Summary: South Africa

Itinerary

  • Day 0. June 10. Saturday. Flight to Cape Town
  • Day 1. June 11. Sunday. Arrived at Cape Town. Checked in at the President Hotel (4 nights)
  • Day 2. June 12. Monday. Cape Town Orientation Tour. 
  • Day 3. June 13. Tuesday. Cape peninsula tour
  • Day 4. June 14. Wednesday. Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
  • Day 5. June 15. Thursday. Flight to Hoedspruit via Airlink. Checked in at Sausage Tree Safari Lodge (3 nights)
  • Day 6. June 16. Friday. Safari day
  • Day 7. June 17. Saturday. Safari day
  • Day 8. June 18. Sunday. Checked out after morning game drive. Checked in at Loerie Guest House (2 nights). Went to Blue Mountain Restaurant.
  • Day 9. June 19. Monday. Panoramic Route tour.
  • Day 10. June 20. Flew to Johannesburg via Airlink. Then flew home.

What could be changed in the itinerary

In hindsight, I could have arranged Day 8 to land on a weekday, so that I could visit Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.

In Cape Town, there are nice wineries nearby. So one could do a winery tour if there are additional days.

Safety

For safety concerns, I did not rent a car, but relied on private tours and transfers, and used flights as much as possible in this trip.

In Cape Town, there are safe areas and scary areas. The President Hotel is located in a safe area, VA Waterfront is another safe area with many hotels. I also checked with our tour guide Hank on the first day to make sure that the safety information is up-to-date. Even in a safe area, we did not walk outside of the hotel when it was dark.

It looked safe in Hoedspruit, but again we did not walk outside when it was dark.

I did not like what I read about Johannesburg, so we flew from Hoedspruit to Johannesburg and only stayed at the airport in Johannesburg.

South Africa has "Load Shedding", that is, scheduled power outage everyday. The President Hotel and the Sausage Tree Safari Lodge have their own generators, so we had electricity all the time.

Lodging

Among the three hotels we stayed, I highly recommend the President Hotel in Cape Town, and the Sausage Tree Safari Camp. I wanted an all-inclusive private safari for this trip because it was our first safari trip. Among every lodge listed on Lonely Planet, the Sausage Tree Safari Camp was the most affordable option I checked. And the service they provided was undoubtedly among the best I have seen.

I would not recommend the Loerie Guest House. I chose this one because it is near the Hoespruit town center, but there is nothing interesting in the town center. So I would choose a hotel that has a generator so that there is always electricity.

Transportation

In Cape Town, I used

  • Private tours (city orientation tour, cape peninsula tour) and airport transfer service from Hank Daries of Ulungele Tours and Safaris. His contact is WhatsApp +27 72209 3598, email bookings@ulungeletours.co.za . I found the info from Trip Advisor
  • I used Uber for visiting Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. 

Possible changes: 1) Uber works really well in Cape Town, so I would recommend using that for airport transfer. 2) The President Hotel front desk has a service for arranging tours, so I would recommend contacting the hotel to check it out. 

I do not recommend renting a car and driving in Cape town. I am not used to drive on the left side and deal with city traffic. More importantly, the safe areas are very close to not-safe areas, I don't want to drive to the wrong place.

In Hoedspruit, there is no Uber, so I used

  • Buya Buya Travel and Tours for airport-to-hotel transfer and Panoramic Route Tour. Sausage Tree Safari Camp arranged the booking for me.
  • Sable Tours for hotel-to-airport transfer.

Possible changes: The traffic was light, so I would be comfortable renting a car and driving in Hoedspruit. 

Weather

June-Aug is winter in South Africa. This is not ideal for visiting Cape Town because it is rainy and too cold to play in the ocean or on a beach. However, it is ideal for visiting Kruger National Park for three reasons

  • It is dry season, which means no rain during game drives.
  • Grass is low, so it is easier to see animals. 
  • There are not many mosquitos in winter and dry season, therefore, lower malaria risk. We wore long sleeves and long pants, and we did not see any mosquito or get any bite. 
From what locals told me, June sees lighter tourist crowds because European visitors come in July and August. 

Winter is not that cold in South Africa. We were wearing a hoody and T shirts most of the time. It was only chilly at night and before sunrise during morning game drives.  It was super nice that the staff at the Sausage Tree Safari Camp prepared blankets for game drives and put warm water bags in our bed at night.  

Money exchange

  • The best rates were from credit cards, $1 to 19 rand. My Costco credit card does not charge foreign transaction fees. Most restaurants and shops take credit cards.
  • The second best rates were from airport ATM, $1 to 18.5 rand. My Capital One 360 debit card does not charge foreign transaction fees. Cash was needed for all tours with Hank, tips for tour drivers (100-200 rand), tips at Sausage Tree Safari Lodge (600 rand per day).
  • Do not use Bank of America debit card because there is a hefty foreign transaction fee. Do not use ATMs in hotels because it gives a bad rate ($1 to 16 rand). 

Things to pack

  • Layers of clothing. In Cape Town, I wore a hoody most of the time, and a rain jacket when needed. In Kruger, I had a light winter jacket when we started the morning game drive because it was cold, then a hoody after sunrise, then a T-shirt during daytime. So really need to prepare in layers.
  • South Africa power adaptor. Amazon has it.
  • Power bank for cell phone. I used my phone to take a lot of videos and photos during tours, so a power bank could help with the battery life.  
  • Sunblock
Things not to pack:
  • Mosquito repellent wipes. I bough those because the spray is flammable and cannot be taken to an airplane. It turned out that Sausage Tree Safari Camp prepared a bottle in our tent. 
  • Water bottles. We were eating at restaurants all the time and we always had drinks there.

Expenses

Claire and I spent about $7000 total. Including
  • Flights: about $3600
    • ~$3000, flights between US and South Africa for two people.
    • ~$600, flights within South Africa for two people.
  • Hotels: about $2100
    • ~$350, 4 nights at the President Hotel
    • ~$1500, 3 nights at Sausage Tree Safari Camp for one adult and one child. Claire was half price since she was 12.
      • In addition, I paid $100 tips, $30 park entrance fee for two people.
    • ~$75, 2 nights at Loerie Guest House
  • Private tours and transportations: about $400. We traveled with another family, so we saved a lot on this. The total cost for five people was about $900 (16,950 Rand).
    • Cape Town Orientation Tour: 3500 Rand + 400 Rand tip
    • Cape Peninsula Tour: 5250 Rand + 400 Rand  tip
    • Cape Town airport transfer: 750 Rand
    • Hoedspruit airport to Sausage Tree Safari Camp: 2150 Rand + 200 Rand tip
    • Sausage Tree Safari Camp to Loerie Guest House: 1750 Rand + 100 Rand tip
    • Loerie Guest House to Hoedspruit airport:1950 Rand +100 Rand tip
    • Panoramic Route Tour: Free, promotion of Sausage Tree Safari Camp + 400 Rand tip
  • The rest money spent was for food (really cheap, at most 1/2 US price), attraction tickets, entrance fees etc.

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