Hi Jennie & Ian,
I talked to you the day I was off to S. Africa on 18th Feb - got back yesterday.We had the most brilliant time & were lucky with our Cape Town weather, getting up the mountain on a brilliant day.It gets closed a lot due to cloud & winds. I did the Winelands tour & thought the scenery was lovely & it was interesting, but I don't think any of us bought any wine, cheaper in the shops! You'll stop for coffee when you leave Cape Town at a nice place called Bodega da Vinho which has a wine shop attached to it. I bought 4 bottles of Savignon Blanc which was award winning, for £2.54 a bottle.
We had bad luck with weather along the Garden Route, it just wouldnt stop raining. We seemed to be following a weather front so it stopped us walking on the beach at Plettenberg Bay & the scenery became a bit of a blur through the rain. You'll stay at the Premier Inn - The Moorings in Knysna which was lovely, swam there in the pool. Featherbed was a good day out.
Apart from Cape Town & all we did, the best part of the holiday for me was Swaziland onwards. Loved the rolling scenery, Game Lodges - well all of it.
When we got up into The Kruger (take 12 Malaria pills "Malerone" with you,) the weather played up again & stopped us seeing Blyde River Canyon & God's Window, but Bourke's Luck Potholes were incredible.
You don't need to take any dressie clothes, just shorts, T-shirts,trousers, stoute sandals, a waterproof, a wooly hat for the early morning Game Drives 3.30a.m. get up, 4.30a.m. leave 2 mornings running!! I did all the add-on Game Drives & the 2 included ones.
The last Game Lodge Hippo Hollow had a warm pool where I swam again.
We had a fun bunch of 27 of us - 4 men, rest girls. Rudy the S.African Tour leader you'll like - got a wicked snense of humour, the Justyou Tour Manager with you will be different. Nigel the S. African Tour leader from Durban onwards is very knowledgeable, so be prepared to learn all the S.African history - actually it was jolly interesting. Worth mugging up on the Boar War & our role. Heaven knows what the British thought they were doing then.
Take Immodium with you, the Malaria pills gave quite a few of our group a runny tummy.
The food was really good, apart from the 2 breakfast picnics we had, but that didnt matter. We all liked the hotel at Port Elizabeth The Kelway.
I got through about £500, all in Rand, & that was without buying anything much apart from bartering for a few nic-nacks, buying lunches, coffees/drinks & optional excursions.
Pretty travel weary after all the travelling & time on the coach, airport, plane etc but all in all it was a fantastic experience & coming home a bit shattered has been well worth it.
Have a fantastic time & even if the Game Drives make you feel a bit done in, we saw fantastic sights & I wouldn't have missed any of them.
Good Luck
HelenJ