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August 17 trip to SA Victoria Falls Wildlife Odyssey trip

MarkErmine

We are going on this trip but it is now taking us 4 days to get to Victoria Falls. Johannesburg to VF direct now cancelled. We now have to spend the night in Johannesburg airport and catch flight to Capetown transfer to VF. Anyone else experiencing the same situation?

Comments

British

We found this out months ago and canceled the tour for exactly the same reasons. We had booked it about 18 months before that when it was a brand new tour. We were persuaded by Tauck before that to book the short flight on our own and consequently lost the money $700+ because it was not refundable, just a voucher we can’t use in time. We could not claim the insurance because it was going to be used towards an alternative tour. We won’t be seeking or do the tour again, we have been to Vic Falls twice, both sides, we will chose a tour that does not go there which is what makes it more complicated, there being so few choices of flights ongoing ot Vic Falls whichever side

AlanS

MarkErmine
2:41PM edited 2:47PM in Botswana, South Africa & Zambia
We are going on this trip but it is now taking us 4 days to get to Victoria Falls. Johannesburg to VF direct now cancelled. We now have to spend the night in Johannesburg airport and catch flight to Capetown transfer to VF. Anyone else experiencing the same situation?

Did you book your own flights or is this Tauck scheduling?

Correction, I see you posted in the wrong forum and are on the Wildlife Odyssey not B, SA, Z, I missed that. Give me a few minutes to revise my reply

Revised

There are airlines that can get you into VFA, like Ethiopian, one of the biggest airlines in Africa, with flights from a number of US gateways, etc. that may not show up on booking sites. I don't know your flight dates, where you are flying from or your gateway city, but I see your potential problem, especially flying Lufthansa, (or whoever Tauck is using if they booked your flights)- travel times as high as 60 hours!!!!

I think you may be the victim of the dates, gateway airport, and carrier you (or Tauck) selected. By being flexible you can do a lot better. It may require you arrive a day or more early and likewise depart from Cape Town, but there is a lot to do in both places.

I picked 13 Aug as the date of departure from IAD (Dulles), Ethiopian Airlines, return date of 28 Aug and came up with a one-stop (ADD) flight that takes only 19 hr. and 25 min. to get to VFA There are several return options.

https://www.travelocity.com/Flights-Search?leg1=from:Washington, DC (IAD-Washington Dulles Intl.),to:Victoria Falls (VFA),departure:8/13/2022TANYT&leg2=from:Cape Town (CPT-Cape Town Intl.),to:Washington, DC (IAD-Washington Dulles Intl.),departure:8/28/2022TANYT&mode=search&options=carrier:*,cabinclass:business,maxhops:1,nopenalty:N&pageId=0&passengers=adults:1,children:0,infantinlap:N&trip=multi

check out Ethiopian ORD - VFA and CPT - ORD

Another option to consider- since you depart from Capetown, why not see if you can fly r/t to Capetown on Delta or other carrier and switch to whatever carrier flies from Capetown to VFA.

Even if you switch bookings to another carrier at this late date, the fare will be pretty high, especially in business class.

British

It’s easier than it was for people now because Zimbabwe I think has dropped the 24 hour request for testing, but flights are canceling and those that are going do not match up with ongoing flights so staying over is what is required
When we cancelled, there was no way to get tested at Johannesburg airport and we could not leave airside. It just wasn’t worth the extreme trouble.
I’d love to hear from anyone who has actually been on the Botswana Odyessy tour to see how they got there. For the future to get to that area without doing the other older Tauck Botswana tour, we are looking at other companies. We are so behind with our tours, that will not be until probably 2025 if we are still up to traveling then.