I recently returned from the Caprivi. We did the Houston/Frankfurt flight on Lufthansa, and Air Namibia for Frankfurt/Windhoek/Katima Mulilo.

Surprisingly all went fine. All the bags arrived with us, and all flights were on time.

But I'm not sure I'd fly Air Namibia again. All the PH's that I've hunted with in the past are avoiding Air Namibia, and flying SAA instead.

On our 2012 trip, Air Namibia moved our flight up by 14 hours. Consequently we lost a hunting day, and had overnights in Windhoek and Frankfurt that we normally would not have.

On our 2011 trip, they moved the Katima flight up by 2 hours with no notice. We missed our flight and had to stay 2 extra days.

Maybe we were just lucky this year.

if hunting the Caprivi via Katima, consider flying through Joburg, then Air Botswana to Kasane. it's only a 2 1/2 hour drive from Kasane to Katima. that's what i did last year and what i am doing again in 4 weeks. plus there are daily flights to Kasane from Joburg( Air Botswana) but not daily flights to Katima from Windhoek, IIRC. I have a 3 hour layover in 1 direction and a 4 hour layover in the other direction in Joburg- on to Air Bots outbound and return,. thus- NO OVERNIGHT STAYS NEEDED. i am flying BA to Joburg. PERFECT CONNECTIONS!!

I hunted the Caprivi this past May. I flew to Joberg then on to Kasane on SAA. Everything went fine. I took the early morning flight from JFK to Joberg so I could make the connection without an overnight in Joberg and therefore avoided all the SAPS crap. I flew to Kasane on the advice of the PH/safari owner Karl Stumpfe. He avoids Air Namabia whenever possible.

We did Lufthansa-Air Namibia into Katima last May/June. Air Namibia cancelled our confirmed reservations within 24 hours of booking, thus requiring re-booking with Lufthansa as well. Very difficult to get any info from the AN U.S. call center. Very difficult to deal with AN administration via email.

IMO, AN is run in an atypical african manner. They have some very strange policies, however their ground personnel in Windhoek were very helpful. They are in process of replacing their long distance aircraft, and they need it badly. However, they still only have two long distance aircraft which alternate days on the Windhoek-Frankfurt route, so if they have a mechanical issue there is no replacement aircraft available.

I doubt I'll fly AN again anytime soon. The Emirates flights are long as they all go via Dubai, but I will try them again.

Last year June, Air Namibia cancelled our return flight supposedly for "scheduled" maintenance. Our question, if it was scheduled, why sell us return tickets on that flight?

The fiasco required us to return a day early and spend a day and a half in Frankfurt so we would not have to rebook all of our return flights back to the U.S. and paying a substantial rebooking penalty.

This year, some friends flew on Air Namibia and AN has added a $100 fee for firearms, each way where in the past, it was no charge for firearms and one bag. More hunters will look at alternate travel arrangements in the future.

Geoff

i took the houston/lufthansa flight airnamib/windhoek route in august for my hunt. all went well. i told the an rep that since my flight was booked before imposing the $100 gun fee that i should not have to pay and they agreed easily. the flight to katima was 5 hours late leaving due to mechanical issues but no hassles about the gun. a;so lufthansa did not charge anything for my rifle either. i would seriously consider other options though for future travel due to the gun fee.