Eastern Cape
 

I am going to be spending about 4 day in the Eastern Cape in August. Can anyone recommend some fun things to do for someone traveling alone? I will be alone as my friend who will be traveling with me for the first part of the trip must return to the states before I do.
Thanks in advance

I am going to be based in Port Alfred at my friends parents house. I will look at the link you provided but do you have any advice on particular safari places. My friend is pushing Shamwarii but I am not so sure that is in my budget.

I have always hesitated to recommend Shamwari as it seems ridiculously expensive, but people love it and come back year after year. In August they reduce the price to 2,560 Rand per night.

Port Alfred is a great place to stay you might be better off taking days trips at the reserves.

Shamwari has a day trip that will allow you to see all the big 5 it is 850 Rand and is 1/ ½ to 2 hours from Port Alfred.

Make sure you do visit Addo it is 20- 30 minutes further.

Kariega Park which is also a big 5 reserve is very close to Port Alfred about 30 minutes drive and also does day trips for approximately 600 Rand.

We really enjoyed Addo Elephant Park. We stayed at the River Bend Lodge and it couldn't have been any nicer. The people were super, food was great, and we saw tons of elephants and antelopes.

Judy

desi0875,

In my opinion you should give the Shamwari day trip a miss and rather do the Addo Game Park and Schotia Safari afternoon safari. This will cost you about R600/person for both parks which will only include a ranger on Schotia and a meal in the evening.

Personally I would rather suggest that you do the full day package that Schotia offer.

http://www.schotia.com/addoschotiafullday.htmYou

On this package you can make your way to Schotia, leave your car in the Schotia grounds and then be accompanied by a Schotia Ranger for the whole day as he/she takes you into the Addo park as well as on both the Schotia safaris in the afternoon and evening on a Schotia Land Rover. The evening safari will be one that homes in on lions and is a great experience. You will NOT see the big 5 on this ride as your chances of seeing buffalo and leopard are zero but then I think you will have a similar problem on Shamwari as I think you will have great difficulty seeing leopard and buffalo in the wild on the gamefarm. The Shamwari rangers will take you to a born free type foundation park where you will probably see leopards in captivity but as far as I am concerned you might as well rather visit a zoo to do this.

If you take the whole Schotia package, to my knowledge, the event costs R1000/day/person while the Shamwari event costs R850/day/person. With the Schotia experience you will:

1. Start your day at about 10h00 by visiting Addo for a 2-3 hour safari

2. Have lunch on a nearby farm

3. Visit Schotia to go on a 1.5 hour safari where you will see all the non predator animals

4. Return to the communal area for coffee and open fire toasted bread

5. Go on the Lion safari for about 2 hours.

6. Return to the communal area for a wonderful around the campfire meal.

You should complete the journey by 22h00

The Shamwari experience starts at 12h00 where you will either go the Born Free foundation and then have lunch or vice versa.

At about 15h00 you will go on a 3 hour safari. One advantage about Shamwari is that your safari will be finished at 18h00 and considering the fact that you still will have to travel back to Port Alfred this option, even though it would not be my own personal first choice, just might suit you better in this regard.

Now the tough part is that it becomes a choice that you have to make if you eventually settle on one of these two safari type options. :) :)

Hope you enjoy the Eastern Cape.

Very proudly part of the wonderful ((r)) nation of South Africa

Nice to here from you Selwyn, things are improving the Eastern Cape as you say all the options are great.

I would have expected you to suggest a quick flight to the beautiful city of Cape Town instead.

ColinD

When it comes to scenery, people, daily activities and most else in South Africa nothing touches my city in my opinion, however when it comes to game viewing in a malaria free area in South Africa nothing touches the Eastern Cape. With me being a keen animal lover (I can sit an watch those lions at Schotia the whole day :) ) there is no way I would take the flight back to Cape Town without having spent minimally one day enjoying the game that the territory offers. Uh uh Colin you can keep your blue flag beaches and windy city HOWEVER nothing beats your terrain for friendly, hospitable people and most important malaria free game viewing. Thus make no error I love your region just as much as you do because one fact that I have sensed in all your writings is that you are a very genuine and passionate Eastern Capey and it is your passion for your region that always results in me enjoying your postings. Just a pity you guys cant play better rugby. :) :)

Go well.

Very proudly part of the wonderful ((r)) nation of South Africa

Thanks so much these sound like wonderful options. And I am looking forward to spending time in both Cape Town and the Eastern Cape. This is my first trip and I am way excited. Kinda of obivious by planning in Jan. Have either of you heard anything about Crash Pads in Cape Town? I guess this would be more for Selwyn. My friend and I are looking to be local tourists since she hails from SA.

desi0875

The word crash pad is not a Capetonian concept, it is South African terminology.

In South Africa the slang for hitting the sack or simply falling on your bed and going to sleep is to "crash". A "pad" is slang for a place to stay.

So a crash pad means a cheap place to just be able to put your body down on a bed and fall asleep. In the tourism context a crash pad would generally be small and will have a bed, shower and toilet.

Hope this helps you in undertanmding the concept.

Very proudly part of the wonderful ((r)) nation of South Africa

Yes it does. 9 times out of 10 I have no idea what my friend is talking about. I need to brush up on my South African slang before I arrive. Thanks so much!!:)

If you want to really get in to "Sarf-african slang", on this case "Surfrican slang", take a look at the link and glossary at this surfers' website:

www.wavescape.co.za

(There is no direct link to the slang pages, it's accessed from the "Cool stuff" menu at the bottom of the homepage.)

"or in this case". Sigh.