The next Big Trip™: Southern Africa
It's approaching the last part of the year, so naturally I've been plotting where next to see in the world with that's left of my holiday allocation. Seeing as it's been 3 years since I last stepped foot in Africa for any decent amount of time, I've decided to return there for this trip and instead explore its other end for a change. The tour group I usually go through have offered me another discount, so I'll be using them again and taking their Kruger, Coast and Cape trip, that travels through a good portion of South Africa (Kruger National Park and a good tretch of its southern coast), southern Mozambique, and the envlaves of Swaziland and Lesotho. And as it turned out cheaper to fly there via the Gulf, I'll even be stopping for a day or three in Qatar in the way back.
So, the details so far are:
I had a choice of transit points in the Gulf: either flying with Emirates and going via Dubai (which I last visited back in 2006), or using Qatar Airways and going via Doha (which I'd never been before). To my surprise, Qatar Airways - self-advertised as "the world's 5-star airline" - ended up being the cheaper over the usual price-minded Emirates....so I took that as a sign to go via Qatar instead. :)
I've already paid off the airfare and put a deposit on the trip, so the only things really to worry about is accommodation pre- and post-trip, and getting a visa for Mozambique (which appears fairly straight-forward, as they're also a Commonwealth country, and it turns out cheaper if I get it in advance). As trips go I've left it a bit late to book and arrange - due solely to work dithering on approving my holiday request - but outside the trip itself it's fairly straight-forward. It will be my last major trip for the year, which hasn't been too bad in that respect: it's not often I can pull off three major trips in a year; usually it's two, and only with a lot of fore-planning. Just as well, really, as my eligibility for my UK passport kicks in at the start of December, and that effectively grounds me in Britain from then!
This entry was originally posted at http://mnemonia.dreamwidth.org/316156.html. Comments may be left on either entry.
So, the details so far are:
01 Nov: London, UK to Johannesburg, South Africa (Intrepid tour starts 3 Nov)- 04 Nov: Johannesburg to Kruger NP, South Africa
- 06 Nov: Kruger NP to Hlane Royal NP, Swaziland
- 07 Nov: Hlane Royal NP to Ponta Malongane, Mozambique
- 09 Nov: Ponta Malongane to Lake St Lucia, South Africa
- 10 Nov: Lake St Lucia to Zululand, South Africa
- 11 Nov: Zululand to Durban, South Africa
- 12 Nov: Durban to Drakensberg mountain range, South Africa
- 14 Nov: Drakensberg mountain range to Golden Gate Highlands NP, Lesotho
- 16 Nov: Golden Gate Highlands NP to Cintsa, South Africa
- 18 Nov: Cintsa to Addo, South Africa
- 19 Nov: Addo to Tsitsikamma NP, South Africa
- 21 Nov: Tsitsikamma NP to Oudtshoorn, South Africa
- 22 Nov: Oudtshoorn to Stellenbosch, South Africa
- 23 Nov: Stellenbosch to Cape Town, South Arica (Intrepid tour ends)
- 25 Nov: Plane, Cape Town to Johannesburg, South Africa; plane to Doha, Qatar
- 28 Nov: Doha to London, UK
I had a choice of transit points in the Gulf: either flying with Emirates and going via Dubai (which I last visited back in 2006), or using Qatar Airways and going via Doha (which I'd never been before). To my surprise, Qatar Airways - self-advertised as "the world's 5-star airline" - ended up being the cheaper over the usual price-minded Emirates....so I took that as a sign to go via Qatar instead. :)
I've already paid off the airfare and put a deposit on the trip, so the only things really to worry about is accommodation pre- and post-trip, and getting a visa for Mozambique (which appears fairly straight-forward, as they're also a Commonwealth country, and it turns out cheaper if I get it in advance). As trips go I've left it a bit late to book and arrange - due solely to work dithering on approving my holiday request - but outside the trip itself it's fairly straight-forward. It will be my last major trip for the year, which hasn't been too bad in that respect: it's not often I can pull off three major trips in a year; usually it's two, and only with a lot of fore-planning. Just as well, really, as my eligibility for my UK passport kicks in at the start of December, and that effectively grounds me in Britain from then!
This entry was originally posted at http://mnemonia.dreamwidth.org/316156.html. Comments may be left on either entry.