Tom Lithgow and his partner, Tim Elliott, thought that a side trip to Bermuda would provide some welcome `R and R'. And what better time to come than during the World Rugby Classic? As former players and devotees of the game, they looked forward to watching some of the best former internationals in action.

But for Mr. Lithgow, it didn't quite turn out like that. As a result of the alleged Ice Queen attack on two of the US players, which resulted in one of them returning to the States for medical treatment, he was "press-ganged'' into the game against Bermuda on the final day of play.

"I didn't have too much time to think about it -- just found myself playing flanker and second row! But it was great,'' he said of the game in which his newly adopted team defeated Bermuda, 18-12.

Despite the Ice Queen incident, both Mr. Lithgow and Mr. Elliott were full of praise for Bermuda's hospitality to the visiting players and the spectators who came to the Island specially for the event.

Their description of the Island as "the perfect getaway'', and "a great place for sport'' could benefit Bermuda as they continue their series of meetings with major travel agencies throughout the US.

As professionals who operate `up-market' safari tours in Tanzania, they will spend the next few weeks enticing wealthy Americans and Mexicans ("or those who save up for the trip of a lifetime'') to visit their country.

Both men believe that Tanzania is one of the few bright spots in Africa right now.

A huge country, of immense mineral wealth, Mr. Elliott says, "Tanzania sat in a socialist swamp for years and years, but as communism has collapsed, things have really started to happen. Things have really changed -- and all for the better -- in the last five years.'' The next three or four years will be very important, he says. "There's a huge natural gas project financed by the World Bank which will extract gas to run the country and also build a pipeline for export. There are enormous coal reserves which have never been touched, but it needs refining.'' Other minerals found in abundance in this largely untapped country include iron ore, diamonds, gold, rubies, salt and mica. In addition there is tea, coffee, cotton, sugar cane, sheep farming and vast quantities of cattle.

Mr. Lithgow lives at the foot of Africa's fourth highest mountain -- the 15,000-foot Mt. Meru -- and points out its uniqueness: "Only four degrees from the equator, and yet we can look up and see snow on the top.'' He believes that Tanzania is finally coming out of what he calls "the shadow'' of Kenya.

"In the past, we have tended to be just a sideshow for Kenya. Their tourism was more developed, but we are catching up fast. I don't think most people are aware that it's Tanzania -- not Kenya -- that has the major tourist attractions.

Mt. Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania, as is the Serengeti National Park, the Mara and the Ngorongoro Crater, which is where you find all the wildlife. People who go on safari in Kenya have to cross over the border to see anything!'' Admitting that until recently hotels and transportation were "pretty bad,'' he says that there has now been a dramatic turnaround.

Both men call Tanzania `home' (although Mr. Elliott was born in Zimbabwe) and are quick to point out that the former British Colony was the only country in Africa to acquire independence without a shot being fired.

Says Mr. Elliott, "It's an incredibly peaceful country, and although it's been a one-party state, multi-party politics will arrive next year. There is already healthy political opposition, and the newspapers have opened up and are much freer than they were. With over 126 different tribes, not one of them is big enough to seize control. That's the tragedy that has happened in other parts of Africa.'' Mr. Lithgow, who notes that tourism increased by 12 percent last year and is expected to top 15 percent this year, says that Tanzania is "very well aware'' that the vast numbers of tourists are adversely affecting parts of Africa. For that reason, close attention is being paid to the delicate infrastructure. And on their safaris, he says, they avoid the mass tourism areas. He says that many people believe that Kenya has "to all intents and purposes'' destroyed that infrastructure.

"There's an area we often go to that's two-and-a-half hours charter flight from Arusha, to a very inaccessible part of the country and that's a 4,000 km trip,'' explains Mr. Lithgow.

"It's quite rough and arduous out in the bush -- which is why we like to give our guests a touch of luxury when they return to camp at night.'' Part of that luxury includes tents with private showers and toilets, and king-size beds and gourmet cooking (provided by Mr. Lithgow's wife).

Because of the lack of facilities in Tanzania, they have to make their own ice and transport their own water in trucks and have recently donated a grader in an effort to keep the roads up to scratch.

At 296,000 square miles (including the island of Zanzibar), Mr. Lithgow says that Tanzania, which he refers to as "the last untouched part of Africa'' is the size of Texas and New Mexico combined: "You could fit the whole of Bermuda into the Ngorongoro four times!'' Tanzania, which boasts an unsurpassed number and variety of wildlife, is implementing a programme under which it is hoped both man and beast will both survive.

"We have to generate income. The people who live on the edge of the Serengeti, for instance, have to benefit from that income -- that's the only way that poaching, especially elephant ivory, will be stopped.'' And despite the great beauty of the land, both men agree that it is the Tanzanian people that distinguish it.

"They are so happy and gentle, always full of fun, and great people to live with. Tanzania is going to be the great tourist destination of the future in Africa.'' VISITING BERMUDA -- Mr. Tom Lithgow (left) and Mr. Tim Elliott, who operate safaris in Tanzania, became tourists themselves, visiting Bermuda for the World Rugby Classic.