Growing Minds Broaden On A Family Safari In Africa Safaris Set Up To Include Children Often Set Aside Time To Play With Local Children And Visit Schools

It has been 2-1/4 years - a quarter of his young life - since 10-year-old Luke Patterson went on a safari in Tanzania with his family. But mention Africa, and Luke still gets excited.

“Tell about the baboons!” he shouts when he hears his mother talking on the phone about the 1992 trip.

The monkeys made a messy raid on the camp kitchen, and Luke and his brother Timothy, now 12, helped guides drive them away by flinging dirt clods at them.

Timothy, too, remembers the battle against the baboons, as well as seeing lions, elephants, thousands of hoofed animals and birds in Serengeti and other national parks. But many of his favorite memories are of people.

With no common language and the Pattersons’ American football, a mysterious object to soccer-playing African children, the boys and a crowd of youngsters who lived on nearby farms in the Oldeani district played for hours. Darkness called a halt to their “crazy game of no-rule keepaway,” as Timothy wrote in his trip journal.

The Patterson brothers and their parents, John and Melinda, live in rural northern Vermont. But despite the distance and passage of time, there are daily reminders of their trip to East Africa.

The boys say “assante sana,” Swahili for “thanks a lot,” and the family cats go by the names Punda and Duma - Swahili for zebra and cheetah. When schoolwork focuses on Africa, Timothy shows classmates slides and talks about his trip.

Melinda, a longtime adventure traveler who once spent a year on her own in Africa, says their safari brought the Pattersons closer.

“Anybody you travel with, a great bond is created,” she says. “And now we’ve got great laughs, great memories.”

This family’s experience - deepening the boys’ appreciation of nature and broadening their cultural outlook - is a good example of why family safaris are growing. These trips are designed to be shared experiences for grown-ups and the next generation of adventurers.

Such sharing doesn’t come cheap. Melinda says the land portion of her family’s trip came to about $10,000. Airfares for two adults and two children could easily up the total by $6,000 or more.

The Pattersons traveled privately on a trip customized for them by Overseas Adventure Travel. Their adventure followed the itinerary of OAT’s Serengeti Family Safari, a scheduled trip open to adults and children 6 and older (two weeks, $4,590 per adult, $3,690 per child, airfare included).

OAT’s founder and then-owner Judith Wineland developed the company’s family safari, a comfortable campout, in 1988. She says she wanted to serve veteran clients who had become moms and dads.

“Once they had the spirit of adventure, it never left,” Wineland says.

Like most Africa outfitters, OAT was already offering trips for parents and children on a custom, private basis. And older children were sometimes allowed on regular safaris.

The new trips were a departure in their kid-specific pacing and design with visits to schools and vehicles stocked with workbooks and games for children. Guides supervised daily journal-writing and study sessions. Children had time to play not only with each other but with locals, including the Masai people.

Wineland sold OAT to Grand Circle Corp. in 1993, but the company’s family safaris follow her original format. Wineland is now involved in Thomson Safaris, co-owned with husband Rick Thomson, which offers custom, private family trips.

Back in 1988, OAT was entering a relatively uncrowded field. Wilderness Travel had a two-week trip in Kenya open to children 7 and older, which is now in its 12th year (from $2,395 per person, land only. Prices for children 7 to 11 years old, with two adults, are discounted $800).

Family-style Africa got a bit more crowded this summer, as Abercrombie & Kent International premiered its family safari in Kenya and Tanzania. In keeping with the company’s patrician style, the twoweek trip has more overnighting in lodges ($3,995 per adult, $2,690 for children under 12, land only).

Beginning next summer, International Expeditions plans a new two-week Kenya workshop for children 12 and older.

In contrast to the other family trips, International Expeditions’ trips will focus on field studies, not togetherness. Parents can travel on the same schedule, but have only occasional contact with their children.

The growing market seems to be driven by a convergence of outfitters’ needs to maintain their client bases and parents’ fondest hopes. The companies need to keep Mr. and Mrs. Adventurer traveling. If they now have offspring, the companies will cater to them. And the grownups want to pass on what adventure travel has taught them - love of wild places, and curiosity about and respect for other cultures.

“This is the best time, building memories you can share,” Eileen Mandell says. She, her husband and three sons, then ages 6, 11 and 14, went to Tanzania on OAT’s first scheduled family safari. Dr. Fred Mandell, a pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital, accompanied the debut trip as OAT’s medical consultant.

“When your children get about 17, they don’t want to go anywhere with you,” Mandell says.

She speaks from experience. Her oldest boy, now 20, just went to Jamaica with friends. She’d hoped to go skiing with him.

“That’s what happens. And you want it to happen,” she says in a voice that says wanting it doesn’t mean liking it.

But then she cheers up, going back in her mind to Africa, when the 20-year-old was 14.

“It’s bonding, building memories,” she says, “If you can afford it, go for it.”

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: FOR MORE INFORMATION Abercrombie & Kent, 1520 Kensington Road, Oak Brook, IL 60521-2141; (800) 323-7308 or (708) 954-2944. International Expeditions, 1 Environs Park, Helena, AL 35080; (800) 633-4734 or (205) 428-1700. Overseas Adventure Travel, 625 Mount Auburn St., Cambridge, MA 02138; (800) 221-0814 or (617) 876-0533. Thomson Safaris, 347 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139; (800) 354-6030 or (617) 876-7314. Wilderness Travel, 801 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94710; (800) 368-2794 or (510) 548-0420.