kimburu

We are trying to fly from Ruaha to Nairobi in a single day. Actually we want to fly from Ruaha to the Mara same day, but I don't think that is possible. We have booked an 11 a.m. flight from Ruaha that is scheduled to arrive in Arusha at 1425 (I think) and the next flights to Nairobi from Kilimanjaro are 1540, which is surely too tight, and 1940, which is fully booked. We are waitlisted but I wondered if anyone had any ideas about an alternative? Ruaha to Nairobi is costing around $600 per person and that's kind of enough for our budget.

Any ideas? I am sure there must be alternatives. The only flights out of Ruaha all leave at 1145 and arrive Dar 1350, if that's an option.

Patty

Have you checked the flight schedule from DAR to NBO for your date? That might be a better option and less time spent on a small aircraft which might make someone else happier

Kenya Airways flies nonstop between DAR and NBO.

kimburu

That is a very good point about the planes size Patty! "Someone" would indeed be really happy to have one less small aircraft. I didn't think of that. Thanks.

Treepol

Hi Kimburu,

I'll be in Ruaha/Selous in July and flying with Safari Airlink from Mtemere (Selous) to DAR, connecting with time to spare to the 19.45 Kenya Airways flight back to NBO.

I think it is possible to book the previous sector Ruaha-Mtemere to make this DAR-NBO connection.

Don't know if this is a daily service operating at the same times throughout - we are flying on a Sunday. Unfortunately, this means you won't connect through to the Mara until the next day.


Cheers,


Pol

kimburu

Thanks, Pol. Yes, I've checked the Dar-Nairobi schedules on Amadeus and there are quite a lot of flights. It does seem like a better way to go from Ruaha. And one Selous-Dar flight a day with Coastal does indeed come from Ruaha - I'll have to check out Safari Airlink too.

kimburu

Well this is post has been worth it's weight in gold.

Having decided to look at going via DAR I checked out how much a flight BKK-NBO-DAR would be compared to BKK-NBO. Result is it seems I can pay $80 extra and have a NBO-DAR-NBO flight BC ticket. That compares with $258 eco for JRO-NBO plus I guess another $30 or more for transfer between Arusha and JRO and so translates to $400 extra in the pocket for the two of us - and gets us to NBO in time to have a nice dinner somewhere

(I thought about using the money to charter a flight to the Mara, but that's a little bit OTT ..... and in any case assumes that with the Ruaha flight due to land in DAR at 13.50, we can make the 15.00 international flight to NBO, then after landing at Jomo Kenyatta at 16.25 get to Wilson in time for whatever the last allowed departure to the Mara is - definitely too much!).

Unfortunately, I had already booked the JRO-NBO flight in a rush of blood to "book it all and get it finished". Hopefully, since we are only waitlisted the worst we will to pay is a minimal booking fee.

One question. Since we don't plan to use the NBO-DAR leg, does anyone (like Patty, for example) know if that might cause any problems?

Of course I am also now pondering whether taking even fuller advantage of the $80 ticket (we are visiting both Tanzania and Kenya) is suffient justification t start pondering the itinerary change that I swore I was not going to make.

Patty

Do you have to buy the NBO-DAR segment? Can you purchase BKK-NBO/DAR-NBO/NBO-BKK? I don't have experience with KQ specifically to say what would happen, but you may run the risk of having your later flights canceled. When I've skipped a segment, I've only done so on the final leg to avoid this possibility.

What day do you fly out of DAR? I don't know what KQ's check-in cutoff is for intl flights and if the Coastal flight is delayed (our flights were delayed to/from Selous), you could miss your connection. It's a couple of minutes ride from the Coastal terminal to the intl terminal. 5 days a week there's a later flight at 19:45.

<i>Of course I am also now pondering whether taking even fuller advantage of the $80 ticket (we are visiting both Tanzania and Kenya) is suffient justification t start pondering the itinerary change that I swore I was not going to make.</i>

I want to hear details

kimburu

Good questions Patty. And I don't know. I guess we have to ask. It sounds okay to arrive at 1350 and leave at 1500, but you're right about delays and we at least need a back up plan.

Okay, I'm pondering whether to go to scrap Tarangire, cut Tsavo East to 3 nights, use some of my liberated $400 to fly from Tsavo West to Nairobi in the morning, and arrive DAR at 4pm with 4 nights to spare before we are due in Ruaha. What goes in there I am trying not to think about. (honest ;-)). I don't think we'd have any serious cancellation fees so far out, but I have to check that before I start thinking.

Our booked-but-not-paid itinerary is

4 nights Tsavo East -driving
3 nights Tsavo West -driving
3 nights Tarangire - driving
5 nights Ruaha - flying
1 night Nairobi -flying
6 nights Mara - flying (but Julius will be there to meet us and do 4 days/ 3 nights with us)

Flights to/from BKK arrive very early morning and leave very late at night, so we actually have even longer than it looks. The thing about Tarangire is that we have to leave at dawn to get back to Arusha to fly to Ruaha (unless we &quot;induce&quot; Coastal, which I suspect might be expensive - the trip back to Arusha by road is going to be paid for anyway, whether or not we are in the vehicle) and it is quite a long drive there from Ngulia in Tsavo West, so we wouldn't actually be there very long. You know when something doesn't quite sit right? But I really want to go there and fitting it in was the &quot;clever&quot; bit of my trip planning too!

sandi

Coming in late, but on the 3rd day at Tarangire, you can leave late afternoon w/ game drive thru park and head to Arusha. Overnight and be ready for flight to Ruaha.

kimburu

Thanks Sandi. Late is still good. We thought about that, and it is a sensible idea, but it seems to leave us with so little time in Tarangire. Actually when I was complaining about the long trip there and the very early start, I was thinking more of how little time we would have in the park - probably not enough to do it justice at that time of year.

Anyway, I'm going to check all this out and I'll post the results.

Thanks so much to all.

bat

that made me dizzy even reading it!

kimburu

This is the simplified version, bat ;-)

kimburu

Just to answer some of my own questions, we worked out how to solve our molehill-sized &quot;problems&quot;.

Coastal will pick us up in Tarangire around 8.30 for no extra charge (whether they would always do this I don't know, but it appears not to genrally be that expensive to &quot;induce&quot; a stop like this as long as it's listed... true or false?). So we get our three nights in Tarangire and a leisurely morning watching the river flow.

Safari Air Link (not to be confused with Safari Link in Kenya) will fly us Ruaha -Dar Leaving about 2 p.m. and ariving about 4.30 (there are 1-2 stops in Selous depending on passengers) in good time for our flight to Nairobi, where we have to spend the night before flying to the Mara early next morning. Mdonya Old River will give us a late check out and lunch at no extra charge.

And Kenya Airways did indeed allow us to just cancel the NBO-DAR leg. No saving, but no hassle either.

The only sad thing is that there have been no itinerary changes... what a boring trip planner I have become. Still, there's time yet...

jenack

What is your itinerary inside Ruaha?

Leely

kimburu, what time of year is this trip? And why are you going to Tarangire? Just to hit all the circuits?

Patty

kimburu,
Glad you got it all worked out. Apparently two is enough to induce?

Leely,
I think kimburu is still going in Sep so he has 4 more months or so to mess with his itinerary

fabriz,
<b>Stop</b> spamming the board!

kimburu

jenack - Just 5 nights at Mdonya Old River...

Leely ... Yes, September and we are driving down into Tanzania from Tsavo so Tarangire isn't far out of the way at all - but yes, it does look like we're collecting circuits doesn't it?

Yes, Patty.. seems like two can be enough to induce - I was pretty surprised. The very helpful Ms. Fox at Safari Air Link told me Coastal &quot;might&quot;, so I guess it depends. Maybe there are another one or two - will know in September.
(See how to get a really credible plug fabriz? It's not from spamming discussion forums.)

Patty

So Safari Air Link is Foxes?

kimburu

They operate separately, but basically, yes that's right, Patty.

jenack

I was in Ruaha for 4 nights in late Sept. last year. We came down from the Mara, then went on to Katavi and Mahale. We stayed with the Foxes in Ruaha, but not at the camp, my father in law and I had them set up a fly camp for us and Peter Fox took us up there and we spent 4 nights on a dried up river bed with a Leopard and Elephant next to our camp. It was the best experience of our month in Africa and by far my favorite of all the game parks. Absolutely beautiful there, and constantly changing topography. Hope you have a great time.
bg