mileagerunner

I'm trying to sort out an itinerary for our upcoming Xmas trip to South Africa and would appreciate some feedback from the pros here.

We are flying into Cape Town in mid December and can spend two weeks traveling around. I've been to Cape Town and the surrounding region before and know that we can easily spend the entire two weeks in South Africa.

The idea of going to Kruger is appealing, but I have always wanted to go to Etosha for some reason.

I'm not sure if this is a good idea or not, given:

1) It's December and technically low season due to the weather/heat/rain but we are going around Xmas so the Namibian Wildlife Resorts lodges are already pretty full. We may have to camp in a tent a few nights (would normally love to do it but it's hot) or stay outside the park. I've also been reading some dreadful TA reviews about the service and food options at the NWR properties, particularly at their main "resort" Okaukuejo.

Questions:
Is it too hot to visit Etosha in December, both in terms of heat and the quality of the animal viewing?
Does the proximity to the waterholes compensate for sub-par lodging facilities inside the park?
Is staying outside the park (and not having access to the floodlit waterholes at night) defeating the purpose of going to Etosha, or any park for that matter?


2) It's a long haul from Cape Town to Etosha. This would be the kids' longest road trip ever. They love road trips (we just did a swing through the Southwest USA) but we've never spent four days in a row driving 4-6 hours, and that's what it would take to get from Cape Town to Etosha.

Questions:
Any recommendations on places to stop between Cape Town and Etosha, other than the sand dunes?
Should we just fly from CPT to WDH or WVB?


3) I'm unsure about the road conditions, although I hear the Namibian roads are "good by African standards". I've driven on some pretty sketchy roads in a 2WD/SUV before but it's hard for me to visualize exactly how good/bad the roads are between the border and Etosha. I'm not sure if the comments about bad roads are from folks who have never left the interstate or autobahn or if the roads are really, really bad. I don't mind unsealed roads, I just don't like having to avoid potholes constantly.

Question:
Are there any particular road detours/sights from Cape Town to Etosha that should be avoided if I wanted to play it safe?


Many thanks!

johan rebel

Kruger and Etosha are roughly the same size, but the former has about ten times the number of large mammals. On the other hand Etosha is a lot more open, game is easier to see. In the rainy season Etosha's elephants mostly head west (Hobatere) or south to the Mopane woodlands. It is quite possible to drive through Etosha from one end to the other and see nary an elephant.Kruger is jam-packed during the SA summer vacation, mid-December to early January is the worst time to visit by far. Rather go to Johannesburg Zoo, they have polar bears as well.

1) NWR's reputation is deserved. They've been providing awful service for as long as they have existed. Most likely thoroughly corrupt too.

If you want to stay outside the park, Hobatere (west) and Ongava (south) are your best bets. I would pick the former. The have floodlit waterholes.

For obvious reasons, less game will visit the waterholes in the rainy season. Rainfall is of course unpredictable, so no way of knowing for sure in advance what it will be like this December.

2) As you say, it is a very long haul, and the road is not too exciting. I can imagine kids getting bored pretty soon. Easily.

You could try Canyon Lodge close to the Fish River Canyon. Second largest canyon in the world after the Grand, looks pretty cool from the rim.

3) Namibians roads are just fine, you can thank the Germans for that, whilst engaging in genocide they also found the time to lay out and excellent road and rail network. The SADF then improved on that while fighting the Angolan Border War. A 2WD/SUV will do the trick. Tar all the way up from Cape Town to both Namutomi and Anderson gates.

Johan

cur

bruh it's a LONG drive and there is NOTHING in namibia. it's BEAUTIFUL but desolate

but lots of beautiful eco-tourist campsites few hours north of the border, you can find a fully furnished tent for very reasonable, they do eco tourism very well
make sure you take long, 2 night breaks between drives

i suggest yall still do the drive, but have enough padding between the days yall drive

walvis bay is alright to check out but namibia's towns are pretty boring, windhoek is cool for the craft market and that's about it

managed to do windhoek to capetown in a night, man that was a cannonball run

for etosha you can get away with a car but some side roads are not the best for a car. you should have 2wd suv at minimum. if you want to do soussevlei you absolutely need a 4wd or park and have the fellas in the park transport yall in their 4wd (not an inconvenient thing)

Another user name to remember

The Western part of Etosha has opened for independent travels not so long ago. They build a brand new camp site at the infamous Olifantsrus location. They have a lit waterhole (night vision lights, so not floodlit), which you can reach via a gangway passing over the fence of the camp site. Highly recommended.

johan rebel

Officially.

I can recall entering Etosha through Otjovansandu Gate as far back as the early 90s. Legally. Managed to get a second vehicle in on our permit as well. That was not quite legal.

Back then, there was no accommodation west of Okakuejo. Long drive!

Johan

johan rebel

The fact that NOTHING can be so stunningly BEAUTIFUL is Nambia's greatest drawing card.

Johan

Cheetah_SA

So true.

Many years ago Air Namibia was advertising their new and spacious (for that time) J seats. At the entrance to WDH airport there was a huge billboard featuring a picture of endless, desolate dunes and with a picture of the new seat sort of superimposed and sticking out of the billboard. The strap line said: "Space - we can afford to be generous with it..." I thought it was a brilliant line.

It also made me realise that sheer space is such an alluring idea to the millions of people who live far from any wide open spaces.