Happy Birth­day, Goron­gosa National Park! On this day in 1960, the Goron­gosa Reserve in Mozam­bique was degreed a national park. It had been a game reserve since 1935.

You may have heard about Goron­gosa when reporter Scott Pel­ley fea­tured the national park on 60 Min­utes in a seg­ment called “Sav­ing a Global Trea­sure.” View the video clip of Goron­gosa on 60 Min­utes.

This page will be con­tin­u­ally updated to archive a list of the lux­ury accom­mo­da­tions on the Zam­bia side of Vic­to­ria Falls. If you know of an option that’s not listed, please let us know!

Islands of Siank­aba
Post­net 621, Pri­vate Bag E891, Lusaka
Tel: 260 211 260 279

The Royal Liv­ing­stone
Mosi-oa-Tunya Road, Liv­ing­stone
Tel: 260 213 321 122

Tongabezi Lodge & Sind­abezi Island
Pri­vate Bag 31, Liv­ing­stone
Tel: 260 213 327 450
Rates: from $450 per per­son per night

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo of Sind­abezi cour­tesy of Tongabezi Lodge

This page will be con­tin­u­ally updated to archive a list of the game lodges in Zambia’s Lower Zam­bezi National Park. If you know of a lux­ury lodge that’s not listed, please let us know!

Ana Tree Lodge
P.O. Box 32661, Lusaka
Tel: 260 211 250 730
Rates: $575 per per­son per night (doesn’t include the bar)

Chi­awa Camp
P.O. Box 30972, Lusaka
Tel: 260 211 261 588

Chongwe River Camp
P.O. Box CA 102, Lusaka
Tel: 260 211 278 248

Kasaka River Lodge
Tel: 260 211 256 201
Rates: from $395 per per­son per night

Royal Zam­bezi Lodge
P/Bag CH42, Lusaka
Tel: 260 211 840 682
Rates: from $380 per per­son per night

Sanc­tu­ary Zam­bezi Kulefu Camp
Rates: from $400 per per­son per night

Sausage Tree Camp
P.O. Box 35139, Lusaka 10101
Tel: 260 211 845 204

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Sausage Tree Camp

I’ve been doing a lot of online hol­i­day shop­ping and recently picked up some nice travel gifts at Magellan’s Travel Sup­plies. When my items arrived, the box also con­tained a flyer about Magellan’s part­ner­ship with a non­profit orga­ni­za­tion called SEE Inter­na­tional.

Accord­ing to the orga­ni­za­tion, 75 per­cent of the world’s 37 mil­lion cases of blind­ness are actu­ally treat­able, mak­ing the loss of sight a human­i­tar­ian emergency.

SEE Inter­na­tional puts together teams of vol­un­teer oph­thal­mol­o­gists to go where their help is needed, includ­ing places like Thai­land, Mex­ico, Bangladesh, Viet­nam, and Zimbabwe.

Since 1974 SEE’s eye sur­geons have per­formed more than 360,000 sight-storing procedures.

Magellan’s has been a cor­po­rate part­ner of SEE Inter­na­tional for over 20 years, pro­vid­ing travel kits for sur­geons as well as adver­tis­ing out­reach to its customers.

Expe­di­tions to the fol­low­ing coun­tries are sched­uled for 2010: Swazi­land, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Ghana, The Gam­bia, Nige­ria, Namibia, and Kenya.

Dona­tions are tax deductible and may be made online via a secure server. Visit See International’s web­site or call 1-(805)963‑3303 and men­tion that you heard about the orga­ni­za­tion from Magellan’s Travel Supplies.

Sur­gi­cal Eye Expe­di­tions (SEE) Inter­na­tional is a 501©(3) non­profit orga­ni­za­tion. Tax ID #31–1682275.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo of Maa­sai woman and child cour­tesy of iStockPhoto.com

If you’re a mem­ber of HHonors, Hilton’s fre­quent guest pro­gram, you’ll want to keep tabs on the upcom­ing open­ing of Hilton Wind­hoek in Namibia.

Hilton World­wide recently signed a man­age­ment agree­ment with Pride of Africa Hos­pi­tal­ity, Africa Pride Hos­pi­tal­ity, and United Africa Group for the first Hilton prop­erty in the country.

Mark your cal­en­dar for mid-2010. That’s when this brand new 154-room hotel will open its doors in Namibia’s cap­i­tal city.

This Hilton is espe­cially appeal­ing since it’s part of a mixed-use devel­op­ment that includes a casino, restau­rants, and bou­tiques as well as res­i­den­tial houses and offices.

The hotel is under con­struc­tion now. Stay tuned for more details as Hilton releases them.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

Photo cour­tesy of Namibia Tourism Board

Project in Zam­bia with Plan Australia

Do you remem­ber the 1999 movie Office Space with Jen­nifer Anis­ton and Ron Liv­ingston? It’s a favorite of mine and if you haven’t seen it, I’ll need to explain one of the plot lines in order to set up this blog post.

Do you remem­ber the 1999 movie Office Space with Jen­nifer Anis­ton and Ron Liv­ingston? It’s a favorite of mine and if you haven’t seen it, I’ll need to explain one of the plot lines in order to set up this blog post.

Liv­ingston plays Peter Gib­bons, who works in an admin­is­tra­tive role at a com­puter com­pany called Initech. When his friends are laid off, they con­spire to devise a way to skim frac­tions of pen­nies off all finan­cial trans­ac­tions being han­dled by Initech. Con­sider it micro-embezzling.

Think about it… frac­tions of a dol­lar seem like chump change on its own, but com­bine all those frac­tions together and we’re talk­ing big money.

That’s sort of the con­cept that The Foot­prints Net­work, based in Aus­tralia, has embraced to fight poverty across the globe. They believe that micro donations—between $1 and $5—made by con­sumers dur­ing online trans­ac­tions can help fund com­mu­nity devel­op­ment projects.

The net­work funds pro­grams that upgrade farm­ing, edu­ca­tion, access to clean water, and sight restoration—all in an effort to elim­i­nate poverty. One of the cur­rent projects on the docket focuses on improv­ing farm­ing in Zam­bia. This will, in turn, increase access to food for the poor­est fam­i­lies in the region. Plan Aus­tralia is over­see­ing the train­ing program.

Founded in 2004 by WorldNomads.com after the Asian tsunami, 302,278 indi­vid­u­als have raised more than $785,383 for 53 projects around the world.

“Alle­vi­at­ing the extreme cycle of poverty and the ills that accom­pany it is everyone’s moral respon­si­bil­ity,” said Chris Novel, gen­eral man­ager of WorldNomads.com. “Yet the extent of world poverty can seem so over­whelm­ing that many of us are left feel­ing help­less and that the prob­lems are just too big for any one per­son to make a difference.”

In just five years, WorldNomads.com has devel­oped an inde­pen­dent net­work of e-commerce busi­nesses that share the same ethics and val­ues and, through tech­nol­ogy, seek to change the world by ask­ing cus­tomers spend­ing money online to make a small dona­tion to char­ity at the same time.

WorldNomads.com sup­ports all admin­is­tra­tive costs of the pro­gram so 100 per­cent of dona­tions go directly to the projects.

While the net­work is small, it is grow­ing. “We’re look­ing for more online e-commerce busi­ness part­ners to inte­grate the Foot­prints mech­a­nism into their shop­ping carts and, trans­ac­tion by trans­ac­tion, help make a dif­fer­ence,” said Noble.

This is def­i­nitely a pro­gram worth watch­ing. For more infor­ma­tion, visit The Foot­prints Network.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

South African Air­ways is offer­ing a good deal for econ­omy roundtrip travel from U.S. gate­ways to Johan­nes­burg. From now through April 30, 2010, you can fly roundtrip from New York (JFK) or Wash­ing­ton Dulles (IAD) for $950 per per­son. (Of course, you’ll also pay approx­i­mately $140 for the required gov­ern­men­tal taxes, depar­ture fees, and the Sep­tem­ber 11 secu­rity fee.)

Sim­i­lar low fares are also avail­able from other U.S. cities.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

What Else Will You Do Dur­ing the World Cup?

Are you head­ing to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa? You’re going to enjoy a few games and maybe go on safari, but have you thought about doing some ser­vice work while you’re there?

Ele­vate Des­ti­na­tions has put together a few cus­tomized com­mu­nity tours in South Africa that will show trav­el­ers some of the chal­lenges fac­ing com­mu­ni­ties in Johan­nes­burg, Dur­ban, and Cape Town. Spe­cial tours can be orga­nized for a min­i­mum of one to two days.

Sug­gested Tours in South Africa

• Johan­nes­burg—Visit com­mu­nity projects in Soweto with for­mer soc­cer play­ers such as Andre Arendse and Linda Buthelezi.
• Cape Town—Tour three dif­fer­ent city com­mu­nity empow­er­ment projects on a one-day tour.
• Dur­ban—Head to the Indigo Skate Park in the Val­ley of a Thou­sand Hills, a rural area in Dur­ban where skate board­ing has brought hope to this community.

Down­load Ele­vate Destination’s World Cup Com­mu­nity Tour­ing pdf.

For more infor­ma­tion, visit Ele­vated Des­ti­na­tions or call (617) 661‑0203.

—Andrea M. Rotondo for LuxurySafariExperts.com

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

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