jgoebel

Any suggestions on the transfers from Phinda to Kirkmans (Sabi Sands)? There's a charter but it's $$$$. Back to JoBurg then to Kirkman's, or is there another option??

HariS

Don't know if you can make it in time for the afternoon drive, but, see if you can drive to Durban from Phinda and connect - but, likely that you may need to go thru JNB again.

lifelist

I ran through the options on this recently. The pricing and my logic is in a thread titled, Last Minute South Africa?

You can either do the charter from Phinda, or you can arrange a land transfer to Richards Bay or Durban. From Richard's Bay, you can get to Nelspruit via JNB. Through Durban, you can go directly to Nelspruit. The land transfer to RCB is only an hour or two, whereas, the the transfer to Durban is something like 3 hours.

The pricing isn't too bad, but you're trading time for money. Figure the transfer from Phinda to Sabi Sands through Durban to take around 7 hours. You'll likely lose both game drives on that day.

rickmck

Here's the thread lifelist references: http://tinyurl.com/4qaxqu

I also looked into a similar set of transfer issues from Phinda to SSGR locales and, as a solo traveller, concluded that I cannot afford the $$$ direct inter-camp charters, so have to build an extra night at JNB into the itinerary... The alternatives involving road transfers were not appealing due to both length of time and cost.

jgoebel

lifelist -

thanks for the heads up on your thread...it was extremly helpful. Since we're a family of 4, the Phinda - Kirkmans transfer works out to about $500pp. An extra $2000 adds a lot to our trip, but we get the morning game drive at Phinda and the afternoon game drive at Kirkmans...both of which we lose if we try to connect via Durban or JNB.

Plus...we don't really save much in the end by "going the long way"

lifelist

My final decision was to roll the dice on the intercamp transfer. If there's somebody on the plane with me, then I don't have to pay the single supplement. If there isn't, then I just lost a $500 bet.

If I was traveling with someone, then I would just go for the intercamp transfer. Phinda has a regularly scheduled flight on Fed Air that goes between Phinda and Exeter. Fed Air may stop off at other airstrips or, maybe, the one closest to Kirkman's.

If you are considering an overnight between camps, then instead of JNB, you might want to consider someplace like Tala Lodge, near Durban. Instead of an airport hotel, you can still stay on a game reserve, and you're close enough to Durban to get a morning flight to Nelspruit in time to do the afternoon game drive at Kirkman's.

lifelist

jgoebel - agree with your reasoning. You're going all that way and spending a lot on the game lodges - losing game drives is just killer. And, you're right - you wouldn't save much money, but would add considerable stress to traveling.

Btw, if CC Africa is hitting you with the "Meet and Greet" fee ($115) at JNB, you might want to drop that, too. The lodges will have your documentation, and my agent arranged for a Fed Air representative to meet me and escort me over.

jgoebel

It looks like it's going to end up as a Capetown - Durban flight with a land transfer to Phinda. Then air transfer Phinda - Kirkman's and Kirkman's to JNB for the flight back to the US.

lifelist - Thanks for the heads up on Tala..I'll check that out. I'll also be anxious to here your trip report. We'll be right on your heels in the beginning of August.