Hello there Kelseynv!

Well, i wish I could be of better help… but I didn’t book the flight myself when I went. The Missions group I went with planned it all for us. But we DID fly out of Atlanta to a city called Dakar to refuel. We then flew from Dakar to Johannesburg. I didn’t actually get to see Johannesburg (minus the airport) because we continued to Durban, but from what I’ve heard it’s lots of fun!

I was in the city of Port Edward, which is about 2 hours south of Durban (right on the coast). On the one day we got to be “tourists” we went to a place called the Lake Eland Game Reserve. THAT was a lot of fun! http://www.lakeeland.co.za/
(I think it’s also called Orbi Gorge Nature Reserve). It wasn’t quite a safari but still amazing!

If i think of anything else, I’ll let you know. Good luck to you and have the time of your life! :)

I’m not really sure how to answer this but I’ll give it a go haha-
I would suggest flying into Cape Town, firstly because of the high crime rates in Johannesburg put me off straight away, also you can see table top mountain-I hear it is beautiful! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to see for myself due to fog. We also went cage diving to see the great white sharks in a town near by, which was awesome!! If you are up for it how about bungee jumping at Bloukrans Bridge, or you could just take a look. We spent a week in the African outback which was amazing-I totally recommend that! As there was 6 of us travelling together, we rented a large house with seperate huts, we also had our own tracker/guide, chef and cleaner. We saw lots of the nature near to our huts and on treks too, including the 4 of the big 5-Black Rhino, Buffalo, Lion, Elephant. We had a leopard in the area apparently but we never saw it. Another thing I also would recommend would be Spier, it was rather expensive but we were able to stroke Cheetahs and hold wild birds of prey there, we also experienced native African dancing and lots of celebrations. Everyone was very welcoming there and I loved it-but as I said it’s a bit pricey! I have family in Cape Town so we stayed with them for most of the time but as soon as we started travelling we booked one night stays in little bed and breakfasts or guests houses. I’m not sure how but my dad found all of these places and organised the whole trip. We travelled from Cape Town along the coast and cutting off Johannesburg we went to Lesotho and Swaziland then 4 of us went to Namibia for the weekend before travelling back down to Cape Town. It took him a year to organise our month trip but I am sure you will find many joys from visiting the country. If you have any more queries then I’m here to help :)

I tried to reply normally but it wouldn’t work-so I shall try this way.. All of the things I described was in South Africa. It was nearly 4 years since I went so I might have to check on details and things with my family if you need any details. The cage diving was definately a highlight especially because my whole family kept humming the jaws theme tune haha. But yes I am happy to help-I think my dad is going back for the football too but he won’t be travelling around this time. Oh another thing that we saw was the zulu memorial grounds, to be honest I didn’t really understand much of what was going on but everyone else found it interesting. haha

I went to SA last year (and I lived there for 17 years!) and had a fantastic holiday!!! It depends what you like really…

I went to Cape Town for first time in my life last year and it was amazing! I spent a week there. Loads to do. Table mountain, boulders bay (see loads of penguins, wine farms, beaches, waterfront shopping centre, robben island, beaches, cape peninsula, there is also a drive up some peak. The Cape Town part of our trip was amazing. If you like wine, you will love the wine farms.

We then spent a week in Kwa Zulu Natal. Natal is where I grew up so I knew it well. I lived on the south coast (south of Durban). SO stayed there for a few days. very good beaches and very touristy. Then went to a game reserve in Petermaritzburg. Called Tala game reserve. It is small but nice. If you want huge game reserves you can go to North Natal (Hguluwe). Then spent a few days in the Drakensburg. The Drakensburg is a huge mountain range which is lovely for walking in.

So it depends what you want really. I tell all my friends to go to Cape Town now. Natal is also amazing. I would stay out of the cities and stick to touristy areas. (like in Durban there is a new theme park which is good). There is also the garden route which is near cape town which I hear is amazing ( i haven’t been there yet).

Re: Flights. All airlines are pretty cheap, even SAA and BA (Comair). Mango is a low cost airline (owned by SAA) which I flew on last time. Flights are cheap if you book in advance. Khuala (sp) is also good. I would not fly on Nationwide.

hope that this helps

As with Merryberrycherry, I went to Speir wine farm. It was really cool stroking a cheetah. I would reccomend that you go to a few though. Its an amazing experience. You can get on like a tour bus at Cape town that will take you to a few (therefore no drink and driving!)The food is good on the wine farms. There is also an wine estate that is in the cape town area that is amazing.

Thinking about food, i went to a few places on the road to Simons Town and Fishhoek – they were pretty amazing!

On the left the profile photo is me trying to coax a lioness down from her perch in South Africa.

I just spent 30 days there earlier this year researching tourism products for people with disabilities. Stroking cheetahs, lions, hippos, as well as testing hotels, restaurants, wines, plays, airlines, and safari operators (day and night drives) was all part of the “work.”

From Jo’burg take a cheap 1 hour flight to Durban.

Definitely stay at Makaranga Lodge in a 30 acre botanical garden with a stunning collection of Shona stone sculptures, spa, outdoor pool, and short trails. Then go north up the Elephant Coast.

Stay either at Dave Davie’s backpacker lodge outside the gate or inside the park at Hilltop Camp in Hluehluewe Game Reserve. (It’s pronounced “shlew – SHLEW – ee.”) Hire Dave as your guide either way.

Visit Ilala Weaver’s coop for amazing traditional art sold Fair Trade; Dumazula Cultural Village for a view of rural Zulu tradition with the most athletic dancing you are ever likely to see; St Lucia estuary for wildlife (a World Heritage site) including large hippo families and brilliant birds.

On the way back home through Durban chill in the North Beach section at UShaka Marine World: beach, fantastic aquarium, snorkeling pool (if you don’t go on Mondays when it is closed), restaurants, shops.

Here’s a trip report:
http://tinyurl.com/qcpaed

Lots to do in KwaZulu Natal on the Elephant Coast. Best of all you’ll be one of the few who know about it and avoid crowds!

Various photos here:

http://geotourism.changemakers.com/en-us/node/21221

http://www.krugerpark.co.za/ and Lots to do in and around Cape Town

Hi I’m in the tourism industry specializing in Backpacking in South Africa. It depends on what you want to do here as there are plenty of game reserves, with about 12 in the Eastern Cape alone. Everything from the upmarket Shamwari to more affordable reserves like Schotia and Addo. Most of the airlines are affordable and you could either hire a car or travel by bus. I don’t know what ages you are but we have a tourist bus called the Bazbus that travels between the backpackers affording comfortable and safe travel. So pklease contact me either here or better still on info@jikelezalodge.co.za which is our e-mail address and you could also look at our site: www.highwinds.co.za

Mike

Definately go to cape town! Tickets are cheap with internal airlines such as kalulah, one time and mango airlines. Cape Town is much more scenically beautiful where johannesburg is more a business district. However, from Johannesburg you can go up to Mpumalanga and Kruger national park (4 hour shuttle ride) where there are safari areas. I wouldn’t spend much time in johannesburg unless you know people there. Hope you enjoy your trip!

BundleBee’s advice is great! It is probably best for you to fly directly into Johannesburg since that is where you will be for the game, and then you can find cheap flights to Cape Town, etc from there. Check out the low cost carriers she suggested (mango, kulula and 1time) for flights to Cape Town from Johannesburg. Make sure you read all the small print as they have very sticky return and refund policies.

You could easily spend all two weeks in Cape Town. Make sure you check out Table Mountain, Boulders Beach, Kirstenbosch, and so many more! Check out http://wikitravel.org/en/Cape_Town for more info.

Mpumalanga is also a great option if you want to do a safari thing.

I lived in Cape Town for 22 years so if you have any questions I’d be happy to help.