I was quoted $275 per person for roundtrip scheduled flights Dar-Selous/Selous Dar.

Patty:
Plus you will be getting more for your $$ at Sand River. Plus it is the end of the trip.

Update - everything's set and we're going with the charter.

Cost of our trip in case anyone's interested (I sort of tossed the budget out the window this time but I'm still not in Rocco territory yet ;) )-

2 business class tickets LAX-NBO/DAR-LAX = 240,000 Delta Skymiles

3 nights Hilton Nairobi = 30,000 HHonors points (got my ressies in just before the June 1 point increase)

8 night safari starting from El Karama to drop off at Olea Africana including arrival/departure airport transfers = $5248 for the two of us.

3 nights Olea Africana (booked direct with Petra, we won't have a vehicle here), 2 days riding and one way transfer back to Nairobi = 610 euros for two (see, I was able to keep this part really reasonable :D )

Day use of vehicle in Nairobi on Dec 12 = $110

3 nights at Sand Rivers including one way charter flight and return scheduled flight = $3726 for two

Left to add are two tickets from NBO to DAR which have just gone up about $40 each as of today, oops, and a day room in Dar which I'll probably redeem Priority Club points for the Holiday Inn.

Over the weekend, I was able to change my outbound flight from a departure at 6:00am to one at 7:20am. Leaving the house at 5:00am is better than 3:30am :D I was initially dreading the phone call to get our tickets reissued thinking they'd only have newbies working on a holiday weekend but I got a GREAT agent at partner awards. While our tickets were being reissued and without me asking, she said that she could change my return from DAR-AMS-YVR-LAX to DAR-AMS-JFK-LAX if we actly quickly (I had checked myself just minutes earlier so this literally became available as I was on the phone) and I said perfect! So now we've eliminated our original 8 hour layover at AMS and can get home several hours earlier. The best part is since I was getting a waitlisted flight reissued on the outbound, they decided not to charge me anything for the return changes (which weren't originally waitlisted) so it ended up costing me nothing! :D

I'm only sorry that we won't be able to meet up with Lynda on our way back.

Good job! I am happy for you AND jealous of you at the same time. Other than your Sand River splurge at the end, everything else is very moderately priced. Can't wait to hear about your SR experience.