South Africa & Namibia on South African and SA Express

Flights
Cape Town - Walvis Bay on SA Express 1721
Windhoek - Johannesburg on South African 77

CPT-WVB
My least favorite airplane to fly on is the CRJ200 and this is what SA Express offers if you want to fly non-stop from Cape Town to Walvis Bay with one flight per day.  The CRJ200 has extra small seats, and windows in a position which requires quite an upper body contortion to really see out.

At CPT we dropped off our rental car, smoothly went through security and waited in a very empty wing of the airport.  British Airways 747s provided some nice viewing as we waited.  When they called our flight we went down a flight of stairs to the gate.  Of course, no skybridge for the CRJ so we loaded up a bus and then stood in the bus for about 10 minutes.

Our little CRJ

It was a 2 hour flight over the dessert to Walvis Bay, which is a 30 minute drive south of our destination of Swakopmund.  They served a full meal in the air and looking down there wasn't much besides the dessert.

Departing CPT

Just after take-off looking North.  Being on the right side of the plane we didn't have the view of the city.

We made a lot of turns on approach to Walvis Bay which seemed a little strange since there was nothing around and I can't imagine a lot of traffic going in and out of this airport.  After landing the plane just rolled to a stop and we got out and then walked across the tarmac to the terminal.  This was a bit of a hike and I immediately learned that this part of Namibia is completely devoid of color.

Arrival in Walvis Bay

We don't check bags

In the terminal, you immediately go to immigration and the very friendly agent stamped our passports and we were officially in the country.  I had arranged a rental car through a travel agency and there was someone waiting for us with our 4 wheel drive truck in the parking lot.

Desert view in all directions.  

We drove all through Namibia including Damaraland and Etosha (this will be in another report).  I arranged for our truck to be picked up in Windhoek when we arrived at the airport and this was a little confusing as we could not find the guy we got the car from.  Eventually, he found us after I was about to leave it with another rental car agency.

WDH-JNB
The airport in Windhoek is mostly served by Air Namibia.  In fact, one of their two A340s was quite impressive as we drove up.  Inside the terminal I saw that today's flight to Frankfurt had been cancelled.    I wonder how much demand there is for the Windhoek-Frankfurt route?  We had a couple hours to kill in the airport and got a snack in the only cafe past security.

Our A319

Boarding was about 20 minutes late and involved a short walk to the plane - no jet bridges here.  Once we were in the air, drink service was immediately started.  Initially, there was some severe turbulence which did not make my wife happy, but it was pretty smooth the rest of the way.

I love the clouds that I saw all over southern Africa.  They are look little poofs of white that contrast so well with the blue sky.  We had a nice view of these flying away from the setting sun towards Johannesburg.

Of course, since this isn't a United States based airline we received full meal service on this 2 hour flight.  It was curry chicken rice and some pretty poor vegetables.  On the side was a pasta salad (a little too much mayonnaise for my taste), bread, cheese and crackers and a chocolate dessert.  Overall, it was nothing speciall, but it sure beat expectations when you are expecting a drink and peanuts.

On arrival at JNB, we headed through immigration and took the Gautrain to Sandton to our hotel.  We stayed at the Hilton Sandton (35,000 Hilton Honors Points), which was a nice place by a large mall in Sandton.  On the train, there was a man that immediately put me on alert, as he stepped on without any luggage and kind of hung out in the back of the train.  Eventually, two policeman passed through the car and kicked him out.  One then checked the seat he was sitting in.  I noticed all the trains and platforms seemed to be very well patrolled by police.

I'm a little disappointed I didn't take a picture of the train.  But airport, to hotel was about 30 minutes each direction.  The Hilton Sandton had a van that would pick you up if you called the hotel from the station.  Here is a review I wrote on Trip Advisor of the Hilton Sandton.

Lunch on the plane to JNB. 

Nelson Mandela Square