flymetothemoon

re Tanzania, consider a few days safari, then a "Kili" climb, then go relax/recover in Zanzibar's old city and nice beaches.

Kili is the world's highest non-technical climb (>19,000 ft) and requires min 5 days up and back. The sunrise view from the summit, in cold thin air, is memorable.

Sweet Willie

something near and dear to my heart,

what was the food like at these resorts?

Are there meal plans or is it included in the award?

fallinasleep

I had been planning to combine a Kili trip with the Hilton Safari. Now, I am thinking I may just save my points for hotels along the way and do the more traditional Kili climb plus Ngorongoro Crater/Serengeti tour combo with perhaps a sidetrip to Tsavo if I enter or exit through Kenya. Botswana is probably too expensive as a safari destination since it caters to the higher end crowd. Kruger in South Africa would be a good compromise.

So, what's your plan once you get to JNB/CPT? Are you buying a separate ticket to Dar es Salaam or Kili from there? Part of the same award ticket? Only one major carrier, KLM, flies into Kili, as a continuation of their DAR service, and I have never seen an award seat on that route every time I've checked...

If you are going in June, I assume that you have been training for the "climb." It may not be a technical climb, but you are still dealing with freezing cold and high altitude at the top (in contrast to the rainforest at the base), so the failure rate is still fairly high. Of course, you will have porters carrying most of the stuff up, so you will only need to carry a daypack. In terms of timing, ideally, you will plan to summit a few days after the full moon, which happens to be on the 14th this June 2003. You probably know that your final ascent up the mountain will start around midnight, so the more "light" the better.

If you want itinerary help, go to www.mtsobek.com for some of their Kili packages, then do a google search on local outfitters near Arusha if you don't want to pay extra for the "value added" from a US based operator.

Finally, if you haven't seen the recent IMAX film on Kilimanjaro, I would do that. It is one of the main IMAX features currently. Personally, I was expecting a better film, but it still offered a nice overview of what to expect. There's also a new coffee table book from National Geographic out of Kilimanjaro if you don't get around to seeing the IMAX film.

Also, you should start getting your visas ready, as Tanzania requires one. South Africa does not IIRC.