austin86

My wife and i are landing at JNB on late-night KLM flight and we are trying to decide whether to (1) Drive to Port Elizabeth (with a stop or two, including Addo National Park), or (2) stay at JNB overnight and hop on a flight to PLZ (Port Elizabeth)?

Does anyone have any recommendations between driving vs. flying and hotels at JNB? The in-terminal hotel at JNB appears to be useless if you have checked baggage unless I am missing something.

We plan to fly out of Cape Town two weeks after landing at JNB.

Thanks for any thoughts in advance.
Austin

Mwenenzi

Are you going to drive PE to CPT? That is a better drive than JNB to PE.
Take your time driving in RSA. Do not rush it
[I lived in JNB for few years and did drive JNB-PE-CPT-Kimberly-JNB over 2 weeks]

Link--> https://goo.gl/maps/DsfJhPAxBn9MkM6G9

austin86

Thanks for sharing!

Yes, if we fly to PE, we will rent a car from there and drive to CPT and take our time stopping at parks, game reserves, and the FranShoeck area.

EvilDoctorK

Drive from JNB to PLZ would be very long and ( for the most part ) not very interesting from a tourist perspective .. you'd waste probably 2 days of your 2 week vacation doing it.

Addo Elephant Park is worth a visit certainly , but it's not really en route as it's only half an hour outside PLZ

konagirl2

Yeah the drive from JNB to PLZ isn't a touristy route and take a lot of time given your short trip.

If you want to see typical African savannah wildlife (giraffe, elephants, predators) you might be better considering a road trip from JNB toward the KwaZulu Natal coast via the Drakensburg Mountains (three different parks / reserves) and either the Zulu battlelands or the coast (St Lucia is famous for hippo and wetlands), then a game reserve near the KZN coast, then fly from Durban to Cape Town if you want to do food / wineries and penguins and whale watching (latter is season-dependant).

Otherwise, stay overnight if you arrive late and fly to PLZ the next day. Addo and surrounding private reserves is good for wildlife though predator sightings can be a bit harder than other places, further west is more about scenery, scenic windswept beaches and woodland and mountains.

You can't use the airside 'transit' hotel if you are transferring domestically anyway, you have to collect your bags on first entry in to SA so you'll go through immigration and get your bags. The transit hotel is purely there to facility Int-Int overnight transfers without entry to SA. There is more choice of hotels landside anyway, a couple on-site (very short walk from arrivals), others need a transfer.

Antonio8069

Fly to Capetown and drive The Garden Route to Port Elizabeth. We did the drive twenty-five years ago and still marvel @ its beauty.

austin86

Thanks, Our plan is to do the opposite route. Very much looking forward to it.

This is our tentative itinerary.
12/26: Late night arrival at JNB from AMS - stay overnight at airport hotel
12/27 - Fly into PLZ from JNB - rent car.
12/27 - 12/28 Port Elizabeth at Protea Hotel/explore Port Elizabeth
12/28- 12/30 2 nights at Addo in SANParks accommodation
12/30 - 1/1 2 nights/ New Years Eve at Lalibella, Kariega or Kwande Reserve (have not decided)
1/1 - 1/2 1 night in Plattenburg Bay
1/2 - 1/3 1 night in Mossel Bay
1/3 - 1/5 2 Nights in Franschhoek
1/5 - 1/9 4 Nights in Cape Town
1/9 Afternoon Drop car at CPT, evening flight home

austin86

Thank you, this is good advice. We had not thought of Kwazulu Natal. We had been steering away from the border areas given malaria risk, but realize now that's not necceasrrily any issue in other areas of KZN.

konagirl2

Port Elizabeth isn't touristy, it is very much a working port and functional. The 'best' of the Garden Route National Parks are between Storms River and Wilderness (there is interesting geology and nature if you head inland over the mountain passes into the little Karoo but that doesn't look to be in your plans and can be very hot in summer). You then have 6 nights in Cape Town and around, where there is plenty to do within 2 hours' drive. If you want New Year in the private game reserve for a bit of luxury, consider switching things around e.g.
27-30 Dec Fly into PLZ early. Pick up car, drive to between Wilderness and Storms River and visit the National Park walks and beaches that interest you (2.5 days).
30 Dec-2 Jan, drive ~ 4 hours to the private game reserve and/or Addo. Note to get your money's worth with the game reserves their usual schedule is to do an afternoon game drive, sunset and dinner, then an early morning drive before check out, so you want to arrive around 2 pm and on your last day you should expect to leave about 11 am.
2-8 Jan Depart the game reserve, fly PLZ to CPT. 6 full days for Cape Town and/or winelands and environs.
If you want a road trip, you could spend 2 Jan depart game reserve around 11 am and drive through the little Karoo (Kleinport, WIllowmore, De Rust) to Oudsthoorn and 3 Jan take the R62, a mountain pass or two, over the Mont Rochelle Pass into Franschhoek.

Also places on the 'Garden Route' get booked up way in advance for Christmas and New Year holidays - it is SA's summer holidays and in most years people would try and have a holiday on the coast. This year's lockdown might cause the same exodus for domestic holidays that the UK saw, so if you are looking for this year you need to book accommodation asap. Also high end restaurants around Cape Town and the winelands (if you are a 'foodie') get booked, more so in the holiday season.

Looks good and I am sure you will enjoy it!

EvilDoctorK

You won't go too far wrong there ... It it was me I'd drop staying in Port Elizabeth and just go straight to Addo ( or base yourself in PLZ and drive up/down to Addo ) .. also Mossel Bay didn't do much for me years ago so I think I'd skip that .

I'd use the extra time around Plettenberg Bay ( Knysna which is very close is great too, though I haven't been since the wild fires but I assume it's still good ) and some extra time in the Cape Winelands

austin86

Thank you. We had nearly decided on Kariega Game Reserve given it seemed like the best value. However, I noticed a recent significant drop in Pricing at Amakhala and Pumba reserves for Black Friday (closer to 25%+ off). Would love anyone's thoughts on whether there are major differences.

konagirl2

Very generally, the larger the reserve, the more variety of wildlife you can see and the more natural the system becomes. With most of the private reserves in the Eastern Cape, the animals are free-roaming but some do keep the lions in a separate part of the reserve to the 'main' part of the reserve. For example my understanding is that Amakhala (which is a combination of 6-7 lodges into a large reserve) is split by the N2 and the lions are on one side of the road. So from Amakhala Safari Lodge you may travel under the main road each day to get to the larger portion of the reserve, whereas for similar sized reserves like Pumba and Kariega you are unlikely to see the road infrastructure on your game drives (Kariega is also split by main roads but from your chosen accommodation the game drives will try to avoid seeing them). These reserves are similarly sized (about 8,500-10,000 Ha). The larger reserves of Shamwari and Kwandwe tend to attract a higher price (22,000-25,000 Ha). I am sure you'll have a great experience at any and you so you mainly need to consider the amenities you want at the accommodation. I would consider whether you think you'll need aircon in summer? Equally it is warm enough to enjoy permanent tent structures, which allow you to listen to the bush and night-time noises. I have no erpsonal experience but have been recommended Bukhela or HillsNek in Amkhala as high end accommodation and the Water Lodge at Pumba for watching ellies and hippos in the dam, but I really think any will be a great experience.

austin86

Thank you, this is a great perspective on the reserve sizes/experiences. I guess one advantage of reserves where predators are separate, is that the lodges can be "unfenced" to the more tame wildlife.

We ended up finding a very attractive all-inclusive rate at Amakhala Bukela Lodge. Now to decide whether to book the bungalow/suites or the luxury tents!

Thanks again

FriscoHeavy

I might also suggest Sanbona Wildlife Reserve (about 3 hours east of Cape Town). My wife and I stayed 2 nights in the Dwyka Tented Lodge (very nice) back in February. I'd highly recommend this as well.

Sanbona.com

dfwrob

Hi. I prefer the Premier Hotel OR Tambo. A bit dated, but the food and drinks are decent and the staff are very courteous. Stayed in the transit hotel one night last year and absolutely hated that the rooms have no windows.