Hammer
 

THX, this is most honouring.

I'm heading to Maun in late January - can't go earlier due to family commitments. Very much looking forward to it. I have a south african cpl, and did most of my time building flying around botswana and namibia.

I'm getting worried that late jan will be too late, that you all will get the jobs first! :P

Hi there,

Just finished CPL/IR in the UK and have decided that Africa is where I want to be, however - I will be stuck in the UK for other commitments until late January - is the hiring season very set in stone or is it plausible to get jobs in Febuary-March time? I'd like to know this before I go off and get tickets booked/vaccinations etc.

Thanks in advance

older low timer pilots?
 

Hi guys! I'm a 38 years old french canandian who had a valid cpl, twin ifr in 1992 (320TT)... and as I didn't know places like Maun were existing, so I stayed a low timer pilot!! Then, I went to University, got a good job, buy a house, traveled etc... but this pilot thing still annoying me.

I'm actually renewing my cpl and I have to confess that flying in Africa sounds like music for me... Just want to know if you see any problems for an older low timer pilot in Maun and Africa.

Thanks!

Hireage
 

Jobs going throughout the year (but I don't think that many going June-August). Heard of some people getting hired in May last year, so you might as well try your luck.

Looks like the lack of tourists this season will be more than made up by the number of pilots looking for work!

chillbill:
1) There are internet cafes including one right across the road from the airport, so you don't REALLY need one. You'd either have to lug it around everywhere with you (which I am not sure would be pleasant in the heat) or leave it in your tent (which isn't exactly fort knox. Plus meltage could ensue).

2) Jeans not so much (hot!) bring lots of shorts. You don't need to go suited and booted it's quite informal.

3) I don't really know about this one. When I went I didn't bother, but it wasn't the major mosquito season yet. Also malaria can manifest itself after a month so I could yet get it. If this is my final post, you will have your answer.

4) Sedia hotel is a hotel, strangely enough; (www.sedia-hotel.com). Also you can get tents at Audi (the wannabe pilot's ghetto needs to stick together!) which are large enough to stand up in and have their own beds with matresses (which I stared jealously at most days). You still have to use the communal la Salle de Beetles though.

5) Donkey spotting. Which is thrilling.

6) Are/When you going?

You are a very informative guy waiterpilot. Most kind and many thanks for great thrills, information and entertainment.
What we have done on weekends in Botswana is to go out in to dust desert, not really sand is it, and plant a radish. The we would water it and then see if it grows by the next weekend. It never did, of course, but like playing the grand piano, it was a link with the sanity.

Hey guys,
I am a newbi to this forum, just letting you know that I am (probably) heading to Maun early Jan. As I have read the last 11 pages I actually have no questions. Just hoping to build a few contacts and maybe meet some of you guys over there. I have finished all my training just need to sell my car and get the funds to go. Use to live in Cape Town for 13years so will be great to get back to the motherland. Hope to see you all there soon.
Cheers Chris

wow looks like lots of people are seriously heading down there to compete for the jobs -- best of luck to you all! hopefully by the time i head down there in late 2009 / early 2010 there'll be less competition :) but that's wishful thinking i guess.

i'll be heading to maun in the first week of Jan 09 to check it out, and have a chat with a few people regarding the situation there. hope to bump into some of you guys over a cold beer...i hear pilots are hard to miss in Maun ;)

all the best for the festive season!

It sounds like many pilots thinking of going to Maun on spec and prepared to live in uncomfortable conditions for love of flying and future career.
This takes time and may be is not productive in present tourist economy problems.
If those who are the head honchos in Maun, read these forum, like new Chief Pilot of Sefofane, it would be real nice if they could give some guide lines as to their need for recruitment over this season coming or in now. Also, they could possibly answer questions as to long term situation in August 2009.
This is the wishful hoping of course but it would be a very kind thing to do. I mean, all of the CPs in Maun must know each other and could help out here a little with some of the very general questions without doing themselfes any harm.
Come on guys, fess up now, are bookings really well down or are things more or less normal for need for pilots!?

I have to agree,
some guys over there could point out a few things regarding the situation in these recessive days. Otherwise they'll have 50 wannabe honchos wandering around companies and bars in Maun. while there will be no tourists to be flown.

I think I'm in a lucky position as my not too many hours keep me on hold. and in 10-12 months the situation will show if this is the end of the world or we can press on...

Question - should I be thinking of bringing my car up? It's just in joburg, would it be much to my advantage? Otherwise, I was going to get rid of it.

And, any other female Maun pilots/wannabes on here? I know there are a few, I always hear chicks over the air when I've flown up there in the past. Any advice on life in maun as a girl? :)

From what I've read till now, this year in Maun there will be more pilots than tourists to be flown! Waiterpilot, the opening of this thread has been a very interesting and useful thing, but also an enormous damage. Now apparently everybody is going there, and the competition will be at the top. You opened what i would call a Pandora Pot. No offence there, just for saying. Hope all the best for you guys hitting the road.

nibbio86, I think that most of the folks who are serious about going would have gone anyways. I'd planned on it for ages, for one, I've even flown up there a couple times to check it out during my time building.

wow
 

I just imagined myself flying to Maun as timebuilding. From Hungary to Bots :eek: and yeah, with a c150 :mad:

Now that would be an adventure! :8

sorry, I meant time building for my CPL. I didn't see the point in spending 100 hours going to the local general flying area and back, so I did a lot of little trips to bots and namibia.

I got that, I was just joking and grudging :hmm:

For several years in Maun we had over 50 pilots through the doors looking for jobs each season (2002-2003). Infact one of those years we had around 70. Back then there was no big forum on PPRUNE, yet all these pilots still showed up looking for work. Unfortunatley of course there wasnt 50 or 70 jobs available so a lot of people went home without work. Some of these people stayed just a week then left without work, whilst others stayed 3 months and then came back looking the next year. In the end though the guys that wanted the jobs the most and could fit in with the Maun lifestyle all got jobs eventually. Even if this meant coming back next season or going to Namibia or Zambia for a year first to get a start. I guess what im getting at is that if you want to get a job in Maun then you will get it. BUT it may take 3 months in a tent at Audi camp, or even worse you may have to throw in the towel and come back next season. The best advise I can give is to be prepared that you may not get a job. Ive seen guys completley gut wrenched because they had come over with the opinion they would definitley get a job and it has turned out there are none left. I suspect that under the current financial world climate that business may be slow next year in Maun. In saying that though there is always attrition in Maun at some stage so a bit of luck with timing and a great attitude goes a long way. Maun was some of the best years of my life for sure, you arrive with a few hundred hours and leave with a few thousand, but more importantly you will leave with one of the best life experiences you can be given. It will be very tough at times, especially job hunting at Audi camp with 20 other guys. Keep your chin up, stay positive and try your best to enjoy yourself.

Good Luck to those who make the Journey to Maun its an amazing part of the world and some very amazing people live their.

I can't think of a titleage.
 

Trust me, when I started this thread I had no idea what horrors I had unleashed on the world - I just wanted the answer to my questions! I wouldn't say I've done any damage though, just shot myself in the foot perhaps. I think this is more than made up by the sheer amount of information that has been exchanged between those wanting to go and those there/been - plus this will be available to anyone in the future. Even then, unless you have been to the area, you can't imagine what it is like to live there (and I don't mean that in a bad way).

I like to help people out (incidentally hence my website www.profpilot.co.uk :E. I'll just casually throw that in there) and if that means a couple of extra people to battle for jobs so be it. I can assure you, a few months in Maun is better than serving trout.

I'm quite looking forward to actually meeting the people behind the usernames.

Vilasy: One of the fellow wannabes who was in Maun while I was, drove up from Cape Town, which must have been nearly as thrilling as donkey spotting. I think that if you can be arsed, it would be a good idea to drive up just because everywhere in Maun is too far to walk to in the heat, and the combis, while cheap and.... 'snug', can be a little sporadic. Taxis = £££. I think you can get all the way to Maun on tarmac roads - so at least your suspension will be kept happy.

Waiterpilot,
I was simply joking. You started the thread in a great manner and it developed in a very informative way. The fact is that, if you read all the posts, seems like all the world is going there, so it would be interesting to know in the next weeks/months from the people who really moved, how thing actually are, if this year will be worse than the previous or about the same. Good luck.

the damages you did!!!
 

yepp, you did WP!

1. you contributed on spending a lot more money on flying, to get the flying time and CPL required in Maun (THUS I CANNOT SPEND IT ANYMORE ON BOOZE)!!! :mad:

2. I told my boss that I quit (well, yeah, next september), he got so happy that he is willing to pay me some flying time (already did some aerial photography) :ok:

3. my girlfriend went crazy on living in Africa! I had to promise her that next year I'll take her to seychelles :}

4. and whatever...

Last but not least, now there'll be hundreds of wannabes swarming around maun praying for a flyin' carpet job.

I think finally a thread evolved in a very informative thing with a pretty good ammount of info. And will serve generations of lowtimers seeking their much desired first step up.

And actually I love trout...