Kumuka Venture, April 2006, Travel to Europe in Spring, Escape winter on a Europe Coach Tour

Well this is it! The next time I write to you I’ll be on the other side of motherhood! The trek to base camp has nearly ended and the mountain is looming, a whole new adventure is about to begin! Am I daunted? You bet, throw me in the middle of the Amazon and tell me to survive and I’d be less overwhelmed, but that’s what adventure is all about, challenges, and it is for that reason that I am very much looking forward to it.

This month in Venture your adventure will take you to South America where you will learn about the benefits of travelling with a group, Cara writes in from her travels in Africa, we hear from our talk-aholic Melinda Cleaver, and we get a dose of Vitamin Delight in Europe.

Happy travels

Meg Hall
General Manager
Kumuka Worldwide

A dose of Vitamin Delight!

No doubt for all the readers in the Northern Hemisphere you are already happy to be enjoying longer days, warmer temperatures and those signs that spring is here, or trying to arrive… depending on where you live?

Spring is a fantastic time to travel in the Northern Hemisphere, a place where temperature extremes see the folk locked indoors for months during the winter. Toward the end, the novelty of snow, mulled wine and open fires have lost their appeal and those long, long summer days are alluring. In some places, people become almost desperate to shed a few layers and experience warmth without clothing again (apart from the essential items of course, then again it depends on where you travel -some Europeans are quite liberal!).

April arrives and along with it comes longer days, the temperature in some areas has warmed up already, whilst further north the promise of warmer days is teasing, the good news being that the weather is only going to get better.

People start to come outdoors with smiles on their faces, beaming with optimism, they walk to work instead of catching a train, bicycles are abundant, families head to the seaside, friends meet in the plazas, the street sellers sell more wares and bellow out their sales calls with fervour, al fresco is no longer al freezing, crowds spill onto the walk ways indulging in European cuisine and culture day and night.

Vitamin D is being absorbed into the skin from sunlight, representing Vitamin Delight! It’s no wonder the streets of Paris are alive with l’amore at this time of year, everyone’s so happy, why not fall in love!! The mood is uplifting everywhere you go.

It’s quite a different experience to travelling in climes where the sun always shines. Here you’re experiencing the result of a change; a mood change, a climate change, a food change, a vegetation change and all for the better. It’s very easy to get swept away in the atmosphere at the same time as visiting a continent boasting some of the worlds most complex and fascinating history, amongst breathtaking scenery.

For an injection of optimism, as well as a wonderful travel experience, why not travel to Europe this season, especially those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, with winter on its way, you know where to head for the warmer climes, happy people and Vitamin Delight. So what the bloody hell are you staying home for?!

Visit Europe with Kumuka this spring/summer

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Hi Everyone,

Wow what an amazing experience I have just had on the Gorillas & Game Trip. I never thought I would see - let alone get so close to the Gorillas!! They are fascinating creatures, so humanlike, it was an experience I will never forget. We were extremely lucky and only had to walk for less than 30 minutes to be with them so that was a bonus as my fitness level was the flat streets of London, not the hills of Uganda!!!

Another highlight of the trip was the Masai Mara where we got up close to lions, including a lion kill on a buffalo which was a little disturbing to watch, but all a part of nature that most people don't get the opportunity to witness. We also saw Elephants, Buffalo, Giraffe, Rhino, Gazelle, Warthog, Hyena's, Zebra, Vultures, Wildebeest and more.

It was great being on the Big Blue Kumuka Truck and experiencing all of this with like-minded travelers and of course waving out the window all day to the cute kids that can see us coming from miles away!!

I would definitely recommend this tour to everyone!!!! Africa is just amazing.

Ciao Cara

Cara Travelled on Kumuka Worldwide’s Gorillas & Game Tour

Do you have a postcard you wish to send us? Email Meg

Kumuka tours visiting Uganda visit the Soft Power Education project in Jinja. Read on to find out what our past travellers have helped achieve and what you could be contributing towards by travelling with us to Uganda.

Dear Venture readers,

Grass roots community project, Soft Power Education, managed to raise over £100,000 last year through the continued support of visiting overland passengers, independent long term volunteers, groups of hardworking students, the commitment of individuals who have set up standing orders and ex-volunteers who have returned home to fundraise.

Our 5 year project of refurbishing the 20 government schools within the local sub-county of Budondo in Jinja, Uganda looks set to be broken ahead of schedule and we are ticking off the work being carried out at the schools at a remarkable rate…new classrooms are being built, underground water catchment tanks have been dug, magnificent teaching aids have been painted and other projects have been finished.

On behalf of the community, I’d like to extend my thanks for all Kumuka clients who have helped us achieve this milestone and look forward to welcoming many more of you in the future.

Thank you & best wishes

Georgie Higginson
Projects Manager
georgie@softpowereducation.com

Meet Melinda Cleaver
Tour Leader – South America

Born near the golden sands of Surfers Paradise in Australia, with eyes that change colour depending on what she wears, Melinda has spent the last 10 years on the road.

She joined Kumuka in Asia as tour leader before heading for the fiestas in South America. One thing about Melinda is she loves to chat, so much so that she won the Mouth of the Year award when at school! These days she can be found talking to anyone, be it a 5 year old child in a plaza in Mexico or 105 year old monk in a temple in Thailand.

Melinda obviously loves to travel, she believes you learn to tolerate differences, embrace change and enjoy each day as it comes, (something that we should all do in our lives regardless of where we are in the world)!

Melinda Facts:

I was on a small little beach (Zipolite) in Mexico for "Millenium"

I was in Washington DC when Princess Diana died.

I am a qualified swim instructor and lifeguard.

When they present the new "modern seven wonders of the world" in Jan 2007 I plan to see every single one of them, (if I haven’t already).

I love to travel and don’t plan on stopping any time soon.

Visit Melinda in South America

• 'Vodka' is Russian for 'little water'. (No wonder you cant taste it in orange juice!)

• An iceberg contains more heat than a lit match.

• Flamingos pee on their legs to cool themselves off

• On Thursday 4th May 2006, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be:

01:02:03 04/05/06

Returning from South & Central America Rebecca Lucas writes in.

Hi Cara,

Thought I’d write back since I wanted to say I had an awesome time with Kumuka. I did two local transport trips, first from Santiago de Chile to Lima, Peru with Jason Crisp as the tour leader and then to Antigua, Guatemala to Playa del Carmen in Mexico with (Australian) Linda. Both leaders deserving a rating of 5 stars and two thumbs up!

I would love to travel with the company again, but I am now expecting a baby!

I did travel to South and Central America again late last year as an independent traveller, but experienced trouble after trouble. I would definitely book again with your company rather than have all the trouble I had trying to organise things on my own. I got stuck in Peru for almost three weeks that should have been a one day stopover, got stuck in a town for 17 hours because of riots and walked through inches of mud at border crossings, just to name a few of my hiccups on my own travels, none of which happened when with Kumuka.

I spent 7 full weeks with your tour company and loved at least 6 weeks and 5 days of that time!
Thanks for the time of my life!

I have heaps of pics if you ever need any and would recommend your company to anyone interested in adventure travel.

Rebecca Lucas.

Rebecca travelled on Kumuka Worldwide’s Explorer in South America followed by the Reef and Rainforest in Central America

Click here and speak to an expert.

Kumuka Worldwide has been one of the leading specialists in adventure travel for the last 23 years. Our successful operation spans six continents, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe and Asia where we operate exciting tours renowned for their quality and reliability. Our combined expertise and experience adds new scope to the destinations and styles of trips available throughout the world. Together with the accumulative knowledge of our enthusiastic staff we are able to map out itineraries to 57 countries.

Our clients tend to be between 18 and 45 with the average age being 28. It is however attitude that is more important than age and we do take some clients over 45 if the style of travel suits them. In general our clients are professionals with 65% travelling solo.

www.kumuka.com - for more information on the ultimate adventure.