Going on safari can be one of the most aspirational (and expensive!) trips you take. There’s the cost of both long-haul and bush flights to consider, not to mention safari camps that can cost thousands of dollars a night.
These days, however, there are more ways than ever to use points and miles to cut down on those expenses. I recently flew for nearly 24 hours in Condor business class from Los Angeles to Johannesburg via Frankfurt for just 110,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles plus $96 in taxes and fees. For the way back, I used 65,000 Delta SkyMiles to fly KLM business class from Cape Town to Amsterdam, then another 55,000 Alaska miles and $400 in taxes to experience American Airlines’ new Flagship Suite Preferred from London to Chicago (instead of the ticket sticker price of nearly $12,000).
My safari was in Botswana, so I flew Airlink between the safari hub of Maun and both Johannesburg and Cape Town. Flights tend to cost about $200-$300 each way, but you can redeem United MileagePlus miles or Qatar Airways Avios for Airlink flights at reasonable rates.
While stopping over in Johannesburg, I got to be the first-ever guest at the newly opened Park Hyatt, where award nights cost 25,000 points instead of $500. In Cape Town, meanwhile, I checked out the characterful new Canopy by Hilton in Longkloof, where rates are around $130 or 34,000 Hilton points per night.
I ended up going with a long-standing independent safari company, Desert & Delta; marveling at African wild dogs on the hunt at Savute Safari Lodge; hiking to see ancient rock art in the Tsodilo Hills at Nxamaseri Island Lodge in the Okavango Delta; and sleeping outside under a full moon on the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans.
Each experience was more magical than the last, and being able to get there using points and miles made it feel even more special.
Want to know more about how you can use points to book a safari, and the programs I used? Check out these stories:
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