south african neophyte
 

HI

I am so excited I found this forum! I purchased a 6 day 6 night photo safari at Zulu Nyala private game reserve near Hluhluwe at an auction. I'm trying to figure out when the best time to visit ZN and where else I should plan to go in South Africa. I'm leaning toward cape town and wondering what the weather is like in CT in June and July.

Any suggestions, ideas would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
cecil

What activities do you have in mind for the rest of your trip?Diving/sightseeing/more safaries

cecil -

See the thread Honeymoon Questions - there is information as to the weather in SA in June/July.

It is Winter in the southern hemisphere. While game viewing is better in Winter, if you can arrange for another time so as to have better weather, it's something to think about.

Hi safarinut,

I'm thinking more of sightseeing. Based on what I've read so far, Cape Town sounds like it would be high on the list

Hello Cecil,

As far as South African cities go, Cape Town without a doubt is my favourite. However, the southwestern corner of South Africa, in which CT is situated, has a mediterranean climate. This means it has dry summers and wet winters. Sometimes you can luck out and have some nice days in CT during the winter. There was a recent post here that reported that very phenomenon. However, you absolutely cannot rely on that good luck. You very easily can run into windy, rainy, cold weather in CT during South Africa's winter (June - August). I consider it to be the worst time to visit CT, and I really don't recommend it.

In my opinion the best time to visit CT is the autumn (March-April). Usually the temperature is very pleasant, and the weather is stable.

The second best time to visit CT is the summer (December - February). It can be a little on the hot side, but it's a relatively dry heat, and I don't find it unbearable.

Spring (roughly September - November) can be absolutely lovely, but it is a little on the unstable side, and the warm weather sometimes is late in arriving (this varies greatly from year to year). I consider this to be the third best time to visit CT.

Zulu Nyala would be very hot and humid (more hot and humid than I find ideal) in summer. Winter days would be warm and dry, and winter nights would be cool and dry. Autumn and spring would be very pleasant.

If there was any way you could take your vacation in South Africa's autumn (March-April), it would be ideal. You would get the best of both worlds, in that Cape Town AND KwaZulu-Natal would be likely to have nice weather.

If you're stuck with taking your trip in June / July, I recommend leaving Cape Town out of it. In that case I suggest you resort to Plan B. (If you don't know what Plan B might look like, you could return here to discuss which place(s) would be suitable for Plan B. :) )

Hi judy and everyone else

How bad would May be for Cape Town. It looks like we probably won't be going until 2005 and are somewhat locked into time by college schedules.

And if not Capetown, then where???

Thanks
Cecil

Here's a website that provides a temperature and rainfall graph for Cape Town.

http://www.luxurytravel.com/cityguid...n/weather.html

It shows that, while temperatures are a LITTLE higher in May than they are June-August, there is as much rainfall in May as there is in July.

The website says that the refreshing seabreezes sometimes can be a little bracing during the winter. The author of those words deserves a prize for creativity. Bracing. I must remember that.

The thing about Cape Town is that it CAN have mild weather any time during its winter. However, you cannot in any way rely on that possibility.

Well, Cecil, if your work schedule ties you to the South African winter, I would recommend going to the game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal as you have planned to do, then driving northwards through the lowveld of the small country of Swaziland to another part of South Africa where the Kruger National Park is situated and doing more game viewing there. Depending on your budget, you could view game in the Kruger National Park or on one of the private game reserves nearby. All of these lowveld areas would have pleasantly warm days and cool nights in South Africa's winter.

If, however, you want to include an urban experience during your visit to South Africa, then I would include Durban. A coastal community immediately north of Durban, Umhlanga Rocks, is one of the nice places to stay in that neck of the woods.

Actually you could do the trip the other way round too. You could fly into Johannesburg, and then fly or drive to the Kruger Park area. From there you could drive through Swaziland to KwaZulu-Natal, see Zulu Nyala game reserve, and finish up your vacation in Durban. You then could exit South Africa from Durban (even if that may mean a change of planes in Johannesburg in order to catch your overseas flight).

Hope that helps.

Cecil I don't know if it will be too late for you but I'm visiting SA this May and June and am starting with 6 nights in CT in the 2nd week of May.

I'll be reporting back here on that on my return in early July.

Hi Kavey,

I look forward to reading your trip report. It looks like I won't be going to SA until 2005 so I have lots of time to continue reading this great forum and make plans.

Thanks
Diane

Hi Kavey,

I look forward to reading your trip report. It looks like I won't be going to SA until 2005 so I have lots of time to continue reading this great forum and make plans.

thanks