If you're looking for something completely different for your holiday next year, my late 2019 Rwandan safari options might be just what you're after.  They're the perfect combination of breathtaking landscapes, incredible wildlife, history and culture, and really something special for the discerning and ethically-minded traveller.  I'll be there with you all the way along, sharing all those incredible African moments!

As the end of the year approaches, it's a good time to reflect on where we've come at Matson & Ridley Safaris and what you can expect from us in the years to come.

I've long admired the work of conservation organisation, African Parks, because what they do works.  They're not all talk when it comes to real wildlife conservation.  Where they take over the management of parks, like Zakouma National Park, Chad, we've seen real conservation outcomes, meaning the poaching virtually disappears and wildlife numbers swiftly pick up. They also focus on local communities bordering these parks, looking for ways to help them benefit from the wildlife, but the big impact they make is they create jobs.  In the Central African Republic, where African Parks manages Chinko National Park, home to the rare central African lion, they are the biggest employer of local people outside the capital, and the largest tax payer in the country!  Jobs means local benefits from the wildlife and especially in countries that few tourists visit, this is vital for conservation.

In the last month I've been fortunate to lead two groups of intrepid travellers to experience up close the majesty of the mountain gorillas of Rwanda.  Words do a pretty poor job of explaining how it feels when you're just metres away from one of our closest relatives in the wild green heart of Africa, but I'm going to give it a go in this blog. There's a reason why this experience is so high on many peoples' wildlife bucket lists.  It's very, very special.  And I can't tell you how impressed I am with the country of Rwanda.  I can't believe it's taken me this long to visit!  

Due to a last minute cancellation I have a place available on my epic Rwanda-Tanzania safari this August for a single lady sharing.  This is the trip of a lifetime and only available at this price due to the cancellation.  If you have always dreamed of seeing the Serengeti's Great Migration and/or trekking with the mountain gorillas, this is an unbelievable opportunity to join me and a lovely small group of 8 people in this truly spectacular wilderness, but only available for the next week!  

We are very excited to announce that our family is moving back to Australia later this year, with Andy's appointment as CEO to a ground-breaking new foundation, Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef.  We will be based in far North Queensland in Cairns, close to nature and not far from where I was born and raised a rather long time ago now.  It's a great place to raise our two young boys, Solo (now 7) and Shep (just 3 years old) and we're excited about exploring the reef and the rainforest with them after 4 years living abroad in Asia and Europe.