I really like what Aber­crom­bie & Kent is doing with its orga­ni­za­tion, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy. The tour pack­ager that’s known for high-end expe­di­tions to the far cor­ners of the globe is now offer­ing indi­vid­u­als the chance to be part of the solu­tion to a local prob­lem in a far-off location.

As the hol­i­day sea­son approaches, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy is remindng every­one that dona­tions make fan­tas­tic gifts for friends and fam­ily who have everything.

“This year the focus is on what money can­not buy—shared expe­ri­ences and trea­sured mem­o­ries,” says Aber­crom­bie & Kent Vice Chair­man Jorie But­ler Kent, who guides Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy. “Our guests are look­ing for more mean­ing­ful ways to cel­e­brate with their fam­i­lies and asked us to cre­ate a Gift Pro­gram that makes it easy to donate to projects mak­ing a dif­fer­ence in places they have visited.”

With the help of A&K’s 62 world­wide offices, Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy has iden­ti­fied grass­roots orga­ni­za­tions, spear­headed by ded­i­cated local experts in con­ser­va­tion, edu­ca­tion, com­mu­nity devel­op­ment, and pub­lic health.

These are inspir­ing gifts designed to honor a friend or fam­ily mem­ber.  Dona­tions range from $10 for a sim­ple HIV test to help pre­vent the trans­mis­sion of AIDS to an unborn child to $500 for a field trip for Maa­sai chil­dren who have never been on safari.

Here are three pro­grams being offered right now. Visit Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy to read about all dona­tion pro­grams through­out the world.

HIV Test­ing in Uganda
Uganda Bwindi Com­mu­nity Hospital
—$10 helps assess the HIV sta­tus of a local res­i­dent with a sim­ple field test.

Restore a Nat­ural Land­mark 
in Morocco
Morocco—Protection of the Palmeraie—
$50 plants a tree to help restore the del­i­cate ecosys­tem in this thousand-year-old date palm grove, a Mar­rakech landmark.

A Safari Field Trip
Kenya — Friends of Conservation—
$500 gives 20 Maa­sai chil­dren the chance to dis­cover their nat­ural her­itage and learn the value of pro­tect­ing wildlife with a field trip to the Masai Mara National Reserve.

Dona­tions can be made online through Aber­crom­bie & Kent Philanthropy’s secure web­site www.akphilanthropy.org with 100 per­cent of all dona­tions going directly to the project selected.  Gift cer­tifi­cates will be deliv­ered to the recipient(s) elec­tron­i­cally or printed and mailed.

To make a dona­tion as a family—or in honor of a loved one—go to www.akphilanthropy.org. One hun­dred per­cent of your char­i­ta­ble gift to Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy goes directly to sup­port local projects world­wide. Aber­crom­bie & Kent Phil­an­thropy is estab­lished in the United States as a 501©(3) not-for-profit orga­ni­za­tion. Your char­i­ta­ble gift is tax deductible as pro­vided by law.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Four Sea­sons Explorer

This past Sep­tem­ber, the 128-foot Four Sea­sons Explorer 11-cabin, three-deck cata­ma­ran was refur­bished for three-, four-, and seven-night excur­sions around the Mal­dives in the Indian Ocean. While the ves­sel usu­ally draws those inter­ested in div­ing and snor­kel­ing, even those who aren’t nat­ural water babies enjoy see­ing the Mal­dives from this inti­mate ship that caters to just 22 passengers.

Accom­mo­da­tions are what you’d expect at any land-based Four Sea­son resort and fea­ture 10 state­rooms and one Explorer Suite. The suite includes a king bed, a daybed, an indoor din­ing area, couch, writ­ing desk, bar, DVD/CD player, tele­phone, and in-cabin safe. The bath­room fea­tures a full bath tub, and sep­a­rate shower. Reg­u­lar state­rooms can be out­fit­ted with either a king bed or two twins. State­rooms also fea­ture a sofa, desk, DVD/CD player, bar, phone, and safe. These bath­rooms have a tub/shower combo.

The cata­ma­ran pro­motes a casual atmos­phere and shorts and sun­dresses are accept­able attire, even dur­ing din­ner. The casual vibe doesn’t skimp on ser­vice though…the entire boat is air-conditioned and you’ll find an onboard masseuse and a PADI dive cen­ter with Nitrox. Laun­dry ser­vice is also available.

As of the first of Octo­ber 2009, Four Sea­sons Explorer began weekly itin­er­aries. The first part explores the north­ern atolls of Baa and Raa and includes a stopover at the Four Sea­sons Lan­daa Giraavaru. The sec­ond part of the cruise expolores the south­ern regions, which may include Ras­d­hoo, North Ari, South and North Male atolls.

Dur­ing the cruise, you’ll enjoy water activ­i­ties like div­ing, snor­kel­ing, wind­surf­ing, kayak­ing, water­ski­ing, and fish­ing. Other activ­i­ties include vis­its to local vil­lages and other island excursions.

Four Sea­sons Explorer video footage:

Four Sea­sons Explorer sails until Decem­ber 20, 2009 and then she goes into dry-dock. She’ll be back on the water as of June 8, 2010.

For more infor­ma­tion, talk with your travel agent or con­tact Four Sea­sons Resort Mal­dives at Kuda Huraa or Four Sea­sons Resort Mal­dives at Lan­daa Giraavaru.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Four Seasons

Okay, British Air­ways won’t take you to Africa for free, but with a new pro­mo­tion they’ve announced with part­ner credit card Chase Visa, they will give you 100,000 bonus miles that can be used to travel to many amaz­ing African  gate­ways, including:

Egypt (Cairo, Hurghada, and Sharm el Sheikh)
Kenya (Nairobi)
Mau­ri­tius
Morocco (Mar­rakech)
Namibia (Wind­hoek)
South Africa (Cape Town, Dur­ban, Johan­nes­burg, Port Eliz­a­beth)
Tan­za­nia (Dar Es Salaam)
Uganda (Entebbe)
Zam­bia (Liv­ing­stone, Lusaka)
Zim­babwe (Harare)

So how do you get this prac­ti­cally free trip to Africa? By sign­ing up for an unprece­dented bonus mile deal: earn 100,000 miles with a new British Air­ways Visa Sig­na­ture Card from Chase.

Card Ben­e­fits

• receive 50,000 miles after your first purchase
• spend $2,000 within three months of open­ing your card and receive an addi­tional 50,000 miles
• earn 1.25 miles for each $1 spent
• earn 2.5 miles for money spent on BA purchases
• spend $30,000 in a cal­en­dar year and you’ll receive a 2-for-1 com­pan­ion award certificate
• $50 off a British Air­ways flight if booked before Decem­ber 31, 2009 (for travel before the end of 2010)

This promo is espe­cially entic­ing since British Air­ways offers what they call “House­hold Accounts.” This means you can com­bine miles with any­one liv­ing at the same address. That makes man­ag­ing miles SO much eas­ier! You’ll retain your own Exec­u­tive Club mem­ber­ship but your mileage bal­ances will be combined.

You may use British Air­ways miles on any OneWorld air­line, including:

Amer­i­can Air­lines
Cathay Pacific
Finnair
Iberia
Japan Air­lines
LAN
Malev
Quan­tas
Royal Jordanian

Other British Air­ways part­ners also include:

Aer Lin­gus
Alaskan Air­lines
Brus­sels Air­lines
Caribbean Air­lines
Mexicana

This British Airways/Chase Visa promo is def­i­nitely some­thing to look into, espe­cially if you’ll be trav­el­ing to Africa in the com­ing years. I know that’s how I’ll spend my miles! Apply for the card now.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

South African Airways

South African Air­ways is run­ning a promo for roundtrip econ­omy air from New York or Wash­ing­ton, D.C., from Novem­ber 1–December 9, 2009 and Jan­u­ary 7–April 30, 2010. The roundtrip price is $930 per per­son. Sim­i­lar fares are avail­able from other U.S. gateways.

Here’s the fine print: Fare is for travel in econ­omy class and inclu­sive of fuel sur­charges. Valid for travel Novem­ber 1 to Decem­ber 9, 2009 and Jan­u­ary 7 to April 30, 2010. Seats are lim­ited and may not be avail­able on all flights. Travel taxes are addi­tional. Can­cel­la­tions before depar­ture are sub­ject to a $250 penalty and no shows are non-refundable. After depar­ture, tick­ets are non-refundable. Changes prior to depar­ture are not per­mit­ted. Changes after depar­ture are sub­ject to a $250 fee. Tick­et­ing must be com­pleted within 48 hours after reser­va­tions are made. Max­i­mum stay is 12 months. Fare does not include (a) Pas­sen­ger Facil­ity Charges of up to $18 USD depend­ing upon the itin­er­ary cho­sen (b) Fed­eral Seg­ment Fee of $3.60 USD per flight seg­ment (flight seg­ment is defined as one take­off and one land­ing) © Sep­tem­ber 11th Secu­rity Fee of $2.50 USD per flight seg­ment that orig­i­nates at a U.S. point (d) inter­na­tional gov­ern­ment taxes and fees of up to $200 vary­ing by des­ti­na­tion and cur­rency exchange rates at the time of pur­chase. Addi­tional bag­gage charges may apply.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of South African Airways