How to enjoy two incredibly unique experiences in one holiday, by combining safari with Cape Town, in one of the world’s most beautiful countries.
Our South Africa holiday guide explains how to maximise ten days to two weeks, anytime of the year.
We cover the key destinations, the best places to stay, and why South Africa is such a great holiday, whether it’s your first time to Africa or not.
Our South Africa holiday guide includes:
South Africa
Few places in the world can rival South Africa for nature. In a few days you can go from elephant-covered savannah to 3000-metre-high mountains, to Indian Ocean beaches then rolling vineyards, modern city and wild desert.
South Africa is also a massive country, about the size of Italy, France and Germany combined. Many incredibly beautiful places are virtually inaccessible, or not developed for tourism. Careful logistics are essential.
But don’t be overwhelmed by the choice of places to go and how to get around. After many visits to South Africa we know how to best plan an itinerary.
Two experiential and unmissable destinations stand out. An African safari in Kruger, in the northeast. Plus the city of Cape Town, in the southwest.
By understanding the specifics of these two destinations you will understand your options. Then there are many add ons depending on your interests and time.
Cape Town
Cape Town is one of the most magnificent and most fun cities in the world, whoever you are. It’s a destination even for those who don’t like cities.
Cradled by the kilometre-high frame of Table Mountain and the roaring waves of the Atlantic, Cape Town deserves a minimum of four days. Even with a week you will only scratch the surface of what’s on offer.
This is a cosmopolitan, vibrant, ever-changing and well developed city, that’s also more than a city. With Cape Town you are always also in nature, whether it’s mountains, beaches, penguins or forests.
There really is no other city in the world like Cape Town. Photos don’t do justice to the power of nature and your first experience looking up at Table Mountain.
The mix of cool, contemporary African style with western sensibilities is so unique too. Cape Town was World Design Capital 2014 and the first ever African UNESCO Creative City of Design.
There’s high-end gastronomy, hiking on the mountain, the Constantia vineyards, stunning and easy drives to the tip of Africa, vibey food markets, colourful neighbourhoods, loads of history, lots of partying and so much more.
Don’t overthink it. Just go. This is a city destination, beach destination and nature destination rolled into one. We will help to plan the exact itinerary as there are so many things to do.
Where to Stay in Cape Town
Three hotels stand out. One&Only Cape Town is a stylish urban resort in the very safe but touristic V & A Waterfront area. It has the best facilities of any Cape Town hotel and is an all-round good choice for anyone.
Located on top of the Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, the Silo Hotel is the coolest place to stay for couples. It’s very boutique and original, the best choice if you want to embrace Africa’s modern soul.
Mount Nelson, A Belmond Hotel, is an old-world, colonial-style retreat in the heart of the city: very peaceful yet also central to everything. In our experience, it has the best service of Cape Town’s top hotels. Avoid rooms in the main room and choose a suite in one of the different wings.
Safari in Kruger
South Africa’s Kruger is one of Africa’s most premium safari destinations.
It has the best collection of top safari camps and lodges in Africa, along with an incredible abundance of the most sought-after animals, like leopard and rhino. Plus some very rare animals, like wild dogs.
Kuger is a soft adventure rather than a hardcore adventure. It’s the best destination for a first-ever safari, but still incredible if it’s your fifteenth safari.
Kruger can give you a complete safari experience in only three days. You don’t need to game drive for hours to see animals as life concentrates into small water-rich areas.
That’s compared to Tanzania, Kenya and Botswana, where you really need at least a week and travel between two or three locations.
Safari in Kruger is also an amazing experience with children aged six and above, which is the minimum age for going on game drives in open-sided vehicles. Some camps and lodges are adults only, while others have special programs for children.
Kruger vs Greater Kruger
The entire Kruger conservation area measures well over 20,000 square kilometres. Most of this is protected as Kruger National Park.
We recommend spending all of your safari in the Greater Kruger, an area of unfenced private reserves.
The national park is cool but it’s vast, so you spend a lot of time driving and animal sightings are crowded. You can’t drive off the roads, so you only really see animals that are close to the road.
The best private reserves, like the Sabi Sands, are set along rivers and directly border the national park. Animals congregate around water. Camps and lodges are located on the rivers.
Private reserves heavily restrict visitors and the number of vehicles per animal sighting. They’re quieter, which attracts more passing wildlife and maintains more resident wildlife. And they’re far more exclusive.
The Safari Experience
Another advantage of Greater Kruger is you can easily enjoy different safari activities, creating a more complete experience. Game drives during the day, nighttime game drives, game walks and conservation activities are all recommended as part of your program.
For these activities we highly recommend paying the supplement to have your own private vehicle and guide. This provides a more personalised journey.
For example, if you had great lion sightings on day one, you’ll want to prioritise searching for leopards and other animals on day two. So you don’t want another guest on your drive who is desperate to see lions.
Some camps and lodges also have photography hides, dinners in the bush with the animals, safaris by horseback, ATV or mountain bike, plus other cool things. Families should note that 12 is the minimum age for most activities other than game drives.
The entire Kruger conservation area has over a dozen distinct ecosystems. Three places stand out because they’re amazing for both wildlife and safari lodges.
We recommend three to four nights in any of these. For a longer safari it’s best to combine two areas, rather than two lodges in the same area, as it provides a deeper experience.
Sabi Sands
The Sabi Sands has the best wildlife and game viewing in Kruger, arguably in all of Africa. It’s a lush valley with lots of vegetation bordered by two rivers, providing year-round water for animals.
To the southwest of Kruger, Sabi Sands also offers the best choice of lodges and camps. All these accommodations have their own private piece of the Sabi Sands for guests to explore.
The disadvantage is these areas are relatively small, so after a couple of days there’s nowhere new to explore. Of these lodges we can recommend:
Mala Mala has the largest and best located private reserve for game viewing, but the accommodation feels comparatively old and tired.
Ulusaba by Virgin Limited Edition is a remarkably opulent lodge experience, in a reserve that is okay for game viewing.
Sabi Sabi Earth Lodge is the most interesting and contemporary, a good choice for design lovers but the weakest of this selection for actual game viewing.
Londolozi is a good balance between highly luxurious accommodation and wildlife experiences. It has different camps and we’d recommend Pioneer Camp for families or the adults-only Tree Camp for couples. Both of these are Relais & Chateaux.
Cheetah Plains provides an exclusive-use villa experience for families and groups, in an area that’s spectacular for wildlife. Highly recommended, but the villas sleep eight people and only make financial sense if you are at least five people.
Timbavati
In the west of Kruger, the Timbavati is a flatter and drier area with fewer camps. There is less wildlife here, especially in the driest months from August to November.
It’s also fantastic game viewing! The landscape is more open, so it feels more spacious and animals are easier to see and there are less places for them to hide.
Plus the best camps and lodges enjoy traversing rights. This means guests at one lodge can also visit the areas of other lodges, so you explore more.
Our top recommendation in Timbavati is Royal Malawene. It offers highly luxurious accommodation with top-level gastronomy and a spa that’s been awarded as Africa’s best. Plus some of the best guides in Africa and all safari activities being private as standard.
No other lodge or camp in Timbavati comes close. But it’s also one of the most expensive safari options in all of Africa.
Nwanetsi Concession
Bordered by beautiful mountains in the east of Kruger, Nwanetsi Concession is all about endless views and open space. It feels much wilder out here and it’s blissfully quiet.
Game viewing is good, not exceptional. We wouldn’t recommend only doing a safari in this area.
However, the Singita lodges in Nwanetsi make a perfect second leg of a safari, because it’s such a different experience to Timbavati and Sabi Sands, especially activities on foot, by horseback and mountain bike.
To get here from either you must game drive across Kruger National Park, which is a fun and worthwhile day-long adventure too (charter flights are possible too).
Singita operates the only lodges here and they are spectacular places to stay, with or without any safari activities. Both Singita Lembombo and Singita Sweni are pure getaways, highly recommended.
Other Destinations For Your South Africa Holiday
A Kruger safari plus Cape Town is already a superb ten-day holiday. You could squeeze the two destinations into seven or eight nights, or extend it to two weeks.
Then you can supplement your itinerary with a variety of great destinations. Three really stand out.
All the best South African wine is grown in the Cape Winelands, around the towns of Stellenbosch and Franschoek, less than one hour from Cape Town (it is also a day trip option).
Wine lovers should come here for a few days, visit two to three vineyards per day, and stay at an opulent wine lodge like Mont Rochelle. This area is also the best in South Africa for gastronomy.
Nature lovers can try Grootbos Private Nature Reserve, two hours drive southwest from Cape Town. It’s not a big game safari like Kruger, rather a beautiful coastal landscape with smaller indigenous animals.
This is an outstanding area for encounters with whales and sharks, including great white sharks, which you can view from tanks underwater – yes, it’s scary, and safe.
For families we can recommend the safari experience in andBeyond Phinda Mountain Lodge, as an alternative or add on to Kruger. It’s the best place in Africa for a first-time safari with kids and we love the WILDChild program.
Your South Africa Holiday
Getting to South Africa and Getting Around
There are direct daily flights between Cape Town and Kruger, so the city plus safari combination is easy to make.
Cape Town can be accessed via daily Emirates and Qatar Airways flights.
For Kruger it’s best to fly internationally via OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, which offers regular safari link flights to the wilderness.
So you can fly into Cape Town, then fly to Kruger, before departing internationally via Johannesburg. Or do the same route in reverse.
When to Visit South Africa?
The biggest challenge with South Africa is choosing when to go, because the best times for Kruger and Cape Town are opposite. When you go will dictate whether you prioritise more time in one or the other.
Cape Town summer runs from November to March. It’s the liveliest time of year, with long sunny days. The weather is mixed throughout the rest of the year. Even in winter you can experience four consecutive days of beach weather, but also rain and strong winds.
Game viewing in the Kruger is best in winter, between May and October, when it’s dry, warm in the day and very cold at night. The summer climate is more tropical and can be extremely hot.
Long summer days are great for having more experiences in Cape Town, but mean 4am starts for sunrise game drives in Kruger.
Spring and autumn are a nice compromise. The bottom line is you can visit South Africa any time of year, but you can’t go at a time that is best for all destinations.
Your South Africa Holiday
One of our team used to live in Cape Town and recently returned from a trip to South Africa, which provided much of the up-to-date information in this article.
We have personal experience in this incredible country and there are many more details we’d like to share with you.
Get in touch and we’ll start planning your holiday.
