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Dear William,
Greetings fellow Africa Lover! This newsletter
is the second in our planned quarterly communication
with you. In a world of ever expanding email, we
commit to deliver to you meaningful, useful and yes,
even fun information quarterly about your chapter
and our common interests. We hope you enjoyed the
last one and that you will get involved - contribute
news, comments and of course African Anectodes -
your own or your client's.
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Programs, Events & Fun |
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The Rocky Mountain APTA Chapter recently
held a program focused on Family Travel
in Africa.
As an organization that seeks to improve
tourism to Africa through the education of
its members, the chapter experimented with
an “open panel discussion” forum that led to
an insightful exchange of ideas and trends
on the topic. Panel Members included Karen
Zulauf (Deeper Africa Safaris), Alana Hayden
(Born Free Safaris) and Sarah Fazendin
(Heritage Hotels).
Two of the trends the travel trade is seeing
include multi-generational travel and the
overall age of kids decreasing. This is most
likely resulting from the fact that
Americans are becoming more accustomed to
the idea of traveling to Africa, leading to
an increased interest in family travel. When
planning a family safari the trade discussed
that the following issues were critical:
Build in LOTS of activities for the
children
Keep in mind that kids sometimes are
more interested in the cultural aspect of
the safari vs. the wildlife experience
A thorough briefing at the time of
booking is really important, the more
information that can be shared the better
When planning the itinerary limited
locations and limited domestic travel is the
best
For more information on Family Safaris in
Africa, please contact:
Karen Zulauf, Deeper Africa,
www.DeeperAf rica.com, 888-658-7102
info@deeperafrica.com
Alana Hayden, Born Free Safaris,
1.800.4.SAFARI, Alana@bornfreesafaris.com,
www.bornfree safaris.com
Sarah Fazendin, Heritage Hotels,
Sarah.Fazendin@HeritageHotels.co.ke,
1.303.895.9583.
www.Heritage-EastAfrica.com.
For examples of the youth safari programs
offered at the Heritage Intrepids and
Voyager properties, please click here:
http://www.heritage -eastafrica.com/safariclubs.html
January 9th - Egypt & the Western
Desert
Howie Perlin, from Y'alla Tours Howie,
well known in our front range market,
made a presentation on Egypt as a
destination - and informed us on the
emerging "hot" market for the Western
Desert. He also covered the many aspects
of Y'alla's upcoming FAM for Rocky
Mountain APTA members - a must for
anyone considering going on this really
interesting and affordable trip.
Details of this Familiarization trip may
be found by clicking here
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Future Programs |
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Be sure to check out the Egypt Fam
from Ya'alla tours by clicking on the Link
above! And don't miss out on the possibility
for a RMAPTA Scholarship application that
could give you $1,000 in cash towards the
trip!!!
February 7, 2007 - Zambia Night
March 20, 2007 - Namibia & Mozambique
May 8, 2007 - African Logistics -
including booking Air, Travel Insurance &
Opportunities to "Give Back" in Africa
Keep an eye on your email inbox for more
details about all these programs, and if
there is something you as a member would
like to see in a program....click here to
email
Casey or
Sarah.
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Members Make Headlines! |
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National Geographic Traveler
magazine featured special recognition of our
chapter Board Member, Casey Gamba and her
partner Teresa Isabelle of
Mango African Safari.
Mango's "Western Tanzania and Northern
Mozambique Surf and Safari"was singled
out in October 2006 Traveler for 50
Tours of a Lifetime.
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Quips & Quotes |
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When preparing to travel, lay out all
your clothes and all your money. Then take
half the clothes and twice the money.
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Susan Heller
Wandering re-establishes the original
harmony which once existed between man and
the universe...
Anatole France
Travel and change of place impart new
vigor to the mind.
Seneca
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News & Notes |
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In this section you will find interesting
information and links to our Chapter
website, where we provide the full content
on articles and references of interest.
This issue includes the "Global Code of
Ethics for Tourism", which was a
resolution adopted by the UN General
Assembly in Dec 2001.
One of our members also wanted to pass on a
touching report by a guest of one of our
Corporate Members, Deeper Africa.
This recounting of the birth of a baby
elephant is from their newsletter - and was
submitted by client Heather Cunningham...
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Community & Anectodes |
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New Members - and forum for commentary,
feedback exchange of info/experiences
between members.
Welcome to the Board! Pam Rathke
will step into the Rocky Mountain APTA
Board position vacated by Dana Welch. Pam
has been in the tourism industry since 1995
when she created Adventure
Destinations, a tour company
dedicated to the singles travel market. More
recently, as a free-lance travel specialist,
she has developed tours for the Denver
Botanic Gardens, Denver Art Museum, The
Wildlife Experience Museum and Kindred
Spirits Tour and Travel. Starting in 1997
with her first trip to Kenya, her passion
became Africa. Besides Kenya, she has
explored regions of Tanzania, Zanzibar,
Zambia, South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia.
New Members: Valerie "Val" Sewell,
currently with Travel Organizers, and
formerly Travel Counselors, is an ex-patriate
Brit who has been in the travel business for
many years. In addition to her new passion
for Africa, Val has specialized in leisure
travel and has been closely involved with
the Phoenix Coyote hockey team travel.
Welcome Val!
African Anectodes: "So there I was
with my new and most significant other,
cruising along in his Cessna to our camp on
the Zambesi river, after traveling for two
days from the U.S. to start this newest
adventure in my life, when the turkey
buzzard struck the leading edge of the right
wing (my side) with a huge BANG!. At this my
beau commented, 'keep an eye on that will
you while I figure out where to set this
thing down'....all the while I was suffering
from food poisoning and severe, volatile
nausea. A momentus beginning without a doubt
and the genesis for our mantra of 'time
to make a plan!'....." DW
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Rocky Mountain APTA Advocate
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Meet Rocky Mountain APTA member Barry
Oehler
An Apta advocate report by Kent Redding
Barry Oehler
Co-owner
RMA Travel
If you’ve ever been to an APTA presentation,
you’ve probably met Barry Oehler. That’s
because Barry feels strongly about the value
of APTA meetings.
“If you want to learn about Africa, APTA is
the way to do so,” says Oehler. “The APTA
operators who come to present are high
quality operators with good products.”
Oehler should know. He helped found the
Rocky Mountain APTA chapter many years ago
after taking his first FAM trip to South
Africa. “That’s how I got involved. I
visited South Africa and loved the
destination. Since then, I’ve been back 5 or
6 times,” says Oehler.
RMA has been a staple in the Denver travel
scene since 1978. Through the years, the
company has shifted gears to cope with
changes in the marketplace, and today
focuses on ski tours, short- haul train
trips and markets such as Mexico and
cruises.
Like many APTA members, selling Africa is
not a primary focus for Oehler and his
staff. “We don’t have a large customer base
on the leisure side that is willing to spend
$5,000 or more on a trip - but I still love
to sell it.”
Over the years, Oehler has had a number of
exciting experiences including being charged
by lions and elephants, having leopards walk
into camp, and finding an uninvited feline
in his bathroom. Oehler enjoyed all the
action, but he believes there are still a
lot of misperceptions out there about
Africa—that it is a dark, buggy continent
with too many problems and not enough
infrastructure.
“There are many great destinations in
Africa. South Africa, for instance, offers
wonderful game viewing and a lot more—the
Garden Route, the vineyards, Cape Town—it’s
a very rounded product. Again, that’s where
he believes APTA comes in. “Agents can’t
learn every destination in Africa, but they
can learn about countries, camps and how the
game is played. You can also get a list of
operators who you can go to when needed.”
So, at your next meeting, make sure you say
hello to Barry Oehler, founding member of
Rocky Mountain APTA.
Nominate your favorite Rocky Mountain
APTA Advocate and we will feature them
soon. Drop an email to either Kate Daniel at
journeys- kate@earthlink.net or Bill OConnor
at boconnor@travelsquareone.com.
Membership Benefits
Lonely Planet discount, discounted program
dinner fees, member only events, strategic
vendor partnerships, higher
commissions,access to Africa experts and
gain confidence and qualifications in
selling African travel.
Click
here to learn more about membership
benefits!
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