Hello Everyone!

I'm planning on visiting Southern Africa with my wife at the end of July/early August 2019 to celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary with my wife. We're planning on 2 weeks including travel from LAX

I'm a little overwhelmed on where to start planning. We would like to also visit South African wine country around CPT and Victoria falls (if possible).

I was reading that Botswana is better than Kruger National Park for sightseeing.

I'm thinking maybe booking with a tour operator would be the most convenient option. Any recommendations on companies? Abercrombie & Kent seems very nice but also very expensive!!

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

mdsh00 wrote:

Hello Everyone!

I'm planning on visiting Southern Africa with my wife at the end of July/early August 2019 to celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary with my wife. We're planning on 2 weeks including travel from LAX

I'm a little overwhelmed on where to start planning. We would like to also visit South African wine country around CPT and Victoria falls (if possible).

I was reading that Botswana is better than Kruger National Park for sightseeing.

I'm thinking maybe booking with a tour operator would be the most convenient option. Any recommendations on companies? Abercrombie & Kent seems very nice but also very expensive!!

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Someone I know said if they went back they would be perfectly fine self visiting without a tour guide, that's all I know...

We did Kruger, Cape Town and Victoria falls (on a 727) about 12 years ago. For Kruger we stayed at a lodge in the park about 3-4 days. It was a middle of the road lodge but the guide was really good, we saw all the big animals. Cape Town we stayed in a nice hotel but a little outside of the main city centre area. Get a car to explore outside of Cape Town, wine areas, and the nature reserves. At vic falls we stayed at a resort next to the falls. Let me know if you need any details.

Kruger is a zoo. If you just want to see the animals, it is fine, but the best parks by far are up in Tanzania.

My wife and I did a safari in The Okavango Delta (Botswana) in July a few years ago. That time of year, the delta is at maximum fill, but it is also the dry season (the water all flows there from the highlands of Angola), and temperatures are pleasant (70s during the day, 50s at night). It is the best time of year to see animals. We booked with &Beyond, a competitor of Abercrombie & Kent, and stayed at Xaranna Okavango Safari Lodge. It is on its own private game reserve in the middle of the Delta, and during that time of year the lodge is an island. We never had more than one other couple with us in the Landrover, and had multiple game drives or boat outings where we were the only passengers. As Xaranna has thousands of hectares of the delta for its own exclusive use, we did not see other tour groups while we were out (just us and the animals). Our guides were very attentive to what we wanted to see, and towards the end of the trip, when we had seen just about every other type of animal, they spent three hours tracking down a leopard for us. It was truly one of the most remarkable experiences we have ever had. Those safaris are indeed expensive, but you get what you pay for. If you do a mass-market safari park like Chobe, you will see the park from a long line of identical landrovers, each packed to the brim with tourists, kicking up a long line of dust as they all follow the same pre-set track around the park.

Edited to add - The areas around Cape Town (Stellenbosch, Somerset West, Franschhoek) have some amazing wineries. Personally, we enjoyed the restaurant at Asara Winery the most (the views from the dining room are incredible), and the wines from Lourensford and Vergelegen the most. The Van Ryn Brandy distillery is also well worth a visit. Highly recommend renting a car in Cape Town, as there are many great sites around the area that require driving. Boulders Beach Penguin Colony, Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve, and whale watching in Hermanus (July/August is peak season) all require driving. Whale watching in Hermanus doesn't really require getting out on a boat. You can just post up at any restaurant or cafe with a view of the bay, and see plenty of them out there. Gorgeous area.

VSMUT wrote:

Kruger is a zoo. If you just want to see the animals, it is fine, but the best parks by far are up in Tanzania.

Isn't that the whole point of going to Krueger though, to see the animals ?

My info is out of date, it's be 20 years since I went there and the main priority of our trip was to fly on the then NCA DC-6 and to photograph the local aircraft. In saying that, we went to Krueger for a couple of days and loved every minute of it, the weather wasn't great, but we saw lots of animals and generally had a great time. The guide we had on the safari drives, Commie Cliff, (we flew in on Comair) was great, extremely knowledgeable, very accommodating to all on the tour and enjoyed a beer with us at the end of the day. We also did Victoria Falls and just winged it while there. We explored mostly on foot after getting a shuttle from our hotel, but we also had an evening river cruise and did a scenic flight over the falls in a float plane. Believe the scenic flights are all helicopters now, bit of a shame, I sat up front with the pilot and was tasked with Hippo spotting on takeoff and landing.

We did a day trip from Victoria Falls to Chobe and it still ranks as one of the best days of my life. We had a river cruise in the morning and a safari drive in the afternoon in an old truck. Managed to get mock charged by a protective Elephant mother with her very young calf and pulled up next to a pride of lions sleeping under some trees. The Lions were very accommodating and gave us some nice big yawns to get some great photos of their canines. Didn't get to Cape Town, but will next time I get the chance to visit there.

So basically, we organised everything ourselves, with the exception being the time in Krueger and the day tour to Chobe from Victoria Falls. It's probably changed a lot since then and no doubt a lot busier, but wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

My experiences are 12 years old during the month of February. Flew JFK-JNB, got up in the morning, rent a car and drove North to Madikwe Game Reserve. Awesome experience, did not have to take malaria pills. Also drove over 2000 miles all around SA without a cellphone, just a simple map. Had very few planned/booked hotel stay. We just drove, stopped at a place we liked, got a hotel room. 12 days with my brother we enjoyed the safari, wine country, CPT, cage diving with sharks... Great memories. I am sure with more available internet and carrying a cellphone; all this is a piece of cake these days:)

You can do all three. Fly into Johannesburg and connect to Maun (http://www.airbotswana.co.bw) to do a lodge at the Swamps. Fly back to Johannesburg and self drive to Kruger or fly into Kruger Mpumalanga (http://www.flysaa.com) airport and rent a car. You can then fly directly from Kruger to Cape Town (http://www.flysaa.com) to do the winelands. There you’ll want to focus on Stellenbosch and Franshoek for the best wine farms. It will also be worth spending a day in Cape Town itself. It is worth noting that July/Aug is mid winter in SA, so Cape Town will be cold and rainy. Up north, game viewing will be good because the grass will be short and dry in the dry winter. Fly back to Johannesburg to go home (http://www.flysaa.com). Good luck.

Airlink (SA) connects all these tourist areas, without really having to go through JNB. CPT-MQP (Nelspruit/Kruger) or CPT-HDS (Hoedspruit) (CemAir also a good option for this route)...for visiting Kruger. CPT-MUB (Maun, for Okavango) or CPT-VFA (Victoria Falls, for falls and Chobe...closer to Chobe is also Kasane flights to JNB). Between VicFalls and Kruger is also flights from Livingstone (Zambia side of the Falls), LVI-MQP. All of these are daily flights.

Another option could be Kenya Airways if you'd rather do Safari in Kenya/Tanzania, enter at NBO, KQ then have flights NBO-VFA/LVI and then also 5th Freedom VFA/LVI-CPT...then they have also nonstop CPT-NBO which I think is timed to connect with new NBO-JFK flight

Around CPT and further can be explored mostly by car, city, beaches, winelands, few smaller game farms, West Coast, Whale Coast...can drive to Garden Route of fly CPT-GRJ to explore Garden Route area.