I'm nailing down a trip to Africa and would appreciate it if folks knowledgeable about these areas would let me know if they see any "red flags" or problems with this proposed itinerary, for July or August 2025:

3 nights in Cape Town V&A hotel;
2 nights in the Cape Winelands;
2 nights in a safari camp in Zimbabwe - Hwange Nat'l Park;
3 nights at the Victoria Falls River Lodge

Many thanks.

Biggest red flag is a 2 nights of safari. Have you been on safari before? Not sure about your arrival and departure times, but 2 nights could basically amount to a very short and meaningless game drive on the arrival and departure days, giving you basically only one full day of game drives.

Thank you -- good point. I'll add a third night.

Hello
I am planning a trip to Cape Town, Harare ,Vic Falls/hwange next year (March April2025) from San Francisco

Curious as to your flight paths?

To SA and then zim or other way around ?

thx

You should start your own thread on this, rather than hijacking OP's thread. OP doesn't say where s/he is flying from, and there's nothing to indicate they're flying from the US, let alone SF, such that OP's flight plans would have anything to do with yours. That being said, there are a million different flight options from SF to CPT; most likely, you'll have to return from ZIm via JNB or CPT. Use Google Flights or the like to check out prices and times, and choose what's best for you. What flights OP is flying on is irrelevant to you.

For OP, agree that more time needed in Hwange or other park; can you extend trip?


ME: I would eliminate Vic Falls totally to devote more time in the bush.

I don't mind sharing my flight plans. I actually wish I had researched that a bit more before locking in my lodging plans, but I'm happy with how everything turned out.

We'll fly US (departing Dulles) to Cape Town nonstop direct, then some days later Cape Town to Victoria Falls, then at the end Victoria Falls to Johannesburg to Newark, all on United. Another choice I considered was to fly Delta through Atlanta.

Could not extend the trip, but I subtracted one night from Cape Town and added that to Hwange for more bush time.

I made a conscious choice to see Victoria Falls, which I know others don't like. Perhaps after going there I will regret my choice. But for now I'm considering this a trip of a lifetime and looking forward to it! Taking our adult children along and excited about the family time, just us, and experiences we will share together.

VF is great. 2 nights in CPT is just fine, provided you can get 2 full days of sightseeing -- 1 day for sites in the city (Table Mtn, etc) and 1 day for the classic peninsula drive.

Hi Bakerstreet,
Man oh man, tough call with your time frame. Each of your four selected destinations have their own appeal, that's for sure.
LAX makes a key point about the likelihood of a shortened safari camp experience feeling somehow rushed and unsatisfying.
Factor in the possibility of your getting ill for even a day and that'd shrink the time frame even more.
Both countries deserve an entire trip, as they each have a lot to offer.

Dunno, might it make more sense to do just one of those two countries this time?
I am done. the Mapfumo

if it were my trip I would spend most of it in Zimbabwe.
Skip the Winelands in favor of more time on safari.
And as I said, spend the shortest amount of time in Vic Falls....if you "have" to go there. Of course you could stay in a "safari" type lodging near Vic Falls (I stayed once in Siankaba on the Zam side, and you can get to the Falls from there and also to Livingstone which I found interesting. Looks like they have spiffed it up since I was there so no idea of pricing.
What kind of budget are you working with?


https://www.siankaba.net

Thanks so much, everyone! All great advice!

My trip has been set; I reduced a day in Cape Town and added a day in Hwange. It is important to all of us to see Cape Town and the winelands so we are not eliminating that portion but I understand that we may regret not having more bush time and I can live with that.

2 nights in Cape Town V&A hotel -- and yes, we plan to spend one day on a city tour and one on a Cape Point area tour;
2 nights in the Cape Winelands on a "wine estate";
3 nights in a safari camp in Zimbabwe - Hwange Nat'l Park;
3 nights at the Victoria Falls River Lodge. It gets great reviews -- anyone here stayed there?

As for budget, the land portion will run around $7200 per person (excluding tips, meals in South Africa other than breakfast, and a few other assorted things). There are four of us -- a family trip.

Thanks!

I would rather eliminate Capetown altogether, Vic Falls is fascinating and there is stuff to do there. Depends on if your preference is wildlife or cities....

Hi Bakerstreet,

By "set" do you mean you made deposit? Why have you specifically named the accommodation at Victoria Falls but did not name the accommodations anywhere else? I think you would get more feedback if you named the places you intend on staying at. One question unanswered is about Victoria Falls River Lodge. It's my favorite spot that side of the Falls, especially the suites on the Island. I have stayed there twice.

You never specified the exact dates. The Cape Peninsula is a full a full day. The highlight of a city tour is Table Mountain. Have you planned your trip around the annual Table Mountain cable car maintenance period in July/August? If not, you can't go up the mountain unless you hike (3-4 ours up and 2-3 hours down). Is your city tour a full day? If so, you are going to be quite exhausted after two full days or touring and a transfer to the wine country. If you have a full day tour on the day you leave Cape Town, you will arrive in the winelands at night. The sun sets early in the middle of winter at 34 degrees south. I suggest staying in the city the entire time and do a full day tour to the winelands. For $7200 pp are you staying at Little Makalolo? What are you going to do with two full days in Victoria Falls? A tour of the Falls takes 90 minutes.

To each his own and we're normal people not some weird waterfall aficionados, but we thought seeing both sides of the Falls was well worth it and we spent way more than way more than 90 minutes on each side (sure, you could quickly walk around and snap a few pics in 90 mins and leave). Plus there are lots of other interesting things for all interests to do in the general VF area. Also, I don't think anyone needs a "tour" of the Falls; the paths are clear and well marked, it's perfectly self-explanatory and it's more enjoyable it's better to hear the power of the waterfall, the sounds of the birds, etc. than some guide rambling.

We had the equivalent of two full days in VF - mid-day arrival, 1 full day, mid-day departure. It was very nice. Again, to each his own and everyone has to choose their priorities, but I don't think 2 full days is the least bit absurd.

In the context of this trip I find it odd to spend 3 nights at the Falls when there are only 3 spent on safari. That's my personal opinion.

Absolutely -- as I said in first response in this thread (and as others have said too), I too find OP's overall distribution of nights odd and I'd want more than 3 nights of safari if going all the way to Africa from the US. If it were me, I'd cut out the winelands. Again, to each his own....

Our long-ago VF experience resulted in a number of exceptional events. Once, we were hiking on the Zim side with another young couple. They were from Melbun. Suddenly we chanced across a pair of elephants, BIG brother and lil bro. Adrenaline. It was a classic standoff as we were way too close. Adrenaline adrenaline. We all could've jumped into the river to seek safety, but there we'd likely have met Mr and Mrs Crocodile. Adrenaline adrenaline adrenaline.
The Aussie wife's whisper finally broke the stunned silence, the only other sounds being BIG BRO's ear-flap warnings plus our own heart beats ramped up to maximum rate:
"W-hat do we do now?"
Finally Mercifully the elephants stormed off, having shown their might and perhaps having sensed that we were no threat (read 'having sensed that we were scared shitless').

Later on the Zambia side, a strange young man tried to lure us part way down 'to view a dead zebra.' As if that was why any traveler would've flown across an ocean for. Tres etrange.

As for the winelands, some shutterbugs consider that area a must-see. It is incontestably one of the planet's most beautiful wine-producing regions.

I am done. the end

i have been to south Africa twice and am going there in another week.spend more time on safari we usually would spend a week in reserves off the Kruger.And beyond reserves are our personal favourites.
As for victoria Falls definitely take the helicopter flight over the falls its a must do.you need to pick the right time to view the Falls from land there can be so much spray your view for photography may be limited thats why the copter flight is important

Thanks everyone for great thoughts and advice! I had not thought about a helicopter ride over the Falls but now I think we will need to do that.

So -- we will spend 2 nights in Cape Town at the Queen Victoria Hotel, with a city tour one day and a "Cape Point Area Tour" the next day, both with a private guide; I want to maximize our chances of going up Table Mountain so we will look at the weather and probably try that the first day, leaving a second day to try if the first doesn't work.

For people who have been to Cape Town, what were your favorite things you did/saw in both the city and the peninsula? I can give direction in advance to our tour guide.

I want to reserve two dinners in advance in Cape Town -- anyone have a favorite restaurant there? We are a family of four, with two adult children.

After Cape Town we move to the winelands for 2 nights on a wine estate. After that we fly to Zimbabwe and we'll have three nights at a safari camp called Tom's Little Hide and then three nights at Victoria Falls River Lodge. I am told we will have a morning and afternoon game drive on each day we are in residence at those two lodgings. Now I will add a helicopter ride over the Falls while at the River Lodge location.

Thanks for your thoughts/ideas! I'm locked into this itinerary but would love thoughts about what to do/see/bring at these locations.