South Africa for 3/4 weeks

[sunflowery]

Just doing some blue sky thinking at the moment as obviously everything is up in the air with Coronavirus. DH and I had two holidays booked for this year that were cancelled so we haven’t taken any annual leave yet.

I am pondering looking into an extended trip much later in the year (Oct-dec) and have come up with the idea of a road trip in South Africa.

Has anyone been or done anything similar? Is four weeks a good amount of time to spend in SA, or is it too long/not long enough?

I was thinking Cape Town, the garden route, some vineyards etc then driving along the coast and up to Johannesburg for a safari in Kruger.

I was also wondering if someone could tell me about crowds in touristy places - we’ve looked into going travelling in Southeast Asia before but my DH has been put off by the wall to wall crowds in some of our friends holiday pictures. I don’t mind people (I know we are people!) but I think he’d rather go somewhere a bit more chilled. Would SA fit the bill?!

Any tips gratefully received, TIA.

I can’t believe your DH would write off the whole of SE Asia because some people go to some busy tourist attractions! SE Asia is a massive region. There are touristy places and not so touristy places. There will also be crowds in places in SA or anywhere you go, unless you go somewhere extremely remote.

Cape town is a must, the garden route and staying in stellenbosch for a few days, doing a wine tasting tour. And then the Safari. Safaris are amazing, I never did one in South Africa, but have done them in Zimbabwe and Zambia, and they were by far the best thing I did in Africa. I'd do 2 safaris in 2 different places if you're going for 4 weeks. I wouldn't bother with Johannesburg unless you have to stay there to do a safari. Although if you are near Jo'burg, I'd recommend the Drakensberg region for a few days: the scenery was amazing, but I love mountains.

Distances are huge - it will take days to drive up to Jo'burg - are you considering flying that leg, or do you want to drive it all? (We did a fantastic road trip from Cape Town right up through Botswana and into Zambia, so I'm not saying don't do it). I (surprisingly) liked Kimberley - it has a huge hole that used to be a diamond mine, but even Kimberley will take a couple of days of driving from the garden route area.
Even getting from cape town to Knysna (lovely place to stay on the garden route) will take all day.

I wouldn't book anything at the moment though because it's almost impossible to get travel insurance. We also had a couple of holidays cancelled, so I'm looking at torturing myself with holiday plans for next year, but I'm not booking anything unless I can get good travel insurance, without a million caveats on it.

Thank you @astuz!!

I used to make the CPT-JHB drive in two days, with a night's stop-over in the Karoo, so it isn't too lengthy. (But it is about 7 hours each day!)

I'd give a week for Cape Town, a week for the Garden Route; a couple of days in Johannesburg; a few days in the Drakensburg; and try to do no fewer than four nights on safari (most tourists I met there regretted the standard booking of 2 nights) - and the best place if you can handle malaria medication is the Mpumalanga/Limpopo province "Lowveld" area around the Kruger National Park. If you'd prefer to play it safe and avoid malaria areas, then head to the Waterberg. But it's just not the same, frankly.

I lived in SA for 23 years, two of those in the lowveld, and I have been going to the bushveld since I was a babe in arms.

You can have a fab two weeks in CT/Winelands/Garden route. But rather than fly to Kruger consider two weeks in Namibia for a real contrast. October is great time to see whales in CT and for wildlife in the Namibia dry season before it gets really hot.

We did two weeks along the Garden Route. Started in Port Elizabeth then went to Storms River, Wilderness, Knysna, George, Oudtshoorn, Plettenburg Bay, Mossel Bay and Cape Town.

Cape Town requires way more time than you think.
White shark dive in Mossel Bay was the best thing I’ve ever done
Knysna is stunning.

Great suggestions thank you so much. I will definitely look into Namibia. I fancy a real adventure.

Getting my hopes up a bit too much that we will be able to do it now!