sandylee

My husband and I are planning a 10-day trip to South Africa, starting out in Cape Town.
We are thinking about taking the Garden route and driving on up along the eastern coastline, ending up in Kruger National Park. Not sure if this is too much to take on in only 10 days. Is this realistic? Any other suggestions about where to go and what to see? Looking forward to your responses. Thanks!

Gardyloo

It's doable in 10 days but you'll be driving a lot. How much time to you want to spend in Cape Town and in the Kruger area? What time of year would it be?

In our experience driving distances and times are easily underestimated in SA, which is not a tragedy if your time is reasonably flexible; in your case it might make some itineraries uncomfortable to impossible.

Celia

With only 10 days, I would fly between Cape Town and Kruger. There's so much to see in the Cape, especially if you include the winelands, and Kruger is so fantastic, that I'd not want to spend 2 or 3 days driving, even though the Garden Route is lovely. I'd save it for a later trip.

Celia

coline

Why not travel the Garden Route and see the animals in the Eastern Cape at the Addo National Park and one of the surrounding big 5 Game Reserves.

Take a 1 way car hire and fly out of Port Elizabeth.

sandylee

Thanks for the suggestions. Please do keep them coming. We still have a few months to iron out the details. We are going in September month.

Coline, maybe it would be best to spend our time in the Eastern Cape. Our reason for going to Kruger was to see the big 5. If Addo has that, then we could spend more time exploring rather than driving. Are there any Safaris in that area?

How much time should we reserve for Cape town? What other towns in the Western or Eastern cape are a must? We enjoy beautiful scenery, wine, and quaint villages. Any suggestions on nice Bed & Breakfast accommodations?

Thanks again to everyone.

coline

Addo is magic but you probably won’t see the lions. I am there all the time and have seen them only once.

You will need to visit one of the Game Reserves to make sure you see them, Schotia is the least expensive option and you will see lions. Shamwari is the best but is very expensive although they have an excellent off season special until the end of September, but are fully booked from 23rd.

Port Elizabeth is also well worth a visit.

sandylee

Thanks again Coline,

I checked out the game reserve sites. The Shamwari website only lists rates with accommodation. is it necessary to spend the night. Can the reserve be viewed in a day trip?

cmdphotos

There is so much beauty in Africa that you could spend the whole two weeks in one area and not see it all! My fiance lives in Sasolburg. In the 2 1/2 weeks I was there, I had no time to get all the way down to the cape. It's alot of driving and there are areas you wouldn't want to drive in. Unless you are into just the big five and wanting to see them with the most difficulty, I wouldn't recommend Kruger. You need to take pills for malaria if your going to Kruger. You can see the big 5 and more in some of the smaller preserves, with no pill worries. I've been told by many guides that you could spend your whole two weeks in Kruger and not see one of the big 5. If your into a more relaxed travel, try Pilansburg (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) You can see the big 5 easier and visit Sun City where they have elephant rides among many other adventures. I teach photography and am thinking of conducting a Photo Safari. My fiance knows all the best places to go.

cary999

cmdphotos -"I've been told by many guides that you could spend your whole two weeks in Kruger and not see one of the big 5"
HOW RIDICULOUS. You just lost credibility with EVERYTHING you said with me.
regards - tom

julienk

You had better start making plane reservations as well as hotel. I started planning a year ago. I found that on some of the flights withing SA already has sold out on their least expensive fares. And if you are traveling on mileage....good luck. Those few seats are probably gone.

coline

Shamwari don’t offer day trips any longer, you can stay at Bushman sands and have a game drive into Shamwari which would work out much cheaper, for a day trip Schotia is the best option.

annhig

hi, sandylee

The only help i can give is telling you what we are doing in just under a month's time.

4 nights CPT
5 nights garden route, split between Grootbos and Hog hollow [western end and eastern end respectively]
1 night schotia
2 nights Shamwari.

Shamwari is expensive, but came with 3 free nights in CPT at the Radisson. [see their web-site for that and other offers].

if you look at the Sanparks web-site [www.sanparks.sa I think] you'll find that there is accommodation in Addo that you can book direct.

look out for my trip report in august.

regards, ann

spiegelcjs

We just returned from South Africa and will post a trip report later this week. However to answer your question, you are wasting precious time driving between CT and Krueger unless you have unlimited time.

We spent 4 days in Cape Town at the Cape Cadagon guest house and loved it. They have a deal with Lion Sands which we did not use, however, it supposed to be good. We saw the Big 5 on our first game drive at Mala Mala. Krueger is known for the Big 5 so not seeing them is highly unlikely.

sandylee

Okay, you've all convinced us. We will stick to the Western Cape...and perhaps make it to some things in the Eastern Cape (like Addo and a game reserve). Kruger does sound like too much driving.

What is driving like in South Africa? What side of the road do people drive on?

We are big fans of bed and breakfast accommodations. Is that what they are called in South Africa? Any suggestions in the Western and Eastern Cape?

Thanks

annhig

hi, again, sandylee,

they drive on the left. Great for us Brits [and any passing japanese!]

if you google the SA tourist boards, you wil find links to all sorts of accommodation, including B&Bs - which are I think called just that. Prices seem very reasonable.

there are a no. of recent threads here singing the praises of various CPT accomodations.

good luck,

regards, ann

cmdphotos

cary999 Tom,

You are the reason people stop trying to help other people. You are an idiot. However, just to prove a point...here is a post from just one other person who went through the experience I described as attached below. Sure,you can get lucky, but you are playing the odds. My suggestion was to help a person get much better odds and not waste a trip. So you can take your credibility and...


moses2
San Jose. Ca.
posts: 108
reviews: 27
5. Re: Cheapest Kruger way? How to see some big cats?
Mar 21, 2013, 7:09 PM

"Whether you are with a guide or not, nothing guarantees seeing big cats -- other than a zoo!"

Or any other of the animals, I just returned from 3 days there and all we saw was the south end of a north bound elephant and zillions of zebra's, lots of birds. We drove over 500 miles of the roads so it was not as if we were not looking for them. So if seeing cats is your goal be forwarned some days you just don't see a thing, big or small.

annhig

cmd - I can tell you feel passionate about this, but this thread is from 2007 - I doubt anyone cares by now.

christabir

annhig- I think it took cmd that long to find another post that confirms the passion.