Unforgettable Family Adventure

Earlier this year my mother, Jane, was turning 70, but instead of having a party to celebrate, she wanted to go overseas with her family. It was a bit special, because when Mum was 17 she’d spent six months living in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). This was the first time she’d been back to Africa, and she wanted to share it with her kids and grandkids. There were seven of us: Mum, my brother Jono and his wife Sarah, my partner Kate and me, and my two children, Rufus, 10, and Toby, 9. So the age range was nine to 70!

Mum initially went to an agent that was high-end, but not Africa-specific, and they put together an itinerary that was basically just a list of the most extravagant and ridiculously expensive places you can go to in Africa. She was pretty disheartened, and said, ‘This isn’t what I wanted, it’s all too hard, what do I do now?’ We’re in Brisbane, so I decided to find someone local and an Africa specialist. I started Googling, found Jonathon from Encompass Africa, and sent him an introductory email detailing our wishes and our disappointing experience. He just listened and listened and listened… and then put together the most brilliant itinerary that showed he understood us perfectly. Apart from a couple of little tweaks I don’t think we made any changes!

We travelled in the June/July school holidays [2024], starting off with four nights in Cape Town. We did all the things you do in Cape Town: took the cableway to the top of Table Mountain, went to the Cape of Good Hope, saw the penguins, visited the wineries, explored the city and rode bikes along the promenade. It was a great way to introduce us to Africa.

Then we flew up to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and had three nights at the historic and extremely elegant Victoria Falls Hotel. Kate and I enjoyed a wonderful dinner dance in the Livingstone Room, with its grand piano and black-tie service, and Mum had her photo taken at the same spot she’d stood at all those years before. We did a sunset cruise and a helicopter trip over the Falls, which was spectacular, and the boys did the zip line canopy tour.

From there we went to the Chobe River in Botswana, and had the unique experience of doing three border crossings in the same day. We spent two nights on a boat, The Chobe Princess, with just the seven of us and staff. At just two nights it was the shortest stay we had anywhere in Africa, but it was so special and we packed so much into our time, that it felt like a big part of the trip. We loved our trip to a village, being so close to the animals, and just enjoying a beautiful time as a family, sitting on the back deck of the boat, watching the moon and stars come out after glorious sunsets.

Next, we got a light aircraft to the Okavango Delta, where helicopters took us to a mobile safari with Beagle Expeditions. Our time there was out of this world. We had two nights in one location, and then walked in single file to our next site, with just our guide, for another two nights. We encountered waters just beginning to flow into the Delta, from rains that had fallen far away some six months earlier. It was only now starting to trickle in, and we walked alongside small streams as they touched the dry Delta for the first time. The wildlife-spotting was also fantastic, and the sheer volume of animals that we saw was unbelievable.

The way the staff made sure everyone was well looked after was just amazing, especially my mum who, by that time, had been adventuring for two weeks straight as a 70-year-old! Our guide, Ace, became like an uncle to the boys. It was like that every step of the way, throughout our entire trip, with all of Encompass Africa’s partners. They monitored what we needed, made little adjustments along the way as needed, and just looked out for everyone. They became part of our family.

One of the great things about our trip was that we had a real cross section of interests as well as ages. My brother and his wife live in Whistler in Canada, and they are absolute adventure lovers. They snowboard and ski during winter, and go hiking and mountain biking all summer. And while we like a bit of adventure, my partner and I love nothing more than visiting wineries after lunch at a beautiful restaurant. Jonathon understood that perfectly. He put together an itinerary that catered for everyone. I think that’s one of the things that made the trip so wonderful. And we didn’t need to be organised, because everything was so well organised for us, and there was always someone ready to move us on to the next big adventure! It just made travelling so easy.

The effect of this holiday on my boys was profound. In two weeks, they grew up two years. I’ve just had a parent-teacher interview for my youngest son, where the teacher said he’s more engaged in his schoolwork thanks to Africa. Six months ago he wouldn’t have spoken in front of his class, but he got back from this trip and gave a 10-minute speech – complete with PowerPoint presentation! When you see kids grow like that from travel, it makes you emotional. It was just fantastic and they’ve definitely got the travel bug now.

Mum had a clear vision for her 70th, and this trip was everything she wanted and more. The way Jonathon put the itinerary together, every day built on the previous day; each experience topped the one before it. Every single step was incredible and every night at dinner we’d be like, ‘That was just the best day we’ve had’. And then the next night we’d be saying the same thing again!