South Africa - Durban, KwaZulu Natal?

[decena]

Anyone any advice for a July holiday to the above? We are family of 4 with 2 DD aged 16 and 12. We can't afford the full safari parks at £500 each per night !! So would be looking for accomdation that can do day safaris.
Was thinking of a few days just north of Durban to see the sights around there. Then move up the coast around Huhluwe or St lucea for safari then a last few days up north around Rocktail for some beach and good diving.
Any suggestions or comments? What is there for family excursions near Durban? Suggestions for reasonable accommodation for safari then elephant coast? Any recommended uk agents to pull it together for us?
We've previously done Cape Town/garden route/ Sun city so want somewhere new.
Thanks

Not what you were asking for, but if it's day safaris you're after I'd stay near Kruger Park (Hazyview or White River). There's other tourist stuff to do in the area - waterfalls, Bourke's Luck Potholes, Panorama route. Could do Mozambique (we stayed at O Lar do Ouro) in Ponta do Ouro - swam with a whale shark there. Amazing beaches. Or could drive to St Lucia via Swaziland and overnight in Mkhaya game park (much cheaper than private game reserves and a really cool bush experience). You can book really good value accommodation in Kruger too - have a look at the SAN parks website - but often need to book a long way in advance.

Thanks Snowgirl. Did you use a travel agent or book everything individually? I've looked at some of the specialist African agents and they're £5k EACH minimum!

I actually preferred huhlewe to kruger. No where near as busy or touristy. There’s a huge part of the park you can’t go in unless on foot/horseback. The accomodation we stayed in was very cheap and rustic, and we just drove round.

Around margate/ ramsgate/uvongo/shelley beach are lovely little beaches and small towns. Small attractions like snake parks, there’s a fab trail up into the mountains, plus the usual surfing.

I drove down from joburg to durban. The drakkensburg mountains are worth a visit, as are the boer battle sites.

We flew to jo burg, hired a car, drove down to durban. It was a while ago no but it wan’t that different to australia, where there is plently of cheap basic accomodation you can just pitch up at. I think we booked the place in margate, and then just phoned ahead a few nights before.

Thanks, I've been warned off going through the mountains in July due to the snow. I'm trying to stay nearer the coast where it's warmer!
We did garden route once, in Sept, it was 7 degrees and freezing! We can only go in July unfortunately.

We've been to White River and Kruger in July and it's been like a warm English summer with cool evenings. It's a good time to go game viewing there as it's the dry season which means the grass in Kruger is low so easier to see game and more likely to find game at water holes.

We book everything independently - the SAN parks website covers all the national parks and if you book their accommodation rather than going to a private game park, it's very reasonable.

We have done this area in July. It’s warm in the day but colder at night. Huhluwe is great for Rhinos and is not full of expensive lodges. We stayed at St Lucia River Lodge. I have not checked the rates recently. There were cheaper lodges in the park itself I recall. You can fly to Durban. You don’t need to fly to Joburg and drive. Huhluwe is about 3 hours from Durban.

We did go into the Drackensburgs . No snow when we went. We stayed at Cleopatra Mountain lodge but there is quite a lot of choice and in SA I really recommend guest houses. Terrific value and better than hotels. The Cathedral Peak area is also a good option. The Midlands Meander around Pietermaritzburg is also pretty.

We've often been in June and July, In laws live just outside of Durban. We tend to beach holiday in Umhalanga, great beach and feels safe, and the Huhluwe game park is good for your safari, i've seen the big 5 there.

Sorry - memory failure. It was the Hluhluwe River Lodge. It wasn’t £500 pp per night and still isn’t!