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Emeralds in the rough

Whenever I’m asked when the best time to go on safari is, my enthusiastic –  if rather unhelpful – answer is “it’s always a good time to be on safari’. So, with a view to being slightly more helpful, I wanted to talk a little about Emerald Season. Conventional wisdom for years has been that […]

Lords of Greystoke 2.0

Over a decade ago, I first visited Greystoke Mahale. It left its mark on me then and has lived rent free in my head ever since. I went back again this year and immediately renewed its tenancy. Mahale is an interesting case study in the way that the experience of going on safari has evolved […]

The Problem With The Comfort Zone

The world is forever moving towards complexity, leaving us to face down bigger and bigger questions with every trip around the sun. The world of travel is no exception, and the inter-connected complexities of over-tourism, climate change and now COVID make planning decisions more complicated than ever. Questions abound, and for the more philosophical among […]

Safari In The Time Of Covid

I think I speak for all of us at the Pig when I say that we’re chomping at the bit to be back on the road. But trying to figure out should one travel let alone can one travel, right now is a pretty complicated dance. There’s a lot to take into consideration, to put it […]

Social Distancing in Mahale Mountains

Times have changed, but then again in some places they haven’t. As social distancing and seeing people in masks becomes the new normal, I’m reminded of a place where this has always been the status quo –  visiting the chimps of Mahale. Such precautions have been in place ever since Nomad Tanzania opened Greystoke Mahale, […]

Chem Chems, Little and Big

On my most recent visit to Tanzania, I finally managed to visit a place that’s been on Trufflepig’s radar for several years now – Chem Chem, and its smaller but equally charming sibling, Little Chem Chem. Hopes were high and I am glad to say we were not disappointed. The lodge and accompanying tented camp that the owners […]

The Moveable Feast

From the air, the herds looks like a vast black and tan army on the march. Endless columns of Wildebeest move south to the Mara River, assembling in staging areas as if preparing for an invasion of the Serengeti. Almost two million animals make the crossing, in groups of a few hundred to tens of […]

Going Small on Safari

The thing most people don’t know about safari in Africa is that it’s not all about seeing the big animals. Of course the sight of your first elephant in the wild is impressive (even more so if it’s charging you), and hearing a lion’s bellowing roar will rock your eardrums like nothing else. But when […]

Make Like a Tree and Leave

Sometimes—you might even say often—we travel to escape. When routines become audible like the meshing of gears, we feel the compulsion to lose ourselves, to shed skin. Some places encourage fantasies of time travel—where we imagine ourselves living as adults in a different age. Take the ancient Medina of Fez for example, or the caves […]

A Sandy Love Story

Love is in the air. Mostly because we’re trying desperately to ward off the snowy chill of February, but also because of that heart-shaped holiday awaiting us at the end of the week. Whether you think it’s a perfect time for romance or a total Hallmark sham, you can’t lose if you simply look at […]

Conquering Kilimanjaro

I’m a big fan of delayed gratification; a little hard work beforehand makes the reward that much sweeter. For example, when eating lobster (my favourite meal), I’ll start with the legs and the little flanges at the tip of the tail, twisting and tweezing out even the smallest fibre of meat until I can barely […]

East Vs. South

Every campfire conversation in Africa promises a lifetime of embellishment, exaggeration and sweeping generalization. Having sat around many a campfire myself, you’ll have to forgive me the indulgence. I’ve heard many a Kenyan take pot shots at Southern African safaris, and Southern Africans are no less opinionated, so I’ll try here to present a balanced […]

Beyond the Safari

We all want to see lions, giraffes and elephants – these exotic animals have captured our imaginations from a very young age. For most tourists, a trip to Africa means a trip to see the lions, giraffes and elephants, but moving past this simple declaration they become quickly paralyzed by all the choice. This is […]

‘Tis the Reason

Okay, so you haven’t quite gotten around to planning that late December holiday getaway. You don’t need more guilt heaped on your work-weary shoulders. But you do need some help. The Christmas to New Year’s travel window is a busy one, so there’s no more time to waste. Here’s a rundown of of what could […]

The Wild West

Nestled in the depths of the somewhat obscure Katavi National Park, far out in the western reaches of Tanzania, is a camp called Chada Katavi. If you look at a map it’s a touch closer to the Democratic Republic of Congo than to the Serengeti. In other words, the beaten path is nowhere to be seen. […]

Where to go in 2013

Let’s go out on a limb and predict that the world isn’t going to end tomorrow. Christmas and New Year’s will come and go, and then those of us in the northernmost parts of the northern hemisphere will enter what one Trufflepig planner calls “the long, dark tea time of the soul.” Give your soul […]