Author Topic: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report  (Read 43501 times)

Offline sam28

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #20 on: September 02, 2015, 03:07:21 PM »
wow great report so far and I love the pictures keep it coming

Offline Proisrael

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #21 on: September 02, 2015, 03:19:11 PM »
Great report and great pics!! I have got to start this trip planning!

Offline Marco Polo

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #22 on: September 02, 2015, 04:18:54 PM »
Great TR so far. Can't wait to do something like this.
Quaerite et Invenietis.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #23 on: September 02, 2015, 07:29:49 PM »
Great TR so far! I really love all the pics! What month were you there? If it was June/July/August, how early was sunset and  how was the "great" weather? This is really making me want to plan a trip there myself!

Online ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #24 on: September 02, 2015, 07:41:49 PM »
So I am going to figure you flew economy.. How much did the trip cost $$ all included? Also was the hotel/lodge nice? Takes pretty big courage.. not bad!

Yep definitely economy. The trip was quite costly but worth every penny! I'm not sure of the exact amount yet but around $6500 all inclusive.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #25 on: September 02, 2015, 07:43:39 PM »
Yep definitely economy. The trip was quite costly but worth every penny! I'm not sure of the exact amount yet but around $6500 all inclusive.
For all 3 of you, correct? Not per person.

Online ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #26 on: September 02, 2015, 07:45:59 PM »
Great TR so far! I really love all the pics! What month were you there? If it was June/July/August, how early was sunset and  how was the "great" weather? This is really making me want to plan a trip there myself!

We were just there! Mid August. Sunset was about 6. We really got lucky with the weather. Zimbabwe/Botswana was beautiful dry weather with a strong sun. Cape Town was a bit cooler but still nice and sunny.

Online ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #27 on: September 02, 2015, 07:46:48 PM »
Yep definitely economy. The trip was quite costly but worth every penny! I'm not sure of the exact amount yet but around $6500 all inclusive.
Nope per person. Like I said - quite costly

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #28 on: September 02, 2015, 07:47:02 PM »
We were just there! Mid August. Sunset was about 6. We really got lucky with the weather. Zimbabwe/Botswana was beautiful dry weather with a strong sun. Cape Town was a bit cooler but still nice and sunny.
Not too bad then going mid-winter. Good to know for next year.

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #29 on: September 02, 2015, 07:47:53 PM »
Nope per person. Like I said - quite costly
Yikes!! Though you may have been able to offset some of it with miles/points.

Offline Yaalili

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #30 on: September 02, 2015, 07:48:07 PM »
Nope per person. Like I said - quite costly

Was thinking per person too, cuz for 3 it sounded too low for what you did.

Online ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #31 on: September 02, 2015, 07:51:50 PM »
You have to realize that besides for the international flight which is costly, we took A LOT of domestic flights and went all over. We crammed in a packed itinerary and did a lot for the time we were there.

Offline Yaalili

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #32 on: September 02, 2015, 08:00:31 PM »
My trip in March came out to $1300 per person inclusive. Flights from us to sa, roundtrip flights to Cape Town, roundtrip flights to Zambia/Zimbabwe, all hotels, restaurants and activities.

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #33 on: September 02, 2015, 08:06:09 PM »
We did a lot of research and nothing came close to that for what we did. We stayed in a private game reserve in South Africa, as well as very nice places everywhere else. Also - I believe this season is a lot more expensive.

Offline Yaalili

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #34 on: September 02, 2015, 08:09:06 PM »
It also helped that our flights from New York to Johannesburg were $291 on Etihad. Roundtrip to Cape Town was about $120 on kulula/mango, roundtrip to Vic falls with BA and tax were equivalent to about $200 plus $50 visa there, $50 park entrance fees. And we did bridge activities there, visiting ZimZam for a day was probably the most expensive day of our trip.

Online ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #35 on: September 02, 2015, 08:12:22 PM »
That definitely helps. Our JFK - JNB flights were about a thousand dollars more than that!
Also - we went through a tour operator and paid them to take care of everything, food included. Though after doing some rough calculations I'm pretty sure we would've paid about the same amount had we done it ourselves.

Offline Yaalili

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #36 on: September 02, 2015, 08:14:15 PM »
That definitely helps. Our JFK - JNB flights were about a thousand dollars more than that!
Also - we went through a tour operator and paid them to take care of everything, food included. Though after doing some rough calculations I'm pretty sure we would've paid about the same amount had we done it ourselves.

I'm sure the tour operator took a nice cut, but that is a service you are paying for. We did all the arranging and planning on our own.

Offline Buruch

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #37 on: September 02, 2015, 10:14:39 PM »
Anyone hear of these guys? Africanbudgetsafaris.com
I'm also looking to plan a trip.  But nowhere close to 6k pp.


Offline Chapshnell

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #38 on: September 02, 2015, 11:54:41 PM »
Yep definitely economy. The trip was quite costly but worth every penny! I'm not sure of the exact amount yet but around $6500 all inclusive.

ouch!! that hurts.. hindsight 20/20 would you do it again?
If yes.. then someone that can get flights with points in business its a no brainer to take this trip if only food, lodging & safari costs.

Looking forward to part 2.. the more pictures the merrier :)

Online ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #39 on: September 03, 2015, 12:58:22 AM »
1000% would do it again, no question.