I will be traveling from the States to Harare. I have two travel options: Stay one night in Johannesburg and connect to Harare the following day or arrive in Harare latenight and get a hotel in Harare and the following day fly to the hunting camp. Questions: Which is the best option? And could someone recommend hotels close to airport in Harare and Johannesburg?

I believe that it is always a good idea to have a 24 hour period before you charter out to give your luggage/guns a chance to catch up with you. If you r.o.n. in Johannesburg, you will have to go through customs anyway.

IMHO, I'd fly a day early into Harare.

Stay in Harare. I would recommend Meikles-they will pick you up.

Just returned from Zim, I would recommend flying straight through to Harare. A lower cost option that worksas well is the Bronti Hotel. Nice gounds, half the cost of Meikles. Besides a certain "element" has taken up at Meikles.

Jeff

I assume you are hunting there. Do you have the option to overnight at the home of the PH? That is my preference if available.

bwana, does the Bronti hotel pick you up at the airport?

Just returned from Zim Oct 2nd via Joberg. Spent one night in Joberg and stayed at Afton House. Afton met my group at the airport and took us to the hotel and back to the airport the next day. Service and accomodations were excellent and prices very good. Flew to Harare the next day and stayed at Gecko Gardens. HHK met us at the airport and took us to hotel. Service and accomodations were great but sort of pricey. HHK picked us back up and took us to small airfield to meet charter. All weapons and bags made it with no delays. The two days before hunting were nice to get bearings straight and rest up and adjust to new time period.

If your flight schedule allows you to continue to Harare after arriving in Jo'burg, spend your extra night in Harare. If you're flying SAA you'll probably have checked your baggage through to Harare anyway, thus avoiding the SAPS hassle. In case your luggage doesn't make it to Harare, you might want to consider scheduling a buffer day there if needed. While there's not a lot to sightsee in Harare, it'll let things catch up if needed.

If you have to overnight in Jo'burg (Atlanta flight), I'd suggest Afton. The good news about staying over in Jo'burg is that if your luggage is delayed, you'll know it sooner and will be able to skew your travel times to spend an extra day in Jo'burg if needed to get the stuff. That also narrows down the possibilities of where your stuff is hung up, as well as giving you the opportunity to manually check your bags on to Harare the next day...one less connection to worry about. The bad news about staying overnight in Jo'burg is having to go through the SAPS hassles.

I'm going to Victoria Falls later this month, flying from Atlanta and overnighting in Jo'burg at Afton. If the bags don't make it, I have one extra day scheduled to let them catch up there. If they do make it, I'll fly on and take the extra day in Vic Falls to sightsee with a former PH who lives there, spend the night with him then go on to camp the next morning. Hope it works out as well as it sounds .

if you can swing it travel all the way to harare and then hang untill your luggage gets to you 24 to 48 hours lets you reset your clock. plus no saps you can bring simi auto or pump shotguns and pistols if you want that way.

Bwana: are you refering to those poor, lonely secretaries one finds at the bar?

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan Chick:
Bwana: are you refering to those poor, lonely secretaries one finds at the bar?