Cruising the Congo River, Hakuna Matata Tours offers a 22-day cruise from Kinshasha to Kisangani for $4,900 per person as of August 2010. The trip--departing in February, May, July and October--covers the 1087-mile stretch of easily navigable river in Zaire. The wooden boat is 111.5 feet long and can accommodate up to 12 individual clients. Places can be booked individually or as groups of up to 20. Places visited along the way include Kinkole, Mbandaka, Lisala and Bumba. Highlights include Kinshasha and Kisangani; the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve; Bumba, the home of the Bafoto Pygmies; and a cacao plantation near the Lisala Narrows. The trip includes all transfers, full board on the river except drinks, and overnight tented accommodation and hotel stays in Kinshasha and Kisangani.
Congo River Cruise
Hakuna Matata Tours
011-250-0835-1880
hakunamatatatours.com
The Egyptian Splendor tour offered by Avalon Waterways lasts nine days with a four-night Nile cruise included. Four days are spent in Cairo visiting the Pyramids and ancient Memphis and Sakkara with your group's assigned Egyptologist. Then the group flies up to Aswan, where the cruise begins on the Royal Lotus, a 124-passenger ship with panoramic cabin windows. Excursions are included to Aswan High Dam, the Temple of Isis, the ancient granite quarries, Kom Ombo, the Temple of Horus, the Valley of Kings and the Valley of Queens, and Luxor Temple. The cruise ends back in Cairo, where you can see the Temple of Amon-Ra and the monuments of Karnak. The package, as of August 2010, costs from $2,211 to $,2855 depending on the time of year. Flights are not included but can be booked concurrently with the package online.
Egyptian Splendor
Avalon Waterways
5301 South Federal Circle
Littleton, CO 80123
877-797-8791
avalonwaterways.com
Cruising the Gambia and Saloum rivers and including flights to Timbuktu and the Sahel, The Road to Timbuktu and the Rivers of West Africa cruise package on the Callisto lasts 16 days and costs from $11,995 to $13,995 per person as of August 2010, not including international flights. The ship can accommodate 34 people, and fresh produce from ports of call are cooked to give travelers a taste of the local food. The package begins in Bamako, Mali, and ends in Dakar, Senegal. Along the way the tour visits Mopti, with its cliff dwellings and rock paintings, the Grand Mosque in Djenne and the fabled city of Timbuktu.
The Road to Timbuktu and the Rivers of West Africa
Travel Dynamics International
132 East 70th St.
New York, NY 10021
800-257-5767
traveldynamicsinternational.com
