Paving the way to Africa….. by Jayaprakash

Read many interesting articles on ITFA from our friends here. Let me key in my thoughts too but this one is from the perspective of a committee member.

The excitement started from Day 1 – not of the journey, but of planning. Though tough and time consuming, we thoroughly enjoyed the preparation for the journey, just as much the journey itself.
During the planning days of ITFA, we identified a few major challenges for the tour. The big size of the group – close to 80 participants, we thought, would be difficult to manage for accommodation and transportation over long distances. Five to six hours of journey in a Safari vehicle for 4 days covering more than 300km each day, was indeed a concern.
Except the 13 kids, all the travellers were above 50 years of age, though most of them were young at heart. If anyone fell ill, we would be faced with difficulties since we were in some Forest/Desert, far away from good medical facilities.

The delegation of duties to the various committees simplified matters a lot. Each committee took up their work earnestly and did their best. And we had a great leader, constantly monitoring the progress and guiding us tirelessly.
I would say, we were extremely lucky – everything turned out well. The tour operators – M/s. Satguru Travels did a great job and planned the entire tour program with professionalism and commitment. Accommodation arrangements were well coordinated. Other than a few tyre punctures, there were no issues with the 13 Safari Vehicles for the entire duration of the tour. The drivers (guides during game drives) were extremely professional and helpful. Their co-operation and mutual support was an eye opener to most of us. And there were no medical problems for anyone except some minor illness like stomach upsets and respiratory infections, which were well handled by the doctors in the group.
The co-operation and support of all participants was the biggest plus point. All the friends and families came together as one unit and made the journey thoroughly enjoyable.
The African Safari was a great experience and this trip turned out to be one of our best class tours. Everything seemed to work out in our favour. We were able to spot most of the wild life in Africa. Even the climate remained favourable. Despite pre-tour warnings about robbery and looting in Africa, we had no such bad experiences. In fact, the people we encountered were very agreeable and friendly. The 4 or 5 group photo sessions will be cherished because we flew back to the good old College Days, posing for a happy picture.