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YY-SA2: Luxury self-pilot safari in Souh Africa |
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Escorted self-piloted
safari in light single airplanes to Victoria Falls and Luxury Game Lodges in South
Africa, Botswana and Zambia.
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| | Saturday
- Arrive Johannesburg International Airport |
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Meet and greet and transfer
to the 5 star Palazzo Hotel, on the outskirts of Johannesburg
-your home for the next three days. Close to the bird
Sanctuary, the Monte Casino complex and shopping centers,
convenient also from which to do short day tours. A good
place to relax and focus on the safari ahead.
16h30: group meeting, introduction and orientation with
African Aero Safaris who will be hosting your program
and tour over the next two weeks. Schedule will be handed
out with details on license validation procedure that
will be staggered over the following days. Air law test
paper, discussion and reference material handed out.
17h00: briefing by Don O'Connor on African Flying conditions
check ride procedures, flight planning, met, reporting
procedures.
Hotel Bed and Breakfast (BB) | |  | |
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| | Sunday |
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After breakfast, transfer to
Lanseria Airport.
09h00: Visit to ATC and briefing by chief ATC.
11h00: validation check ride concluded as required. Completion
of airlaw.
Deductible insurance and documentation arranged for rental airplane. Transfer
back to hotel. Dinner hosted by African Aero Safaris.
Hotel Bed and
Breakfast (BB) | |  | |
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| | Monday
- Buffer day | |
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Buffer day for completion of any overflow validation procedures and processing
by Yyello Air of the validation documentation at the SA CAA.
Day
at leisure doing optional tours (Optional half and full-day tours, which might
include early morning hot air ballooning, horseback riding, a guided visit to
the huge black township "Soweto" to see how urban black people live
today in South Africa; tour a restored gold mine; visit Lesedi Cultural village,
or Museum Africa, or other offerings in the city).
Focus and planning
for the trip ahead.
Hotel Bed and Breakfast (BB) | |  | |
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| | Tuesday,
Wednesday - Mashatu Lodge, Tuli Block Botswana |
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| | 2 nights,
all meals, all activities, transfers
It's an exciting day. This is what
it's all about an aircraft and the African bush! We transfer to Lanseria, take
in some last minute "Pilot shop" purchases and check through immigration.
After takeoff from Lanseria, we climb out over the hills and set course for the
Tuli Block in Botswana.
We've jumped the international border to Botswana
and landed on a ribbon of tar in a dry and bushy landscape just north of the Limpopo
River. The Tuli Block is an 18,000-acre private game reserve that once belonged
to magnate Cecil Rhodes.
The immigration officers emerge from their thatched
airport bungalow to greet you and you experience the first real taste of hinterland
Africa.
Desolate to the casual glance, Tuli's burned sand and scrub is
the domain of elephant, lion, leopard, hyena, eland, and other antelope. Drive
the expanse in an open land rover. Pause to gaze upon a herd of browsing elephant.
Relax at Mashatu Lodge's bar overlooking the waterhole, floodlit at night
whilst we pique your interest in the natural indigenous flora and fauna.
Dine
at set tables around a warm fire in the boma. Finally, comfortable and asleep
in your luxury chalet. | | 
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| | Thursday,
Friday - Kwara Lodge, Okavango Delta Botswana |
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| | 2 nights,
all meals, activities, transfers
It's going to be a long day in the air
with an intermediate fuel stop. Turn around time is on African time. We start
at first light. After a taste of Tuli's desert-Iike surroundings, today's destination
is the vast, fertile, wetland wilds of one of Africa's prime wilderness areas.
Life here depends on rains that fall a thousand miles away in Angola and
flow towards the shallow depression that forms the Okavango Delta. In northwestern
Botswana the water branches, slows, and spreads over tens-of thousands of square
miles bringing life to the desert. Then it evaporates -a river with no mouth.
"The
Delta is not a Big Five area (excluding only Rhino in this lineup) but there is
game, predators, and the birding is spectacular. In the deepwater channels, a
local boatman poles us through a parting in the reeds made by a grazing hippo
-a path so narrow as to scrape the sides of the dugout.
The 10-foot tall
papyrus grass blocks the horizon. Another push and we slide into an opening, bathed
in sunshine, gliding on a carpet of pastel lilies. It is silent -except for the
ensemble of birds. The water is pure enough to drink. It is timeless and heavenly.
We beach the mokoro and set across a flood plain on foot.
The water in
the narrow channels and open floodplain isn't deep but it's alive with creatures
of all sizes. Some benign, some not. Our ranger, ever watchful for predators,
leads us close past herds of red lechwe and waterbuck. The area is rife with game
and from our open land rover, we cross paths with lion, leopard, kudu, wildebeest,
buffalo and elephant.
The wild dogs are the ones we are after.
After
a scrumptious meal, we're off to bed under classic African canvas or thatch with
en suite bathroom and shower. Each chalet has a veranda overlooking the flood
plain. | | 
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| | Saturday,
Sunday - Thorntree Lodge, Victoria Falls - Zambia |
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| | 2 nights,
all meals and activities, transfers
After clearing Botswana immigration
at Kasane, we continue to Livingstone at Victoria Falls, flying low level down
the great Zambezi River, spotting elephant, hippo and crocodiles from our airplanes.
We are cleared to over-fly the famous Falls. A rare and great photo opportunity.
Activities
here centre on the Zambezi River, the Falls, and the gorge. For some it's early
morning white water rafting or bungee jumping.
For the more sedate an
animal and bird watchers riverboat or canoe cruise or an excursion into the Victoria
Falls Park for precipitous views from the edge of the gorge. Mist and spray bellows
from the depths of the gorge. A raincoat is advisable.
Thorntree lodge
is in the cross frontier national park. We may be treated to elephants swimming
the wide expanse of the river, from our bungalows a few feet from great Zambezi.
Enjoy high tea or a gin and tonic on the veranda. Be pampered.
Reminisce
about a bygone era. We visit a genuine African Village, cruise to islands in the
Zambezi and ride elephants if you fancy a special treat. | | 
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| | Monday
- Nata Lodge, Magadigadi - Botswana | |
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1 night, all meals, activities, transfers
Today we have an early start,
transferring back to Livingstone. After take-off we make a last turn over the
Victoria Falls; low level down the river, we land again at Kasane; we fly on to
Jacks Camp on the edge of the timeless Magadigadi Pans ~ a vast prehistoric pan
with vistas as far as the eye can see.
We take a tour of Ntwetwe Pan exploring
on quad bikes to preserve the pan surface... enjoy a picnic lunch in the pans
and our guide takes us through timeless wonders of the area.
Later in the
afternoon we return to the airstrip and take off for Nata. Land and secure the
aircraft and a short transfer to Nata lodge.
En suite chalets are our
accommodations tonight, with dinner under the stars, after a visit to the local
"'Shebeen" (bar).
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| | Tuesday
- Coach House Hotel - Tzaneen, South Africa |
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| | 1 night,
DBB, activities, transfers
We've departed for Francistown where we refuel
and do our outbound immigration checkout. Then onwards over the Limpopo river
southeast into South Africa.
We descend into Polokwane (formerly Pietersburg)
followed by a short hop into the magnificent Drakensburg Mountains area to Tzaneen,
Spectacular flying over forests and lakes and after landing a short transfer up
to the 5 star Coach House country hotel in the misty highlands.
Relax
in an opulent atmosphere, or sample their magnificent spa and wellness centre
for a massage and treatment. Sample the superb service and meals, even better
wine!!
Dinner, Bed and Breakfast (DBB) | | 
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| | Wednesday,
Thursday - Makweti Lodge, Welgevonden Private Game Reserve, SA |
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| | 2 nights,
all meals, all activities, transfers
We awake to take a leisurely breakfast
and tour the Magoebaskloof area. Great history is the preserve of these mountains,
and we stop by the Peeko Tea plantations for a light lunch before returning to
the airfield for our next adventure.
After takeoff form Tzaneen we climb
out over the high ground, mountains and valleys. It is a short hop to the Waterberg,
a hilly area aptly named for its prolific river systems and waterways.
We
land at Welgevonden, a premier private game reserve covering some 120 000 acres,
host to 8 difference ecological regions. On our approach, we look out for game
on the dirt strip, scooting the animals off with a low pass if necessary Upon
landing, we secure the aircraft and board our open landcruiser in the middle of
plains teeming with game; the topographical variety in this area of crags, rivers,
open savannah grassland, bush, and lush riverine is extraordinary .The game is
prolific.
Luxury accommodations in unique African-style thatched chalets
is the hallmark of Makweti Lodge. The thatched lodge straddles a steep ravine
and features swinging wooden bridges to your private accommodations, each with
expansive views down over the escarpment. The rocky kranzes nearby are the domain
of the ever-elusive leopard which could be only meters away!
As a private
lodge and our last stop in Africa, the atmosphere is informal and we discuss our
forthcoming game viewing activities -riverine walks, sightings of the large animals,
magnificent vistas over game-filled plains.
Here our African Aero Safaris
escort pilot and aircraft leave you for your own private time in the capable hands
of your game ranger and lodge hosts.
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| | Friday
- Homeward bound or Last night in the city |
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| | 1 night,
breakfast
Today we take breakfast at leisure and complete our last game
drive. Afterward load your airplane for the last one hour [100Nm] leg to home
base. No requirements any longer now for an escort airplane, you are a seasoned
African Bush pilot!!
On arrival at Lanseria airfield your African Aero
Safaris pilot meets you and assists with completion of your airplane flight folio
and snags listing. Transfer back to the Palazzo or similar, hotel for your last
night on the highfield, or transfer to Johannesburg International airport for
your onward flight.
If overnighting, tonight is at your leisure -a possibility
is a group dinner and Iet the stories be told!!
Bed and Breakfast (BB) | | 
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| | Saturday
- Onward bound (if you stayed overnight in Johannesburg last night) |
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shopping opportunities, processing your films. Checkout and depart form Johannesburg
airport for your onward journey home or Cape Town.
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Copyright © ., AMSTERDAM /
2010
2010
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