We flew today from Missoula, MT to Juneau. The Juneau airport reminded me a lot of our hometown airport, small, quaint and fully functional. My mom and I were on one of our many mother-daughter trips that we have taken over the years. We have been to Guatemala, the Galapagos, a this time we were heading to Alaska for a week on the small 21 passenger yacht, the Safari Quest. But this time, we were celebrating big birthdays - my 30th and her 60th. We chose the trip right in between our birthdays, the last week of August. I had heard the weather was generally pretty favorable, and the wildlife abundant. After arriving and taking a taxi to our hotel, we set out to wander the streets of Juneau. It really is a small town, and quite amazing that this was the capital of such a large state. To think, there are no roads connecting Juneau to the rest of the state, and all the official state business takes place here. We covered most of the central part of town in a few hours, including ducking our heads into a couple shops and deciding where we wanted to eat the next day. There were a couple large cruise ships in port so the city was a bustling, but it quickly quieted down as they departed late in the day. We had a delicious crab soup at the crab shack on the pier, and made our way back to our hotel for dinner.
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
2 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.