October 22, 2014

We would like to reassure our guests that there continues to be no (i.e. zero) reported Ebola cases in the 33 countries comprising the regions of Eastern, Southern, Central and Northern Africa. In West Africa, the countries of Nigeria and Senegal have been declared Ebola free by the World Health Organization while three remaining countries (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone) are still having new cases of Ebola being reported.

The affected areas in West Africa have had zero impact on East Africa and specifically Tanzania where we operate our private safaris. It is our continuing opinion that the risk of an outbreak occurring in Tanzania where we operate our safaris is exceedingly remote. Therefore, we would like to provide further reassurances to our guests by offering a generous and revised cancellation policy for all new and existing bookings with Africa Dream Safaris with immediate effect as follows:

– AFRICA DREAM SAFARIS WILL GUARANTY THAT ALL CANCELLATION FEES WILL BE WAIVED UP UNTIL 24-HOURS PRIOR TO ARRIVAL IN THE EVENT AN EBOLA OUTBREAK IS DECLARED IN ANY COUNTRY IN EAST AFRICA BY THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION.

Please allow us to demonstrate our reasoning why we believe that the risk of Ebola spreading to Tanzania to be very remote by sharing with you several relevant factors:

– The affected areas in West Africa are thousands of miles from the famous safari circuits of Tanzania. To put things in perspective, many major cities in Europe and South America are actually closer to the affected areas of West Africa. London, Paris, Rome and Rio de Janeiro are all closer in distance to the Ebola outbreak area then Arusha, Tanzania where our safaris originate.

– The primary airline (Kenya Airways) that would connect East and West Africa has suspended all flights to/from the infected countries since August.

– Entry has been suspended for passengers travelling from and through the infected countries, excluding health professionals.

– There is no viable land route by rail or road between West and East Africa. It would take several months to travel overland from West to East Africa.

– Recent encouraging news that two countries in West Africa  (Senegal and Nigeria) have successfully contained the Ebola Virus and have now been declared free from Ebola by the World Health Organization.

We hope that the above provides reassurance in travelling with Africa Dream Safaris over the remainder of 2014 and 2015. We have several happy guests currently in Tanzania on their dream safaris and many more who have just returned (check out our travelogue). We look forward to welcoming more of our esteemed guests here shortly in November and during the holiday period in December.

We are optimistic that some good comes out of this tragedy in West Africa in that the significant media attention may raise awareness on the greatly underfunded and inadequate medical facilities that exist in Africa. Though there is no denying the horrible situation in the affected Ebola areas of West Africa, the much larger humanitarian crisis in Africa still remains AIDS and many other widespread and easily treatable conditions and diseases. Sadly, there are roughly 1 million deaths reported in Africa from AIDS each year.

We urge all our upcoming guests to stop by the F.A.M.E. facility in Karatu for a brief tour and presentation and learn more about how Africa Dream Safaris is making a real difference in the lives of local Tanzanians by sponsoring quality medical care. You can read more about Africa Dream Safaris and F.A.M.E. here.