Would you fly 11 hours for 7 nights?

[rear]

We want to do a Safari in Zimbabwe or Botswana. We have a week's annual leave, and are not particularly interested in hanging around after the safari. The bonus is that there is only 2 hours time difference.

So we are looking at flying into Johannesburg and doing the safari from there. At a max we can do 8 nights if we fly out late Friday and back over Sunday night into the Monday. We'd probably fly in premium rather than economy.

No.

Had a stop over in Dubai for 3 hours :(

So would I. Let's do it 😁

I would,I flew 13 hours for a weekend (for my friends wedding - he lives there, not just an abroad wedding). So worth it.

I was going to say no but then saw you have only 2h time difference so I’m saying yes!

I really struggle falling asleep on plane (and in general tbh). However I still would do this journey if it was something I really wanted to do.

Im currently 8 hours away for 3 days. So yes!

Yes, have done this with kids (Mauritius) several times. Always worth it.

However - is there a long journey from the airport to safari lodge, on top of the plane journey? If so that might put me off. Also check there isn’t too much planned for the first day as you may feel ropey (if outbound flight was overnight).

Yes, and I have visited South Africa for a week. We took overnight flights in both directions and it was fine because the time difference is negligible. Flying to California or Japan for a week is a different matter & the jet lag can be a pain.

Course

@rear We are doing just that in the summer. To Botswana. BA and SA fly overnight to Joburg. You can then fly to Maun in Botswana. It’s one of the easiest flights due to minimal time difference. For Zim you fly from Joburg to Harare. That’s 14 hours minimum. London to Maun is also over 14 hours. Neither are 11 as there’s no direct flights. It’s quicker to do the safari in SA but obviously different.

Ive also been to Zim for a safari and in both countries you need to plan where to go. Wildlife Worldwide have helpful itineraries and bespoke holidays to these countries. Botswana is possibly more varied.

As for your question: lots of people ski in Whistler for a week!

If it were for something special like that, then yes.

I wouldn't choose to fly that long for 7 nights (though I'm sure Premium makes it easier).
The lack of changing time zones makes it much more welcome than most 11 hour flights, too.

Yes abd i have many times

I went to Brazil last year for 5 nights which was 11 hours - no problem.

Ye especially Africa with minimal jet lag

Yes definitely

That's insane! I'd have missed some of the best holidays of my life with that rule!

I would do it.

Why is it 'insane' - we have not stopped flying altogether, but we fly rarely, and when we do, we make sure it is really worth it. Our decision and we stick by it.

@fleurneige Many people cannot get 3 weeks off work or afford 3 weeks. Having said that, 1 week on a safari in Botswana will cost a great deal. Many thousands as camps are expensive there. It’s a fantastic destination but three weeks would be a huge amount of money.

I get this. Which is why we have flown long haul very few times. Personally, I would go on safari and then spend at least another week or 10 days visiting another part of Africa, not on safari. We went to Kenya and safari in Tanzania, then on to Zanzibar and another location on the coast. And last year we went to Andalucia, short haul, and visited several towns all by train.

You may not agree, but I truly feel we should all learn to respect flying a lot more, for enviromental reasons. Not stop, but make sure you really make the best of it.

I flew 12 hours for one night to collect my granddaughter so yes your trip is very doable.

That flight is absolutely fine. If you can fly overnight both ways, it works really well.

We flew into Johannesburg for a Kruger safari as part of a longer trip about 5 years ago, We flew premium economy and slept surprisingly well. That together with the lack of jet lag due to the small time difference meant that it didn't really feel like a long haul flight and were able to hit the ground running.

As another poster said though, you do need to factor in the additional travel time to get to where you're actually doing the safari though. Even for Kruger the land transfer is something like 4.5 hours.

You also say you don't want to hang around after the safari. I think doing 6 nights or so on the trot just on safari would end up being slightly tedious. We did 3 nights safari in Kruger and then another 3 nights in Botswana, but in between we toured other parts of South Africa for a week and a half. We loved both safaris but at the end of 3 days we did feel kind of glad we were going to do something else for a while.