Namibian light aircraft transfer cost
 

Morning flight from Windhoek to Sossusvlie in a small light aircraft - around $1070 sound right for two people? (one way) How long is that flight, roughly?

Maybe Namibian $$$$?

That's an expensive transfer and doesnt sound right........

Hari

Clematis,

Sorry for my asking........but, aren't you losing a lot of time on plenty of transfers? Are you losing out on some game drives?

Don't mean to poke my nose into your schedules, but, seems like a lot of commuting.

Hari

Just for kicks I decided to check the distances. Its about 150 miles as the bird flys and 210 miles to drive it on good roads. Sounds pretty steep to me. Thats about $400/hour in a small plane-considering you are paying to have the plane fly back empty---maybe. Might want to check on a car to haul you down there- should be about 4 hours.

Clematis,

What is your itinerary for Namibia?...if you don't mind me asking.

The drive from Windhoek to Sossusvlei takes about 4 hours, if you travel on the B-1 to Mariental then to Sossusvlei. About half of the drive is on gravel road that is very good, but be sure you have a good spare tire. I had two flats when I went two weeks ago!

The only flights available from Windhoek to Sossusvlei would be on a charter, there are no "commercial" flights available. So the US $1,070 would not be too far out of line, and yes, most likely you are paying for the plane to return empty.

Bill

I visited Namibia in August 2002 and at that time, I think I paid around US$500 for private charter (me and pilot)(return from Windhoek to Sossosvlei, not one-way) and included one-night lodging at Sossosvlei Lodge (which is right at the entrance to Sossosvlei).

To me (and I certainly don't claim to be aware of current fees) it sounds like your agent is adding an incredible mark-up.

The roads in Namibia are fine. Before traveling to Sossosvlei, I drove from Windhoek to Etosha and back (due to time constraints, I was forced to fly to Sossosvlei). I would recommend that you rent a car and drive (its great to see the country instead of merely flying from place to place).

Michael

I should add that I originally did not intend to visit Sossosvlei. My original plan was to visit Etosha and Ongava, but I met a local on the plane, and she told me her friend was a travel agent in Namibia. I had drinks with them when I arrived, and they were able to arrange a short visit to Sossovlei for a fair price.

Have you contacted a local agent? or are you working through a US agent (who often farm the work out to a local agent and add a mark-up).

With email, there is no need to deal with someone in the US. I would recommend that you contact Cardboard Box in Windhoek.

Clematis,

Here is a chart that has some rates from Sefofane Air to camps in Namibia. I believe that Namibian dollars are equivilent to SA rands.

http://www.namibweb.com/sefofane.htm

Fodors people are the best...

Brandywine, thank you for that great link! The cost is roughly $696 US for 2 people at 06 prices. However:

"Ø Please use the full air charter rates should the guests' itinerary not allow for use of the seat rates."

I gather it means if you want to fly at a specific time, you have to pay more but I don't see what the full air charter rates are. Just wondering if that was why the intial quote for Little K (including the transfer) was $370 over rack rates when usually we get a discount.

I take it that seat charge is whether more people join your flight or not.

Hari, Mac, luangwablondes, thanks for helping. Our itinerary is a bit odd as we added Namibia later when we realized medical limitations made gorilla viewing in Rwanda not possible this time. So we only have 4 nts. in Nam. We land in Windhoek (not sure what time yet) from Dar. There may be a time crunch there. Then it's Little Kulala 2 nts, and then Wolwedans Dunes Lodge 2 nts. Then we head for SA.

Michael, I'm using an African-based agent/operator that I used before who specializes in SA. It's not an easy itinerary and I'm finding I need to examine the details so I understand them and ask the right questions. If I had to do this over I would probably use specialists for each country.

Hello,
We flew Windhoek to Little Kulala and back last year and definitely didn't pay $1000 dollars for the flight! We booked it through Cardboard Box - flight was operated by Sefofane and we paid the seat rate so there was us + one other passenger each way. Can't remember the exact amount we paid but can look it up if you're interested.

Hani, I am interested. Brandywine, our quote now has $760 for the flight to little K thanks to you.

Our TA is saying that due to the connections they cannot get us on a flight that connects from Windhoek to Phinda in one day. The scheduled flight from Wolwedans to Windhoek leaves at 9am arriving 10am. They are suggesting we take the private charter from Wolwedans to Windhoek so we can leave later and take a mid to late afternoon flight from Windhoek so we don't have too much wasted time in Johannesburg (we are overnighting there 3 times).

Now it strikes me that anyone leaving Wolwedans would want to do this and yet I guess there is only one scheduled flight from Wolwedans to windhoek. The cost of the private charter is around $1380 for 2 (it's mixed with a road trasnfer from Little K to Wolwedans so it must be slightly less). If we went with the early scheduled flight the cost would be $990 for 2. I gather it is worth the $400 to enjoy Wolwedans longer but I wonder if another couple at Wolwedans was leaving too if the costs would go down.

Clem - if you decide on the later flight, just make sure they don't charge you additional for late check-out; can be a day-room rate. Ask.

Clematis, these threads are like a mental version of the Amazing Race for African travel specialists! Very informative.

Are you sure this is a real trip, and not something you fiendishly spent months dreaming up to keep Fodorites on their toes? Is there a "solution"? If you offered a prize of a night at the safari camp of your choice for being the first to 'get it', it'd really be fun ;-)

In the spirirt of a real puzzle, might a "trick question" have been set? Specifically, I wonder how the "scheduled" flight from Wolwedans to Windhoek can be $990 for 2? That is considerably more than the "use of seat rate" of $720 for 2 which guarantees you will arrrive for a scheduled flight from Windhoek at least one hour prior to departure. Unless Sefofane are misleading their customers, if there is a scheduled flight to JNB in the afternoon, they would surely be obligated to serve it as well as the morning one - provided at least two people are willing to use the "use of seat rate"... or not? You should surely not have to wait for a third person... again, or not?

If the road transfer might be a factor, "contestants" need to know! Is it far?

Sorry I can't contribute more :-( Just this and the rather unfair "dog's breakfast" post is a pretty pathetic haul .... I shall return to cheering from the sidelines along with Hari.

Kimburu, thank you for giving me a good laugh just when I needed it. I'm up late, still trying to figure it all out and specifically working on this mysterious "scheduled charter Wolwedans/windhoek Eros departing at 9 AM."

That $990 US for 2 included a road transfer from Little Kulala to Wolwedans and a road transfer to Windhoek Int'l (from Windhoek domestic). I don't know how far these are, I've never been to Namibia... I saw that Sefofane's scheduled flight from Windhoek to Little Kalulu is $700 for 2 for a 1 hr 15 min ride, so I guess the transfers are accounting for the $268.

If this is a game how come I'm not having any fun right now? Our grand total is currently over $31,000 for 2 for 3 weeks and that does not include the overseas flights and a few internal ones. We have some great camps but since one-third of the cost is flights, I'm working hard to eliminate the private charters. I saw an old post of Kavey's in 2001 where she went for 2 weeks to several countries and the total was less than half of mine - and she had a lot of charters. I know, it's 5 years later and maybe I can also blame these higher 07 prices on Brad and Angelina. <s>

As some have said, my public suffering will help others in the future. (!) But I'll tell you a secret, I've already figured I owe a prize to at least one person on this board for the help they've given me. A night of a camp of their choice though... uh, no (dream on!). We'll see who comes in second...</s>

Clem,
The scheduled morning flight from Wolwedans to Windhoek doesn't seem to make any sense. You seem to get there too late for most morning flights out, and too early for afternoon flights. Plus, it seems like Sefofane tries to schedule their flights so you get your morning activity before departing camp.

What if you switch the order of camps, going to Wolwedans first, then transferring to Little K, then back to Windhoek. What time is your flight from Windhoek back to JNB?

Also, the $990 still seems high. I think the &quot;seat rate&quot; applies as long as there are at least two of you going on a scheduled flight. Also, are you sure that Sefofane doesn't go directly to Windhoek Int'l without a car transfer between airports?

You can contact Sefofane Namibia directly at:
[email protected]
and ask them about the schedule and seat rate. It may take them a couple of days to get back to you.

Clematis1,

It is about a 45 min to 1 hour drive between the Eros Airport (domestic) and Windhoek Intl.
From the description on the websites, both lodges are off of the C27, South of Sesriem, and shouldn't be any further apart than about 80 kilometers (give or take).
Hope this helps.

Brandywine, everything you say makes sense. What we are doing is not very unusual so it must work with the scheduled flights.

&quot; What time is your flight from Windhoek back to JNB?&quot;

I don't know yet...It's all beginning to blur... I can see if switching the camps makes the transfers better.

&quot; Also, are you sure that Sefofane doesn't go directly to Windhoek Int'l without a car transfer between airports?&quot;

No, I'm not sure about any of this... was only going by what my TA had written. They're working at making all the transfers cheaper now (in three countries). Mac, thank you, maybe a driving transfer is the way to go.

Hi,
sorry I haven't responded with the rates that we paid for our air transfers to Little Kulala. Haven't managed to locate all the paperwork from our trip but I know it's around somewhere!

Incidentally, we had similar transfer issues. On the way out (Windhoek to Little K) we flew from Eros airport, but on the way back Sefofane flew us directly from Little Kulala into Windhoek International. So yes, it can be done!
BTW, on that return flight was a lady who had come from Wolwedans.

Ah, then let me know when you do find your paperwork. I would love to get the details. thanks, Hani.

Hi,
At last, managed to find the form showing how much we paid for our transfers from Eros to Little Kulala and returning to Windhoek Int'l last June: 1880 Namibian dollars per person each way, seat rate. So that came to 7520 Namibian dollars (return for 2 people) in total.

Not sure what the exchange rate is with the US dollar, but that does seem rather less than the one-way rate you were quoted.