My adult son and I will be travelling to Southern Africa next year, for about two weeks. We would like to visit Capetown, Victoria Falls, and then do some safaris in Botswana (including the Okavango Delta) and Namibia (including the sand dunes). I have found the prices for the lodges to be very high. Can anyone suggest reasonably-priced lodges in those two countries, and suggest the best time of year to go? We were thinking of August, September, or October. Also, how do you get from one place to the other? We prefer to travel independently. Thank you in advance.

You can certainly travel independently, not a group tour, but strongly suggest you work with an tour outfitter to coordinate transport to/from and between these areas/countries, along with being able to recommend lodging to meet your budget, but do know that Botswana is generally very expensive.

Also, transport by air can be expensive with limited schedules compared to hourly shuttles we're accustomed to on various routes here in the States, i.e., CPT to WDH/Windouk, Namibia; air or road transport to/from the Dunes; back to WDH for flight to Maun/Bostwana for Okavango (with flights to/from camps); flight to Vic Falls and back to JNB or CPT for homebound.

While these places look close on a map, they're not, besides the many border crossings. Self-drive is always an option, depending on how adventurous you are.

You can contact: Go2Africa, Plus Africa (both South Africa based); Cardboard Box (in Namibia). There are many more, which others might recommend. If you wish to use a company based in the States, consider: Africa Travel (somewhere in the LA area); Eyes on Africa (Chicago), Premier Tours (Philadelphia)... and many others.

Good luck!

2 weeks for that routing is possible but will just scratch on each destination a bit.

Generally I would fly in Oct which I consider the best months for all 4 destinations.

You need 3 nights CPT, 3 nights the Delta, 2 nights the Dunes, 2 nights max. in Livingstone/Zambia for the Falls or Victoria Falls/Zimbabwe which is only 30 mins. more driving time and easily doable coming from the Delta.

Day 1 fly into CPT
2 CPT
3 CPT
Day 4 CPT-Windhoek and fly/drive to Namib Rand Reserve for
Sand dunes visit
5 Sand dunes
Day 6 Fly to either Zam/Zim
7 Vic Falls visit
Day 8 Drive from ZAM/ZIM to Kasane and stay in a lodge in
Chobe NP (Elephants etc)
9 Chobe
10 Chobe
Day11 Fly Kasane to the Delta
12 Delta Camp
13 Delta Camp
14 Delta Camp
Day15 fly Maun-JNB for outbound

Another option would be to stay at Matetsi Water Lodge (45 mins. from Victoria Falls) before heading for Botswana.
They also do game drives in Chobe.

Knowing the budget would help.

You can book via a good Travel agents in the States who will also arrange all transfers

Or you can request an initial quote www.andBeyond.com - they can also arrange all the transfers/flights....

As a rule of thumb you should be prepared to at least spend 500US$pppd - without long-haul and intl. flights CPT-WDH//WDH-LIV//MUB-JNB

Such limited time does not allow for any driving - IMO.

SV

My husband and I did something similar a couple of years ago. And also were interested in keeping costs down. Tracey at Go2Africa was very helpful. We gave her a feeling for our budget and she suggested and then booked lodging and transfers for us. It all went off without a hitch.

You've been given good advise, I just wanted to let you know that SAA has a flight from CPT to Walvis Bay. Walvis Bay is very close to Swapkomund and the Skeleton Coast. Sousevlei is where the giant sand dunes are. I'm not sure which is closer to Sousevlei, Windhoek or Swapkomund/Walvis Bay.

Chobe is easy to get to from Victoria Falls, I had read that some companies offer day trips from Victoria Falls and Chobe is know for elephant sightings. Obviously, a day trip will not be the same an overnight stay, the only reason I mention this is because you are very short on time and want to see/do too much in two weeks.

I had a trip planned a few years ago to the sights that you include in your op. The trip I had planned was a month long. I too prefer to travel independently, and I found it was practically impossible to arrange a trip like this without a tour operator.