Africa - South Africa 2013 9 days suggestions

Hello all.

FINALLY able to take my trip to South Africa I have 9 days in April flying in and out of Johanesburg.

WANTS (in order):
Safari
Victoria Falls (2 days)
Cape Town
Soweto

I know its compact but looking for suggestions on making it possible. HELP!

What time do you arrive on the first day and leave on the last day?

Arrive 9 am and leave 7pm

Er, Vic Falls is not in South Africa.

Nine days is not a long time for this huge country, and the distances between places in South Africa are vast. For instance, a flight from JNB to CPT can take ~2 hrs, so with airport hassle that can easily eat up half a day. Vic Falls is in Zambia/Zimbabwe, which is another 1.5 hr flight to the north. Any half decent Safari location will be in the middle of nowhere, for obvious reasons, and can take a long time to get to via land (or, if you want to $pla$h out, via chartered plane).

Unless you're ok with spending most of your vacation in transit and not having any time to relax, I'd recommend dropping one of your desired activities/destinations. Personally I'd drop Vic Falls - you'll see plenty of natural wonders without spending two half days in transit getting to and from Zambia (you'd also need to get a visa for Zambia).

So, I'd recommend sticking to CPT, Soweto and a Safari location in South Africa. CPT is beautiful, an amazing city, give it at least 2 days - an additional day if you want to visit the winelands. Soweto is an easy half day trip from within Joburg - just be careful how you decide to get around Joburg and make sure you know where you're going. If you're coming in from afar and want to spend a first night in Joburg before moving on, then a Soweto trip would be great for your first day. Alternatively, you can do a tour of the Khayelitsha township in Cape Town, then you won't have to spend too long in Joburg.

Safari options are plentiful - Kruger, Phinda etc etc, take your pick.

I also think that dropping one of the options might be for the best but I'd drop Soweto and connect straight to either CPT or VFA when you arrive at JNB.

Many company provide tour package in Africa. you can concern it for getting more information.

Many company provide tour package in Africa. you can concern it for getting more information.

Welcome to Flyertalk, geneoliver. :)

I would definitely recommend going to the Sun City complex and the nearby Pilanesburg safari park, which has all the big 5 animals. Its about 90 mins from Johannesburg.

agree with above there is alot of transit involved as I just planned a 3wk trip there- much depends on your budget and if like me how many miles/points you have to use to help w/safari costs and the type of traveler you are (ie- do you want to swim w/sharks in capetown or visit wineries, or join a tour group for the land portion from JNB) I planned my bespoke trip (traveling solo) with a local Capetown agency Rhino Africa for an aggressive itinerary but did consider a few US and UK single/solo tour groups

If you only have 9 nights in South Africa, you might be interested in cutting an option. Otherwise, it's all doable but you will only have about 2 full days in each place. For example, if you fly to JNB, depending on your arrival time, you can do Soweto that day. Th next day you would transit to safari camp and do that for 3 nights. That leaves only 5 nights to see everything else. If you transitted to Vic Falls you could do that for 2 nights (this will be pricy given flights, border crossing, etc) and then that leaves just 2 nights in Cape Town or 1 full day. If something had to give, I'd give up Vic Falls as Cape Town is spectacular. If you'd rather not see a city again then you can do 4 nights in Safari and 3 nights in Victoria Falls and have an elephant experience as well as the falls. This also acts as a safari sort of experience along with various outdoor activities. If you do Cape Town you can also include a town ship experience there which is very well worth it. Let me know if you have questions!

If you do Cape Town you can also include a town ship experience there which is very well worth it. Let me know if you have questions!

I'll be in Cape Town next month for 6 days. Any recos for township tours? Any other ideas for what not to miss in Cape Town?

Thanks

I'll be in Cape Town next month for 6 days. Any recos for township tours? Any other ideas for what not to miss in Cape Town?

Thanks

We went with Sivewe Township Tours and highly recommend them (as does everyone on Trip Advisor (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g312659-d2343848-Reviews-Sivewe_Township_Tours-Cape_Town_Central_Western_Cape.html)).

We are going in late November and have planned the following.

1. Arrive at JNB and catch connecting flight to Cape Town. 4 nights in Cape Town.

2. Drive to George and stay at the Hyatt on points for 3 nights and explore the Garden Route.

3. Spend 3 nights at Hitgeheim Country Lodge (http://www.hitgeheim-addo.co.za/) near Addo Elephant National Park.

4. Fly from Port Elizabeth to JNB and spend one night at the Sunrock Guesthouse (http://sunrock.co.za/) before flying back home.

This trip only has two connecting flights within South Africa and gives us a mini safari option in a malaria-free area during summer. I will likely be taking a different family member back to South Africa in June-August 2013 and plan to do a more full blown safari trip at that time.

We think we will have plenty of stuff to do and won't be wiped out by trying to cover too much in a relatively short amount of time.

We went with Sivewe Township Tours and highly recommend them (as does everyone on Trip Advisor (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g312659-d2343848-Reviews-Sivewe_Township_Tours-Cape_Town_Central_Western_Cape.html)).

Thanks, just checked them out on Tripadvisor before I read this. Looks like a great choice. There are 4 of us going and I prefer to book a private tour. Is this an option with Sivewe? I couldn't discern this from the web site.

Any recos for other private tours? We are looking into a wine tour and a cape tour. Thanks

I'm there late September using Rhino Africa day tripping for my day tours -table mountain, robben island, wine lands, peninsula tour and whale route. Also looking at jazz or food tour w/andulela tours. All small and should do private tours. Another option is to look on cruise critic to see what private guides have been used by cruisers. I've had great success in finding guides this way in other countries.

Simply rent a car, and keep on driving.
A clockwise tour from JNB will let you to Kruger ---> Swaziland ---> Imfolozi ---> St.Lucia ---> Durban ---> Lesotho ---> Bloemfontein ---> Johannesburg.

Doable in 9 days

We did a safari at Naledi Bushcamp in mid-July and absolutly loved it. It's VERY affordable compared to other safari places and hosts are great. Look it up on trip adviser. They have a new lodge as of last month that looks even better, but the owner stays at the bushcamp and might worth it to stay there because of him. Very friendly, super helpful and just a great guy. Our camera battery ran out on safari and he took his out of his camera, got nail clippers for my wife from his wife, etc...

Another thing at Naledi that we loved was the food. I dont have any pictures, but the presentation and taste of the food was michellin star quality. You could easily pay $50-75/meal for something of similar quality in the US and not blink an eye.

As an added bonus, he was really intrigued by this whole points business and how we got a SFO-Vic Falls-CPT-Cairo-LHR-SFO business class seat for so little!

4. Fly from Port Elizabeth to JNB and spend one night at the Sunrock Guesthouse (http://sunrock.co.za/) before flying back home.


Can you or anyone else tell me me more about the Sunrock Guesthouse? I will be in JNB in a week and need two nights there as I prepare to return to the USA.

TripAdvisor puts them number one in Kempton Park, but a friend of mine from CPT has encouraged me to stay at Southern Sun O.R Tambo International Hotel which is apparently now called Tsogo Sun and has critics on TripAdvisor.

I like saving money at the Sunrock Guesthouse but I will log several hours there and need to be comfortable spending several hours in the room working and probably eat at least one lunch there during my two day stay.

Can you or anyone else tell me me more about the Sunrock Guesthouse? I will be in JNB in a week and need two nights there as I prepare to return to the USA.

TripAdvisor puts them number one in Kempton Park, but a friend of mine from CPT has encouraged me to stay at Southern Sun O.R Tambo International Hotel which is apparently now called Tsogo Sun and has critics on TripAdvisor.

I like saving money at the Sunrock Guesthouse but I will log several hours there and need to be comfortable spending several hours in the room working and probably eat at least one lunch there during my two day stay.

I might be too late with an answer but here goes. We spent one night at the Sunrock and thought it was only okay. It's a motel style accommodation that is behind a big wall with sliding security gate in a rough looking neighborhood near the airport. Our unit didn't have air conditioning (at least I couldn't find it). The place does have a nice courtyard with a swimming pool and a bar/pool hall building with an honor bar. The Sunrock provides free transportation to/from the airport. They took us to the nearby casino for free (other than we had to pay for the parking entrance fee). The free breakfast was only so-so. Perhaps we had been spoiled by the other places we stayed at. If I was to do it again, I would probably stay somewhere else.

I might be too late with an answer but here goes. We spent one night at the Sunrock and thought it was only okay. It's a motel style accommodation that is behind a big wall with sliding security gate in a rough looking neighborhood near the airport. Our unit didn't have air conditioning (at least I couldn't find it). The place does have a nice courtyard with a swimming pool and a bar/pool hall building with an honor bar. The Sunrock provides free transportation to/from the airport. They took us to the nearby casino for free (other than we had to pay for the parking entrance fee). The free breakfast was only so-so. Perhaps we had been spoiled by the other places we stayed at. If I was to do it again, I would probably stay somewhere else.

I checked in 2 hours ago. I don't have a/c but the fan is doing ok as long as I dress appropriately in the room. I'll find out about breakfast in the morning. The Wifi seems to be working well, but I have not tried Skype audio.

Location and price was important for this stop. They will take me to the airport tomorrow and pick me up as I use the train to get into JNB. I am hoping they will let me check out for my 8 pm flight the next day. They said they would take me to a place to eat Tuesday lunch since they don't serve lunch, but I will likely have something delivered.