danny_blair

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Joined: 12/08/2005

Posts: 1

Hi there,

My wife and I are travelling on the Northern Quest trip leaving on the 31st August - really looking forward to it!

I've done some research on Visa requirements - guide books, websites and by directly calling the embassies. I believe that on my NZ passport, I will not require visa for any of the countries we will be visiting (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe). I also believe that my wife on her Dutch passport will not require visas for SA, Namibia and Botswana - but will require a visa for Zimbabwe, which can be bought on the border.

The reason I am posting, is that I am always nervous about visas! Also, I'm not completely confident on the staff at the embassies - considering I've had different answers on different days! I've had a very close call with a trip to the Dominican Republic and just managed to squeeze the visa through on time (as and aside, if you have a NZ passport, don't even think about going to DR!!). [Eek!]

If there are any Kiwis, or Dutch out there who have recently travelled through these countries - I would be very pleased for some reassurance!!

Thanks,
Danny and Carolien [Big Grin]

BrendanG2

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Joined: 08/08/2005

Posts: 26

Re: Visas for Northern Quest - Kiwi and Dutch

Hi Danny,

Thanks for your post on the forums.

As you are probably aware, the travellers on all of our tours are responsible for ensuring that they have a valid visa for their tour.

To do so we recommend referring to the embassies of each country and visa specialists (www.travcour.com) or guidebooks and other websites, which is exactly what you have done.

Unfortunately it is a sad fact of life that some embassies are less reliable than others. Entry requirements do also change from time to time and differ naturally between different nationalities. For that reason it's always best to check with the embassy more than once to ensure (a) that nothing has changed and (b) to make sure that you can still get your visa on the border, if that was what you were intending to do.

It sounds like you're almost there with your preparations. Hopefully some other Kiwis will be able to get back to you with their own experiences in those countries to finalise your plans. Sorry that I can't directly answer your question but I hope this helps.

Anonymous

Posts: 4064

Re: Visas for Northern Quest - Kiwi and Dutch

I am from Holland, and travelled last year to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia and did not need any visa in advance. All the stamps could be collected at the border.