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| Cheetah |
Several years ago, my daughters, Caty and Becca, and I started discussing that we really wanted to go to Africa. Becca’s main objective was to swim with the Great White Sharks in False Bay (these are the sharks famous for breaching as they snatch sea lions out of the ocean). Caty and I wanted to photograph iconic African animals. And, as time passed, I had the added incentive of wanting to photograph African birds.
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Great White Shark, African Elephant, Lilac-breasted Roller |
First thing, we
asked my husband, Scott, who is a fabulous photographer, if he wanted to go to
make it a family trip. He said that he wasn’t interested because he hates hot
places (it wasn’t very hot), he hates tours (and, yes, we would be going on a
tour) and he absolutely deplores long airplane rides (it took almost 40 hours
to get there when you include layovers). So, it became a girls trip. We looked
at our plans, calendars and finances and set an objective of 2017. I started
saving my airline miles and decided to start planning about a year in advance
(miles tickets on American Airlines can generally be booked no sooner than 11
months in advance – and we knew it would be tough to get seats on the same
plane).
It is amazing how quickly the years pass and it was time to plan.
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| Cape Town |
So, as we investigated tours that started in Cape
Town in late August/early September.
A main criterion was as much time in the Bush
as possible. I am just not really a city person and was a bit disappointed at
the amount of time most tours spend in Cape Town. That’s a point I turned out
being wrong about. Cape Town is fabulous.
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| Nyala |
I talked with an “expert in Africa,” who promised to put
together ideas and get back to me. I never heard from her.
Since I had worked
with AAA in Texas quite a bit in the past, I was very surprised at the
non-response. But, since we found a tour on our own, it didn’t really matter.
As we were
researched, a few of Becca’s friends expressed interest in going, as well.
At
first, Caty and I were a bit hesitant because we really wanted a
mom-and-daughter adventure, but then we thought that since it was an organized
tour it might be a good idea to have a larger contingent. So, I invited a few
people and Caty invited a friend. We ended up with eight interested people.
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| GAdventures Tour |
Caty’s friend was familiar with
them, so we started investigating.
During the course of the initial
conversations, we discovered something awesome: with a minimum of eight people a
tour can become a private tour. So, we had a private tour of Africa!!!! That
turned out to be great. The travelers were to be me; my sister, Linda; Caty;
Caty’s friend, Robin; Becca; and Becca’s friends, Alexis, Kandice and Kristen.
The plan was:
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| Cape Town |
8/28
– Shark trip and meet tour guide in the evening (that’s the official tour
start)
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| Lookin' for big guys |
8/29
– Tour: Cape Town, Boulders Beach, Cape of Good Hope,
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden (all the places in Cape Town)
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| Sacred Ibises |
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| Plus, we had lots of winies with us |
8/31
– Fly to Johannesburg; stay at local guest house and experience an African braai (that's a barbeque)
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| Springboks |
9/1
– Private vehicle to Kruger National Park via the Panorama Route (traveling north)
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| The Three Rondevals |
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| African Elephants |
9/3
– Kruger National Park Bush Walk; travel to Karongwe Private Game Reserve (more animals)
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| We're walkin' |
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| African Lion |
9/5
– Karongwe Private Game Reserve; drive back to Johannesburg (finishing up in south Africa)
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| Burchell's Zebras |
9/6
– Fly to Zimbabwe; Victoria Falls Tour; Zimbabwean family dinner (a new country)
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| Victoria Falls |
9/7
– Visit Devil’s Pool in Zambia (this was not part of the tour; Becca arranged
it)
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| More Victoria Falls |
9/8
– Fly to Johannesburg and then leave for home (with, we hope, cards and cards full of photos)
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| Photo: OR Tambo Airport |
Lots of planning commenced, the most critical being the air travel. I won't go into detail, but rather share a few lessons learned, many about British Airways (American's partner for flights to London and then Cape Town):
- Always have the person with the top airline status book the tickets, if you can. On the legs I booked, we didn't have to pay fees for seats on BA; otherwise, the extra fees were crazy!
- If you can't get multiple seats on the same flight while booking online, call! An American Airlines rep managed to get three miles seats on the same outbound flight even though there were only two available online.
- British Airways ain't what it used to be. They charge fees for practically everything (including selecting a seat more than 24 hours in advance). I'll share more not-so-positive things about BA later. Suffice it to say, I am not impressed.
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| Flights are always a challenge |
Caty and me: Denver to DFW, DFW to London, 12-hour layover, London to Cape Town.
Becca and her friends: OKC to DFW where we meet for the same flights on to London and Cape Town (and later, Kristen moved to Los Angeles, so she had to fly from LAX to DFW).
On the way home, Caty and I were going Johannesburg to London and London to Denver.
Becca and her friends were going home via Dubai, where they were having a brisk 18-hour tour before returning home.
Linda and Robin were booking different itineraries. Linda flew business class to and from Africa on Emirates, so her travel experience was way more positive (including being put up in a hotel room for her layover in Dubai).
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| The first plane was nice |
Becca and friends took the double seats at the back on the
long flights – the window side has some room beside it that facilitates
slipping out to the restroom. I had a window and was trapped part of the time.
British Airways planes are extremely tight – maybe bulkhead would have been
better. I cannot say any of their flights were comfy.
Caty and I did, however,
fly on a gorgeous, roomy plane from Denver to DFW.
We also had to
book a flight from Victoria Falls to Johannesburg to catch our connection and
here’s where I learned another lesson: Don’t do business with Air Zimbabwe.
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| Arriving in South Africa |
They were looking at
Air Zimbabwe, so I went ahead and booked tickets for Linda, Caty and me on Air
Zimbabwe for $100 each.
Almost immediately after I booked, Air Zimbabwe’s
website went down for five days and I got cold feet about flying on an airline
that couldn’t keep a site up and that didn’t answer its customer service line.
So, I decided to switch to British Airways. I went ahead and booked those and
requested a cancellation from Air Zimbabwe. They agreed to $25 per ticket (so I
paid $225 for the peace of mind of knowing that I would actually have a
flight). Then, Air Zimbabwe never issued the $75. At one point, they told me
they had accidentally issued it twice and that I owed them $75!!! Really!
I did get
the $75 through Citibank by contesting Air Zimbabwe’s non-refund. But, the $225
was long gone. Lesson learned. Later I heard political disputes
between South Africa and Zimbabwe had disrupted some Air Zimbabwe flights. So,
I guess the peace of mind was worth it.
GAdventures requires that all travelers carry travel insurance – both trip cancellation and medical.
GAdventures offered a very reasonable medical policy, which many of our members purchased. I went a different route and purchased an annual travel policy for both Scott and me with Allianz because I had two additional international trips planned in the year – Iceland and Europe.
A quick word
about passports. I think most people know this by now, but in case you don’t:
many countries require that your passport be valid for six months AFTER your
travel in that country. So, re-adjust your passport expiration in your brain to
six months before the date on the passport. If you don’t you can be denied
entry into the country.
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| Becca and friend |
I had to go to the Health Department
for my Typhoid shot. In Colorado, the Health Department also requires that you
meet with a foreign travel consultant (that session costs about $60). I think that
is just an attempt to remind you that Africa can kill you!
Insurance varies
wildly, as do the types of shots and medications you can choose.
Most of us
took Malarone for Malaria because it has the fewest side effects. It is known
for causing intestinal distress (which I did have very briefly one evening, but
it was short-term and mild) and crazy dreams (none of us had them, but a young
man we met on the shark dive did). The Health Department also suggested that we
get a prescription for Cipro to deal with stomach/intestinal issues that Imodium
doesn’t help. I had some but didn’t need it for that.
We also
purchased lots of insect repellent – multiple types (Picardin and Repel)– and
treated out clothes with Permethrin, which is supposed to repel insects through
up to six washings. As it turns out, there were NO bugs in South Africa (it was
winter) and we saw only a few mosquitoes in Zimbabwe/Zambia. I was never
bitten. I have heard it is a different story in the summer and we did meet a
British woman at Devil’s Pool who was covered in bites. Since the thought of
Malaria is not a pleasant one (and, it can’t be prevented, it can only be
treated early, which is why you take Malarone), you still need to prepare. We
did not travel anywhere with the more serious African diseases – Ebola, Zika,
so forth.
Finally, we were instructed to have soft-sided luggage that did not exceed 15 kg (33 lbs.) and just one carry-on. With all my cameras and medical stuff, it was really tough keeping to that requirement. My backpack weighed exactly 33 lbs. and my camera bag (which I strapped in front) weighed 28.5 lbs. Linda brought a rolling suitcase with no bad consequences, but I could see how it would have been a problem for the portions where we were driven if everyone had had suitcases. It forced me to pack efficiently. Most hotels have very inexpensive laundry services, so we were able to limit clothing.
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| I was comfy, but hated this outfit |
Yes, a jacket is critical. Africa has
a reputation for being hot, but we had more cool weather than hot
And, we had
some outright chilly times as well. Had it rained, it would have been colder.
I took some rain
pants that I wore on the shark trip but didn’t really need, flip flops that I
wore only briefly and slip-on shoes that I wore on the plane and in Cape Town.
I took a hat that I didn’t really wear (but would have needed had it been
hotter or rainy) and a bathing suit that I ended up not needing (but that is a
later story). Take first aid supplies (also a later story).
And, when you
pack, put a change of clothes and everything you REALLY need (medications,
cameras, documents) in your carry-on. That was exceptionally important as I
will explain later.
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| Cape Buffalo |
I anticipated I would use the long lens for animals and the medium for scenery, but many animals were much closer than I anticipated, so I used both cameras about equally. I also took my laptop so I could view/process pictures on the road. Otherwise I wouldn’t have needed it.
Oh, and I
signed Caty, Becca and me up for Verizon’s International 100 Plan – that way we
could call, text and use a small amount of data if needed. It was possibly more
than we needed, but at $40 per line, it is nice to not have to worry about
overages. There is a fair amount of Wi-Fi, but also lots of areas where service
doesn’t work – texts sometimes never come through.
It takes lots
of planning for a trip like this. In retrospect, we did a pretty good job
(except for that air Zimbabwe snafu). We planned for a lot of contingencies and
experienced more than normal on this trip.
And,
unfortunately, a week before departure, Robin had to cancel, so we were down to
seven. Also, unfortunately, it was too late to get a replacement for her (with
the complex air travel, need for shots, need for insurance, etc., Africa isn’t
really a last-minute destination).
Kandice, Alexis, Linda, Caty, Janet, Becca, Kristen with African face paint in Cape Town
Stay tuned next
time to actually hear about the trip.
Trip date: August 25-September 9, 2017
