Hi all! SO excited that I just booked my flights to Johannesburg. As it stands, I'll be with three friends in Johannesburg and surrounding areas for 12 days. I hear I should only spend about a day in Johannesburg city, and spend the remainder of the time exploring surrounding areas. To do this we'd like to rent a car and explore a few areas I've heard are worth seeing:

- Self-guided drive through Kruger (and possibly multi-day hike through Kruger if not too expensive or too late to do .. are there independent guides we can hire for this?)
- Drive through Swaziland
- Drive and explore the KwaZulu Natal coast
- Scuba dive near the Kosi Bay area

What do you guys think of the above? If we're going to do a loop are there any other interesting spots we should be considering?

Thanks so much!
Kevin

All these places are great. But none would be considered close to Johannesburg. Go to Kruger after arrival, exit in the South, drive from there to Kosi bay. Snorkel at Kosi Bay, spend a day at St Lucia and Scuba at Sodwana. Drive via Swaziland to Durban, even continue to the Drakensberg or garden route, depending on time and back to Johannesburg.
There is great scuba, with Raggie sharks this time of year south of Durban.

If you are interested in a hike and cannot book one in Kruger you could also try a 2 or 3 day hike in Hluhluwe Umfolozi. It is a smaller game reserve than Kruger, but lovely, with lots of rhino and nice hiking trails.

Check the Sanparks website. To look for hiking availability. It really is easy to use.

We drove from Kruger to KwaZulu Natal last year through Swaziland. It is further than it looks, and although easy, the border crossings took over a half hour each- out of one, into the other at both ends. We spent one night at a casino. It's six hours JNB to Kruger, plus you have to stop and buy stuff (a cooler and some food/drinks). The drive from KwaZulu Natal to JNB takes all day, but easy. Just a reminder with just twelve days, there are three days of travel with your itinerary. I love everything you want to do, though!

Hluhluwe-Imfolozi (Umfolozi? I can't remember which) has a few excellent overnight walking trails if you can't get Kruger, as above. Many think the experience is better, too. The KwaZulu Natal parks website is difficult but has all the info you need. It is not the same SanParks site.

No independent guides are allowed for overnights.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. A few questions:

- Any recommendations for dive sites and dive shops in KwaZulu Natal or Kosi Bay areas?
- What are the best camps in Kruger? We are looking to split ~5 nights across two camps, so it would be ideal if we could get different experiences.