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Old 11-06-2008, 05:47 AM   #1
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Default 2 weeks in South Africa

Okay, so its not completely decided yet but with a recent slashing of airline prices, relative rise in the $ vs ZAR, and a little bonus at work, my wife and I are thinking of heading to South Africa for two weeks. Came up with a preliminary itinerary. Besides for going in and out of Joburg all things are open for change.

0 Flight JFK - JNB
1 Arrive in Johannesburg late
2 Drive to Kruger/night game drive
3 Kruger National Park for game drives
4 Drive to Joburg/Fly to Port Elizabeth
5 Port Elizabeth
6 Jeffreys Bay
7 Jeffreys Bay
8 Bus/car to Knysna
9 Knysna/ bus to Stellenbosch
10 Stellenbosch
11 Cape Town
12 Cape Town
13 Cape Town
14 CPT - JNB - JFK
15 Arrive back in NYC

I'd like to thank Mish who's been giving me TONS of great advice on SA and all it has to offer.
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Old 11-06-2008, 06:15 AM   #2
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I can't help you out with this; I just wanted to say WOW !
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Old 11-06-2008, 10:20 AM   #3
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Awesome, man. You are going to love it! Take the telephoto lens to get those 'my god, you were this close to the animals?' shots...

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Old 11-07-2008, 10:00 AM   #4
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I think that looks pretty good! And im really jealous about the safari, I will have to do one soon!!
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Old 11-07-2008, 05:42 PM   #5
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Looks awesome. You'll have a blast
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Old 11-07-2008, 05:43 PM   #6
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do you know where in kruger you'll be going? What do you want to see? The south has a lot more of the big game but the north is filllllllllled with ellies.....
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Old 11-08-2008, 06:02 AM   #7
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Not sure where in Kruger we'll be yet. I've been looking and a lot of accomodations are already booked up. By the way, the South African National Park system has one of the greatest web sites I've ever used, especially for its size. You can get up to the minute availability for every tent, hut, bungalow, or guest house throughout the entire country's park system. So helpful! They also have a great forums section with tons of park-specific info.

Right now we're looking at Berg-en-Dal or Pretoriuskop.
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Old 11-08-2008, 12:57 PM   #8
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Wowee, I'm super jealous of you two!! You're gonna have such a wicked trip.
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Old 11-10-2008, 07:40 AM   #9
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Well I booked our tickets. I actually used 2 separate frequent flier accounts to get the plane tickets. I had US Airways on one line, Capital One on the other, and kept going between them. I was so nervous I'd get one ticket and something would happen and I couldn't secure the other. But it all worked out...

February 13th I fly outta JFK, landing almost 18 hours later in Joburg.
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Old 01-08-2009, 10:46 AM   #10
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So I finally got our rough itinerary planned out...the middle part is going to be open and we'll play it by ear once we get there...

Feb 13 - Depart from NYC
Feb 14 - Arrive in Johannesburg
Feb 15 - Kruger National Park (sunset safari drive!)
Feb 16 - Kruger
Feb 17 - Kruger until we fly out to Port Elizabeth
Feb 18 - Port Elizabeth/Jeffreys Bay
Feb 19 - Jeffreys Bay/Storms River
Feb 20 - Plettenberg Bay/Knysna/Wilderness
Feb 21 - ? Maybe to Cape Town if we get through the Garden Route quickly
Feb 22 - Stellenbosch
Feb 23 - Stellenbosch
Feb 24 - Cape Town
Feb 25 - Cape Town
Feb 26 - Cape Town
Feb 27 - Cape Town/Fly out at night
Feb 28 - Arrive back in NYC
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Old 01-08-2009, 11:52 AM   #11
 
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You will have a good time Stellenbosch! I have family that use to live in Eikestad.

Love that city.

It sounds like you are going to have a great time.
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Old 01-08-2009, 01:07 PM   #12
 
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BTW you should feel lucky your flight time it 18 hours.

when I go back and forth im useally traveling for 24-36 hours!
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Old 02-05-2009, 06:37 AM   #13
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Well South African Airways decided to screw us yesterday. Our flight from JFK-JNB was cancelled. They rebooked us on the flight for the next night but that really screws up our itinerary and most of the deposits I made for the Safari portion of the trip. After lots of calls between SAA, my credit card company (who i booked 1 ticket with) and US Airways (who i booked the other ticket through) I finally got rebooked for the same night - but out of Dulles (IAD). Not the worst thing in the world since I live in Philly its almost the same distance anyway.

The big kicker is that they wouldnt alter our return trip for free. So I'm still flying back into New York (JFK). Right. So how do I get to Dulles? Can't take a car and leave it there? How do I get home from NYC?

At least I have a few more days to get this all figured out...just thought I'd update you on my trip.
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Old 02-05-2009, 08:46 AM   #14
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How about flying IAD from JFK one way? THe cost looks around 75 pp or less depending on what flights are available (not sure when you return stateside)

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Old 02-05-2009, 08:50 AM   #15
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Yeah, was thinking that, but in the time it would take to drive to JFK and then fly to Dulles I can just drive to Dulles. I'll prob rent a one way rental car to go to Dulles and then rely on the kindness of friends and family to get me home from NYC...
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Old 02-05-2009, 02:21 PM   #16
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Nice! I can't wait to hear how it all goes.

Good luck with airport transportation.
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Old 02-12-2009, 04:05 PM   #17
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So you leave tommorrow, just wanna say I hope you have a GREAT time!!!! Cant wait to hear all about it.
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Old 02-15-2009, 07:46 AM   #18
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Sounds like an awesome adventure that you have planned. Take lots of pics!
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Old 03-02-2009, 05:28 AM   #19
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Well I'm back - safe and sound. I've put a few pics on Facebook but I'll be putting most of them on Flickr - I'll email out a link when they're ready. Before I get to that though I need to catch up on work - 400 emails to slog through! ugh. the real world sucks.
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Old 03-02-2009, 11:02 AM   #20
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can't wait to see the pics!!!! glad you made it back safe - hope you guys had a great time!
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