Wall Street Journal Article on ADS’s Partnership with St Jude’s

Please read this coverage of our new partnership with the School of St. Jude in the Wall Street Journal.

The School of St Jude and Africa Dream Safaris are now working together to help impoverished children in Tanzania to receive a free, high-quality education, while strengthening ADS’ humanitarian involvement in the East African community. Our monthly donation will buy 2,000 hot, nutritious meals per month for the students. Tanzania is a developing country where one-third of its population lives below the poverty line, on less than $1.25 per day. A majority of children in Tanzanian schools do not receive lunch or any food, so they cannot focus on learning when they’re hungry. St Jude’s provides daily meals for students, as well as breakfast and dinner for the over 1,100 students who live in their boarding houses. All produce is sourced from the local community.

The School of St Jude is a charity funded school that provides a free, high-quality primary and secondary education to over 1,600 of the poorest, brightest children of Arusha region, Tanzania, East Africa. The school, located across three campuses, also provides boarding for 1,100 students, and employs over 450 Tanzanians. It was founded by Australian Gemma Sisia in 2002.

In addition to a range of other cultural and charitable outreach opportunities, ADS offers its guests the chance to visit The School of St Jude. Here they can meet students – who come from the poorest families in Arusha – and find out how one classroom in 2002 has grown into three campuses, two boarding houses and a centre of employment for over 450 local Tanzanians. ADS runs our operational office out of Arusha – where St Jude’s three campuses are located – so we get to witness the tourism landscape firsthand and are excited to offer our clients the opportunity to experience all that Tanzania has to offer, from the natural wonders of the Serengeti to the great work being done in the local community.

Quote from St. Jude Founder – Gemma Sisia

“It’s thanks to ADS and all our supporters around the world that St Jude’s can not only educate so many children for free, but also employ over 450 local staff,” says Gemma Sisia, Founder of St Jude’s. “Their monthly contribution will allow our students to lead healthy lives, by focusing on their education rather than worrying where their next meal will come from. With this ADS contribution, we can continue to fulfill our mission of educating the next future leaders of Tanzania.”
Video Introduction of The School of St. Judes

This video is a wonderful overview St. Jude’s history and all the great work the school is consistently producing for Tanzanian community.

Our Safari Was The Trip Of A Lifetime

Our safari with ADS was more than we could have hoped for. Lynn was extremely helpful in planning the trip, making the arrangements and giving us many suggestions on what to bring and how to pack. We flew Delta from Tampa to Atlanta to Amsterdam and then KLM to Arusha (Kilimanjaro) airport and arrived May 16. We were met at the airport by an ADS representative and taken through Tanzanian immigration. The ADS meet and greet team picked us up and transported us to our hotel in Arusha luxurious Mt. Meru Hotel.

The following morning, we flew to the Grumeti airstrip in the northwest Serengeti where we met our driver/guide, David. We began our first game drive with David and saw Nile crocodiles and a monitor lizard in the Grumeti River, impala, topi, a lioness, black faced monkeys, and warthogs. Continuing on, we saw a leopard tortoise, Cape buffalo, zebras, giraffes, ostriches before arriving at the Serengeti Soroi Lodge for our first night in the field.

The Lodge, while not conveniently located as it was a 45 minute drive from the main road, was our favorite hotel. With the cottages located on the side of the hill, we felt we were part of the Serengeti but safe from animals. Our accommodations were wonderful and the food and service were 5-star. We also enjoyed our stays at the Mbuzi Mawe Tented Lodge and the Ngorongoro Serena Lodge. Both were wonderful as well and food and service was 5 star.

Each day proved to be as exciting as the last with a never ending view of the Serengeti (endless plains) and sightings of lions, leopards, giraffes, wildebeest migrations, zebras, elephants, cheetahs, buffalo, black rhinos, baboons, Grants and Thompson’s gazelles, eland, jackals, hippos, hyenas, and the many varieties of beautiful birds. We especially like the superb blue starlings and crowned cranes.

David was an expert at locating and identifying all animals, birds, trees, and flowers. He outdid himself in finding elephants (my favorite), cheetahs, black rhinos, and leopards. He was extremely helpful in organizing our daily game drives and made sure we were happy with our accommodations. We had a boxed breakfast and lunch for many of our game drives, and he always found a good place for us to eat. We especially enjoyed eating on the gong rock at the Moru Kopjes.

David paid attention to the land cruiser and each morning, it was clean and supplied with bottled water, soda and cookies. He was always smiling and attentive to our needs. We would recommend ADS to anyone who wants a personalized and unforgettable safari. For us our safari was the trip of a lifetime and exceeded our expectations.

Bonnie and John S.
Brooksville, Florida
Safaris Dates: May 16-23, 2013

My Husband Was Hesitant But We Made A Believer Of Him The First Day

Bob and I are happy to tell anyone and everyone about our trip. As you know it was my dream trip and you and the rest of your team made it all come true. From the very first day each place we stayed was better than the last.

The tent camping was everything I had hoped and more! I woke one night and heard an elephant trumpeting so got up and unzipped the tent and stepped out onto our porch and there was an elephant standing there eating the tree in the yard not 6 feet away!! Course I quickly stepped back into the tent and zipped back up!!

I kept a journal of all the animals we saw each day and some days I have 20 or more different ones. The big three are the rhino, the cheetah and the leopard and our guide told us many people do not get to see them as they are endangered and few in the wild but we got to see all of them with more than one sighting of each. We were also fortunate enough to be in the right spot at the right time and saw the start of the great migration.

What you see on discovery channel with all the sounds and sights does not begin to compare with being right there in the middle of a million or more wildebeest and zebras running full tilt onto the plains. Our guide was wonderful and knew all the names of animals, birds and plants and had many books so I could see and read about them. I could go on and on and if anyone would like to talk to me about it we would be glad to help. As you know Bob was very hesitant to take this trip but we made a believer of him the very first day and he was so happy we went!

Sue and Bob S.
Birmingham, Alabama
Safari Dates: May 17, 2013 to May 27, 2013