Planning a trip to South Africa in October. Unclear if we will be on the Western or Eastern Cape at this time. Looking for recommendations for a 1 day winery tour, where to see penguins, Flying to Kruger to spend a few days or just do a closer place? Also, what would be the one thing that we should not miss while there? Looking at a 14-17 day trip. Thanks!

Hi. I don't know most of the answers to your questions, because we just flew into South Africa (the country). We spent all our time in Zambia (for Victoria Falls) and Botswana, for game drives. If you want to go to Kruger, I suggest you do some reading about how crowded it gets there. To ME, I would hate it there--20 vehicles surrounding one poor lion. Botswana is a plane trip from Joburg, but if you want to have a wonderful wildlife photo experience, it is hard to beat. Our trip to South Africa was all the way back in 2005 (??), but it remains one of the best experiences of our lives. Enjoy!

We were in South Africa in Sept 2022. Great time. We spent one week in safari at Zulu Nyala which is eastern part of SA. Zulu Nyala is a smaller reserve (4500 acres) as compared to larger ones at 45000 acres. We did visit the larger reserves several days to see lions. We saw all of the animals except cheetah and leopards. Great experience. We then spend a week in Cape Town. Stayed at 12 Apostles Resort. Couldnt ask for better service and accommadations. We did one day trip to Cape of Good Hope to see the penguins. Hired a driver to take us on tour of wineries in Stellenbach, http://www.tsibatsiba.co.za/ She was fantistic and took us to some great wineries. We also did the train/tram tour of wineries in Franschook. Some restaurants not to miss: Belly of the Beast in Cape Town, Fat Butcher in Stellenbach, and Beau Constantia in Constantia. Reservations are definitely required. Enjoy the trip