Rough Guide’s 10 Best Jungle Lodges In The Amazon

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I stumbled on this list while researching a trip for next year.

Rough Guide’s 10 Best Jungle Lodges In The Amazon

So far, I have only been to 2 of them – Cristalino & Refugio Amazonas.  I am surprised Tambopata Research Centre didn’t make the list.

Refugio Amazonas Room

Refugio Amazonas Room

Hopefully, next year I will be adding one more to my list of Amazon jungle lodges – in Ecuador!  The contenders are:

Napo Wildlife Centre

La Selva

Sani Lodge

I will be targeting a visit to the two major parrot clay licks in Ecuador which is located near all 3 of these.  Since I can’t use points for the stay, money will definitely be a consideration.  I’m still in the beginning research stage so if anyone has stayed at any of these lodges I would love to know about it!

 

Mauritius Fody (Foudia rubra)

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The Mauritius fody (Foudia rubra) is a rare species of bird in the weaver family. It is endemic to the island of Mauritius. It is classified by BirdLife International as being endangered.  Photo from Wikpedia.

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They are confined to the south-west interior of Mauritiusin the Black River Gorges National Park.  They can be easily confused with the Madagascar Fody, I wish I had know that when I was there!  I just assumed all the cute little red and brown birds were the Mauritius one but they were probably Madagascar Fodies.

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LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MAURITIUS FODY

Wikipedia

Birdlife

Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust

Mauritian Wildlife Foundation

 

VIDEO

Great mini-doco about the Mauritius Fody.  I didn’t realize that there was a similar species called the Madagascar Fody.

Eco-Lite: Casela Nature Park, Mauritius

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Mauritius is a destination that appeals to all kinds of travelers with its beautiful beaches and family friendly atmosphere.  The Casela Nature Park is a great option for families and others who want a quick look at some local and exotic birds.  There are no Echo Parakeets here.

OVERVIEW

Out of sight down Rivière Noire road, lies 14 hectares of lush green which is now home to a big variety of fauna and flora. Some 1,500 birds, a selection of wildcats, zebras, giant tortoises, long-tailed monkeys, among other species, can be watched on site.   There are also plenty of activities  like canyoning or hiking Via Ferrata, double and triple ziplines and the adventurous cable bridges.   It kind of reminded me of Busch Gardens in Florida, same kind of appeal to families in particular.

HOW DO YOU GET THERE?

Casela Nature Park is easily reached from the main road between Curepipe and Flic en Flac.    There is a small shopping centre on the intersection of the A3 and Flic en Flac road and the park is signposted.

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HOW MUCH IS IT?

Basic admission is fine if you just want to see the birds.  There are additional charges for other activities.

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HOW LONG SHOULD YOU SPEND THERE AND WHAT SHOULD YOU SEE?

We arrived pretty late in the afternoon and had just under an hour to scurry around and see the birds.  This turned out to be enough time for what we wanted.  We only saw the birds, didn’t have time to see or do anything else.

VALUE TO CONSERVATION

No affiliation with any conservation projects.

WHERE TO STAY NEARBY ON POINTS

Flic en Flac is the closest town although no where is really far on Mauritius.  The Hilton in Flic en Flac has rooms starting at 40,000 Honors points.

PHOTOS

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The highlights for me was seeing the wild birds such as this Madagascar (not Mauritian)  Fody flying around the grounds.

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Getting Around Mauritius – Rental Car VS Bus

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Regrettably, we didn’t have a lot of time to spend in Mauritius.  We aren’t the beach holiday type (nor would we travel all the way from Australia to Mauritius simply for a beach) so we had to have a well organized plan to decided on what kind of transport we needed.  The main purpose of the trip was to see the Echo Parakeets in Black River Gorges National Park.  The hotel we stayed at (on points of course) was the nearest points option to BRGNP, the Mauritius Hilton at Flic en Flac.  I also wanted to squeeze in a quick visit to the Casela Bird Park and the 7 Coloured Sands at Chamarel.

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RENTAL CARS

With such a short amount of time, only a rental car would do.  The one thing I found frustrating is that the majors – Hertz, Avis, etc only seemed to have manual transmissions at a reasonable cost.  I can only drive an automatic, especially if I will be driving through towns.  The best option was going through a rental car consolidator which had more options with smaller car hire companies that offered automatics at reasonable prices.  I checked 3 options – Expedia, Holiday Autos & DriveAway.  All prices for these examples are in Australian dollars but if you do a quote, it will default to your own currency.

Expedia

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Holiday Autos

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DriveAway

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Holiday Autos had the best price back then just as they do now so I booked with them for First since it was the better deal for a better car.  The rate includes excess up to 15,000 MUR which is around $450 USD or $500 AUD and this amount was covered by my travel insurance policy.  Always check before booking a rental car what the insurance covers and what the excess is!

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Here’s the actual car.  As usual, I did a full inspection and made sure the employee knew I was doing it.  It did take a while for them to fetch the car from their depot in town and we had to sit there and wait.  I had given my flight number and they have a display on flight times in the office which is shared by all car hire companies so they could have been more proactive in getting the car there on time to meet the flight.  I returned it a bit early and once again did the inspection, got the final receipt and had no issues while returning it so First was a good choice for me!

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LOCAL BUSES

Traveling by local buses can be fun, is usually the cheapest option and a good way to meet the locals.  Mauritius does have a large bus network and if you have plenty of time to spare and not so much money, this could be a good option for you.

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With so much to see in such a short time, there was no way this was going to work!  Here is an example for a route from near the airport to Flic en Flac (not the Hilton, just the town center).

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TAXIS, TRANSFERS & TOUR BUSES

Just like any other country, Mauritius offers all of the above – at a price of course!  We didn’t use any of these options so I can’t really comment on them.  When you arrive at the airport, there are brochures with tour ads so you can call them directly or book through your hotel.  When we were at Chamarel, there were lots of tour buses there so obviously lots of people do use this option.

Scenes from the road between the airport and Casela Bird Park.

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All things considered, I was happy with my choice of rental car as the best means of transport in Mauritius.

Getting To Mauritius With Frequent Flyer Miles

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Although most frequent flyer programs group Mauritius with Africa to determine it’s zone, there are far fewer options because not many airlines fly there.

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STAR ALLIANCE

South African Airways is the only Star Alliance member to serve Mauritius so you will have to get to JNB, then connect to Mauritius.  Availability on this route isn’t the best and sometimes only available in business class so if you can only afford an economy ticket this won’t work for you.

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Assuming you can find availability, one way (double for RT) awards would cost:

NORTH AMERICA – MAURITIUS 40,000 Y    80,000 J

EUROPE – MAURITIUS                30,000 Y    55,000 J

AUSTRALIA – MAURITIUS            50,000 Y     75,000 J

Given the distances involved, it is much better to combine Mauritius with South Africa and have a better chance of finding those elusive seats!

ONEWORLD

The only OneWorld carrier serving Mauritius is British Airways so the best programs to look at are American AAdvantage for long-haul segments and British Airways Avios for short hops from JNB-MRU.

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Beware of transiting LHR enroute to Mauritius as the airport taxes can be extremely high.  Try to route on QR via DOH or EY via AUH to JNB, then pick up the JNB-MRU on BA.  Assuming you can find availability, one way (double for RT) awards would cost:

NORTH AMERICA – MAURITIUS 37,500 Y    62,500 J

EUROPE – MAURITIUS                30,000 Y    37,500 J

AUSTRALIA – MAURITIUS            37,500 Y     50,000 J

American currently offers the best deals on mileage awards to Africa but these rates are unlikely to hold once the merger with US Airways is completed so if Mauritius/Africa is on your bucket list, this is a good time to book your trip!

SKYTEAM

Air France is the only SkyTeam member serving Mauritius but you can use Delta (if anyone is still a member of Delta) to book these awards.  If you are using credit card points or transferring from SPG, then Flying Blue is your best bet.  All SkyTeam members charge YQ fuel surcharge on these tickets so you are better off using United or American for long haul awards.  Here’s a couple examples for a North American award and a European award.  Flying Blue won’t let you route from Australia via Europe to Mauritius.

MRU FB1 MRU FB2AIR MAURITIUS

Air Mauritius dominates the market. Here is a list of their destinations from MRU.

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They are a partner of Air France Flying Blue but they are not a member of SkyTeam.  If you want to use Flying Blue miles to book Air Mauritius you will have to call in.  I tried on the MRU-TNR (Antananarivo) route but the fuel surcharges were so high it would have been a total waste of SPG points which can be better utilized elsewhere.  If you are booking a cash ticket, then Air Mauritius does have a lot of options, keep an eye on their website for specials.

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Buy Avios For A Bargain $12.85 – $13.00 Per 1000 Block — If You Are Lucky!

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Anytime you book an award ticket with Avios, you will be offered 5 options for payment.  Each will have an Avios price which gradually decreases when you add more cash to the equation.  The cost of these extra Avios will vary with each flight you book.

When I was booking the flights from Jo-burg to Mauritius (JNB-MRU), I noticed there was a huge bargain if I paid more cash.

This flight operates with Euro-business so don’t bother booking business class.  If you are really lucky, you may even get an empty seat beside you in economy!

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Avios1

British Airways sells you blocks of 1000 Avios for between $28 – $35ish per block of 1000 depending on how many you buy.  This is NOT a good deal!  However if you do the math on the 5 options presented to you when you book an award ticket, you may see something like this.  Don’t worry that I have some greyed out options, this is only because I only have 6000 Avios in my account after last year’s burn-a-thon.

Avios2

As you can see, there are 3 really great options to buy Avios for between $12.85 – $13.00 for a block of 1000, less than half the normal price.  I basically got lucky on this route.  The options presented when I booked the JNB-PLZ-JNB segments only offered around $16.00 per block of 1000.  Each route will be different and you will have to do the math each time to see if you got a bargain.

If you need to stock up because you know you have more redemptions coming up and you can’t get free Avios from credit cards, this is the best way to go.  But don’t buy Avios on spec if you won’t be using them in the near future as they may devalue.  If you usually redeem for short-haul economy on flights that would otherwise be expensive to purchase such as the LAN intra South America routes, you can save a bundle by using these options!

JNB Airport & Comair Flight To Mauritius

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I have already blogged a bit about the facilities available in the domestic terminal and we were in business class so had access to a lounge.  In this case, we were simply in economy so no lounge access from the ticket.  I had planned to use Priority Pass to get us into the lounge but by the time we got through the security line, there was no time.  I changed what was left of the Rand to Mauritius Rupees, then wandered into a few shops to kill time.

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High fashion in the airport!

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It was Nov 8 but they already had Christmas decorations up.  I gave into temptation and bought that pink cushion cover and another similar one in black because the had birds on them.

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When we got to the gate, people were already in line so we let the line proceed and jumped in when it slowed down.  We had decent seats and only carry-on backpacks so I wasn’t very worried.

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Comair is a subsidiary of British Airways and has their livery.  Space is easily searchable on either BA.com or AA.com.

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I grabbed a quick shot of the “business class” cabin as we went to our seats.  Identical to economy (Euro-business) with a blocked middle seat.  Not worth wasting Avios on.  The flight wasn’t full and we got an empty middle seat anyway!  The 1908 mile flight falls into the 3rd band and costs 10,000 Avios economy and 20,000 business.

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Hotel Review: InterContinental Johannesburg O.R Tambo Airport

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Odds are that either arriving or departing, you will need an overnight stay near JNB airport.  Fortunately for the miles & points savvy travelers, the best option by far is the InterContinental Johannesburg O.R Tambo Airport…………….and it is readily available on IHG points!  Whether you use IHG points or a Chase Free night as we did, you will be getting a huge bargain as this hotel generally goes for over $300 a night!

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We got there pretty late at night, probably around 9pm as I am always very thorough about returning a car.  I want to watch them check it in and make sure they don’t have any problems with it and preferably get a written document that all is well.  The nice thing is that this hotel is right next to the garage where you return your car and right across the street from the airport.  You can’t get anymore convenient than that!

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The rooms are beautifully furnished.  I am not sure if we were upgraded, I was too tired to bother asking.  We just wanted a shower and to get some sleep!  I did spend some time on the wifi which was pretty good.  I tried the complimentary wine but didn’t like it, it was too sweet.

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Airport view out the window.

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In the morning while checking out, I could appreciate the beautiful waterfall decor.  This really is a nice hotel, I was sorry we didn’t have more time here to check out the facilities………….but Mauritius beckoned and we had an early flight!

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Avios Devaluation Won’t Affect Most Eco-tourists

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I must admit to a bit of a panic when I woke up to a Feedly full of blog titles decrying the Avios devaluation.  I also got an email from Executive Club with the same information.  To make a long story short, it shouldn’t worry most eco-tourists.  The best use of Avios – short-haul economy class has been thankfully left alone.  The price has gone up on routes which are popular with many mainstream travelers, especially in business and first class.

Here is the old chart.

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And the new chart.

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They have introduced off-peak levels on British Airways flights.  This would have gotten me a good discount on the short-haul flights I booked on Comair last year.  Partner flights such as the ones I recommend for eco-tourists intra-South America and intra-Australia on Lan, Tam & Qantas respectively are still the same as before only now they are classified as “peak” since they are partners.

Bottom line:  If you earn miles from credit cards, not flying and redeem on short-haul economy, you have nothing to worry about!

A Few Cautions About Driving From Kruger To JNB

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If you Google-map it, Kruger to Jo-burg doesn’t look like that big a drive, about 5 hours.

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What Google doesn’t tell you is just how slow the traffic can be!  We were lucky we left by 2pm and I was expecting to hit JNB by 7pm driving at a good speed.

We left through Malelane Gate and took advantage of the clean restrooms.  There is also a map here if you are just arriving and want to know where the latest sightings have been.

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The main highway passes through some pretty countryside, we even saw some birds but we were going too fast to stop.

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This is where it got fun (not).  The traffic was backed up over an hour with trucks coming from Mozambique heading to Jo-burg.  It may look benign for those people headed to Kruger but no such luck.  After we got past a small town, it was backed up even worse!  Remember, you have to be at your restcamp before curfew which varies around 6pm-6:30-ish so make allowances for bad traffic.  The jam was so bad I was wondering if some people would get there in time.  The yellow highlighting is where the traffic was backed up.

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The blazing sunset was awesome but knowing we would have to drive much of the road in the dark not so awesome.

IMG_4437 IMG_4438Expect to have to overtake lots of trucks any time of day or night.  It’s a good paved highway but usually one lane in each direction and trucks will NOT pull over and let you by.  You generally have to cross into the opposite lane to overtake and hope nothing comes out of a side road.  It was pretty nerve-wracking!   Petrol stations can be few and far between so fill up at the first one you see after leaving Kruger.  Some of them don’t take credit cards so be prepared to pay cash.

There are a few toll gates and you will need cash for the ones in the rural areas but once you get to the general Jo-burg/Pretoria area they will be electronic toll gates.  Your rental car will have a transponder and you should hear a beep as you go under them.  Don’t worry, they will be charged at cost a couple days after you return the car and most car hire companies don’t add an administrative fee.  Avis didn’t at least!