Family Holidays in Finland On Safari with the Kids! 10/11

A winter holiday in Finland was the choice for Director Nick Joynes and his family as they embarked on our Northern Lights Adventure over the Christmas holidays.

We posed some questions to Nick and his family to find out more about their exciting winter adventure to Finland.

Q Why did you choose the Northern Lights Adventure for your family holiday?

Nick & Helen: We like to make the most of the kids’ Christmas holiday break and have always wanted to do a winter snow holiday with friends, so the Northern Lights Adventure seemed perfect. We’re not a skiing family nor are our friends, so were looking for a good alternative to enjoy some great winter activities. Q What’s special about Finland?

got to try them out and have more goes if they really liked them and the whole holiday was really good fun. Sophia: The guides were very good and always looked after us – they were also really good fun to be with and even organised for us all to have a New Year’s party at their homes, where they showed us traditional New Year games and fortune telling. Q Would you go back?

All: Definitely!

Nick & Helen: We chose to travel over the New Year. At this time of year, the scenery is absolutely stunning. The pine and spruce forests were laden with snow; it truly was a winter wonderland. Sophia: The snow – there was soooooo much SNOW! Hannah: Everywhere I looked, there was really beautiful scenery and the activities were really good fun. Q Do you have tips for travelling with kids to Finland?

Nick & Helen: There is no need to worry about getting cold – the clothing provided is excellent and the accommodation is cosy and warm. We suggest packing some fun family board and card games and take biscuits, savoury snacks and sweets to eat whilst out participating in the activities. Be prepared to get ‘stuck in’ and embrace all activities – they really are great fun!

Northern Lights Adventure

Experience a winter wonderland and learn essential winter survival skills on this family adventure holiday. Enjoy cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and sledging across frozen lakes and through snowy forests. Ride a sled pulled by huskies and feel the icy wind on your cheeks as you travel.

Highlights:

ཀྵ Enjoy a snowshoe expedition ཀྵ Ride a sledge pulled by a team of huskies ཀྵ Build an igloo

Age guide: 8+ Tailor-made, Feb & Christmas 8 days, from £949 Child from £899

Ice Pop

Q Would you recommend Finland to your friends?

This one-week trip travels to the remote north of Finland for an active winter adventure that's great fun for all the family – including the youngsters. Enjoy sledge rides, snowshoeing and snow sculpting on a rewarding holiday that the whole family will remember for years to come.

Highlights:

ཀྵ Go tobogganing ཀྵ Visit a reindeer farm Nick & Helen: Absolutely. It is the perfect alternative to the skiing ཀྵ Hop on a snowmobile sledge holiday. It is adventurous, it is active and is set in a beautiful area. ride It is not gimmicky in any way. The Finnish wilderness guides are Age guide: 4+ extremely knowledgeable and highly experienced. It is a holiday Tailor-made, Feb & Christmas for the whole family to enjoy a range of winter activities. 7 days, from £1,399 Hannah: Definitely. All the activities were really good. Everyone Child from £1,049 To book, or for information about our holidays to Finland, contact our expert team or visit our website.

Families Worldwide Director, Chris Breen, outlines the different African safari options to help you decide which country and what kind of safari experience is right for your family.

From a personal point of view, a safari with my family and friends is the very best holiday of all. There is lots to do and see, plenty to keep younger members of the family interested (looking out for lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant or giraffe will keep anyone alert for an extended period of time!), and you are invariably in a truly beautiful location. Add to that the fact that it is a great way to introduce younger family members to the idea of conserving our wonderful planet, or perhaps learning a new skill such as photography, painting or diary writing, and you may well have the ideal holiday.

However, having decided that you are going to have a family safari, where should you go and why? There are so many different safari countries in Africa … and they all claim to be the best!

The first important considerations are whether you wish to combine your safari with other activities, and whether you wish to self-drive. If you like the idea of self-driving, then both South Africa and Namibia are great options. South Africa has the advantage of direct flights from the UK – to Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban – which is an important consideration when travelling as a family. In addition to some fabulous wildlife viewing on the eastern side of the country in and around Kruger National Park and KwaZulu Natal, if you go at the right time of year (our summer holidays) there is tremendous whale watching off the southern coast, which can be neatly combined with some of the world’s finest wineries in the Cape Town area for the adults!

Namibia is more ‘off beat’ but another country perfect for selfdriving and with some great pockets of wildlife – Etosha, the Waterberg Plateau and the Skeleton Coast to name a few – not to mention the towering sand dunes of Sossusvlei and the now famous cheetah conservation project at Okonjima.

If you want something a little more ‘traditional’, and good value, then it has to be East Africa. Tanzania is where many people take their once-in-a-lifetime safari, and it is an excellent choice. You are almost guaranteed to see large herds of wildebeest and zebra, together with lion, cheetah and all of the other plains game that you might imagine. But, you will see more people on safari than you would in other safari countries and that is not for everyone.

For the connoisseurs, Zambia and Botswana are the places to go. In Zambia, the Luangwa Valley and Lower Zambezi, and in

“Experiencing the various animals in their natural environments is something the kids have not stopped talking about. Game drives from Selous were awesome. The camp was absolutely fabulous, and the staff and guides were all brilliant throughout the holiday.” Riches family, Swahili Coast & Safari

Botswana the Okavango Delta, Moremi and Chobe; and both countries also have easy access to the Victoria Falls – a wonderful place to end a safari.

Zambia and Botswana offer small, intimate lodges and tented camps, outstanding guiding and wildlife that goes beyond anything you might be able to imagine and (in Zambia particularly) there are a number of family-friendly lodges where you can have your own private family guide, your own chefs and your own safari schedule, for very little extra cost.

So, if going on a family safari is your idea of a memorable holiday – it is mine, one of our favourites was a holiday to Zambia’s Luangwa Valley followed by a trip along South Africa’s Garden Route for some whale watching – then give us a call and let’s talk through some of the options with you and put together your perfect trip.

Contact our expert team or visit our website to book a tailor-made or small group family safari holiday. See overleaf for a selection of our safari holidays.