Rwanda & Tanzania
 

Is there a realistic Flight itinerary for Visiting Rwanda & Tanzania (Serengeti and Southern Tanzania)? We would like to avoid Nairobi. Our departure city is Los Angeles. Looking at September 2011.

Thanks for you help.

4 years ago we did
LAX-AMS-JRO on KLM
then
JRO- Kigali on Rwanda airways
then
Kigali - Nairobi on Rwanda airways
Then
Nairobi-AMS-LAX
I know this has Nairobi in it but we were just in transit there.
We had the agent booking our gorilla permits book the Rwanda airways flights because there was no way I could do it online then.

The Serengeti is the northern circuit where Kilimanjaro/JRO is good airport to arrive. And, from JRO there are flights either on Rwandair (though not daily) or Coastal Air... this latter though more expensive. Coastal also flies from various Serengeti airstrips to Kigale/KGL.

But, then you indicate Southern Tanzania? Is this Selous/Ruaha or the Western parks of Katavi/Mahale?

If so, there maybe flights from Dar-es-Salaam/DAR to Kigale/KGL.

Might be a good idea to ask your tour operator/outfitter arranging your Serengeti/So.Tanzania safari segments what your options might be.

Thank you both for your answers. I'll try to find out more about the JRO/ Kigali/Dar options. The Rwandair website is not operational (today anyway). I will look for info on Coastal. In 2007 I think we used Coastal to fly from Kigali to Serengeti via a small airport to clear customs.

Flying Coastal - KGL/SER, you stop at Mwanza for border procedures, Immigration/Visa/Customs.

the rwandair site has not been in operation now for several weeks with no e-mail responses from any of their sales offices.

i had the local operator book my ticket from nairobi to kigali.

I did get an email response and an actual answer for Rwandair.
Try again if you need some information from them.

Sandi, which aircraft does Coastal use on those flights? I know a few years ago they were using their Caravans, which could take a while.