Short ~6Day Trip - JNB & CPT Possible?
 

We will be arriving at JNB at 16:00 on a Saturday (beginning of November). We depart from JNB at 20:30 the next Friday. So total about 6 full days to do things. Short trip, I know, but it’s what we have. Not really sure what would be the best itinerary for us. We are interested in doing the following things (also if more things not listed below could be fit in, we would definitely be open to that as well!):

Cape Town –
Must do’s - Table Mountain, Robben Island
If possible – Shark Dive, Cape Point, V&A

Johannesburg –
Must do’s - Apartheid Museum, Constitution Hill, Safari/Reserve (not sure if this even possible with the short time)

Would be flying between JNB & CPT (believe it would be best to fly to CPT upon arriving to JNB; obviously dependent upon best game plan).

Any itinerary suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Johannesburg safari: since time is tight, investigate the options at the Pilanesberg reserve, easily drivable from Johannesburg. You can self-drive or join a group or hire your own ranger.

http://www.pilanesbergnationalpark.o...s/game-drives/

Cape Town: so many good options, your only problem is rationing time.

Skip JNB and spend the time in the Cape. Guaranteed you'll want to come back for more. Then you can do your safari but don't bother with the city itself - not much to see and too much violent crime.

+1 on more time in CPT v. JNB.

You're coming out of IAD on SA 208, I assume, based on the flight time inbound. You could blast through JNB / Apartheid Museum on the day following your arrival then go to CPT immediately thereafter. It's a cost, hassle, associated with getting / staying in two then heading back out the next morning to JNB. But, doable since it's a "must" Others can advise on "quick" reserves outside of JNB, if this is a possibility post Museum then to get you that then vickle down do CPT.

-/+0 on this
I don't 100% agree with this nor do I disagree with this. Since you have some specific things in ind for JNB, do them now. For a first timer, I generally recommend CPT over JNB.

In CPT, you could do Table Mountain and Robben Island same day. Depending on timing and your / your hosts' comfort getting around you could even tightly squeeze in Cape Point. But, really the place for the end of Africa is Agulhas. You can't do Agulhas in the same day.

I would spend more time in CPT. Just be wary of weather. We were just there (albeit winter) and the cable car for table mountain was closed all 4 days of our trip and our robben island tour was cancelled due to wind. We didn't have so much flexibility in our plans (we had a great guide for part of the time) so we weren't able to get to robben island at all.

This is doable but I think cutting out Johannesburg would help. I would fly straight down to Cape Town and spend Sunday / Monday there. I would then look to fly on Tuesday to one of the game reserves and spend Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday nights there, flying back to JNB on Friday to connect with your flight home. That gives you 3 nights in Cape Town and 3 nights on safari.

There are lots of safari options - you could fly CPT - SZK direct and stay in the public reserve or with one of the private lodges or fly CPT - HDS and stay at one of the lodges in the Timbavati.

There are direct flights from both SZK and HDS back to JNB.

Something else to think about - November is not a great time of year for safari - it will be really hot.

My recommendation would be to fly directly to Cape Town upon arriving at JNB. I'd stay 3 nights at Cape Town. Three nights will give you a nice amount of time to get a feel for the city, Table Mtn, Robben Island, Kirstenbosch etc PLUS some of the key surrounding highlights like the Penguin Colony at Boulder's Town as well as further along to the Cape of Good Hope.

After 3 nights in Cape Town, I would take a morning flight to either HDS or SKU depending upon which safari lodge you are staying at. For a shorter stay, such as 3 nights, I would maximize your time and pick a lodge in a private reserve, like Sabi Sand or Timbavati. There are lodges to fit most budgets and staying in a private reserve has a lot of benefits such as off road driving, night drives, and the guides are for the most part better trained. In addition, in private reserves, they communicate with other lodge jeeps for sightings and this means that you will get to see more even in only 3 days.

On your day of departure from your safari, you typically do the morning game drive then go back to the lodge for breakfast. After that, you gather your belongings and transfer back to the airport and fly to JNB. You usually get back to JNB around mid afternoon. Depending upon your actual flight schedule, you may have time to do some of the things you mentioned in Jo'burg but I'd recommend that, for a small price, you have a private car and guide to get you there and back in time for your evening flight. You don't want to miss your flight trying to squeeze in your last "To Do" items on the list.

A good tour operator can put these components together for you and you will pay exactly the same rates that you see online at lodges and hotels; ie there's no consulting fee.

Hope this info is of help.

Best
Dianne
Africa Direct USA

Short ~6Day Trip - JNB & CPT Possible?
 

Note that the weather is tricky with table mountain - took me three days before I could go to top (rain and winds). so be flexible there


For JNB I had a late flight back to US so flew in night before staying at airport hotel and hired a private guide for the day - apartheid museum was closed but we had a good tour for 8 hrs and he dropped me back at airport. This way I didn't have a very long day of flying.

I'd go to Capetown first 3 nights then to Sabi Sands private reserve 2 nights (4 game drives) and fly to JNB

I have South Africa and safari posts on my blog - same as username

Thank you all for your recommendations!

We have decided to go with -

JNB > CPT immediately; stay in CPT for 4 days; CPT > MQP; 2 days @ Kruger (Skukuza Rest Camp); MQP > JNB; JNB > Home

This game plan will allow us to see most of what we would like and get the most out of the short time we have there. Greatly looking forward to it!

Short ~6Day Trip - JNB & CPT Possible?
 

Given you've only got two days in Kruger, I'd book a sunset drive or night drive or two. The benefits are:

1. You're not driving yourself
2. You have a professional helping you spot the game and giving you some insights into what you are seeing
3. You're more likely to see some of the harder to find animals, particularly leopards
4. You may well see some different nocturnal animals to those you see in the day eg porcupine, genet, civet
5. No crowds on the roads as self drive is not allowed after sunset.

You can book online on the sanparks website.

Hi. I have a similar situation to this. Very short stay, and first time in Africa.

I'm arriving on Qatar Airways on Tuesday morning 08:55, leaving Sunday night 20:45 and I'm not sure what to do between a)Victoria Falls, b)Jburg and c)CPT.
I saw a flight with Commair to VFA 11:25am 2.5 hours after arrival, but connection time might not allow it. And this would take up 2 full days as the flight back could only be the next afternoon.

Any Recommendations?

Many Thanks.

Hi benberg2013!

I don't think you'd have a problem making that flight to VFA upon arrival. The issue is that flying out of VFA has certain logistics and for a short stay such as yours, you could be better off elsewhere.

From VFA, you typically have to go thru JNB to catch either a flight to Cape Town or to the Greater Kruger area and you probably won't make the last flight out of JNB to the reserves coming from VFA so you'd have to overnight which would be a shame to lost a night.

So here are my thoughts.. Victoria Falls is incredible and if you are into thrill seeking activities, there are tons of things to do. That is the main focus. Yes, there's interesting history and the biosphere is fascinating and I recommend highly a visit there if it suits the rest of your itinerary. But with a short trip, going there can have its logistical challenges for traveling most other places.

Having said that, if the Falls is a priority, then consider some time in Botswana, such as Chobe, for some water and land based game viewing. Save Cape Town and Kruger for another trip.

Alternatively, a nice trip would be Cape Town followed by Sabi Sands or Timbavati Game Reserve, both of which abut Kruger National Park. Both are private reserves that share an unfenced border with Kruger so the animals move freely. Private reserves offer the visitor the chance for your ranger to take you off-road driving to track or stay with an animal as well as night drives. Both maximize your time in the bush, especially for short stays. Rangers tend to be better (more knowledgeable and some are even recruited by lodges as well). There are many lodges in both of these reserves and there's a place that suits nearly all budgets and style of travel. These are all inclusive solutions: all your meals, drinks, game drives, bush walks, etc..

You can fly direct from CPT to a number of airports that serve these reserves. A road transfer from the airport puts you rather quickly into the area and, once at the lodge, you're in a jeep and off to see the animals. It's great. Highly recommend.

Hope this info helps! If you need further assistance, please continue to ask questions here or contact me via my profile.

It's the most amazing experience!

Best,
Dianne
Africa Direct USA

Thank you Dianne for this most helpful advice!

Do you think it would be possible to arrive into VFA or LVI at 1pm on tuesday, see vic falls, then the next day early moning do some safari/animal watching and then fly back from either VFA or LVI on the 2pm flight?

That's just way too rushed. You have to transfer in the AM to an area where you can get some decent game viewing and then you have to transfer back and don't forget that you have to allow some check in time at the airport. Not really possible nor ideal.

You really need to figure out what's the most important thing you want to do/see and then build your itinerary. And I would at most pick 2 things. You can't do 3 destinations. Even 2 is aggressive but it's do-able.

Hope this helps.
Dianne
Africa Direct USA