Omujeve Hunting Safaris is going abroad during the off-season. We will be visiting the United States in January 2020 on our International Expo Tour. We have provided the dates and venues ahead of time so you can be sure to get down to see us. What we do: Omujeve Hunting [...]
Returning to Namibia, after more than a decade away, I find it little changed. Downtown Windhoek is a collection of new buildings and a bustle of construction. The roads are as they were, the streets more crowded than before. Shopping provides greater selection through more vendors than I’ve ever seen. After a whirlwind of provisioning we travel to our first home headquarters at Omujeve Hunting Safari’s main lodge. It is a spacious complex overlooking a small valley with a varied population of resident plains game. The lodge itself is of rather new construction with the typical thatched roof and interior pole design. A series of a dozen, or more, eight foot wide paired french doors allow for a full view to the valley beyond. The lodge is home to the main dining room with seating for up to twenty guests. Flanked by a pair of lounges, one area is paired with a large bar, the other with a central fire pit and hood. Shoulder and life-size animal mounts, along with European style horn moun..
Three days in Dubai is really not enough to take in all the elements this city by the sea has to offer, especially if it is over the Eid al Fitr holiday period. There is simply too much to see, do, savor and enjoy. We made Raffles Dubai our headquarters. It proved to be an excellent choice. The staff was unimaginably attentive. Our room came complete with private butler and Club floor privileges. The morning buffet, included in the room rate, surpassed expectation. Julia our “butler” was helpful, efficient, and most personable. The concierges, Nour and Joseph were the epitome of organization and control. IF you go be sure to engage Zee the buffet manager. He is a wealth of inside information regarding the city. From the above you may gather I recommend Raffles Dubai without hesitation! One more thing the location is spot on, about half way between the city center and the airport, about 10 minutes from each. While here be sure to make the trek to the Burj Khalifa “At the Top Sky,” 148..
We landed in Dubai, UAE a few evenings past for a whirlwind three days of exploration in this very adult Disneyland on the Arabian Peninsula. We will do what we can to highlight the ordinary and extra-ordinary. This city of contrasts, made up of immigrants, tourists, and UAE citizens is testimony to the wildest architecture imaginable. I cannot express the magnitude of what lies before us. A dictionary full of World’s largest, World’s best, World’s – fill in any adjective you may choose -, and I’m sure it will NOT be descriptive enough. Burj al Arab from the Jumeirah mallCayman Building on left, corners rotate 90 degrees!It is HOT, HOT, HOT here in this city on the edge of the Persian Gulf in early July. The strategic Straights of Hormuz separates Iran from the United Arab Emirates by a scant thirty miles or so. The comedic attribution by Tina Fey to Sarah Palin of, “I can see Russia from my house,” nearly applies here. You almost can see Iran from your hotel on a clear day! I am tol..
Welcome to those of you who took a moment to visit with us! Regardless of how you stumbled upon us, I wanted to temper your expectations a bit with our reality. Over the next seventy five days our focus is as broad as Africa herself; Wildlife, conservation, food, accommodations, indigenous peoples, hunting, famous writer’s words, original stories, opinions, recipes, anecdotes, tips, guidance and generally useful stuff we encounter along the way. It has been one of the greatest joys of my life to have lived a life of adventure. I began reading a family book of substantial proportions, “African Game Trails” by Theodore Roosevelt at the age of three. It fired my interest in all things Africa, and forged my path towards adventure. Today’s Africa bears testimony to the scope of the changes it has endured. Nation states of enviable environmental riches lay in economic shambles everywhere. The colonization of this continent created nation states, that more often than not, were a reflection o..
One basic thing about rural Africa you must remember is the simple axiom when it comes to luggage, “less is more”! This statement is never more true than when visiting remote safari camps. Daily laundry, is the norm here. African cities, especially in summer (by calendar) have an entirely different set of requirements. Dubai represents first rate hotels, shopping, dining, and nightlife establishments. Dubai (UAE) as an Islamic culture, dictates men and women adhere to relatively conservative standards for attire. Daytime temperatures average well over 105 degrees fahrenheit during the day, and a warm 86F at night. The humidity can be intolerable. So how to dress? All cotton fabrics rule the day.. Traditional arabic clothing for men is surprisingly comfortable and cool. Western dress is well accepted. Slacks, a cool button up shirt and a light linen jacket make a good foundation. For women it is advisable to dress with an eye towards modesty. When you think coverage of skin, more is g..
Cecil the lion. Harambe the gorilla. Legos the giraffe. If it is a member of the animal kingdom, and has a name it is sacred. Uh, oh. The lone exception arises in the species Homo Sapien. No one weeps for him… Worldwide social media has given rise to the “useful idiots” needed to effect change. Not for the better mind you, not for any logical reason. Change for change’s sake. The “useful idiots” flood the vapid halls of every social site developed to date with their ill founded, illogical, lemming like opinions en masse. I would like to point out that the social consensus mob mentality is a myth of epic proportions. What we see is really the management of an agenda, almost always political, almost solely to increase centralized power through centralized thought. Pretty heavy stuff here. The result of the first two cases cited at the inception of this piece are perfect examples. Granted there are some people that truly believe any loss of life is wrong. Reference the Buddhist faith in p..
The first step is always the most difficult, well, not really when it comes to air travel. Booking is tedious, especially when multiple flight segments require proper intervals for retrieving and re-checking baggage. Then there is the TSA (Transportation Security Agency) an oxymoron of monumental proportions if there ever was one. I will not comment on the people of TSA. I will leave the reader to make their own judgements, BUT all I can say is we pay for this? It seems the old adage, “You get the government you deserve (by voting),” is more than applicable. It seems in today’s world of air travel, most U.S. airlines will not check through your checked baggage UNLESS the international airline is one of their recognized travel partners. Well DELTA is in a huff about EMIRATES. Seems to be a fairly well published dispute about market shares with some airlines purportedly being subsidized by their foreign governments. Hmmm… Well EMIRATES is really in a class by itself. They offer great f..
