Help me plan my last minute trip to SA
 

Hi,

I am going to SA for my honeymoon. My wife and I are arriving in Cape Town the night of July 3rd and are departing from Jo'burg the night of July 19th. This will be our first time in SA.

This is the current plan:

-Spend 3 nights in Cape Town (including the night we arrive) doing various activities such as a township tour, seeing table mountain, driving to Cape Point, and enjoying the city.

- Spend 2 days (July 6th and 7th) in the winelands. We are into wine and that part of the trip is basically seet

-Spend one night (July 8th) in Hermanus. Whale watching and maybe Shark Cage diving the next day

-Spend 2 nights in Knysna (July 9th and 10th) Check out the area, enjoy the town, maybe another township tour?

-Spend the next 2 days (July 11th and 12th) driving through Plattenburg Bay, Tsitsikamma, and other Garden route destinations ending up back aroud George for our flight out to Kruger

Morning of July 13th, Fly to Nelspruit and spend the next 5 days on safari. My initial plan was to spend 5 nights on private lodges in the Sabi Sands area. 3 in one lodge and 2 in Malamala (since there seems to be wide agreement that it is the best). After alot of reading, I'm starting to wonder if I really need 5 nights in the Sabi Sands area. Should I spend and extra day in Cape Town and only 3 or 4 on Safari? Is it worth seeing other parts of Kruger, or do the fall way short of the Sabi Sands experience? I've read that Sabi Sands is the best area by far for the big 5 but you don't see an abundance of other animals. Is this true? Is there other areas in Kruger where you see more life but not as much of the big 5?

Any suggestions or thoughts about any part of the trip would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!!!

Well 5 nights is quite a few for the Sabi Sands; that said you'll certainly see a marvelous collection of animals and enjoy first-class accommodations and food (and prices.)

A couple of alternatives come to mind -

Make your Garden Route a bit more linear, and end up with a day at Addo Elephant Park near Port Elizabeth, then fly from there to Nelspruit (probably via JNB, but I think that would be the case from George too.)

Or, cut a day out of the Sabi period and spend it touring around the Panoramic Route - God's Window, 3 Rondavels, etc. - very scenic country, and quite close to Kruger. You could even drive back to JNB from there and save the cost of a flight.

Congratulations, by the way!

Thanks for the suggestions Gardyloo, I will look into the panoramic route.

Anyone else got any suggestions?

hi, 95,

the following must be read with the caveat that we've not been yet- we'll be in CPT frpm 18-22 july, then travelling along teh garden route to the eastern cape, departing 3oth July back to the UK.

my first thought is that you could easily allow at least one more day for CPT. we have plans that easily fill three days and I thinkwe may miss out loads.

for our three days we are planning:

DAy 1 - use the open-top bus to tour Table mountain, [hoping the gods smile on us and let us up] the city, kirstenbosch gardens, the waterfront [where we are stating so not a priority for that day].

DAy 2 - table mountain if not got up there the first day, then a township visit with SElwyn, possible via paarl and the wine route.

DAy 3 - table mountain....then touring the cape of good hope by car.

DAy 4 - [you've guessed it] Table mountain, ....then off to the garden route via the wine route or hermanus.

What are we missing? - we won't have much time to explore CPT itself, Constantia, the coast north of CPT, the wine route, the coast south of CPT, Hermanus, etc. etc.

so another night in CPT would not IMO be wasted.

It'll be fun to compare notes when we both get back!

happy travels,

regards, ann

Hi 95hoo

I am a MM fan big time, so hard to answer this without my gameviewing bias. Spending 5 nights gameviewing would be far too few for me, but if you do not have a real love of animals, it may be enough for you, though I did not realise how obsessed I would become until I started my first gameviewing holiday.

In the Sabi Sands, you will see many animals small and large, birds of many descriptions, and of course, other interesting things, like snakes and lizards. I always have to return, because no matter how many times I go, I will never see everything!

I did the city thing on the first trip, and have not done it since, as I now know how much I love gamedrives!

Kind regards

Kaye

I agree with Kaye. You should consider at least 5 days on game drive. I just got back from 12 nites at MM and it was great! We only stayed 3 days the previous visit and it was too few for sure.

CT is nice but not sure you need an extra day. Unless you like visiting cities like San Francisco versus game drives seeing wild animals.

- Granny Joan

Thanks for all the replies, please keep them coming.

annhig, any reason you plan on going back to table mountain each day?

hi, 95,

Yes, when I reread what I'd written, I wondered if I'd made myself clear!

I've had to factor it in every day, in case we don't get up the first day [or the 2nd or 3rd]. the plan is only to do it once!

as you may have gathered, it's a real priority for my family, especially DH.

regards, ann