atravelynn

Fabio's plan is a winner. Hope DH will buy it.

hills27

Jasperti, you crack me up. You just went from no days outside of safari to six days, leaving you just 3 days on safari (I believe you said you only had two weeks including travel).

LAleslie

Or, editing Fabio's itinerary a bit. Spend 4 nights in Cape Town (using one day as a day trip to drive around the Western Cape towns and Cape of Good Hope), then spend 2 nights in the gorgeous Winelands area nearby for tastings and great dining, if you're into that. I would definitely splurge on a Sabi Sands game lodge for 3 nights if you can afford it (Londolozi and Mala Mala offering the most guaranteed chances of seeing a wide array of animals).
Leslie

jaspertl

hills....I told you I was flexible ;0)
I'm so excited about all the help you guys are giving me, I'm open to most everything...I'm going to do a hard sell tomorrow night.

But really, doesn't that compute?
If we have 14-15 days of time including travel..
3 nights olifants I(lets say)
3 nights elephant plains
4-5 nights cape town & vicinity?

that would leave us 4 days of travel there and home..(is that what we would need from CA?)
Is that not correct???

hills27

I'd keep Capetown at four days, just so you have one day at home to rest before you have to go back to work. Or else, try to schedule your two weeks right before a holiday weekend, so you have an extra free day off to recover.

atravelynn

4 days of flights is right. You are traveling about 30 hours each way.

Here are some South Africa Air flights.

Leave LAX at 7:50 am and get to Cape Town at 7:10 pm the next day. 2 days

This assumes you can get to the airport before 6 a.m. that first morning. You may be up in the middle of the night to do so.

Leave Joburg 6:50 pm and get to LAX the next day at 11:49 am. 2 days

HariS

Hi Tom,

Yes....been to Fullerton, but on work. Stayed at that four points sheraton. It is not too far away from that mammoth gym (cant remember the name of it)

Hari

cary999

Hari, next time you are in Fullerton let me know and we'll have lunch.
regards - tom

Fabio

jaspertl

Well you actually do not need to rent the car since the beginning for the first 3 days in Cape Town, but then, I agree with LAleslie,you may also extend the stay in Cape Town as hotel based place doing day trips from the 4th day by car to Good Hope, the Winelands etc.. good idea !

HariS

Thanks, Tom....will do!

Hari

mytmoss

My ex wife and I agreed one one thing on my first trip to South Africa. Since we live in California she said "I am not not flying 10,000 miles to see cities, beaches or wineries, we have them in California" I think she is 100% correct, fly to SA and do things you cannot do in the states. So every time I go its about the animals, not too many lions and leopards in California.
Mike

atravelynn

But there are the penguins, Great White Sharks, and baboons in Cape Town. All will play a prominent role in my visit.

LAleslie

Not to mention the center of the whale migration, nearby Hermanus, in Sept/Oct. I could agree about the beaches, but being in a completley different culture, the cities offer a unique non-American experience, and the wineries and restaurants are also different. Don't know about you, but I've never seen kudu on the menu in a Calif. restaurant.

moremiles

And flamingos! We saw quite a few on our visit to Cape Town. It's such an interesting city with the great mix of cultures, cuisines and architecture-we didn't feel 4nts in the city, 2nts in the winelands was enough.

jaspertl

OK...heres the latest...just back from Casa Vega, my favorite mexican restaurant and energized by margies with dinner...
Everyone is on board (I was SO persuasive and loaded for bear with all your posts) with 4 nights in Cape Town (would love to do the shark cage experience) and 4-5 nights at elephant plains...
here's the new info...they have brought up going to botswana and victoria falls.
This throws a screw in the works for sure as I have no idea about Botswana except that I've heard that it's very expensive and the game viewing is not superior to South Africa.
As far as Victoria, we were in Argentina/Brazil a few months ago and experienced Iguazu Falls which was amazing...I don't know that I need to travel to Botswana to see another waterfall and game viewing that is similar especially with our 14-16 days of vacation time constraints. s(that sounds horrible...I'm sure It's beautiful but please understand where it's coming from)

It doesn't compute...4 nights in Capetown. 4-5 nights in Sabi Sands. 4 travel days. We don't have time for Botwana correct?

Your thoughts please???

hills27

I'm going to South Africa in August for 2 1/2 weeks, and we had a similar decision to make. But we finally decided we didn't have enough time to add Zambia and Victoria Falls. The logistics were crazy, lots of wasted time to and from JNB (we couldn't get from Sabi Sands to VF without overnighting in JNB), and the return from Zambia (back through Livingstone) would have wasted another entire day. I imagine Bostwana would present similar issues.

Not to mention, it was very expensive. It would have increased our budget by 50%. So we decided to pass and hit VF the next time.

jaspertl

hills! Thanks for that. I feel that at this point to try and add botsawna onto our intinerary would be to much with not enough time.
I don't want this to be a forced march!!!!

And I know from reading this board that Botswana is very pricey...budget is definitely an issue :0(

cary999

Next time you meet with them, before the pitcher of Margaritas arrives, see if they can understand how to count days. You can do it on both hands, no toes required. Ten fingers, that is how many days you have for sight seeing.
regards - tom

Fabio

jaspertl

In which month will you be travelling to SA ?
We are also on the budget and we decided to save Vic Falls and Botswana for the next trip, june 2008, while we will stay in Kruger/Sabi Sands this june 2007.

Yes, Botswana seems to be more expensive and you also have to add private air transfers to the remote lodges in the Okavango Delta, Moremi etc..

In addition I have read some posts where tavellers were a bit disappointed by Vic falls when travelling too late in the dry season july-october whene the water level is at the minimum ! And as far as I have learned till now, the best period for Vic Falls would be march to june latest, but probably many others here have different opinions. Unfortunately I cannot travel there before june due to scheduled school vacations here in Italy.

You will love SA and this will push you to come back more than one time, so also my suggestion is to save Bots and Falls for another trip !

atravelynn

I love Botswana. Three visits to Vic Falls in the dry season have always produced enough of a waterfall to impress me. So Victoria Falls and Botswana are a great combo.

Still, I'd say don't go there. You have enough with South Africa. Fortunately or unfortunately you have the argument of too high of cost on your side to disuade the others from adding Botswana and Vic Falls. Though Vic Falls is not that costly compared to Botswana, you can at least mention the cost of the flights.

And use the term "forced march" a lot. That's a good one.