Lions Tour South Africa

Toga Stroll

Was wondering if anyone has been to South Africa for a lions tour? Sitting here very jealously while a few friends are in NZ and I am keen to go the next one. But South Africa obviously differs to NZ in many ways and was wondering if it is still worth the trip.

bmwguy

Toga Stroll wrote: »

Was wondering if anyone has been to South Africa for a lions tour? Sitting here very jealously while a few friends are in NZ and I am keen to go the next one. But South Africa obviously differs to NZ in many ways and was wondering if it is still worth the trip.

Yes it's worth it. So much to do but be careful and you will love it. So much cheaper than the other 2 and unsurpassed for wildlife safaris and diving with great white sharks. We had South African friends from our club looking after us and bringing us places but I'm defo going back

awec

Depends where the matches are.

Boscoirl

Plan to go to the next one. Probably the only way I'll get to SA (that or a pro 12 game)

The future wife does work for a South African company so it'll be a "business trip" 😜

keano_afc

Planning for Oz in 8 years (long time away I know), absolutely no desire to go to South Africa.

irishbucsfan

keano_afc wrote: »

Planning for Oz in 8 years (long time away I know), absolutely no desire to go to South Africa.

One of the greatest places I've ever visited, as someone who was in Oz quite a while.

penybont exile

Spent four weeks in SA following the '97 tour.

Four fun filled weeks with some good mates. It was a blast.

Travelled the country by car, train & plane [1st Class ..... it was cheap too].

Witnessed some fantastic rugby [Cape Town & Durban tests played in amazing atmospheres].

Interesting to note that the '97 team was given the same chance as the current crop ..... i.e. no chance. Yet they prevailed against the odds. Hopefully the same happens on Saturday.

13R to the £.

3.5R for a 'green beer' & 2.5R for a 'brown beer' in the Cape Town waterfront yuppie bars. Cheaper elsewhere. Dinner, nice wine & cigars on the terrace of the Edwardian hotel in Durban. Oh for the positive exchange rate.

Camping inside Kruger, blackjack & golf in Sun City. Fancy night clubs in JoBurg ...... Rorkes Drift, Stellenbosch wineries .... plus lots of stuff I wouldn't want to make public ..... endless memories ... best trip ever. [with the boys anyway].

Did four weeks in OZ in 01 .... not a patch on SA. [Lived there for a year as well in the early nineties so I knew my way around].

.ak

Myself and the missus were planning on going to SA this year but decided to put it off. If we don't go in the near future will defo head down for this!

awec

I'd say if you're planning to go something like a Lions tour would be perfect as security will be very high profile.

Buer

keano_afc wrote:

Planning for Oz in 8 years (long time away I know), absolutely no desire to go to South Africa.

Australia, by a large distance, would be the least appealing to me. No interest in rugby as a nation, far less culture and scenic attractions than the other two and the most expensive country of the lot. The tour takes place and you'd barely know it was on.

Wouldn't go on a full tour to SA but would strongly consider taking in the last two midweek games and first two tests.

mfceiling

awec wrote: »

I'd say if you're planning to go something like a Lions tour would be perfect as security will be very high profile.

It's not that bad!! I was there in 2002 and it was class. Top quality beaches, excellent food, cheap beer, stunning scenery, wildlife in its natural habitat and racism. Absolutely brilliant.

bmwguy

awec wrote: »

I'd say if you're planning to go something like a Lions tour would be perfect as security will be very high profile.

Bit of security in the immediate vicinity of the stadium but not apart from that. I wouldn't let that hold anyone back though it really is a super country

Toga Stroll

Yeah was just unsure about the security issues. Being unable to travel around the city as you would in Auckland etc doesn't feel like it would be a proper lions feel. But the prices and things to do besides the rugby certainly are appealing. Agree on the Australia comments and probably couldn't wait 8 years anyway!

keano_afc

It's 100% the security issue thst turns me off SA. It's definitely got more to offer culturally but I'd never get the feeling I could relax.

turnikett1

keano_afc wrote: »

It's 100% the security issue thst turns me off SA. It's definitely got more to offer culturally but I'd never get the feeling I could relax.

I think it really depends on who you know. I had a short-lived friendship with a guy from Johannesburg and he said all that stuff is overblown. As in, yes do not get me wrong there are tons of places with high levels of crime but not everywhere is like that. South Africa is a really big place with a lot of different communities. It just depends on who you know, and where you go. If you know someone there who can guide you around and keep you safe basically, then it does sound like a class place to go to.

According to this guy it's perfect temperature all year around, usually around mid-20s, even during winter. During summer when it gets hot you can just retreat into the mountains for a cooler temp. Plenty of amazing beaches, safaris and general wildlife, scenic and sporty things to do. Cheap as well, with great wine, food and a love of chilling! This guy was a real proud South African, I remember during the WC against Wales he got up, took his hat off, put his hand on chest and started belting out the national anthem So of course he would always describe South Africa as class, but I take his word for it. Simply looking it up on Wikitravel and it sounds just lovely to go to. I don't think it would be too expensive in the grand scheme of things to save up and go there for a few weeks + Lions tickets, it is a fair bit cheaper than here after all.

Morris Moss

Toga Stroll wrote: »

Yeah was just unsure about the security issues. Being unable to travel around the city as you would in Auckland etc doesn't feel like it would be a proper lions feel. But the prices and things to do besides the rugby certainly are appealing. Agree on the Australia comments and probably couldn't wait 8 years anyway!

Was in Cape Town last year for 2 weeks with the girlfriend and we had no worries about security in the city day or night, it's massively overblown that it's unsafe, mainly it seems by people who've never actually been in the country, by the way it was easily the best holiday we've ever had.

irishbucsfan

Morris Moss wrote: »

Was in Cape Town last year for 2 weeks with the girlfriend and we had no worries about security in the city day or night, it's massively overblown that it's unsafe, mainly it seems by people who've never actually been in the country, by the way it was easily the best holiday we've ever had.

That's how I felt as well

awec

Ah it's definitely much more unsafe than places people traditionally go on holidays to. Walking around at night alone is a big no no and even in groups you need to stick to certain areas and keep your wits about you, much more so than is normal in major cities.

I wouldn't put it off me going, we had a brilliant time there and loved every minute but you do need to be a lot more cautious.

Buer

There are absolutely precautions you need to take when in South Africa but, once you do, you're absolutely fine. There are tourist areas that feel completely safe walking around at night. If you need to venture beyond them or go from one place to another, you take a taxi and you take one that has been called for you by your hotel, not one you pick up from the street.

But once you do possess any common sense, you're fine. We drove about 1,000km across South Africa and never once did we feel unsafe. We stuck to tourist towns and areas and never felt uncomfortable for a moment.

Combine that with some of the best spots I've ever visited and it's a superb trip. The only problem is that the Western Cape is the most appealing tourist area but it's by far the most remote region relative to the games. On the last tour, it hosted 2 matches neither of which were test matches (although Newlands hosts a good few Springbok games including one of the Irish tests last year).

On the last tour, the test matches were in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban and a number of midweek games were near enough to those areas too (Rustenburg, Bloemfontein). Those areas aren't nearly as appealing to visit as the Western Cape.

If I was going in 2021, I'd look at arriving into SA at Johannesburg, taking in a game flying on to Cape Town for another game (hopefully two) before flying home via Jo'burg for a test match or two (Johannesburg and Pretoria are only an hour or two apart by road).

A lot of flight options from Europe require you to go through Johannesburg anyway so there's a strong chance anyone travelling would go via there. But, as a trip, I'd recommend the Western Cape far more than other areas.

crisco10

Not quite the Lions tour, but went to the soccer World Cup there in 2010. What a great country, sports mad, great weather, cheap and amazing safaris.

We went to about 5 games in 2 weeks, and on the in between days played golf on some amazing golf courses for about €30 each. Also hired a car and camped in Kruger Park for 3 nights and saw some amazing animals in a park thats bigger than Wales.

As someone else mentioned, Cape Town is nice but quite isolated from a sports perspective. We based ourselves around JNB, Pretoria area, All the games we went to were within a days drive of there. (E.g. Rustenburg)

Regarding security, it is a different country and you need to take precautions, but it doesn't really change the fact its an amazing place. Like for me, the security knocks it down from a 10/10 to 9.5/10. i.e still amazing

awec

I would recommend the eastern cape safaris if anyone was looking to do one. I didn't do kruger so can't comment on that, but the big advantage to the eastern cape is there is no malaria, so you don't have to take the anti-malaria tablets that can affect some people adversely. Much smaller than Kruger though, but they will go off the beaten track much more (or at least that's what we were told by people who have done both).

Eastern cape for safari, western cape for wine and Cape Town.