Retired Nomads Part 4: Johannesburg, South Africa

This was our 3^rd safari. Our first was in 2015 to Tanzania (with a short crossover into Kenya for Cheetahs) & Rwanda for Mountain Gorilla trekking. The 2^nd was a short one in 2019 off a world cruise to Sabi Sands, South Africa (open border to Kruger National Park).

This time we visited Zimbabwe & Zambia for Victoria Falls and Chobe National Park, Kwando, Okavango Delta & Makgadikgadi-Pans-National Park in Botswana. We traveled with our friends Tom & Cathy. I chose September for the end of dry season as game viewing and predator action is supposed to be high. The camps were chosen to be geared more towards adults (vs families) smaller in size & location. Other than our hotels in Johannesburg and Victoria Falls, they are all luxury tents except Ngoma which has free standing villas. We did a mix of lodges on our first one and the luxury tents (especially the tree house) were the superior experiences for us. Though our “villa” in Sabi Sands was nice. I booked with the same company that handled our Sabi Sands safari as Natasha at Sun Safari's was so responsive and helpful in answering all questions. Your African Safari Specialists | Sun Safaris

August 30 - 31 and September 1

We shared a driver with Cathy & Tom and were picked up at 5:00p. (thanks to Cathy for setting that up!) We were flying Turkish Air in Business Class (first time flying Turkish Air, and we had "dinner" in their lounge and waited for our flight. We left MIA at 10:30p and arrived in Istanbul, Turkey at 5:10p (10 hours 41 minutes)

Turkish Air has chefs that take your order from a menu and then appetizers and dessert are brought on a cart where you choose what you want. (takes about 2 hours) Honestly, the food was fantastic, but I'd rather have gotten more sleep than a full dinner at around midnight. They serve warm mixed nuts and a drink of your choice. Next, they brought a mezze platter of hummus, tabbouleh, and another dip. Interesting that they didn't serve any naan or pita bread. They came by with a basket of rolls, so we ate it with that. For the main Greg had the salmon and I had the filet with roasted carrots and potatoes. For dessert we got the trio of baklava.

Sleeping flat was very nice. They serve breakfast in the morning which again your order is taken, and some things just are brought to your tray table. Breakfast was omelets or waffle. I wanted the waffle, but they were out when they got to our row. It came with sliced fresh fruit, cheeses, muesli and yogurt. They come around with a basket of rolls and Danish.

We grabbed a shower in the lounge, and I was feeling nauseas but couldn't hurl. They serve a ton of food in their lounges and if I were feeling better there was lots to try. I looked for some dry foods and got some pide and a few of the cookie desserts. The flight left IST at 1:35 in the morning and were in Johannesburg at 10:15 in the morning on Sep 1. The Business Class setup was less roomy on this flight, but still "lie flat". (9 hours 45 minutes) Total travel with layovers was over 30 hours.

I received an email from Natasha saying Pure Africa (handled the Victoria Falls part) needed to rearrange our days. We were to have free time for some lunch and settling in on arrival and then do an evening river cruise with a dinner at a restaurant, but that needed to be moved to the next day. Now, we are starting with about 40 minutes to get settled and ready to do the Zambia side of the falls with the Devil's Pool and High Tea. In hindsight, other than being rushed it was the better choice.

On the 31st we started our Malaria medication and applied for the South African Traveller Management System. (SATMS) All travelers entering or leaving South Africa are legally required to declare goods and currency before travel. https://www.sars.gov.za/travellerdeclaration/ It was a new requirement as of July 1. With that completed we breezed through immigration. It had to be done within 24 hours of arrival.

Getting luggage was a bit of a mess but finally found the right carousel and then had to put all bags through a scanner before leaving to meet the shuttle to the hotel. We took the shuttle that leaves on the half hour from the OR Tambo Airport to Radisson OR Tambo where we spent 1 night to start the trip fresh.

The four of us grabbed lunch at the hotel which was tasty. We checked out the grounds and the area and then for dinner we went to the Level 7 Sky Bar for appetizers and dessert. We had prawn spring rolls and scallop and mushroom risotto as we watched the sunset. For dessert we had the Lindt Chocolate molten lava cakes. Early to bed as we needed to be up at 4:45a to shower, have breakfast and catch the 7:00 airport shuttle in the morning.