Budget Travel - South Africa: Hostels, Safari, BazBus, Etc

Hello!

Not certain if best to post here, or Travel&Dining/Destinations/Africa...

Thinking about "Raffles longhaul" 's thread "IB : JFK-MAD-JNB fr $675 ai RT"

(Still have to see if I can do a stopover in MAD on the return trip)

There are available dates for a 1 month trip from mid-January to mid-February 2010.

Looked on the net for Hostel accommodations, and it appears that virtually every hostel with an online presence is booked solid until March.

Is that possible? Am I doing something wrong?

Became aware of BazBus, and that may be a good way to get to Capetown and back.

They seem to offer a 4 day safari with a one-way pass to Capetown.

Am I better off getting the round trip pass, and finding my own safari?

I'm fine with camping in a tent (so long as not too many mosquitoes!).

Basically, any advice for budget travel in SA for someone who has about 4 weeks, and flys in and out of JNB.

Thanx in advance! :)

I checked random dates starting mid January and found availability in Cape Town at "The Backpack." I'm sure there are others available, but I stayed here last month and highly recommend it! They've got a good video on their website that gives a pretty good idea of the facilities. The hostel is a short 5-10 minute walk to the action of long street (or a 2-3 minute taxi ride for ZAR15, which is $2 at today's rate). A taxi to Table Mountain is ZAR40 and the V&A waterfront is iirc ZAR30. You may want to check closer to your departure date to see if the price drops, as right now you'll see they are running a special for 15Sep-30Nov.

http://www.backpackers.co.za/



For getting from Johannesburg to Cape Town, you may want to consider the Shosholoza Meyl train. It takes 27 hours, but you do get a sleeper car with linen and showers. When I was in South Africa in August, the fare was ZAR260 (US $35) one way. Here is the train's website, as well as a good write up from Seat 61.

http://www.seat61.com/SouthAfrica.htm

http://www.shosholozameyl.co.za/

Hope this helps some. You may also want to check the Africa forum, there is some good information in there as well, although a lot of it doesn't really seem geared toward budget travel.

Thank you for helping !!!