I'm trying to find a way to leave from NYC and somehow see Cape Town, Johannesburg and Victoria Falls all on one ticket. Looks like there's a flight from Jo'burg to Victoria Falls, but no natural connection. Any thought on whether I could fly to Victoria Falls through Jo'berg, then stop off in Jo'berg, go overland to Cape Town, and fly Cape Town to NYC? I'm having trouble reading the map on the one world site and understanding the various rules.

Cheers!

Yes, you can fly:

JNB - VFA - layover

VFA - JNB - layover

JNB - CPT - open jaw

CPT onward has to be via LHR. I'm unaware of any ways to get to JFK other than via London. Are you planning to skip any segments in Europe?

You can also skip London altogether (now there's a good idea) and ride Iberia to JNB, switch to Comair to VFA, back to JNB and on to CPT, then CPT-JNB-MAD-JFK.

Ticket would read JFK-MAD-xJNB-VFA-xJNB-CPT-xJNB-MAD-JFK.

Tough to do on the "multi-city" options on aa.com because aa.com keeps defaulting to BA codeshares to JNB; but if you start in MAD you can bring it up easily. Might need phone booking ultimately, but certainly doable.

IB codeshares on Comair to/from CPT but not evidently to/from VFA.

Just a note - OT and political - the falls are also viewable from the Zambian side, removing the necessity of sending dollars to Mugabeland. In that case, the Comair flight into LVI - Livingstone, Zambia - is also quite acceptable.

I agree that it would be better to fly to LVI, but it's a wretched airport. Fifth world doesn't describe it. Our last Comair flight from LVI to JNB was cancelled without any notice. Total disorganisation, unruly, unkempt staff and passengers, a nightmare experience.

Is VFA better than LVI in that regard?

Its a nicer building certainly, but otherwise the experience is similar.

I spend a lot time in Southern and Central Africa and LVI/VFA are better than most airports in that area of the world.

Very true, Zambia is now experiencing a tourist surge courtesy Mugabe. However the view is better on the Zim side especially during the non-rainy season. If you must see it from Zim then you can apply for a day visa at the border for US$30. Or you could take a microlite and see an exceptional view. Lots of activities and good accomodation available from the Zambian side as well.

for the heads up. I know very little about Africa, so any advice and suggestions on which side is better, what the differences are, any other difficulties I might encounter, would be welcome!

Also, I'm a single woman traveling alone -- with that in mind, would it be unsafe for me to fly from JNB to the falls and navigate that area without a guide?

You might find good information about the latter question on LonelyPlanet/Thorn Tree.

Tough call; you certainly have to be aware of the risks and actively take counter-measures. This also applies in South Africa. For example, when driving in certain parts of ZA (places like Hillbrow in JNB) you must not stop at a red light; and the traffic laws actually permit you to run red lights under these conditions. This has gone on for a decade; but single white women tourists are specifically targeted (as they are unlikely to be carrying a gun or to come back and testify at a trial). South Africa is one of the few countries in the world where more people die from shooting as part of commission of a crime than from car accidents (and after you see the driving conditions, that statistic becomes even more amazing).

There are approx. 25,000 murders a year, and about 90% of the victims are male. My own feeling is that South Africa can be very safe, if you are savvy and pay attnetion, but there are situations that are 100x more dangerous than you would find in the US and it isn't difficult to blunder into some of those situations. Remember that some people make a dollar a day there, the depth of poverty and desperation can be quite significant. In most ways it is much worse in Zim, though the police there watch out for the tourists as the regime is desperate for the tourist dollars.