I have my 1st safari booked for May 15th 2006. How far in advance should I bookmy flight, and should I be concerned with the recent land reform activity?

Depends on your choice of airlines, and if you are going to use air miles. If you are going to use miles you need to start soon as they linit the number of seats per plane where miles can be used. Look for specials all the time.
I do not know where the land stealing will go. they might go slow so as to be noticed.
Gene

The sooner the better. Book early for the best seats.

I would suggest following the advice of a good travel agent that deals in African travel. Gracy Travel or Kathi at Wild Travel would be your best bets. I went with Gracy Travel and Shawn made sure our trip to Namibia went without a hitch even though we needed to change observers going with almost less then a month before departure.

As far as the Land reform activity, I understand that it is going quite slowly. And a lot depends on where you are headed. A concession hunt shouldn't have many problems. I suppose a ranch hunt could be effected. You didn't mention where you were booked to hunt though.

It's certainly not too soon to make sure all of your bookings are complete. I suppose you could gamble on oil prices dropping between now and then....not sure I'd hold my breath on that happening though.

All in all I think the biggest advice is what is said here so often. Use a good travel agent, practice shooting off of sticks, and just GO! I assure you that you won't regret it.

Bruce- I've flown 2x out of Montana to Namibia. If you are rifle hunting, check out avoiding JBRG and going direct to Windhoek. Even the archery guys are being run through the mill in SA. With the fuel thing, it is not going to get cheaper.A couple of GREAT agents you can source through this site. Miles seats become availible from 270-300 days before departure, but that is changing all the time.

I'm leaving for Namibia on May 24th. I booked my flight this week going the Frankfurt to Windhoek route, and we nearly had to juggle the dates because the Air Namibia flight was showing as booked in full, but the travel agent checked with Air Namibia and they cleared two seats for the flight.

I guess that is a rather long winded way of saying you should look at booking now.

Added in edit: We used Shawn at Gracy Travel. If you would like her contact information, just send me a PM.

Thanks to everyone.I'm hunting with Twilight Safari's about 125 miles southwest of Windhoek. Does anyone know how to obtain a list of the other farms to be affected? I'm hoping to fly to Frankfurt,then to Namibia

Bruce if you are planning on using SAA thru a discounter such as Gracy or Kahti flights for '06 can't be booked till after October 1,2005.If you're going thru Frankfurt you can act now but have your agent book you a day room in Frankfurt for the layover,a shower and being able to strech out is nice. Be prepared to go thru customs so you can leave the airport though.
** It is NOT too early to begin getting your shots lined up and started about 5 months before your departure date.
I do not know what the others are talking about as far as going thru J'burg to Windhoek for weapons. All you need to do is check your weapons & luggage from your departing city all the way thru to Windhoek. No problems because you won't see your bags till Windhoek...if you have the slightest doubts hire Optima in J'burg to get you and your bags on the correct flight, it is $$ well spent (use the VIP meet & greet approx. $100) .

I just booked with Shawn at Gracy Travel for next year using SkyMiles, and the earliest that I could book a flight using Skymiles was for August of 2006. So, if you are using miles keep that in mind. Shawn has always been my agent and has always done an outstanding job for me.

Cats- FYI Optima is all but tits up. They failed to meet us in late July after repeated e-mail and phone confirmations. It seems that their main man has left and started his own operation. We had some trnansfers in country and to Moz and they were(and am assuming are) worthless.If it looks, smells, or feels like a cased firearm in the JBRG airport all bets are off.

quote:

Originally posted by crane:
Cats- FYI Optima is all but tits up. They failed to meet us in late July after repeated e-mail and phone confirmations. It seems that their main man has left and started his own operation. We had some trnansfers in country and to Moz and they were(and am assuming are) worthless.If it looks, smells, or feels like a cased firearm in the JBRG airport all bets are off.

crane, I had a similar experience with Optima in May. We had contracted their services to make sure that our luggage and rifles made it to the connecting flight to Windhoek. The Optima rep didn't show up until over an hour after we had landed. Then on the return flight, they did meet us on time, and confirmed my friends luggage and rifle had been loaded onto the plane bound for Atlanta, but he couldn't find mine and he had to go somewhere else now. Sorry. It did work out OK, as my things did make it to Atlanta with me.

sorry to here that about Optima they were a good org not that long ago. Now what is the option other than the Frankfurt/Windhoek route?
Also how are you guys getting Gracy to book you now? I tried 3 times with calling Susan Hill and Shawn (?) and am being told I need to wait till 10/2/05 to book for next August. cats

Try Anne at Air2000 for arranging permits.

http://www.hunterssupport.com/

I used AIR2000 and things went without a hitch. In addition, the young lady who met me at the gate made me forget about the crapy SAA flight

quote:

Originally posted by JBoutfishn:
I used AIR2000 and things went without a hitch. In addition, the young lady who met me at the gate made me forget about the crapy SAA flight

Air2000 will be meeting us with permit in hand in ....... 9 days. I won the hunt in a prize drawing and used mileage tickets to travel so I could afford to spend a few bucks on the "frills." Besides I'm traveling with my 11 yo son and after that many hours on an airplane his "whine level" may be a bit high. Anything to smooth the process is alright by me.

I would recommend Kathi at Wild Travel.

Fantastic service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by hikerbum:
I would recommend Kathi at Wild Travel.

Fantastic service!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

However, I think she is still in Africa so he would probably need to call her on her return.

I just returned from Namibia a week ago. We had great hunt. I traveled on British Airways via London and Johannesburg. We encountered no real problems with firearms. However, I know 2 other Alaskan hunters that hunted in July and August respectively that did have trouble in Johannesburg. Specifically:

1. The first hunter was booked from Johannesburg to Windhoek on British Airways (Comair). When he arrived in Joburg he was told by Comair that they could not transport his firearms due to losing a permit. After haggeling with BA, they got him a seat on the SAA flight to Windhoek. On his return, SAA was on strike. After much deliberation (read traveler refusing to compromise) with the counter help, he and his guns got loaded on Comair.
Apparently, they had the permit issues sorted by the time I traveled.
Also, the people he was traveling with had a number of valuables (like binoculars) stolen from bags while in transit through Johannesburg on this trip.

2. Second hunter was told at Johannesburg that his gun probably would not make the flight without "special handling". He broke down and paid for the "special handling" with some carefully delivered $20 bills.

I know others that have nightmare stories to tell about traveling with guns through London or Johannesburg. Stories about gun problems with BA are also not uncommon. However, this is my third time traveling through London on BA and I have had no problems. Happily, I can say the same about traveling through Frankfurt.

By the way, as long as you stay in transit at the airport at Johannesburg, you need no South African firearms permit. If you leave the airport, you should get permits in advance.

One problem with SAA is their new Airbus planes. There is a real problem with reduced seat size. Enough people complained that they put some 747s back into service to North America. However, I'm told that not all of the flights will be on 747s.

Whatever route you choose, book as early as possible.

As far as land reform activity, it is not a real issue at this time, but it's Africa. Things can change quickly. But don't let that stop you from planning a hunt. Stay in touch with your safari operator.

Also, regarding checking your bags through to Windhoek from your departure city: that is not always good advice. Example: I flew from Anchorage to Vancouver B.C on Alaska Airlines. Then BA all the way to Windhoek. The Alaska agent insisted checking everything all the way. My experience told me this would be trouble, but she said they do it all the time, even with guns. She said that once TSA approves the guns, they are no longer an issue. She was wrong. When we got to Vancouver, BA would not check me in until their agents has gone into the baggage area and retrieved my bags for rechecking. This took about 2 hours. Then all she did was put net routing tags on the bags with little orange guns on them.

Good luck.

well let us just admit it.....traveling to a far off land coupled with transporting guns is not as easy as it was 10-15 yrs ago. If you can't roll with the punches and slip a folded $20 bill here and there or hire a company for "VIP meet & greet" service you'll be a wreck if you are the sort to fret over things months in advance of your travel dates.
I suggest you sip a few Crown Royales over ice and hire a company such as Air2000, then take a knap on the flight ...it's $$ well spent!