Sunset from the Kilimanjaro Foothills
Come with artists on holiday in Tanzania to paint the wildlife,
the scenery and the tribes-people and capture on canvas the mystery,
light and sheer excitement of this vast continent.
Photos taken by BJ Boulter on our painting safari in April 2007
- for more pictures by photographer Wil Werner and group member comments - click here -
PAINTING SAFARI WORKSHOPS
Gaelle Hamp-Adams
Mixed Media

Our Painting Safaris are an exclusive chance for artists, experienced or aspiring, to savour the beauty of Africa at a pace which allows you to appreciate the smallest detail.
Travel with artist and tutor Gaelle Hamp-Adams to Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Kilimanjaro and the Rift Valley. Set up an easel under a thorn tree. Dine beneath the stars and sleep in luxury under canvas. Your holiday travel and accomodation on safari will be arranged by BJ, Barbara Jane Boulter.
Gaelle grew up in South Africa, studied art in London and has painted and drawn all her life. She has held art workshops in Africa and Europe and has worked as a volunteer for the Arts Community Exchange teaching less advantaged communities. Her works hang in private collections in Europe, the USA and South Africa. BJ was raised in Tanzania, schooled in Kenya, and has cared for film crews and artists in East Africa since 1985.
Our objective is to meet the local people, observe the wildlife, seek new vistas, paint at every opportunity - and really enjoy ourselves at a gentle pace. See the Painting Safari Workshops Itinerary below, and choose from the October 2008 or January 2009 Workshops.
WORKSHOP ONE and WORKSHOP TWO - 10 nights -11 days
LATE OCTOBER 2008 and EARLY JANUARY 2009
WEST KILIMANJARO, THE RIFT VALLEY, SERENGETI & NGORONGORO CRATER - Click here for map 11 days on the plains of Africa painting the wildlife and the people in an eco-tourism sanctuary where wild elephants roam freely. Spend days in the heart of Africa. Paint in the wilderness and visit the birthplace of mankind. Descend the Ngorongoro Crater, see the wildlife big five and the hippos wallow. At Lake Natron watch the flamingoes wade, see the volcanic lakes and craters and meet the Maasai peoples of the Rift Valley and the Serengeti.
Please go to our website www.paintingsafari.com for more information!
Mixed media by Gaelle Hamp-Adams - Click to enlarge
Watercolours by group members
INFORMATION & RATES


INFORMATION AND RATES
Painting Holiday Safari in Tanzania and Zanzibar in late October 2008 and early January 2009.
Rates and conditions: Please go to our website www.paintingsafari.com for more information!

INCLUDED IN THE PRICE:
• All accommodation and meals with the group, drinking water, tea and coffee
• Transfers to nearest International Airport
• Flying Doctors Membership for evacuation to nearest hospital
• Conservation Fees and Park Entrance fees to game reserves.
• Transport by road to painting locations with driver/guide
• Painting sessions with instruction, demonstrations and critique sessions
• Workshop guide with 25 years group management experience in East Africa
• Internal Air fares within Tanzania

NOT INCLUDED IN THE PRICE:
• International Flights
• Visas, passport fees, excess baggage, overseas departure and arrival taxes
• Travel arrangements not listed in the itinerary
• Alcoholic beverages at Camps and Lodges
• Travelers must have their own Travel Insurance and Medical Health Insurance.
• Gratuities to drivers, staff and other general assistance
• Medivac is available on request.

TRAVEL: We advise travel to Kilimanjaro International Airport (JRO), Tanzania - departure from same airport unless taking an extension to Zanzibar, the return flight can be from Dar es Salaam International Airport to Amsterdam, which is a ferry-ride or short local flight. With KLM (direct to Kilimanjaro and Dar es Salaam daily) British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa or another airline via Nairobi. We are happy to advise, though not book, your flights. Our nights under canvas and permanent tented camps are provided by the very best safari outfitters for your every comfort. We prefer a maximum of eight painters per workshop. Photographers are also welcome as Non-Painters.

SAFARI SECURITY:
During all our travels, on painting locations and at camps and lodges we will be in the care of experienced safari guides. The luxury tented camps are staffed by the same array of personel as a five star hotel.
From plane to camp, from kitchen to table, whilst you are with us there is always a staff member taking care of your needs and safety.

COMMUNICATIONS:
We are never out of radio contact with camp. Should you bring a mobile phone with roaming, the network coverage is as good as any in Europe.

We strongly advise travelers to have their own Travel and Medical Health Insurance.

MATERIALS:
Bring your preferred painting medium and a painting block. Boards and stools will be supplied.
Feel free to contact Gaelle for guidance on materials: Gaelle@paintingsafari.com.

LANGUAGE:
The Lingua-Franca in Tanzania is English, therefore the tutorials will be held primarily in English language, and your hosts speak English, Swahili, Zulu, Portuguese, Dutch, French and Spanish.

PROFESSIONAL ARTIST'S SAFARI:
Let us plan and escort an economical bespoke safari for your artist group to paint in Tanzania or Kenya. Contact BJ Boulter, Workshop Manager/Guide bj@paintingsafari.com

Interested participants and artists please email bj@paintingsafari.com and/or Gaelle@paintingsafari.com for conditions and rates.

PAINTING SAFARI WORKSHOPS
 Schedules Late October 2008 or Early January 2009
Barbara Jane Boulter, Workshop Manager
West Kilimanjaro, The Rift Valley, The Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater
THE WORKSHOP ITINERARY
 
 
Day 1 Saturday: Kilimanjaro
Workshop members will be met at Kilimanjaro International airport and transferred to the tented lodge where a warm welcome and a light supper await you. After a brief camp experience introduction you will be shown your luxurious tented rooms which stand on wooden platforms in the foothills west of Kilimanjaro.
Day 2 Sunday: West Kilimanjaro
After breakfast in the banda we will go on a familiarization tour and hope to encounter the elephants and other wildlife. The camp is an ecologically sensitive enterprise and $20 of your nightly fee is a donation to Kilimanjaro Conservancy. After lunch the first workshop will be on the dining veranda. Gaelle will begin with a demonstration and give personal attention to everyone as the group paints and sketches, getting to know each other and the medium with which to work.
 
 
Day 3 Monday: West Kilimanjaro to N'garuka
Dawn heralds with tea delivered to your tent veranda. We will depart for a location on the foothills where we capture the first beams of sunshine slanting across the plains. Gaelle will show you watercolour washes that capture the fast changing light. Breakfast will be served by our driver on location. On returning to camp lunch will be served. After packing our bags we say goodbye to the Ndarakwai staff and head for the airport to fly to Manyara. Where we are met by the drivers and vehicles that will be with us for the rest of our trip. We depart for the Rift Valley. On the way stopping for a while in Mto Wa Mbo. A bustling town where all the tribes are represented and all nations meet. Market stalls laden with fruit and spices, tinkers, tailors and curio shops. An opportunity to sketch the colourful scene. A drive along the foot of the escarpment will bring us to camp by tea-time. After settling in, a game drive at dusk will end the day.
 
Day 4 Tuesday: West Kilimanjaro
Dawn wake-up once again! We drive to a nearby Maasai manyatta where the cows and goats are being milked in the early morning light. Breakfast is served beside the car. Practice life/location-painting with warriors, womenfolk, children and domestic animals. return to camp for lunch and afternoon rest. We take the low road to the far hills for tea and to paint sunset view over the distant plains to Rift Valley.
 
 
Day 5 Wednesday:  N'garuka
Tea at dawn will give us an early start. Today we will be welcomed at the nearby Manyatta by the age-set chief and his very extensive family for a day of 'Life and Location' painting. The Maasai, their domestic animals and their homes are a fascinating colour-rich subject. These people will charm and delight you with their welcome, humour, elegance and grace.
 
Day 6 Thursday:  Lake Natron
After breakfast in camp we will visit the isolated village of N'garuka. Travel through magnificent volcanic country for a few hours will bring us to our overnight camp at Ngare Sero river. Lake Natron is a forbidding and surreal environment, a soda lake of ever changing shades of pink and red, sharply contrasting white soda crusted edges, alkaline mud flats, fresh-water inlets and a feeling of eternal space, at the lowest point of the Rift Valley. Truly peace in the wilderness.
 
 
Day 7 Friday:  Loliondo, Serengeti
On leaving Lake Natron we climb the walls of the escarpment to enjoy the fabulous views over the length of the wildest part of the Great Rift Valley which rent the continent of Africa asunder millions of years ago. We will stop to practice a watercolour wash and enjoy a picnic lunch before heading for our camp under canvas in the Loliondo Hills. Here a hot shower and a sundowner await us among the shady acacias.
 
Day 8 Saturday:  Loliondo, Serengeti
Loliondo is the gateway to Serengeti. Wake to 'early morning tea' before setting off for a days' painting on the savanna, where breakfast will be served. After returning to camp for lunch, the afternoon can be spent in camp with Gaelle will help to develop sketches into paintings. We will choose a sunset location to practice very quick watercolour washes.
 
Day 9 Sunday:  Loliondo, Serengeti
An early start will bring us to a location where morning light slants across the rocky outcrops through the fever trees. Gaelle will spend time with each member and encourage them to develop different watercolour techniques.
 
Day 10 Monday:  Ol Duvai Gorge to Ngorongoro
This morning we depart for the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We visit the Olduvai Gorge where Luis and Mary Leakey discovered the earliest remnants of mankind. The near-human Hominids - over 2 million years old. A mere crack in the surface of the Serengeti, the gorge is the result of geographical, geological and evolutionary events that have rendered history available to our eyes. We climb to the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater and reach our lodge in time for sunset.
 
 
Day 11 Tuesday:  Ngorongoro to KIA
The African sunrise should not be missed on your last day in the crater. Clouds shift and part, the lake below gleams iridescent. Breathtaking . . . or not, the crater can be covered completely in an early misty haze. This is a special end to your trip, a tour of the fabled Ngorongoro Crater, eighth wonder of the world. The exciting drive down what was once only a path for Maasai herdsmen, who still travel the same route to graze their herds on the grassland below, brings us a day spent with all the big game, except giraffe which cannot negotiate the towering lava walls. The animals of the crater are so disdainful of humans that one can take startlingly close photographs, a source of your own to continue the wilderness painting experience at home. Lunch will be a picnic in the crater. At the end of this eventful day you will depart by plane from Manyara to Zanzibar or to to catch your homeward flight in the evening.
 
 
Time to spare ... fly to Zanzibar, just over an hour away is the sparkling Indian Ocean and the silver sands of the spice island. Please go to our website www.paintingsafari.com for more information!
Guests comments and pictures
'I've had a great time!
I have been on three painting jaunts.
First was instantly forgettable
Second was forgettable
Third... this one... Memorable!
I still think about it...
against the day I will actually be able to paint.'

D.Hill, May 2007
Photos by Wil Werner - www.wilwerner.com

Photo Album of our 2007 Painting Safari by Wil Werner - PLEASE CLICK HERE -
A Different World

Magnificent wildlife, majestic knarled trees,
Such a beautiful landscape is hard to believe
Powerful contrasts absorbed day after day,
Beauty and Beast in abundant display

Soft dappled light. Silence. African heat,
The dung and red dust, yet a perfect retreat
Elephants, monkeys, giraffe, birds of prey,
Extraordinary creatures seen day after day

Kind hospitality with all we can eat,
Papaya, bread, peanut soup, bananas so sweet
Delicious camp cooking, wine, succulent meat,
Comfortable beds - this camp is a treat!

Smiles, waving, courtesy. Jostling crowds,
Bikes, jeeps and lorries. Cows pulling their ploughs
The bustling market, fresh produce for sale,
Curious glances at strangers, so pale

In ochre mud huts there’s a dignified pride,
Vivid red, orange, blue of a shy Maasai tribe
Then enchanted by Schumann in soft candlelight,
Jan’s beautiful singing a cultural highlight

Is this rich? Is it poor? Is it dirty or clean?
Can it be Darwin’s Nightmare or an African Dream?
Everywhere colour, beautiful, bright
A photographer’s dream, a painter’s delight

So thank you to Gaelle and thank you BJ,
For all that you’ve done for this memorable stay
A break from our world, a week’s tranquillity,
Shikamuu, Mzuri,
A big Asante

by Kate Stratton, April 2007

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Please go to our website www.paintingsafari.com for more information!