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June 30 2018: Botswana, South Africa & Zambia (Back to Back Tour)

Derek

Greetings

Another advantage to traveling with Tauck is their attention to detail in coordinating multiple journeys. Today a Tauck Reservations Sales Counselor confirmed a revised itinerary for me making it possible to do back to back tours.

It required canceling my original reservation, changing the order and dates of the two journeys I had originally requested, and taking advantage of a cancellation on one of the them.

Now I am off the wait list and will be joining the June 16th Kenya & Tanzania: A Classic Safari, followed by a post tour "A Gift of Time", a connecting flight, followed by a pre tour "A Gift of Time", and then joining the June 30th Botswana, South Africa and Zambia journey.

The best part is I now have a complete back to back journey with two days of free time in between at each of the Tauck hotels, and Guest Protection for both journeys at no extra charge for the 2nd journey.

Thank you, Tauck!

Comments

Tauck Emily

Hi Derek,

You are very welcome! You will love Africa! I was there last year and I still think about it every day. Can't wait to hear about your experience.

Best,
Emily

Derek

Greetings

Regarding Back to Back Tauck Tours.

I am on the June 16 2018 Kenya & Tanzania: A Classic Safari and the June 30, 2018 Botswana, South Africa and Zambia journey.

cb2labs

Derek,
would love to have you review the two tours when you return. I am on the Botswana next May, 2019.

Carol

AlanS

cb2labs wrote:

Derek,
would love to have you review the two tours when you return. I am on the Botswana next May, 2019.

Carol

Which departure? We're on the 25 May 2019 departure.

cb2labs

AlanS wrote:

Which departure? We're on the 25 May 2019 departure.

Oh my, Alan. That is the one I booked, traveling Solo this time. Just completed Tanzania-Zanzibar with a friend last July. Can't wait to go back and chose this trip for the different modes of safari. Also, my previous Tauck Tour Director said the Botswana trip is his favorite! This will be my second Tauck tour, I am getting spoiled quickly. I remember some of your advice to me on the forum for my previous trip.

Looking forward to meeting you and your wife! Now, if only we could get British and her hubby on this trip also!

Carol
Idaho

British

Wow guys, don’t tempt me! Unfortunately May/early June most years we sing in a show so it’s rare for us to travel those months, but when we do go to Botswana in the future we are likely to choose June because we would like to experience the ‘more water around ‘ option after going later in the year like we did last time. I don’t think our producer is going to love that we are disappearing to London in a couple of weeks for a week, thank goodness we have done this show twice before but learning new choreography becomes a challenge as the years advance. This Africa tour will become your favorite I guarantee as long as you get the surprise in the Kalahari option????????????????

cb2labs

British wrote:

Wow guys, don’t tempt me! Unfortunately May/early June most years we sing in a show so it’s rare for us to travel those months, but when we do go to Botswana in the future we are likely to choose June because we would like to experience the ‘more water around ‘ option after going later in the year like we did last time. I don’t think our producer is going to love that we are disappearing to London in a couple of weeks for a week, thank goodness we have done this show twice before but learning new choreography becomes a challenge as the years advance. This Africa tour will become your favorite I guarantee as long as you get the surprise in the Kalahari option????????????????

What fun if you would decide to go! Yes, I am so looking forward to the "surprise" in Kalahari if offered. I do too much research for it to be a "surprise" for me, haha. So, hope its offered...Carol

AlanS

cb2labs wrote:

Oh my, Alan. That is the one I booked, traveling Solo this time. Just completed Tanzania-Zanzibar with a friend last July. Can't wait to go back and chose this trip for the different modes of safari. Also, my previous Tauck Tour Director said the Botswana trip is his favorite! This will be my second Tauck tour, I am getting spoiled quickly. I remember some of your advice to me on the forum for my previous trip.

Looking forward to meeting you and your wife! Now, if only we could get British and her hubby on this trip also!

Carol
Idaho

B,SA,Z will be our 10th maybe 11th. It doesn't take long to get spoiled.

Hopefully it will be a good time to go- I did a lot of research and agonizing, and there were trade-offs, but in the end I think it is a good time to go, though June/July might have been a bit better except for more tourists and hotter temps. The biggest downside, if you can call it that, is the falls should be only a tad past peak flow (April) so the sound and fury and the mist will be pretty intense. It will probably make for bad viewing and photography at ground level at least on the Zambia side- a good rain jacket with hood or poncho will be essential. We are thinking of doing the microlight flight so we can see it from the air- now I'm trying to decide what will be best for sun angle/photography- a morning or afternoon flight. I need to see if the Royal Livingstone can arrange transport for us from the airport since we will be flying into Victoria Falls Airport (VFA) instead of Livingstone Airport (LVI), like most flights, but I think I've already posted about that. Tauck will not provide ground transportation from VFA. I also need to check to see if Bush Tracks still handles the Royal Livingstone's excursions and book a few- we plan to arrive around noon on the 23 so have time to recover and do a few activities before the tour starts.

See you in 437 days +/-

KathrynH

I have bad news, AlanS. I went online to book the microlight flights (to see the Victoria Falls as you had suggested). Their website says that travelers' cameras are NOT allowed. Instead the company reports that they have a camera affixed to the wing of the craft and they will record the experience (and sell you a copy at the end of the flight). I doubt that a "dumb" machine is as good a photographer as you are.

http://www.seasonsinafrica.com/adventure-activities-zambia/victoria-falls-activities/livingstones-adventure/batoka-sky-microlights/

They also limit travelers to a weight of 100 kg (that's 220 pounds)

AlanS

KathrynH wrote:

I have bad news, AlanS. I went online to book the microlight flights (to see the Victoria Falls as you had suggested). Their website says that travelers' cameras are NOT allowed. Instead the company reports that they have a camera affixed to the wing of the craft and they will record the experience (and sell you a copy at the end of the flight). I doubt that a "dumb" machine is as good a photographer as you are.

http://www.seasonsinafrica.com/adventure-activities-zambia/victoria-falls-activities/livingstones-adventure/batoka-sky-microlights/

They also limit travelers to a weight of 100 kg (that's 220 pounds)

Yes, I knew about the restriction on cameras, and sunglasses, scarves, etc. - the propeller is right behind the passenger and they don't want anything that could cause damage to be sucked in by it! I'm fine with that.

Google it- there are a number of great YouTube videos taken with the wing-mounted GoPro of Batoka Sky micro-light flights over the falls. If you have video editing software, you can extract stills from the videos- with the GoPro's wide angle lens you can get a super selfie of you, the entire aircraft, and the falls in the background! With wind blast, it would have been difficult to use a DSLR, so even if cameras had been allowed, I would have used my GoPro and helmet mount anyway.

Thankfully weight is not an issue. : )

I hadn't been to their website in awhile, but see they also have an ultralight now.

Derek

Regarding Visa(s) for my Tauck Back to Back June 16, 2018 Kenya & Tanzania: A Classic Safari and June 30, 2018 Botswana, South Africa and Zambia Journey, I used the Tauck Visa Central link.

I recommend any novice traveler take advantage of Tauck Visa Central.

Using the Tauck Travelers link I received Tanzania and Kenya Visa applications via email, and added my Malawi Visa application request by telephone.

Although confusing at first, I called Visa Central and they walked me through each visa application.

I did have all of the items listed on the document checklists when I called Visa Central.

I submitted my Visa Applications on March 22, 2018 using the FedEx Overnight shipping label provided by Visa Central. Visa Central responded on March 23rd confirming that my documents were received and provided the time table for processing.

Right on time today my credit card was charged.

When I checked my order status via the Visa Central website it showed my order was being shipped by UPS Next Day Air.

Checking the UPS Tracking website it showed my order had been picked up and will be delivered tomorrow April 27, 2018.

I am now ready to depart my home on Saturday May 26, 2018 for a mission trip to Malawi, Africa, followed by the Tauck Back to Back journey. and returning home on Thursday July 12, 2018. My 48 day epic archetypal heroic quest.

Derek

Sealord wrote:

I think Derek posted above that he also needed a Malawi visa, but the dates posted indicate that Visa Central took more than a month. Using eVisa I got my Kenya visa in three business days, and with any luck I expect to have the Tanzania visa in less than ten. They say it is a ten day processing time, but last time I got it in about a week. I think I saw somewhere that you can pay extra and get it in five days. I will post here the total time the process took for both when I get the Tanzania visas.

To clarify the length of time for my visa(s) as mentioned by Sealord, I have listed the key dates for everyone’s information.

Day 1 - Tuesday March 22nd: Documents Shipped via VisaCentral FedEx Label
Day 2 - Friday March 23rd: Documents Received at VisaCentral
Day 5 - Monday March 26th: Tanzania Visa Application Submitted to Embassy
Day 13 - Tuesday April 3rd: Tanzania Visa Received from Embassy
Day 13 - Tuesday April 3rd: Malawi Visa Application Submitted to Embassy
Day 19 - Monday April 9th: Malawi Visa Received from Embassy

Day 19 - Monday April 9th: Kenya EVisa Application Scheduled for Submission on April 23rd due to restriction of applying no more than 60 days prior to the date of entry (Namanga on June 21st)

Day 33 - Monday April 23rd: Kenya EVisa Application Submitted to Embassy
Day 36 - Thursday April 26th: Kenya EVisa Application Received from Embassy
Day 36 - Thursday April 26th: Documents Shipped by VisaCentral via UPS
Day 37 - Friday April 27th: Documents Received

I submitted my documents early and requested they be delivered no later than May 15th knowing that only one visa application could be submitted at a time.

I was very pleased and satisfied with the support and assistance of VisaCentral and highly recommend them for the novice international traveler. I appreciate that Tauck makes this service available to their travelers.

Sealord

I posted this on another thread about VisaCentral and other services, but some here may be interested.

I can now report the ‘do it yourself’ results. We did it ourselves for our first Africa trip whcih required two mailings. This time we did the Kenya eVisa approximately 82 days prior to entry as it is good for 90 days prior, and then they can aurthorize a stay of up to 90 days. We mailed our Tanzania visa request on the same day. The Kenya eViasas were issued in about 3 business days. I had to use my PC to download them as their system did not seem to recognize my iPad. We used Priority Mail, and enclosed a prepaid Priority Mail envelope for their return. We mailed them on April 25, and got them back yesterday May 12 ... or 18 days total. The embassy actually only had them for about ten business days, as they arrived there late on a Friday, and we received them on Saturday. The priority mail is a two day trackable service and the post office should be able to give you tracking numbers for both envelopes. Or you could use Fedex. The Kenya eVisa was a steep learning curve for the first visa request as they ask for much more information than what is on the ‘paper’ visa request. You will need to scan your passport, your visa photo, and your airline itinerary into your compurter and know where those files are in order to upload them to the visa application. You also need to know the name, addrsss, telephone number, and email address of the Amboselli Serena hotel, and the road entry point into Kenya which is Namanga. And, I think strange, they want the full names of your parents. If you have been to Kenya before, they want those dates. If you have all that info in front of you as I did for my wife’s application, it will take about 20 minutes to do the application. If you don’t, the application will ‘timeout’ while you are looking for it or scanning it, and it will take several attempts to get it done ... that was my application.

The first eVisa request had me tearing my hair out, the second was easy. And, I’m always nervous when the passports are in transit, but overall I still do not see it as too difficult to do on your own. I’m fairly certain that VisaCentral requires the same information, but I’m sure some would feel better having someone ‘talk’ you through it and do the paperwork, and the ‘computer’ work. But, you still have to ‘ship’ your passports to VisaCentral, they have to get them to the embassy and back, and then ship them back to you. That sounds like more ‘loss’ opportunities than just ‘shippiing’ to the embassy and back. Personally, I don’t like giving someone around $400 to do something that I can do fairly easily on my own. Now I need to see the Doc and get a malaria pill prescription, and there will be ‘checks’ in all the boxes.

Derek

My Kenya & Tanzania: A Classic Safari ends today in Nairobi, Kenya.

This was a great experience with wonderful weather, tour director, drivers & guides.

Tomorrow I will arrive in Zambia and start the Botswana, South Africa & Zambia tour on Saturday.

KathrynH

I hope that Derek will post about comparisons between the two trips. I expect that the Botswana tour will be markedly different from Kenya/ Tanzania due to the terrain, but I have no clue about animal sightings or other details that affect the "feel" of the two diverse tours.

Sealord

We have done both of these tours, and there is a great deal posted here about both if you exercise the search tool.
The detailed itinerary for each is very accurate, as are the descriptions of the lodgings. The biggest difference is that K&T is a ‘classic’ safari. You spend much of each day in a safari vehicle searching for animals. On the Z,B, and SA, the ‘safari’ portion is preceded and followed by touring which involves boats, planes, and buses. We loved both trips, and deciding which we would repeat (next week) was not a snap. But the animal experience is always different, and the tour sights do not change much over the years, and we felt we did not need to do them twice. Thus we are returning to K&T. That being said, we would recommend doing each one before repeating either one. We thoroughly enjoyed each.
The exact feel of each trip will vary with the time of year that you go. So you need to do your homework. It can be hot, and it can be cold, or wetter or dryer, or Victoria Falls can be raging or just a trickle. Okavango can be a boating experience, or it can be more of a land experience. There will be ‘surprises’ and I think it serves no purpose to reveal them here and spoil the fun. There is a limit to how much you really want to know, and it is possible that you will simply have your expections unduly influenced one way or another.