Africa, Arabia, & The India Ocean Cruises

Africa is the cradle of mankind's evolution. It is at once an awe inspiring continent, but yet very humbling. It is a continent of vast contrasts, with its northern half mostly desert, and whose southern half is flush with rich vegetation and thousands of square miles of protected animal kingdoms.

From Alexandria, you can view King Tut's tomb in the Valley of the Kings, and then cross the Nile to view the Pyramids and the iconic Sphinx. Next, sail through the Suez Canal to Sharm El Sheikh and discover its enormous wealth of Egyptian artifacts. Exit the Suez Canal and travel east around the Arabian Peninsula to Dubai. Be sure to arrange a trip to Petra, in Jordan, which was carved out of the sheer red rock cliffs over 2,000 years ago.

Sailing across the Indian Ocean, you will reach Mumbai where you definitely want to visit the Taj Mahal, the “Marvel in Marble,” Shah Jahan's monument to eternal love. Traveling further south along the west Indian shoreline, you can visit the vibrant cities of Mangalore, and Cochin. Sail west across the Indian Ocean to Port Louis on the island of Mauritis. If you are making a stopover, take time to visit the city’s China Town, where the strong smell of the spices and ingredients proper to Chinese cuisine will give you a real impression of China.

Heading further west, you will come to the eastern shore of South Africa, where you will find several entry ports that will allow access to the most wonderful natural game preserves in the world, presenting the true untamed nature of this magnificent continent. You can take an adventurous safari trip in open air jeeps through Etosha National Park in Namibia, home to elephants, giraffe, rhino and lions. Make reservations to stay at one of the modern Safari lodges. Kruger National Park in South Africa is one of the largest in the world, and offers easy viewing of the "Big Five," lions, leopards, rhinos, elephants and cape buffalo. A safari through the Maasai Mara, which forms the northern extension of the massive Serengeti, will make you feel like you are in one of the many movies and TV shows that have filmed there. Here you will find the highest density population of lions in the world. This is also the point where two million wildebeest and zebra migrate each year to their grazing grounds.

While staying in Cape Town, you can venture out to the Cape of Good Hope where you will witness penguins flocking off of Boulders Beach. You definitely want to witness two of the greatest sites in Southern Africa-Victoria Falls, where the rushing river creates the biggest curtain of falling water in the world, and is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and the Botswana Chobe Game Preserve, home to the world’s largest remaining elephant population.

For a much slower pace, you can sip your way through the vineyards, cellars and breath taking beauty of Cape Wineland, where you can experience actual wineries making their famous victuals, and participate in wine tasting events. Back in Cape Town, you will want to visit Table Mountain, one of South Africa's iconic land marks. Its flat plateau is often covered by cloud formations that give it a white "table cloth" effect.