Over the past few hours, the USA and Turkey have banned the issuance of travel visas that effectively bans American citizens from entering Turkey, and vice versa. Turkey issued their ban hours ago after the USA instituted the ban earlier on Monday (October 9).
This comes as part of the American protest over the arrest of a Turkish citizen who worked for the US Embassy in Ankara. The Turks claim the employee has links to Fethullah Gulen, an individual that Turkey believes is behind terrorist attacks within their borders.
Typically, Americans traveling to Turkey simply buy their Visas at the airport in Istanbul or other points of entry and proceed to enter the country with no problem. However, as a result of this suspension this is no longer possible and Americans traveling to Turkey in the near term will not be allowed to enter the country. This ban applies to the online Turkish E-Visa system as well.
Turkish Airline flights between the USA and Turkey have not been impacted thus far. No US based carrier flies to Turkey.
The situation is quite fluid so expect more updates.
While away for the last 2 weeks, Lufthansa released information concerning their Winter 2017/18 timetable. Their updates reflect the resumption of 2 routes to the USA as well as 1 to Asia.
Perhaps the most important announcement involved the resumption of service between Berlin (Tegel) and New York (JFK) as a result of Lufthansa’s takeover of certain Air Berlin routes. Beginning November 8, LH will fly between TXL and JFK 5 times per week (Daily except for Friday and Sunday). The last time that LH flew this route was back in 2001.
Flight LH406 will depart Berlin Tegel at 5:35p, arriving in JFK at 8:35p while flight LH407 will depart JFK at 10:20p, arriving in Berlin at 12:15p the next day.
In addition, LH has also announced the following resumptions of service between Dusseldorf and Miami. Beginning November 8, 2017 LH will fly the route 3x/week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays.
Turning to Asia, Lufthansa announced that it will resume flights between Frankfurt and Shenyang, China effective March 26, 2018. The route will be flown 3x/week, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays from Frankfurt.
In order to get between most camps in South Africa, you either have to fly on scheduled Charters, drive for an unGodly amount of hours over horrible terrain, or take a Helicopter. When it was time to transit between Dulini and Khaya Ndlovu, we decided to hire a Helicopter through Wild Skies Aviation out of Hoedspruit so that we can take in one of South Africa’s most beautiful natural wonders, the Blyde River Canyon. The canyon is set apart from other canyons as it is the only ‘living’ canyon in the world, meaning that vegetation is found in abundance at the bottom of the canyon.
These photos will explain exactly what I mean! 🙂
However, the photos don’t quite do it justice!
As you’ll see in the video (taken with a GoPro mounted on the belly of the chopper), departing from Dulini and heading towards Bushbuckridge and Hoedspruit is fairly uneventful. However as you approach the lush borders that surround the canyon, the world below is transformed into something magical. Pay attention at the 30 minute mark and beyond since it is at that point that we enter the canyon and then weave through the canyon walls following the Blyde River out of the canyon and over a series of citrus orchards as we headed to Khaya Ndlovu.
