Hi Belo
Yes, we drove straight from Durban to Cape Town. We arrived Joberg at 6am ish then transferred straight to flight to Durban (By the way, when you get off the plane in Joberg you are literally mobbed by people literally taking your trolley off you and then asking for money - they are licensed I think, they wear yellow boiler suits, we kept saying No, but you have to be really firm and just keep moving -they even warn you about them before you disembark the plane - it's a big overwhelming after a night flight to be honest). We got to Durban at lunchtime and had a bite to eat there, Durban airport much nicer and a few nice eating places in there. I think the drive to St. Lucia took about 2 1/2 hours, the weird thing is how many people walk along the motorways and main roads, we were driving at dusk and it was pretty hairy at times. It gets dark at about 6pm all year round.
In St. Lucia there are plenty of restaurants all of the ones we went to were happy to have children there, my dd was 2 1/2 at the time and they were all very friendly, the fruit juices are AMAZING there so she drank lots of those and they all had kids menu type stuff.
Malaria - its a bit of a difficult area for that, basically about 3-4 years ago malaria was rife there but they had a big eradication programme and became malaria free. My cousins live in Pietermaritzberg (about an hour from Durban) and we were with them,they decided not to take anti-malarials and thought it was quite funny that we decided to be safe rather than sorry and take them. We took Malarone which is the most expensive one, but has least side effects. However, with a little bit of anti-mossie stuff we didn't get bitten at all. All anti-malarials taste revolting and I don't think we managed to trick dd to take even one dose (not even mixed with chocolate).
We had 2 days in the parks, they are right next to each other so we did umfoloze one day and Hluhuwe the next. Personally I could have done even more. You just drive right in (registering your car at the gate) DD was very happy in the back as we removed her car seat once we got into the park, so she just sat on the back seat using a pair of binoculars. Take a picnic with you as there aren't a whole lot of rest areas, although there are some nice ones near craft shops. You will find that other people in the park will stop when they drive past you if they know where any good finds are (one guy was really funny as he was just a tourist but had kitted himself out like a park warden and insisted on showing us where these lionesses are - we're very glad he did as we would have missed them lounging under a tree)
We also spent a couple of days around St. Lucia, we went on a boat trip (saw lots of hippos, crocs and heron, great for children) and spent a day on the beach (lovely warm indian ocean but big waves so hold on to both of your lo's hands!)
Oh and the craft stalls on the main drag in St. Lucia are great, good prices, the same stuff that is in the national park area but much cheaper)
We went to a Zulu cultural centre back near Durban which was great. DD loved all the singing and traditional dancing, it was very professional.
If you email me, I'll send you back some pictures of the area to show just why you HAVE to go! My address is [email protected]
We also spent 10 days in Cape Town, but you already know how great that is! Don't forget you must spend an afternoon at Borders beach swimming with the penguins - it was dd's highlight of the whole trip.