ellenbw

A friend and I are planning a 2nd Safari for Oct 2020. The 1st Safari was in Kenya 5 years ago and was the best vacation ever.
We are looking at a few travel planners currently and leaning towards The Wild Source. We are considering the following itinerary:
Fly from US
4 nights Capetown -staying at Rosemead or Cape Heritage Hotel
2 nights Winelands in Franschhoek
Fly Capetown to Hoedspruit
3-4 nights Safari at a private reserve camp Tanda Tula or a lodge if cost is significantly cheaper
Fly Hoedspruit to Kigali Rwanda
1 night Kigali
2-3 nights in Gorilla area with 2 gorilla treks
Kigali - USA fly home

How does this sound to those of you who have been to these places? Is 2 nights too much in Winelands or should we cut Capetown to 3 nights?
We are very concerned with costs - it’s an expensive trip!

How does this sound?
We like to wine taste but is 2 nights too much?
and re: safari time, I’m inclined to 4 nights on SA Safari but costs add up and those are expensive days.
We chose Rwanda because we think the trekking will be easier than Uganda, especially with the altitude and we are in our 60’s. Otherwise I would have gone with Uganda for the reduced park fees and lodging.

amyb

I haven't been to S. Africa but I have been to Rwanda. I did a similar itinerary to you which was:

Arrival day -- overnight in Kigali
Day 1 -- tour of Kigali (genocide memorial, etc.) and drive to Volcanoes NP
Day 2 -- golden monkey trek (mostly flat, no serious climbing at all)
Day 3 -- gorilla trek 1
Day 4 -- gorilla trek 2 and drive back to Kigali, overnight Kigali. I'm not sure you'd want to count on flying out anywhere on this day as when you leave Volcanoes NP very much depends on how long your trek takes. Most are done in a few hours but some can go longer depending on how the family you're trekking to moves as you hike, then you'd have to change and have your boots cleaned before departing for Kigali.
Day 5 -- Early morning flight to Kenya

I was 46 and very fit when I did the treks. The one thing I'd do differently if I did it over was maybe put a day between the gorilla treks because by the third day of trekking we were both pretty beat and we arrived in Kenya pretty exhausted (which was fine because then all we did was sit around in a safari vehicle for a week!) I wouldn't drop the golden monkey trek though because I thought they were gorgeous and really fun to watch. Nor would I cut a gorilla trek because I had two very very different experiences (my TR is on here). Both were excellent, but for different reasons.

I arranged it all through Treks2Rwanda here in the US. They employ their own guides and own their own vehicles, so they do not subcontract out and you know what you're getting when you sign on. This was the second time I worked with them as their sister company Access2Tanzania planned my first safari to TZ.