Holiday puzzle

[Yamin151]

Why not look at Lesotho? The Mountain Kingdom? Beautiful country - not massively developed but easily accessible via S.Africa. You can hire ponies and trek in the mountains - it's not huge though, and has no coastline, but you could combine it with some forays into the wider South Africa. Obviously anywhere south of the equator will fit with your need for nothing too hot.

Funnily enough that is somewhere DD has always wanted to go. Given my fear of anything with hooves (OK, not sheep) I doubt I would be opting for the pony hire, but I shall add that to my list; thank you.

You ok with fauns? Or was Narnia banned in your house??

[kenyancowgirl]

To be fair, I say ponies...they are more like moveable sofas...and are a great way to visit some quite breathtaking scenery/waterfalls etc. A favourite past-time when I lived there. And you must drive along the completely well named "God Help Me" Pass...with one eye shut and bottom tightly clenched - again, amazing views, as long as you ignore the car graveyard at the bottom of the sheer incline.....

[Amber]

To be fair, I say ponies...they are more like moveable sofas...and are a great way to visit some quite breathtaking scenery/waterfalls etc. A favourite past-time when I lived there. And you must drive along the completely well named "God Help Me" Pass...with one eye shut and bottom tightly clenched - again, amazing views, as long as you ignore the car graveyard at the bottom of the sheer incline.....

You're not selling this to me all that well KCG. The other thing I am terrified of is driving (or being driven) down precipitous mountain passes. I still have nail marks in my palm after being conveyed across the Swiss-Italian border via the 'scenic' route earlier this summer; before that my most terrifying experience was driving on sheet ice next to a sheer drop into the sea in Iceland (if anyone saw 'Trapped' - it was on the way to that place - Siglufjörður -and it really did look like that).

If you recommend toad-sized spiders or caving in an earthquake zone next I will really know you hate me KCG.

PS - never got on with CS Lewis, Yamin, but hadn't really blamed Mr Tumnus for that!

[loobylou]

Our best holiday ever was in Zimbabwe. lots of walking and exploring and - although it wasn't safe to do without a guide at all - it was very easy to get off the beaten track and do it with an independent guide. We always said that's the place we wanted to go back to with our children but I suspect it is no longer an easy place to travel in (we were there in 1998).
We went to S Africa in 2013 and we were totally fine without a guide. We did go to the Kruger national park for our safari but we then toured around ourselves in a car whilst we were camping there and it was safe and easy. There are also great mountains where you can go walking. I think the risks are more around carjacking and robbery rather than the risks of animals and I find it difficult to assess the risks. Having family there, they are completely paranoid but we didn't feel unsafe though were stopped from doing things we would have normally done (eg getting on trains!)