We’ve had the opportunity to go to South Africa early next year, staying the first few days with friends in Cape Town initially and then will go exploring on our own.

[Dreamingofgreece]

Does anyone have suggestions for a 10 - 14 day itinerary that includes a safari and a vineyard visit please? Also any tour companies that you could recommend?
I’m usually good at organising our travel plans but I really am unsure where to start this time so any help would be gratefully received.
In case it’s relevant my partner has slight mobility issues in that he can’t walk for miles so nothing too strenuous.
Thanks everyone

@DreamingofgreeceYou really need a mixture of car hire and planes.

Starting in Cape Town - visit the Cape and Constantia wine estate. See the best of Cape Town and go down to the Cape of Good Hope - look out for whales!

Winelands - I recommend the Stellenbosch area as well as Franschoek. There are many estates open and Franschoek has the wine train. Could be really booked up at good places to stay though. Central Franschoek is good for restaurants. Hire a car and drive there from Cape Town.

Return to Cape Town (I like Cederberg are too!) and fly to Nelspruit for Sabi Sands or Kruger for a safari. The lodges can arrange transport quite often. Or hire a car. Then fly back to Joburg and home.

Look up itineraries on Audley travel. They are v expensive but might give you ideas of nice places.

I agree with checking what package tour companies do.
We went to S.A. with Riviera Travel, but it was a tour with Zambia & Botswana as well so not very much time in SA. Check the itineraries for their other tours.
I remember being told that Hermanus was the best place to see whales, but only at certain times of year.

We did a self organised trip about 15 yrs ago (my cousins live in Cape Town) - so we flew to Jo'burg and drove out to the Kruger, spent 3 days on safari, then drove back to Jo'burg and got a train to Cape Town, spent Christmas there and then drove the garden route/Stellenbosch/Wine region etc for a week, before flying home from CT. I guess you could reverse the route?

It remains one of the best holidays we've done! Big Five in the Kruger, dolphins by the Cape and amazing scenery, wine and seafood....

You could also look at KwaZuluNatal for safari and mix in some beach days too.

Also Eastern Cape is a bit closer to CT and has some nice safari lodges. You could hire a car and drive the Garden Route. It is a gorgeous road trip.

If you do want to do the Kruger, there are flights from Jhb and CT now, which are fairly new routes.

The best wine farms are in Cape Town, but not many safari lodges. So to do both, you will need to travel a bit. There are lots of domestic flights, but to get around properly I would always recommend to hire a car at each stop.

Thank you all, some really helpful suggestions here which I’ve been looking up - found a few video clips on YouTube of some of them. Really appreciate these replies - I feel like I’ve got more of a plan coming together now!

@Dreamingofgreece Lots of safari resorts are rewilded farms. Yes you will see animals but Kruger and nearby reserves are still great. Nelspruit (Mbombela) has long been the gateway airport to Kruger. It’s not new! Plus there might be airstrips near lodges but use of light aircraft costs more.

In Kwazulu Natal, Hluhluwe Imfolozi used to be good for rhinos and there’s Wetlands nearby. Plenty to see if you go into the Drakenburgs too.

The easiest to reach wine estates are based around Stellenbosch and Franschoek and Paarl. These are the Western Cape - largely east of Cape Town. You cannot go wrong in this area!

If you want loads of driving, don’t fly to Kruger but in terms of time, it makes more sense. I also agree with looking at itineraries in travel companies but - don’t rush! Savour where you go and what you see. Don’t do too much!

We used bushbabytravel for our SA trip and they were excellent at putting it all together and arranging transfers between places etc

Safair flies from CT to Hoedspruit now, which is a new route. So there are more options for domestic flights now than there were.

OP, also think about whether you want to do self-drive or with a ranger whilst on safari. You are likely to see more with a ranger. They communicate with each other and head to where you will get the best sightings. But self drive is also a good option if you want to go out in your own time and you can be out the whole day if you fancy. You can take along food and drinks to have in the car etc.

If you don’t want to commit to extensive internal travel within South Africa you can instead hire a car and visit one of the private game reserves that are within an easy drive of Cape Town - we stayed at the one linked to below, but there are others. The animals live on the reserve (and int he case of the bigger animals often come from rescues) but are not “in the wild”.

Otherwise, definitely yes to both Stellanbosch, Franschoek and the vineyards at Constantia. We drove to Hermanus along the Garden Route for whale watching, out to the Cape of Good Hope and the penguin colonies at Boulders’ Beach along the way, along the stunning Chapman’s Peak Drive (we spent a couple of nights staying at Hout Bay), did some of the walking trails up Table Mountain and the Lions Head/Signal Hill, went out to Robben Island - it was a wonderful city and region to visit!

https://inverdoorn.com/private-karoo-game-reserve/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20571353447&gbraid=0AAAAApYZkvXCZxJWbT5xRr8o81MwDwhXs&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuq-7k6LWkAMVv4pQBh07ZyPzEAAYBCAAEgKH8_D_BwE

We found the Capetown pass amazing value. Went on the HOHO bus a lot which takes you (included) into Constantia wine with tour and tastings, up sunset hill, up table mountain, world of birds, and a whole host of other stuff including evening boat tour, tours in hout bay and so on, plus stuff in V& A harbour, where there is tons of good stuff going on. Did stellenbosch seperately on coach trip, and didn't really enjoy it. We hired a private driver to take us to Cape Point, Boulders Beach etc. and it was brilliant. We flew to Jo'burg and did Dinokeng (it is only an hour from the airport) then flew home. Was a great trip, but a word of warning, it is rough in places, and you have to "stay in your lane". I am an experienced and fairly brave traveller that likes to get out and see stuff, but not here. I was uncomfortable a few times, and I am not the nervous type,

We booked with trailfinders, great itinerary, Cape Town, stellenbosch, alnog the cost, safari, and flew back from port Elizabeth. Driving was very easy. Loved it.

@Dreamingofgreece Regarding a safari - you probably need to decide if you want a safari experience or the open safari area afforded by Kruger. One drives you around to see animals that have been acquired and one takes you to their natural habitat. One is the authentic experience and one is a curated experience. From Cape Town you can see the latter but you need to travel to authentic experience.

What’s your budget?

We did the curated experience and to be honest it was fine for us..as newbies, we saw loads and were quite happy with it as it was relatively easy to get to. Spent a couple of nights and it was enough.

@oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends
that sounds amazing. For various reasons we want to combine Zambia, Zimbabwe and maybe Botswana but with flights into South Africa (avios).

Would you possibly be able to share your itinerary either here or via PM?

@Dreamingofgreece interesting thread, will be watching closely. Hope you have a great trip.

We did this :-
Victoria Falls, Botswana Safari and Cape Town Tour Holiday | Riviera Travel
This was an escorted tour, & I don't think Riviera cover Zim. We had several flights via Jo'burg.
I've used Riviera a lot, & they're very helpful. You might be able to mix & match your own flights with some of their tours.

Thank you @oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends :-)

@AnotherNewName460 We did this years ago when you could fly BA to Zambia! Also to Harare!

As this trip is more difficult now, you probably need Joburg as your hub. You can then look at flights into Zambia (I suggest South Luangwa) using Mfuwe. You need to then fly to Livingstone for Vic Falls and Lower Zambezi. You can get into Zim from here. You can go back to Livingstone or Joburg and fly to Gabarone. This is the gateway for safari flights to Moremi and Okavango in Botswana. Then fly back to Joburg.

It’s a trek! We took 3 weeks and, apart from Vic Falls, all safari. It’s going to cost a lot!

Thank you @OhDear111 that’s really useful!

I very highly recommend Mac - used him twice now and his knowledge of the Cape/Kruger/everything really is second to none.

https://www.capewithmac.co.za/

I’d personally recommend going for a safari in Tanzania. I recently did a 10-day safari with Mawe Lodges, and it was honestly one of the best travel experiences I’ve ever had. Their Safari lodges were beautiful, comfortable, and perfectly located to enjoy the incredible scenery and wildlife. The team was super friendly and knowledgeable — they made every day special, from early morning game drives to relaxing evenings by the fire. I got to see the Big Five, enjoy breathtaking sunsets, and learn so much about the local culture. If you’re thinking about a safari, I’d definitely suggest checking out Mawe Lodges in Tanzania!

No safari lodge in the Serengeti can show you great herds year round. The animals move to different sections and then cross over to Kenya. Time of year and position of lodge is vital and the best tour operators know this. There are migratory corridors and the movements of the great herds is monitored so travellers should check historic info before booking and not just look at lodge or poster recommendations. Planning really matters and most are well positioned, have great game drives and will find animals for you plus sundowners and sunsets are standard! What’s not is seeing rhinos. Thats another animal where research is necessary. Poaching has caused severe loss of animals.

The private reserves that are driveafrom Cape Town are very different to Kruger, they are essentially large zoos i.e. fenced, the one we went to provided a half day drive. Kruger is huge and you'd stay a few days with early morning and afternoon games drives which are longer but more wild. It was a while ago buy i think we may have stayed in Rhino Post Lodge. There was a dry river valley just outside out bedroom which animals walked down, and a small watering hole near the dining area where elephants and monkeys were common, without even going on a drive. We loved it.

We also had 2 nights in a lodge, similar to Zwartberg Lodge. You'd walk round the enclosure instead of driving, just giraffes etc. It was enjoyable but as an addition to Kruger rather than instead of.