Another South Africa post

Irish Gunner

Hi

Ok I know there has been posts on South Africa before and I have read them all and gained some knowledge from them

However we are looking to do the below trip and looking if anyone has done it
Hope to go for 3 weeks in Feb

We where going to book with Slatterys but going from a SA local who I work with said they are not worth it and better off flying from London for comfort value. Checked the net and they are cheaper including flight to London

Thinking of flying to Capetown and staying max of 4-5 days and doing all the tours etc. Then thinking of flying up to Port Elizabeth What is the Ryanair of South Africa and do they have a website ?
Not thinking of hiring a car until we get to Port Elizabeth & will try to do Capetown by taxi bus walk is that wise ?
Dont want to waste money on hiring out a car for such a small time

When in port Elizabeth thinking of driving up to Addo Elephant National Park or Shamwari Game Reserve
Anyone been there worth it ?

Then driving back to Capetown via Garden Route staying in a combination of either Plettenberg Bay, Knysna, Wilderness or Sedgefield.

How long does it take to drive back approx & what are these towns like

Any info would be helpful

Thanks

Jivin Turkey

I was there last year, had a blast. Going to bed now though but Ill post up some stuff on Saturday.

I heard on morning Ireland this morning that Gulf Air are coming to Dublin soon to do direct flights to South Africa.

whippet

I would imagine that 3-4 days with out a car would be a bit much to spend in capetown. Hire a car and head up to the stellenbosch area for a bit of wine tasting and touring around .. much more to see and do than in capetown it's self.

Knysna is a nice spot, relaxed, cheap and good fun.

pickarooney

There's loads to do in CT and the environs for a week or two. Lots of day trips available and all kinds of sporting escapades, treks, boat trips etc. Overnight coaches are maybe the best way to get around the country, but if you can afford to fly, why not.
I only went to Kruger Park, but it was amazing. You'll need to hire a car to get there and around, but that's fairly cheap and not far from Jo'burg if you happen to be up that direction.
I found Durban to be the most interesting city in SA. The food and beaches were class.

Jivin Turkey

On our trip last year we flew to PE via Johannesburg, and then drove to CT and fly home from there. We arranged our flights and car hire through Trailfinders.

I thought his was a great way to do it because it meant we had 5 days in CT at the end to relax and unwind in a decent hotel, without the thought of loading up the car and travelling again in a night or two. We dropped the car back on arrival in CT and got by just fine. Although if he had kept it we probably would have made a trip down to Cape Point south of the city. There is more than enough in CT to keep you occupied though for days even if you are just on foot.

We stayed here and I couldnt recommend a hotel better. We had a window overlooking the square. The room was fine. The restaurant was gorgeous and the bar was lovely, not to mention a small swimming pool on the roof! It was bang in the centre of the city and everything was within walking distance. We booked that through Trailfinders although Im sure you can book online somewhere and possibly get it cheaper.

To go back to the beginning of the trip, PE was ok. We only stayed a night. Nice enough city but not that much to do aside from the big casino. We had a lovely meal here in a Greek (?) restaurant here close to the casino.

Next we went to a small safari park called Kariega game reserve. This was reasonably expensive but we were so glad we went here. It is a relatively new park and when we were there they only had 3 of the big 5 (Lions/Elephants/Rhino), it says on the website that they now have all 5, so you might want to check that out. It is all inclusive and the food was beautiful all the time. We had our own lodge complete with swimming pool looking out over the park.

This park was completely different to the other more commerical parks (Addo/Shamwari/Kruger) where there are actual tarmac roads throughout the park. In Kariega you are in a old army vehicle and actually go offroad completely driving through the grass and bushes. It give such a feeling of actually being right in there, and can lead to some amazing views that you mightn't get in the other parks where you stay on the roads. The staff were all lovely and very helpful. We stayed for three full days.

Next we went on to Addo Elephant Park for a night. We stayed in the "huts" which were R300 a night in total (only about e40!). Here you can take your own car into the park which is great. It wasnt until we got here that we realised how lucky we were in Kariega. Dont get me wrong though Addo is amazing and there are some great sights to be seen (not least the 100s of Elephants!), just its a bit commercial and tourist orientated. It was great though going to the two parks as they both contrasted sharply and we ended up seeing so much more than if we had just gone to one. Here we saw buffalo, coyotes, hyenas, warthogs that we hadnt in Kariega (well thats what I can think of off the top of my head), we also saw some incredible sights of herds of elephants, so close you could almost touch them. There is a watering hole where a lot of animals congregate which has to be seen to be believed.

Id definately recommend trying to get to two parks, as it gives you something to compare, and I wouldnt have a bad word to say about the two we chose.

Right next up we went to Knysna. A cracking place. We stayed in a place called Under Milkwood, and again I couldnt recommend it highly enough. The staff are so friendly. They OFFERED to wash my clothes as they had overheard me say to my GF that a pair of trousers were dirty! Its a little bit outside the town (10 minute drive/taxi) but its well worth it. Its got a beautiful private beach with canoes that can be taken out. We got a special deal too, so it was only about R600 for two nights, although we were there in the offseason. Knysna itself is very nice, there are some amazing restaurants in the docks (the nicest meal on the trip was had here). We BBQ'd ourselves one of the nights in the chalet too. We went hiking and quad biking up one of the mountains which we organised in the docks, very enjoyable. We definitely would have stayed here longer had we had the time.

Next we went on to Oudtshoorn, land of the ostriches. Definitely worth a visit. If only for a night. A lot to do between Ostrich farms, safari land, and the Kangoo caves. Its not far from Knysna so we got there early and only stayed one night, but still managed to get everything done.

Our trip from Oudtshoorn went via Storms River and the biggest bunjee jump in the world (apparently). A pretty intimidating sight.

Then onto Hermanus I think, which was ok. A bit tacky like every seaside tourist town. But apparently the best place to see whales. We actually got our best views on our journey from Hermanus to Stellenbosch.

We stayed a night in Stellenbosch town, which I wasnt mad about. We had trouble finding a place to stay and then a restaurant to eat, and got so desperate ended up in a glorified fast food joint. The second night we rented a cottage out in the vineyards for less than R300, and had a BBQ. Its way nicer out of town in the vineyards, also better access to the vineyards. Definitely worth checking these out. You can stay in a vineyard called "Spier" which was lovely and looked like it had a good atmosphere. Its one of the larger ones and a lot of people stay. We just went for the afternoon.

Then off to Cape Town as discussed above.

As you can probably see from the amount Ive written I enjoyed myself, and love talking about it. I definitely intend to go back in a few years.

Are going with friends/GF/on your own? It was the best place me and the other half ever went as it was a great mix of activities as well as some luxury in accomodation and eating.

I would advise you to pick up "The Rough Guide to", it is a source of much information, and provides a lot of phone numbers and stuff that you can ring ahead and book places, which I wholly recommend. Nothing worse than arriving in a place late and tired with no accomodation like we did in Stellenbosch.

I would also advise you to go up Table Mountain at the first chance possible. The weather can change quickly and you might miss your only chance. You can walk it if you are adventurous, but bring lots and lots of water, even though it is heavy.

The driving is fine, and the roads are good and well laid out. Dont forget your licence! We were lucky and got upgraded (for free) from the standard Toyota Tazz to a VW Polo and enjoyed the added comfort. We arranged car hire through Trailfinders but it could be cheaper to do it yourself online or over there. Worth checking out.

I hope I havnt bored you with all this, it just brings back some great memories. PM me if you want any more info or to see some photos, Ive some great ones particularly of Kariega which Ill upload if you want.

Irish Gunner

wow Jivin Turkey

Thats more than enough info thanks

just me and the missus going but she suffers from Vertigo so Table mountain would not be her cup of coffee but wont stop me

How long did you stay for ? is it safe driving ?

we dont know whether to go to CT and fly home form JB or vice versa. There seem to be a bevy of safaris available ???

Going into trailfinders this w/e to discuss price etc and checking prices over the net

Did you find them helpful

Thanks again

Jivin Turkey

Irish Gunner wrote:

How long did you stay for ? is it safe driving ?

We stayed for 17 days. Would have loved to stay a bit more.

Driving is safe on the Garden Route, its only supposed to be in Jo'burg that there is a serious danger of carjacking. That said be safe and lock your doors, and dont take any chances.

Driving is fine, roads are good, and not busy along the Garden Route. We only passed 3 cars while travelling a stretch of 100KMs on the Eastern Cape :eek: And I wont say what speeds we ended up reaching at time . We were told that there is little risk of getting clocked speeding on the Eastern Cape which increases greatly when you cross the border to the Western Cape.

Irish Gunner wrote:

we dont know whether to go to CT and fly home form JB or vice versa. There seem to be a bevy of safaris available ???

I thought going to PE via Jo'burg and then to CT was great. It was really nice arriving in CT and being able to drop everything knowing you could really relax for your last few days, and there is no problem getting a car to take you to the airport if you want to drop your car off on arrival.

As regards safaris, Addo is excellent, and very good value. You can drive through the park yourself (i.e. you dont have to pay to go on a safari tour vehicle, although the night ride on that is great!), and accomodation is cheap. The huts are more than adequate for a couple. Shamwari is supposed to be similar to Addo so in that respect I would encourage you to check out Kariega, its very different to Addo.

Irish Gunner wrote:

Going into trailfinders this w/e to discuss price etc and checking prices over the net

Did you find them helpful

Trailfinders were helpful, but at the same time they are trying to sell you stuff. To get flights with them we had to book the car and three nights accomodation also. It wasnt such a bad thing as we got the hotel in CT and the car sorted which we would have done anyway but if you are prepared to shop around you could get it cheaper.

Dont be afraid to say no to them, and dont be afraid to use them to get information and then source it on the net for cheaper

Here are a couple of pictures from Kariega:

View of Kariega

Some lions that we encountered

Irish Gunner

now we are thinking of flying into Jo'burg & straight onto Kruger Park spend a few days there then fly down to Port Elizabeth and doing the garden route to capetown

so in this case we can chill in capetown at the end of the holiday

however we dont want to spend any time in Jo'burg

anyone ever done this route?

Zaph

If you're travelling from PE to Cape Town the best places to stay on the way are Knysna and Plettenberg Bay, both are really nice towns with some great places to stay. Mossel Bay is probably about the next best bet, but after that places like Swellendam and Riversdale should be avoided, especially the latter which is a bit of a dump. Closer to Cape Town Wilderness really lives up to its name. There's a guest house there called The Dunes which is one of the nicest places I've ever stayed in. The rooms overlook the sea and have sliding doors out onto a deck area. Their website is The Dunes.

As Jivin Turkey mentioned, Stellenbosch can be a hard place to find accommodation in, the best bet is to go through the tourist office there. It's a college town which is home to the largest Afrikaans university in South Africa. Consequently the bars can be a bit full of boorish drunk Afrikaaners, which can put some off. Still, it's a nice town and worth a visit, especially if you're planning to go to the vineyards. The Power House is a pretty good place to stay if you go there. You'll be in South Africa after whale season ends, so there's not really much point in going to Hermanus as there's not a lot there.

If you do decide to go to Shamwari, which is pricey by local standards but worth it IMO, you can book it through the tourist office at the Boardwalk (where the casino is) in PE, but you might be better booking directly with them in advance to be sure of getting a place. I think they recommended a minimum of six weeks in advance at peak times. Don't be tempted to stay there unless you're loaded as the lodges are ferociously expensive by any standards. We actually saw loads more elephants there than we did at Addo, for some strange reason.

Driving is perfectly safe there, although downtown PE is a bit dodgy so stay up towards the Boardwalk end. Here are a couple of South African car hire companies that may work out cheaper for you than the main international ones:

Comet
Imperial
Car Rental Services

Irish Gunner

cheers Zaph

thanks for the advice
Still pricing flights and cheapest is through amdam, pity you cannot do stopovers

going the backpacking route and came across decent hostels and B&B's

The fun is in the planning so still looking for any advice