South Africa - Travel itinerary help

[Anonymous]

Hi - I'm the poster that asked about taking the children on the photo safari. Thank you for the responses. We booked the tickets without them!

We have 3 extra days before the photo safari (already booked at Zulu land). The question is now where to go and what to do. Here are our options:

We arrive at 6pm in Jo'berg, so we need to stay the night.

Option1

Day1: Explore Jo'berg, Pretoria and surrounding areas, Lion Park? stay the night
Day2. Drive to Kruger, stay at one of the camps
Day3. Explore Kruger, drive down for the photo safari

Option2
Forget about Jo'berg and Kruger and fly to Cape town for 2 days. It's about $250 pp for the flights - I have not looked into "to do things" yet.

Option3
Day1 Stay in Jo'berg, explore the area
Day2 Fly to Cape town,
Day3 Fly to Durban, rent a car and drive down towards safari.

What would you do? TIA?

[Anonymous]

Cape Town for sure. Skip the animals since you will already be seeing plenty of those. Cape Town is fabulous. You can go to Cape Point, the the wineries in Stellenbosch, to Table Mountain. Jo'burg is okay but given the choice I'd do Cape Town. You will need a car in Cape Town.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cape Town for sure. Skip the animals since you will already be seeing plenty of those. Cape Town is fabulous. You can go to Cape Point, the the wineries in Stellenbosch, to Table Mountain. Jo'burg is okay but given the choice I'd do Cape Town. You will need a car in Cape Town.

Forgot to mention Robben Island. That takes abot 1/2 day.

[Anonymous]

Do not skip Kruger, but you need more then one night at Kruger. We did three nights each at two different camps and it was perfect. You see differnet animals on every drive so yu would miss alot just going for one night. Eat at La Colombe in Constantia - best meal ever!

[Anonymous]

Can you connect directly to Cape Town the night you get in? That's why I would do - then you don't have to even leave the airport and you get the traveling over with. Don't miss Cape Town - it is a gorgeous city. Hike Table Mountain and take the ferry to Robben Island.

Kruger is great but not that simple/quick to get to, and many of the camps are pretty remote. There is lots of driving on bad roads involved. Add a few hours to whatever travel time they tell you over the phone. Also do not believe anybody who tells you that you don't need a 4WD vehicle - we almost got completely stuck in the middle of nowhere with our little 2 door Peugeot rental. Given that you're already doing the safari elsewhere, I would probably skip it on this trip and spend more time in either Jo'burg or Cape Town.

[Anonymous]

Kruger is a long drive from Jo burg. I would see if you fly directly to cape town that night and spend the three days there.

[Anonymous]

I lived in Joburg -- go to Cape Town.

If you had more time, I'd recommend a day or two exploring the Apartheid Museum and the Lion Park, but you don't, so go to Cape Town. Robbin Island is worthwhile, as is the botanical garden. Then drive down the coasts to see the 12 apostles, the penguins on Boulder Beach, the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point (tons of baboons). You'll love it.

[Anonymous]

OP here;

Thanks. Flying to Cape Town directly does make sense. The last flight from JNB to Cape Town is at 9pm, getting us there at 11pm. I think that would give us enough time to make up any delays, pick up SIM card, and grab something to eat.

We would have 2 full days to explore Cape Town. There is a 9am flight from CPT to Durban.

Looking at the Trip Advisor reviews - there are a lot of recommendations for organized tours. Do we need one or can we drive around on our own in the rental car?

[Anonymous]

I would ski Kruger as you are doing a long safari. I would also ski spending time in JoBurg.

2 days in Cape Town is your best option - lots to do there, safe and a beautiful part of the country that will be very different from what you see on safari.

You don't need a tour for Robben Island. You can also climb Table Mountain or do a number of other activities on your own. You absolutely don't need to go on a tour unless you want to. Some like the wine tours are easier as a tour so you can drink! We rented a car for 5 days and went to the Cape of Good Hope, and other quite a few other places. The driving took a bit to get used to but it was fine in the end.