I am trying to plan out a safari trip to Africa around June of next year for my wife and I. We would be leaving from the NYC area and making our way to Arusha in Tanzania. I'd really like to fly over in lay-flat business class and only have one connection through a desirable city so we could stop for a day or two. I know you can't really fly into Arusha directly, so we're fine with a small plane or maybe a bus from Nairobi or Kilimanjaro to there. I've looked at route maps, but I am a little overwhelmed with the options available on airlines I am not very familiar with. Of course, I want to get the most out of my points and want to avoid taxes/fees on the point redemptions. Award availability is the other issue.

Some interesting stopover cities we were looking at were Amsterdam (ideally), Paris (Been there, but why not stop again), London (been there, same as Paris), Istanbul (but is it safe there?), Cairo (again, is it safe there to stay a night or two and visit pyramids? - my wife has been, I have not). I don't really have a major interest in stopping in Dubai or Doha, which are the other options I have seen. I'd also entertain stopping in South Africa either on the way in or way out too. Would like to check out their wine region and maybe do a safari there as well.

Here are my current point balances:
300k Chase
105k American Express
100k United
380k AA (various accounts)
75k BA
37k SPG

We also have the ability to open other cards if we need to get the point balances up in any one account.

Any thoughts?