Victoria Falls trips from Jo'berg

I will be flying into Johannesberg and having quite a layover (about 5
days in fact). Time to do some sightseeing.

I notice that there are a few places that do Victoria Falls tours from
Jo'berg, but I would like to know if there is any particular company that
comes recommended and/or warned against.

Thanks for any information.

--
-Glennl
The despammed service works OK, but unfortunately
now the spammers grab addresses for use as "from" address too!
e-mail hint: add 1 to quantity after gl to get 4317.

Try http://www.flightcentre.co.za for 2 or 3 day trips to Vic Falls.
Also, have a look at http://www.flysaa.com

My personal recommendation is to opt for the Zambian side. The
accomodation, atmosphere, and general state of repair is better on
that side. You can always walk across the bridge into Zimbabwe to look
at the falls from that side if you want to.

If you're looking for a road trip rather than flying, then 5 days
isn't enough. (It's a LOOONG way from Joburg to Vic Falls, and you'll
spend most of your time on the bus).

You might consider having a look at Kruger in the few days you have
the layover.

Where are you going from Joburg?

Regards,
Marc

On Mon, 09 Oct 2006 23:58:06 -0700,
) wrote:


I will be flying into Johannesberg and having quite a layover (about 5
days in fact). Time to do some sightseeing.

I notice that there are a few places that do Victoria Falls tours from
Jo'berg, but I would like to know if there is any particular company that
comes recommended and/or warned against.

Thanks for any information.

Sorry, I have no idea about preorganised "fly-in" Safaris from Jhb to
Vic Falls, but they tend to be very expensive. Whats about going to
Kruger NP instead of? What time of the year are you coming to SA?

Seb

btw - why do people always write Joberg?

There's also pleny to do in Johannesburg depending on your
preferences, the time of your visit etc. So don't write off
Johannesburg out-of-hand as a destination in its own right.

Please let me know what your interests are, and I might be able to
make some suggestions.

Regards,
Marc

On Mon, 09 Oct 2006 23:58:06 -0700,
) wrote:


I will be flying into Johannesberg and having quite a layover (about 5
days in fact). Time to do some sightseeing.

I notice that there are a few places that do Victoria Falls tours from
Jo'berg, but I would like to know if there is any particular company that
comes recommended and/or warned against.

Thanks for any information.

You can fly from Joburg to either Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) or Livingstone
(Zambia). A nice trip is 2 x nights at the falls and then three nights at
Chobe Game reserve (Botswana) which is about an hour from the falls by
vehicle.

There are fully inclusive tours (air, transfers, hotel, meals, game views
from boat and land) available. I think this would be your best bet.
Generally very professional (from personal experience), I stayed at Ilala
Lodge, Victoria Falls and Chobe Safari Lodge.

Sorry, I can't remember the name of the organizing company, I just booked
through my travel agent.

Regards,
Clive




wrote in message
...

I will be flying into Johannesberg and having quite a layover (about 5
days in fact). Time to do some sightseeing.

I notice that there are a few places that do Victoria Falls tours from
Jo'berg, but I would like to know if there is any particular company that
comes recommended and/or warned against.

Thanks for any information.

--
-Glennl
The despammed service works OK, but unfortunately
now the spammers grab addresses for use as "from" address too!
e-mail hint: add 1 to quantity after gl to get 4317.

We are Tour Operators in Johannesburg and our products include Victoria
Falls. Be warned, flights from Johannesburg to Vic Falls are very full
for October. You may have more chance with Livingstone. In general,
there is more accommodation in Vic Falls than Livingstone and it is a
cheaper destination. I would suggest 3 nights at the destination, there
is too much to do in only 2 nights.

Enjoy



wrote:
I will be flying into Johannesberg and having quite a layover (about 5
days in fact). Time to do some sightseeing.

I notice that there are a few places that do Victoria Falls tours from
Jo'berg, but I would like to know if there is any particular company that
comes recommended and/or warned against.

Thanks for any information.

--
-Glennl
The despammed service works OK, but unfortunately
now the spammers grab addresses for use as "from" address too!
e-mail hint: add 1 to quantity after gl to get 4317.

wrote:
I will be flying into Johannesberg and having quite a layover (about 5
days in fact). Time to do some sightseeing.

I notice that there are a few places that do Victoria Falls tours from
Jo'berg, but I would like to know if there is any particular company that
comes recommended and/or warned against.

Thanks for any information.

--
-Glennl
The despammed service works OK, but unfortunately
now the spammers grab addresses for use as "from" address too!
e-mail hint: add 1 to quantity after gl to get 4317.

depending on who you fly to johannesburg with you can get a british
airways pass for africa that flies to cape town, namibia and vic falls
etc. as long as you fly 3 legs it includes all flights with SAA. It is
a 4 hour flight to vic falls compared to a long long drive. and each
flight is cheaper with the air pass. I preferred zimbabwe side myself
to zambia. the falls are more spectacular however the atmosphere in vic
falls town itself is a little drab with all the politics in current
zimbabwe. A must is the Boma, and you can book day trips to
chobe/botswana through the hotel you stay in. peregrine do vic falls
stop overs 3-4 nights for a few hundred dollars including transfers and
u get a nice hotel. The biggest tip is always carry US dollars to pay
for your options/tours, as they will not take local currency for the
trips.

In article , Marc Lurie
wrote:

Try http://www.flightcentre.co.za for 2 or 3 day trips to Vic Falls.
Also, have a look at http://www.flysaa.com

My personal recommendation is to opt for the Zambian side. The
accomodation, atmosphere, and general state of repair is better on
that side. You can always walk across the bridge into Zimbabwe to look
at the falls from that side if you want to.

If you're looking for a road trip rather than flying, then 5 days
isn't enough. (It's a LOOONG way from Joburg to Vic Falls, and you'll
spend most of your time on the bus).

You might consider having a look at Kruger in the few days you have
the layover.

Where are you going from Joburg?


Thanks very much for all your recomendations. I just returned from the
trip, and so now a time for a full report.

First, the reason for starting from Joburg has to do with pre-existing
tickets as part of a round trip package purchased with a group of people I
was traveling with. I wanted some time to do some sight seeing (after
all, its about a day travling to get there from here, so I wasn't in such
a rush to get back right away). Therefore, I requested that my ticket
have some extra time in Joburg. When traveling as a group it is usually
possible to get some of the tickets changed in this fashion for a portion
of the trip, but generally it isn't possible to change completely the
destinations.

Therefore, as the origin and destination flight for the rest of the group
was PDX - Washington Dulles (via Untied) - Joburg (via SAA), that's
pretty much what I was limited to working with.

Kruger was definitely a good suggestion, but the reason why I didn't want
recomendations about a trip there was that going there was already part of
previously arranged group plans. I just wanted to do something more,
after spending over a day strapped into a flying aluminum can.

I agree completely with the Zambian choice. The problems in Zimbabwe are
definitely having causing some problems. Some South African tourists that
were on the plane with me stayed on the Zimbabwe side, and things have
deteriorated to the point over there where even fairly small bottles of
water are going for US$4. They said they crossed over into Zambia and as
expensive as things are over there they certainly said that things were
even worse on the Zimbabwe side.

The falls were not as good as they will be during the peak water flow, but
even so it was good to be there.

I wound up staying at the Zambezi Sun. It is a lot more high-class resort
than anything I am used to staying in. However, it has a gate that opens
directly into the Victoria Falls park, so that it is not necessary to pay
extra to enter the park, and therefore multiple entries into the park at
various times of the day are a lot more practical. For example, I once
went to the falls for a 10 minute say because I saw that there was going
to be a nice sunset, and thought it would be fun to get a photo of the
falls with the sun setting behind them. That type of thing would be
difficult, if not impossible, saying at some other place on the Zambian
side.

I must admit, though, when I first saw the place my reaction wasn't
particularly positive: "Since when did the Aztecs invade Africa?" The
place is supposed to resemble some ancient middle eastern city, such as
Babylon or Petra, but when I first saw it I thought it looked more along
the lines of ancient Mexican ruins. The fact that they had a Mexican band
playing for all dinners I ate there didn't help that impression either.

I will definitely check other options if I am ever in that area again,
because that resort just seems way too much for a simple traveler like
me. BUT it was a neat experience for just this once.

The bad news about staying in Zambia: when I came through the airport in
Livingstone they demanded US$100 for a visa for any US citizens. It was
explained to me that this was necessary because the visas given to US
citizens are 3 year visas. I was under the impression that there was a
cheaper option, but it's not as if there is a way to argue with customs
officials. This is at least somewhat better than demanding that everyone
obtain a visa before entering the country (as certain countries do) but
Mozambique only charges US$25, with a discount if you pay in
Metacais....and Botswana doesn't have a visa requirement at all.

Those who suggested Chobe National Park in Botswana were also spot on.
November is the start of the rainy season and so the animals were
migrating away from the river. Still, I got some good photos there.

Coming back to Livingstone airport from Chobe, I was part of a tourist van
pool from various locations in Botswana. There was over an hour of delay
at the border into Zambia as two people in the van (based on the accent I
believe they were Germans) refused to pay the US$100 fee for a visa to get
into Zambia, until it became quite clear that they were not going to
continue on their way without paying. Therefore, it isn't just people
from the USA that are being required to purchase this type of visa, and it
isn't just at the Livingstone airport.

--
-Glennl
The despammed service works OK, but unfortunately
now the spammers grab addresses for use as "from" address too!
e-mail hint: add 1 to quantity after gl to get 4317.