germanblonde

I am travelling on a tour of South Africa. my internation flight arrives in Johannesburg and departs from Cape Town. Before I join the tour I would like to go to Victoria Falls (Zambia) and Chobe (Botswana). The tour I have chosen for Victoria Falls and Botswana has a luggage restriction of 15 kgs per person. I will have more luggage than this. I am would like to know if the airport at Johannesburg has left luggage? Is it safe to use this service? I have never done this before. I will need to leave my luggage in Johannesburg for one week while I am Victoria Falls and Chobe. Any tips/advise/info would be appreciated. Thank you.

ArthurSA

From the website, www.acsa.co.za/home.asp?pid=516

"Facilities for storing luggage are available on the upper level of the underground parkade, just off the main lift lobby (four large lifts, Terminal A2, international arrivals area). You may leave any baggage for any sort of period at a cost of R32.00 per day per bag, no matter the weight or size."

Roccco

This facility is very easy to use and I have not had a problem with it, using it each of the last three years.

I would advise you to hold onto your bags and not let an aggressive airport porter help you with your bags. Basically, if you are waiting for the elevator to go down to the left luggage facility, an airport porter is likely to offer you help, grab your luggage, and before you know it, he is on his way down the escalator, and for the 30 second trip, he expects about 10 Rand! It all happens in the blink of an eye and it is REALLY ANNOYING.

kerikeri

is this after immigration? i am transitting j-burg and flying out the same day- will i need to enter sa in order to have my luggage stored?

and does anyone know if business class earns you the right to check your luggage in with the airline/ leave it somwhere a few days in advance of your international flight? (i know that sounds dumb, but i am not usually lucky enough to travel b-class).

ArthurSA

Yes, this facility is after immigration, in the public area. I can't help you with your 2nd question, why don't you ask the airline?

Kavey

We didn't have enough between flights to collect our luggage on the way back through so instead of using the left luggage facility we arranged with Wilderness Safaris to collect our extra piece, store it at their office and meet us at the check in desk for our international flight to return it to us. They very kindly didn't charge us though we did send a bottle of wine to the office with the luggage to thank them for the favour. It really helped us solve our problem.

piperpilot

I am bringing this thread back alive because I have some timeframe questions. We are doing a similar trip, flying into Cape Town where we will spend 3 nights and want to have some nicer cloths and books, etc that we don't want to take with us on safari.

My question revolves around how long this process takes to drop off and claim a bag. For our flight from Cape Town to Victoria Falls we have the following times:

Arrive JNB on Nationwide Air Domestic at 840AM

Depart JNB on Nationwide Air International at 11:20am

2:40 Minute Layover.

On return we Arrive JNB at 4:40PM on Air Botswana International Terminal

Depart JNB on SAA at 7:15PM International Terminal

2:35 Minute Layover.

Given these times is it enough time for me to drop off an claim a bag?

Thanks for everyones help on this.

Regards, PiperPilot

Roccco

piperpilot,

I believe that you have plenty of time. Really, anything more than a 1 hour layover would be sufficient to take your baggage downstairs to the left luggage storage. I have never waited more than five minutes to check in my luggage.

luangwablondes

If you have more than 1 hour, that is plenty of time to get lost and locate Left Luggage. They can wrap it in plastic for a few xtra rand so you don't worry about someone relieving you of some of your precious possessions.

piperpilot

Thanks everyone. We will either do that, or I think I can arrange with my tour operator to have my bag sent ahead from Victoria Falls to Maun where we will pick it up on departure. I think the left baggage at the airport would be cheaper, but if we did it with the tour operator we would have our stuff for the 2 days we are in Vic Falls as well. Will just have to see.

Thanks again for the help.

PiperPilot

napamatt

Definitely opt for the plastic wrap, we had a couple of items stolen last year.