If you`ve got it, you can flaunt it on several upscale packages offered by Oak Brook-based Abercrombie & Kent for 1987.
Perhaps the most intriguing is A&K`s 23-day Out of Africa Safari, using posh tents if you can imagine posh tents. The groups travel from Nairobi to Mt. Meru Game Sanctuary, Lake Manyara National Park, Ngorongoro Crater, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Aberdares, Mt. Kenya Safari Club and the Masai Mara Game Reserve. During the high season, land arrangements are $7,750 a person based on double occupancy. Tents are 11 by 11 feet and 8 feet high. Toilet and shower facilities are shared by no more than eight people.
Another of A&K`s programs is luxury barging in France and England. In addition to swanky accommodations, the barge trips offer fine dining along with leisurely sightseeing. Lunches are three-course buffets, dinners are four courses by candlelight with unlimited wine.
In France the barges go through different parts of Burgundy and Bordeaux. In Britain the barges cruise the Upper Thames. Rates for the cruises, based on the barge, season and length of cruise, range from $860 to $8,975 a person based on double occupancy.
Venturing into the South Pacific, A&K has a number of tours ranging from 7 to 29 days. Included is a ”private label” package in Australia that offers stays at exclusive private homes with like-minded people as well as visits to Outback sheep stations. Land arrangements cost $727 to $4,234 a person, double occupancy.
Additional information is available from travel agents or directly from Abercrombie & Kent International, 1420 Kensington Rd., Oak Brook, Ill. 60521; 954-2994.
KIWI HIKE/BIKE
It`s spring in New Zealand and a good time for a cycling and hiking trip there. Three 18-day trips are planned for early next year to South Island. Tour organizer is Adventure Center, an Oakland group.
Mt. Cook, the fiords and rain forests of the west coast and Kawarau Gorge are points of interest cyclists will pass on their 300-mile, 11-day trip. Hiking is in Wanganui Coastal Park and around the lakelands and glaciers of the southern Alps.
Participants stay in rustic cabins and hostels. On two nights they will camp beside Lake Wanaka and the Fox Glacier.
Accommodations, bike rental, meals and the white water trip are included in the $930 price. Air fare to South Island is extra. A support van will be part of the entourage, but tour participants are encouraged to be in good shape.
Travel dates are Jan. 12, Feb. 16 and March 9.
For more information, contact Adventure Center, 5540-PR College Ave., Oakland, Calif. 94616; 415-654-1879 or 800-227-8747.
GALENA FEST
Galena`s country Christmas festivities are underway with a Country Craft Weekend scheduled for Dec. 5-7. Artisans and craftsmen from the area will demonstrate woodworking, weaving, rosemaling, tole painting and pottery making in various shops and stores around the town.
On Dec. 6 the stairs and walks of Galena homes will glow with luminaria.
For more information about the holiday activities, call the Galena Chamber of Commerce, 815-777-0203; or contact the Illinois Department of Tourism, 800-892-9299.
ST. MAARTEN GAMBLE
Travelers to the popular half-Dutch, half-French island of St. Maarten/
St. Martin will find a new casino on the Dutch side this winter.
The former Cupecoy Beach Resort has been renovated and turned into the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino at Cupecoy. The casino will open Dec. 12, bringing the number of gambling spots on the island to eight.
The hotel, a complex of 300 accommodations–ranging from rooms to suites, on two hillside levels and a seaside level, is near the Princess Juliana International Airport. It features three swimming pools (one on each level)
and two lighted tennis courts. Rates are $125-$200 for hillside lodgings and $200-$350 for seaside accommodations.
The Treasure Island casino supposedly is 60 percent larger than Aruba`s Concorde, the Caribbean`s next largest casino. A drawing card at the casino, which features a Robert Louis Stevenson theme, should be the sports book
–first of its kind on the island. Roulette, blackjack, baccarat, craps and slot machines are other gambling venues.
For more information about Treasure Island, call 800-535-2929.
Over on the French side of the island–known as St. Martin–the luxurious L`Habitation is set to open Dec. 10. Past the charming village of Grand Case at Marcel Cove, the complex consists of 200 rooms and 52 apartments with kitchens. Winter room rates are $190-$310 (single or double occupancy);
apartments are $290-$390, double occupancy.
For more information, contact Mondotels, 200 W. 57th St., New York, N.Y. 10019; 800-847-4249.
Another swank hotel complex, La Belle Creole, will open next June on the French side. The 156-room, 14-suite hotel will be at Pointe des Pierres a Chaux, across from Marigot Bay. For details, contact Le Belle Creole, 3 E. 54th St., New York, N.Y. 10022; 212-355-1997.
FREE FOR THE WRITING
Color brochures covering Boyne Mountain, Boyne Highlands and Nubs Nob and winter activities in the Petoskey, Harbor Springs and Boyne Falls area are available from Boyne Country Convention and Visitors Bureau, P.O. Box 694, Dept. CT, Petoskey, Mich. 49770; 616-348-2755. . . . The 1986 Winter Guide to the Berkshires is available by writing to The Berkshire Visitors` Bureau, Box PR, The Common, Pittsfield, Mass. 01201.
