South Africa itinerary help please!

[Endgame57]

Another quest for ideas on SA. I have looked at some of the historic threads which are helpful, but just need to get some clarity on what is going to work with two teens end of August early September. I’m planning to book it all independently as it seems straightforward enough with so many options online. I did have a chat with Trailfinders but their lack of transparency with pricing is annoying and I think they are keen to maximise their own commissions with what they suggest. BA flights are pretty good at the moment £920ish pp return. Thinking of flying into Cape Town, spendIng 4/5 nights at the VA Waterfront in a self catering apartment and doing Boulders Beach, Cape of Good Hope, Table Mountain etc. Also think a drive to Hermanus would be good as it should be whale season hopefully and it’s only a 1.5hr trip, so doable for a day. Might also drive out to the Winelands and visit Franschhoek or Stellenbosch, not sure if it’s worth staying overnight or just doing it as a day trip again? Then thinking of flying from CT to Kruger for 3/4 nights safar. I’m not sure if it’s possible to do this without getting picked up at Joburg? Would rather not fly into Joburg and then have to transfer to Kruger, but would do it if it was a lot cheaper. After safari, a flight to George and 4/5 nights either in Kynsa or Plettenberg Bay and driving around to experience the area as well as some downtime, although weather might not be very beach friendly end of August. Then fly home from George.
Haven’t included Oudtshoorn for the ostrich farms or caves as I think this might be a bit too commercial and a tourist trap? Interested to hear others opinions!
All of this for 12k which I think having looked at accommodation prices should be doable. Safari is the pricey bit, probably 3/4k.
Any thoughts/suggestions/opinions would be appreciated. Thank you!

We've just booked for earlier in the summer for 12 days, 11 nights - we used a travel consultant.

Flying into CT, spending 2 nights
Then Franschhoek
Hermanus
Kruger
Return flight out of Johannesburg

I've been to most the safaris parks mentioned and my number one choice is self drive in Kruger, preferably staying in one of the official Sanparks' Kruger camps. They have swimming pools. Kruger is huge compared with the other places mentioned. It's not just a bit bigger is much, much bigger. It's easy to get away from the busier bits if you want. I like the fact that Kruger is more natural than some of the other parks which can feel a bit like you are in a zoo. (Not that I dislike them)

Swimming pools are absolutely freezing in August.

@Endgame57 I do hear you about whether it’s worth it going to Kruger or adjacent reserves. There are ones along the Garden Route but they are rewilded farms (huge of course) with imported animals and breeding programmes. Therefore a different concept but great for an experience. We absolutely loved Hluhluwe Imfolozi north of Durban. It’s fantastic for rhino. Our DDs were so excited to see them. You also have the wetlands nearby.

Kruger is a very long standing reserve. Many people self drive but you then don’t get the intelligence on sitings. The private camps in areas like Sabi Sands will use the Toyotas designed for viewing and photography. At a much steeper price. It will be very cold on an early drive so consider what works best for you.

However if malaria free is important, stay west or south. Seeing the wild animals is always exciting. We stayed at Oceans 11 in Hermanus and the whales were literally in the bay below us. Just fantastic. Don’t miss it.

@ReadingRubbish

Wholeheartedly agree. Cannot beat the Kruger. The animals are as wild as they can be. Some days you get lucky. Some days you don’t.

And the sunset drives are fabulous.

@TizerorFizz
Swimming pools are absolutely freezing in August

Fair point but they can still be usable. My kids have swum in Kruger in August. It can be quite hot in the daytime.

This is making me wonder if going in August is worth it! Hadn’t envisaged it being that chilly! None of us like very hot weather, but blinkin chilly doesn’t sound much fun either!

Pilansberg is tiny. Although they have black rhino. Or used to.

Thats the nice part of it, its relatively small, and therefore seeing animals becomes much easier.
I saw Black Rhino when I was there in 2022 on foot!
Also large elephant and white rhino population.

Staying in the park is not ridiculously expensive, and the game drives are not expensive either.

You really need to decide if the “real” safari experience is what you want or a small reserve with restocked animals. The latter will be luxurious but it’s not the same experience. Sabi Sands is a concession next to Kruger. So is an extension of it. If you self drive you won’t have a high safari vehicle or game knowledge. So think about what you want. The ones I’ve mentioned are not rewilded conservation areas. Is it just about ticking off animals or about heritage?

As for August. We found it mild. No issues around CT - clear sunny days. We really enjoyed Hermanus and whale watching from
the guest house shore. I agree further north in Sabi Sands is warm in the day. Nowhere is horribly cold. Plus August has the huge advantage of lower prices. You just need layers and be prepared for cold mornings. The animals don’t change! They are around but in a vast area like Kruger, a bit more spread out.

Don't get me wrong, in the sun, out of the wind, it will still feel warm.
You have to be careful - coz when the sun goes down - it is very cold, very fast.
We South Africans are used to it, but folk from UK can get caught out, coz its not expected.

In the Highveld theres no clouds during the winter, and so the temp drops like a stone!

If I were going - i would aim for Late September Early October - much warmer, still good sightings at a reserve, but temps are much stabler.

In the Highveld theres no clouds during the winter, and so the temp drops like a stone

It snowed in Joberg when I lived there. Winter days are absolutely beautiful though. Bright blue skies and dark starry nights.

If you self drive in the Kruger you can easily book some SanPark safari ranger drives - day time or night time

Booking a safari vehicle and driver is not self driving though. The self drive is just getting to the lodge!

I think if you need to go in the UK holidays, it’s August or bust. Easter is also ok. Christmas prices obviously sky high. Loads of Brits go in August/Sept when it’s school holidays - never put us off.

Just jumping on this thread because we're also thinking about South Africa this August. However, for us, we just want the safari experience (I've done Cape Town & the garden route a couple of times), so I've been looking at Kruger with a mix of the Sanpark restcamps and private lodges, but the rest camps are already mostly booked up, and we can't really book anything yet until I know what my older DDs summer plans are (she's at uni, starts a new job in the summer, but don't know when the start date is).

So I then started looking at Etosha in Namibia, where it's also possible to do self-drive safaris, but apparently that gets booked up really early as well. I've set my heart on doing a safari this summer now & I don't know what to do. The other option is to go with a travel agent (still self-drive), but that would be more expensive because they don't use the cheaper rest camps, I think they do deals with the private lodges. I suppose the experience would be more luxurious. I hate having to book holidays way in advance, I wasn't going to book anything until about Easter.

I meant you self drive for most of your stay but you can book to join a couple of game trips out with a guide too. We used to like to do a night drive from time to time. Entry into the park from either the Camps or the park gates are roughly from dawn to dusk (depending on the season) so booking a night tour allows you to see things you wouldn't otherwise and the morning game trips allow you to see the park before it's opened to the public. They are inexpensive compared with commercial game drives. You can also book morning game walks.

SANPARK game drives info here

@ozyin I really don’t think you can do a cheap safari and not book way in advance. It’s just that camps are small. We have used bush camps in the past but they are becoming few and far between. I have not done self drive in Namibia but have friends who have. They have found it easy and but they have not purely done safaris in Namibia. They have added in other stops.

From the uk, you will have two flights to get to Namibia. So it’s never cheap if you delay booking. Flight prices just don’t work like that. We have never self booked a safari because often agents get much better rates.

Lots of locals self drive in their bakkies - the whole thing in the parks, but I cannot see the advantage for anyone from the uk. We book early to get what we want. Last minute never appeals on choice or price.

@ozyin

So I then started looking at Etosha in Namibia, where it's also possible to do self-drive safaris, but apparently that gets booked up really early as well. I've set my heart on doing a safari this summer now & I don't know what to do. The other option is to go with a travel agent (still self-drive), but that would be more expensive because they don't use the cheaper rest camps, I think they do deals with the private lodges.

Etosha is amazing. We went a while ago now but it was stunning. Some of the roads you use are practically single track which is a bit scary when there is an angry elephant coming in the opposite direction.It's beautiful but the accommodation gets booked up really early just like Kruger. The accommodation at Etosha used to be basic but they've made it a lot more fancy with prices to match.

Maybe one option for you would be to stay at a hotel just outside Kruger. We used to do that fairly often. Its much much cheaper than the expensive luxury safari companies.
We used to stay in various hotels or cottages overlooking the Crocodile River near the Malelane Entrance to the park. We could watch game across the river including elephants, hippos and crocodiles.

Im sure there is inexpensive good quality accommodation near all the main gates.

Here are some ideas for August but prices can vary.

Looking at one rest camp in the Kruger last week of August there’s loads of availability.

We are self driving to Kruger from JB but have booked a private game lodge, game drives included. We booked early as we're limited to dates and as a family of 5, need 3 double rooms (children all over 16) everywhere. I've done all the booking, got some quotes from tour operators and travel agents in SA but actually found better deals / availability going direct.

Sorry didn't answer the question about hiring a car in CT. Yes we will but haven't booked it yet.

Malaria shouldn't be annissue in kruger in August. It's a great time for safari. I agree thatnpilanesberg is also nice and you can have a few days at sun city too which the teens would probably really enjoy (and if you golf, great for that too). Weather permitting you can do all kinds of activities at sun city too like para sailing etc which in August would be less available in cape town.

Safari will be colder than cape town but beautiful. Often clear blue skies and nice by day, cold at night. Coming from cape town to kruger or pilanesberg in winter my brother and I would even brave the pools by day!

Cape town less extreme temperatures but more likely to be grey. But as long as you don't want a beach holiday, that's fine. And I have had some amazing trips to places like kirstenbosch in the rain!

The waterfront is good place to stay if you want central and safe - and potentially nice for the teens who could have a bit of freedom - but agree that camps bay is more beautiful!

Personally in August I would skip garden route. Your itinerary is quite full and I think cape town, wine lands, Hermanus then a safari will be plenty.

Oh, and 100% hire a car in cape town. It's an easy city to drive around mostly# and the odd time you don't want to drive you can take an uber.

#cape townians are terrible drivers in indoor car parks. I don't know why. Be warned. And in parts of cape town, roads are narrow (we have limited space to build new roads), but as long as you keep right when turning right and keep left when going straight or turning left, you will be fine! 🤣

August is school holiday in South Africa

I was in Cape Town in August last year and for the first few days the weather was no better than Manchester today. Single figure temperatures, driving rain, and a brisk sou'wester... it was absolutely miserable - couldn't do anything outdoors. It snowed on the summit of Table Mountain on 27 Aug and the temperature at noon was 0C with zero visibility, not that it would have mattered because the cable car is usually closed for the last half of August for maintenance anyway, and was then.

I'm not sure a SC apartment at the V&A Waterfront is the obvious thing to do although there's a decent Pic'n'Save supermarket in the basement of the mall. Many of the business hotels will have cheap rooms at that time of year, and run shuttle buses to the Waterfront. Try the Southern Sun pair - Cullinan and Waterfront. Eating out is so cheap in sterling terms I doubt you'd be any worse off.

A half day tour in a car with a driver to Boulders Beach via Muizenburg, then the Cape of Good Hope, cost R2500 plus entry fees.

Airlink flies from CT to both Mbombela and Hoedspruit for Kruger, and FlySafair does Mbombela. CemAir flies to Hoedspruit from CT, and also to Plettenberg Bay if that opens options up for you.

@TizerorFizz Thanks, I'm going to look at that company