Looking to book for a June Ele hunt in the Caprivi of Namibia. Right now it appears Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then Air Namibia into Windhoek and on to Katima in the Caprivi is the best option to avoid overnights. About $1000 more than BA via Heathrow, which would require an overnight in Windhoek. Almost everything else would require an overnight in Joberg, which I want to avoid (no SAPS).

Any other ideas for routing?

Thanks

Have you visited with Steve Turner, Travels With Guns? He might save you some $$s.

when i hunted the Caprivi 2 months ago. i flew BA from LAX to Heathrow to Joburg, then changed to Air Botswana to Kasana, then drove to camp( about 3 hours drive). no overnight stops enroute. on return, i overnighted in Joburg, then home. if you are hunting the eastern Caprivi, Kasane is a good alternative.

I spoke with Steve 2 weeks ago. He then went on vacation until 12/28 without getting back to me. I am not impressed.

I've dealt with Steve for some time (even before he started his not-so-new company)and he's been very good for me -- won't bore you with deatails, but some were certainly out of the ordinary.

Lionhunter, you ain't leavin' for 6 months. I'd wait for Steve to get back from vacation if it was me. And, I'd be perfectly comfortable doing that.

I wouldn't fly through Heathrow on a bet. You got lucky.

If you have to overnight either end in Windhoek, I'd recommend Onganga as a place to stay. Nice folks, good food -- Not Joe's good, but good enough if you don't want to go out) and you can leave things with them in a very substantial looking vault. It's a family business and I would have no hesitancy to stay there again. Nothing fancy bear in mind, but a fair, reasonable deal with people you can trust.

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Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then Air Namibia into Windhoek

That is definately the way I would go if I was traveling with rifles.
Frankfurt may require a fairly long layover. If so, a day room in a hotel attached to the airport by enclosed walkways is a good idea. It is not cheap (somewhere around $200), but a shower and a real bed for a few hours is a very good thing.

On 5 trips, I've done the Houston-Frankfurt (Lufthansa) and Frankfurt-Windhoek (Air Namibia). On three of the trips we had 4 hunters. In total on the 5 trips, we checked a total of 10 rifle cases and 16 regular bags.....EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF LUGGAGE ARRIVED WITH US. No luggage delays at all. It is so nice to land in Africa and immediately have all your luggage

quote:

Originally posted by Seamaster:

quote:

Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then Air Namibia into Windhoek

That is definately the way I would go if I was traveling with rifles.
Frankfurt may require a fairly long layover. If so, a day room in a hotel attached to the airport by enclosed walkways is a good idea. It is not cheap (somewhere around $200), but a shower and a real bed for a few hours is a very good thing.

quote:

Originally posted by LionHunter:
Looking to book for a June Ele hunt in the Caprivi of Namibia. Right now it appears Lufthansa to Frankfurt and then Air Namibia into Windhoek and on to Katima in the Caprivi is the best option to avoid overnights. About $1000 more than BA via Heathrow, which would require an overnight in Windhoek. Almost everything else would require an overnight in Joberg, which I want to avoid (no SAPS).

Any other ideas for routing?

Thanks

2 months ago when i went that way( to the same destination as you) i went via London to Joburg on BA, then booked a separate ticket on Air Botswana from Joburg to Kasane. no overnight in Joburg- had almost 4 hours to claim luggage there and recheck it to Kasane. Karl will pick you up in either Kasane or Katima. on the way home i did have to overnight in Joburg because the flight from Kasane arrived too late to get the daily flight to London.

quote:

Frankfurt may require a fairly long layover. If so, a day room in a hotel attached to the airport by enclosed walkways is a good idea. It is not cheap (somewhere around $200), but a shower and a real bed for a few hours is a very good thing.

I agree that going via Frankfurt is the best route, but don't agree that "a real bed for a few hours is a very good thing." Frankfurt is in roughly the same time zone as Namibia. If you stay active and alert during your daytime layover in Frankfurt (take the train downtown, eat, see the sights) you will (1) sleep much better on the grueling 10-hour flight to Windhoek, and (2) already be acclimated to the time change when you land in Namibia. Delaying your acclimatization to the time change by sleeping the day away in Frankfurt will just worsen your jet lag.

In 2010 we flew Delta from ATL to Frankfurt, got a day room at the Sheraton, then Air Nam. on to Windhoek.
At that time Delta & Air Nam. had a baggage agreement to transfer luggage, therefore I did not have to deal with any luggage after initial check-in.
Shawn at Gracy Travel made all arraingments for us.

Stonecreek is spot on...stay up and enjoy Frankfurt! We did!

Wife is going next time and she says no way that long w/o a shower. Getting cleaned up I can understand, going to sleep in Germany is a bad idea.

We went thru Frankfurt on the way to Namibia this year, stayed two nights at the Hotel Steinhagen downtown. When we arrived, we all needed a shower, and food. Got that, and before we could get sleepy, took the girls on a wine tour of the Rheingau valley. Eyelids DID get heavy a couple times, but staying up till "normal", local bedtime, helps cure the jet lag. Did some shopping the next day, and had some nice dinners downtown, when we got to the airport finally, we hit the ground in Africa ready to hunt.

On return, we went straight thru, the girls would have spent more days there if I had let them. The Lufthansa big jet was pretty comfy too, have flown it a couple more times since then, on business.