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Last year I went on my first aerial safari in E Africa, covering four game parks in SW Kenya, followed by a trip to trek to the gorillas in Rwanda. My TR from that is here: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....s/aerial-safari-kenya-gorilla-trek-53313.html.
One of the things that really excited me about that trip was the superbly fitted-out Cessna Grand Caravan that I flew in for the Kenya part. I kept in touch with the company and this year for the first time, they offered an extended 16-day multi-country aerial safari to several countries in E Africa. I jumped at the opportunity, was first to book - and it was sensational!
Flying really is the way to go in E Africa. From what all the travellers I have met along the way tell me, the roads are rough (the ‘African massage’) and travel times are very long. Pay the money and go by air!
The trip started with a PER-SYD return QF mASA, a night in Sydney that took in Vivid (sensational –that’s the second year running for me), followed by a QF mASA SYD-JNB return. Overnight JNB (at City Lodge, very conveniently located right near the terminal), then JNB-xNBO-KIA(Kilimanjaro) the next day on a web el-cheapo on Kenya Airways and Precision Air. That night in Arusha before the safari began mid-morning the following day.
The aircraft is set up for 8 pax in a 4x2 configuration (most Caravans that operate in the region are set up in a 4x3 configuration or more). I understand that the company I went with has the only two Grand Caravans set up with such an Oasis interior in E and S Africa. See last year’s TR for interior pics. Very nice!
From KIA, we went to the N Serengeti (3 nights) and the Mahale Mountains (2 nights) in Tanzania, then to Likoma Island in Malawi (2 nights), to the Lower Zambezi in Zambia (2 nights), the Chobe River in Namibia (2 nights), the Okavango Delta in Botswana (2 nights), finishing in Livingstone on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls (2 nights). I then took a BA flight to JNB to connect with the homeward flights.
All up, in the safari itself, there were 14 flights segments, totalling 2443 miles (as the crow flies, according to The Great Circle Mapper). But we travelled scenically off the beeline quite a few times – another great advantage of the dedicated charter flying as opposed to the scheduled light aircraft services. I’ve put in maps of the 4 segment trip in the sister aircraft in Kenya last year (368 miles) and this year’s much more extensive trip.
2013 Kenya safari.
2014 multi-country safari.
OK, let’s work through the trip:
Here’s the famous clock tower at Arusha – the half-way point between Cape Town and Cairo. The Arusha Hotel, where I stayed, is hidden behind the trees in the background.
The hotel was very comfortable:
Dang the 5 image per post upload limit. Bear with me, there's a bunch to come...
One of the things that really excited me about that trip was the superbly fitted-out Cessna Grand Caravan that I flew in for the Kenya part. I kept in touch with the company and this year for the first time, they offered an extended 16-day multi-country aerial safari to several countries in E Africa. I jumped at the opportunity, was first to book - and it was sensational!
Flying really is the way to go in E Africa. From what all the travellers I have met along the way tell me, the roads are rough (the ‘African massage’) and travel times are very long. Pay the money and go by air!
The trip started with a PER-SYD return QF mASA, a night in Sydney that took in Vivid (sensational –that’s the second year running for me), followed by a QF mASA SYD-JNB return. Overnight JNB (at City Lodge, very conveniently located right near the terminal), then JNB-xNBO-KIA(Kilimanjaro) the next day on a web el-cheapo on Kenya Airways and Precision Air. That night in Arusha before the safari began mid-morning the following day.
The aircraft is set up for 8 pax in a 4x2 configuration (most Caravans that operate in the region are set up in a 4x3 configuration or more). I understand that the company I went with has the only two Grand Caravans set up with such an Oasis interior in E and S Africa. See last year’s TR for interior pics. Very nice!
From KIA, we went to the N Serengeti (3 nights) and the Mahale Mountains (2 nights) in Tanzania, then to Likoma Island in Malawi (2 nights), to the Lower Zambezi in Zambia (2 nights), the Chobe River in Namibia (2 nights), the Okavango Delta in Botswana (2 nights), finishing in Livingstone on the Zambian side of Victoria Falls (2 nights). I then took a BA flight to JNB to connect with the homeward flights.
All up, in the safari itself, there were 14 flights segments, totalling 2443 miles (as the crow flies, according to The Great Circle Mapper). But we travelled scenically off the beeline quite a few times – another great advantage of the dedicated charter flying as opposed to the scheduled light aircraft services. I’ve put in maps of the 4 segment trip in the sister aircraft in Kenya last year (368 miles) and this year’s much more extensive trip.
2013 Kenya safari.
2014 multi-country safari.
OK, let’s work through the trip:
Here’s the famous clock tower at Arusha – the half-way point between Cape Town and Cairo. The Arusha Hotel, where I stayed, is hidden behind the trees in the background.
The hotel was very comfortable:
Dang the 5 image per post upload limit. Bear with me, there's a bunch to come...