Letter from East Africa.
Jonathan Scott, longtime friend of R. Crusoe & Son, is the consummate Renaissance Man—writer, artist, journalist, television host, naturalist, award-winning photographer. And now, host of an R. Crusoe & Son journey to East Africa.
Here is what Jonathan's told us over the years about Kenya and Tanzania:
Born in London in 1949, I earned a degree in zoology and made my way as a young man to the African continent. I've lived in Kenya since 1977 and married my wife, Angela, here in 1992.
I've never looked back. Indeed, I've spent my life, as has Angie, studying the habits of the remarkable animals of Kenya and Tanzania—land of the Great Migration.
Angie and I have witnessed countless Great Migrations over the years, but we still cannot resist returning each year to observe and record one of the world's greatest wildlife spectacles. It gets in your blood, doesn't it?
You could spend a lifetime in the Serengeti and Mara waiting for a typical migration. Fact is, the finer details of the herds' movements are always different. It is a dynamic process which defies predictions: no two years are ever quite the same.
Why all this about Jonathan Scott? Because R. Crusoe & Son has asked Jonathan and Angie to take a small group of us to see Kenya and Tanzania.
We are absolutely thrilled to join them on this 14-day journey. This is a rare opportunity to see East Africa through the eyes of two dedicated observers who know the territory like the backs of their hands. Of all the possible hosts in East Africa, Jonathan would be at the top of anyone's short list, not only because of his vast firsthand knowledge, but also because he is a lively, natural-born communicator. In fact, he's been doing that for decades, having published a collection of excellent books on the animals of Africa, co-presenting the American TV series "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom", co-presenting the BBC's popular "Elephant Diary" and "Big Cat Diary" series, and having graced the world with a collection of breathtaking wildlife illustrations and photographs.
In February 2013, Jonathan and Angie take a maximum of 18 Crusoe travelers to places in Kenya and Tanzania the rest of us will never reach, favorite spots where we watch, in Jonathan's words, "hundreds of thousands of wildebeest and zebra spread evenly across the land... to hear the incessant cacophony of the great herds, smell the dust churned up by a more than a million pairs of hooves. And moving among them—giving the whole scene an exquisite air of tension—the predators: lions and hyenas, cheetahs and jackals, and the elusive wild dogs."
In true R. Crusoe style, we stay at the finest accommodations along the way, share wonderful meals, and compare notes on the day's sightings and experiences over evening cocktails. On game drives with our hosts, we'll see rare Grevy's zebras, gerunuks (slender antelopes that stand on their hind legs to eat), lions, cheetahs, monkeys of many types, ostriches, dik-diks, oryx, elephants, giraffes, Cape buffalo, rhinos, hippos, incredible birds, and more incredible creatures than we can count.
As we are keeping this group small, there are a very limited number of spots left on the journey. If you are interested in joining us, please contact Kiran Chand right away at 888-490-8013 or by email at kchand@rcrusoe.com. Bookings are taken on a first come, first served basis, so don't delay.