I'm in the very early stages of planning a trip to South Africa for March and April 2007, and would appreciate any help anyone out there can give me.

First, my husband and I are Canadian (Ontario), and I was wondering if any other Canadians could recommend a travel agency to deal with, just for the flight part of it, though I may just go with Flight Centre on the internet. We think we'd like to have a stopover in Amsterdam for a week or so on the return journey, so that would mean flying KLM I guess.

Our general plan is to fly to Cape Town, rent a car, and drive from there to the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve along the coast, more or less, then to Kruger, then Johannesburg, and back to Cape Town by whichever route seems to be least dangerous and most interesting (ideas, anyone?). We are prepared to spend 6 to 8 weeks doing this. I'd like to hear if this is a crazy plan, or reasonable. We are accustomed to driving in foreign countries and on the "other" side of the road, so we don't anticipate problems that way. We are also used to long distances, being Canadian. I don't know what to expect from SA roads, but the guidebooks seem to indicate they're okay.

Thanks to anyone who can help.

I think it's a great plan! My husband and I have had a lot of experience driving through SA in the last 25 years or so. The roads are pretty good, even most of the unpaved ones. I would say that the roads are of the same standard, generally, as North American or European roads. There are plenty of petrol stations and garages. The road signs are the same ones used in Europe; if you are familiar with those, you'll have no trouble. If not, you can find those signs on the web somewhere, I'm sure, and in most map books.

Speaking of maps, Jim and I have found that you need more than one. Sometimes road numbers change, and the map and the sign aren't in agreement. Having two maps makes it easier to check that you're really where you think you are. Also, some towns are undergoing name changes and two maps give you a better shot at knowing what's where. Our favorite maps are (for single maps) the fold-out ones published by the government and called variously, Explore South Africa Fold-Out Map, or South Africa Map of Our World in One Country (depending on the year the map was published). I think you can get these from Satour offices. But what we find most useful are map books. Our very favorite is the Shell Road Atlas of Southern Africa, published about a zillion years ago. We haven't been able to find a recent one, so we supplement it with the ones published by Map Studio, and most recently, the Sunbird Touring Atlas of South Africa. We always take at least two of these, plus one of the Satour fold-outs. I don't know if you can find these map books outside of SA. We never have been able to, so when we need a new one, we stop at the CNA bookstore in the airport on arrival in SA, or at a CNA near our hotel the first day. In choosing which of all the good brands to buy, we try to check whether the index is comprehensive, whether the city and area maps are of a scale that is useful, and whether it covers all the places we intend to go. If you belong to AAA (or is it AA in Canada?), your membership is honored at AA in South Africa. AA will give you maps, but check them against the map book. AA will make hotel reservations for you, but some of their hotel choices are pretty dicey; I'd say make them yourself over the web, or through the tourist offices in the towns you visit. The national, provincial, and city & area tourist offices are uniformly helpful.

There are many good guidebooks for South Africa. The one I like best for the kind of trip you're contemplating is the Footprint South Africa Handbook. It covers all the areas of South Africa, arranged in the order they occur along the roads. All towns and places of interest are covered rather than just the main tourist centers. This makes it really useful when you're planning your routes; if you'll be stopping overnight in some out of the way place, you can look up what's interesting nearby. I like to read several guide books at home in advance to get a general idea of what we want to see and do, and then use the Footprint to make detailed plans. I take the Footprint with us and leave the others at home.

I'm jealous of the length of your trip! Our last few have been only about three weeks long. You'll really have time to get to know and love South Africa!

Celia

Thanks so much for the map information, Celia. We ran into the same sort of problem with town names in Costa Rica, and sometimes it was a real puzzle trying to sort it out. I'll see if I can find one of the maps you mentioned ahead of time, and the others when we get there. Also, I'll look for the Footprints guide. Currently, I have Frommer's and Lonely Planet. I was thinking we should join CAA before going, and you've confirmed for me that it would be a good idea. Thanks, again.

Hi Dauber2,
I live in Johannesburg and have done a lot of travelling through not only South Africa, but the entire southern African region. You should not have a problem and your route is fine. As you plan to go up around the coast on the way north, you could return along an inland route. Both ways there is plenty to see and do and really it depends upon your interests as to where you will spend the most time. I find it difficult to give you a detailed answer - there are so many places that are of interest. Read up on the country first and then start asking about specific areas.
Starting in Cape Town you would be driving along the Garden Route to Port Elizabeth and then through the "frontier territory" to East London. From there the lovely, but raw Transkei followed by the south coast of KZN, Durban and the North coast of KZN. Straight up through Swaziland to Kruger. West through the scenic Mpumalanga escarpment to the industrial and commercial hub of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Head south again to the Drakensberg and Lesotho, then go west through Bloemfontein to the diamond city of Kimberley. Head back to Cape Town through the semi-desert area of the Karoo. Before getting to Cape Town turn up north-west to Ceres and the Cederberg mountains, then across to the west coast before heading back to Cape Town.
It will be a long trip. Cape Town to Durban is about 1400km; Durban to Kruger Park about 600; Kruger to Johannesburg about 500; Johannesburg to Cape Town (direct route) about 1400. Reckon on doing double that total distance. But it is really not as bad as it seems because in most areas one can average 100km per hour. If you start running out of time, remember that, at worst, you can get back to Cape Town from Johannesburg in 14 hours.
One thing to bear in mind - although we make extensive use of credit cards, not only for the drawing of cash, but also for the purchase of goods and services, the one thing you will not be able to buy with a credit card in South Arica is fuel. For that you as a visitor will need hard cash.
One other thing - be wary of the Easter week-end and the school holidays. I do not have the dates available now, but especially over Easter, holiday places tend to fill up. Try to make advance reservations for Hluhluwe and especially for Kruger. Check the web-site www.Sanparks.org.
You are sure to have a wonderful trip.
Enjoy.
Rudi

Thanks for the itinerary ideas, Rudy. The distance doesn't seem so bad, as we will sometimes try to cover 800 km or more in a day when just going from point A to point B in this big country of ours. I don't expect to do that in SA though! How is the availability of ATMs outside of the cities? Also, should we go to Lesotho and Swaziland, and if so, will there be a problem going there with a rental car?
Penny (Dauber2)

Hi Penny,
I don't often draw money other than in the city - I use my card to pay for virtually everything. I very seldom have more than about R50 on me and often only have some loose change with which to tip official (and unofficial) parking attendants (at R2 a time)and garage pump attendants (anything up to R5). But on the odd occasion when I have had to draw money I have always been able to find an ATM even in small towns. If the town is big enough to have a bank, it will usually have an ATM. Visa and Mastercard are the most commonly used cards. Diners Club and American Express and not popular as their commission charges are somewhat higher.
When you rent the car inform the hire company that you want to take the vehicle across the border into Swaziland and Lesotho (Namibia and Botswana should not be a problem either), although Zimbabwe might not be permitted. The hire company will have to give you the registration papers and a letter authorising you to take it across the borders. At the borders you may (or may not) be asked to produce those papers.
Check the small print on your rental contract in respect of driving on unsurfaced roads. The insurance can get sticky if you have an accident on a gravel road. Ask for clarification from the hire company before you sign the contract.
A standard 1600cc saloon car should be big enough, but make sure you have air conditioning and that your rental contract allows unlimited mileage. Your vehicle will have a stick shift, so start practicing.
Rudi

How exciting!

My husband and I spent 5 weeks self-driving in South Africa in May/ June 2004 and absolutely loved it.

This thread includes my trip report (plus a briefer itinerary nearer the bottom) which might be of interest.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34511049

As we went on to a luxury fly-in safari in Botswana (and touching on Namibia) after these 5 weeks I had the travel agent for that segment book the flights for the whole trip including the internal flights between Port Elizabeth and Durban - my research lead me to decide that the length of time it would take to drive the Wild Coast was longer than it merited according to our preferences.

I booked all of our guest house accommodation myself after some considerable research on the net. I used a variety of sites (including Portfolio Collections) to create a list of potential places in each location and then wrote a personal email to each one directly (having tracked down their direct websites and email addresses) to negotiate discounts on their regular rates because of the low season. I was able to secure some fantastic discounts this way and, since I enjoyed it anyway, it was well worth the effort to me. I booked self-catering accommodations in the game parks directly with either SAN Parks (Addo, Kruger and Ithala) or KZN Wildlife (Imfolozi). For Hluwhluwe I felt that the government rest camp, Hilltop, was too expensive and opted instead for self catering at Ubizane just outside the park. In Ndumo, the government rest camp was listed as temporarily closed (on the KZN website) at the time when I was planning our visit so we decided to splash out and stayed at a fully-inclusive private camp for that one destination - Wilderness Safari's Ndumu Camp, which is now closed.

Photos of some of the accommodations can be found here (where I've loaded them in readiness for Julian's project to create an accommodation photography library):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kavey/s...7594165960597/

Please let me know if I can help any further and you are always welcome to drop an email if there's anything you'd rather not post here, for any reason.

Kavey

As an Ontarian who has been to SA twice, I would recommend against using a travel agent. The first time I went, I booked a trip with Tourcan and the service was great, but they charged a hefty markup on everything. The second time, I planned/booked everything myself with relative ease. Try using South African websites such as www.avis.co.za or www.sa-venues.co.za (or go to www.google.co.za and search for 'accomodation', 'car rental', etc.)
In my opinion, the roads in urban and suburban areas are better in SA (Cape Town at least) than Canada... I'm not so sure about more remote roads, but it shouldn't be a problem.
The drive from Johannesburg to Cape Town is reputedly quite boring so I would maybe suggest plowing through the dreadful part as your body acclimatizes, so that you can more fully enjoy the trek from Jo'burg to Cape Town along the coast. Whichever way you go, 6-8 weeks is a very good amount of time to spend on the route. Many people will recommend the usual winelands/Garden Route /Addo / Durban/ Drakensberg/ Kruger itinerary, but I would recommend also spending some time in the Transkei.

Chris from Ontario:
Did you book your flight the second time on the internet, or by phone, and with which website or agency? What airline did you fly? I plan to book all the land stuff - car, accommodation, etc. - by myself, but I'd like to talk about the flight options and prices, with or without stopover somewhere in Europe, with an actual person, I think. Then, I might book it myself, especially if I decide against a stopover. Any suggestions?

In South Africa it is cheaper to hire a car through a travel agent, rather than going direct to the car hire firm. The travel agents get far better rates than you or I can and this gets passed on to you. I have had this info from both Avis and Imperial car hire here locally. What deals you would get in your countries, or as a foreigner in this country I cannot say, but I think it is worth making a comparison.

Dauber - We just returned from a week driving in Northeastern South Africa (after 2 weeks on safari in Zambia). We loved the "self-drive" part of our trip, although there were a couple of our segments that we would shorten up if we had it to do over again. About 4 hours in the car in any one day is all we really enjoy - after that it becomes an "are we there yet" sort of thing. We rented our car at the J'burg airport from Dollar, got a midsize (I thnk it was a Nissan Almera 4 door, auto, air, etc.). Got a good rate, unlimited mileage. We drove (with stops) south to Durban and then north to St. Lucia World Heritage national park, then came back to J'burg via a northwesterly route. If you're interested, I can tell the roads, etc. We drove thrugh Hsuhslue Imfolozi and it was fabulous. We saw elephants, many giraffe, zebra, warthogs, white rhino, nyala, wildebeest, baboons and lots of birds and lovely scenery, up close to the car (sometimes almost too close!). We stayed at a really nice guest house in St. Lucia with a great pool, gardens, outdoor and indoor dining and very nice hosts (who also have a good size boat and will take you out fishing if you are interested); the guesthouse is called Africa Ambience. St. Lucia Wildlife Park is another self-drive which was very enjoyable, although not as easy to see animals. There is also the estuary area with many hippos and nile crocs, and very nice beaches, especially about 30 kilometres north on a paved road at Cape Vidal. We also stayed at Cleopatra Mountain Farm near Mooie River (between J'burg and Durban) which was a wonderful place with a card-carrying gourmet chef and a wine cellar to die for, if you want one night or so to spoil yourself with a 5-course meal that costs about half what it would cost in the U.S. and looks and tastes like a 5-star restaurant in New York City would put together. Cleopatra is located in the Drakensburg, which is extremely scenic and has a lot of hiking, streams and rivers, mountains, etc. Another place we stayed on our way back to J'burg was Dusk to Dawn, which is a farm stay. The food was good, hosts were nice, the room we was a suite; only downside was a TV that we couldn't figure out how to change channels on, and all we could get was an Africaans station! I'm sure if we'd been there longer we could have figured it out!

I agree with the other posters that the roads in South Africa are great. We had a few places where we had delays of up to 20 minutes where they were doing roadwork, but other than that (and the fact that everyone seems to drive really fast), we had no driving problems at all. Let me know if you want any additional info, or websites for the places we stayed. Have fun planning your trip - you're going to love Africa. Sharon