Czech coal safari offers excavators instead of giraffes

It is a safari with a twist: two private Czech mining companies have joined forces to take tourists on trips to see long-necked excavators and coal beds, instead of giraffes and lush wilderness.

"We are standing at the edge of a mine that was opened in 1901," guide and former miner Josef Gerthner told a group as they snapped pictures of monster excavators in the distance on a hot summer day.

Wearing protective helmets, the 18 adventurers toured the sprawling surface brown-coal mines in an off-road truck during the 4.5-hour "coal safari" in the northern city of Most.