Delta and arriving at night

[ILhunt]

I am travelling next summer to Kimberly, SA with my family. I have 2 choices for how to get from Johannesburg to Kimberly that I need to decide on, and would love to hear any of your opinions/thoughts!

Choice 1: spend the night in Johannesburg at Africa Sky for 150 per person per night and the take a flight from Johannesburg to Kimberly for 180 per person round trip

Choice 2: ground transport to Kimberly for the 320 miles, for $450 each way. This would be split between whoever else is hunting at the same lodge and chooses to do this also.
(One issue I foresee with this is that the Delta flight arrives at 7pm in the evening and I am not sure about the safety of riding that far that late)

 

[godwincp]

Stay at the Sky and fly out the next day. Gilbert will take care of guns and getting you on your flight. Driving that far at night is not a good idea.

 

[PeteG]

Overnight and fly the next day makes sense to me in this case.
the last thing I would want is a 5hr drive arriving in the early hours of the morning after a long flight on delta.

 

[wesheltonj]

Choice 3, Stay overnight at City Lodge at the Airport and Fly the next day.

 

[Hogpatrol]

^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^

 

[JimmyJack54]

In October of 2021 my wife and I flew Delta from ATL->JNB, overnighted at Afton Safari Lodge in J’burg, then Airlink from JNB->KIM the next morning. I would recommend overnighting in J’burg at Afton (provided meet and greet, transport, etc.) or one of the accommodations recommended by AH members.

In October of 2019 my brother and I made the trip from Kimberly to JNB via road transport, during the daytime. It was a long ride. I wouldn’t want to do it at night. I never felt in danger but I sure would not want to have my family traveling this route at night and have an automobile or other issue. Our PH was with us the whole time.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Stay in Joberg at one of the suggested hotels or lodges. Do not drive to Kimberly at night. You will drive through long stretches of unlit roads, with donkey carts and people walking in the middle of the road. Remote, night driving is the most dangerous things you can do in the eastern cape area.

I would pay for the extra flight. But.
If you want to drive do it in daylight

 

[Vintageguy]

I personally would not drive in South Africa. Each time I’ve been there we have been stopped at some point by police but they don’t do it the way there as it’s done here. I don’t consider myself as someone who is situationally unaware, particularly in strange surroundings, but only once did I recognize it was the police asking us to stop, very subtle. Every other time they simply looked like a highway worker and I would’ve just blown on by with probably a less than desirable outcome. Also, I wouldn’t drive there at night either.
For the record none of the stops amounted to anything other than a quick exchange of pleasantries followed by us continuing on.

 

[ILhunt]

I should mention, that we would not be driving ourselves, the 450 each way includes a person that the place we are hunting with pays to drive us...I would definitely NOT want to drive myself in South Africa

 

[ILhunt]

Stay in Joberg at one of the suggested hotels or lodges. Do not drive to Kimberly at night. You will drive through long stretches of unlit roads, with donkey carts and people walking in the middle of the road. Remote, night driving is the most dangerous things you can do in the eastern cape area.

I would pay for the extra flight. But.
If you want to drive do it in daylight

Thanks for your response, I probably should have specified, but I am not the one driving, we would be paying for someone to do it through the hunting lodge. I have been to South Africa before and figure that it's not a good thing to even be riding at night. I was considering seeing if we could spend the night and then get the ride to the hunting place in the morning (there will be 5 of us total, so the air fare to Kimberly does add up to quite a bit more than the 450 dollar ride to the hunting lodge)

 

[JimP]

Get a good nights sleep and then fly the next morning, you will thank yourself for it.

 

[Rare Breed]

I am travelling next summer to Kimberly, SA with my family. I have 2 choices for how to get from Johannesburg to Kimberly that I need to decide on, and would love to hear any of your opinions/thoughts!

Choice 1: spend the night in Johannesburg at Africa Sky for 150 per person per night and the take a flight from Johannesburg to Kimberly for 180 per person round trip

Choice 2: ground transport to Kimberly for the 320 miles, for $450 each way. This would be split between whoever else is hunting at the same lodge and chooses to do this also.
(One issue I foresee with this is that the Delta flight arrives at 7pm in the evening and I am not sure about the safety of riding that far that late)

I would do the stay over and short flight NOT the drive

 

[Firebird]

Stay the night in JBurg at Any one of the nice facilities available. It will help with the jet lag and if your long flight gets delayed you will still have nothing to worry about. A shower and a relaxed meal after that long flight is reinvigorating-a long car ride in the dark sounds simply awful

 

[Sideshow]

As most have already said stay the night in Joburg with one of those hotels.
With connecting flights I would always pic my luggage and recheck it in for the next flight! Don’t get it checked all the way the to the final destination. Joburg has a habit of losing it….and it turning up empty or not at all

 

[Ontario Hunter]

After finishing my buffalo hunt in Kimberly area I rode five hours with PH to our lodge in East Cape. It was a long but interesting and scenic drive. No regrets. But I can handle long trips. When I hunt Africa I'm usually two days without sleep when I arrive at the lodge first afternoon. At least once a year I return "home" to Montana. Depending on which home I stay in, it's a 24 or 30 hour drive ... solo. Been doing that since 1989.

If you want to be adventurous, why not sleep over in the Joberg airport lobby? I'm kidding of course! Do not do that! When I fly to Africa from Toronto I have long 10-12 hr layovers both ways during the day at either Stutgart or Zurich. Both are good airports to catch a nap.

Odds are five people with serious jet lag would not be very friendly with each other after being cooped up in a vehicle together that long. Make sure the guns are locked in the trunk!

 

[Sideshow]

Nar lock the other five in the boot and have the guns in the front….will give the bored cops at the road stops something to talk about

 

[meigsbucks]

I can’t see any upside to going that night. Overnight at one of the suggested lodges (I like Africa Sky). Relax a little. Shed a little of the jet lag. Plus it’s a lot safer.

 

[JimmyJack54]

As I recall, the road system between Kimberly and Johannesburg was good. I wouldn’t hesitate to be driven between the two again…in the daylight. If you have the time, it’s not a terrible trip and you do get to see more of the countryside from the car vs airplane.

I also recall there being additional firearms fees if flying into KIM. I would advise you inquiring about that if you are traveling with firearms.

 

[Hogpatrol]

This warning on a bottle of wine in RSA tells me all I need to know about being on the road at night.

 

[Drywaller44]

I would stay the night in Johannesburg. Traveling at night in South Africa isn’t the best idea. Also by the time you get your bags and through customs the only thing you’re going to want to do is get a hot shower, a good meal and sleep off the jet lag.