Breakfast @ 7:00 p.m. then disembark to head to the Charles Darwin Institute. We changed our guide here; our guide for the past four days had to pick up a new group (Mario) is our new guide. After about 20 minutes with Mario, we are so glad that we didn’t have him all week long. Carmeilo – our guide all week long was just amazing. His English was very good and he was very informed and knowledgeable about the GI. He made the islands come alive for us with his stories of the islands and all of the information about the animals and their habits. We want to go back to he GI again at some point, Carmeilo is a large part of that, we learned so much from him that we want to go to the islands that we didn’t see on this trip.
We were very disappointed in the Charles Darwin Institute; it was nothing more than a glorified zoo. The new animals that we got to see were the large sea turtles. We did manage to see “Lonesome George” the oldest sea turtle on the islands, he is 150 years old. The breeding program that they are working on was interesting, but our guide didn’t have much information for us about it. He ran us through there so fast that we couldn’t read any of the material that was posted about the turtle restoration program.
Then on to the bus that will take us to a ferry, and to another bus that will take us to the airport back on Baltra Island so that we can fly back to Quito. We got back to Quito and our hotel around 5:00 p.m. Kathryn was already there waiting for us, she had already found out what room we were in and had our key. She took us all around old town Quito, the historical part of the city. It is very beautiful and the buildings are so interesting with all of the churches and cathedrals. We even got to walk past the President of Ecuador’s residence.
We ate supper at one of Kathryn’s favorite pizza places that she had found since she has been there. It is different from our pizza but very good.
The response from Adventure Life to my first inquiry was prompt and promising. I worked with Jamie Broeckel, Trip Planner, via text, email, and phone calls- always extremely responsive and thorough with information and explaining the process to arrange a private tour for me to Malaysia Borneo. Within about week, the booking was complete and I made decisions because of Jamie's great customer service , friendly manner, and overall competence on behalf of the company's travel expertise. Now I have an itinerary, additional Trip Planner Assistants, several links for vital information for traveling to Maylasia, etc. Still many details for Sept. trip, but now the heavy lifting is done and I can enjoy the rest of the anticipation and research!! Thanks Jamie- you are amazing!!!!
Susan Campo
2 days ago
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
3 days ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.