In September, my mom, brother and I will be going to Southern Africa for 10 days. It’s not a place I ever imagined that I would travel to, but I am looking forward to it immensely.

Why are we going?
Long story short, a few years ago, my mom got really involved in watching the live activity on National Geographic’s webcam at Pete’s Pond. Pete’s Pond is a man-made reservoir in the Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana that was created from an old irrigation system as an alternative to the Limpopo River and its poachers.

My brother Doug (not to be confused with my son Douglas) got the idea that we should go to Africa, and after crunching numbers, we decided to go for it. We also agreed that this was a trip for the three of us.  My son, at  nine years old, is really too young, and if he is to stay home, so must my husband. When we told Mum, she was flabbergasted, but quickly got into the planning.

We started with some very clear requirements:

• Mashatu Game Reserve was a must
• We couldn’t see going all that way and not seeing Victoria Falls
• We expected some layovers in Johannesburg
• Cape Town would be nice (but was eventually eliminated from itinerary due to both cost and time.)

My brother took on the job of sourcing travel and safari operators and I handled the airfare search.

First, the safari operators. Doug contact Rhino Africa, Go2Africa and Journeys of Distinction (the travel agency associated with Mashatu and Mala Mala in South Africa.) Everyone was responsive but we decided to go with Journeys of Distinction. Angela, the representative from Journeys, was very helpful in narrowing down the options for the trip and because she was the “house” agency for Mashatu and Mala Mala, was able to offer us a package deal for the two reserves.

We’ll be flying into Johannesburg, with a very small window of sightseeing time there. Our main destinations are Victoria Falls (staying in Zambia), and the two game reserves. The most likely time for Johannesburg sightseeing will be the Sunday we arrive, although we do have another afternoon there between Victoria Falls and the game reserves. We are bound to be tired… but I really don’t want to miss any MUST SEEs because odds of a return are slim. I don’t sleep much anyway.

So readers, please chime in with your thoughts for Johannesburg as well as any recommendations for Victoria Falls. We have two nights there, and one full day.

Airfare

Sometimes you need to be creative. When I searched Boston to Johannesburg, everything seemed to run through Europe, adding hours to the total trip. NY JFK however had direct flights to and from which were NOT available from Boston no matter how I sliced the am departure. I think it’s because the international flight requires a two-hour layover, and nothing from Boston on a Saturday morning qualified. Whatever.

So we’re flying down to JFK the day before our Johannesburg flight and staying in an airport hotel. On the return, we’re supposed to land in the morning, so I’ve booked an early afternoon flight from JFK to Boston. They are separate tickets, so we could always get screwed by time gods on the return, but we’ll deal with that if it happens.

Moral of the story: always look at alternate airports, other options for making the connection.

SAFARI

We’ll get into more detail about the nitty gritty of preparing for safari as the time draws nearer, but here are two books to whet your appetite:

• Fodor’s The Complete African Safari Planner, 1st Edition: With Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa & Tanzania (Full-Color Gold Guides)
• Whatever You Do, Don’t Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide by Peter Allison. Terrific book, even if you aren’t planning an Africa trip.