The New Year holidays in the Southern Hemisphere are full of fun in the sun – not your usual Christmas setting, but exciting nonetheless. Baroque Travel seeks out two exotic summer holidays worth taking this Festive Season, or all the way until the end of March
For those who love a dose of the sun, and an exotic location, Africa is the place to visit at this time of the year. There are numerous adventure vacations just waiting to be enjoyed all over the continent in its sultry summer months, involving untouched white sand beaches, endless plains that are home to a wide selection of wildlife, and people with an exuberance and infectious love of life.
We have scoured the continent to find two exciting holidays to take that will help you escape the winter chill and enjoy a very different vacation experience. Take a look…
Feast with Masai Warriors
A vacation in Kenya is usually about wildlife, safaris through open plains to see a wide selection of animals in their natural habitat. The lodges are always luxurious and secluded, the food is always sublime, and the game viewing adventures always unforgettable. But to make this adventure even more exciting why not visit a traditional Masai tribe over the holidays? The Masai people, with their traditional bright red garb, are known for being fierce warriors; they are also very tall. They live a semi-nomadic lifestyle, and are found throughout Kenya and in parts of Tanzania as well. These distinctive tribes people have extensive knowledge about the land they live in.
You will get the opportunity to spend time with the Masai people and find out all about their pastoral lifestyle. You’ll take a walk into the wilds with these warriors and learn from them skills that have been passed down from one generation to the next – how to start a fire in the wilds, what certain animal sounds mean, how to handle a bow and arrow, exchange stories about their lives, and even wear their iconic red ‘shuka’. You’ll also dine with them on a traditional meal, an unforgettable once-in-a-lifetime event that is incomparable to anything you’ve ever experienced before.
Start off the New Year on a tropical island
Pemba Island, which is part of the Zanzibar archipelago of islands, is nicknamed ‘the Green Island’. It’s mostly uncharted territory and offers the adventurous an unforgettable experience to literally sleep 13 feet under the ocean surface. Guests stay at Mantra Resort on the island and enjoy an opportunity to watch the fish in their natural habitat, a magnificent underwater wonderland in the coral reef. The Mantra Resort residence offers three decks. Dinner is spent on one of these private decks under the African night sky, and the bedrooms are submerged below the surface of the Indian Ocean. Spotlights below each bedroom window offer unique viewings of the creatures of the deep as they go about their nocturnal wanderings.