3 days to kill in S.A.
 

After our 5 nights in Leopard Hills we have a further 3 nights left before we return from our honeymoon to Australia. Does anyone have some suggestions for these remaining days. We had thought of Cape Town (I was there 10 years ago and loved it)but have heard that late Aug is cold and rainy.
Other spots for consideration were Durban, or maybe Sun City. However, nothing too "touristy". Any ideas guys?
Cheers
Marc & Rossana

MarcM
Hit the South or North Coast. The weather this time of the year is outstanding. My suggestion would be Umhlanga Rocks or the small towns on either side. This is your best bet.

Hi MarcM,

What Sherise is referring to is South Africa-speak for the South and North Coasts of the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Durban is used as the central reference point, and the KZN coast north of there is called the North Coast while the KZN coast south of there is called the South Coast.

So, in that context, it is not the southern coast of the whole country of South Africa. The country's southern coast (around Plettenberg Bay, Knysna, Wilderness, George) typically is referred to as the Garden Route, as you already may have discovered in your research.

I agree with Sherise that the KwaZulu-Natal coast should have lovely weather in August, and I also agree with her that some place in or near Umhlanga Rocks (just north of Durban) would be a good place to stay.

To give you an Australian reference point, Durban's latitude falls roughly half way between Byron Bay and Coffs Harbour.

Since you have only 3 spare days, I think you would make best use of your time if you flew from the Kruger National Park area to Durban.

If you don't want touristy then avoid Sun City!
With the travelling Cape Town may be a bit far, and the weather is dicey but it is a good time of year to spot whales if that's what interests you. As mentioned on this board before, I'm a Durban girl so KZN is a favourite spot and it is quite different to other places in SA. If you on't want to travel though, Joburg has lots to offer for 3 days: Soweto, gold mines, cradle of humankind, and the Cullinan Diamond mine are doing tours to celebrate their centenary.

I'd go with the KZN coast, al unless you are partial to the likes of Atlantic City and Las Vegas. (Sun City.) It could get windy in August, expecially after mid- late- morning, it's not as good a month as the "equivalent" Autumn month of May. But it should be mostly warm, both day and night.

BTW, you can find temperatures and rainfall figures for the major centres, up to 2002, at the 1stWeather site, which also draws on figures from the SA Weather Service. Use "Data archives" under "SA Regional". You'll see that the average max for Durban in August 2002 was 22.8c, and the average min 14.3c.

I'm originally from Durban, and in recent years have been spending a week on the KZN North Coast a couple of times a year, usually April and/or August, and most times in Umhlanga Rocks. And I find that when visiting at a particular time of year, I remember the weather better than when I was a permanent resident. I can remember perhaps four years ago, coming back a day early from a week in Salt Rock (a little north of Umhlanga), because it was too windy thyat week. Two years ago in August, there was a really cold snap over a couple of days of our week in Umhlanga, but then that was a really unusual time and many other parts of the country (certainly Jo'burg, and I assume Cape Town as well), were really cold. Everything is relative! This last August, it was mostly good, it would have been even better if we were the sort of family that could make early starts to the day!

But my comments about wind assume that the beach is the #1 priority, and there are lots of other things to do in the area if it becomes a little too windy for the beach.

BTW, I have just checked the stats from that weather site for early August 2002, and I see that the lowest min for Jo'burg that month was 3.9c, on the 3rd. For Cape Town, it was 0.4c, on the 4th. But for Durban (that REALLY cold and unseasonal snap) it was 9.1c!

That's clever. I forgot to include the link to the 1stWeather site. It's http://www.1stweather.com/regional/c..._climate.shtml

Many thanks for everyones input.
Looks like KwaZulu-Natal coast is the go!
Any ideas on cheap domestic flights to Durban?
Cheers
Marc

Although they will have less flights per day than the bigger airlines suach as BA and SAA, the cheapest fares will usually be Kulula.com (www.kulula.com) and 1Time (www.1time.aero), which started up earlier this year. Followed by Nationwide (www.flynationwide.co.za).

BTW, although it operates as a no-frills separate airline, Kulula is owned by the local BA franchise operator, Comair. They also try and have a fun image. An overseas visitor (I can't remember if it was in this forum) was recently confused because of seeing "Durbs" in Kulula's choice of destination. They wondered if that was a different airport to Durban International. But it's just the colloquial name for Durban!

I've just realised that apart from my typo, I shouldn't have said "such as" in my previous post. As far as I know, BA and SAA ARE the only other local airlines.