Trip extension from Cape town
 

My family will be in Cape Town for two weeks with a family reunion and I would like to extend our trip another 2 to 5 days to see more animals or culture. We are going to anguille reserve for two days but I was thinking this is not much considering its our first Africa visit. Can someone suggest an extension trip for myself that does not require flying maybe another reserve in the area or even some other unique experience. We will be there at the end of August Thanks

Do you mean Aquilla ? For a true safari experience you need to visit the Eastern Cape or Kruger, the Western Cape is not a natural habitat for majority of animals, some would say places like Aquilla are manufactured.

Here's a list to look at http://goafrica.about.com/od/capetow...arcapetown.htm

About an hour from Cape Town is a conservation place called Wiesenhof, if you have a vehicle you arrive by 10am & follow the truck that feeds the animals. http://www.legacyparks.co.za/parks/

Sanbona is a better alternative to Aquilla but as braaiseason says, Western Cape is not really a natural habitat for wild animals. With a 5 day extension, you have enough time to drive to Addo in the Eastern Cape - you will have some great game viewing there. You can either stay in the park (look at the Sanparks website) or in B&B's around there. As Addo is a national park it is incredibly well priced. If you are looking for more upmarket accommodation then places like Shamwari and Kwandwe can offer you that.

Sadly I would not recommend Aquila, if you don't want to fly, why not drive and explore The Garden Route taking the R62 from the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape to a game reserve such as Kwandwe. You could overnight in delightful country towns en route such at Montagu (7 Church Street a lovely guest house) or Swellendam (Augusta De Mist another great little property) then head to Knysna (staying at somewhere like Leisure Isle Lodge) and then on to Port Elizabeth and choose depending on budget a safari experience in that area. Why not consult an expert such as Marianne Schaubeck at Reservations Africa who knows all the little special places to stay and you can contact her with confidence on Tel. 1-888-8915111/www.reservations.com
Lew - Cape Town

Apologies that website should have read - www.reservationsafrica.com!

Why not drive a couple of hours up the west coast to West Coast National Park? At the end of August the wildflowers will probably be out - nothing short of stunning. Spend the night in Paternoster, eat fresh fish. Marvelous.

Paternoster - http://gardyloo.us/aug24b%20016s.JPG and http://gardyloo.us/aug24b%20026s.JPG

West Coast NP - http://gardyloo.us/aug24b%20044s.JPG and http://gardyloo.us/aug24b%20066s.JPG

http://www.sanparks.org/parks/west_coast/default.php

We stayed at Shamwari reserve a couple of years ago in the PE area. I can thoroughly recommend it for the experience, whether people think it's manufactured or not.

You should fly up to PE and the people from Shamwari will pick you up at the airport for a 45 minute drive.