I am considering running the Comrades ultramarathon in a future year between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. The debate on the sanity of running 54 miles in one day aside, my issue is with the cost of fares to South Africa.

From what I can tell, fares from the US to SA are about $800 in January and rise to well over $2100 in June when Comrades is held. I would have presumed January would be the peak time for fares as it is their period of warm weather in the Southern Hemisphere with June being considerably less.

How could I go about making connections for a lower fare? My nearest major airport is ATL (at the high end for direct flights according to my FareCompare app) but I'm certainly not averse to using another US city and international airport as connections.

Thoughts? Thanks!