Laurelie

We have booked a trip to SA the first 2 weeks of Feb. The first 4 nights in CT are in a hotel with A/C. We then proceed to the Cape for 3 nights at a guest house without. Then on to Knysna to another guest house for 3 nights without , our safari lodge has it but another guest house near Addo does not. Do the nights generally cool down so sleeping is comfortable? I have checked the weather stats and it seems that the nights are normally cooler. We live in Canada and when the temps near 30C we use our air! I am pleased with the hotel choices I have made. I just want to be able to have a good nights sleep. Any thoughts out there? Is the weather the same as here where you can have a spell of warm weather as easily as a spell of cool?

roadwarriorafrica

The evenings can be warm. Usually a sea breeze would help, but I do prefer air con till end of March.

dutyfree

I was in Cape Town quite a bit this year from the beginning of February through May and personally, I was roasting to death.It was very hot(alot of days in the 90'sF) and even in the evenings I felt it was very warm so was glad to have the A/C.

satpacker

Hi. Agree can be very hot in Feb. On the coast you should be OK - presumably your guesthouses will provide a fan if not A/C. Addo is probably where you could get the hottest nights which could be a bit painful, but chances are you'll be OK - it doesn't get really humid on this stretch of coast. On safari this Feb I couldn't cool down until the guide told me to wet a towel and lie under it. Worked brilliantly.

Laurelie

Thank You. I am now not sure what to do! I spent a lot of time deciding where to stay for locations but was not thinking about the heat. Humidity is the worst so if we are right on the ocean perhaps a good breeze will be all we need ( I hope any way!) Is Knysna generally cooler than on the Cape? We plan on staying 3 nights there and our guest house does not have a/c.

canadian_robin

We lived in CT in 2004/2005 and our house didn't have AC. We had fans (table fans as opposed to ceiling fans) and were fine (we used the fans mostly to keep the mosquitoes off us - homes in the Western Cape generally don't have screens on the windows because there isn't malaria in the region). You will not need AC. Further east, around Durban, it is much more humid and you might appreciate AC but, around CT and on the Garden Route, you'll be fine without - and this coming from a Canadian who begins to wilt when it hits 30C (which it rarley does in Calgary)! On safari, you won't want to run the AC at night because you won't want to drown out the sounds of the animals - lying in bed and listening to lions roar, hippos grunt, hyenas laugh etc. is always a highlight of a safari! Robin

Laurelie

Thanks Robin I was hoping you might reply! We live north of Toronto in cottage country and use our a/c not nearly as much as we did when living in the Niagara Region. What always made us push the a/c button was the humidity. Are you saying that it is usually not humid in SA? I am concerned about our stay in Knysna and am thinking I should book a place with air just to be safe. Surprised about the mosquitos I thought we just might escape the little critters!
By the way did you see my post on cell phones. Do you take yours from Canada or rent one once there?
Laurel

canadian_robin

Hi Laurel!
I grew up in Ontario (Ottawa, and went to Trent in Peterborough), so I understand the concern about humidity. We spent Christmas in Knysna (2004) and did not find it humid in the least - I don't recall it being overly hot at all and that was peak summer.

A fellow Canadian who was based in Durban for a year at the same time that we were in CT for the year always complained bitterly about the humidity there - the closest we ever came to experiencing humidity was in St. Lucia on the east coast of SA. The western half of SA is dry, while the eastern half of the country has to endure the humidity.

Regarding phones - When we were in CT for a year, we purchased cheap cell phones which we gave away at the end of the year. We have returned to SA twice since (for ~6 weeks each time), and both times we rented phones at the CT airport (from the Vodaphone booth). The first time (2007) we had no problem. The second time (2008), we found several charges (for calls) on our (MasterCard) bill that were not ours. Despite numerous emails to Vodaphone, we never received a response. We had no choice but to cover the cost - thankfully, when converted to Canadian dollars, it wasn't really worth worrying about. So...I would be careful renting at the CT airport.

Let me know if I can answer any more questions. Robin

satpacker

Hi. Knysna shouldn't necessarily be any different or more humid than Cape Town. You should be fine - it's a bit of potluck. My mum (who likes the heat) spent the night in a cold bath in the winelands in Feb this year because there was a heatwave!

Laurelie

Thank you to all
These forums really help when planning your own trips, I don't think I could do it without them!
Thank you too Robin for your Canadian input. Feeling pretty good at this point but I am sure there will be lots more questions as the trip comes closer. I did find two beautiful places along the garden route that had a/c that I booked just in case we should have an abnormal heat wave!

christinasc

I was in CT and in the area between that and Port Elizabeth this past February. The weather is like San Francisco, California, temperate nice nice weather, with inland dry heat. Super nice. The humidity starts around Durban up to Maputo but still isn't bad.