Airlines to Victoria Falls
 

Does British Airways or an associate/partner have service to Victoria Falls or is South African Airlines the only choice? We are planning to go to Victoria Falls from Joberg on or about 21 Sep and return 22 Sep 02. We are also in need of hotel recommendations for a 1 night stay in either coutry.<BR><BR>Thanks in advance!

We have just been thorugh this whole dilemma. Nationwide Airlines operates 4 weekly return flights between Johannesburg & Livingstone, Zambia on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. See this website<BR>http://www.apta.net/article.php?sid=86 for specials.<BR>The Zambian side is considered safe now and there are 2 new hotels owned and operated by Sun International, the three star Zambezi Sun, and the five star Royal Livingstone -(Sun International own Atlantis in the Bahamas and the Mohegan Sun in connecticut amongst others.)<BR><BR>We had a problem with the flying times with Nationwide air. If you are only going for 1 night, you will not have enough time to do it all. We wanted to fit in a sunset cruise, a visit to the Falls and an elephant safari. (highly recommended to us). Also, as you want to travel on a Saturday, there is no flight on a Saturday.<BR>I am not too sure if there are other airlines that fly to Vic Falls Zimbabwe other than SAA. The flying times of SAA to Vic Falls on a weekend were much better as there are 2 flights on a Sunday, the second departing at 4:30 p.m. which gave us more time at the Falls and did not force us to spend a whole day traveling as we are connecting to Cape Town.<BR> I think Air Zimbabwe flies first to Harare and then to vic Falls. from their website http://www.airzimbabwe.com/, it does not look like there is a direct route. <BR><BR>There are a number of choices of hotels in Vic Falls. We were looking at Victoria Falls Hotel, the grandaddy of them all, Victoria Falls Safari Lodge and another hotel we were told about (much cheaper) is the A'Zambezi Lodge.<BR><BR>

Hi LIsa:<BR><BR><BR>Thanks for all your info, we are most grateful!<BR><BR>All the best Ed & Gloria

Hi:<BR>We flew SAA from NY to J'berg, then went to a wonderful place in Pretoria for the night. It is called Irene (pronounced Ireeeneeee, long E's). It was just charming. Fantastic food and quiet overlooking a pasture and golf course. Very quaint.) The next morning they took us to the airport for our flight with Zimbabwe Express to Vic Falls. Unfortunately their only (really) airplane was broken so we hiked around the airport and got British Air to accept our tickets and flew to Vic Falls with them. There we stayed out of town at the most beautiful place, Gorges Lodge. My good lord, it overlooks the Zambezi River gorge and every morning we would sit on the back porch of our flower bedecked cabin with no one else in sight and watch the sun come up just as it appeared thousands of years ago. Like we were the only people in the world. Just breath taking. It surely was the most beautiful and secluded place. Our porch went right up to the edge of the canyon. I think Ker & Downey took it over now and I wouldn't question the management now. Then it was lacking. They shuttled us back and forth to everywhere at the Falls. We had K&D plan our trip for us because I had heard of them when I was in Botswana years before. Everything went perfectly and the Falls was spectacular. Enjoy your trip. Liz Frazier

From Johannesburg, besides SAA, Air Zimbabwe also flies directly to Victoria Falls. I flew on Air Zimbabwe and was not very impressed and if I ever returned to Vic Falls it would only be on SAA. <BR>I got stuck a fourth night in Vic Falls when Air Zimbabwe cancelled an afternoon flight. It had been cancelled for a few weeks but the Matetsi Game Reserve lied to me when they said they reconfirmed my flight and this caused me to get stuck for an extra night. Three nights was plenty, trust me, and the only thing that made a fourth night tolerable was the fact that Matetsi put me up at the Victoria Falls Hotel, a nice change of scenery from Matetsi (Matetsi is beautiful, right on the Zambezi River, but three nights of game lodging is just about all I can handle).<BR>Air Zimbabwe, I don't know the proper terminology, is not as accredited as most airlines. They don't have the same safety ranking or something like that. I enjoyed each and every flight on SAA (JFK-Joburg, Joburg-Cape Town, Cape Town-Joburg, Joburg-Cape Verde Islands, Cape Verde-Atlanta). <BR>There are differing opinions but most I have spoken to prefer SAA to British Airways and say it is more spacious.<BR>For a one night stay, I would splurge and stay at the Victoria Falls Hotel. It seems far above any other hotel in Victoria Falls.

We stayed at the Ilala Lodge in Zimbabwe and it a lovely, privately owned hotel walking distance from Vic Falls as well as the "down town" area & some other major hotels with restaurant options if you don't want to stick with eating at the hotel. <BR><BR>I will send you the link for this hotel. <BR><BR>We loved Vic Falls and would suggest you add more days if you can to this lovely place. <BR><BR>DiDi <BR><BR>Take

Dont overlook the Stanley & Livingstone lodge in Vic Falls. I is 1 year old so has not had the press yet but we stayed there for 2 nights while on honeymoon and it is a magnificent, intimate lodge (thatched roofs) with colonial atmosphere with beautiful gardens yet in the middle of the bush. 5 minutes from Vic Falls. The rooms are huge and you can ask for elephants to come up and pick you up for elephant walk.