Elaine22

From the standpoint of personal security, is it advisable to tour in and around Cape Town with my husband to places like the waterfront, Table Mountain, Robben Island, Cape Point and Simon's Town, and also to drive to the Stellenbosch/Franschoeck area? I am not a fan of organized group touring, but I am a huge fan of personal safety. A personal guide would, of course, be ideal, but would probably be cost prohibitive.

Chris80

You don't have to worry about safety if you visit the tourist spots in and around Cape Town. Just use your common sense and don't display any valuables.
It wouldn't be a problem to rent a car and self-drive to the places of interest. Thousands of tourists do that every year without any problems whatsoever. And you have much more freedom than if you go with a tour.
There is also various tour operators in Cape Town that offer day tours to the Winelands, Cape Point, etc.

mpkp

Just my two cents but if you can afford to tour with Selwyn and he is available do it! I did not find the cost to be too much and there were so many benefits. Remember you save the cost of the car rental and gas and any concerns about being held responsible for damage.

First we enjoyed being with him immensely.

Second we could relax because he knew where he was going and what to see. We did not waste time getting lost or going somewhere that wasn't interesting. And my husband -- who would have been the driver -- got to see where we were and enjoy it.

Third because he knows the area so well, he might come up with things you never heard of but you love.

Fourth, the weather for Table Mountain broke for maybe an hour when we were with him. Because we were with a licensed guide, we did not have to wait on lines to purchase tickets and we gotr up on top more quickly so we did get to see it. Had we have to wait on line, the clouds would have been there when we got on top.

Fifth -- he works hard to make sure the time is well spent doing the things that interest you. Everybody likes to do different things and he spends time ahead of your trip finding out about you so that the tour is not a canned tour but geared just for you.

I thought he was reasonably priced in 2005 when we did this and I only wish he were going to be there this year when we come but that is not to be. He will be out of the country.

Elaine22

You give five good reasons for having a personal guide, especially the second one. I'll have to find out Selwyn's fee. I don't want to be embarrassed, though, if we end up going it alone after all.

Is it often cloudy on Table Mountain at the end of January?

Mohammed

Hope it works out for you Elaine. I have booked up with him for our forthcoming family trip....

droyce

My wife and I are going to Capetown April 19th, staying for 4 days. We too don't particulary like organized tours but I like the idea of a guide while in Capetown. Could you let me know how to get contact info on Selwyn or someone who may offer similar services.

We were then going to drive up the Garden Coast to Oudtshoorn. Is it a safe drive? From the map, it looks like it may take 6 or 7 hours. The second leg of our trip is to Tanzania for a safari. I was looking for suggestions on how to handle packing for a tenting safari. Any advice?

Chris80

I don't know how to get in contact with Selwyn, but I'm sure someone else here can help you.
Another tour company that gets recommended quite often is http://hyltonross.com/
Maybe you can give them a try if Selwyn is not free.
Driving along the Garden Route is safe. Cape Town to Oudtshoorn is about 420km, so I'd say 4-5 hours and you are there. But you should definitely stop along the Garden Route and stay one or two nights in one of the many lovely towns.

christineB

Hello, My daughter and I just returned from Cape Town and we did it all without a guide. We travel extensively and felt very safe in Cape Town. We had no problem with the rental car. The roads in Capetown are a bit crazy not as far as safety but with all the round-abouts and the robots (that's what they call traffic signals). You can ask people how to get around but with a map you'll figure it out after a day or so. It's not that big. My only advice would be not to walk around after dark. Driving is fine if you're going from here to there and you know where you're going but I would try to be home from your daily excursions by sunset to enjoy a glass of wine or to end up somewhere that you can get back to your hotel easily from. We liked sunset at the Raddison as it was fairly close to our hotel and had convenient secure underground parking. We also had a lovely Sunset in Camp's Bay and that was an easy trip over the hill to our Hotel. We stayed at the Protea Victoria Junction which was much more reasonable than some of the places directly on the waterfront and only a 10 minute walk. It was also more centrally located to other attractions. They had underground secure parking (this means with a guard for about $6 a night) as you'll find most of the lots have them. We loved Cafe Africa for dinner and the tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel and lunch at Constantia Uitsig (sp?) vineyard just outside of town. We were glad our hotel arranged for Robben Island (amazing) in advance as they were turning people away when we got there.

For personal safety it was no problem. Johannesburg on the other hand, we went on guided tours (which I also don't like) and it was fine.

Cape Town was magnificent.

We also drove to Franschhoek and stayed at the Klein Oliphants house and that was lovely. We ate at La Petite Ferme and it was delicious and had a beautiful view (book ahead ask for window seat). I preferred Franschhoek to Stellenbosch. We enjoyed stopping at the museum in Stellendam on the way to break up the drive to Knynsa where we stayed at the Overmeer Guest house which was reasonable and we had a view of the lagoon which I would highly recommend for a tiny bit more (Have lunch at Ile de Pain in Thesen Island and visit the heads - drive to the top of the hill . We drove to Plettenberg Bay and had lunch on the water and stopped at the garden of Eden (little walking path on the way home). On the way home from Knysna we took route 62 and stopped in Montagu, ate at the Rambling Rose Cafe which was delicious and went to the little museum across the street which was very charming.

Back in Cape Town, we went to Table Mountain on a beautiful day (Easter Monday) but the lines were so long we went back earlier (at 8am) the next day and went right up. We had booked Robben Island for 1pm so that worked out well with time to go to the Waterfront for lunch before. (We left our car at the hotel and walked down as parking seemed a bit hectic). I love to do the research ahead of time and be my own tourguide whenever possible. We enjoyed using Fodor's guide which was very good as well as their "See it" and "Exploring" South Africa Guides which I got from the Library. The latter two are more pictorial which was a great way to preview sights.

Enjoy!

-Christine

KIBOKO

Selwyn has a web site I Love Cape Town. His email is [email protected]

Poppins

You can also try Charlie Ratcliffe. He is a superb guide and works in the same way as Selwyn. [email protected]

Gritty

You can certainly tour the areas of Cape Town that you described without a guide. As others have said, Cape Town is slightly challenging to navigate by car, but I managed to do so and really enjoyed driving there after I got used to it. I even had to drive a minivan for a couple of hours--it was the only vehicle with an automatic transmission that the car rental company had when I arrived!

Of course, a good personal guide might also help you understand the city/region better. I haven't toured with Selwyn, but I'd like to in the future. I found his website long before I knew about this forum and was impressed with the enthusiasm he conveyed on it.

annhig

Hi Elaine,

it's impossible not to have qualms isn't it, with all the stories that people are keen to tell you about a "friend of a friend".

but like the other posters here, we and our kids survived a whole 12 days in SA, including 4 in CPT without mishap. people were almost unfailingly friendly and helpful. [I'm excluding the car-hire manager who was MOST unhelpful when we had a flat on our first day but that's another story].

the only real precaution we took was not to drive around at night - we just got a taxi. they are very cheap - the equivalent of £5 from the Raddison to the Waterfront and back.

have a great trip,

regards, ann

africanj

Since you have never been to South Africa before and will not have enough time to see everything you of course have to be very selective.
There are limited hours in a day and you cannot see everything. The two things, for starters, that you have to ensure is that you are not travelling in a coach (if you hate the group thing) and that you do "full day" tours and not half days.

Now, "in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king."
No matter where you are taken around the country you are going to be facinated etc. etc....unless you have a very very bad experience or you are one of those people who "enjoys" finding fault with everything.....
My advice would be to take a tour with an established company with a good reputation and who cannot afford to have bad publicity. If anything does go wrong it will be quickly and effectively dealt with etc.
When it comes to Garden Route Tours you will save a lot of money by using a large company as they have better bargaining power at the various establishments.

Some of the big establishments have been mentioned. Here is the contact details of Springbok Atlas Tours, another very good touring company.


[email protected]

Arielle

We just returned from 2 weeks in SA less than a week ago and I will add my 2 cents worth here! Cape Town is relatively safe as long as you are careful - especially after dark. The hotel we stayed at is 2 blocks away from the V&A waterfront and we walked there, but the personnel at the hotel strongly suggested we take a taxi back. We found the taxi's to be expensive - not inexpensive as stated here. We were charged over $5.00 for this 2-3 minute ride. We had a wonderful guide for a full day who was more like a friend than a hired guide. Luckily, we went to Table Mountain on a gorgeous, clear, sunny morning and got right up. Spectacular! Graham (our guide) had purchased (as a gift!) advance tickets to Robben Island as he didn't want us to be disappointed if we couldn't get in. We also used the on/off bus tour of Cape Town which is a great way to visit various sights in the city. We are uncomfortable driving in foreign countries - especially driving on the left side of the road, so we relied on walking (which we love to do anyway) a lot. We hired a transfer service for a day trip to the Winelands where we did a 4 hour wine tasting on horseback - it was awesome! We took taxis to dinner and for some reason, since we were traveling further, the rates were a bit less. Go figure! Two restaurants we ate at I would highly recommend. One is Millers Thumb for seafood and the other is Bukhara for awesome Indian fare. The guide we used is Graham Haywood and we adored him. He absolutely loves Cape Town, is extremely knowledgeable about his city, and is now our new best friend. You can contact him at [email protected] or www.gtours.co.za

Hope you enjoy Cape Town as much as we did.