1

Do you really want to do the drive from Johannesburg to PE in one day? Why not fly - it would probably be less expensive and with only 7 days at your disposal you could save that day for something a little less tiring.
Day 2 is not too much, as you will be ataying over at Wilderness.
Depending upon which other cave systems you have seen (e.g. those in Slovenia), you might or might not find the Cango Caves somewhat underwhelming.
Day 4 - I have no idea what or where "Cloof" is.
I presume you plan to do another 12 hour drive from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Consider flying instead.
As far as the driving is concerned - one can quite easily work on an average speed of 100kph (the open road speed limit is 120kph). Although in my younger days we quite often used to do the Cape Town - Johannesburg route in a day, we were not tourists and were just aiming to get to our destination as quickly as possible. Now I would not dream of doing it in one day - there are plenty of places to sleep over.

2

Spending two of your seven days in a hectic drive down and up the country is a bad idea especially if you wind up driving at night. Fly into CT. There is plenty to see with CT as your base and you can see the rest of your itinerary. No need to go as far as PE.

3

Thank you for the suggestions!!

We chose to drive from Joberg to CT as we have a local friend there, so would like to have him as our guide in CT and he can save the flight cost + car rental. But on returning, we will take one-way flight from CT to Joberg.

Cloof Wine Estate locates in the city Darling. Does the driving route we plan make sense? Wanna make sure we won’t be rushing too much on the Garden Route, not able to do some sight-seeing in between.

For caves, we haven’t visited anything similar before..as we are from Asia…

For Hermanus, would u guys have any recommendation for whales watching?

4

Interesting. How on earth did you stumble across Darling? I was not even aware that they had wine estates in that area. Anyway - yes you could make it from Hermanus to Darling in a day and yes, your irtinerary does make sence - subject to the previously mentioned reservations.
Whale watching at Hermanus is quite an experience but the whales are only in the bay from about August to November,

5

Thanks RudiK. We will visit Darling, coz we have a friend who works in the neightbourhood.

Do you have any idea about the driving route from Joberg to PE? is there any places that worth to stop by? or shall we just aim to get to our destination asap?

For Knysna and Wilderness, do u think both spots worth to visit, or shall we skip either one city and save some time to explore the city?

For whales watching, would u suggest we do it on the boat or on land along the coast?

Excuse me for having some many questions, many thanks for your help!!

6

Hey,

I know this isn't a 100% answer to your question but there's some relevant stuff in it so here goes:

I recently did a round trip; Cape Town to Joburg, then to the Drakensberg, then to P.E, then to Knysna, then to Cape Town, as part of a blog I was writing - you can see half the route here:
http://www.nightjartravel.com/journeys/2-nights-adventure-trip
but the blog isn't published yet. Based on my experience, if I had to drive from Joburg to CT via the Garden Route, I would do the following:
Day 1
Joburg to Mokala National Park or skip Mokala and head straight for Oudtshoorn

Day 2
Mokala to Oudtshoorn

Day 3
Oudtshoorn to Knysna

Day 4
Knysna to Cape Town

Oudtshoorn has a lot of activities and things to see within driving distance of it, and so does Knysna, and both towns are sweet, pretty and historic. Everyone has a their own opinion, it seems, but P.E. for me has never been very interesting. Wilderness is very pretty but such a small town that you'd get a better experience just doing Knysna, but exploring some of the forest scenery, than doing just Wilderness or trying to do both.

Like I said, my trip was a bit different from yours, but I hope I've given you a little bit of useful advice :)

Erik

7

Do you have any idea about the driving route from Joberg to PE? is there any places that worth to stop by? or shall we just aim to get to our destination asap?
It is a full day's drive from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth, so you will not have much time for stops along the way. My choice of route would be along the N1 to Blowmfonteinand on to the Gariep Dam then on the R58 to just before Venterstad where I would get on to the R390 to Steynsburg, Hofmeyer and Cradock. At Cradock I would get on to the N10 to Port Elizabeth.
If you had the time you could stop for a couple of hours at the Mountain Zebra National Park outside Cradock. If you had more time you could overnight there.

For Knysna and Wilderness, do u think both spots worth to visit, or shall we skip either one city and save some time to explore the city?
Wilderness is so small that it is not worth spending much time there. It is a great base from which to spend time on the beach or at the lakes (Rondevlei and others) between Knysna and Wilderness. Personally I would rather stop in Knysna and take a boat trip to the Knysna heads, or enjoy some oysters for which Knysna is well known, or spend time in walking in the nearby forests, or detour onto one of the smaller back roads (the R340) over the Prince Alfreds Pass.

For whales watching, would u suggest we do it on the boat or on land along the coast?
Find out in advance whether the whales are in Walker Bay (Hermanus) - phone Hermanus town information service. If they are there, you can look down on then from the cliffs in the middle of town. If they are not there and you are prepared to spend some money you could stop at Gansbaai about 50 km south-east of Hermanus and take a boat trip to Dyer Island and hopefully see the whales on that outing (Google: Dyer Island boat trips). Check out the times of the boat trips in advance.

Excuse me for having some many questions, many thanks for your help!!
You can never ask too many questions. And if my answers are of some help, then I am happy.

8

Erik and Rudi. thanks so much for your response, that's very informative!!

We plan to spend an afternoon at Plettenberg Bay and Knysna. with the limited time, would be grateful if you can highlight soem spots that I shouldn't miss??

Also, to see the Penguins. Is the Boulders Beach is best choice? while we will stay in Darling, any recommended Penguin seeing location?

many thanks as always :)

9

While at Plettenberg Bay take a short drive to the Robberg Peninsula and then stroll across the ridge, preferably at low tide so that you can reach the island off the peninsula.

You can stop at Stoney Point at Betty's Bay a little further along the coast from Hermanus (a route which I would recommend you take to get to Cape Town in any case). There is a colony of African Penguins that you can walk among along the boardwalk. A very small charge is levied. Boulders Beach is the alternative.

Near Darling you will find the West Coast National Park - a lovely spot and very well known as a birding paradise (not Penguins, though). Langebaan lagoon is also worth a visit. I believe that the fossil park / museum is another place to check out (see: http://www.fossilpark.org.za/pages/background.html). The Cedarberg is a beautiful mountainous hiking region lying east of the N7 between Citrusdal and Clanwilliam - well worth the drive to get there. A little further north along the coast, at Lamberts Bay, Bird Island with its Gannet colony is worth a visit and just south of Lamberts Bay is a great place to enjoy a seafood lunch - see: http://www.muisbosskerm.co.za/.

Enjoy.