South Africa Itinerary
 

Hi all,
Looks like our trip is finally getting locked down for late Sept! This one has been trickier than Tanzania as we are combining city and winelands with safari. We weren't able to get exactly everything we wanted, but am thrilled we are ending with 3 nights at Rattray's at Mala Mala. Cheetah's, Leopards and hopefully wild dogs are at the top of our list this time...and penguins and whales! So far it looks like:

5 nights in Phinda between Mountain and Forest
2 nights Rocktail Bay Lodge to snorkel
3 nights at Rattrays
flight from Kruger to Cape Town and picking up a rental
2 nights at Ocean's Eleven in Hermanus for the whale migration
2 nights at Mont Rochelle Hotel and vineyard to indulge our sense of taste
4 nights in Cape Town - struggling now between Alta Bay hotel, Derwent House and 79 on Orange-so if anyone has stayed at either, would love to hear. Can't wait to see the penguins!

If anyone has suggestions for Capetown or has used any of the whale watching companies, I would appreciate insights.

thanks
Nancie

What's a Whale Migration?

The Southern Right Whales migrate along the coast of South Africa to Antartica waters. Hermanus is a recommended spot to enjoy this-even from land. You can read more about it here if interested http://www.whaleroute.com/areas/southafrica/index.htm
http://www.windsorhotel.co.za/whaleview.html

Nancie

Have a great trip.

Those of us who live nearby to Hermanus call it Whale Watching, the whales are here from late June until November. Ok they move around the bat and perhaps up and down the coast a bit but they are here for this long period it is not a migration.
Do not bother with boat based whale watching you can see them easily from the promenade , harbour etc or very close if you do not mind a rock scramble.

In Cape Town, we stayed at Stillness Manor & Spa in the Constantia Valley and were about 15-20 minutes from the penguins. We saw whales 10 minutes from the hotel in a place called Noordhoek which had a fantastic 14km long beach where we picnicked. We went to Hermanus for the day, saw more whales but were happy we did not bother to overnight there as there is not much else to do.
In Muizenberg (also 10 minutes from that hotel), we also were present when they sounded the alarm and told people that Great Whites had been spotted. We went up the mountain road (B-something Drive) where they had a psotter and he pointed them out in the distance but we could not see much. But we later got to see schools of dolphins and that was awesome. Peter

Sounds like a great trip! You get to do a little of everything...epic for sure:)

Boyes Drive... what a wonderful piece of the Cape that is:

Your comment reminded me of my youth. when after a long dive for "Kreef" & "Perlemoen", (lobster and abalone)
in the icy waters off the peninsula, we'd by a bunny chow from a cafe in kalk bay, then head up the drive and stop at the pull over where the water weeps out of the mountain into a storm drain and watch as the whales breached and the dolphins bobbed by......

That was a nice memory, thanks...

back to work.

Peter
THanks for the insights, We still have time to move things around (other than the safari) so I will try to get some more insights as to whether Hermanus is worth the stay. Part of the reason was we were told it is a great drive up and you can take a lot of time doing it if you are interested in the scenery. We didn't want to have to drive back down again the same day if we were tired. But I have been feeling like the time in cape town is actually too short and we are moving too much, so I will think on that.

I welcome any other insights as. As for the whales, well what can I say, PBS Nature referred to it as a migration, i guess because there are 6 months of the year where they go somewhere else?

thanks again-always great to get experienced feedback.

Nancie

According to Wikipedia, they spend the summer months close to Antarctica feeding. During the winter months, they head north for calving.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_whale

hi nanciej,

i like your idea of staying in CPT for longer and doing Hermanus as a day trip - it's really not very far.

we had 4 nights/3 full days in CPT last july, and it was barely long enough. on the day we left, we drove up to the winelends via spier [and spent about 1 1/2 hours there] carried on to Franschoek via Stellenbosch and had a nice lazy lunch there, then drove south through the mountains down to Hermanus, where we spent about an hour watching whales from the shore.

then finally we finished at Grootbos - at least another hour's drive further on - arriving by nightfall [6pm].

and none of this felt rushed or difficult to do.

the advantage of taknig a boat trip over watching from the shore is thta in theory they shoudl get you closer. However, conervation rules quite rightly prevent the boats going too close to the whales and limit the time they can slend with any one inidividula or group to 20 minutes.

with good binoculars, shore observations might well be just as good if not better than the boats, and definitely cheaper.

if you just did Hermanus as a day trip or "en route" to the winelands you could give yourselves and extra night in each, or two extra in CPT.

whatever you do, make sure that you have enough time to

a)get up table mountain on a clear day, and

b)take a day trip down to the cape itself - via boulders beach for the penguins.

another highlight for us was/were? Kirstenbosch gardens - in sept, they should be even better than in July.

also in sept, the flowers in Namamqualand may be open - if they are, they would definitely be worth the trip - even an overnight stay. there is even a flower hotline at www.travel.iafrica.com/floweroute.

I'm sure you'll have a great trip,

regards, ann

If you are based in Hermanus for more that a day you can go and see where many of the best SA wines are made, Hemel en Aarde, Stanford, Elim etc etc. and if you go to Elim carry on to Agulhas the southern most point of Africa. This is also where the Indian and Atlantic actually meet, do not believe what you read elsewhere.

This is really great. Thanks again as I certainly have time to change the non-safari plans. Ann, I am certainly considering adding the days in CT as I was already feeling this was rushed. I feel like 2 days in Franschoek will be good-if we feel we haven't seen(sampled!) enough, we can do a day trip!

I had heard that Simon's Town is the best place to see the Penguins, but, please, if I am incorrect, enlighten my penguin path.

Can someone elaborate on the Boyes Drive comment...haven't found that in my books...

and thanks again.
nancie

hi nancie,

yep, simonstown is the place for penguins - what I gave is the name of the beach, or rather beaches where they nest, swim, waddle, etc.

it is accessed on the left side of the road just to the south side of simonstown - and very badly signposted.

thinking about a possible itinerary,
if you were interested in the flowers, you could drive north from CPT, stay a night in Namaqualand, then drive southeast to the winelands, stay there two nights, and back to CPT via Hermanus.

that would give you another night in CPT proper.

we never got there, but the mountains to the north of Paarl look very interesting. you could drive through them on your way to Franschoek. if you search this forum for "winelands", you will find a lot of info on the different wineries you can visit. some are just tastings, others like spier have restaurants too.

have a great trip,

regards, ann