THE 2001 PILOTS…

Christopher Cook holds the distinction of being the first pilot from Britain to fly with us.   An industrialist from England, Chris was Joint Chief Executive Officer and then Chairman of David Brown Ltd, the international engineering group. In England he owns and flies a Bonanza.  During trips to the company’s manufacturing plant in Johannesburg he dreamed about “seeking adventure” in the wilderness of southern Africa.   “Unfortunately,” he says, “I never saw anything more remote than the inside of a factory, a hotel bedroom and Jan Smuts airport lounge!” Dreams do come true.  He drew inspiration from Desert Adventure - In Search Of Wilderness In Namibia And Botswana – what he calls a “wonderful book”. (Paul Agustinus, Acorn Books 1997) In September 2001 Chris arrived in Johannesburg to begin a Self-Fly Safari ^® using Hanks Aero’s own C-182 (ZS-IWP).  We asked him to pen a few paragraphs describing his safari highlights. In his own words…

 “I felt fairly comfortable with the piloting challenge thanks to the comprehensive briefing material sent to me by Nick & Christina. Nothing, though, could have prepared me adequately for the breathtaking beauty of the remote and still largely unspoiled lands of Namibia and Botswana. Nor for the region’s shear variety.

The wilderness of the Kalahari desert dominates, but as you travel its fringes you take in dazzling apricot sand dunes with gracefully curving ridges, a turbulent ocean, rugged mountains, vast arid plains, wide open savannah, dry river beds, lush swampland and gigantic salt pans. The contrasts are everywhere, all offering the most fantastic vistas and wildlife experiences.

While that in itself is a great feast, Self-Fly provides a unique flavoring. ‘Sometimes I feel a strange exhilaration up here which seems to come from something beyond the mere stimulus of flying,’ wrote Guy Murchie in Song of the Sky. Could it be the magic of Southern Africa? Landing at isolated, rough strips it’s possible to empathize with African explorers of the past -- if not Livingston, then certainly those 1930’s pioneer aviators Markham, Johnson, Mollison, Rose and Henshaw.

First off, though, I had to get my pilot license validated. This will make them blush, but the Hanks’ worked tirelessly to ease the process. Thanks to them, all necessary paperwork was sorted with ample time to spare. Even so, for the combined handling and cross-country check ride, it was a little daunting to find the flight instructor really did want me to fly the full 200 nm triangular course I had been asked to prepare. Glad I bought my GPS, I thought briefly, until, on firing it up, the instructor said: ‘You can turn that off, I need to know you can navigate without it!’ And so it was for the duration of the two-and-a-half-hour flight -- the longest check ride I ever had in twenty-five years of flying! I celebrated my ‘pass’ that evening with an extra-large gin and tonic!!

On September 11 I sat in the Hanks’ living room making final preparations before flying off next morning into the bush. As the horrific events of that day unfolded on television, I had some serious doubts about the wisdom of the venture. Like others, I couldn’t sleep that night. I had this real sense of foreboding -- that World War III may be getting underway and I’d be sitting around a campfire and wouldn’t even know. Why, oh why, had I always pooh-poohed my colleagues’ custom of traveling with a short-wave radio?  In the event, remaining in touch with developments was not a problem. While the camps are cut-off from the outside world in many ways, satellite television for their staff is commonplace!“

"My route was Lanseria, Tswalu, Upington, Keetmanshoop, Canon, Luderitz, Kulala, Swapkomund, Damaraland, Ongava, Tsumeb, Lianshulu, Maun, Vumbura, Tsigaro, Francistown, Limpopo, Pietersburg, Lanseria. The flying was less of a challenge than I had imagined. In large measure this was due to the incredibly detailed Cockpit Trip Kit provided by Nick (more blushes!), which gave me everything I needed in a user-friendly format. The visibility was sometimes very poor in haze, though, so I was thankful for my instrument rating.

“Initially, because of the hostile terrain, I spent a lot of time listening carefully to the engine note. I had bought along my own survival kit (including a 406 MHz EPIRB with GPS-based emergency position reporting) to add to the comprehensive pack provided by the Hanks’, so maybe I’m just paranoid. But I needn’t have worried, India Whiskey Papa (Aero Hanks’ C-182) performed faultlessly throughout the trip. Which is more than can be said for another Cessna 182 being flown by a German couple I met. I first heard them on the radio reporting apparent engine trouble to the Air Traffic Controller at Upington, South Africa. They were west of the field while I was to the east but I could hear them clearly. I relayed their Mayday call, ‘attempting to return…engine overheating…looking for a road.’ From the tone of the pilot’s voice, I knew he was really stressed. I was, therefore, ‘unable to hear’ some silly questions Tower requested me to relay back! It was a great relief to see them arrive safely some twenty minutes after I had landed.

“A drawback of spending only two nights per camp is the desire to participate in the game drive on the morning of departure. This results in a late morning take-off into the maximum heat of the day. Aside from performance considerations (being solo, this wasn’t an issue), it meant that a lot of the flying was uncomfortably turbulent. Moral: next time I will stay longer, and depart early.” 

 “And the highlights of the trip? All of it. Every little bit! Naturally the ‘Big Five’ feature prominently. Lying in my tent at night listening to lions roar outside, then being unable to get to breakfast in the morning because elephants blocked the path is special no matter how many times you’ve read about the similar experiences of others. But actually, my most vivid memories are of the settings, the smaller creatures, and sharing the experiences with some especially nice people.”

 “Dead Vlei, for example, in the Namib Desert. Less accessible than the better-known Sossusvlei, this desolate pan -- dotted with the skeletons of centuries-old trees -- provides a surreal scene. Close your eyes, momentarily, and you will miss a dinosaur as it emerges from behind one of the surrounding dunes!

“Or afternoon tea at the foot of a mountain a few miles out from the tented camp at Kulala. Just me, Sunday (the guide)…and Christine (an ostrich). Pinch yourself, this is not a zoo, we’re out in the wild! An ostrich walked up to our table, walked round it twice eyeing us suspiciously and then sat down and joined us! I wanted to pat it, but Sunday reminded me of their vicious kick that can bring tears to a man’s eyes for a very long time.

 “Ongava at dusk, and red-billed queleas are coming to drink at a waterhole, squadron by squadron. A million or more birds flying in close formation. What a scary sight! This has to be where Alfred Hitchcock got the idea for that film. And the noise! You think a jet aeroplane is passing overhead - with the momentum all their wings are imparting to the air, I guess it is.

“Then there was the most magical sunset at Vumbura, shared with a newly-wed couple from Boston … the carmine bee-eaters outside their nesting tunnels on the river bank at Lianshulu … night-time, and the eerie nothingness lying in a fully-made bed under the stars at Jack’s Camp on the Makgadikgadi Pans (have I been transported to another planet?) … the, well I could go on but you get the idea!

 “Back in the office in England, with snow falling outside, Africa seems a distant memory. I am already getting restless. South America next, I think. Maybe the Patagonian attractions in southern Chile, or the mystical delights of Peru. There again, I’ve always fancied flying in Brazil - so much to do, so little time! Then it will back to the Hanks for another adventure in southern Africa, possibly Zambia/Malawi/Mozambique. A flying companion would be nice. Does that appeal to anybody out there?”

 [Reach Chris Cook at (chriscook@attglobal.net) or message us at Hanks Aero Adventures.]

Dirk Kruse and Dieter Baumann are two German pilots who met in the United States on a group flying tour. They teamed up again for a Self-Fly Safari^® in southern Africa.  After a four-day validation and orientation program in Johannesburg they flew to the Tuli Block, Okavango Delta, and Chobe National Park in Botswana.  In Zimbabwe they stopped at Kipling’s Lodge on Lake Kariba and at Victoria Falls.  They landed at Camp Amalinda in the Motopos Hills on the swing south back to Johannesburg.   Dirk and Dieter both got a validated South African pilot license and alternated PIC duties in a 1998 Cessna 172.   Here, in their own words, is an excerpt from their African adventure…

 “Our hosts, Christina and Nick had perfectly organized everything, from validation, itinerary and accommodation.   Nevertheless, they left us plenty of room for adventure!

 “We followed the established route -- a circle from Johannesburg via the Okavango Delta, the Victoria Falls, Lake Kariba, the Motopos Hills and back to Johannesburg.

 “Once through validation and the first leg we calmed down and started to feel at ease flying over unfamiliar terrain.  We got good at giving the “Forward Estimates“ that African air traffic controllers ask for. With all the veld fires in the area there was a constant haze.  More often than we liked, we flew peering out the windscreen into a faint horizon. But with three GPS’s (one in the panel plus one on each yoke) we didn’t get lost.

 “Animals?  We saw all the “Big Five”.

 “At Vumbura one evening after sunset we watched lions -- a female with her two cubs -- feeding on a fresh kill of a young giraffe. Our game guide drove the Jeep in very close. All eyes were riveted to the scene as we approached. He shut off the engine. Cameras clicked and flashed and videos whirred while the guide spotlighted the scene with his powerful light.   Moments later, out of the dark from the rear, only inches from the back bumper, appeared a male lion, most likely returning from the water hole to the scene. Thank god, he totally ignored the iron monster we were sitting in!  I am especially grateful for the land rover’s elevated rear seats. Even our guide was surprised.  The lion, though, took no notice.  He counted his family and comfortably settled in the grass licking his mouth.

 “From Botswana we entered Zimbabwe at Victoria Falls -- a busy airport with lots of tourists flocking in for a day. A commercial flight had just arrived.  We showed our passports and were “processed“ by Immigration. Off we went to our hotel in town. What we forgot (and did not realize until leaving the country later) is that we had missed Customs on arrival at Victoria Falls. Either no one was on duty or we simply passed by their station in the crowd and no one stopped us.

Five days later, on a Sunday morning, it was time to leave the country and head back to South Africa. We had spent a night in the Motopos Hills at Camp Amalinda. We flew south to check out of Zimbabwe at the dirt airstrip at Beit Bridge. The Immigration Officer stamped our passports.  Then the Customs Office official presented himself and asked for our “Temporary Import Permit”.  It began to dawn on us that something was amiss.  We remembered Nick’s briefing that we would need this document. We leafed through our papers for the appropriate form. Nothing! The official was patient, even bemused to see -- until a moment earlier – two cool pilots with golden stripes on their shirts suddenly start behaving like monkeys.  We rummaged through our pockets, thumbed through our folders, went through the pockets in the airplane and practically turned our fancy flight bags upside down looking for the official paper.   Nothing.

“We must have lost it,” we told him.  ‘But you need one to leave the country,’ he replied, unfazed and not budging. A pause to reflect… ‘Look’, we suggested, ‘you must have some blank forms with you.  Why don’t you give us one and we’ll fill it out.  You stamp it, then we’ll give it back to you and you’ll have the form you need!’  A big smile grew on the Customs man’s face.

 ‘Agreed,’ he said.  He stamped the form, stuffed it into his pocket, and off we went. 

 The scenery, whether in the Okavango Delta, Victoria Falls, or at Lake Kariba is spectacular.  But what we remember most are the rolling hills of Matopos, near Bulawayo -- especially a sunset at the hill where Cecil Rhodes is buried.

 It was a very enjoyable trip. We must come back.  Next time we might fly a more southerly route including wineries in South Africa and sand dunes in Namibia.

 

In the planning phase Pete and Chris Murphy Gruendeman presented us with an unusual situation to work into the Self-Fly Safari^® mix. Pete, an engineer, is an experienced private pilot but his medical had lapsed.  Chris, a physical therapist, was just learning to fly as a student pilot but she didn’t yet have her private license.  They could both fly a Cessna 182 but neither of them would be legal. The solution: bring along a safety pilot!   The cost is higher but having a local pilot on board has its advantages.  Pete and Chris could skip the validation exercises and set out on safari the day after they arrived.

We approached South African instructor Chris Newbery and explained the situation.  Newbery would fly “right seat” while Pete and Chris did all the flying. Since he was an instructor, they could both log PIC time.   In addition, he would serve as a “tour guide” and point things out along the way. At the lodges, Newbery would stay in staff accommodations reserved for pilot/guides.

The plan worked well. Chris Newbery dealt with one unusual situation that arose.  Victoria Falls was their Port of Entry in Zimbabwe.  After they’d landed and put the plane to bed they entered the terminal building to clear Immigration and Customs.  They went into “International Arrivals”.  No one was there. Newbery walked around and knocked on a few doors before locating the Immigration officer who was idly drinking an orange soda.  He looked at the passports and stamped everyone into the country.   Now for Customs. The Customs officer, too, was gone.  In fact, since no scheduled flights were due for the rest of the day, the Customs man had gone home and would not return until tomorrow. The Immigration officer suggested they go to their hotel in town and deal with Customs when they flew away.

At Victoria Falls, the three of them went white water rafting on the Zambezi, saw the Falls from ground level looking over the edge of the cliff (no guard rails!), walked around town and had drinks on the verandah of the Victoria Falls Hotel. They ate meals together. 

Next day back at the airport -- as instructed -- they dutifully checked in with the Customs man.  He was annoyed by the slip up.  Chris explained that they had tried, reminded him that he had been absent, and that they had met with the Immigration Officer.   The action they had taken, Newbery reminded him, was at the Immigration Officer’s suggestion.  The Customs man relented, shuffled a few papers and told them to go.   They flew off.

 

Jamie Ross had a good trip. His professional calling is “Expeditionary biologist” and he went out for a month in Africa in a Cessna 182 (ZS-IWP).  He wanted to see animals but his real focus was birding. His itinerary included some of southern Africa’s major concentrations of bird life.  But the centerpiece of the safari was a total eclipse of the sun. The centerline ran just north of Lusaka, Zambia.  “The Self-Fly Safari^® unfolded like a fantasy dream”, he told us.

CLOSE ENCOUNTER OF THE AFRICAN KIND

We picked up Jamie Ross at Johannesburg International and took him to the Hertford Hotel – the unpretentious country inn near Lanseria Airport. Jamie stowed his luggage and joined us in the courtyard for a drink. No sooner had Chris gone to the bar than she called back, excited.  “Come here! You’ve got to see this!”

In the bar, occupying a stuffed easy chair near the fireplace was a lion.  It looked young but it was no kitten. It weighed 100 lbs. It was busy chewing on the chair with its good set of teeth.   It gripped with furry paws that seemed too big. He was cute and lively but no mewing cub. The bartender was nowhere to be seen.  A table of people eating lunch in the same room appeared unperturbed and oblivious to the lion.

Jamie, fond of cats, reached out to pat him.  The lion countered with a quick swing of his substantial paw.  Jamie instinctively pulled back – but not quite fast enough. Jamie’s hand got a light scratch.  One claw’s worth of broken skin but no blood.   With no further provocations to interest him, the lion went back to chewing the chair.  We shrugged and went back outside and ordered drinks from a passing waiter.

A half hour later one of the diners came outside with the lion. He had a firm grip on the lion’s tail and the two were walking like a person with a dog on a leash.  We stopped the procession and asked about the lion.  The guy sells aircraft -- and raises lions on the side. 

This lion, it turned out, was physically handicapped.  It was rambunctious but its hind legs were paralyzed because of a growth on the cub’s spine.  It would be treated through surgery. “A male lion stakes out territory and patrols it,” he told us. “But without its back legs, I can leave the lion anywhere (such as on an easy chair in the bar) and he’ll stay. You have to take him out and walk him at least twice a day.”  This meant holding up the lion’s hind end by the tail while the lion moved with his front legs. “He’s a good-natured beast. Not dangerous,” the man said.  Jamie nodded but unconsciously rubbed the scratch on his hand.  The pair disappeared into the garden on nature’s business. 

Before long the man went back to the bar – without the lion. Chris went into the garden looking for the cub.   About five minutes later she came back. Mud all over her clothes.

“I found him sitting on the ground.  I came up to him.  He was excited to see me.  He rose up and threw his paws around my waist and dragged me down! His claws were retracted so all that happened was… muddy paws and falling into a puddle.  He was being a proper kitten!”  Beware of 100-pound kittens.

Jamie began his safari with his sister Leslie and it went according to plan.  They flew low over the Okavango Delta “dodging battaleur eagles” along the way.  At Nxabega Lodge they got “close enough to a Giant Eagle Owl to notice it actually has pink eye shading!”  One day, he borrowed a mokoro (dugout canoe) to explore the twisting channels on his own!

“The partings through the reeds and papyrus are pathways made by hippos. I peeked ahead every time the path turned to see what was there.  Where the reeds opened into a wide pool I thought it could be a place where hippos hang out at the end of the paths.  I didn’t go into the pool” (Pilots are known to exercise good judgment. Good call.)

They did a go around at Selinda airstrip when an elephant ambled across the runway on short final approach.  They spent two full days walking in the bush accompanied by a Ranger who set up a fly camp each night under the stars in the African bush!  He cooked their meals and served it formally with table cloth, stemware and cutlery “on top of an abandoned termite mound” overlooking a large plain where animals crossed.  They walked to a river on the Namibian border that was “guarded by hippos.”  In the warm sunny days they walked through tall grass savanna and saw “lions (at a distance), and giraffes in abundance”.

At Victoria Falls after two weeks flying, Leslie left the safari to return to Los Angeles.   Jackie Siegel stepped aboard. Jackie, a former stock portfolio manager, is now flight instructing in Alaska. She flies a B-55 Baron and races it.  Jackie had arrived in Johannesburg several days earlier for briefings and license validation and flew commercially to Victoria Falls to take up the safari. 

At the Ilala Hotel in the bustling village of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, where baboons and people pass each other on the street, Leslie, Jamie and Jackie watched from the (relative) safety of a room as a wandering elephant tore up a section of the hotel garden and took down a tree (and ate it). The hotel staff looked on in helpless awe.

Jackie and Jamie took off, crossed the Zambezi River and then followed Zambia’s Luangwa River to Mfuwe Airport – the gateway to Zambia’s pristine South Luangwa Valley National Park. This is really out there even by African standards! A Guide met them at the airport. They drove two hours to a small isolated camp called Kukuli deep within Luangwa.   It was Jackie’s first encounter with wild Africa. 

During their two-night stay (“too short, three nights minimum”, she commented) they encountered wild dogs on a hunt.  “They look like dogs as Picasso might have painted them”; puka (rare antelope); lion; “The baboons started screaming and a leopard appeared while we were having sundowners (cocktails in the bush at sunset)”; All night long hippos laughed and gurgled in the river by camp.

Luangwa, she said, offers a “staggering variety” of terrain and game including elephants, zebra, and Thorneycroft giraffe – a shorter variety of giraffe endemic to Zambia and not seen farther south.

The Eclipse...

A farmer in Zambia hosted and set up what he called the “Eclipse Village”. It turned out to be a festive Woodstock-like occasion with about 6000 people there. Hundreds of pup tents were set up in a huge savanna flatland.  The crowd was a mixed group: “Techno Rave, locals, farmers, eclipse followers, even NASA people,” Jackie reported. A church group sang and there was dancing and camp fires at night. (No Rock bands.) There were hot showers (“not so hot”) and porta-jon toilets portioned by grass walls (“not close enough to the tent at night”). Hot meals were served from large cook tents.

The solar eclipse, June 21, 2001 was spectacular. Cosmic.  “It was a fantastic show! Nothing like it since the Sixties,” Jackie joked.  “Shocking pink solar flares – pink things shooting out from the sun! Not a cloud in the sky...  Just before the full eclipse there is a 360° sunset of gold on the horizon.  The birds go quiet. Roosters start to crow. The stars come out, and then … TOTALITY!  When the sun went dark everyone took their glasses off and started screaming and yelling. It was a wild time”.

Leslie Wadsworth takes things in stride.  This year Leslie came back to Africa, again on her own, for a second Self-Fly Safari^® and spent three weeks in a C-182 exploring Namibia. 

Two years ago Leslie, a senior ground staff employee and former Stewardess with United Airlines based in Chicago, flew a Self-Fly Safari^® covering Botswana, Zimbabwe, and the South African coast. This time she explored Namibia’s stark Skeleton Coast, the Etosha Pan, and intermediate stops at several safari camps in northern Namibia.  Even South Africans, who characteristically regard adventure travel to remote parts of the continent as a normal part of a vacation, were impressed with the pluck of an American woman flying solo over some of Africa’s most remote and inhospitable terrain!

Her route covered 2500 nautical miles in 23 days including three days of validations and safari preparations in Johannesburg.  She returned from the trip energized and with tales of coping with unexpected developments.

Leslie encountered 30-knot headwinds on a 350-mile leg from Upington, South Africa, to the Namibian coastal city of Luderitz.  She arrived later than planned but with no other problems.  The surprise came when she learned at Luderitz, her planned refueling stop, that their supply of Avgas 100LL was gone.  The airport had run out two weeks earlier. No NOTAM was issued. No one at the airport knew when to expect a new supply.

It was a problem. She called Hanks Aero to advise us of her predicament and to solicit suggestions.  We contacted a local pilot we know at Luderitz.  He kept a drum of fuel in his hangar for his own use in contingencies like this and he agreed to provide Leslie with one-hour’s worth of Avgas from this private supply.  They pumped it from the drum into five-gallon cans and transferred it to Leslie’s C-182. This gave her enough fuel to reach Keetmanshoop (150 miles away where there was plenty of fuel) with a comfortable reserve.  There she topped off her tanks and flew on to – the Kulala Desert Lodge by the great sand dunes at Sossusvlei.  We applaud Leslie’s equanimity.

 

Alan and Kim Parnass, from San Francisco, California, covered more than 2400 nm on a 26-day Self-Fly Safari^®  through Botswana’s Okavango Delta and Namibia.  Alan flies an A-36 Bonanza based at San Carlos Airport, California.  Their friends, Palo Alto attorney Neal Williams and his wife Terry, accompanied them.  Terry manages flight crews for American Airlines out of San Francisco. Alan flew the foursome in a C-206.

As chance would have it, the Parnass’ were flying a similar route to Leslie Wadsworth but they were traveling in the opposite direction. Alan’s plan also called for refueling at Luderitz.  With no fuel in Luderitz we devised an alternate plan for him.  Our friend in Luderitz had now used his Avgas reserve.

We contacted Alan at Swakopmund. He would fly to Sossusvlei and from there to Luderitz – their original plan.  At Luderitz, where they were scheduled to spend two nights, Alan borrowed fuel containers, put them in the aircraft, and flew to Keetmanshoop, which still had a good supply.  There he filled all tanks and the containers and returned to Luderitz.  Back at Luderitz he replenished the aircraft with fuel from the containers and gave away the little surplus that remained.  Their planned schedule resumed the next day without further glitches. 

The Parnass’ saw a “ton of game” in Botswana’s Okavango Delta and a ton of wilderness in Namibia.   At Savuti Camp (Botswana’s Chobe Park) they witnessed a rare encounter between a pride of 14 lions and a puff adder, one of Africa’s more foul-tempered snakes.  Despite Africa’s reputation as a habitat for snakes, it is unusual to see them. 

During an afternoon game drive the guide spotted the large pride and drove over to watch them.  A slight movement in a sandy area caught the attention of one of the younger cubs that went over to investigate.  In an instant all the younger lions were face to face with the puff adder. The youngsters were curious but knew enough to keep out of the snake’s striking range.  The snake, himself no doubt unhappy about the lions, kept his eyes firmly fixed on the pride but began to beat a retreat for the nearest cover. That was the good news. 

The bad news was that the nearest protection from the lions was underneath the Landrover!  As the snake disappeared under the vehicle the pride of lions also came in for a closer view. Now the Parnass’ found themselves in an open landrover surrounded by curious lions with a snake somewhere underneath them. People picked up their feet and kept a close eye on the floor! 

The ranger assured everyone the puff adder would not curl around the bottom of the vehicle or come snaking in through the floorboards. After pausing long enough for everyone to get good close-up photos of the visiting lions, he started the engine and slowly drove away.  The lions and the snake went in separate directions.

Before returning to Johannesburg the flying foursome found a “leopard on a kill” and “a mother cheetah with frolicking cubs” at Mombo Camp on Chief’s Island in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. They saw white and black rhino at Ongava Lodge in the western Etosha National Park.

Alan and Kim concluded their safari with a flourish. We watched them touch down at Lanseria Airport and drove them to Pretoria where they spent their last night in the Highveld at Ilyria Lodge overlooking the city’s twinkling lights.  The next morning they boarded the Blue Train with elegant 5-star overnight service to Cape Town. It was a nice cap on a great safari. 

ACE THE VALIDATION…

Rick Bollar, and his Australian wife Leesa, flew the 15-day “Classic Safari” in southern Africa including Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.They did part of it on a bicycle! Though Rick is one of the lowest time pilot’s (fewer than 200 hours total time) to have flown a Self-Fly Safari^®, his validation went quickly and smoothly.   The key was Meticulous Rick’s use of Hanks Aero’s Pilot’s Advance Preparation Kit.  He’d read the material, done the homework, and listened to the radio procedures CD. Before he left home (Dallas) he knew what would be expected of him.  

Included in the Kit are endpoints for a three-leg round robin flight that all foreign pilots fly with an instructor as part of the validation checkride. The Kit has charts and other material to prepare for the flight. By the time he arrived in Johannesburg he had drawn the course lines, figured the headings, measured distances, and determined appropriate altitudes.   Rick noted ATC frequencies on his written navlog every point where it changed, and highlighted visual reference points along the course. He’d figured time estimates between checkpoints based on a planned 120-knots ground speed in a C-182.   He wrote everything neatly on a piece of paper that he referred to in the cockpit while flying the route.

With these preparations Rick was in a position to brief the instructor about the trip they were about to fly (not the other way around). This kind of treatment usually puts the instructor at ease.   Rick was strong and confident on the radio from the first time he keyed the mic. (This we ascribe to listening to the Kit’s audio CD. But we realize that flying in the Dallas-Fort Worth area will also hone your ATC skills. )

Rick and Leesa’s safari went smoothly.  They are the first two to have done part of the safari on bicycles!  Between flying, twice daily game drives, and at least three meals a day during the safari, exercise is often forgotten.  At Mashatu Lodge they went out on mountain bikes. “It’s good if you burn out on game drives,” Rick commented.  “We also took walks.”

“We peddled out of the Lodge (with an armed Guide) until we found an elephant trail. We turned onto the trail and before we were done we met the elephants!”  On this foray into the bush they kept a respectable distance from the elephants but once in the landrover they stopped in the middle of a herd of elephants – close enough to touch them.  Elsewhere, they spotted a pair of mating lions (quite a show)!  They report that the voyeurs in the vehicle became increasingly quiet as the spectacle progressed.

Their favorite stop: Chikwenya Camp in Zimbabwe’s pristine lower Zambezi Valley. The canvas chalets here (“tent” is an inadequate word) have a raised wooden deck and an open air shower. They watched an elephant herd with babies amble past their door grazing peacefully. “We saw everything,” Rick said.  Leesa, who is not fond of crocodiles and other waterborne creatures, recalled being “petrified” as they paddled in canoes past a pod of nervous snorting hippos on the Zambezi. 

In Maun, Botswana, they endured a hapless effort by employees of a charter company to “help” them get through a “deplane/emplane” procedure commercial tourists are required to follow.   The charter company collects passenger luggage from commercial carriers and runs it through an airport x-ray machine. Then they load it on the C-206’s that take these people to bush camps. 

In this case, the guys couldn’t understand that Rick and Leesa were the pilot and passenger and were flying their own airplane; that they’d arrived in it; they were going to leave in it; the luggage in the plane was only theirs; they were just here for fuel; they’d done Customs & Immigration elsewhere; they weren’t changing planes; they were not concerned about weapons or dangerous goods in their own aircraft; and that they didn’t need “help”. 

Well, the guys thought that they had a job to do, and do it they would.  So, Rick and Leesa unloaded the plane, the guys moved the bags and had them x-rayed, and they brought them back. Rick and Leesa reloaded them and they went on their way. Thanks guys.

At the end of their safari the Bollars, like the Parnass’, treated themselves to a night at Pretoria’s intimately elegant Ilyria mansion before boarding the Blue Train to Cape Town.  There they spent an afternoon with a rented car with their GPS as their guide in a “geo-caching” Treasure Hunt expedition. 

 

A CONFIRMED EXPLORER…

A lot of the pilots we’ve hosted for African flying have flown to Alaska but Tom Klein is the first pilot that came our way who lives there. Tom is Chief Pilot for Talkeetna Air Taxi. His bread and butter is earned flying mountain climbers and visitors in a C-185 on skis and landing on glaciers in the Mt. McKinley area (Mt. Denali).  He spent several years flying and managing a safari camp in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park with Mark and Delia Owens. (See Cry the Kalahari and The Elephant’s Eye, by the Owens’ for accounts of those days in southern Africa). 

Tom booked a Hanks Aero Explorer Package and returned to Africa with Anne Down and Chris Schapz for a month of safari flying in a C-206. Their wide-ranging safari included South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia during the month of September in 2001.

The Explorer Package includes the Pilot’s Advance Preparations Kit™, a brokered aircraft, full briefings and license validation, and a self-drive car. The Explorer package does not include safari accommodations, Cockpit Trip Kit™, nor other elements of the Self-Fly Safari^® Package such as flight clearances, enroute fees, and flight following.  

The Explorer Package allows the party to do its own flight planning and destination bookings.  The aircraft operator and insurance company require a flight itinerary prior to departing the Johannesburg area.  We advise clients taking this option to book their accommodations before leaving home and to arrive in South Africa 7-10 days in advance of take off for the extra planning they will have to do.

In Tom’s case the safari accommodations were booked months in advance.  It was doubly important because he planned to travel during October -- the peak of high season.  We assisted in constructing the itinerary with our knowledge of when proposed flights were too long for a day’s travel. We suggested alternate or intermediate destinations. 

 Tom arrived a week before the rest of his party and sailed through the 3-day validation program.  He spent the days studying the charts, securing permission to use private airstrips, applying for flight clearances, determining where he could get fuel, scheduling Immigration and Customs services, and brushing up on flight rules.

The safari went as planned. He reported occasional low visibilities in haze and “dodging thunderstorms” towards the end of October.  

 

SAFETY IN SAFARIS…
Worldwide, following the events of September 11, personal safety is an issue on many people’s minds. People ask us: “Is it safe to fly in Africa, or even to be there?”  We say yes.

We have no interest in sending people to troubled parts of the world. We live in a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa – a modern, western-style city of 5-million people. We’ve been there for six years. We exercise common sense about our personal security and live without undue concern. There are freeways, traffic-jams, malls, a decayed central business district and growing suburban ones, hotels, shops and restaurants. 

Johannesburg is routinely cited by the U.S. State Department as a dangerous place. We see a different picture.

In a nutshell, it’s a place we’d take our own mothers to visit.  Jane Hanks, age 93, Nick’s mother, came to South Africa this year and went on a safari with us. She flew around with us in the back of our Helio Courier and went out on all the game drives. She had a good time and went home happy.  We would never put her in any jeopardy.  Chris’ parents came the year before. We invited them all to South Africa and flew in the region with this much confidence in our safety.

In the Cities: Some people have their pockets picked and their cameras stolen but no more than anywhere else. There are parts of cities worldwide where you’re best advised not to go. We think Cape Town is a nice city and well worth visiting.  Tourists in all cities should take the same common sense precautions as you would take in New York or Los Angeles.

During Safari preparations:  In the few days you are in Johannesburg the Self-Fly Safari^® pilot is busy with briefings, flying, and safari preparations. These activities center at an airfield outside the city. It’s an International airport and public access to operating areas is limited. You and your party normally stay at a nearby country inn.   For occasions in which we do not personally escort you, you need (and have) a self-drive car to get around. We supply maps, an orientation of the Johannesburg area, and suggest places to go and ones to avoid. We offer reminders such as to “drive on the left side of the road, don’t pick up hitchhikers, and stay out of trouble”. While the pilot focuses on the flying the rest of the party can go sightseeing with by a trained local guide, go shopping at American-style shopping malls, or just stay at the Inn and recover from jet lag. 

Airlines: All airlines are working to bolster their security. South African Airways (SAA) operates reliable 747 services direct from Miami, Atlanta, and New York to South Africa.  The airline’s record of safety and security is as good as any airline.  An article in the London Financial Times on Nov 3, 2001 reported that international flights to South Africa had increased since September 11 “as carriers redirect aircraft from US routes where demand has collapsed, and tourists seek new ‘safe’ destinations.”  European carriers that reduced service to the United States, the article said, are increasing service frequency and capacity to South Africa.  These include Lufthansa, KLM, and Virgin Atlantic. 

Safety in the bush: A Self-Fly Safari^® is all about flying in the African wilderness. English is spoken. Our experience – whether Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe – is that you fly into a world where you’re an honored guest and they’re glad to see you!  They’re proud of what they’ve got. If they can help out, they’re glad to do so. They want to “do right” by you. Sometimes you find officiousness, as is the case anywhere. The airports in major towns along the way for refueling and Customs are secure. Airport personnel and government officials are friendly and helpful.  At the levels where Self-Fly Safari^Ò pilots operate, bribery doesn’t happen.

Camp airstrips are usually far from the nearest community.  No one is out there except camp personnel.  We have had no instances of pilfering from aircraft or guest rooms at the camps. In the bush lions and other predators are an issue. Guides are always with you so it is important to follow their  instructions.

Flight environment: There are several VOR’s, many NDB’s, and even a few ILS’s.  GPS is the navigation instrument of choice and satellite coverage is excellent.  Normal map reading and pilotage skills are important.  The bush airstrips tend to be gravel, cut grass, or calcrete. Only a few are less than 3000’ long. Airstrip surroundings tend to be flat or rolling, usually with clear approach and departure paths.  Density altitudes can be high. Flying must be in daylight hours and VMC. Weather conditions in the April to October season tend to be good VFR. Haze from bushfires and dust can reduce visibility to the lowest limits of VFR flying. Having an instrument rating is always a good idea but definitely not a requirement for a Self-Fly Safari^®.

Air-medevac companies operate throughout the bush. Camp personnel are trained in First Aid. Good medical facilities exist in all the towns. Excellent private and public hospitals are readily accessible in the cities.

Hanks Aero Adventures monitors the progress of Self-Fly Safari^® flights. We use a system of pre-arranged Expected Time of Arrivals (ETA’s) and check that you have landed safely at each destination.  If you don’t arrive we start looking for you. The host government and private sectors carry out full Search and Rescue operations.

Africa: South Africa is the economic engine for much of the continent and is highly developed. It is the only country in Africa that allows foreign pilots to expeditiously validate their licenses to fly South African-registered aircraft. The aviation infrastructure is good and is the best on the African continent.  Many airlines (European and African) and private aircraft are flown to South Africa for maintenance.  Self-Fly Safaris^® operate in Southern Africa including South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.  Mozambique, the former Portuguese colony, is opening to tourism.

The region is politically stable and free of civil wars. Unstable conditions exist in Angola and Congo so we do not operate there. The countries of Rwanda, Somalia, Kenya, and other places are as far away from South Africa as Los Angeles to Mexico City.

Zimbabwe has scheduled presidential elections for March 2002.  Its crumbling economy and political upheaval centers in urban areas or farming areas. They stem from the policies of a now unpopular government. These issues do not directly affect tourist areas such as Victoria Falls and the National Parks. At this writing, avgas in Zimbabwe is in short supply. Where it is available the price is significantly higher than in neighboring countries. Chris and I fly into Zimbabwe regularly without problems.  If you want to stay out of this or any other country, then we’ll plan your Self-Fly Safari® accordingly.