9 countries - 7 airlines

[henleybeach]

We stayed at the radisson blu sandton, not a bad hotel , nice big rooms with big bathrooms . We had a couple coughtails in the bar, which was only about $7 aud each. The next day we had a private tour booked with cashan tours . Our tour guide was Great , we visited Soweto , and a bit of the city. I cannot believe that 20 minutes for the city that people are living that .
We went to the apartheid museum which was very revealing and touching. It's amazing that this stuff was going on in the early nineties . It wasn't that long ago and was terribly cruel. It was a eye opener for me as I didn't really know much about it cause I was young.
Back to the airport at 5pm and a couple pina coladas and some dinner. I had a seared tuna steak and it was massive . Cooked beautifully as well.
The next day we caught the train to the airport, wow it was so much faster and better, only 15 minutes instead of 50 minutes by car.
Went to the checkin counter and the lady was having problems and then said it's a full flight and since your a valued FF with South African airways we will upgrade you and ms HB to business class! I'm not a South African FF but my velocity number was attached to the booking and was printed out on the ticket .
Into the South African lounge for breakfast and coffee, there was a hot station and a cold station with a good selection. I had some muesli and then a bacon and egg sandwich with a latte.

 

[Mattg]

Great trip report so far with so many interesting destinations!

I absolutely loved Morocco when I visited a couple of years ago. My only regret was only booking a 2 day/1 night Atlas Mountains & Sahara Desert tour - would have loved to spend longer out there!

 

[henleybeach]

Flight--
JNB-VFA a320 South African airways
Seat 1f departure 1055am


Haha another bus and stairs boarding was required today but this time in the rain. Everyone got saturated and there was a lot of pushing and shoving to get onbored
Business class was like Europe , same seats as economy but middle seat blocked , pretty coughpy old seats as well. No pre departure drinks offered. JNB is a great airport for variety of planes, seen the 747-8 for the first time and god it's big, Air France a380 , virgin Atlantic 787 , and SIA a350.
After takeoff we had a drinks service from the cart , I had a vodka and soda and then the snack service . It was pretty bad, served on plastic containers , it was like deli ham and chicken roll with plastic cheese. A fruit platter that was nice and a roll. We have lucky in Australia with qantas and virgin business class! The FA Was really nice and friendly and she served me another two drinks for me without asking .
We landed into VFA airport and I was surprised at how nice this little airport is.
Straight to the hotel, a"Zambezi lodge and ready for the dinner cruise along the river tonight

 

[henleybeach]

We are staying at the A'Zambezi lodge Vic falls, which is about 6/7 minutes out of town , it's on the Zambezi river. Hippos , warthogs , water monitors just walk around the grounds minding their own business.
We did the sunset dinner cruise and it was fantastic , cruising along the Zambezi and having a four course dinner with some beers and coughtails. It was unreal seeing the hippos in the water while having soup and then before the mains came out seeing the elephants on the banks. We spotted a couple crocs as well . For the main course I had the Zambezi bream and it was magnificent, All up $80 for a 4 course meal and all drinks including was great value while cruising and seeing the natural wildlife !
We woke up and had some breakfast and we went to see Vic falls and my god she's a big girl . Stunning, and the amount of water is unreal, I was speaking to a guide there and he said the water that goes down the falls in 1 min is double Johannesburgs yearly usage !
3 hours walking around then back to freshen up and off to the Vic falls hotel for high tea. It was $30usd for two people for high tea, and you had the most beautiful view of the Vic falls bridge and the spray From the bridge. After that we stayed there for $8 coughtails and watched the steam train go across the bridge. A very nice hotel like raffles but without raffles prices !
Tomorrow we are walking across the bridge into Zambia and then the on board the train for a 5 course meal
Below is the pics from the meal on the cruise , the animals we seen on the cruise
and Vic falls hotel and a pic of the falls

 

[henleybeach]

 

[love_the_life]

Looks like more water is going over the falls than when we were there a couple of years ago in late August. They had had a long dry spell and the rains had been very poor. Looks much more spectacular with the extra water.
Isn't there just something amazing about seeing the animals in the wild doing their own thing? Just love it.

 

[henleybeach]

Looks like more water is going over the falls than when we were there a couple of years ago in late August. They had had a long dry spell and the rains had been very poor. Looks much more spectacular with the extra water.
Isn't there just something amazing about seeing the animals in the wild doing their own thing? Just love it.

some of the views of the falls was obscured because there was too mist from the water !
Yer it's unreal seeing wild animals just doing their thing and not in a zoo!

 

[JohnM]

some of the views of the falls was obscured because there was too mist from the water !

That's why the Zambian side is worth visiting when the flow is great - although a drenching will happen!

 

[Milboo]

What was that hotel like? We stopped there for some reason - we stayed a little further up the river at Victoria Falls River Lodge (opposite Kahalari Island).

 

[henleybeach]

That's why the Zambian side is worth visiting when the flow is great - although a drenching will happen!

Haha we got saturated ! We went to the Zambian side today and crossing that bridge inside the falls it's like a storm with a downpour !

 

[henleybeach]

What was that hotel like? We stopped there for some reason - we stayed a little further up the river at Victoria Falls River Lodge (opposite Kahalari Island).

Yer then hotel is not too bad, 4 star , nice gardens and surrounds and on the Zambezi river , rooms are good with a terrace or balcony and nice and clean . It was $220 a night which was good value for the area. Interesting tho we went to Vic falls hotel and the coughtails were cheaper there then here which I found strange . In fact i couldn't believe it was only $8 for coughtails at the Vic falls hotel !

 

[henleybeach]

 

[henleybeach]

We went across to the Zambia side and get drenched but it was worth it , I'm just gobsmacked how big it is. 500 million liters of water per minute !
Tonight we had the dinner on board the royal livingstone train . It goes from Livingstone and then across the bridge , stops on the bridge and then back towards to Zambia again. $180usd for 5 course dinner and all drinks except spirits included. Being a train driver I was looking forward to this trip and I love riding trains and enjoying them and not up the front concentrating driving ! It was a grand old train and great fun , we sat in the lounge car having beers and chatting , the waiters were always giving me another beer when I was halfway down on the current one . I had six pints when the waiter came over to give me another one before ms HB stepped in and said I need to have a break! Just as well cause when I went to stand up I felt half cut. We got off at the bridge for photos and then back for dinner. We had pea and melon soup, salmon , some fried vegetable thing, chicken breast and then a orange cake , then finally petit fours. We had a ball and made some friends from England and everyone practically rolled off the train full of drinks and food. A great night and tomorrow it's off to the chobe bush lodge to go and see chobe NP.

 

[henleybeach]

 

[henleybeach]

And the food on the train pictures minus the main course , I had forgotten by that stand, too many beers and wines

 

[love_the_life]

Very similar dining set up to the Rovos Rail train we took from Victoria Falls to Pretoria. Great trip.

 

[henleybeach]

We got a transfer from Vic falls to kasane where our hotel, chobe bush lodge was. It took about hour and half including going through immigration. The chobe bush lodge and chobe safari lodge are next to each other and are sister hotels, the safari hotel being on the river and other in the "bush"
We book a afternoon boat safari and it was excellent, a couple beers and watching hippos , elephants , crocs , giraffes buffalos was amazing and seeing the sunset on the chobe river . We had dinner at the hotel and it cost $30 aud each , we each had a entree , a main and two drinks . I had a beautiful steak, one of the best steaks I've eaten , pink on the inside and charcoal on the outside . Early start the next morning for the 6am game drive.
Alarm went off at 5am, a rude shock that was , as we havnt been up early all holidays apart from when we left Iceland .
We did a later game drive that day at 3pm as well.
We had a ball and seen so many animals, hyena, impala , lions , hippos, buffaloes, elephants , giraffe , jackal , bushbucks, zebras , crocodile and more . We didn't get to see the leopard, the grass was high and they are a bit skittish and shy. We watched a elephant feeding from its mum which was special and we seen a croc jump out and grab the impala and and wrestle it and sadly have it for dinner.
Could not of been happier , to able to see all of those animals in the wild.
In between safaris we walked around the town and it was great, people smiled , said hello, and not one person hassled us to try and buy something like Vic falls.
Now the holiday is coming to a end, back to VFA airport for our flight to joburg , one night at the Marriott protea airport hotel and then home. I'm looking forward to comparing SIA a359 business class to Etihad a380 business class

 

[henleybeach]

I had some good photos of the lions and hippos but they come up with error when I try and put them up. I have a few photos of the croc and impala but I won't put them up as it may be distressing to some people

 

[henleybeach]

Flight--
VFA-JNB a320 South African airways
J class, row 5 , departure 105pm




South African airways must love virgin Australia ! We got to the airport and we went to the premium star alliance gold check in line. I said to ms HB watch this , they will have no idea of virgin Australia since it was a agent for SAA. I handed over our passports and and my virgin gold card and he said "oh your gold member " and I said yes . He then said " we upgrade you ". At this stage I thought he was asking if we wanted to upgrade for money . I replied "upgrade ? Pay for a upgrade" and he said "no no we need to upgrade you , hang on sir" . He then walked off and I looked at ms HB and said I have no idea what's going on , I could only half understand what was going on . He came back with tickets and sure enough they were business class seats! That's 2 flights with SAA and 2 op-upgrades! High fives around . SAA had no lounge at the airport , apparently they are building one, we boarded the plane and at this stage we had no expectations with the business class seats or food after our flight to the falls.
As we walked in , I was shocked , I was expecting the old euro business class seats with the normal 3 across middle seat blocked like we had experienced earlier , but we got proper seats !! They were nice and comfy and I liked the colors they used.
We settled in and after take off we had 2 glasses of champagne. Hot lunch was served, choice of seafood curry or beef fillet, we were in row 5 so by the time they got us there was only one beef left. Ms HB being allergic to seafood ruled her out of the seafood curry so it was beef for her and seafood for me! Seafood curry was nice, had fish and prawns in it , presentation didn't look that good , the beef was huge and served with veggies and that was presented well. A veggie salad with balsamic dressing, hot rolls and a delicious lemon tart with vanilla cream. Compared to the flight to the falls it was like we were flying a different airline , seats and food were brilliant this time. The FAs were fantastic and made us a few vodka soda cranberry drinks . By the time we landed I was starting to feel it !
We got our bags and made our way to the Marriott protea airport hotel, very impressed for $110 a night, industrial and airline themed on the inside , had a great outdoor pool and terrace and views from the view of planes would make any plane enthusiasts dribble with happiness!
We sat at the terrace drinking and looking at the 747-8 and two a380 Parked right there and then had some dinner which was really nice . Bed around 1030 pm and now it's time for the Singapore airlines flight home which I'm excited about !

 

[jack1160]

That's a fantastic itinerary, well done!
Did you think of adding Cape Town from J'Burg....apparently it should be a bucket list visit.