A Geographic Expeditions tour of India, the awe-inspiring Taj Mahal included, is one of 13 itineraries worldwide that are on offer for less.

by Katherine Hottinger on Travel Deals

Before you start leaving comments about how this Deal of the Day is unaffordable, here's a disclaimer: We know, we know. A thousand bucks off a trip that will cost nearly 10 grand for two people from start to finish is hardly bargain-basement.

But if you've got the means, as well as two to three weeks to spend on the other side of the world, delving beneath the surface of a different culture and gaining access to authentic experiences that are otherwise off-limits, you'll want to jump on Geographic Expeditions' unprecedented discounts. GeoEx is one of the world's premier tour companies, employing local experts to deliver unforgettable trips to a sophisticated, inquisitive, and truly interesting clientele. And GeoEx never reduces its prices. Except now.

The tours with price breaks are to Bhutan, China, Ecuador, India, Laos, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam. Prices represent the starting rate for two travelers on a fully booked group tour and do not include international flights. Here's a small sampling:

* INDIA: Taj to Tiger: A 14-day tour of India's iconic attractions, from Varanasi to the Taj Mahal to an elephant safari. You'll pay: $7,770. You'll save: $1,600.

* TANZANIA: The Real Kilimanjaro: A 15-day safari and trek takes a slower, less traveled route up the mountain to reach the "true summit," Uhuru Point, rather than the lower Gilman Point, which is the goal of many other expeditions. You'll pay: $7,815. You'll save: $2,000 on the October 25, 2009 departure.

* TURKEY: Sail the Sapphire Seas: A 16-day cruise and walk along Turkey's Emerald Coast, with stops at Oludeniz's forested lagoon, the partially submerged tombs at Kekova, and the ruins of Aphrodisias. You'll pay: $6,145. You'll save: $1,100. 

The bonus: Travelers who sign up for GeoEx trips have the peace of mind that comes with the knowledge that their visit directly benefits the local community. Local guides, cooks, drivers, and artisans are feeling the pinch of the economic downturn, and GeoEx is hoping that its discounts will attract more visitors, thus allowing these locals to continue earning a living.

Book by: August 15, 2009.

Travel dates: These vary by destination, but fall in the coming autumn and winter through the end of 2009.

How to book: Call GeoEx at 800-777-8183.

Holy coastal view: Cape Town's Twelve Apostles Hotel is named for the mountains it fronts.

by Katherine Hottinger on Travel Deals

As Wendy wrote in her recent column on destinations where your dollar will stretch farthest, now's a great time to visit South Africa, what with the rand trading at near lows. A current offer from South African Airways Vacations makes it even more tempting:

Its "Cape Town on Sale" package gives you roundtrip airfare from New York or Washington, D.C., plus four nights in a standard room at the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List-rated Twelve Apostles Hotel & Spa, for $1,819 per person after taxes and fees. The airfare itself ($1,720 after fees and taxes) is only $10 less than it was last year, but the rate at the Twelve Apostles ($198 for two people sharing for four nights) is 82% less. Altogether, the $1,819 package price represents savings of 20%.

Also included in the price: Three days' breakfasts, and transportation between the airport and the hotel.

Book by: There is no expiration date, but booking is based on availability.

For travel from: August 16 - 31, 2009.

How to book: Call South African Airways Vacations at 888-722-4872 and ask for the "Cape Town on Sale" package.

by Wendy Perrin

Yikes. I've fallen behind in answering your travel questions again! Instead of holding onto them till I get a chance to research them thoroughly (sometime in 2010), I'm gonna go ahead and post the latest batch here, in hopes that the savvy readers of this blog -- and there are a lot of you! -- will weigh in with your input and perhaps even answer them for me. Here's one from mk43photo:

"I recently found Exquisite Safaris, which will plan a custom trip with prices in the luxury category. How can I investigate/check on this travel planner? Do you have any information on this travel planner?"

I'm afraid I don't. Exquisite Safaris is not on my annual list of top travel specialists -- a list that includes seven safari planners --  but that doesn't mean it's not the right travel company for your needs.

Have any of you personally traveled with Exquisite Safaris?  If so, when was your trip, what did you like, and what did you dislike?

by Wendy Perrin

This one comes from reader Mollykins: "We are interested in a first-class trip to South Africa, with a stay in one of the luxury camps. An extension to Namibia is being considered. Can you recommend a travel agent, or more than one, who might have the expertise we are looking for? I have tried to access your travel agent list on the Web site without success."

Yeah, the 2007 Top Travel Specialists List online is hard to find . . . and even harder to navigate. Definitely use the updated 2008 List that is about to come out in print in our August issue. Also peruse the feedback about the different travel specialists that is being shared by readers on my new Travel Specialist User Reviews page.

I'm going to recommend you contact two very different travel planners for southern Africa (at two very different price points) and see which one you hit it off with best in an initial conversation over the phone. After the jump, I've reprinted the descriptions of these two travel agents from my upcoming August article:

What better place to be next May than Mykonos, Greece?
Photo: William Abranowicz, Conde Nast Traveler

by Brook Wilkinson

Question from reader Brianne:

"I'm going to Dubai for four days in May for a friend's birthday and want to plan a trip around it. I'd like to go on safari, but East Africa at that time is too rainy and I don't want to go all the way to South Africa. I've thought about Egypt, Greece, or Turkey. What are your suggestions?"

You're in luck, Brianne, because all of those places are fantastic in the springtime, according to some of Conde Nast Traveler's favorite travel planners. Leftheris Papageorgiou of Hellenic Adventures says:

"Spring in Greece is just magnificent. The wildflowers are in full bloom and all the venues (shops, restaurants, museums) are up and running. The weather will be in the upper 70s to low 80s in the daytime and in the upper 60s to low 70s in the evening. The one shortcoming is with regard to water activities such as swimming, snorkeling, and wind surfing: The water is generally a bit cold after the winter (though sailing would be fine). If the winter is mild, the best time to begin water activities is mid to late May; if the winter has been a cold one, the best time for water activities is June."

Click below for advice on Turkey from Earl Starkey of Sophisticated-Travel.

Flying a lightplane in the U.S. is fun. In Africa, it's fabulous.
Photo: Hanks Aero Adventures

by Stephan Wilkinson

Some of us are pilots, some aren't, but if you have a friend who flies, even your least-favorite brother-in-law, here's a fabulous way to tour southern Africa by air. 

Hanks Aero Adventures (no, it's not so casual an operation that it should be punctuated "Hank's Aero Adventure") is a Johannesburg company run by American pilots Nick and Christina Hanks.  It has for 10 years been putting competent U.S. lightplane pilots into its several Cessnas and Pipers, giving them three or four days of bush-flying training, and acquiring for them a good-for-90-days South African pilot's license.

Off you go, then, on a "Self Fly Safari," on a route that you and your co-travelers have laid out or that the Hankses have designed for you.  They provide all the charts and necessary airport and radio-communication information, and a typical aerial trek lasts for two weeks, though it's up to you where and for how long you want to go.  You're the boss, and it's an aeronautical "Great Drive."

The Hankses select luxury lodges for overnights, and the accent is on the ground adventures, not on endless flying.  Flight legs are short, daytime, and only in good weather.  Land, park, have a drink and stick around for two or three days.

This looks to me like something of a bargain, and here's why.

Don't invite this guy to the wedding, but he might be welcome on the honeymoon. Travel agent Nina Wennersten caught him yawning while we were in the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania.

by Brook Wilkinson

Question from reader Lbriand:

"I read your recent article on travel specialists and need some advice. I am planning my honeymoon for summer 2009 to either Africa or the Galapagos, with a focus on wildlife while still having some time alone to relax. Is there one specialist you could recommend to give us options for both trips, or is it best to talk to two different agents? We are also on a mid-range budget, so we need someone who is mindful of that."

First of all, Lbriand, you're wise to start planning to far in advance. For a special trip like this, it's never too early.

The specialists recommended by Conde Nast Traveler have earned this honor by specializing in niche markets -- a particular destination, perhaps, or a type of travel. For this reason, you should have an initial conversation with two different agents in order to narrow down your destination, and I've got just the right specialists for you to contact, both of whom I've had personal experience with:

This mystic continent has long fascinated pilot-writers -- Beryl Markham, St.-Exupery and now Scott Griffin.

by Stephan Wilkinson

As a pilot, I'm a sucker for airplane books.  Not the escapist spy novels people read on commercial flights, but books about real flying -- in lightplanes.  Here's one that non-pilots fascinated by Africa should take a look at: My Heart Is Africa, by Scott Griffin.  (It's available at Amazon for $11.53.)

Griffin is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist (he founded the remarkably generous Griffin Poetry Prize) who in 1996 jumped into his four-seat Cessna 180 and popped across the Atlantic, then all the way down to Kenya to help the famous Flying Doctors Service get its finances in order.  With the  outa-my-way attitude of so many self-made businesspeople and entrepreneurs, the challenges of flying a single-engine lightplane around some of the wildest territory on the planet didn't faze him a bit.

His wife, the well-known Toronto jewelry designer Krystyne Griffin, was up to the task as well.  She joined her husband in Nairobi and shared such adventures as...

After your guide and driver have successfully navigated you
through Djemaa el Fna Square in Marrakesh, how much should you tip them?
Photo: Melanie Acevedo, Condé Nast Traveler

by Brook Wilkinson

Question from reader NancyF:

"My husband and I are booked on a transatlantic repositioning cruise in December. We will be taking shore excursions in Morocco and the Canary Islands. I need guidelines for tipping drivers and guides. Also, may tips be given in U.S. dollars?"

Great questions, Nancy. I always make sure to find out the tipping policies before I travel -- give too little and you'll be tagged a stingy American, too much and you risk offending your guides. For some accurate figures, I bounced your question over to Mary Jean Tully of Cruise Professionals, a cruise expert on Conde Nast Traveler's annual list of the world's best travel planners (not only do we like her, our readers rave about her too). Mary Jean is hosting an October cruise aboard the Crystal Symphony with these ports and has arranged private shore excursions for the 70 clients that she'll have on board, so she knew the answers to your questions right away. 

Tipping in both regions is accepted in U.S currency, and is based on the vehicle, not the number of passengers. In Morocco, you and your husband should tip your guide $50 and your driver $20-25. In the Canary Islands, guides expect $30 and drivers $20.

Happy sailing!

by Wendy Perrin

Today I explored this ancient Roman city by the sea.

These boys are using Lifestraws to filter this seemingly undrinkable water.
Photo:  Vestegaard Frandsen, Inc.

by Brook Wilkinson

Imagine getting up each morning and not having any water. How would you brush your teeth? Make your coffee? Do the laundry? Americans take clean water for granted, but if you've traveled at all to the third world, you probably have an inkling of how tenuous the rest of the world's grasp on this daily necessity truly is.

Now, we as travelers can do something about it. A Danish company, Vestergaard Frandsen, has developed an ingenious product they call the Lifestraw. This portable water purification system, which basically looks like the straw for a really thick milkshake, can turn any source of water into clean, safe-to-drink water. I learned about this incredible invention last week while talking to Linda Friedman of Custom Safaris, an East Africa expert on Wendy's annual list of the world's best travel specialists. Linda told me that some of her clients had heard about Lifestraws, which cost only $3.50 each and last for a year, and have been fundraising so that they can deliver 1,500 straws on their next trip to Kenya this July.

If you'd like to donate to this cause and give the gift of clean water to a fellow human, visit Custom Safaris' projects page. You can learn more about the Lifestraw, and watch a video of its use, over at the Creative Think blog.

Could you shoot this guy?
Photo: Nina Wennersten/Hippo Creek Safaris

By Brook Wilkinson

There's a conversation going on over at the Gristmill about a movement in Kenya to bring back big-game hunting. Believe it or not, the sport of Ernest Hemingway and Teddy Roosevelt is alive and well in many parts of Africa. I had no idea that travelers were shooting animals with anything other than cameras until Conde Nast Traveler tackled the subject in two recent articles. First, Debra A. Klein reported that four of the Big Five (elephants, lions, leopards, black rhinos, and white rhinos) are endangered, but that all are hunted legally during safaris that bring in tens of millions of dollars. Then, while researching her piece on the shrinking population of African lions, Susan Hack discovered that hunting concessions in Tanzania can act as useful buffers between wildlife and local communities, but that the hunting industry is self-policed, and often only loosely so. In a similar vein, Graham Boynton wrote about the culling of elephant herds that some advocate for southern Africa. If you ask me, the killing of animals for sport shouldn't be allowed anywhere in the world -- but even some conservationists argue that we have to keep wildlife populations in check, and at least with legal, regulated hunting local people benefit financially. What do you think?

Majestic Mt. Kilimanjaro, Tanzania   
Photo: Kiliair.com

By Brook Wilkinson

Reader wendychang writes:

"I will be working in Kenya this summer and hope to plan a roughly 3-week excursion to include safari and summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro, taking place mid-July to early August. I will be doing this solo. First, is there a general or specific itinerary you can suggest? Second, do you have any suggestions on how to attach myself to a larger group for the Kilimanjaro summit to reduce costs? Third, do you have suggestions for particularly spectacular safari routes? Fourth, is there also a way to attach myself to a safari group to reduce costs? And fifth, are there any other "must sees" on this type of 3 week excursion?"

You've come to the right place, wendychang, because I summitted Kilimanjaro myself three years ago...

Victory! My mother, our friend John, and me on the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

...and the answers to your questions can make or break the trip. I highly recommend a group trip that takes you up Kili along a longer route, followed by a safari. Here's why:

By Wendy Perrin

On my morning train commute into Manhattan yesterday, the stranger sitting next to me managed--despite an obsessive preoccupation with his Blackberry in one hand, cell phone in the other, and Wall Street Journal in between--to notice that I was perusing an itinerary for Russia.  He asked if I was going there and said he'd been many times.  We got to talking about our favorite countries. Turned out he's a Wall Street corporate financier and seasoned international business traveler.

Twenty minutes later we were comparing the food precautions we take in different parts of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East to avoid getting sick on the job. We discussed the basics--avoiding salads, eating well-cooked meats, peeling fruit ourselves, sticking to carbonated water when the flat bottled water looks suspect--and the foods we pack for when we need to skip meals that seem unsafe.  I always take dried fruits and nuts, energy bars, and/or bread and peanut butter. He, on the other hand, swears by baby food!

By Wendy Perrin

This question came in from Conde Nast Traveler subscriber Kathy Sakko:

"Thank you for your great Villa Rental Guide (June '06).  Our next travel destination was not included in your Rolodex, but I wonder if you might have some referrals or tips anyway.  We are going to Cape Town, South Africa, in January.  Is there a company that could find us the perfect luxury villa?"

When my team and I were evaluating villa rental agents in order to produce a list of the best, we found precious few who knew South Africa well.  Indeed, the villa-rental market in that country seems quite limited.  We did, however, uncover several wonderful agents who represent properties worldwide, including some in or near Cape Town.  In order from least expensive to most expensive, they are:

Maxine Harrison of Elysian Holidays
Ian Holmes of Private World Villas
Marina Gratsos of Carpe Diem Luxury Travel