Help needed on itinerary!

Wow, you are looking at a and very varied trip ! You will see and enjoy many different parts of South Africa with this itinerary. Its clear that you have done plenty of research and you are leaving in a week, so I guess your itinerary is fixed. The only thing that "bothers" me in your itinerary, is that you have only 2 days in Krüger NP. But thats me, and I love Krüger and wildlife.

If you are into art, as you will arrive in Cape Town on the first thursday of October, have a look at http://www.first-thursdays.co.za. And if you like markets, the Hout Bay Market (weekends) http://www.bayharbour.co.za/m_default.aspx and the Neighbourgoods Market (saturday) http://www.neighbourgoodsmarket.co.za/cape-town are great and vibrant places, busy with visitors and locals alike.

You have Oudsthoorn -> Cape Town -> Franschhoek -> Hermanus. This is a slight zig zag - it would be better to do:

Oudsthoorn -> Franschhoek via R62 -> Cape Town -> Hermanus via coastal road -> Knysna via N2.

Hi,

Thanks a ton for your feedback! :-)
It's not really 'fixed' as such, the only places we've booked to stay at for example are in Johannesburg and of course Kruger (that's been booked since March or so!). True that it's perhaps not that much time in Kruger, but my uncle who lives close to Rustenburg also has a 'wildsplaas' with a lot of wild animals, so maybe that's kind of the same ;-)
Do you think the driving etc is doable?
Thanks for the tip regarding Franschhoek etc, there was a reason we planned it this way but I don't really remember what it was anymore... Haha. This does seem like a better route, and perhaps prettier as well?

You'd think 5 weeks is a gigantic amount of time (and of course we're very lucky to be able to do this at all), but I could've planned it ten times over, so many choices to make, so many things I would've liked to see... sigh!

The driving looks doable, in fact it looks like a great trip. Its gonna be amazing! Enjoy.

I don't know a lot about all of the driving on your itinerary, but I used to live in Hoedspruit, near Kruger's Orpen Gate. It takes around 6 hours to drive to Hoedspruit from Jo'burg, then another hour to Orpen Gate. From the gate, it's 2 hours or so straight driving to the Olifants Camp. That's without stopping to see any of the animals along the way and keep in mind the opening and closing times of the park gates and camps, which you don't want to miss.

(Edit: Ah, now looking at the date of your post I'm guessing you posted this right before leaving on your trip and you are there now. I'll post my answer anyhow, as it may help someone else, I suppose in future!)

In September the all park gates open at 06:00 and close at 18:00 (entry gates and camp gates). So your itinerary is do-able, just not ideal. A shame to drive through the park after driving all day and not having much time to enjoy the 2 hour drive to camp. If driving long distances in the car doesn't tend to tire you out, then I would suggest getting as early a start as possible out of Jo'burg and go for it so that you have enough time for a leisurely drive through the park.

Hope you have a great adventure!

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