whereto

We are planning on flying into one city, renting a car and flying out from the other city. Which should we do first- fly into Cape Town or Port Elizabeth. Also trying to decide if it is worth it to take a few days to fly to one of the private reserves. Please help us plan, kind of confused, even after reading the guidebooks.

Karen

You do not say when you are travelling or from where which could make a difference. About the safari parks, I cannot imagine coming here and NOT seeing at least one. There are several pretty well on the way from one city to the other though so it need not be way out of your way. One that comes to mind is the Cango Wildlife Ranch - you can check it out at their site http://www.cango.co.za/ but there are others as well. What I like about this one is the fact that you can see the Bengal Tigers here. They are not from here but are a very endangered species that is not often seen anywhere else. Bye the way, if you are travelling NOW, it is after sunddown here and it is between 55F and 57F along that stretch of the Indian Ocean Coast. It is winter here right now. Hope this helps and hope you have a grand time.<BR>

Allen

I agree that it would be a great mistake to be in South Africa and not see game. Mala Mala is a wonderful, private reserve that borders Kruger National Park. In fact, the fence that separated them has been removed. Don't know when you are going but Mala Mala has the Sand River running through it so even if you go during the dry season, the animals will be there due to the river. Mala Mala has three "camps" that vary in price so will fit most budgets. (In Cape Town, be sure to see the penguins.)

Selwyn Davidowitz

Hello "whereto",<BR><BR>I would suggest that you fly in to PE and travel on to Cape Town. To do this you would have to cover the wonderful Garden Route. I would suggest that you break your journey and stay over in Knysna for a day or 2 or 3 as it can act as a wonderful pivot for you to see the surrounding areas such as Oudtshoorn, Plettenberg Bay, The Wilderness and George.<BR><BR>On your way back to Cape Town stop over in the Winelands and stay over for one night in Stellenbosch or Franschhoek before travelling on to Cape Town.<BR><BR>My reason for suggesting this route is that one should always do the Garden Route ahead of Cape Town as the journey is a crescendo of events where Cape Town is the climax. If you travel making Cape Town your first port of call then the Garden Route falls slightly flat. I am not being arrogant when I say this and please trust me on this issue. I know that most tour books will tell you differently but what these writers write about is what they hear and see all else do; what I tell you is what I have experienced over and over and if you want me too I will send you tons of names of people to contact who will tell you that what I am suggesting to you is correct in that they have experienced this already after originally wanting to go the Cape Town - PE way.<BR><BR>As far as game farms are concerned I would suggest that you go to Addo Elephant National Park (http://www2.jan.ne.jp/~kawabe/addo/addopark_e.html) Schotia Game Park (www.schotia.com) and Botlierkop Game Farm (http://www.venture-into-africa.co.za/botlierskop.html). These game farms will all be on route for you and you will via the 3 farms experience all that you need to game wise at great entrance fee prices (Addo $3, Schotia ($30) and Botlierskop ($10). Another vital function of visiting these game farms in the Eastern Cape is that they are all malaria free. Finally by going to these farms you will be able to spend more time in the biggest gem of them all viz the city of Cape Town and wont have to travel to other parts of the country if you lack time to do so.<BR><BR>If you need any further advise please feel free to write to me and I will gladly help you with no obligations whatsoever other than the fact that I insist that your enjoy my wonderful country and all that it offers people such as yourselves. )<BR><BR>Selwyn<BR><BR><BR><BR> <BR><BR><BR>

whereto

Thanks for your replies. We are planning on going sometime between late October and early December. Here goes the questions again. Are the private reserves that much better? How do you get there? How much are flights from CPT to Kruger, etc.? Or do you stopover in JHB and fly to another airport or drive? How serious is the malaria problem? Is it worth it to go to the game farms along the Cape Town - Port Elizabeth route and avoid having to take the malaria drugs? Can you still see the whales in November in the Hermanus area? Lots of questions, sorry. You guys are a big help. Thanks

Karen

First off - you are very welcome. We all would like you to have a wonderful time as I am sure you will. I agree with the lady who says start out at PE and move south. If however you are thinking of Kruger or any of the many, many private farms near it (check out the one Allan suggested at Mala Mala and there is Garonga, Kampama and Ngala to name a few and I do believe they all have excellent sites on line)- it is farther north so you may prefer to fly into Hoedspruit, take in one of those and then head south. Those months are summer months here, quite hot and the ones when the malarial areas are at their riskiest but there are good drugs you can take - see your doctor a few weeks before you leave and make sure he is up-to-date. Some have little experience with any tropical disease and are still working on the old stuff they learned in med school years ago.<BR>Are Private Game Reserves better? In some ways yes because they are smaller, you get a more personalized service, the rangers they hire know the habits of the animals who frequent their reserves and can take you right where the animals are. This is not to say the government ones are bad because they are absolutely not. One of the attracive things about S.A. is that there is a solid stand for the preservation of all wild life and private or government - they all work hard to that end.<BR>Earlier I put in a link to the Cango Ranch and Selwyn included a few good links too. My suggestion would be to check out a bunch of them in the areas you plan to see. Some are set up for romance, some for culture, some for groups and some for singles and couples. Most have excellent sites and it will also give you a chance to compare prices and you should compare prices. Selwyn noted some prices at the various ranches for you and you can see from that, that they are reasonably priced. Now you are facing the hard part - picking the ones you want

Karen

First off - you are very welcome. We all would like you to have a wonderful time as I am sure you will. I agree with Selwyn who says start out at PE and move south. If however you are thinking of Kruger or any of the many, many private farms near it (check out the one Allan suggested at Mala Mala and there is Garonga, Kampama and Ngala to name a few and I do believe they all have excellent sites on line)- it is farther north so you may prefer to fly into Hoedspruit, take in one of those and then head south. Those months are summer months here, quite hot and the ones when the malarial areas are at their riskiest but there are good drugs you can take - see your doctor a few weeks before you leave and make sure he is up-to-date. Some have little experience with any tropical disease and are still working on the old stuff they learned in med school years ago.<BR>Are Private Game Reserves better? In some ways yes because they are smaller, you get a more personalized service, the rangers they hire know the habits of the animals who frequent their reserves and can take you right where the animals are. This is not to say the government ones are bad because they are absolutely not. One of the attracive things about S.A. is that there is a solid stand for the preservation of all wild life and private or government - they all work hard to that end.<BR>Earlier I put in a link to the Cango Ranch and Selwyn included a few good links too. My suggestion would be to check out a bunch of them in the areas you plan to see. Some are set up for romance, some for culture, some for groups and some for singles and couples. Most have excellent sites and it will also give you a chance to compare prices and you should compare prices. Selwyn noted some prices at the various ranches for you and you can see from that, that they are reasonably priced. Now you are facing the hard part - picking the ones you want About the airfare - perhaps one of the others knows about them for individuals - we use a charter service which is probably structured differently but I doubt if they are expensive especially if you are from Europe or North America. Exchange rate is very nice for travellers from there right now.<BR>Karen

Selwyn Davidowitz

Hello Whereto,<BR><BR>Karen's advise to you is absolutely brilliant. She has summarised all fantastically to you and as she says "now you have to make the choices"<BR><BR>One point to add is that is that it is unlikely that you would see whales on the Western Cape coastline in November as most of them have migrated back home at that stage. The only solution that I can give you in terms of seeing these wonderful mammals at places like Hermanus and Gansbaai is to come back to our wonderful land once again after this journey. )<BR><BR>Have a great stay in our great country.<BR><BR>Selwyn Davidowitz<BR><BR>