acnap88

Hello,
I have been reading a lot of the posts and this website has been very helpful. My fiancee and I are planning to go to South AFrica for the first 2 weeks of June for our honeymoon. My only concern before booking anything is the weather, considering it is winter. Do many think this would be a problem? Ideally, we would love to end with a few days on the beach but Zanzibar seems so far away, and it seems there are no other real options. Others tell us to do Tanzania and Zanzibar but as we have never been to Africa before and would like to do a safari, we are not keen on many days of safari.
Ideally we were looking at Capetown, wine country and Kruger. any other comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

PredatorBiologist

You can fly direct from the Kruger area to amazing beaches in the Bazaruto Archipelago of Mozambique that blow Zanzibar away for beach quality and underwater experiences and is much faster and cheaper to fly to then going all the way to Zanzibar from South Africa.

Congrats on your pending wedding and honeymoon!

tanzaniatouroperator

I agree that I wouldn't try and combine beach time in Zanzibar with a safari in South Africa. Lodges like Indigo Bay and Marlin in Mozambique are definitely worth visiting and are easy from JNB

As an alternative you could go to Tanzania and Zanzibar and not South Africa. A short (3 night) safari in say Manze in Selous with say 7 nights at Echo Beach in Zanzibar would cost about $2,760 per person (start and end in Dar)

a honeymoon in Tanzania and Zanzibar is VERY DIFFERENT to one in SA so do think carefully about what you want from the honeymoon

mkhonzo

Reading your post, it appears that you are concerned most about the weather in SA and secondarily the distance and options offered to and in Zanzibar.

Cape Town at that time will be cool and potentially wet. It receives frontal winter rain, which pass over the peninsula. The fronts generally pass in a few hours, however preceded by a warm front and followed by clear blue skies. Daily temps are actually quite moderate, much like those of San Francisco in April.

On safari, which I would assume you'd do in the Kruger area, you'll be in a sub tropical zone, which means, clear hot days with cool to cold nights, but dry. No rain. Excellent conditions for a safari.

The upshot of all this is the pricing. It is SA's low (tourism) season, so you should be getting more competitive pricing. If you are booking direct with the properties, you might do well by negotiating to pay now as the rate of exchange definitely favours the US$ and who knows how this will change in two/three months.

There are many beach options on Zanzibar, so go for it investigate and negotiate. The downer is: it is a five hour or so flight and not a great schedule out of JNB, which might cause you to build in an extra night in JNB. Also your international ticket might require you to return to JNB....

As others have noted, from SA Bazaruto and Benguerra islands are much more accessible from SA. In fact there is a flight from the Kruger area to Vilanculos, Mozambique, which eliminates that extra night in JNB, plus it is a far more efficient way of getting to the islands. I need to check this last piece of advice as it was a while since a flew that scetor.

The weather in Moz at that time is perfect. Island temps, without threat of Cyclones as their season ends toward the ned of March.

acnap88

Thanks so much all of you for your quick replies. We have decided to book the honeymoon to South Africa and Mozambique. We will do Cape Town, Kruger and then on to Mozambique.

This will be our first time safari. To be honest, I am not so keen on the safari but my fiancee is. We certainly want something very nice as it is the honeymoon but does not need to be over the top and we don't want it to be super super expensive. Any recommendations for some places in the mid to high price range. To be honest I am a bit nervous about riding around in an open jeep with these wild animals while he can't wait so I wonder if I will even go each day we are there, hence the reason for not wanting to spend a ton!

Also would like to get some feedback on Mozambique recommendations but will post on that board.

Thanks all!

tanzaniatouroperator

for southern Mozambique Azura was i think the best property but it burnt down late last year, so i would choose between http://www.benguerra.co.za/ which is amazing or http://www.marlinlodge.co.za/ which is slightly cheaper. There are other cheaper alternatives like bazaruto lodge and Indigo but if you afford it head to either Benguerra or Marlin

sandi

>>considering it is winter<<

if thinking winter as what we experience in that States (assuming you're coming from here) - nope! sure the mornings/nights are cooler or even colder than daytime temps, but no comparison.

Bhejane

Hi

South Africa is a great country for honeymoon! Looking at what you want to do, have you considered Kwa-Zulu Natal? Here you can get world-renowned safari areas such as TEmbe Elephant Park, with the biggest elephants in Africa and Ndumo with the highest diversity of birds as well as parks like Hluhluwe-Umfolozi. KZN is well known for its moderate temperature and is probaly the only province that can be recommended for beach goers during this time of year - see KZN north coast for some amazing beaches. We operate a nature training school in this area so shout if you need any more advice on KZN!

Bhejane Nature Training
www.bhejanenaturetraining.com