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First Trip to South Africa #294552
01/25/2023 03:35 PM
01/25/2023 03:35 PM
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 44
Colorful Colorado!
T
thefosterfarm Offline OP
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thefosterfarm  Offline OP
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Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 44
Colorful Colorado!
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!


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Re: First Trip to South Africa [Re: thefosterfarm] #294558
01/25/2023 03:57 PM
01/25/2023 03:57 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 82,482
Central Florida!
Carol_Hill Offline
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Carol_Hill  Offline
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Central Florida!
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!


Carol Hill
Re: First Trip to South Africa [Re: thefosterfarm] #294588
01/26/2023 08:53 AM
01/26/2023 08:53 AM
Joined: Apr 2020
Posts: 49
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Volle Maan Offline
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Volle Maan  Offline
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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

Re: First Trip to South Africa [Re: thefosterfarm] #295685
02/14/2023 02:08 AM
02/14/2023 02:08 AM
Joined: Nov 2022
Posts: 9
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MWatson Offline
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MWatson  Offline
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Posts: 9
Sun City is a cool place. That is like a casino oasis and a lot of fun.

Re: First Trip to South Africa [Re: thefosterfarm] #296773
03/02/2023 08:25 AM
03/02/2023 08:25 AM
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 273
Albany, NY
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JimandBeth Offline
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JimandBeth  Offline
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Posts: 273
Albany, NY
We too are beginning to plan for South Africa. Frankly I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. If anyone has recommendations on safari companies that they have used, we would appreciate the info.

Re: First Trip to South Africa [Re: JimandBeth] #296779
03/02/2023 09:42 AM
03/02/2023 09:42 AM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 82,482
Central Florida!
Carol_Hill Offline
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Carol_Hill  Offline
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Posts: 82,482
Central Florida!
I don't blame you at all. A TA for South Africa I think is a must. I don't know for sure if they are still in business, but we used Bert at Fish Eagle Safaris. He was wonderful!


Carol Hill
Re: First Trip to South Africa [Re: thefosterfarm] #296806
03/02/2023 12:53 PM
03/02/2023 12:53 PM
Joined: Apr 2020
Posts: 49
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Volle Maan Offline
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Yes, it can be overwhelming. Fortunately the safari part of our trip was planned. We had won it at a charity auction and Zula Nyala was better than expected. They were great about communications and setting up transportation from airport in Durban and back. They set up daily excusions on their property plus you have the option to go outside of the reserve to visit larger reservse to see lions.

As for Capetown, we did our own planning. Using the internet, TripAdvisor and reading other blogs, we were able to put together a great week of adventure, food and wine. We booked day trips with TripAdvisor and it all worked out well. Staying in Stellenbach also make it easier to visit the wineries and experience the area.

It takes some planning but it can be done.

Re: First Trip to South Africa [Re: thefosterfarm] #296814
03/02/2023 02:36 PM
03/02/2023 02:36 PM
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 273
Albany, NY
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JimandBeth Offline
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JimandBeth  Offline
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Posts: 273
Albany, NY
Thank you to everyone for your replies. We’ll be glad to share our experiences once we figure this out.

Re: First Trip to South Africa [Re: thefosterfarm] #296884
03/04/2023 04:18 AM
03/04/2023 04:18 AM
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 3,996
U.K. and Spain
Jeannius Online content
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Jeannius  Online Content
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U.K. and Spain
We spent 4 nights back in November at Amakhala Game Reserve out near Port Elizabeth. There are about 10 lodges in the Reserve ranging in price. They look expensive (or they did to me!) but everything is included, 2 game drives each full day with one on arrival day. We had a great, really knowledgeable, guide called James who has been there for years. We stayed at Bush Lodge and it was excellent.

Re: First Trip to South Africa [Re: Jeannius] #296911
03/04/2023 03:25 PM
03/04/2023 03:25 PM
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 273
Albany, NY
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JimandBeth Offline
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JimandBeth  Offline
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Albany, NY
Thank you, Mike

Re: First Trip to South Africa [Re: thefosterfarm] #301240
05/15/2023 05:32 PM
05/15/2023 05:32 PM
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,228
Somewhere out there
kneafseym Offline
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kneafseym  Offline
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Posts: 3,228
Somewhere out there
Driving the Garden Route on the South coast is great, you will see Penguins in Simons Town, Whales in Hermanus. Off the route just a bit is the Cango Wildlife Ranch, we have an adopted Cheetah that lives there and possible to play with.
Stellenboche is the wine country, not far from CapeTown many winerys there.
In Cape town there are serveral travel companies to book game lodges with. European and American prices are higher. They know which game lodge has availability.
Kruger is a nice drive, you don't need to even look for animals, you just stop where all the other cars are, not the way to see the animals.


Mike

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