Hi! We are flying to Cape Town at the start of July and will spend 3 weeks in South Africa. We are meeting up with friends who live in Cape Town and are planning to do a bit of a road trip together for about 10 days or so, before coming back to Cape Town, and then we will travel around locally a bit ourselves on public transport (see Cape Town's sights, maybe some of the winelands or any parts of the Garden Route that we can manage by bus/train!)
We were thinking of driving up to Namibia on our road trip - but our friends have also suggested going to the Drakensbergs, Lesotho and the Wild Coast - they were there before, but it was in April last year. I read on a post here that the Drakensbergs in July will be freezing, and it might not be possible to do things like pony-trekking - any advice on which option would be better? We have never done any hiking or climbing before, so we'd be looking for something for beginners anyway! Or any other suggestions on good road trips? We'd love to go to a wildlife reserve or safari park of some description too - but don't really want to go as far as Kruger...
All advice very welcome!
Thanks!
Hi,
i am going to Johannesburg on saturday and meet my boyfriend there. Together we´ll make a tour to Kruger, Swaziland and then Drakensberge and Lesotho. My friend is south-african and he has been in this area before. He´s quite sure, that we will be able to get up the Sani pass to Lesotho, but he has warned me: We are expecting freezing temperatures, icy conditions and the pass might be closed, so that we might have to change our plans. Hiking and pony-trekking could be quite hard under these circumstances. And as far as i know, the trails are not very easy. But we will try our luck...
It might definitely better, to go to the wild coast, though. It should be warmer there, but windy ! I´ve been there once in april (in Coffee bay) and it was beautyful ! There are quite a lot of things, you can do. Hiking to the "hole in the wall", quad-biking, visiting a village. I enjoyed it very much there ! I would choose this option, instead of the Drakensberge. It will be more relaxing and offers safer conditions in this time of the year.
Pernille
I'd suggest Drakensberg, Lesotho and Wild Coast rather than Namibia - though it might be quite cold in the mountains in July! Also less mileage stuck in the car!
Ndlovu
I would stay away from the Drakensberg and Lesotho. Unless you want to freeze your butts off. July is mid-winter here. At almost 3000 metres above sea level, in the interior, it gets very cold. I watch the weather forecasts every now and then and the minimum temperatures at Bethlehem (in South Africa, but the near Lesotho border) have been hovering around minus 3 celcius - and that will not get much warmer in the next two weeks. It will be worse in the Lesotho highland areas, of course.
In July the warmest parts of the country are the northern and eastern parts. Along the border with Zimbabwe, through Kruger and down the Natal coast to the Transkei. I would stick to those parts.
And beware from 22nd June to 16th July, the schools are on holiday. That means the Kruger Park is already full for that period and the Natal parks are also not going to be easy to get into.
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