10 days in South Africa

[OneKeyAtATime]

Ideally we would like to see Cape Town, Johannesburg and a national park. Is that too much to cram in 10 days? Would it be more realistic to stick to, say, the CT area as there is already so much to do there? It will probably our only chance of going to SA so we don't want to miss out but equally don't want to ruin the holiday by spending our time travelling between spots.
Thank you!

I'd do Cape Town and Kruger National Park.

I'd give Joberg a miss.

You could fly to Kruger.

Both Kruger and Cape Town are amazing.

Thank you Lil. Would you say Kruger is much better than other SA National parks?
Have you done the Garden Route? Would you recommend it? I saw you can do the GR then at the end of it towards Port Elisabeth, do Amakhala Game reserve. Or would that pale in comparison?

I think I would do Cape Town, the garden route (whales at Hermanus in the autumn - their spring) and then do Addo. Fly back from Port Elizabeth. Joburg isn’t worth it for 10 days. Kruger or Sabi Sands is better than Addo but you need to get to Nelspruit as the gateway. Possibly fly from PE. Although the itinerary I have suggested is the best for you I think in the time you have.

We did this:

Overnight to J'burg
2 nights recover at sun city
4 nights Pilansberg Park
4 nights Madikwe Park
2 nights Sun City
Overnight home

I wanted Safari, not bothered about the rest. We had 2 DDs with us aged 8&13 and so wanted a malaria-free zone.

Brilliant.

We use GoToAfrica who were really helpful.

Thank you Lil. Would you say Kruger is much better than other SA National parks?

It's a million times better but some of the others are still amazing 😁. Pilansburg and Madikwa are stunning.

I really wouldn't recommend Sun City. It's just not my sort of place but lots of other people like it so maybe you can research it yourself and see what you think.

I LOVE the Garden Route. It's very beautiful. Bubbles suggested itinerary looks good.

www.rhulanisafaris.com do amazing photo safaris and tailor made tours in the Greater Kruger Park. The contact guy is Armand Grobler.

Thank you so much everyone! This is very helpful!

We did exactly this in February, I'll post our itinerary once the morning rush is over.

Another vote for Madikwe, which is a straightforward drive from Joburg.

I wouldn’t write off completely (I say this as someone who only really visits SA because of having a friend there). In terms of ‘sights’, the Apartheid Museum and the museum in Soweto are interesting. There’s also the Cradle Of Humankind which I’ve not been to but which looks potentially worth a visit. Then there are more low key things to explore like in any city.

I’ve done the sleeper train from CT to Joburg which was fun (not the Blue Train, the cheap version!).

It depends what you’re into really. The wine region was a bit lost on me but some people love it.

Definitely fly overnight, assuming you’re travelling from the UK. Hardly any time difference and the flight lands early and leave late so it really does give you two whole extra days. Very odd doing a morning game drive in Madikwe and knowing that in 24 hours you’ll be on another continent and back at work!

re Sun City. We picked it for 'acclimatisation'. ie So we could recover from the flights, and have something that was more 'familiar' before going off into the unknown. I can see it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. My DDs loved the breakfasts (their first experience of vast hotel buffets). We did a couple of very 'touristy' things nearby (and 'African village type place and a crocodile place), and I think may have even gone to the cinema somewhere. Plus canoeing and jetski on a lake.

We didn't do any self driving (didn't feel brave enough), but had private transfers between everywhere.

Driving is very easy in RSA as it's on the same side! I'd rather drive in RSA than in Florida.

Our itinerary doesn't touch Joburg, we toured the West Cape with a sojourn into the East Cape.

Overnight to Cape Town (hotel rooms booked for the flight-night so you can get straight into them, no waiting till check in time). Usual attractions in Cape Town plus Boulders for penguins, and Cape of Good Hope for photo op/seals/ostriches and baboons - watch your bags. Drive through Chapmans Peak road.
Travel on to Oudtshoorn for ostrich farm tour and stunning drives through mountain passes and ginormous valleys. Beware baboons and warthogs on the road.
On to Addo National Park (there's accommodation in the park tho we stayed nearby at The Elephant House). You can self drive round the park or take tours with the rangers. Amazing place for wildlife.
Turn west and overnight at Knysna. Friday nights by the harbour such fun. Wonderful drives along the cast and through Tsistikamma (sp?) National Forest etc.
Continue west to Hermanus. Beautiful town and if it's the right time of year you can stand on the headland there and see whales at sea. This is where you can organise shark trips too.
Up to Aquila Reserve, a managed wilderness with a rather nice hotel. Free game drives included with your stay and wildlife spotting from your balcony. You can leave Aquila at 4pm and easily make the night flight back to London. Plus the drive from here skirts some huge vineyards so you do get a bit of a wine view. Not a priority for us though.

Tarragon: the op has 10 days. You would be on the move all the time to do what you did. We did similar but it’s not 10 days! That’s why I took elements out to make the itinerary manageable.

Posters are missing out by not visiting the Winelands. There are some super chic wineries and Frranschoek and Stellenbosch have a lot to offer the visitor and that includes great restaurants. However with limited time this may not be a priority but we like it. You can then access the Garden Route without going back to Cape Town.

Flying up to Kruger takes a day out of the itinerary. Kruger and Sabi Sands are better because Kruger is a National Park. Many game reserves are rewilded farms. Kruger is not. With 10 days you can self drive and see quite a lot or fly in and out of Kruger. Driving is easy but keep your wits about you.

Joburg and Sun City (why?) are not worth any effort when on a short visit and with two hours time difference you don’t need to acclimatise. Dive straight into Cape Town!

Add Kruger in if wildlife and a national park is a priority. Or you could go to Durban and drive up to Hluhluwe Imfolozi which used to have excellent rhino sightings and the St Lucia area is wonderful too.

Why Sun City?

• To recover with 2 children, one who was not quite 8 from the first long haul flight we had done with them. it was our first trip with them outside UK & Canaries.
• To 'acclimatise' to the different country, the heat (we aren't sun lovers), and the non-European-ness.
• Closely located to airport and our first park.

We saw both White and Black Rhinos on our holiday. Lion cubs up close, buffalo, elephants incl young etc etc. Best holiday ever.

We may well not have done it without the DDs. But it worked really well for us. It was a 'trip of a lifetime' for me and I didn't want to start the 8 days of safaris off by being tired with tired DC.

Wow! Thanks a lot!
Can I ask whether you went for self-drives or guided drives when doing a safari? Is it best to go for a guided one if you don't have a clue about safaris like us?

It’s ok TTT, you shouldn’t feel you have to justify Sun City - it was your family holiday, no one else’s!

Not like the OP is going to book it by accident, it’s takes about 10 seconds to work out what it is and you either want that or you don’t. Personally I was rather intrigued by the idea of an inland resort in an African country, just from the cultural point of view. Not been though.

OneKey all the safaris I’ve done have been been guided and I’ve really enjoyed that. They spot things you wouldn’t and can tell you about them. It’s also really relaxing having someone else drive you around! Possibly safer too, since they carry guns, but I’ve no idea on the stats for how many tourists are eaten by animals!

We self drove in the Kruger, just make sure you buy the extra insurance!

I got the fear when we had elephants actually looking in our car window

I loved the Kruger and Cape Town, would skip Johannesburg though.

Ulusaba is spendy but nice if you want to do guided drives.

I though5 there was plenty to do in Cape Town and garden route, we spent two weeks. We had guided safari near pt Elizabeth and loved it. Friends we t self drive and loved it too...

Your itinerary sounds a bit busy...

What time are you thinking of going?

CT is miserable in winter
Game watching is better in the winter
Whales only on coast during Spring
December a nightmare - everyone on holiday
Easter good - but also busy

Have you thought about Natal - fabulous beaches, game parks, mountains ...

Please don’t do shark diving - so ecologically bad or support places that really just operate using caged animals ..

We went in August - their winter - still wildly hot for us.
Less undergrowth blocking the view.

We had guided safaris. No way would we have had such a good experience had we self driven. The knowledge of the guides really added to the experience - they knew what would be where, and then could tell us what we were looking at too. They also knew how close they could get to the animals without upsetting them.

thislido I suspect that Sun City is like staying at an all inclusive resort anywhere in the world and then staying on site the whole time. ie You could be in any country. But it worked for us to top and tail our holiday.

We just went at Easter - perfect time to visit as weather still good but heading into off season for them so not too busy.
We flew to port Elizabeth, stayed overnight (nothing special) then drove to Amakhala game reserve for 3 nights, guided safari amazing, o don't think we'd have felt short changed to do two nights - that's still four game drives. We then drove to Knysna for 3 nights, should have done Tsitsikamma instead and 2 nights would have been ok. Oudtshoorn (look at DeZekoe Farm) for 2 nights was fabulous, lunch at a winery on the way to Cape Town where we had 4 nights which was plenty.
It was busy but we loved the different places and that each time we'd "done" soomewhere it was time to move on. Our kids are 14&11, the driving was easy and the food was fabulous we had an amazing time, our best trip yet and we've done some good ones!

Natal looks good- not sure we would have the time to fit it in though...

No plan to go shark diving. That sounds like my idea of hell!

We will be going in September, simply because this is the only time my husband and I can get time off work together, well, aside from Christmas but we couldn't afford flight prices then.

I can see people spend various lengths of time in national parks. I understand it is all down to personal taste but do you get much from staying longer? Would we enjoy doing two parks for two days rather than one park for four days better?

Would we enjoy doing two parks for two days rather than one park for four days better?

Depends on the park and what you are doing. 4 days in Kruger is perfect but a day or two in some of the smaller parks would be ok.
We did plenty of self drives and plenty of guided safaris - personally I prefer self drive as it's fantastic to make your own spots but both are fantastic. You can always mix the two. Often in Kruger we would do a big early morning drive on our own and a guided night time drive.

Thank you. Do you have to book the guided tours much in advance? Does it depend on the park's popularity and time of year? I can't seem to find the information on the parks' website.