First Trip to South Africa--Itinerary Help
 

HI. My husband and I (we're in our late-30s) are planning to visit South Africa at the end of September/early October for 16 days/15 nights. We are flying into Joberg and out of Capetown. We have also booked our last three nights in Capetown. Other than that, our itinerary is wide open.

We would like to visit two or three game reserves (South Africa or elsewhere), but they MUST BE malaria-free. Our most important criterion for any game reserve (besides being malaria-free) is game viewing. We would also like to spend at least three days driving along the Garden Route.

We'd greatly appreciate any suggestions/information you all can provide. Specific ideas on reserves (would we fly there?) would be most helpful (Addo and Medikwe have been mentioned to us), along with where to stay along the Garden Route.

Thank you.

Here's just a little more info about our likes/dislikes. We don't need to see caves, go shark diving, or visit Sun City. Ostrich farms, great views and good food are pluses. We don't want to drive anywhere where it could be unsafe.

Thanks again.

If you want to see a game reserve in a malariafree area, then Addo (http://www.sanparks.org/parks/addo/) and Shamwari (http://www.shamwari.com)are the way to go. Both parks are situated in the Eastern Cape. The Addo Elephant Park is a National Park and Shamwari is a Private Game Reserve.
I recommend staying in the little village called "Addo" if you don't get any accommodation inside the park.

Both parks are situated not that far from Port Elizabeth. So once you visited the parks, you can drive along the Garden Route to Cape Town. Make a one or two night stop in Oudtshoorn (on the Route 62) and visit or even stay at an Ostrich farm.

There are many, many lovely places to stay along the Garden Route and in South Africa in general. Have a look at http://www.southafrica-stay.com for accommodation.

Any more specific things you'd like to know...just ask :)

Hi

My wife and I went to the Kruger park a couple of years back but I guess that is out of the question since you want a malaria free area. But we also went to Joburg and here is a trip report with some pictures and links that might be useful: http://gardkarlsen.com/johannesburg_...frica_2004.htm

We have also been to Cape Town a few times but I'm afriad my trip reports from those trips are not that great. But here is one about a trip to Cape Town: http://gardkarlsen.com/south3.htm

Have a great trip :d

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

Since you have specified that the game reserves must be Malaria free, then from the Johannesburg area, you may want to consider Madikwe Reserve. There are many lodges there of varying price ranges. Since Madikwe is a fairly new reserve, many of the lodges are quite new and very nice. Madikwe can be reached by car (I think about a 5 hour drive) or by small airplane flight (once a day). We were at Madikwe for 3 nights and I think that is long enough. You can do a search on this website to find other comments about Madikwe and some past trip reports, also search for the Southern Africa Trip Report Index.
Here are a couple of websites that list some accomodations at Madikwe:

http://www.tourismnorthwest.co.za/madikwe/index.html

and Madikwesafaris.co.za


There are several game reserves near the Port Elizabeth area (all malaria free), I beleive the most upscale being Kwandwe (CCAfrica.com) and Shamwari. Also, Addo Elephant Park is in this area.

You may have time to visit Madikwe first from Joberg for a few nights, then go back to Joberg, fly into Port Elizabeth, spend a few nights at a Safari lodge near there, then drive the Garden Route back to Cape Town. How many nights on Safari and what camps you choose will probably depend on your budget. Some or many of the safari camps may have low season pricing until the end of September, with high season kicking in the first of October, so this can really affect the pricing.

Hope that helps get you started. Most of the camps are very small, September is a popular month and not far off, availability may be an issue.

That's helpful. Do you have recommendations for Medikwe for best game viewing?
How many days should we spend at Addo/Shamwari?
Thanks.

Dee,

Regarding Madikwe: The lodges there all have access to the entire Reserve. It is not like Sabi Sands where each lodge has their own property, so one lodge does not necessarily have better game viewing than another. However, there is not as much off road driving allowed in Madikwe as is the case in Sabi Sands (that is, there appears to be more restrictions on actual off road driving - meaning in the bush, all the "roads" in Madikwe are gravel or dirt tracks - not paved).

However, some of the newer loadges are sort of clustered more in the east part of the Reserve nearer to the airstrip - Madikwe Hills, Madikwe Safari Lodge, Etali, and Mateya. Also, Jaci's and Makanyane are to the far east of the reserve.
There are some more camps grouped more in the western or northwestern part of the Reserve - Buffalo Ridge, Tau, and others that I can't remember.
One of the very knowlegable posters on this website, PredatorBiologist, visited two camps, one in each part of the Reserve and wrote about it in this trip report:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34780788

You may be able to get some sort of discount off the rack rate if you combine two of CCAfrica's lodges, that is, Madikwe Safari Lodge and Kwandwe (in the Eastern Cape), both Malaria free. You should probably check with about 3 agents (that specialize in Southern Africa) and see who gives you the best rates.