25th Anniv.-South Africa

[betsyv]

Dear

[betsyv]

Sorry, I guess somehow I have already messed up. Anyway, I am trying to plan an extra special trip for my husband and I for our 25th wedding anniversary. We will be traveling late March/early April 2009. I have won auctions for Groosbos Private Nature Reserve (3 nights) and Mateya Safari Lodge (3 nights). We would like to spend 12-18 days on the vacation. What I need to know is besides these two places-what is the must see in Africa/South Africa? I have heard about the Cape of Good Hope, is that something I see at Groosbos or do I need to stay somewhere else or what? Are there people at LL that can help me plan this thing or am I on my own? Kyshel suggested driving-do I need an international drivers license? Is it better to fly in to Johannesburg or to Cape Town from the USA and then do my domestic traveling? Please tell me any and all of your suggestions as I want this trip to be great but unfortunately my budget is not unlimited. I need to get this trip planned and done as I do a lot of traveling for my job and am getting ready to be away an awful lot. Thanks in advance and sorry if I come up with more questions in the future or after I read your answers. This is my first experience with LL and doing this kind of thing, so I am lost right now. Betsy

[kyshel]

Not to worry--we have all been lost prior to finding our way thru guidebooks and websites. Time is on your side.

You've chosen two very different locations in South Africa with really fine accommodations. Good buy on both LL packages.

I guess It's best to start with one and end with the other. If you are traveling from the States you can fly from ATL or JFK on Delta and come/go Johannesburg and Cape Town or reverse. I have recently flown straight thru one way for 20+ hours to Cape Town as well as breaking up the return by stopping in Dakar, Senegal at the Sofitel Taranga Hotel.

I have never done both areas of the country on the same trip so it might require some planning to co-ordinate the segments. Guide book and maybe a video first to get a grip on the distances and go from there. Do you want to drive? We're in our 50's and found driving quite mannerly even though some precautions must be taken around Joburg. We drove from the airport to a lovely hotel an hour away and on the way to Madikwe, so it was convenient to keep our next day's drive to less than 3 hours. Our initial trip was 5 nights + flight time. Our second trip was around Cape Town and it was so compact to drive around. There is one very amazing drive around Chapman's Peak that would scare anyone crazy into being sane or vice versa...worth the effort...take pics if you can!!It's not far to go all the way to the Cape of Good Hope and it is almost like seeing the moon, but with crashing surf at the end!

You'll be able to gauge better once you get a guide book and preferably an decent map--we were very happy to buy a true road map book at the car rental. Wish we had it prior to arrival. We used Dollar and they were very good with service and helping us get to our first stop. We arranged for auto insurance thru Amex and worth the small expense. Don't need an intl license, so one less worry but they do drive on the other side.

I'm not sure what is involved with getting to/from the two destinations you've chosen, as far as total distance. We met a couple at Madikwe who was driving both ends of the country (very similar route you might take) and they did their full trip including the Garden route in about 14 days. If I can find their contact info I will send it shortly.

What a fabulous trip you get to plan. Stay steady and make changes as you start and plan to change as needed to make it all right!

[betsyv]

Kyshel,

Thanks so much. Some great advice! I will get the guide book. I know that I will either fly into Johannesburg and do the Mateya trip and then fly to Cape Town for the Grootbos stay with some time to go see the Cape of Good Hope and Chapman's Peak sounds wonderful. We aren't too far from our 50's (49 and 48) but I don't mind the driving. Then we would fly home from there. I am thinking we fly to Johannesburg first and do the safari and then go to Cape Town and save the longest leg til we are going home so that we can recover there. I travel a lot to Asia from here and it is usually a 24-25 hr trip so I am not too scared of the long distance trips.



My husband is not a "lay on the beach" kind of guy. He always has to be doing something and that is originally why I thought a safari trip would be good for our 25th. But here are my questions:

Grootbos - is there enough to do there that I should plan on seeing the Cape of GH and Chapman's after our stay or should I plan it while we are there? If it is after, is the best place to stay and drive to those places Cape Town or is there another place?



Victoria Falls - should I try to plan a stop there either after or before Mateya or is it not something spectacular?



Somewhere Else?-Is there any other place around Cape Town or Johannesburg that is a not miss?



You mention Garden route- what is that?



I don't think we will need a car during our Jburg route as it sounds like Mateya will handle the transfers from there to the lodge and unless I hear of something else to see there, we will be mainly going from airport to hotel and vice versa. Cape Town sounds like we do need the car and that is no problem.

Thanks in advance for all the help!

Betsy

[kyshel]

I've never been to Victoria Falls. Julian has written about it, tho. We are so fortunate to be able to take short trips to far away places like SA since my husband is a Delta Captain.
I guess VF will wait and you'll have to advise us!

The Delta flights come in too late to go to Mateya sensibly, so I recommend near airport first night. We drove about an hour and chose a place called Misty Hills.The Carnivore Restaurant is an experience and the deluxe rooms or suites are rather interesting. You can have a bfast and be in Mateya for lunch and afternoon game drive. Takes about 3 more hours to get to Madikwe gates. Since it's the most expensive part of your trip, make sure you get to enjoy the most time there. We left late morning and made another stop at Misty Hills before flying home. You'll be moving on to Cape Town or Grootbos. I would not recommend driving around Joburg or to Mateya in the dark.

If you check the book, you'll see the wine valley of Constantia and the Steenberg Hotel (just south of Cape Town) no less than 5 golf course and not sure how many wineries! It's so close to Cape Town you can drive for day trips for Table Mountain etc. It's part of the National Park system (as is Cape Point and Penguins--use the Wild Card) We missed it due to heavy fog--it was not even visible, but we had Chapman's Peak.

Did you look into the shark dive near Grootbos? Far cry from lounging on the beach!

Hopefully someone else can fill in the blanks for you. My husband will be flying the JFK/DKR/CPT/DKR/JFK trip next month. Whatever he can add, I'll let you know.

[betsyv]

I am a Million Miler and Platinum FF with Delta. I try to fly Delta whenever possible and was planning on using them to SA. So we have something in common.



Thanks for the info re Misty Hills and the the suggestions re Madikwe. I need all the help I can get.

I had read about your suggestion about the wild card and was going to get that. I will look at the Steenberg Hotel (I know there is a 2 night auction going on for it also). It sounded great but you said dinner wasn't so good, didn't you? I didn't know if we should stay there or some where else in Cape Town.



I did look into the shark dive and I think we are going to do that plus the whale watching, the horseback ride and many of the other chances at Grootbos. I just have been trying to decide if the 3 day safari at Mateya is enough. Should I try to get another safari or can you only look at so many animals. Hmmm. I guess I will get the guidebook, read the other comments on this thread and make up my mind. I had private messaged Julian and he told me that he is quite busy right now but when he gets a break, he will make some comments.

[kyshel]

I believe that the general manager, Gaby Gramm, will do her best to see that your meal is more memorable than ours (and others--it was a common complaint about the hotel on tripadvisor.com) I highly recommend adding that package if you can arrange it with your schedule. Your accessibility to both the city and the Cape is excellent. Or you could do nothing one day because they have a very reasonable spa, too. There is a very nice upscale shopping area w/nice restaurants within a few miles and it caters to the US Consulate right behind the hotel (who knew??--I did--when I got lost!!)
Maybe you could break a record by using the most LL pkgs on one trip!!

Message Edited by kyshel on 07-04-2008 10:26 AM

[jashermd]

Hi Betsy,

I've been keeping an eye on the Africa board so I missed the post here -- anyhow, I answered some of your earlier questions in a post on that board.

In addition to the 18-hour marathon flight described by Kyshel, you can route via Europe or Asia. If you can sleep on planes the European route is often the least tiring as both flights (US-Europe and Europe-Africa) are overnight, and you get the bonus of about 6-8 hours in the European city of your choice. Paris makes a great stopover.

Grootbos is about 2 hours east of Cape Town, so it isn't really ideal as a base from which to see the city -- you'd see way more of the roads than anything else. I'd recommend spending a few days in Cape Town before heading out to Grootbos (see my other post for a possible itinerary). NB Grootbos isn't really a safari experience -- it's more of a low-key nature experience. If you have an interest in gardening or plant life you'll enjoy the chance to see the unique fynbos vegetation which is only found in the Western Cape -- the guides are passionate about their plants!

The Garden Route is the scenic route along the coast of the Western Cape. The Garden Route is particularly lovely in March and April so the timing would be ideal. It's great if you enjoy coastal scenery and little country towns, and there are some adventure activities as well. It normally takes 4-5 days to cover the Garden Route at a pace slow enough to actually enjoy it.If you wanted to see the Garden Route, the scenic route along the coast, you could just keep heading east from Grootbos towards Knysna and Plettenberg Bay, ending in Port Elizabeth. You could then fly from Port Elizabeth to Joburg for your Madikwe leg.

Assuming you don't do the Garden Route, you'll need to get from Cape Town to Joburg for your Madikwe leg. Unless you really enjoy road trips, I would recommend flying - the route between then is not the most scenic and it can take a day or two to cover at a comfortable pace. If you only have about two weeks you probably don't want to spend the time on this transfer.

Vic Falls is a hard one -- some people feel it's a must-see and others are happy to give it a pass. Adding it to your itinerary would add some logistical complexity as you'd need to go in and out of Joburg twice, once for Mateya and once for Vic Falls. If you did want to do Vic Falls and a second safari, Vic Falls is easy to combine with the Okavango Delta in Botswana; it's also possible to combine it with Mfuwe or another camp in Zambia, but ironically there are better connections with Botswana even though Vic Falls (at leat half of it) is actually in Zambia.

If you were to do Vic Falls and Botswana/Zambia, something like this might work:

Fly into Cape Town. Spend 4-5 nights in Cape Town.
Drive to Grootbos for your Grootbos package.
Drive to the Cape Winelands for 1-2 nights.
Fly to Joburg and drive or fly to Madikwe for your Mateya package.
Fly or drive back to Joburg and overnight.
Fly to Maun (Botswana) or Lusaka (Zambia) for your second safari.
Fly from Botswana or Zambia to Vic Falls for 1-2 nights.
Fly back to Joburg to connect with your flight home.

As you can tell it's a bit more complex than the option I suggested in your other thread where you stayed within SA, but it sounds like your husband would enjoy the wider range of safari activities available in Botswana or Zambia (in SA the main focus is game drives).



Hope this helps!

Cheers,
Julian

[betsyv]

Thank you all so much for your help. This is the trip as planned so far. I am grouping a lot of Luxury Link Travel Auctions that I have won.



Late March we are flying to Johannesburg via Delta, business class

we will overnight at the Airport Sun hotel and then the next day go to the airstrip for our trip to Mateya Lodge/Madikwe

After that package, we will return to JNB and late that afternoon, fly to Cape Town via SA

We are renting a car and will stay at Steenberg hotel (2 night Luxury Link package)

The 1st day in Cape Town we will take the Chapman's Peak Drive and go down to the Cape of Good Hope and explore all around that area.

The next morning we will see Table Mountain and then drive to Grootbos/Gansbaai for our 3rd Luxury Link package. This will let us see a little bit of the Garden Route to and from plus we kind of plan to got through the winelands either before or after.

This is where the firm bookings stop. I want to then return to Cape Town and fly to Nelspruit for a possible Sabi Sands safari but I haven't found one on Luxury Link and am looking at booking just with a safari tour organizer. What I am wondering is should I go that way or should I look at Botswana or what. I want to do another 3-4 night safari and then return to JNB for our flight home. Do you have any opinions? I appreciate all the input so far. You have helped me greatly. I can't wait to post after our travels.

[kyshel]

I am envious as I write!There's a remote possibility that we can do our Mateya pkg next month (fingers crossed), otherwise we wait until next year and live vicariously thru you!
If we get to go early, I'll give a full report as soon as possible.I'll be curious about the Madikwe flight and your stay at the Sun, too. We drive to the reserve, by staying over about an hour north of JNB. Makes the drive pretty short next day and we go almost straight to a game drive on arrival.

So far, your itinerary sounds quite nice and well-thought out.

Be prepared to switch activities at a moment's notice in Cape Town--weather at Table Mountain can be iffy at best some days. You'll probably want to reverse the drive day to Cape Point first and end with Chapman's Peak. While heading from Steenberg to the Point, a must-stop is the Boulders to visit the penguins. Enjoy the great Eggs Benedict at Steenberg--have some bubbly (included with breakfast) If you start early (by 9), you'll have lots of time to climb, play and still have a nice meal before the Peak drive (maybe that's NOT a good idea? Just kidding--but it's a wild ride...) We didn't do the cable car thing and spend time at the Cape visitor center, so you may need to allow for that. We spent so much time gaping at the views from the roads and hills. It's like being on the moon.
I hope you give yourself license to do the wine tasting at Steenberg--very worthwhile! The Constantia Valley is GORJUS! I could go back and lounge around the hotel for a few days--there is so much to enjoy right there.

I guess Jashermd can offer advice for the next part of your trip. I am so anxious to hear about Gaansbai, too. My husband is dying to swim with the great whites. He leaves tomorrow for a Cape Town trip and has another in 2 weeks. Any new ideas about the area, I'll pass along.
Great work, Betsyv.