South African Advice

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tinkerbell

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Hi just in the planning stages of a trip to South Africa hopefully next winter. We thought to fly to Johannesburg, spend maybe two nights away on safari, fly into Capetown and spend a few days there, a few days in the wine district and then the balance on the Garden Route. The bit we're not sure of is how long to say in each place, what towns to stay in and driving distances as we don't really want to drive more than say two hours or so a day if possible. I have a ton of books but would welcome any advice from anyone who has been there thanks:)
 
Hi tinkerbell
When you arrive in JHB, there are connecting flights to Nelspruit with airlink aprox 1 hour of flight time. This would make your journey to either Kruger Park, timbavati, Sabi Sabi and so many more game parks to visit that much easier and will save you at least a 6-7 hour car journey plus toll raods to the game parks. Most of the private game parks are around Kruger Park. You will more than likely have to rent a car and this could be done in Nelspruit with either budget or avis car rental. you will need a international drivers licence which cost around €5 from the AA(valid for one year) but remember to take your irish drivers licence as well.
I think 3 days is plenty for a safari trip.
The journey from Nelspruit to anyone of the game parks is around 2-4 hours if they are in the Mpumalanga province depending on how far north you want to travel. Nelspruit airport also has flights direct to Capetown where you can enjoy the garden route, wine farms and table mountain.

The Mpumalanga province ie Lowveld area has loads to offer ie Safari, shopping at the riverside mall, Quad biking, water rafting, mountain biking, more shopping, walking/hiking with amazing waterfalls and landscape.....do a google search for lowveld, gods window, bourkes luck potholls, three rondawels., pilgrims rest, graskop, hazyview. There is also plenty of accomodation in these areas offering what ever budget you may have.

On another note , the distances between towns can be quite high, however the road structure is very good and although you might be stuck in a car for 2 hours, the distance travelled could be far. to give you an idea, the distance from jhb to nelspruit is around 370km but this can be done in 3.5 hours if the traffic is favourable....

Anyway i could go on and on, so feel free to PM me if you have questions, i would be happy to help..

cheers
Brianp
 
There are several key posts on SA for you to look at.

Personally, I would give Jo'burg a miss and fly direct to Cape Town; you can visit a game farm along at Eastern Cape for a lot less than you would pay at Kruger. (e.g. Kariega near Grahamstown. http://www.kariega.co.za (www.kariega.co.za)

The last time we went, about three years ago, we stayed first at Green Gables at Strand which is about 40k from Cape Town - about 30 minutes drive along the highway. www.greengables.co.za run by Marion & Gerry Arrow who are great people from Zim; Marion is a world class breakfast cook and both she and Gerry are very hospitable.

This is handily placed for the wineries and has a beach about 5k long. It is close to Somerset West which has a big mall with plenty of shops and restaurants if any of the party need retail therapy, and just a bit further is Stellenbosch which is a great University town.

Have a look at to see what accommodation is available; they will happily post their info to you.

I think you are being more than a bit optimistic if you only want to be driving for two hours a day; SA is a very big country. The first time that I drove down to the Cape from Swaziland (where I was working at the time) i made a total balls of the scale of the place and finished up driving 1200k to get to the first stop we had booked. That was 10 hours driving time and to say that I was tired is an understatement. If you aim for 4 hours driving time per day you should be OK as the N2 is an excellent road.

Have a great time!

BillK
 
Brianp said:
You will need a international drivers licence which cost around €5 from the AA(valid for one year) but remember to take your irish drivers licence as well.
Click to expand...

You don't need an International Driving Permit to hire a car in South Africa ... regular Irish Drivers Licence is fine ... some neighbouring countries (Mozambique certainly) do require an IDP, but I've rented a good few times in various places in SA and it's never been required.

Agree with Brianp's point - if you're going to Kruger look at flights to Nelspruit (or there's an airport called Kruger-Mpumalanga even closer to the park) ... if you can get reasonably priced flights there it saves a good bit of (fairly dull) driving from Jo'burg
 
[quote=EvilDoctorK;You don't need an International Driving Permit to hire a car in South Africa ...


Thats correct, you dont need it for car rental, but in the event of you being pulled over for a driving offence, it may be requested.
 
If you are going to Cape Town try to stay in Camps Bay its a fantastic place full of great bars and restaurants, go to the Radisson Hotel on the V
 
Capetown wonderful Everything so cheap but nightmare journey from Capetown along garden route too long and boring
 
I have to disagree with the last post - we drove from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town and throroughly enjoyed it. The N2 (the main road that is the 'Garden Route') is a very good road with long streches and about 600 mile send to end on road that would put ours to shame. We did it over 2 weeks and spent only a few hours in the car each day. We took a few diversions to places of interest - through the Swarzenberg pass, Little Karoo desert and there are plenty of places to visit that are interesting, including witnessing the annual southern right whale migration off Hermanus Bay (if you're there at the right time of the year). Get a good guide book, have an open mind and you certainly won't be bored on the Garden Route. Also no issues withan Irish driving licence - I paid a small parking fine (the equivalent of €3!) at a police station, produced my licence with no fuss.
 
One thing to be aware of if drivng in SA - do not park on the wrong side of the road. You will be fined, and possibly towed for doing this.
 
Thanks everyone for all the valuable info and advise - really appreciate it. Still at planning stage as only flights booked so trying to get all the info in before booking places - thanks again!
 
When you say next winter - I presume that's referring to the Irish winter. Depending on when and where you go, it can get extremely hot in SA. Summer is also not the best of time for game reserves as the grass is very long and can obscure a lot of animals. It's also rainy season in Mpumalanga (which is the province KNP is in), and that means there is a lot of water around and the animals don't need to come to the waterholes to drink. If one of the main aims is to get to do a decent amount of game viewing, you're best to go in spring or autumn.
 
Hi i wouldnt bother with the garden route drive.
I flew into capetown stayed there for 9 days then drove to joeburg.
If i was going again i would take a flight to joeburg and then a flight to Krugar as the above have mentioned.
The garden route doent have anything really much of interest it is a very long trip and not worth it.
I wouldnt spend any time in Joeburg there is nothing to see.
just get to the airport and get on to Krugar.
Joeburg is a kip its dangerous all of the house are not surrounded my an electric fence for nothing !
Give yourself 4 - 5 days in krugar and go with a guide company
Capetown is perfectly safe, stay in camps bay and hire a car to visit :
The winelands in stellenbosh,
Cape point,
Robin island,
A guided tour of the shanty town,
Waterfront in capetown
Fantastic country
 
The garden route has quite a lot going for it, in my opinion. It's some of the best scenery around. Take a trip down to Storms River mouth, stop off in Knysna, and take the day trip out to Featherbeds, sit on the beach at Plettenberg Bay and watch the dolphins go past, go slightly off the garden route up to Oudtshoorn to see the ostriches and crocodiles, watch the whales at Hermanus through September, among other things.
 
May I join this thread?

We're thinking of heading over in April next year for 2 weeks. Absolutely no interest in safaris (don't stone me!!!) but would love to stay in Capetown & wine area. Should we DIY or use a travel agent? All advice & tips welcome
 
If you're just going to do Capetown and the winelands I wouldnt bother with a travel agent, unless they can get you a cheaper fare than you would get online.

Buy a SA book, have a rough idea of where you want to see and work around that. When I went to Capetown with the other half, we booked accommodation as we went along using the Portfolio books which have loads of accommodation options. That way, we could stay longer in places we liked and move on if a place didnt take our fancy.
 
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