Hi

Hoping some people might spare a few minutes to read and comment on our
proposed itinerary for our honeymoon in Aug/September to Cape Town,
Mozambique and Namibia. I've included some of our thoughts/reasoning beneath
to try and give you a better picture of what we're after.

Sun 28-Aug - Depart London Heathrow - pm
Mon 29-Aug - Arrive Jo'burg am. Fly on to Cape Town. - Atlanticview
Guesthouse
Tues 30-Aug - Cape Town - Atlanticview Guesthouse
Wed 31-Aug - Cape Town - Atlanticview Guesthouse
Thurs 01-Sep - Cape Town (Atlanticview Guesthouse or in City?)
Fri 02-Sep - Hermanus
Sat 03-Sep - Stellenbosch or Franschoek
Sun 04-Sep - Stellenbosch or Franschoek
Mon 05-Sep - Fly CPT to JNB. Transfer for Lanseria-Inhambane (Mozambique)
Charter Flight
Tues 06-Sep - Tofo (Hotel Marinhos?)
Wed 07-Sep - Tofo (Hotel Marinhos?)
Thurs 08-Sep - Tofo (Hotel Marinhos?)
Fri 09-Sep - Tofo (Hotel Marinhos?)
Sat 10-Sep - Tofo (Hotel Marinhos?)
Sun 11-Sep - Tofo (Hotel Marinhos?)
Mon 12-Sep - pm - Fly Tofo - Jo'burg O/n near airport
Tues 13-Sep - am - Fly Jo'burg - Windhoek. Pick up car and drive to halfway
to Sossusvlei (?)
Wed 14-Sep -Sossusvlei (Sossusvlei Lodge?)
Thurs 15-Sep -Sossusvlei (Sossusvlei Lodge?)
Fri 16-Sep - am at Sossusvlei. Drive up to Swakopmund (Beach Lodge?)
Sat 17-Sep - Kayaking trip at Pelican Point near Swakopmund (Beach Lodge?)
Sun 18-Sep - Drive via Cape Cross Seal Colony to Damaraland (Mowani Mountain
Camp?)
Mon 19-Sep- Damaraland (Mowani Mountain Camp?)
Tues 20-Sep - Drive on to Etosha NP (Okaukuejo Rest Camp?)
Wed 21-Sep - Etosha NP (Okaukuejo Rest Camp?)
Thurs 22-Sep - Etosha NP (Halali Rest Camp?)
Fri 23-Sep - Drive from Etosha to Windhoek. (Hilltop House?)
Sat 24-Sep - am - fly Windhoek - Jo'burg. pm fly Jo'burg - London
Sun 25-Sep - am - arr London


Would obviously want this to be a very memorable trip. However, we travelled
around the world for 13 months last year seeing countless fantastic sights
(I even proposed on the crater rim of an erupting volcano in Vanuatu (as you
do! - still I can categorically say that the earth really did move!) so the
honeymoon does have a lot too live up to.

For info, the budget is about £5000 (for us both) which doesn't include
flights (The wonder of Virgin flyer points!) except for the Mozambique
flight which is about £200 a head. (As I'm not sure many people seem to know
about the Tofo area of Mozambique - all our accom, f&d and diving will cost
about £1000 - so there's about £4000 for the rest of the trip) The start and
end dates are fixed with the London - South Africa flights booked - but
everything else is still at the planning stage at the moment


Cape Town - The 'Relaxing, easy-travelling' part

Though we're aware that weather-wise it might be better to put Cape Town at
the end of the trip, we'd both like somewhere easy to relax for the first
few days.

Atlanticview Guesthouse in Camps Bay looks stunning (and not really like any
guesthouse I've seen - has anyone ever been?) and would be a good place to
relax / recover after the wedding) but I'm not sure if it would be worth
staying a night in the city itself. Would we be missing out on much if we
didn't have at least 1 night 'in town'.

Hermanus (for the whales) - have looked at a number of nice places on the
portfolio collection website so looks like we're spoiled for choice (Despite
being avid divers I've decided not to do the Shark dive. - Too cold and the
soon-to-be Mrs B isn't that taken with the idea.)

Then on to the winelands. As we'll be hiring a car (which I'll be driving)
I'm keen to stay somewhere within easy walking distance of a few decent
vineyards with/or near some decent restaurants. Not sure whether
Stellenbosch or Franschoek would be better for this?


Mozambique - The 'Chilling on a hot beach and diving' part

Fly via Jo'burg to Tofo (nr Inhambane) for a week. We've been here before
and though the accommodation is a little rustic - the place is fantastic and
the diving out of this world (more Manta Rays than you can shake a stick
at!). Though I've looked at Bazaruto Archipelago I'm not convinced it's
worthwhile as the places there seem very expensive for frankly not very
much. (Also we've been to Vilanculos for a few days before and the fact that
the tide goes out about 5 miles kind of annoyed me (stunning beaches mind
you))

While we'd ideally like to do the beach part at the end of the trip, the
charter flights to Inhambane from Jo'burg only go on Monday afternoon and
Friday morning so we'd end up with a few too many overnights in Jo'burg and
a little less time in Namibia.


Namibia - 'The Getting out and seeing some mind-blowing sights' part

Finally, Namibia, which I've really wanted to go to for far too long, and
after reading some of the excellent reports here I'm now getting way too
excited (must go sit in a dark, internet-free room for a while!) The plan
here is to self-drive.

As we normally backpack around it would be nice to be pampered in a few
places and do some of the more expensive one-off activities (eg The Balloon
ride at Sossusvlei) We'd like a little bit of luxury from time to time but
some of the prices seem a little much. (£300-£500+ a night for a room when
you spend half the day out at a sight seems a little steep - are they really
worth almost as much as a flight from London to South Africa?) I know you
only get one honeymoon, but for the length of time we're going for we
clearly can't afford to stay at many like this.

Any recommendations for a splash out or for any little gems? (Kavey - before
you say, we won't be getting down as far as Wolwedans ! - though your
report paints a wonderfully enticing picture of it!) The Mowani Mountain
Camp looks stunning (and seems well recommended) and the Sossuvlei
Wilderness Camp looks out of this world (with price to match!) - still, at
least we're not going to Singita in SA - that's just silly money!)

Etosha sounds really nice though I have been to Kruger before and found it a
little bit like driving round a big zoo at times. Just stay in the park or
worth staying around the edge at a private lodge or cutting Etosha
altogether and heading to Botswana/Vic Falls? (Might be a bit tight for time
to do this methinks) I think we'd both rather have a couple of days doing
the (land) safari thing rather than make it the big focus of the holiday.

Just realised I've waffled on for far too long. If you're still reading,
then any advice on places to stay, routes, or other un-missable places not
on the plan would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Andrew