Planning a trip to Africa? One of About.com’s columnists has put together a guide to African airlines. While traveling to Asia, Europe or the Americas usually involves a pretty well-known list of airlines, getting from country to country on the African continent may require trying some new ones you’ve never heard of. This guide gives a good breakdown of which airlines are available in which countries. There is also a safety guide with information about landing restrictions for certain airlines.

Guide to African Airlines on About.com

According to this press release (and we all know that EVERYTHING in a press release is 100 percent truth), Air France will become the first airline to run test flights allowing mobile phones. Passengers will be able to use mobile phones on select routes between France and Africa beginning in March 2007.

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you may remember my exuberance for bizarre signage from around the world. I’ve posted about them before. This shot comes from TravelPoster Randjie’s blog post Joburg Has It! The sign is located along the N4 when you’re headed towards Kruger National Park. Wild!

If you’ve got South African Airways frequent flyer miles, the last day you can use them for travel on Qantas is May 8, 2006. The two companies have had a joint frequent flyer program agreement that allows members to swap miles for flights on either airline, but South African Air is ending the agreement on April 9, 2006. So redeem your miles now or lose them forever….

South African Airways Ends Qantas Frequent Flyer Program Partnership

My Travel Map on TravelPost.com

Fun feature, folks. You can post your TravelPost.com map on any blog - yours, another blog, whatev. The one you see above is mine. I swear to god, I’ve been to more places in the U.S. than that, but I don’t want to fill up my blog with stuff like, when I was 17….

Can’t wait to have a dot in Africa come May!

I’m biased because I’m going to South Africa later this year, but TravelPoster Matthew-DonnaMae’s blog post Spier & Fairview Estates gives a great, entertaining snapshot of the wine country there and includes some specifics about vineyards and a restaurant they visited. Want to know what these animals are doing? Click the pic.

The short answer to that question is YES. It’s understandably kind of frightening to hear that Bird Flu is spreading around the world and that the avian virus holds the potential to mutate into a strain harmful to humans. But official sources say that travelers shouldn’t be worried about visiting countries where Bird Flu has been confirmed. To get sick, a person would have to be in close contact with contaminated birds, and, unless your vacation is a particularly unusual one, it’s not likely for the average tourist to be handling sick or dead birds, participating in the extermination of sick birds or playing in bird feces.

That said, if the virus changes and mutates into a strain that can easily be passed from human to human, then we all have major problems. But thus far, that hasn’t happened.

For more information on Bird Flu, check out these resources:

World Health Organization Recommendations for Travelers

Bird Flu in Depth on NPR

Reuters AlertNet Crisis Profile: Bird Flu

Earlier this week, Luxury Link announced its World’s Best 2006 round-up of high-end hotels. The 50 winners were determined by Luxury Link’s editors. Pretty interesting selection. Check it out below.

The award winners are:

1. Amandari; Bali, Indonesia

2. Amankila; Bali, Indonesia

3. Ana Mandara Resort; Nha Trang, Vietnam

4. Arizona Inn; Tuscon, Arizona

5. Bellagio; Las Vegas, Nevada

6. Biras Creek; Virgin Gorda, British Virgin Islands

7. Blackberry Farm; Walland Tennessee

8. Bora Bora Lagoon Resort; Bora Bora, French Polynesia

9. Burj Al Arab; Dubai, United Arab Emirates

10. Charleston Place; Charleston, South Carolina

11. Ciragan Palace Kempinski Istanbul; Besiktas; Turkey

12. Cliveden, Berkshire; England

13. Fairmont Kea Lani; Maui, Hawaii

14. Four Seasons Resort Hualalai;, Kona, Hawaii

15. Four Seasons Resort Nevis; Nevis; West Indies

16. Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris; Paris, France

17. Grace Bay Club; Turks & Caicos, British West Indies

18. Grand Hotel du Cap-Ferrat; Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, France

19. Halekulani; Honolulu, Hawaii

20. Hayman Island; Queensland, Australia

21. Hostellerie de Crillon le Brave; Crillon le Brave, France

22. Hotel Bel-Air; Los Angeles, California

23. Hotel Danieli; Venice, Italy

24. Hotel Gritti Palace; Venice, Italy

25. Hotel Monasterio; Cusco, Peru

26. Huka Lodge; Taupo, New Zealand

27. InterContinental Le Moana Resort Bora Bora; Bora Bora, French Polynesia

28. Keswick Hall; Keswick, Virginia

29. La Samanna; St. Martin, French West Indies

30. Las Mananitas; Cuernavaca, Mexico

31. Las Ventanas al Paraiso; San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico

32. The Little Nell; Aspen, Colorado

33. Lizard Island; Queensland, Australia

34. The Lodge at Pebble Beach; Pebble Beach, California

35. Mala Mala Main Camp; South Africa

36. Mandarin Oriental, Miami; Miami, Florida

37. The Mansion on Turtle Creek; Dallas, Texas

38. Mount Nelson; Cape Town, South Africa

39. Oberoi Rajvilas; Jaipur, India

40. Peter Island; Peter Island, British Virgin Islands

41. Sabi Sabi; Saxonwold; South Africa

42. The Peninsula New York; New York, New York

43. The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco; San Francisco, California

44. The Ritz London; London, England

45. The Dorchester; London, England

46. The Observatory; Sydney, Australia

47. The Oriental, Bangkok; Thailand, Bangkok

48. The Peninsula Hong Kong; Kowloon, Hong Kong

49. The Point; Saranac Lake; New York

50. Villa d’Este; Cernobbio, Italy

Luxury Link World’s Best 2006

La Couronne hotel in Franschhoek, South Africa burned to the ground over the weekend. This news was of particular interest to me because I had booked part of my honeymoon there later this year! Guess alternative plans are in order. I don’t mind roughing it on occasion, but charred walls… a little much. You can read the details in Guests Flee Fire at Plush Franschhoek Hotel.

La Couronne official site

In case you hadn’t noticed, I love Top 10 lists. So I was especially intrigued by The Tablet Ten from Tablet Hotels. It’s a collection of hotel top 10 lists grouped under basic headings like “Best Spas” or “Best Service,” as well as some niche lists like “High Design Hotels” and “Seduction Hotels.” The site says all listed hotels have been anonymously visited by a Tablet Hotels representative.

Tablet Hotels only lists properties that “ooze personality and obsess on the details,” so you won’t find major chains or tourist traps on this site. For example, the room pictured above is from the Amanjena Hotel in Marrakech, Morocco, which Tablet Hotels ranks #1 on its Unusual Hotels list. So with these top 10 lists, you are, in effect, getting lists that feature the best of the best from around the world.

Amanjana official site