Looking Ahead to Africa

knick1959

Level 2 Member
I see there are some existing threads here. I will read all material, but from the titles none will address all of my questions. Well, I'll start with the basics and leave the fine detail for later.

My wife and I have been expanding our travels; this past spring was Peru and Ecuador, next April is Italy. For the following year I had a couple of tame ideas, but suddenly the thought of Africa came up and I really want to do this.

Reading a recent Q/A post on Gary's VFTW blog it became obvious that AA miles aren't going to help much. We have a nice collection and I've been working on further accumulation. But here comes the first basic question ...

What are the best options (airlines/miles and routing) for getting there?

Specifically, I'm currently penciling in S. Africa and Zambia with minors in Zimbabwe (my wife seems opposed after reading some bad press) and perhaps even Mozambique. Victoria falls is the touristy hotspot, but we're also interested in parks and animals ... and ancient/old historic ruins/buildings.

Suggestions on any of these areas and/or alternatives/additions welcome. We're targeting 2017 but have yet to research if there is a best time of year. We will have only 2 weeks, perhaps a couple of days more.

Part 2 of the routing question above: are there any great ideas about stop-overs in route, either direction? We will still only have ~2 weeks.

We have small hoards of miles in many different programs, but I have to make sure I focus on the ones that will get us there, or help. And then perhaps a couple of puddle jumpers around the continent. It looks like Star Alliance is the probable focus, but having little international experience, and never to Africa, I'm hoping to be educated.

Thanks in advance for any ideas offered,
 
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knick1959

Level 2 Member
Ok, so I was wrong! The one thread here started by @ElainePDX has a ton of directly relevant info in it. My questions still remain, but now I'm even more pumped than before.

Now, to decipher some of the airport codes and find all of the places mentioned on a map!
 
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