Quick, Dumb Safari Questions

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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:42 am

Just wondering (go ahead, smack the newb).... how far does the lad have to travel in order to call it a safari? Do international borders have to be involved? Does the lad have to provide convincing evidence?

Will I go to baiter-hell for this if a lengthy debate ensues? Rolling Eyes

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

^^^^^ It is considered a safari if a lad has travelled 200 miles, and you will need the lad to provided evidence by way of the IP from his email when he reaches his destination, and compare it against his IP address before he left, he does not have to cross a border.

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:47 am

I believe there was a safari scoring system somehwere, based on number of lads, having to travel through high risk area's, distance, etcetera. Can't seem to find it though.

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:50 am

Across an international border should count as a safari regardless of distance.

Baiting Guru Joined: 08 Jul 2004 Posts: 11857 Location: UK

^^^^^ Not really, your lad could live 50 yards from the border, then go 50 yards beyond the border line, he's travelled 100 yards, not much of a safari.

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 10:31 am

^^^^ From my limited experience of travelling in Africa, getting across borders can be an utter nightmare. You'll be kept waiting for ages, asked a ton of questions and have to pay some sort of "fee" that I'm not entirely sure isn't just pocketed by the border guards.

They might go a bit easier on the locals, but I'd still contend that it's a sterner test of your lad's commitment than merely sitting on a bus for a few hours. Of course if you can get him to do both, several times, that's even better. Smile

On the other hand, I suppose that getting someone to hop across the border from, say, Singapore to Malaysia a few times shouldn't really count.

Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2007 6:22 pm

Actually there is no requirement. This board has never officially stated any mileage. You can decide for yourselves what you want it to be. There is no scoring system. If you want to make up a list of definitions and agree among the members, I'm sure we could make it an official sticky. I know some people have to have everything specifically defined.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

I thought it was 200km or a border, which just goes to show there's no hard and fast definition; it's just that a trip to the next town or the local WU doesn't count.

As for proof, IP confirmation is good but with satellite providers it isn't always possible. However a change of IP address is a good indicator. The mugus lie all the time, so you can't just accept what they say, but if they have gone it will be fairly evident by their outraged outbursts. You can also ask for scans of their bus tickets and passport stamps.

If you are fairly sure or certain that the mugu made the trip then you gewt the safari hat. How certain you need to be is up to you.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 09 Apr 2007 Posts: 27

Seems to me there's a nice kind of practicality argument that if they change countries, and often the IP address is often resolving down to a country, that's pretty reassuring they actually went somewhere. Obviously this won't always be the case depending on how their cafe is set up but just as a general statement - if you can tell they crossed a border, even if you can't prove they made it to city X in the new country, seems like that should be enough to stick a little icon in your signature. It's not like we're talking about large cash prizes or something!

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:07 am

Thanks guys! I did find some text on the topic in a corner somewhere, but it was pretty open to interpretation. I haven't tried many safari trips, but they sound like fun so I'm dabbling in it.

Personally, I would think that anything that involves a day of travelling would count, but that's just me.

Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:21 pm

Hellbastard wrote:

^^^^ From my limited experience of travelling in Africa, getting across borders can be an utter nightmare.

By road, maybe. Most cross-border traffic's not at the official checkpoints though. Travel overland is what's bloody difficult in West Africa. You don't just hop in the car and head on down the motorway.

Like SP says, 200 miles is a generally accepted safari here, and it came to be that way after similar threads in the past. It is a casual rule, if in fact it's a rule at all. More of a guideline for a trip long enough to get a hat in your sig.

It pays to scout out your lad's journey beforehand, avoiding major and relatively easily negotiable roads etc.

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