by Editor | Nov 13, 2006 | Accomodations, Ecotourism, Luxury Travel, New Articles
Tree-climbing lions of Chindeni
One of our team members recently returned from the South Luangwa Valley National Park, a ruggedly beautiful 3500-square-mile Eden of savannah and forest wedged in the north-eastern corner of Zambia. The park is recognized by experts as having one of the highest game densities in Africa. According to locals, the now famous Zambian walking safari was pioneered there over half a century ago. The tradition is upheld to this day by a few of the most reputed safari operators in the country. Josette King from the Simon & Baker Travel Review recently visited some of the intimate luxury camps, including Kuyenda, Chimalandu and Chindeni, strategically located along the Luangwa River and its tributaries, and discovered outstanding game viewing.
When she arrived, she settled in her luxury tent raised on a wooden deck overlooking a permanent lagoon at Chindeni, with expectations of abundant wildlife. What she couldn’t have anticipated was a sight so unusual that it startled even James Chabbuka, the group’s seasoned and otherwise unflappable guide. During the group’s first late afternoon excursion near the camp, they came across a pride of lions sprawled high in the branches of a huge winter thorn tree. They were obviously enjoying their nap in the refreshing breeze of the tree tops! Visit these pages and the Simon & Baker Travel Review soon for more about the wonders of South Luangwa Valley walking safaris, including the tree-climbing lions of Chindeni. Click here to read other articles on Zambia.
by Editor | Oct 23, 2006 | Luxury Travel
Africa
Self taught photographer Michael Poliza captures the heart and the mind with his amazing collection of colorful animal and panomaric views of the wilderness in Africa (teNeues), a coffee table book. Four years of bush excursions in Southern and Eastern Africa are reflected in the 408-page book with nearly as many photos.
Weighing in at about 12 pounds it’s an oversize (11.5 by 14.5 inches, 29 x 37 cms) hefty tome with page after page of magnificent photos. Each photo occupies a page, sometimes two (photos broken in half by the binding made us wish for an even larger canvas). Even so, the animals and scenery seem to burst beyond the borders of the book transporting the reader to the bush.
Anyone who has taken wildlife photos can guess at the months of time and effort such a book might have cost. Poliza worked with a Canon digital camera and refrained from altering the photos beyond the usual “dark room” processes. It is hard to imagine the patience, passion, dedication and sheer determination it took to capture the images.
Poliza started as a child actor on German TV, then founded several highly successful IT ventures in the U.S. and Germany. He now focuses mainly on filming and photography, including work for the Discovery Channel. He spends much time in Cape Town, South Africa.
Africa includes text in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian and summary descriptions of each shot with a thumbnail photo of the picture to identify the subject and location where it was taken. At € 98, $ 125, £ 70, Can $180, and SFR 158 it’s a steal for the lover of art, Africa, photography and nature. We look forward to his next project.
by Editor | Oct 9, 2006 | Accomodations, Luxury Travel, New Articles
Sugar Beach Villa
We were recently in Exuma, one of the out islands of The Bahamas, for a little rest and relaxation. This sleepy chain of small islands had been mostly undiscovered until a few years ago when luxury tourism in the form of exclusive villa communities and a Four Seasons property with a spa and casino onsite opened shop. Now they’re all the rage. And, with good reason.
The Exuma islands are a stone’s throw from South Florida making them easily accessible. It took us much less time door to door from South Florida to reach our rental villa on Little Exuma, the furthest east of the islands, than it has taken us to reach any island in the Caribbean. For more on the charms of Exuma and a fabulous rental villa go to Exuma and Sugar Beach Villa.
by Editor | Aug 14, 2006 | Luxury Travel
Online leisure travel growth in 2005
Graphic: eMarketer.com
New York, NY — According to a recent eMarketer study, the U.S. is the global leader in online travel expenditures. Its leisure and non-corporate travel consumers will spend $122.4 billion by 2009, up from $64.9 billion last year, eMarketer projects in its new report, “Online Travel Worldwide: A Mosaic of Separate Markets.”
European travelers spent $35.5 billion online in 2005. And, the Asia-Pacific region, now one-quarter the size of the U.S. market, reaped $15.9 billion in 2005. It is expected to show quick growth in upcoming years.
Demographic studies of travelers in the U.S., Europe and the Asia-Pacific region all show the emergence of an older generation of travelers, Baby Boomers (ages 45 to 60), who are healthy, adventurous and affluent, as well as Internet savvy.
“Online travel distributors and marketers who pay attention to these customers and design travel offers matching their interests and needs will reap rewards,” said Jeffrey Grau, eMarketer’s senior analyst and author of the report.
The U.S. is the world’s largest and most mature travel market. Growth is slowing down in the U.S. At the same time, Europe, U.K., France and Germany are approaching maturity, while Southern and Eastern Europe have untapped potential.
The four fastest-growing travel markets over the next four years are China, South Korea, India and Japan. China, with projected travel spending growth of 18.3 percent to 2010, will rise from seventh place to fourth place in personal and business travel spending among the world’s 16 largest economies.
Market research company eMarketer conducts analysis of trends related to e-business, online marketing and emerging technologies. eMarketer aggregates and analyzes data from over 2,000 sources and brings it together in a suite of services offering. For online comfort and luxury travel reviews, visit SimonandBaker.com
by Editor | Jul 17, 2006 | Luxury Travel
Access to the Internet has become a top priority for vacationers
Photo: Intel
Santa Clara, California — Laptops join swimsuits and sunblock at the top of this summer’s packing list for vacationers, according to the “Intel Unwired Travel” survey(1) released recently by Intel Corporation, the well known computer chip maker.
The survey of U.S. adult computer users commissioned by Intel and conducted by Harris Interactive® reveals that approximately four out of 10 (38 percent) respondents or their families have taken their laptops on vacation and more than half (53 percent) are likely to take a laptop on a future vacation(2).
The top three uses of laptops for vacationers aren’t clearly work-related. The most popular uses were checking or sending personal email (79 percent), entertainment (60 percent) and finding information for vacation planning and activities (48 percent).
Consumers have come to rely on the benefits of an on-the-go, unwired lifestyle on a daily basis. When they travel on vacation they seem to desire the same convenience and freedom.
(1) “A Study about Laptops on Vacations,” an Intel-sponsored online omnibus survey conducted by Harris Interactive® in June 2006.
This survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of Intel among 2,689 adult computer users (aged 18 and over) within the United States between June 9 and June 13, 2006. Figures for region, age within gender, education, household income and race/ethnicity were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. The data were also weighted on the basis of amount of time spent using a computer (in hours per week).
With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 2,689 adults one could say with a ninety-five percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points. Sampling error for the sub-sample of those who have taken a laptop on vacation (n= 1,252) is +/- 4 percentage points. However that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
(2) Fifty-three percent of U.S. adult computer users indicated they are “very likely,” “likely” or “somewhat likely” to take a laptop computer with them on a future vacation.
by Editor | Jul 10, 2006 | Luxury Travel
VenicExposed cover
Photo: Contrasto
Who can show off Venice better than a Venetian? Venice born Luca Campigotto presents an insightful nighttime vision of the Venetian lagoon in a new photographic book featuring 65 black and white photographs due out this summer.
In the 120-page book titled VenicExposed (Contrasto, $50) he juxtaposes familiar tourist images of Venice with a noirish perception of the Marghera zone, an industrial district of docks and commerce rarely visited by outsiders. The photos showcase a quiet Venice tourists rarely see because of the locations and the time of night. The result is dreamlike and realistic at the same time. It invites the viewer to visit or revisit Venice in search of these black and white night visions.
“I believe that my images want to speak of places without time, or where time has stopped. Perhaps, a desperate and almost unconscious attempt to take possession of eras in which it was not possible to live. If you look at the photographs, especially the souvenir pictures, basically it is just this that happens: we look at things and persons that we cannot get back. I believe that photography is the supreme tool of nostalgia.”
Campigotto, known in Italy for his landscape photography, treats landscapes as theatre sets. He began his career by dedicating himself to social photographic essays and landscape photography. His work, exhibited in Italy and abroad, is part of private and public collections.
