Easter Holiday - Africa or SE Asia?

Amp34

Amp34

Amp34

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I'm looking into where to go next easter for 3 weeks but I'm still trying to decide where to go. I know there are a few people that travel around these forums so was hoping I may get a few personal experiences.

I've narrowed it down to five locations:

Indonesia (Komodo, Papua, Borneo - as a start - NOT Bali)
Madagascar
Rwanda/Uganda - Gorillas and chimps mainly
Burma/Myanmar - Recently opened up to tourism and good to get to before it changes?
Papua New Guinea

Has anyone travelled independently around any of those places? Alternatively anyone used an reasonably priced independent tour organiser for them? I'm not adverse to companies like G Adventures/Exodus but find their itineraries a bit restrictive.
 
If I was going somewhere for three weeks over Easter I'd go to the Caucaus. Georgia and Armenia come alive for the celebrations.

From your list I'd do Madagascar, way more adventurous than the other destinations. On the Africa note, consider Ethiopia, one of the top countries I've been to out of the 70 odd I've visited.
 
I travelled round Indonesia for 8 weeks great place but you do need an element of common sense. For example that boat that has recently sunk I looked into that trip and opted against it when a local shook his head.

So I arranged to get to Komonda/Flores via a commuter boat which was still old but a lot bigger so in my eyes a lot safer:p

If you do go Mount Bromo is spectacular a lot of effort to get there but superb.
 
MickeyFinns said:
If I was going somewhere for three weeks over Easter I'd go to the Caucaus. Georgia and Armenia come alive for the celebrations.

From your list I'd do Madagascar, way more adventurous than the other destinations. On the Africa note, consider Ethiopia, one of the top countries I've been to out of the 70 odd I've visited.
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Problem is I don't really "like" people :p. I'm much more at home in the jungle or walking through a deset for a week than a big crowded event, especially now I live in London. Every so often I need a few weeks of peace and quiet to recharge a little! Ethiopia is on my list for definite, it's got some great wildlife and the mountains are supposed to be spectacular too.

Out of all of them I'd say Burma would probably be the most adventurous as it has even les tourist infrastructure than Madagascar. The big issue I have with Madagascar over Indonesia is transportation, getting around may be a lot more time consuming than Indonesia. With only three weeks relying on public transport is fraught with issues!

divaboy said:
I travelled round Indonesia for 8 weeks great place but you do need an element of common sense. For example that boat that has recently sunk I looked into that trip and opted against it when a local shook his head.

So I arranged to get to Komonda/Flores via a commuter boat which was still old but a lot bigger so in my eyes a lot safer:p

If you do go Mount Bromo is spectacular a lot of effort to get there but superb.
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Yep certainly agree with that, spent a couple of weeks in the Philippines at Christmas and you can say the same there.

What was the best parts you found there? I'm looking at possibly doing a weeks kayaking in Papua (one of the few places you can hire kayaks without a guide that I've seen there) or alternatively do a week round the komodo area (tour unfortunately) or just spend a few nights on komodo itself to get a good set of photos of them. Alongside that I was thinking of about a week to 10 days on Indonesian Borneo at a couple of national parks, again for lots of photos and hopefully seeing a few wild orangutans, if not one of the sanctuaries for a day. I'd love to go and see krakatoa as well but I hear it's expensive...

Very rough plan that I need to look into more...
 
Komodo area is pretty good , a little scripted if you know what I mean. Flores is typical local town , decent diving and I also stumbled across a disabled teaching home which rewarding.

Also stick with me here, the gilli Islands were really good. Gilli air is the one I enjoyed most. The bigger island is way to busy. Gilli air no cars can walk round the island in 45 minutes paradise in my opinion unspoilt and decent local people.

Sulawesi was good also but I fear that would be to far for period of time. Overall Indonesia is good but travelling is tiresome but because of this the rewards are huge when you get there.

If you are interested I'll try dig out some pictures but from memory I don't think I took many out of respect as the places I visited were hardly affluent.

Edit orangutans you see lots of them enroute from to Komodo Islands. Also just a thought check rainy/typhoon seasons can't remember when they are now off the top of my head.
 
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I got the impression that Komodo would be like that, but I'd be there solely for the Komodo Dragons and then get the hell out of dodge, unless I did the kayaking as well.

Mt Bromo looks stunning! I missed a couple of brilliant stratovolcanoes in Phil so would love to see one or two. It is a long way from either Komodo or Jakarta though so not sure I could do it with Kalimantan/Borneo as well, especially if I decide to do Papua, although at a 4 hour flight it's almost a holiday inside a holiday... I will definitely add it to the list though, if it's anything like other trips what I end up doing will be totally different to what I think I may do now...

When you say you can see them to and from Komodo do you mean wild ones or caged/"sanctuaries"? The orang-utans aren't the only things I want to see on Borneo but it's good to know if I don't see any there I may be able to see one somewhere else.

Rainy season is just ending in Java IIRC but it may be different elsewhere! Thanks for reminding me to check though.

EDIT: With Bromo did you go up? If so was it expensive/touristy?
 
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Quick reply Bromo there were maybe 100 backpackers there for the sunrise either walk or sand buggy. Was worth seeing obviously there was an element of tourism but nothing like Bali crap.

As for the orangtangs my memory is hazy but it was on a converted American school bus which all the locals used I shared my seat with some chickens almost stereotypical. Sure that was to catch a ferry to Flores from the island of sumbawa? Going over the mountain tops I was thought it was amazing but from look of the locals if was a regular occurrence.

Maybe thorn tree forums could help you plan an itinerary and tidy up any loose ends I've left. Wealth of knowledge over there.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/asia-south-east-asia-islands-peninsula/indonesia

Anyway as you can tell if you go indo you'll have a great time.
 
Burma is incredible, best place I've visited. Such a strangle place, quite hard to explain but it's not really like the rest of SE Asia. People are friendly and has a very interesting history, quite eye opening.
 
divaboy said:
Quick reply Bromo there were maybe 100 backpackers there for the sunrise either walk or sand buggy. Was worth seeing obviously there was an element of tourism but nothing like Bali crap.

As for the orangtangs my memory is hazy but it was on a converted American school bus which all the locals used I shared my seat with some chickens almost stereotypical. Sure that was to catch a ferry to Flores from the island of sumbawa? Going over the mountain tops I was thought it was amazing but from look of the locals if was a regular occurrence.

Maybe thorn tree forums could help you plan an itinerary and tidy up any loose ends I've left. Wealth of knowledge over there.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forums/asia-south-east-asia-islands-peninsula/indonesia

Anyway as you can tell if you go indo you'll have a great time.
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I'm not a huge fan of the Thorn tree forums, although they do have their uses for specific questions. Thanks for the info about Bromo and the trip though! :)

R4z0r said:
Burma is incredible, best place I've visited. Such a strangle place, quite hard to explain but it's not really like the rest of SE Asia. People are friendly and has a very interesting history, quite eye opening.
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Whereabouts did you go when you were there? Did you do it independently or with a group?
 
Amp34 said:
I'm not a huge fan of the Thorn tree forums, although they do have their uses for specific questions. Thanks for the info about Bromo and the trip though! :)



Whereabouts did you go when you were there? Did you do it independently or with a group?
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I went independently, I'm not a big fan of group travel. Met some people when I was out there and we traveled together for a few weeks. I went to Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay and Inle lake and a few small places on the way.

Hotels were dirt cheap (typically $10 USD a night) but pretty terrible. Didn't really matter though as we could all laugh and joke about how bad they were. Food is cheap but generally pretty poor. In my experience of SE Asia, it's generally very easy to get great food off the street but this wasn't so much the case in Burma, definitely had to look a bit harder for the good stuff.

If you go, I would highly recommend the boat trip from Bagan to Mandalay. It takes a long time (10 hours) but is so relaxing a peaceful, a lot nicer than the bus. Likewise, I would recommend the trains, they are slow but more comfortable than a bus and you get to see some incredible scenery.

Burma is one place where a good guide book really pays off, when I was there, internet was very hard to get hold of and there was no mobile signal so having a guide book with you became invaluable. I used the lonely planet one and it was ideal.
 
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