poohbear0218

Dear all,

This September will be our first trip ever to Africa. It has been a dream of mine for the longest time! Right now, I've planned the following itinerary as following

Day 1: JNB-CPT (Cape Grace or Ellerman House)

Day 2: CPT

Day 3: CPT

Day 4: CPT- Wine land (Delaire Graff)

Day 5: Wine Land

Day 6: Wine Land- Hermanus (Birkenhead House)

Day 7: Hermanus

Day 8: Hermanus- CPT-JNB

Day 8: JNB- Singita Lebombo

Day 9: Singita Lebombo

Day 10: Singita Lebombo- Singita Boulders

Day 11: Singita Boudlers

Day 12: Singita Boulders- Lion Sands River Lodge

Day 13: Lion Sands River Lodge

Day 14: Lion Sands River Lodge- JNB

Day 15: JNB- home

My question is:

1) Will 8 days in the Cape area be too much? Right now we are doing 3N Cape Town- 2N Wine Land- 2N Hermanus

2) Should we combine some kind of beach destination rather than so many days in the Cape?

3) for safari, we are doing 2N Singita Lebombo- 2N Singita Boulders- 2N Lion Sands. Is this enough or too much safari for first timer?

Any feedback will be much appreciated!!

sweetsleep

I am by no means an expert on South Africa but took my first trip there in January/February 2015. I am from the US. That trip was on an organized land tour. I am returning in late June/early July with dear colleagues who are South African expats( we are staying at Londolozi and then on to Mauritius) so my next experience will be likely VERY different. You have a great itinerary-I wish I had spent more days in Cape Town and the environs on my first trip. Safaris in private game reserves bordering Kruger are really wonderful. However, I wish you had budgeted some time for Zimbabwe/Victoria Falls and/or Botswana/Chobe.
Bucket list would be a safari in the Okavango Delta in Namibia/Botswana .I hope to do that on my 3rd trip there!? Once South Africa/Botswana/Zimbabwe/Zambia get under your skin you are hooked for life-at least I am!
Regardless, you will have a wonderful time

johan rebel

You may wish to consider 3+3 instead of 2+2+2. Less time spent (un)packing, less time spent on transfers.

Johan

poohbear0218

Hi Johan! Thank you for the suggestion, unfortunately we booked too late (Even though still 6 months in advance), these are the only availability the hotel had ><

The reason I really want to go to Lion Sands is for the awesome looking tree house.

senzer

What's the occasion? Looks similar to our honeymoon itinerary

ajeleonard

The first part in the Cape seems a bit leisurely, for example you've allocated a whole day in each direction to driving between Cape Town and the winelands/Hermanus, which are only 1.5 hour drives, wineland to Hermanus is an hour. Depending on your interests you may not need all of the full days in between.

Have you thought of doing Lions Sands first? We did this last year and there is 1 daily non-stop flight from Cape Town to Skukuza which is actually within the Lion Sands reserve. It's more time efficient than connecting in JNB and means you easily make the afternoon game drive on that day. You can fly back from Singita to JNB when you leave.

I'd second considering only 3+3, you're already moving around a lot on the trip

Have you thought of adding Victoria Falls?

Just as a frame of comparison we did Cape Town + Hermanus + Winelands + Lion Sands + Victoria Falls in a week with some careful and efficient planning, although it was a little on the regimented side!

poohbear0218

Thanks for all your input!! The safari part of the trip we can't really move around since we booked everything quite late, these are the only availability they have for our vacation days.

You are right about the Cape Town part, I am a bit worried 7 nights in that region might be too much. We are in our 30s and pretty active. Maybe we can cut Cape Town short and flight to JNB early with an onward flight to Victoria Fall before Safari? Do you think Victoria Fall is worth the detour?

poohbear0218

Haha! no special occasion, just our annual big trip at my dream destination! If you don't mind, can you share your itinerary? How long did you stay in Cape Town area? I am debating if 7 nights might be too "leisurely".

senzer

Doing 4 nights in CT, 3 in wine country (big foodies), 7 on safari (3 in Dulini, 4 in Timbavati) - happy to share any other details if you think it would be helpful!

poohbear0218

we do have very similar itinerary!! May i know what restaurants you are eyeing? we are going to Cape Town precisely for the food also!! But I haven't really start researching yet, so right now I only have Test Kitchen on my list.

ajeleonard

I found Victoria falls worth it, and adding Zambia/Zimbabwe makes the trip a bit more exotic. South Africa is very developed compared to much of Africa, good quality roads, airports etc everywhere, so it's interesting to see something a bit different.

We stayed right on the falls on the Livingstone side and walked across the famous bridge into Zimbabwe. Also did a river safari seeing crocs up close. The combined Kaza visa for Zam/Zim also let's you do a day trip into Botswana through the Kasane ferry crossing so you can do a day safari into the Chobe National Park which is offered by a few companies. You only need two days though - flights to either Livingstone, Zam or Vic Falls, Zim on BA or SAA leave JNB in the morning and return early afternoon. There's also a less than daily flight from Livingstone to Kruger.

johan rebel

No it is not. Close enough, though.

Johan

senzer

As far as restaurants go - La Colombe and Test Kitchen are our big dining experiences in CT (will fill other meals as we go). In wine country - Delair Graff, Bablystoren (both for lunch), The Tasting Room and perhaps Foliage.

What is on your list?

poohbear0218

I haven't really had the chance to figure out our meals yet. So right now I only have Test Kitchen and of course Delaire Graff since we will be staying there on my list.

ajeleonard

Fine, it's in the KNP concession part of Lions Sands, not the Sabi Sands reserve part of Lion Sands.

The map on the website shows where it is:
http://www.lionsands.com/travel-tips...l-information/