Help with Award Flights to / from Kigali (Kgl) / Dar es Salaam (Dar) ex Sydney

[kpc]

Back in Nov 2020, I had a safari booked starting in Rwanda to see the mountain goriilas followed by a safari in the Serengetti You know what happened next...

I had award flights booked Syd-Jnb (Qf with Qf pts), Cpt-Add-Kgl (on Ethiopian with Lifemiles), then Dar es Salem to Jnb (South African with Lifemiles), then finally Jnb-Sin-Syd (on Sq booked with Krisflyer)....All award flights in J class for 2 pax! Paid a non refundable US$6100 deposit for the safari and the credit is still available - the TA emailed me recently asking whether I would like to go ahead with the safari.

With Covid, testing and quarantining still in the air, I wonder if there is a more direct route using FF points to get to Kigali and / or Dar es Salem from Sydney in J for 2 pax...I have QF, Velocity, KF, AA and Lifemiles to use. I thought QR from Doha or Ek from Dxb to Kgl or Dar might be the way to go but nada awards....

Any suggestions to avoid lots of transits through different countries? Thinking of maybe Jan / Feb 2023!
Thanks

 

[Mwenenzi]

Nairobi is not far. away A busy airport for east Africa with many airlines (long haul & Africa)
CPT is 1000 times better the JNB
JRO is airport for the Serengetti, but a lot people (and then some) come from Nairobi

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

www.gcmap.com

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Kilimanjaro International Airport - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Kilimanjaro Airport opened on 2 December 1971 and cost US$13 million to build. The construction was financed by a long-term loan from the Italian government.[6] In 1998, it became the first international airport in Africa to be privatised and is operated by the Kilimanjaro Airport Development Company.[3] The airport facilitates the tourism industry for visitors travelling to three Regions: Arusha Region, Kilimanjaro Region, Mara Region and Manyara Region. These three regions are home to Mount Kilimanjaro National Park, Arusha National Park, Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National Park, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Serengeti National Park, and elsewhere. The airport bills itself as the "Gateway to Africa's Wildlife Heritage".[3]

Look at other wikipedia airport entries.

[My user name is Swahili for traveller~wanderer]

 

[kpc]

Tk flies to both Dar and Kgl from Ist and are bookable with KF miles so that is one option I'm looking at.

 

[kpc]

FYI....finally booked this itinerary for Oct / Nov 2023 with a mixture of different airlines' points for 2 pax:
Syd-Sin-Ist on SQ J with KrisFlyer miles
Ist-Cai-Kgl on MS in J with Lifemiles
Dar-Doh-Adl on QR (Q suites from Doh-Adl ) in J with Velocity points
Adl-Syd on QF in Y with Qantas points

Took quite a bit of research and planning over a few weeks but got there in the end...

 

[Mwenenzi]

Quite a trip. Good it worked out. Hope you do not get too many schedule changes.
KLG to DAR by land? Roads & traffic in East Africa are *different*
I went to the Serengetti in late October (decades ago) Was very good. And Dar/Zanibar in early October

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

A map from the Great Circle Mapper

www.gcmap.com

 

[kpc]

Quite a trip. Good it worked out. Hope you do not get too many schedule changes.
KLG to DAR by land? Roads & traffic in East Africa are *different*
I went to the Serengetti in late October (decades ago) Was very good. And Dar/Zanibar in early October

Will need to pay $$ on Rwanda Air from Kgl to Jro unless they join Oneworld ASAP and I can use Qf points . From Serengeti we fly by light aircraft (Auric Air - pray for us!) to Zanzibar which is part of our safari package. After 5 days in Znz on our own, we take the ferry to Dar, stay a night, then fly out the next day.

I have to say it will be one of our most expensive trips, and I used all my freq flyer knowledge, research etc to get the J flights there and back, otherwise the whole trip would cost 50K+ !

 

[kpc]

FYI....finally booked this itinerary for Oct / Nov 2023 with a mixture of different airlines' points for 2 pax:
Syd-Sin-Ist on SQ J with KrisFlyer miles
Ist-Cai-Kgl on MS in J with Lifemiles
Dar-Doh-Adl on QR (Q suites from Doh-Adl ) in J with Velocity points
Adl-Syd on QF in Y with Qantas points

Took quite a bit of research and planning over a few weeks but got there in the end...

We got back last night. All flights went to plan without any major delays! The paid flights from Kgl to Jro, and Seu to Znz and the ferry ride from Zanzibar to Dar were all uneventful. As we now lie in bed coughing and sneezing away, you guessed it...we both brought a viral souvenir back from Africa! But it was a trip of a lifetime and we will get a few additional days off work now as a bonus!

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

You mean you got the dreaded thingo that you have to self isolate?
Or it it something else.
Well, now, we will need a trip report, and all the airports transitted, and yes, I note you "burnt" miles, so points collected from all the flights.
---
No lost passports, and no loss of cards is a plus, as also no loss of mobile phones.
Now, not for me to say, but after all the expenses are reconciled, maybe a time to see if you do need to change card numbers, even if staying with the same financial institution, "an anti fraud measure" if you get what I mean, granted you might have a lot of direct debits from the card too.

 

[kpc]

You mean you got the dreaded thingo that you have to self isolate?

Yup we both are RAT +ve. Second time...the first time was last year when we returned from Iceland I have been vaccinated 5x, the last time in August