Flights, Visas And Seasons For Every Trip.
Epic Paradise Tours runs trips in two places: hunting and wildlife in South Africa and Southern Zimbabwe, and fishing and island holidays on Nosy Be, off the north-west coast of Madagascar. They have different seasons, different airports and different paperwork, so each has its own guide below. Many guests do both, and the two connect with a direct flight from Johannesburg to Nosy Be.
Hunting season, what to pack, visas, malaria and the flights into Johannesburg or Cape Town and on to the Eastern Cape, the Karoo and Limpopo.
Read The South Africa Guide →The nine flight routes into Nosy Be, the €35 visa on arrival, Tuesday-to-Tuesday bookings, the cyclone closure and the best months for whales and billfish.
Read The Nosy Be Guide →For South Africa, fly into O.R. Tambo in Johannesburg or into Cape Town and connect on to the airport nearest your hunting area. For Nosy Be, fly into Fascene Airport on the island itself — never Antananarivo on the mainland. The two maps below show every route.
Anthony guides hunting safaris in South Africa until around mid-July, then is based on Nosy Be through to 15 January. That makes the second half of the year the natural time to combine the two: a hunt in the Eastern Cape, then SA Airlink direct from Johannesburg to Nosy Be on a Tuesday morning, lining up with the Tuesday-to-Tuesday island week.
Tell us roughly when you can travel and who is coming. We will come back with a real plan rather than a brochure package.
Rough dates and who is coming is enough to start. No lengthy booking form, no card details.
If the days you have will not cover it, we say so up front and adjust rather than take the booking and disappoint you.
Nothing sold off a shelf. Priced against your dates, group and interests — in USD, Euro or ZAR.
Land-based four to sixteen, live-aboard six to eight, big-game fishing four to five. Never a crowd.
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Baobabs along the road in Madagascar.
For South Africa, fly into O.R. Tambo in Johannesburg or into Cape Town, then connect to Gqeberha or East London for the Eastern Cape, George for the Karoo or Polokwane for Limpopo. For Nosy Be, fly into Fascene Airport on the island itself.
No. Antananarivo is on the Madagascar mainland, not Nosy Be. Book a route that lands at Fascene Airport on Nosy Be, and make sure every earlier flight arrives in time for the connection.
Visitors from the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and most EU countries need no visa for South African tourism stays of up to 90 days. For Nosy Be, a visa is issued on arrival at Fascene Airport for 35 euro, valid for 30 days - bring cash in small notes.
The South African hunting season runs from mid-February to mid-July. Nosy Be tours run from 1 April to mid-January, with no tours from mid-January to the end of March, the cyclone season.
Yes. SA Airlink flies Johannesburg to Nosy Be direct early on Tuesday mornings, and bookings from South Africa run Tuesday to Tuesday. Anthony hunts South Africa until around mid-July, then is on Nosy Be through to 15 January.
For Nosy Be, yes: your own travel and medical insurance is essential. Any other accommodation and flights en route are for your own account.
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