Help making Itinerary

I'm starting with Kruger, as usual. I would not do Letaba, and then Olifants...because they are so close, so I would rather do Olifants or Satara on the first night, and then Crocodile Bridge on the second. Here is a good link that gives you an idea of how far it is. The average speed in this link is 25 km/h which leaves you room for game viewing along the way. You should also stop at some of the picnic spots even just to stretch your legs or buy a cold drink. South of Satara there's a nice picking spot called Tshokwane, and there's a large pride of lions in the area. Often spotted a few km north of the picnic spot. Also book you accommodation in Kruger as soon as possible, they fill up pretty fast. But if it's full, keep watching the availability as they also change several times a day. Can't really advice on if you should choose Satara or Olifants, as I haven't stayed at Olifants yet (going to mid september). Satara is in prime predator country, and is a very popular camp. There are less people in the north, and Olifants is situated on a top with a view over Olifants river. If you're staying in a chalet, try to get one on the perimeter, worth the extra rands as animals often come to the fence, especially at night.

https://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/get_there/distance_traveltime_combo.pdf

Regarding tours, there are several to choose from. Morning, sunset and night. If you do a sunset tour you get the last of the daylight, and get to see some nocturnal animals (if you're lucky)after the sun's gone down. The night tour leaves around 8 pm, so then you'll have the full tour in the dark. I think all the tours are good, and if you're up for it you should try a guided morning walk.

Table Mountain tip, if you're taking the cable car, go when the weather is nice, Cape Town's weather changes fast, and if it's too much fog, the cable car doesn't run.

I wanted to go to Robben Island to see Nelson Mandela's cell, but I found the whole experience incredibly moving. The guides are former prisoners, and their stories are hard to hear. Brought tears to my eyes several times. The boat trip felt quite long, but I felt it was worth it, much more than I thought before going.

Back to Kruger, I would say that three nights is a minimum. If you're an animal/nature/bird geek, more is needed. I don't think you'll get bored with 4-5 nights because there's lots to see, and even the rest camps are very nice, and people friendly. (I'm staying three weeks in September, but I LOVE Kruger)The south of the park is by far the busiest, but it's also the easiest part to see lots and lots of animals. So I would spend time in the south, and maybe as far north as Satara. There's a drought now, and if the rains hasn't come before you leave, Satara area is extremely dry at moment. It's good for predators, but not for the grazers. So with more nights than two I would probably start at Satara, and then move south and stay at Skukuza/Lower Sabie and then spend the last night in Crocodile Bridge. You can easily stay several nights at either Skukuza or Lower Sabie without having to drive "in a loop"

Victoria Falls is amazing, I've been there twice and would love to go several times. In October there won't be that much water, but that means you can hike in the bottom of the falls, and swim at devil's pools. It's still spectacular with "little" water. If you're imo a bit crazy, you can bungee jump over Zambezi river. And yes, if you're going take a flight from Nelspruit to Livingstone or Victoria Falls (Zambia or Zimbabwe side, bit are equally good)and then fly from there to Cape Town.

Panorama Chalets is a great place to stay near Graskop (Blyde River Canyon)

Cath81 has pretty much said it all :-).
Its great that you have now 3 weeks,. As I'm also a huge fan of wildlife and love Krüger NP, I would also add 1-3 nights there. The more, the better in my opinion.

I like your itinerary, it includes several of my favourite places. Day 6 will be tricky though. Yes, you can do the hop-on/hop-off route in about 2 hours, if you stay on the bus. But I would leave the bus and explore (especially in Camps Bay and Sea Point on the red tour / and in Kirstenbosch and Hout Bay on the blue tour / and in many places within the city on the yellow tour). You can probably fit in the Boo Kap as well, but also including a market (which one ?) will be very difficult/impossible.

Day 9 / Robben Island: yes, in my opinion its worth going there. Apartheid is a very sad part of the recent history in South Africa, and Robben Island is a grim reminder of it. The tours are run by former political prisoners, so they know what they are talking about. I have also a huge respect for Mandiba, so alone for that reason I would go there.

I havent been to Vic Falls, so I cant comment on them.

Ashton Tours is a bus company that gets you to some of the game reserves, they pick you up from Johannesburg Airport at 6.45am or 11am on a couple of days.

Hi all,

Does anyone know a cheap car hire company?

Also if i add Vic falls to my itinerary would it be best to fly from Kruger or johannesberg? and how long would you recommend staying there?
thanks

We use rentalcars.com to find the best deals. The car we're hiring at europcar is cheaper through rental cars' website than europcars'.

You can easily fly from Kruger (Nelspruit)to Livingstone (Victoria Falls)we did that in 2013. We had two nightwhich is enough if you just want to see the falls and maybe do a bungee jump or swim in devil's pool. If you want to do all the adrenaline stuff that's on offer you'd need a few more nights.

hi all,

At the moment i am trying to book camps in Kruger however I need some advice please
I would like to go to the Blyde canyon first and then spending 3 days in Kruger. What is the best entrance and camp to start with? bearing in mind that i will be heading back in the direction Johannesburg to either return the car and fly to port Elizabeth or continue on towards the garden route.

Phabeni gate is the closest from God's window, so Skukuza should be a logical first camp. But you can also stay at Lower Sabie, Pretoriuskop or any of the southern rest camps. The camps aren't that far apart, this link is a good guide to see how long it will take you from gate to rest camps if you drive at 25 km/h, which is a good speed to see animals.

https://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/get_there/distance_traveltime_combo.pdf

The roads between Skukuza and Lower Sabie has been very good these last few weeks, and also from Crocodile Bridge up to Lower Sabie. You can see a lot by staying on the tar roads, but the gravel ones are less busy. Also, it's a good tip to leave camp when the gates open, as lions and hyenas often are close to the road or on the road at that time. If you stay several nights at one camp, you can return after a few hours if you don't want to drive all day. And then do another trip from 3 pm to gate closing time.

On my first Kruger trip we stayed at Crocodile Bridge, Skukuza and Satara. This year we're splitting our time between Skukuza and Olifants. I think it was a nice experience seeing different camps on the first trip, and see which ones we like and how different they are. But now I prefer to stay several nights at each camp because we're usually out from 6 to 6, so we cover a lot of ground in a day anyway, and we don't have to pack all our stuff every day :)

hi cath

Thanks for your advice however due to limited availability in camp i had to go another way. I will be entering at the phalawora gate then staying at Lebata and then moving on to Tamboti and then moving down to crocodile bridge.

Would you suggest doing a night activity while in the park? if so which one?

I now have another query re car hire. Can you tell me the best company to go with that is not too expensive and whether or not you would suggest hiring the car for the entire duration (3weeks) as i found that there is not much places of interest between kruger and port elizabeth. Apart from Drakensberg mountains which i am not too sure of adding to my itinerary.
I start the garden route from port elizabeth thats why i am asking.

Again thanks for any advice

hi,

I would really like some suggestions on where to visit or stop off between Swaziland and Drakensberg mountains. So far i have booked one night at Swaziland. Do you think i will need to stop off another night somewhere between the two?(bearing in mind i plan on doing the garden route and cape town after)
Also where are the best places to stay if i want to do the bushman hike at Drakensberg?
thanks for any ideas

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