Sapphire Safari
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The first time you come face to face with African wildlife in their native habitat, it will literally take your breath away. I've been fortunate enough to have been on several African safaris in my life, and I'll never forget that feeling. It's even a great experience for families with young children. While being an award travel enthusiast makes it much more affordable to travel to Africa, using your rewards to stay at a safari lodge can be a challenge.
You can easily use your hotel rewards to stay at a ski area or sleep in an overwater bungalow, but to put it bluntly, there are generally no brand-name hotels in the middle of the jungle. Perhaps that's a good thing, since a true safari experience is far more rustic, and the development of large, corporate chain properties would be a threat to the animal's habitat.
Protea Zebula Lodge: This property is two and a half hour's drive north of the Johannesburg Airport in Limpopo, South Africa. It appears to be about as close as you can come to a true African safari while still being part of a major hotel loyalty program. It's located near the Mabalingwe Nature Reserve, the Phala Phala Wildlife Refuge and the Bateleur Nature Reserve. From this property, you can depart on game drives, horseback rides and walks. It's also a Category 2 hotel, so award nights will range from 10,000 - 15,000 points per night.
Protea Hotel Kruger Gate, Skukuza South Africa. This hotel is located just 100 meters from the entrance to Kruger Park, one of the largest game reserves in Africa. Here you can actually take your own self-driving safari. It's also a Category 2 hotel, so you can stay here for 10,000 to 15,000 points per night.
AccorHotels first announced plans to acquire the Fairmont brand in December 2015, and the two were integrated into the Le Club loyalty program in 2018. While there's no longer a credit card option for US residents, there are two Fairmont locations that are ideal for safaris:
Farimont Mount Kenya Safari Club: This Fairmont property is situated in the Nanyuki region of Kenya and offers game drives and other safari activities along with luxury accommodations.
Just because you may not be able to use use your hotel points to book a stay in a safari lodge, it doesn't mean you can't use other points and miles to pay for most (or all) of the cost of going on a safari. Here are other ways other that you can use your reward points and miles for a safari of a lifetime.
There are several credit cards that offer rewards that can be redeemed for statement credits towards any travel expense. This option can be ideal for independent safari lodges that don't participate in loyalty programs. You can also use these statement credits to pay for bookings made through travel agencies, as is often done when booking a safari package.
Discover it Miles: This card offers 1.5 miles per dollar spent, and miles are worth one cent each as statement credits toward travel expenses or as cash-back. While the Discover card doesn't impose foreign transaction fees, it's not accepted in all African nations. According to its map of international acceptance, you can use your Discover card in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Botswana. Nevertheless, you may still be able use your Discover card if you book your travel through an American travel agency or if the safari lodge has an overseas office that processes credit card payments. There's no annual fee for this card.
Chase Ultimate Rewards: When you have a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, your points can be redeemed through the Ultimate Rewards travel center for 1.25 cents each. But if you also have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, your points are worth 1.5 cents each towards these reservations. Thankfully, there appears to be a wealth of safari lodges listed through the issuer's new Expedia travel portal. For example, when searching South Africa's famed Kruger Park, I found options ranging from the Jock Safari Lodge at 73,600 points per night for two down to the Royale Marlothi Safari Lodge for as low as 5,333 points per night. While these redemption values are lower than TPG's most recent valuation of 2 cents each, it's still a solid (and simple) option for using your Chase points. For more information, see my post on The Sapphire Reserve Math: When to Book Travel Through Chase and When to Transfer Points.
American Express Membership Rewards: While you can use your Membership Rewards points to book some great safari lodges, I don't recommend it (unless you're this guy). American Express only offers you 0.7 cents in value for each point redeemed, which is downright terrible compared to TPG's valuation of 2 cents apiece.
However, if you have The Platinum Card from American Express in your wallet, you may have luck utilizing the Fine Hotels & Resorts program to book a luxury property for your next safari. Booking through FHR will include perks during your stay like complimentary breakfast, free Wi-Fi, a space-available room upgrade and a unique amenity (like a spa or dining credit). Applicable properties include the Four Seasons Safari Lodge Serengeti in Tanzania and Belmond Safaris in Botswanna.
In addition, cardholders of the Citi Prestige Card should be able to utilize that card's fourth night free benefit to book many safari lodges (as long as the Citi website and/or concierge has the ability to make reservations at the given property). Just bear in mind that this benefit will be capped at twice per year starting in September 2019, giving you several months to utilize it before it's devalued.
While it's not always easy to redeem your points specifically for the lodging portion of your safari itinerary, there are ways to leverage points and miles to negate (or minimize) other costs of the trip. This is a great way to keep cash in your pocket that can then be put toward a fancier resort or on-property spa treatments without breaking the bank.
Since it's unlikely that you'll arrive in Africa and immediately proceed to your safari lodge, you can use your hotel points upon arriving and departing in cities such as Nairobi (NBO) or Johannesburg (JNB). Most major hotel loyalty programs offer several properties in major African capitals and near international airports, though you'll want to crunch the numbers to make sure that you're getting a solid value for your points.
Of course, one of the largest expenses for your safari will be your flights to and from Africa. We do occasionally see deals for flights to Africa, so you'll definitely want to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to see these when they're posted. However, using airline miles (especially for premium classes) can be a great option for these long-haul flights.
Finally, if you do wind up paying for some, most or all of an African safari out-of-pocket, be sure you're swiping the right credit card for these purchases. Most safari lodges should code as travel on cards like the Sapphire Reserve, though there may be other factors that come into play. You may want to focus on a new card on which you're trying to earn a welcome bonus, or you could prefer a card with solid travel protection in case something goes wrong. Of course, you'll also want to make sure your card waives foreign transaction fees or else you could wind up paying a premium of 2-3% on your purchases abroad.
Taking an African safari can be an incredible experience, but booking the trip can be a challenging and expensive proposition. Thankfully there are many ways to leverage points and miles to cut back on these expenses, whether it's for lodging, flights or a combination of both. Hopefully this post has inspired you to start planning a safari adventure for your next vacation.
The brand was first launched in 1986 by English wine-merchant IDV. In 1997 Diageo sold the brand to Bacardi.[1] Its name originates from the gin and tonic popularised by the Royal Indian Armed Forces during the British Raj in colonial India; \"Bombay\" refers to the Indian city and \"Sapphire\" refers to the violet-blue Star of Bombay which was mined from British Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution.[2] Bombay Sapphire is marketed in a flat-sided, sapphire-coloured bottle that bears a picture of Queen Victoria on the label.[2]
Andranondambo sapphire occurrences visible on Google Earth. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A structured sapphire-derived all-glass optical fiber with an aluminum content in the core of up to 50 mol% was used for fiber Bragg grating inscription. The fiber provided a parabolic refractive index profile. Fiber Bragg gratings were inscribed by means of femtosecond-laser pulses with a wavelength of 400 nm in combination with a two-beam phase mask interferometer. Heating experiments demonstrated the stability of the gratings for temperatures up to 950C for more than 24 h without degradation in reflectivity. 59ce067264
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