our new 5 star option at GweGwe Lodge.
WHALES
Pacific Gray whales will be arriving soon to the west coast of Baja Mexico.
The season is mid January to early April.
You have not lived until you have been ‘blow holed’ by a baby Gray Whale! The Mommies bring their newborns to the boats to find love and affection! This is truly a very moving event, something everyone should experience as you won’t believe it! These gentle giants come to the panga, turn sideways to peer into your eyes as you lovingly pet their faces and baleen! It’s the most incredible feeling to receive and give whale love and kisses! They love it as much as we do!!! We still have space for this coming season!
It’s only a 3nt/ 4 day trip, you can fit this in!!
Humpback whale snorkels in the Silver Bank is also mid January until early April.
A few odd spots are waiting to be filled.
Scuba Diving in the Philippines offers abundant macro and wild critters for very keen photographers. I highly recommend Anilao area, they also offer Black Water Dives. Pretty cool stuff happens in the dark night underwater! Amazing larva of all the species seem to come out and show their stuff to keen photographers!
It has been an honor to know so many of you over the years!
We have all had our journeys to the far reaches of our blue and green planet.
Travel Experiences are a gift that I wish more people around the world could be filled with. It’s what shapes our humanity, humility, Love for nature, and culture in the caring loving arms of our Mother Earth!
Wishing you all a most loving, wonderful, holiday season spent with family and friends!
With Love & Gratitude!
Cindi LaRaia and the Dive & Africa Discovery Team
