child friendly South Africa tips

[habibihabibi]

Thinking of taking 5 and 7 yr old to Cape Town and/or Port Elizabeth. Probably a 7-10 day trip from Dubai. Will it be long enough ?
Looking at River Bend lodge for a few days and buliding from there . Welcome any tips, must sees and ideas. Thx

Addo reserve near Port Elizabeth. Elephants! And no malaria! So no yucky medicines. You can stay in the park (cheap) or more expensive options nearby.

Table Mountain via cable car.

Simonstown and see the Penguins.

The sea is shockingly cold.

If you want PE and CT, you need to fly between in that timescale. If you've never been to CT, it's lovely. Great restaurants for grownups. SOuth Africa has very lovely B&Bs and I've found them to be child friendly.

Don't bother with Waterfront shopping complex. You live in Dubai......

I've just realised River Bend is by Addo!

We stayed at Chrislin African Lodge at Addo. Fab place plus national park on doorstep. There's also a wildlife sanctuary there which is good. From there we went to Arch Rock Seaside Accomodation at Plett. We also stayed in Knysna - both Plett and Knysna are lovely. Knysna is home to an elephant sanctuary. Don't miss Lawnwood snake and reptile too For more of the Big 5 we went to Garden Route Game Lodge at Albertinia. At nearby Mossel Bay we did Great White Shark cave diving. DH went in cage while I stayed on the boat with DS5. Amazing experience! In Simons Town, we stayed at the Quayside Hotel just up the road from the Penguins. Cape is nearby as is Chapman's Peake drive around to Hout Bay. Cango Caves worth a visit as is nearby ostrich farm. DS loved it! Again, all amazing. Have fun

Go in their summer (November - February). The W Cape (esp. the further south you get, towards Cape Town) will be in mid-winter from June - August, and it can be cold, very wet, and very windy.

Remember the new rules on entering South Africa with Children.

Great advice above. We recently did the City Sightseeing tour of Cape Town (it's a hop-on, hop-off bus service) which was great. We also did a boat tour of the harbour with the same company. See www.citysightseeing.co.za/ Boulders Beach is lovely for children, as mentioned above.

A note about safety/security: Don't go walking in forests or greenbelts unless in a large-ish group. Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens is lovely and also safe. The townships can be dangerous for visitors (unless you are with a trusted local) because you can find inadvertently find yourself in a very dodgy area.