Side Trip Planning

The difficult thing to settle upon for this trip is the side trips after the "tour" part of my vacation is complete.  Since I'm not sure how much I'll get to Africa after this trip, I'd like to pack as many countries in as I can.  The problem with this is that I've got far too many destinations in mind.  It doesn't help that I was a stamp collector as a child and have wanted to visit a lot of the places for which I had stamps.  Some them are pretty "exotic" or at least they were to an 11 year old who never thought in his lifetime that he'd get to see these places.  Some of the places on the list are:

Windhoek, Namibia (German Southwest Africa in my collection)
Gaborone, Botswana (Rhodesia)
Maputo, Mozambique
Antanarivo, Madagascar (Malagasy Republic)
Victoria Falls, Zambia/Zimbabwe (Northern and Southern Rhodesia)
Zanzibar, Tanzania (Tanganyika)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Mauritius
Seychelles

The thing is that there's absolutely no way that I can visit all these in an extra week in Africa.  It's just not possible since the travel infrastructure doesn't exist for me to be able to do all this.

I've asked some friends that have been to Africa for advice (the few number that qualify) and have had some interesting input.  I've also done a lot of reading online and in guidebooks though it's been difficult in the guidebook department.  I like using Lonely Planet guides, not for their budget accomodations but for general information and walking tours.  Because the Africa guidebook covers the entire continent, there aren't a lot of details on any one country.  I've spent lots of hours (and lost track of time several times) trying to research information.  I was lucky that I decided to take advantage of the nice weather this past weekend to drive around and wound up at the Barnes & Noble in Milford, CT where I reviewed a number of guidebooks that were more specialized than the Africa guidebook I've got.  Unfortunately, I didn't buy any as I really don't want to have to carry around five or six separate guidebooks which may cover a city or two.  I may purchase chapters but not the whole book.

I also originally thought of getting a Star Alliance Africa Pass to do all the travel since I could take advantage of South African Airways and Ethiopian Airlines networks to do all my travel.  I tossed that aside when I looked at the price of fares.  Fortunately, I do have enough frequent flier miles on United that I can use on those airlines to book the flights.  However, using frequent flier miles also limits me on my itineraries to destinations where seats are available.

With that all being said, here's how the additional time looks so far.  Changes could come if I get another bug up my butt to add places.

9/5-6  Victoria Falls, Zambia/Zimbabwe... I'll find a way to book a tour that allows me to see the falls from both countries.

9/10-11  Windhoek, Namibia...  Flight gets in late from Johannesburg

9/11-13  Gaborone, Botswana... Okay, so I'm a fan of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books and this is my chance to see where the books are set

9/13-15  Dar Es Salaam and Zanzibar, Tanzania...  I plan on making Dar Es Salaam my base and taking the fast ferry over to Zanzibar for the day

9/15-16  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia..  I can easily book a stopover and get another country in.

9/16  Return to Johannesburg for the flight home

Will cost me about 87,500 frequent flier miles and I'll get to ride in a 787.  I was really hoping to get the Seychelles or Mauritius in but it doesn't appear that it will work.  However, this is not a final itinerary by any means.