Review - MackAir Cessna C208B Harare to Private Landing Strip
July 20th, 2024
In-transit:
We were going on a safari with some friends in Zimbabwe, so we flew ourselves from the US to Harare on Qatar Airways. I’ve reviewed Qatar pretty extensively on this blog, so I won’t do a review for each flight. Rather I will only review the flight we took from Harare back to Doha, as it made a stop in Lusaka, so I can show you the catering departing Zambia.
To get to our camp, we had to take a prop plane from Harare. Our camp arranged our flight with MackAir, a primarily charter airline serving Zimbabwe and Botswana. Upon arriving from the Qatar flight, a MackAir representative met us at the jet bridge and escorted us through all the arrival formalities, including getting us the visa on arrival for Zimbabwe.
Lounge:
There was no formal check-in process for the private charter, as we were led straight to the landside lounge MackAir operated at Harare. It was a decent space with various beverage options. The wifi situation was pitiful. There shouldn’t be any reason for an extended stay here though, given the charters were timed according to the inbound commercial flights.
MackAir Lounge at HRE
MackAir Lounge at HRE
MackAir Lounge at HRE
Boarding:
Soon enough the same representative returned to fetch us to our plane. I was pleasantly surprised by how modern and clean the airside of Harare Airport was.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport (HRE)
Interestingly, we were still boarding from a regular gate.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport (HRE)
I’d never been to this part of Africa prior to this trip, so I was naturally intrigued by all the airplanes outside. I believe the below was an Airlink ERJ-140.
Airlink ERJ-140 at HRE
Even funnier was that we got an entire shuttle bus to ourselves.
Boarding MackAir at HRE
Boarding MackAir at HRE
We drove past an Air Zimbabwe B767. Honestly, I didn’t even know Zimbabwe had its own airlines, lol.
Air Zimbabwe B767-200ER at HRE
Air Zimbabwe B767-200ER at HRE
The bird taking us to our camp was a Cessna Grand Caravan, which I’d flown on a few times before. The Cessna Grand Caravan is a workhorse of an aircraft for many short island flights as well.
MackAir Cessna C208B at HRE
MackAir Cessna C208B Cabin
MackAir Cessna C208B Cabin
Inflight:
We started our engine quickly but had to wait for two incoming aircraft to clear the runway - one being an Air Tanzania B737.
Ascent from HRE
Ascent from HRE
Ascent from HRE
About 50 minutes later the airstrip came into view.
On Arrival:
While this review won’t be helpful to much of the readership, it was undoubtedly an unique experience. It was certainly my first time landing on an airstrip. After we landed, we drove up and down the airstrip to make sure no animals were inadvertently crossing whilst our plane was retuning to Harare.