THE PATIENT

I’VE SEEN some bad bites in my time, but the one that presents itself this week is unusually severe. Stefan Grol has been bitten hard. “Ever since I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with wildlife. As a child, I was always out in the garden looking for frogs — now I want to explore the world.”

Anywhere in particular, I ask? “It’d be a dream to get to the Galapagos,” he says. “An African safari would be fantastic, too, but I wouldn’t want to be in a posh lodge on the edge of a park — I’d want to be in a tent, right in the middle of the bush. I love diving, too, but probably just as part of the trip, rather than the main focus.”

Stefan has a budget of about £2,000, and wants to get away for up to two weeks early next year.

STEFAN GROL

Stefan, 28, is a sales consultant from Southfields in London.

Last CD bought: Snoop Dogg

Last book read: Life on Earth by David Attenborough

Favourite food: Thai

Favourite tipple: Guinness


THE DOCTOR SAYS

STEFAN’S CASE shouldn’t be too hard, but I have one crucial area of concern: budget. Two thousand pounds might sound like plenty for a fortnight, but flights to Africa and Ecuador don’t come cheap. Throw in typical wildlife-holiday costs such as air transfers, guide and park fees, and Stefan may have to stretch the purse strings.

PRESCRIPTION ONE
Dream boat, Galapagos

If he hunts for flights (KLM flies via Amsterdam for about £600) and scours the web for cruises (the US-based sustainable-tourism specialist www.worldsurface.com has 10-day trips from only £570, including two nights in Quito, air transfers to the Galapagos, and park fees), Stefan could be snorkelling with seals and brushing past boobies for less than £1,200.

However, when it comes to the Galapagos, you tend to get what you pay for, and while £570 might get you a good boat and an expert guide, it almost certainly won’t. Moreover, the less you pay, the more you’re unlikely to reach the less crowded outer islands such as Floreana, Española and San Cristobal.

My recommendation, therefore, is for a fully bonded UK operator, such as Discovery Initiatives, which has 12-day trips from about £2,100 to £3,500. Obviously, the more you pay, the fancier your board and lodging, but whether you pay top or bottom dollar, all Discovery Initiative trips are guided by top-category native islanders with fluent English and natural-history degrees.

Discovery Initiatives (01285 643333, www.discoveryinitiatives.co.uk) has 12 days in Quito and the Galapagos from £2,100, full-board, including a seven-day cruise to the outer islands, and flights via Amsterdam with KLM to Quito.

PRESCRIPTION TWO
Safari and scuba, Kenya
Kenya is the cheapest of Africa’s safari options, and that’s where I’m sending our patient. If he scours the net, Stefan could snaffle a six-day safari for as little as £210 (www.gametrackersafaris.com), and flights with the likes of Qatar Airways for only £375. That’s less than £600 for a week — can’t lose, can he? Well, he can: he’ll have a four-hour stopover in Doha, and spend 20 hours of his six-day safari driving Kenya’s appalling highways in a combi-van. As with the Galapagos, you get what you pay for.

That’s why I’m prescribing a fully bonded UK operator, internal flights rather than interminable drives, and an 11-tent safari camp (Kicheche Camp in the Masai Mara) so far into the bush that lions, elephants, buffaloes and leopards roam the camp at night. Better yet, from Kicheche, Stefan is only a short road transfer from the coastal resort of Malindi, where he could finish off his wildlife odyssey diving for whale sharks.

J&C Voyageurs (01373 832111) has an 11-day trip to Kenya for £2,081, including seven nights, full-board, with all activities at Kicheche Camp, and four nights, half-board, at Driftwood Club in Malindi. The price includes single supplements and return flights from Heathrow to the Mara via Nairobi with British Airways.

PRESCRIPTION THREE
Wolf-tracking, Poland
Probably not what Stefan was expecting, this one. Guided by Sinclair Dunnet, one of the most charismatic, entertaining and passionate natural historians in Britain, this trip explores deep into the forests of eastern Poland. It is deliberately timed to coincide with guaranteed January snow, so Stefan will be tracking wolf and wild boar, lynx and European bison, elk and ermine, keeping an eye out all the time for golden and white-tailed eagles.

The highlight of the trip is an overnight vigil in a “high seat”, a hide raised high above the forest floor — it’s freezing, hardcore stuff, but utterly worth it for the exhilarating wolf sightings. There is also time for a horse-drawn sledge “safari” and a roast-boar barbecue by a frozen lake.

Naturetrek (01962 733051, www.naturetrek.co.uk) has a nine-day Poland in Winter trip (departs on January 14 and 27) for £1,290, full-board, including a £195 single supplement, all activities and return flights from Heathrow to Warsaw.

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