India. Just the name conjures many images that are often in conflict with one another. Bright/Despair, Colorful/Somber, Rich/Poor, Cheerful/Bitter, Delicious Food/Hunger, Calmly Peaceful/Chaotic Noise–it is a land of contradiction.
From the west coast of the USA, it’s a long trip no matter how you do it, so I decided I’d go when I was already in Europe for other business. I flew from Munich to New Delhi on Lufthansa, using United miles on an award ticket in first class (before United began charging a King’s ransom for these awards). The Lufthansa service in first class it as you’d expect it, superb! But, even more impressive is the first class lounge at the airport. Full service dining, passport control service inside the lounge, escort to your plane when it’s time to board, not just showers to refresh, but even soaking tubs…the place exudes luxury. If you ever have the opportunity, cash in those miles and do it!
Upon arrival in Delhi, the service continued, but was somewhat hampered by the logistics or lack thereof surrounding the immigration process. Once through you are on your own, and I would have thought there would be ground transportation provided, as even Virgin Atlantic does this, with just business class service. Oh…the tortures of luxury travel.
I used a pre-booked car service for transport from the airport to the hotel, as at the time I didn’t want to mess with the unknowns of taxis. After hearing the horror story of couple of Ukrainian travelers I met later in my trip, I was very glad I spent the extra $30. Viator.com is an excellent choice. The driver was great; he even stopped at a Citibank office so I could withdraw cash on the way to the Le Meridien Hotel.
Upon check-in at the hotel front desk, I was informed that as a SPG Platinum member my room had been upgraded to a suite…which is always a nice thing to hear, though even better when you are with someone special and not traveling solo. The suite was beautiful, with soaking tub, huge separate rain shower, large bedroom, and good sized living room.
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Bedroom of suite, very lux!
There was also, a great lounge that I was given access to, complete with evening hors d’oeuvres and beverages, and I got some tastes my first true Indian food…and King Fisher beer (which I quite liked). I found this lounge to be the perfect respite each evening, to bring my computer and send emails, go though the pictures I took that day, and catch up with people on Skype, all, while having some nice snacks and that very tasty beer.
When I told my family and friends I was going to South Africa and Botswana, renting a four-wheel drive vehicle and heading on a self-drive safari alone they looked at me with wide-eyed expressions that clearly, this time they thought I might have passed adventurous and headed on to crazy.
I’ve driven in a lot of countries, and taken a good many solo trips all over the world, but safari alone does seem a bit daring and admittedly a little daft as well. I don’t recommend the solo aspect of this kind of adventure, for a couple of reasons; if you are to break down or get stuck, you’ll be alone in getting going again, not such a big deal, unless you are out there with animals that would like to eat you. Also, when you are alone it’s very hard to drive and also do an effective job of animal sighting.
On the positive side, I met some great people. Doing this alone, I had no trouble in each camp connecting with other people (except for the couple of nights, when I was in a camp alone), who were gracious, and bewildered I was out there alone. Responses ranged from Walter and his wife from Germany, who seemed envious and invited me over for beer or wine after I’d had my dinner, to another couple from Germany, who seemed to think I was stupid and couldn’t be bothered to say much more than, “nice fire” which they shouted from their camp site some 200-feet away.
Getting there
First of all, you’ll mostly find European visitors on safari in Southern Africa. From Europe it’s a relatively easy 10-12 hour flight, without much of a time change. Though you are swapping seasons, summer to winter, fall to spring…etc.
From the United States, especially the west coast, this isn’t an easy journey. Using Delta SkyMiles, I flew from Los Angeles to London on Delta with their new “Delta One” business class service and product. On this flight, I wasn’t too impressed with either the service or the product. While the seats do lay flat to make a bed, they have some uncomfortable bulges that don’t make it a terribly comfortable bed. Also, in the seated position, there’s very little storage for personal items, and the space feels confined. I found the leather seat covers don’t breathe which for sleeping only works if you keep the cabin pretty cool. The flight attendants were aloof, and actually a bit snobbish, finding “service” a bit below their perceived station in life.
The Delta flight arrived an hour late into Heathrow, shrinking my layover to four hours from five. Four hours though is still plenty of time to totally enjoy Virgin Atlantic’s amazing Club House lounge at Heathrow. I got a haircut, had a nice cooked-to-order meal that would have done many restaurants proud, a couple great English beers, a shower, and mini massage…this place is heaven inside an airport!
The Virgin Atlantic Club House in terminal 3. It was stunning when new, and has held up well as one of my lounge “benchmarks”.
Virgin Atlantic’s Club House lounge at terminal 3 in Heathrow, isn’t even new, but it’s held up well, and remains one of my lounge “benchmarks.”
I flew from London to Johannesburg on Virgin Atlantic, in their Upper Class cabin, which was very nice! Their clever seat flips and tumbles so you sleep on surface other than the one you sit on, it’s comfortable and cozy. Virgin also provides pajamas so you’re not in your clothes as you sleep, a very nice touch usually reserved for First Class, but Virgin’s Upper Class is a business class hybrid that does combine a lot of First Class amenities, if not the exclusivity. The meals and wine choices are top-notch, and the flight attendants on this flight were friendly, and seemed to want to make your experience and flight wonderful.
Arrival at Johannesburg, pro-travelers know you never want to hear your name announced in the baggage area; I heard my name being called, which can mean only one thing: somehow four hours wasn’t long enough to get bags transferred from my Delta flight to the Virgin flight in London, ugh. This is why I loathe checking luggage. But with this kind of trip, I didn’t see much option; I wanted to bring things like pocket knives and liquids greater than three ounces that aren’t allowed in carryon luggage. In the end my bag didn’t make it for another day, because it seems, that Delta somehow sent my bag to Atlanta instead of with me to London, D’OH!
For convenience I’d booked a room at the Aviator OR Tambo Hotel because there was a free airport shuttle, and it was also near the location of the rental company I was using for the safari vehicle. It’s a nice enough hotel with a good restaurant and friendly service, and works great for the location. Protips: The WiFi service is a bit spotty, and try to get a room that’s not located on the street side if you can.
Google maps indicated that the location of the rental place was only 1.6 miles (2.6 km) from the hotel, so I figured it’d be an easy walk to go over and get the preliminaries handled, so once my luggage showed up the next day, I could get on the road to Botswana quicker. Big mistake! Johannesburg is not a strolling down the street kind of city. Walking down one street I saw a lot of people gathered around cars in various states of disrepair parked along the side of the street so I decided to cross the street and walk down the other side, where there were no parked cars and an open park area rather than tenement buildings. It was about then, I noticed people spreading, and moving up the street, while looking behind them on occasion. I look down the street in the direction the people are running from, and see a very fit, muscular, man with an open green shirt his brown skin shiny with a film of sweat despite the cool day making threatening gestures, with exaggeratedly angry facial expressions, and hollering something in a language I don’t understand. But, the scariest part was the machete swinging from his right hand!!! Had I not been so jet lagged, I probably would have peed my pants. Without making any quick moves, I widened my arch and crossed through the park, only to find the park was fenced on the other side, as there was a gated community on the other side.
Fortunately, I found an opening in the fence with a gate, and a seated security guard, who let me pass into the community, when I told him I was just cutting through. Needless to say, I accepted the ride back to the hotel that was offered by the rental agency.
The Vehicle
I reserved a pop-top Toyota Land Cruiser 4×4. I chose this because it seemed the easiest to handle alone, in terms of being self contained and easy to set up for sleep each night, while having something capable to explore with by day. I used Drive South Africa to make the booking as it seemed the easiest, and finding direct hire contacts is not easy. I wouldn’t do it again though, they are a broker basically, and refer your booking to an actual rental agency, meaning if you have problems, you have two companies pointing fingers at each other.
During my visit to handle the paperwork, I was strongly encouraged to purchase the ultimate insurance protection. I was warned that if anything should happen with the vehicle I could be liable for thousands of dollars as these vehicles have expensive parts and repairs. I explained I would call my credit card company to confirm if I was covered, and let them know when I pick up the vehicle. In the end I declined all the “extra” coverage, though from listening in on many other presentations, noticed many people do buy this.
The cozy living room inspired Britz office where you conduct the paperwork part of your rental.
I was hoping to go over the familiarization run down of the vehicle and equipment that day, but apparently the vehicle I was to take hadn’t been prepared yet. Allow two hours to do this! Have the company show you the operation of everything, if for no other reason to confirm that everything they send you out with is in working order. You don’t want to get out there, and discover the air compressor they have sent you out with doesn’t work, or the interior lights of your camper…etc.
By the time Virgin Atlantic finally provided my luggage the next day, and I got to the rental agency to pick up the vehicle, it was well after noon, which was when I was hoping to hit the road…as always, best laid plans don’t always work out in the real world, and there is something called “Africa Time” where, things seem to happen according to another clock.
The familiarization run down was rushed through, and when the representative was having trouble getting the vehicle into 4×4 mode, I did become a little concerned. I loaded up my bags, and headed to the grocery store to load up on food, water, toilet paper, and other more vital necessities such as wine. On my way there I noticed there was no power to the cigarette lighter. While I don’t smoke, I did have a GPS I very much intended to keep charged up. I also noticed the fiberglass, roof on the Land Cruiser was making horrible popping, creaking and snapping noises. So, I headed back to the rental agency, where the fuses were checked, and replaced, and I was told the noises were “normal”. While I was relieved to have the lighter fixed, I was disappointed; I’d have to deal with the noise.
