Originally Posted by
iahphx
Overall, though, it's a confusing and not particularly easy part of the world to use your miles.
On the contrary, as long as you are not trying to get to a major tourist destination you have exceptional award availability.
From my home airport of BLZ, I can find ET award availability in both Economy and Business Class virtually every single day of the year right up to day of departure. Yes, you need to go everywhere via Addis (BLZ-ADD-JNB takes a 2 hr flight and makes a 12 hr journey out of it), but that's a tradeoff I'm willing to make in exchange for the excellent availability. And there are several *A programs where some awards to/from Africa are excellent hidden sweet spots.