preparing for the trip

first phase

• rough planning of the route (internet, lonely planet, personal contacts)
• determining the best time for travel taking into account weather, rainy season, local holidays, etc.
• applying for vacation from job
• finding a plane (we hired it from bush air)

second phase: planning and booking

• vaccines (hepatitis a and b, tyfus, difteri, tetanus)
• ordering aviation charts and directories (we did this through bush air)
• book flight from zürich to joburg and back (we flew with Swiss)
• transport from joburg to nespruit (we rented a car in Joburg and gave it back in Nelspruit)
• detailed plan of the route incl. sights, dates, landing strips (to some degree)
• visas (not necessary to arrange beforehand for us)
• bookings of national park entries, accommodation, tours, ... (we only booked those places that are know to be really busy)

final phase: getting ready

• money (we brought travellers cheques and several different credit cards)
• malaria prophylactic
• travel insurance

at home

• put newspapers and the like on hold
• tell relatives and friends contact details
• get somebody to water plants and empty the postbox (possibly pay bills)