Author Topic: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report  (Read 43497 times)

Online Yehoshua

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #40 on: September 03, 2015, 12:59:30 AM »
1000% would do it again, no question.
You must not be a large person to mind sitting in economy for that long. That or you be never flown J or F.

Offline Emkay

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #41 on: September 03, 2015, 01:51:10 AM »
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.
This is what's holding me back from my dream trip. Done properly for me it would cost me in the 10k range pp. Until I get  sponsor or figure out how to do it cheaper I'll holding off

Offline Emkay

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #42 on: September 03, 2015, 01:52:43 AM »


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.

So all food, hotels, activities, transfers... Was a total of $600? Sounds low, How long were you there?

Offline Yaalili

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #43 on: September 03, 2015, 09:19:25 AM »

So all food, hotels, activities, transfers... Was a total of $600? Sounds low, How long were you there?

We were there for 6 days in South Africa, (plus a day of traveling each way). And Shabbos we with friends in the Jewish community, there are no nice hotels near the Jewish community in joburg. The $600 does not include the bridge activities in ZimZam which were another couple hundred, but includes other activities and chauffeurs.

Offline Emkay

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #44 on: September 03, 2015, 09:20:44 AM »
We were there for 6 days in South Africa, (plus a day of traveling each way). And Shabbos we with friends in the Jewish community, there are no nice hotels near the Jewish community in joburg. The $600 does not include the bridge activities in ZimZam which were another couple hundred, but includes other activities and chauffeurs.
Includes the hotels?

Offline Yaalili

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #45 on: September 03, 2015, 09:23:42 AM »
Includes the hotels?

Yup. A rough value of how much the points would be worth, that we used.

Offline AharonInIsrael

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #46 on: September 03, 2015, 10:04:42 AM »
This is what's holding me back from my dream trip. Done properly for me it would cost me in the 10k range pp. Until I get  sponsor or figure out how to do it cheaper I'll holding off
Kickstarter?

Really cool TR! Looking forward to the rest and more amazing pics!

Offline Yehuda57

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #47 on: September 03, 2015, 10:32:41 AM »
This is what's holding me back from my dream trip. Done properly for me it would cost me in the 10k range pp. Until I get  sponsor or figure out how to do it cheaper I'll holding off

You can definitely do a Southern Africa trip for less than what OP did, let alone 10k.





Offline Emkay

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #48 on: September 03, 2015, 10:43:13 AM »
You can definitely do a Southern Africa trip for less than what OP did, let alone 10k.
I'm not looking into S Africa. Want to do specifically the great wildebeest migration in Kenya and Tanzania

Offline Chapshnell

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #49 on: September 03, 2015, 11:00:42 AM »
I'm not looking into S Africa. Want to do specifically the great wildebeest migration in Kenya and Tanzania

same here, that's now I see until November..

http://www.maasaimara.com/entries/great-wildebeest-migration-maasai-mara

Offline Emkay

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #50 on: September 03, 2015, 11:06:28 AM »
same here, that's in January AFAIK..
Its unpredictable and during a bunch of months. I will likely go during October

Offline stbaum

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #51 on: September 03, 2015, 11:22:18 AM »
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.

beautiful tr so far! do you mind saying what tour operator you used? could be helpful. and free advertising for them  ;)
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Offline ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #52 on: September 03, 2015, 11:32:22 AM »
Thanks!
We used Kosher Expeditions which is a US based company. They put us in touch with Celafrica Tours - the local company that arranged everything. Both David from KE and Celeste from CT were an absolute pleasure to deal with.  Our trip was perfectly arranged down to every detail and we were able to customize the itinerary to fit our wants and budget. We didn't have to worry about bringing food either, which was a real treat. This was a dream trip for us for while and it exceeded all expectations!

Offline Chapshnell

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #53 on: September 03, 2015, 11:34:23 AM »
Do people who go on safari trips buy professional cameras beforehand with an amex?  ;)

What did you use?

Offline ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #54 on: September 03, 2015, 11:38:10 AM »
Not I.
I had never used anything other than a p&s before, but courtesy of Prime Day I bought the Sony a3000 and it served me beautifully. I got some really amazing pictures.

Offline Emkay

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #55 on: September 03, 2015, 11:44:09 AM »


Thanks!
We used Kosher Expeditions
Now the price all makes sense

Offline ponash123

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #56 on: September 03, 2015, 11:45:04 AM »
Now the price all makes sense
We had researched basically every company there is and none were cheaper for what we wanted to do.

Offline Emkay

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #57 on: September 03, 2015, 11:46:13 AM »
How was the kosher food arranged?

Offline damaxer91

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #58 on: September 03, 2015, 11:54:50 AM »
Thanks!
We used Kosher Expeditions which is a US based company. They put us in touch with Celafrica Tours - the local company that arranged everything. Both David from KE and Celeste from CT were an absolute pleasure to deal with.  Our trip was perfectly arranged down to every detail and we were able to customize the itinerary to fit our wants and budget. We didn't have to worry about bringing food either, which was a real treat. This was a dream trip for us for while and it exceeded all expectations!

+1 on Celeste

I have several family members that have used her for trips and have always been happy

Offline Chapshnell

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Re: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana Trip Report
« Reply #59 on: September 03, 2015, 11:59:35 AM »
+1 on Celeste

I have several family members that have used her for trips and have always been happy

Please post her contact info so others can benefit from them too