Reunion Island Tourism | Radio Segment

Listen to the new radio advertising segment for Air Austral.

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Exploring North West Madagascar | Silhouette Cruises' exedition vessell Maya's Dugong

In my opinion, the most spectacular array of diversity in Madagascar is to be found along the north west coast. Rare birds, lemurs and chameleons share a stunning backdrop of tropical islands, ancient baobab trees and white-sand beaches.

Due to the remoteness of this area the majority of this region cannot easily be accessed. At sea, using a vessel with the kind of range necessary to travel these distances, we can unlock the secrets of Madagascar’s northwest coast.

In 2010, Above and Beyond Holidays are offering travellers the chance to discover the amazing northwest region of Madagascar aboard the expedition vessel Maya’s Dugong. A Silhouette Cruises vessell | see past Silhouette Cruises blogs

This former research vessel has been completely retro-fitted for expedition cruising – perfect for the traveller seeking an out-of-the-way adventure holiday, without forgoing the comfort and service of a modern yacht.

Maya's Dugong has only 9 cabins and a maximum of 24 guests. Expedition cruises are also small enough to give guests freedom and flexibility in deciding how they wish to discover Madagascar, be it trekking through the wilds looking for wildlife or diving the many reefs and lagoons. Aboard the vessel and throughout the cruise passengers have the experience and knowledge of a dedicated onboard naturalist and dive guide to call upon.

This is a unique opportunity to experience Madagascar and see its true diversity. On a full 14-night expedition aboard Maya’s Dugong, you will venture north from Nosy Be to Nosy Hara and then south to Baie de Mourambe. Each day allows guests to experience the numerous and varied coastal attractions along the way.

Shorter cruises of 7-nights can also be booked. Choose between the northern or southern leg of the 14 day journey. All departures leave from Nosy Be.

Past Madagascar Blogs | Lile De Nosy Be, Madagascar | The day it rained in Madagascar
Past Silhouette Cruises Blogs | Kayak Adventures Seychelles and Comoros

View the 2010 Maya's Dugong brochure and itinerary online

Kayak Adventures | Seychelles and Comoros | Silhouette Cruises

Kayak Adventures in the Indian Ocean | Seychelles and Comoros Adventures | Silhouette Cruises | For Indian Ocean Kayak Blogs | See also : Mauritius Ocean Classic | Naiade Events

These unique Seychelles kayaking trips are not for the faint hearted. Operated from Silhouette Cruise's fleet of yachts and Dutch schooners - lucky kayakers on these Seychelles island adventures get to explore stunning remote beaches, tiny coves and some of the Indian Oceans most beautiful and secluded islands.

Guests have the comfort of the yacht to fall back on when arms start to feel like rubber - and in the evenings the chance to enjoy some of the most incredible and remote tropical surroundings you can find. The Sea Star and Sea Bird accommodate guests in supreme comfort across 9 air conditioned cabins.

Other onboard facilities include a salon and bar, a dining salon and beautiful teak sun decks to stretch out and enjoy the view from. Your service-oriented crew includes 2 deckhands, a dive instructor, 3 stewardesses, and a dedicated chef, as well as the captain and engineer.

These 7 day itineraries are operating again in 2010 - 2011
Departures : 4-11 December 2010 | 19-26 February 2011 | 10-17 December 2011

As the official partner for Silhouette Cruises in Australia - Above and Beyond Holidays have some fantastic holiday package deals to the Seychelles.

Check out Simon Willis great footage from a past Seychelles Kayak Adventure

Looking for other Kayak stories? Read our blog on the Mauritius Ocean Classic



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Promoting Tourism to Reunion Island | Outside of France........

Reunion Island is a truely wonderful place to visit. Sure, it has issues to deal with for promoting its tourism to the outside world and handling tourists on the ground but what country doesn't ?

Réunionese culture is unique - a mix of European, Creole, African, Indian and Chinese. The most commonly used language, Réunion Creole, is essentially derives from French.

Reunion Island offers spectacular travel oppurtunities ranging from quiet and relaxing to highly active. If you're the kind of traveller more interested in an adrenaline rush than sunburn, Reunion Island has a plethora of awesome adventure activities available to you.

Options include hiking the towering heights of the islands famous "cirques" or exploring the underground on a canyoning trip, discovering cascading waterfalls, as well as scuba diving or surfing in the clear waters this Indian Ocean island.

On the south coast is the Piton de la Fournaise "Peak of the Furnace", an active volcano, in fact one of the most active in the world. This is a spectacular day trip - one not to be missed.17 miles of beaches stretch across the west coast, and there are lenty of mountains and forests to explore in between.

Tourism to Reunion Island has been focused on attracting main land French for so long that it appears Reunion Island has forgotten about the outside world.

Ground handlers, like Papangue Tours do a fantastic job in handling the new and challenging tasks of an influx of Australian tourists. Hotels are facing up to the fact that a passing knowledge of English is simply not good enough to make the first impression required to inspire tourists to recommend Reunion Island as a holiday destination. Airlines are making changes to their on board service to handle Australians used to having the choice of the worlds best airlines flying out of Australian airports.

Reunion and Beyond have brochured a dedicated stopover and holiday program for Air Austral with 10 pages of Reunion Island content.

Many peolpe ask our opinion on how tourism in Reunion will progress. Now that Air Austral have entered the Australian market, there is competition for the Australian Mauritius market. And by all accounts Air Austral arent going anywhere - reporting a modest profit in the midst of the 2010 GFC.

The task facing Reunion Island is not an insurmountable. Often people point to Mauritius as a shining example of how to implement a holistic tourism aproach with fantastic results. Mauritius is only 45 minutes away - on a clear day you can see one island from the other.
During such a conversation however it is crucial to never compare the two destinations.

Mauritius is an independant country, while Reunion Island is basically a French outpost in the Indian Ocean. With this comes its own problems but also leadership and funding.

The two landscapes are like chalk and cheese and existing tourism infrastructure in Reunion in comparison to Mauritius is non exisitent.Where Mauritius has more 5 star resorts than it knows what to do with - Reunion's 4 & 5 star resorts can be counted on one hand.

We think tourism in Reunion will grow - and that in general the island will experience a tangeable benefit from this through their economy.

Reunion Island is a place to get out and explore, discover and learn where Mauritius is a place to relax in resort oppulence. The two actually compliment each other perfectly as combination of adventure and rest.

Check out the 2009 Saatchi and Saatchi Reunion Island Tourism Promotion Video



View our Travel Agent Educational Trip Review of Reunion Island

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Jenman Safaris | Into the Australian Market | Competition on the Africa route from Australia

The marketing initiative between Jenman African Safaris, and Above and Beyond Holidays, to deliver Jenman product into the Australian market signals AB Holidays intent to deliver a holistic Africa program – alongside the Indian Ocean Island program currently in place – as well as trying to shift the mentality of Africa as a destination only for the wealthy.

Don’t get me wrong - there is a place for high end product. I have been fortunate enough to experience some amazing five star, if not six star, game and safari experiences across South and East Africa.  Read my blog on Singita Boulders Lodge. It’s just that traditionally – it has been expensive to get to South Africa, let alone East Africa from Australia.

The Australian dollar has always been fairly strong, enabling well packaged high end product to be accessible to Australian travellers, who aren’t super, super rich. But airfares have just been too expensive. And what about those of us who aren’t even super rich, let alone rich.......

For too long, a single airline occasionally two, have plied the route between Sydney and Perth to Johannesburg. Competition on the route has been slow on the ground and nonexistent in the air.

Packages with airfares are marketed from Australia as $3700 includes flights and 3 nights’ accommodation!!

Ummmm.....3 nights ? What do i do for the rest of the time? I am not going all the way to South Africa for 3 nights......and $3700!!!! And that is a special??

In flies V Australia to Melbourne heading for Johannesburg – and Air Austral start flying Sydney direct to Reunion Island targeting a market share of the Mauritius pie. Air Austral have flights to Johannesburg, as well as Mauritius, the Seychelles, Comoros and Mayotte Madagascar – as well as daily connections through to Marseille and Paris, France.

Overnight – there is competition!! Things are happening!!  Air Mauritius decides to come back from Sydney and introduce a new plane on the route. Air Austral plan to deliver to a new Boeing 777-300ER on the route, Sydney to Reunion in February 2011.

In the end the consumers (travellers) are benefitting. Prices for air tickets are way down, cheaper than they have been in a long time. And Africa is overloaded with product – literally. Indaba this year in the lead up to the world cup was low in attendance but not in product!!  We discovered all kinds of great new cruises, game lodges, safari options, deluxe tented camps, eco tours, you name it.......

There has never been a better time to go to Africa from Australia ( going to Africa is always amazing ) –  great deals are to be had all over the place.

For inspiration check out Marius Coetzee Photography blog | To view Jenman African Safaris brochure online | Check out Jenman's new bedouin style camp

Marlin Masters, Mauritius | Naiade Events - promoting Indian Ocean tourism

Now is your chance to discover one of the most beautiful and relaxing islands in the big game fishing world - Mauritius.

Well known for having plentiful game fish – including IGFA world records for Pacific blue marlin. Imagine – a tropical setting, sparkling seas, friendly locals – and lots of big fish!

Naiade Resorts and Air Mauritius are the major sponsors of the Marlin Masters tournament, held each year in Mauritius. As the official holiday partner in Australia, Above and Beyond Holidays are organising great packages for anglers and families to enjoy a great holiday and do something unique. Besides the great prizes on offer, the Marlin Masters tournament is an IGFA Offshore World Championship qualifying event, so the winning team will be eligible to participate in the IGFA 2011 Championship.

Why don’t more hotels do things like this in other parts of the world ??

Naiade is also the official sponsor of the Mauritius Ocean Classic, a surf ski event in Le Morne, Mauritius. Also a world circuit event. This sort of event is a win win for all involved. The airlines get numbers on the planes, the ground handlers get good business running all the surf skiers around and the hotels get people in the rooms and eating at the restaurants. Tourists get out and explore the island – the follow on for the local people is great with all manner of local business picking up trade.

A coordinated effort from Naiade, Above and Beyond holidays and consortiums of surf skiers worldwide has meant that more than 100 people are heading to Mauritius from Australia. Many to join in the race, and all to have a holiday  and enjoy themselves for a week or more !! Lots of the travellers are extending and exploring other destinations in the Indian Ocean – Reunion Island has become a very popular side trip from Mauritius – as has Madagascar, the unexplored island.

Simple marketing strategies played a big part in getting the events happening. Dissemination of information through affiliate websites, newsletters and Facebook profiles has meant that without the traditionally expensive forms of travel advertising - Naiade, Air Mauritius and Above and Beyond Holidays have achived a fantastic result in attracting large tourist numbers to the island.

For the Mauritius Ocean classic - a big thanks in Australia must go to Dean from Ocean Paddler, Charles from Epic Kayaks and www.surfski.info

For more information on packages from Australia | Marlin Masters Packages | Mauritius Ocean Classic Packages

Makalali Private Game Lodge | Exploring Mpumalanga

On my last trip to South Africa, i got to experience a stay at Makalali Private Game Lodge.


We flew from Durban into Nelspruit and picked up a Nissan 4WD and headed towards Makalali.

The drive from Nelspruit north is quite interesting. After half an hour or so of clearly farmed eucalypts, the road cuts its way through a valley into areas that start to look like there might be wild animals !! Up until this point we could have been anywhere !!

Along the way, God's Window, is worth a look. Supposedly the highest spot (?) in South Africa, several viewing platforms along the ridge top allow great views over the vast gorge below.The normal array of tourist wares are on display in the car park - and interestingly, in the lead up to the world cup we are told, entry fees had been introduced. 20 Rand please.

After descending from the altitude of Gods window, the landscape starts to open up and dry out. Dirt roads and vast fenced reserves start to appear. The GPS starts to drop in and out !!

Nelspruit to Makalali takes about two and half to three hours - depending how you drive. A 4WD is very handy for the last 30 or so kilometres, to make the trip more enjoyable if not for the wear the road would have on a sedan.

We arrive at the gates, complete the standard gate check in - our names are on the list - yay !!

Its a slow 20 minute drive through the game park as we follow the signs that say "Check in". Along the way we encountered zebra and giraffe, as well as some warthog.

Check in is a standalone building with a gift shop. currently packed to the brim with stuffed animals and wooden carvings. The world cup will see Makalali full the entire time and gift sho sales are good business !!

Home the over a thousand wild animals including Africa's big five, I was really looking forward to seeing Makalali for the first time. Makalali is located close to the mighty Drakensberg mountain range, west of the Kruger National Park.

An enormous conservancy of over 26,000 hectares, Makalali is operated in 4 different camps of 6 suites with all meals included and morning and night game drives daily.

Our enormous suites with sala’s (??) were really cool. Fire places for the winter. Huge balconies to relax and read. Heaps of room and great air conditioning for hot nights in summer.

NOTE | I'm sure i locked the outdoor shower door, absolutely positive. Needless to say it is not a good thing to do and i should have known better. Monkeys love bread, chocolate and avocadoes and i don’t think i was gone 5 minutes before they were into my stuff. I apologised profusely to the staff, and in what became regular fashion they respond with truly warm hearted smiles if not a real chuckle at my stupidity. The manager burst out laughing and no one else could contain themselves. Everyone started laughing. I had to smile, i was in Africa, and there are monkeys.

Our game drives were fantastic, excellent cold wine and beers were produced for sundowners and blankets and hot water bottles to fight of the chill of May in south Africa.

We had some fantastic elephant and lion sightings - most excitingly of all was our rare sighting of a pangolin.

You know what you are looking at is rare when Tom our super driver and guide doesn’t know what to say. A quick discussion with our tracker determines the best way to view animal that throughout our trip receives gasps of "oooh that’s rare, you’re very lucky"

we were lucky indeed but we didn’t know it at the time !!

Dinner in the Boma that evening is a communal affair, and we enjoy our meal with some travel agents from Italy, also in South Africa for Indaba. The menu is mushroom soup with beautifully fresh baked bread. The main course is choice of grilled beef fillet, or oven roasted chicken in tomatoes and onions. Dessert is sticky date pudding with fresh cream.

The wine list was excellent and the choice of drinks from the bar extensive. Local and imported beers are on offer - so basically everything you need.

Makalali offers a truly first class game experience. It is not expensive, and is not pretending to be something it is not. It is a truly excellent 4 to 4 1/2 star game reserve in South Africa.

If you are looking for the Singita difference | click here.

The game viewings is top class - the vehicles new, the drivers and trackers friendly, informative, knowledgeable and open. All the staff are welcoming - making the whole experience one to remember. I can’t wait to go back - and I promise to lock my door this time !!

Check out my iPhone suite walkthrough | And some great pictures recently taken from Makalali Private Game Lodge