South Africa Trip

1,610 Views | 5 Replies | Last: 7 yr ago by Phat32
Zigzig
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My wife and I are planning trip to South Africa in February. My business partner went last year and used a local tour agency "Giltedge" to plan their trip. I've never used a tour agency before but he said it was worthwhile. We are active, adventurous, love nature, outdoors, hiking etc. Don't like commercialized touristy places, spa resorts etc. but I get the feeling those are very common in South Africa. We don't mind quality but prefer more casual places.

We have at least 2 weeks to spend and plenty of vacation money tucked away for this. So far they have suggested we fly into Cape Town and spend 4 nights (seems way too long to me, we want to get out to nature ASAP). Drive the Garden Route, then spend several days at lodge in Kruger and another couple of nights at a different safari lodge. Anyone have any thoughts on highlights of your trips and what not to miss or make sure we do. We are pretty flexible.



JSKolache
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AG
While in Cape Town, book a Seal Island trip/shark dive w/ Apex. Also do a wine tour thru Stellenbosch & Franschhoek. There's something like 150 wineries w/in 2hr radius of Cape Town. Actually I recommend staying a night in Franschhoek for more wine & book a dinner res at Le Quartier Francais (consistently a top-10 in the country.)

We also did 4 nights at a private reserve alongside Kruger. It was first rate, all inclusive, morning & evening game drives - there are many private lodge options. And I would recommend doing this leg first. Something about waiters & drivers catering to you for a few days just helps ease the jet lag.

Would like to the the Garden Route next time.
Kool
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AG
I would agree about cutting a day off of your time in Cape Town. You will definitely want to go to the top of Table Mountain for the views and the photo ops. You can arrange a one-day Cape tour which will take you all the way down to the southern tip of the African continent and back, with some interesting and scenic stops along the way. I really enjoyed seeing the penguins in their native habitat there, and the area along the Indian Ocean where surfers take turns watching with binoculars for sharks from the cliffs over where their buddies are surfing. The baboons down along the cape, however, were annoying jerks. I visited the wine country while there on one trip, then wondered why I travelled halfway across the world and wasted my time looking at what I could see in California or Oregon. That's just me, though.

I would definitely recommend a one-day tour of Soweto in Johannesburg. Seeing it in person made me realize what a truly larger-than-life person Nelson Mandela was, and I was able to understand why that man was and is so loved by South Africans of every race, creed, color, political persuasion, and socioeconomic background. You really get a feel for what he accomplished by visiting there, and I felt really sad by how the country's subsequent and more recent and current leaders have mismanaged almost everything they have touched since he left office and then left his life behind. The rest of "Joberg", to borrow from Tate Martell, is ass, my dude.

Shakaland and the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi are really nice stops between CapeTown and Joberg. You can stay overnight in Shakaland and get a really interesting appreciation for the warrior Shaka Zulu and the Zulu tribe he founded. Hluhluwe-Umfolozi is a very low-key game preserve that houses one of the most successful rhino herds in the world. We toured this region with men who were retired rangers in the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi preserve, and they had absolutely amazing stories, many of which kept my wife from being able to sleep. One of the most interesting things we did was that these rangers arranged for us to visit a school outside of the park, at my wife's request. Honestly, I thought it was going to be a waste of time, but it turned out to be absolutely amazing. The ENTIRE school planned for our arrival well ahead of our visit, and the teachers had each grade level prepare a presentation for the two of us, with songs, native dances, and enacted plays. Of course, we made a nice donation to the school, but I can assure you that there was no quid pro quo ahead of that visit - they were genuinely delighted to have two Americans come visit their school in the middle of nowhere.

Last but not least, I have been to game preserves in Zambia, Botswana, and Tanzania (including the Serengeti, Arusha National Park, and the NgoroNgoro Crater). In my opinion, the game experience in the private reserves outside of Kruger National Park (Kirkman's, etc.) is peerless. You will be treated like royalty, but the best thing is that the guides ride on the jeeps and look for tracks, they communicate with other jeeps on the same reserve when unusual game is spotted, the crowds are very limited, and the Range Rovers can and will go wherever they want including at night. You will get a really up-close and personal view of the wildlife (on one occasion I could have reached out of the jeep and petted a leopard which walked right by our Range Rover at night), you will get to see animals hunting at night, you will get to see animals that never come out during the day, and you will have knowledgeable and friendly staff who will make your South African experience memorable. I guarantee they will have at least one surprise show of hospitality for you if you go there. I hope you grow to know and love the people, places, and animals of South Africa as much as I have in my trips there.
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O'Doyle Rules
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Zigzig
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Kool, that is amazing feedback. A couple of questions as you seem to really understand the area. I'm with you, I have no desire to see vineyard..I want to fully experience wilderness and native people if possible. I think we might even skip Garden Route driving if it means more time seeing wildlife and off the grid.

When you were in Kruger where did you stay or where would you recommend? We are all about the wildlife and adventure and staying active. More happy eating at a picnic table and drinking beer or wine from plastic cups than formal fancy dinners. I've heard some places even have a moving camp where you hike to your next camp each day. That sounds pretty cool to us.

I'm thinking we should definitely stay in Kruger 3-4 days.

Do you see any downside of working with a travel agency to set this up?

One option is to also spend 3-4 days on boat on Chobi River (Zambezi Queen or similar) and hit Victoria Falls. Any thoughts on that? Supposed to be lots of water wildlife, some tiger fishing, trip to local community....etc.

Good information, much appreciated.





Kool
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AG
That Chobi River cruise seems pretty neat, I had not heard of it. Botswana has gone high-dollar, low-environmental impact with their safari experiences. We did go there on one trip, but I really didn't enjoy it as much as the South Africa experience. Hard to say why, but I just didn't. You really need to be careful about how you time your trip to Botswana, since the Okavanga Delta is extremely seasonal - basically floods part of the year and is extremely dry for a lot of the rest of the year.

I stayed in the Sabi Sands region of Kruger, at Kirkman's Camp, also stayed there when it was called MalaMala. Couldn't recommend it highly enough. I went there approximately7 years apart, and our guide and tracker was the same for both trips. I think that speaks very highly of the place. Your game viewing and teaching experience is significantly enhanced by having these guides - basically you have a tracker and a driver on each open air jeep, and my experience is that they all have plenty of knowledge about all of the plants, trees, and animals, even the nighttime sky. They also will accommodate daytime walks if you ask them. I have always taken this choice wherever I was in Africa, and I am always amazed that I am usually the only person who wants to go on one. I won't go into it here (did on another thread), but I have had an amazingly intense experience with a large adult male lion on one of these walks when we were in Hluhluwe-Umfolozi with our guides and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. Plus you can look at animal tracks in detail, get one-on-one teaching, etc.

I did take my Dad to Victoria Falls several years back, and I don't recall the name of the camp we stayed in but it was about a mile or two above the falls on the Zambezi. Elephants and hippos would go through the camp during the nighttime, all of the camp was elevated between the dining and common areas and the individual rooms. You choose a daytime activity every day while you are there in these camps, and one day we went to a local village to see how they lived, tour their homes and huts and schools and farms, etc. A helicopter ride over the Victoria Falls was really enjoyable, a guided walk of the falls, as were evening cruises on the river seeing wildlife in and around the river, especially crocs and hippos.

I am not sure how easy it would be to arrange your own trip, but I am sure it could be done. I have always found Lonely Planet guide books to be extremely helpful. When you are in the private game parks in Sabi Sands, unless you are going with Abercrombie and Kent or something like that (I never did), you have guides in the camps anyway so I feel that this would be superfluous. Best of luck with your experience.
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Phat32
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AG
A couple of really fun options:

- Shark dive in Gansbaii
- Bike ride to Cape of Good Hope
- Wine tour

Can't go wrong with any safaris there. It is truly spectacular.
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