I'm planning a second trip to southern Africa and we are considering Madikwe - Mashatu - Pafuri in May/June for about 10 days. Anyone done this on a self drive? Just wondering if it can be done. We don't have a lot of money (does anyone these days?) but we'd like an interesting different kind of trip than the last one (way over the top Capetown/Botswana/Vic Falls/Ngala). Any thoughts for a not too expensive wildlife extravaganza are welcome. Next time we'll do the Kwazulu-Natal (Hluhluwe/St Lucia), but not this time.

I have not done it but I'm sure you can, drive JNB-Madikwe-Mashatu-JNB. Use something like Michelin - http://www.viamichelin.com/viamichel...MaHomePage.htm
To plan the route, distances and time. You would basically drive through Pretoria both ways. Rental/hire cars are bit expensive in SA (compared to USA). If there are 4 of you then you would save by driving over flying. If only 2 of you then may be only marginal savings by driving.

Tellya what I'd do. But first - I was at Madikwe Reserve, Madikwe Hills Lodge in May of 2007 for 5 nights. Here's my Fodors trip report - http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...4&tid=35016274
Madikwe Reserve was just ok for me. Others have liked it more than I did.

So, I'd not go over towards Madikwe direction but stay east of Johannesburg. Like you say for Pafuri and Mashatu. Pafuri - napamatt_2 was there in Jan 2009 and has this trip report - http://www.fodors.com/community/afri...s-jan-2009.cfm
Of course in that area is Kruger and I'm a big fan of Kruger. For starters, a simple bungalow in one of many Kruger camps is $70 per night for the two of you. Also bordering Kruger are the two private reserves Timbavati and Sabi Sand. The Timbavati has two well reviewed safari camps, Gomo Gomo and Kings Camp. And of course Sabi Sand has several great safari camps. It would be logical to drive JNB to Mashatu then drive back down stopping at Pafuri, Gomo Gomo, Kruger, back to JNB.

In Sept this year we are flying into JNB, renting car, spending 7 nights in Kruger, then driving to Kings Camp (Timbavati) for 8 nights then to Kirkmans (Sabi Sand) for 5 nights. Twenty nights in safari camps. Love it!! Total cost will be under $5,000 each. (Averages to $250 pppn). Plus cost of flying to Africa, JNB.

Regards - tom
ps - FWIW I composed this in Notepad, in the microscopic Fodors reply window. I sill not cope it over to the Fodors reply window and see what happens with font and format etc. Holding my breath .... submit

Can't help with Madikwe - Mashatu bit, but spassvogel asked a similar question a short time ago and you might find your answer here:

Road trip Hoedspruit to Nitani/Mashatu?
Posted by: spassvogel on Feb 10, 2009 at 06:02 PM

I repeat my tip that Mapungubwe (a sanparks NP) is a good stop-over near the Pont Drift/Mashatu border if you need a cheap(ish) place to stay. You could even do a night drive so you don't feel the time is 'wasted'! Maybe not a wildlife extravaganza but not bad game-viewing.

Christabir
Madikwe-Mashato direct sounds far too exhaustive for a one day ride to me - if at all do-able..
As far as I can estimate the distance is about 700km on partly rural roads (gravel)
And the border post Pont Drift closes at 1600hrs.

What you can easily do is stay 4 nights in Madikwe and do a lay over enroute.

We wanted to go from Sabi Sands to Pont drift in one day without missing a game drive. That route is approx. 540km and takes almost 9 hours driving time. So we lay over in Makhadu. On the way back we stay in Punda Maria for one night before we head south thru Kruger the next day.

You must also be aware of speed limit (for Germans as us difficult to swallow ;-) ) and people/animals criss crossing.
And don't drive after dark!

We have chosen to do it a bit more relaxed in order to not just speeding from A to B.

SV

I rather doubt if you would want to drive even from Joburg/Pretoria to Mashatu in the same day. Mainly because you would arrive Mashatu too late for the afternoon game drive. (There may also be a border point closing time at the SA - Botswana border). So what you would get is a very very expensive dinner and bed at Mashatu. I believe when CarlaM, sundowner, and the girls drove it last summer they stayed over night in northern SA then next morning drove into Mashatu. Details, always lots of details in this stuff.

And to repeat myself, I wouldn't go to Madikwe. I'd spend the time at Mashatu and around the Kruger area.

regards - tom

Thanks everyone!! I guess I have to rethink my plan. I'll be back when I figure out something else. I'll be sure to run it by you. Thanks for the Mapungubwe tip, also. It looks like an interesting stop - and some history to boot (my husband is really into that).

Tom - how do you find such great rates?

"how do you find such great rates?"
Well, with the USD so strong against the SA RAND it helps a lot - in SA. Those SA camps, Kruger, Kings Camp and Kirkmans all quote in RAND. The dollar now is up 40 percent against the RAND, 10:1 now as compared to 7:1 last summer. Also, many camps have longer stay deals, like at Kings Camp you pay for 6 nights and stay for 8. So there's a 25% discount. Here's a good site for a lot of safari camp rates -
http://www.eyesonafrica.net/safari-p...rack-rates.htm
And then you have to dig deeper, usually at the camp web site, to find the pay 6 get 8 deals.

Good luck, there are really too many options to choose from!

regards - tom

Cross into Botswana from Madikwe. Its right on the border. Navigating to Mashato is easy this way. About 550 kms.... but this highway is slower then most. Bunch of villages along the way, several with speed bumps if memory serves. But it is definitely faster then the circuitous route in SA. If you want to break it up with a nite enroute-

http://tinyurl.com/b9b9yb

luangwa - that's the most brillant idea! Sad we have not thought about that opportunity! Now we would have to re-arrange the whole trip...........

Thank you for pointing that out! Of course one can see Gaborone at night from Madikwe..............

SV

I thought about going through Gaborone, but then getting back into South Africa might be difficult. I can't find a route back without going back through Gaborone. Maybe with oil prices down, the short flights might be doable. I'm now leaning toward flying or driving to Mashatu, to Pafuri in northern Kruger then to Timbavati/Sabi Sands. I think Madikwe will have to wait until another time. I'm still nervous about driving - the only foreign country we've rented a car in is Croatia, and that was really easy, so I guess I should not be concerned.

christabir.
Actually, you can bypass Gaberone on the East side of Madikwe at Sikwane border post. Returning to South Africa will be via the Zanzibar border post which is about 50 kms west of the Tuli Block.
http://tinyurl.com/d9plyt

Maybe I'm not following, but several Fodorites (CarlaM, sundowner, KayeN) have driven from South Africa to Mashatu Camp and back. So there is a border crossing at/near Mashatu. You want to drive to Mashatu from within Bots, do it and cross border at Mashatu as others have done. If I'm not following the question, well, never mind.

regards - tom

Luangwa - thanks for that link. I'll have to look into it more.

Tom - sometimes the river at Mashatu (Pont Drift) is flooded and can't be crossed - they take you over on some rickety cable thing - YIKES!! No cars.

Now that I think about it a bit, it might make sense to go to Madikwe on the back end of the trip instead of the front end - it's only like 3 hours from Jo'burg. So, Mashatu, Pafuri, Sabi Sands, Jo'burg (did anyone know that there are Lipizzaner Stallions in Jo'burg and they perform every Sunday morning?!!) and then go to Madikwe, then home. Sounds much easier than driving from Madikwe to Mashatu!