Out of Africa Final Thoughts

minimal luggage

packing cubes

As I mentioned in the last post, we managed to take the trip to South Africa with only carryon luggage. We each had one suitcase as shown above. I also had a purse and my husband used a backpack. We had earlier purchased the Away brand carryon suitcases due to their size, weight, and positive reviews. We liked the fact that one of the inside compartments has compression capability, and they sell the packing cubes as well. I wanted to ensure that I got cubes that would fit inside these particular suitcases. The cubes worked great for keeping our belongings organized during the trip. We had no problems with any of the airlines with the items we carried on.

In terms of other advice given on what to pack and wear in South Africa, many things were not true. I'll preface what I'm about to say by clarifying that on our trip we stayed in lodges, and the safaris were in Toyota jeeps. We did not camp in the wilderness, and we did no hiking through the brush. Because of that, we wore tennis shoes on the safaris and they were fine. We did not need hiking boots, which was great because that saved space in the suitcase. Many online articles said to only wear tan, gray or dull green clothes so the animals wouldn't be disturbed by bright colors. Our clothing did not matter one bit. The animals are far more disturbed by the jeeps than what you have on. I did wear a large safari-style hat due to all my skin cancer issues. Our jeep was covered, but the sun still came in from the sides. I was happy to have my hat on for protection. We liberally used our sunblock, and had insect repellant wipes as well. Mosquitos can be a problem, especially since malaria is prevalent. We did not, however, take any malaria prevention medicine as I was concerned about the side effects.

The other thing of confusion for me was the power outlet situation in the areas to which we were traveling. I had read that the outlets are not standard in South Africa or in Botswana. I erred on the side of caution and purchased a power plug adapter kit that would handle several types of outlets, but in the end all I needed was the Type D plug. We did not need any voltage converters.

Covid was pretty much a non-issue on this trip. Masks were not requited anywhere, and the only time we had to prove we were vaccinated is when we landed at the Victoria Falls Airport. Botswana requires proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test. Just like in America, I did see that some Covid signs are still being displayed.

Africa covid signs

The biggest miracle is that we did not get Covid on this trip. Despite being in airports, planes, vans, and restaurants with their buffets (we haven't eaten a buffet meal in over three years!) we came home happy and healthy. To our knowledge, we have never gotten it. So far...

Out of Africa Final Day

Thursday, February 23rd was our day of departure for home. Fortunately, we could take it easy in the morning as Mehluli was not picking us up until 11:00. We had a leisurely breakfast before finishing our packing. We drove the short distance to the Victoria Falls airport, where we bid a bittersweet goodbye to Mehluli. He took great care of us while we were in Zimbabwe, and was a wealth of information about the country.

Fastjet

flying into Cape Town

We boarded a Fastjet plane to Johannesburg. The flight time was 1 hour 35 minutes, so it was a quick one. We had a couple hour layover in Johannesburg before getting on our Delta flight. After we had booked our trip, Delta unfortunately decided that instead of flying direct to Atlanta there would be a stop in Cape Town. That added a 2 hour flight to Cape Town, with a 2 and 1/2 hour layover there. They did not let us get off the aircraft, which pretty much sucked since we still had more than 16 hours to go on that plane. Not to mention the fact that there were numerous children on the flight, including an infant in the row ahead of us. Suffice it to say that I got very little sleep on the way home.

We then had a 4 hour layover in Atlanta before boarding our final flight home. Going through customs in Atlanta was a breeze because we did carryon luggage only, and we both have Global Entry. From the time we left our lodge at 11:00 in the morning until we landed in Charlotte at 1:30 we had been traveling for over 34 hours.

To summarize the trip - it was fabulous! It exceeded all of our expectations. My recommendation to anyone going is to do carryon if you can, and add time on to either the beginning or end of the trip. The number of days we spent in each location was perfect for our needs, but that is a lot of flying time. Had we known Delta was going to change the return flight, we would have stayed a few days in Cape Town for sure. I highly recommend South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana as travel destinations.

Out of Africa Day 5

our FastJet plane

We had a 6:30 AM pickup time for our van ride from Karongwe to the Nelspruit Airport. It took about three hours to get to the airport. Once there we boarded a FastJet plane, which is a local airline servicing Africa. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but we had a great experience with them. It took a little over 2 hours to fly to the Victoria Falls Airport.

on the way to Victoria Falls Airport

The terrain definitely got more mountainous on the way to our destination. Because Victoria Falls is in Zimbabwe we had to go through Immigration and Customs when we arrived. The lines moved okay, and we also had to purchase a VISA as we were going to travel to Botswana as well. We ended up meeting a couple of other people from the Charlotte area as we were standing in line, which is pretty crazy.

We were met at the airport by our local guide, Mehluli. He took great care of us during our time in Zimbabwe and Botswana. He took us to the Shearwater Explorers Village lodge, where we stayed for the next three nights. After checking in, we relaxed a bit before having dinner at the lodge. We had another full day coming up, beginning at 8:15 AM, so we turned in early.

Out of Africa Days 1 & 2

We just returned from our first major trip since BC - before Covid. We traveled with our good friends to Africa. We had high expectations for the trip, and they were all exceeded! First we had to take a short flight from here to Atlanta, where we met up with Kathy and Paul. From there we boarded the plane to Johannesburg, with a flight duration of over fifteen hours. I'm not going to lie, that was no fun despite being in the Delta Premium Comfort Class. I never sleep well on planes, so I maybe got an hour or so of sleep.

Once we landed and cleared customs we were met by a representative from the travel agency that we used. He took us on the short walk to our hotel, which was attached to the airport. Once we checked in, he told us where to meet at 7:30 the next morning to catch our shuttle to the Karongwe Private Reserve. We dropped our things in our rooms and went to enjoy a cold beverage by the pool before having dinner.

Following breakfast the next morning we met our shuttle driver. Unfortunately one of the other people using his services showed up a half hour late, which was incredibly rude to the rest of us. The drive to the reserve was a long six hours, considering we were quite jet-lagged. It was interesting scenery along the way, so that helped pass the time.

from Johannesburg to Hoedspruit, South Africa

Upon arrival at the Shiduli Private Game Lodge, we were greeted by resort manager Shauna and taken to our rooms. It is a small resort and very private as it is in the middle of a 9,000 hectare private reserve. We quickly dropped off our stuff and went to grab a late lunch before being met by our driver for a 3:00 4x4 trek our into the wilderness.

Our driver was Gilbert and our tracker was Johnson, and we remained with them for the next three days. There were two other couples in our vehicle - one from Holland and one from Brazil. They were both very nice, and interesting to talk with.

They have had a lot of rain in the area, and some of their roads were inaccessible. Luckily they have lots to choose from. The couple from Brazil said they were originally staying in Kruger National Park, but they had so much water that they cancelled their safaris. So that's how they ended up at our resort.

We saw quite a number of animals, birds and plants on our first time out. It was simply amazing! After three hours they took us back to the lodge, where we were met with a cool cloth and a beverage. We cleaned up, ate dinner then hit the sack. The next morning would come early with a 5:30 AM knock on the door.

a few photos from our first safari