Kruger/Durban/St.Lucia/Cape Town
 

Hi Everyone!!

90% of my itinerary is complete and I would just like some reassurance from anyone who has traveled of visited the same locations as me. ANY ADVICE will help!!. 09/30-10/04 we will be on a private photographic safari in Kruger ( no more planning necessary) Are night drives worth it? On 10/4 we head to Durban to drive to St.Lucia area. We will be here for 4 days and 3 nights. I have one tour booked to Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, one boat tour booked for the Hippos, and one whale watching tour booked. This part of the trip Id love to relax and kind of navigate ourselves and explore the area. Ideas??? Next we will be heading to Cape Town for 4 days. The only thing we have planned here is Boulders Beach, Hermanus for whale watching and the Bird Sanctuary. Id love everyones input!!

We haven't been to Kruger but have visited the rest of your destinations.

I think it is worth doing a night safari. We didn't in SA but did fly camp in Tanzania and being out in the bush at night is an amazing experience (though I am not sure the photography will be that great1)

Here is a link to our blog of our time in South Africa https://accidentalnomads.com/categor.../south-africa/ unfortunately we never got around to finishing it. We were there for 2.5 months and visited a lot of places! It does however cover some of our time in St Lucia, Hluhluwe-Imfolozi and iSimangaliso. there are lots of photos so it should provide a reasonable idea of what to expect.

We spent 3 nights at the SAN Parks Lodge in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi . It wa sour first experience of a self drive safari and we absolutely loved it. Loads of game viewing and spectacular scenery.

St Lucia was means to an end really the town itself seems quite touristy, lots of chain restaurants and wall to wall B&Bs , though ours was vey nice. A highlight was a days drive out to Cape Vidal via iSimangaliso NP. Both were spectacular and the beaches at Cape Vidal were amongst the best I have seen anywhere in the world.

Boulders Beach is very pretty and, of course, huge numbers of Penguins. If in. rental car you could rive to CT via the peninsula via the renowned Chapmans Peak drive.
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I'm unclear -- what's the alternative to night drives? If it's at the expense of day drives, I'd give a definite NO to the question of whether it's worth it. If it's at the expense of pre-dinner cocktails and shooting the breeze with people at the lodge, I'd give it a definite YES.

I commented on night drives in my recent trip report: https://www.fodors.com/community/afr...notes-1715565/ . If you do manage to get close to good stuff at night and your guide knows how to use the spotlight properly (make the animal light up but not blown out), you'll get decent photos with a typical safari lens. My night photos are too grainy to be publication worthy in NG, but I'm not trying to publish my photos in NG, and I'm happy very with them.

At Kruger on our night drive we went with a park ranger and saw hyena, some owls, and the springhare. I don't remember which camp that was, would have to be one of the big ones. Are the private guides able to run them or do you have to book with SANParks?

My friend was at the waterhole at Satara (a public camp) one night and saw lions take down a water buffalo at the water hole there.

For penguins you can go to Boulders or they may also wander up into the public beach in Seaforth just up the coast.

I don't know what the "Bird Sanctuary" is in Cape Town. I liked Kirstenbosch. The Cape Bird Club runs regular events you may luck into one that works with your schedule, a friendly group and also good information on their website.
https://www.capebirdclub.org.za/events/list/page/2/

We went on park ranger night drives out of Lower Sabie, Skukuza and Biyamiti. Bouncing around in a sanparks truck in the dark is not that fun. The only real highlight - and it was a highlight - was a black rhino crossing the tarmac on the LS drive at dusk - so I got a decent picture. The only black we ever saw.