Joburg to Maun Flight/ Kwando Safaries
 

We are planning our flights from USA to Joburg and it seems the best choice will arrive in Joburg at 8:35 am. if we do not check baggage will it be possible to get through customs and catch the Maun flight at 10:10. We will be staying at Lagoon Camp and Little Kwara....any thoughts that might help?

Absolutely not. You may have time but it will be very tight. If anything goes wrong with the SAA flight you will miss the Air Botswana flight. If it is high season there may be no space (immediately) available on Air Botswana for several days or you may end up having to fly via Gaborone or into Kasane (vice Maun). If you plan to do this, I suggest full insurance on your trip. Also – if it is high season and you come into Maun the next day they may not even be able to get a light aircraft to get you to camp in a convenient fashion (perhaps you are the last off after four stops).

Fly Delta or SAA and arrive the night before or go to Cape Town or Vic Falls first. Or, simply arrive the day before a chill out. Delta is also a non-stop from Atlanta but it arrives around 6pm. SAA from Dulles/IAD makes a stop in Dakar and also arrives around 6pm.

Craig Beal – owner – Travel Beyond

Myself, flying in from USA, I'd spend that night hotel near JNB. Then fly Maun next morning. A cushion for flight delays and two long tiring flights.

regards - tom

Thanks for the information. Any recommendations where to stay in Joburg?

Plenty of hotels right around the airport. Intercontinental being closest and most expensive.

The Intercontinental is very short (50 meter) walk from JNB terminal, super hotel and super $$$$. I like to take the free 10min shuttle to the Emperors Palace Complex and stay at one of the Metcourt hotels.
http://www.emperorspalace.co.za/peer...mperors-hotels

regards - tom

Hi - i agree with the others' comments
just got back from 2 connections via JHB
a disaster... once, me + few others got stuck for over 3 hours at the desk only to be rushed without a boarding card to the gate for the online flight.
on the second time, again the procedure was extremely slow...

Agree w/coming in the day or night before.

If you come in the morning before, consider staying in Rosebank. The new, fast Gautrain makes it easy to get from the airport to the center of Rosebank, which is certainly a far more interesting place to spend a day than is an airport hotel.

Don

Our flight from JFK - JNB on SAA was delayed for 10 hours due to crew issues. Definitely build in extra time before transferring to the camps.

msf

The other thing you can do - if there is an afternoon flight on arrival day to Maun. Go through and overnight there. That way, you are already in Maun and then all you have to do is get on the Moremi Air to camp which is straight forward.

There is also a City Lodge right in JNB airport... no shuttle needed (built on top of one of the parking garages.) It's less expensive than the Intercontinental. They have a coffee shop, or you could walk over to the Intercontinental or back into one of the terminals to a curbside dining area for dinner.

I just took the Atlanta to JBurg flight which arrives around 5pm. Stayed at the Sun OR Tambo right next to the airport. They have a free shuttle service which takes less than 5min to and from the hotel. It's a nice place, restaurant on site, much more reasonably priced than the intercontinental. Continental breakfast was included as well.

I recommend staying as close as possible to OR Tambo. Even though the Gautrain is quick and convenient, it's not cheap by any means. Recently cables were stolen (NOT on the Joburg-OR Tambo route) and if this happened when you needed it then you wouldn't have any service. I may be over cautous but using the Gautrain could potentially cause further delays.

The Airport Sun is nice, the food in the restaurant is good. Cheaper than the Intercontinental and only minutes from the airport.