South Africa in 2 weeks

South AFRICA! Finally I made it to this amazing continent! This is the first country I’ve been to in Africa.. which in my opinion is a great place to start! It’s developing quickly and becoming very westernized, so it’s relatively easy and safe to travel around yourself.

The country is huuuge, so there’s obviously way more to see than what I did in 2 weeks! But if you’re like me and can only get away for a few weeks at a time, here’s the perfect South African Itinerary! In 2 weeks you can see a lot more than you’d think 🙂

We broke up the trip into 2 parts – 1 week in Johannesburg/Kruger National Park, and 1 week in Cape Town

Day 1 – Arrive in Johanessburg
Day 2 – Explore Sandton
Day 3 – Drive to Kruger National Park (5 hours)
Day 4 – Morning safari drive in Kruger Park/ Night drive in Gomo Gomo Lodge
Day 5 – Stay at Gomo Gomo Lodge (2 safari drives a day)
Day 6 – Morning safari drive in Gomo Gomo Lodge / Drive back to Johannesburg with stops along Panoramic Route
Day 7 – Fly to Cape Town / Explore downtown area (Bo-Kaap)
Day 8 – Drive to Muizenberg//Boulder’s Beach
Day 9 – Hike Table Mountain
Day 10 – Hike Lion’s Head and Explore Camps Bay
Day 11 – Rest Day and Fly Home

We flew into Johanessburg (23 hour travel day from Canada) and arrived late at night. I would highly highly highly recommend that you spend a little bit and hire a private car from the airport to take you to the hotel. We did this and I am SO glad because that’s exactly what our driver told us when we met him – he said that between the airport and the hotel is when most people get robbed – locals watch for tourists leaving the airport in their rental cars/taxis (knowing that they have ALL their belongings/cash with them) and then they drive them off the road and steal from them!

We got to our hotel safely in Sandton – we stayed at the Radisson Blu Hotel Sandton. It was a little bit of a splurge – but before coming here I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of quality and safety. But after visiting, we could have stayed somewhere cheaper because the area was very safe, clean, and lots to do!

The next day we took it easy to get over our jet lag. We went out into Sandton and explored the area a bit- we visited the Nelson Mandela Square (with the famous statue), did some shopping, and ate lunch in the square! We bought some touristy souvenirs – however looking back we definitely should have waited because it was way more expensive than other areas that we visited! After lunch we sun tanned at our hotel pool and tried to get some colour on our pale Canadian skin!

The following morning we started our safari tour! We met our Safari With Us representative outside our hotel who took us on a private drive to Kruger National Park! I didn’t book a private tour but we actually lucked out that nobody else booked on our dates! The drive out of Johannesburg was one of the most memorable times out of the whole trip – we drove out at about 8am in the morning, right when everyone was headed to work. We drove past the shanti towns and there was just herds of people walking to work out of their shacks.. it was an image that I will never forget. I didn’t take any pictures (our driver advised us that it’s very frowned upon in the area), but it’s exactly what you see in the movies.

After about 5 hours we arrived at our lodge just outside of Kruger! We stayed at the Kruger Adventure Lodge (which I wouldn’t really recommend, but it was organized through our tour). We were very unlucky and it started pouring right when we arrived..so unfortunately we had to miss out on our evening sunset game drive through the park. Since we missed this, our driver took us out longer the next day. This lodge made us a DELICIOUS authentic fire cooked meal before we headed to bed!

The next day we headed into Kruger super early in the morning. Within seconds we saw our first animal sightings – seeing these animals in the wild was honestly the most incredible feeling I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. I was in awe the whole time and none of it felt real! I couldn’t stop taking pictures, but at the same time I couldn’t stop staring and just taking it all in! This drive we saw the most animals (as it had poured all night, so the animals needed to come out to get food) – we saw the Big Five within the FIRST HOUR of being in the park! (Buffalo, Lion, Leopard, Elephant, and Rhino). We stopped for lunch in Skukuza (the main village in the park) – here we spent wayyy too much money in the tourist shop haha. If I was to come back to Kruger, I probably would have stayed in this village for a few nights (theres a few hotels and restaurants here). We drove for a few hours and worked our way up to our lodge for the next 2 nights – Gomo Gomo Lodge!

Here’s where our FAVOURITE part of the trip started. Gomo Gomo Lodge is an 5 star luxury resort on a private nature reserve (way different than where we had stayed the night before!). As soon as we arrived, we were greeted with a cocktail at the front steps and lunch in the main dining room.

Within minutes of settling into our little cabin, these creatures (buffalos) came right up to our balcony! Normally the area in the photo is a water hole, but there was a major drought happening, so not as many animals were coming up to the lodge – so we were really lucky that a whole herd still came right up!

We then headed out for our first game drive in the private reserve. I HIGHLY recommend this over just a normal safari in Kruger.. in Kruger you’re confined to the roads, but in the private area they can go off roading and drive wherever they want! (As long as they stay in the borders of the private area of course). The drivers bring you SO close to the animals it’s INSANE!

Each day we had 2 game drives – one at sunrise and one at sunset. This is when it’s the coolest temperatures, so you’re more likely to see animals out and about as they are hiding in the shade during the hot mid-day hours! In the morning, we would stop for mid-morning coffee and tea in the middle of the bush. One morning an elephant walked right by where we set up our table!

The second day we were SUPER lucky and were the only 2 in the resort. We had 2 completely private game drives, which gave us the opportunity to finally get some pictures alone with the animals! On one of our drives a whole herd of elephants walked right around our vehicle… honestly THE HIGHLIGHT of my entire life.

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After Gomo Gomo, a driver picked us up and brought us back to Johannesburg. He took us the scenic way along the ‘Panoramic Route’, making stops at Blyde River Canyon and God’s Window. This drive took us through the little villages in the mountains, which was an experience in itself! It was so cool to see the poorer areas of the country, as opposed to the super touristy areas. This gave us a much more authentic ‘African’ feel which makes me want to explore other countries on the continent!

We chose to stay in a cheap hotel right by the Johannesburg airport that night, as we flew out to Cape Town early the next morning. (Side note – you can take basically anything on a domestic flight in South Africa (even 2L water bottles…it blew out minds!)

We arrived in Cape Town at around noon and headed straight to our hotel! I booked a cheap hotel on booking.com called ‘The Happy Rhino’ ….and when we arrived we were DISGUSTED. I would describe myself as a pretty stingy person – I try to spend as little as I can on things – I prefer to see money in my bank account than spending it. HOWEVER – THIS PLACE WAS SO BAD that we right away went online and booked a 5 star hotel down the road for THAT NIGHT and IMMEDIATELY walked out of the Happy Rhino with no refund. (DO NOT STAY AT THE HAPPY RHINO LOL)

Anyways.. as soon as we got to our new hotel our mood INSTANTLY changed by 5000000000. So worth the extra money to not be miserable in a foreign city that you might only visit once in your life.

As soon as we settled into our hotel (and ate the delicious meal seen above at our hotel’s rooftop bar), we went for a walk around the Bo Kaap District! It’s sooo cute – but we did feel a little awkward walking around because people actually live in these houses (and it’s not the rich area of the city). I managed to quickly get a few pics in for the ‘gram, and then we went up to the rooftop bar of our hotel and had dinner and drinks with a view.

The next day we decided to be spontaneous and picked up a rental car from Hertz downtown! It was super easy and pretty inexpensive. I would highly recommend getting a car because there’s so many beautiful areas outside of the main downtown core to visit. The first day with the car we decided to drive to Muizenburg and Boulder’s Beach!

Muizenberg is an adorable little surfing strip with the cutest cafes and shops! This place is also where the famous coloured beach houses are 🙂 Unfortunately it was another overcast day so not many people were surfing, but it was still a cool vibe and definitely worth the stop!

After Muizenberg we headed to one of my favourite parts of Cape Town…Boulder’s Beach! This beach is packed with WILD PENGUINS! It cost a few bucks to get inside, but totally worth it because you could go right up to them and even swim with them if it was a nice enough day!

The next day we ventured up Table Mountain! We went early in the morning to avoid the crowds (and bought our tickets online to bypass the line!) We chose to take the gondola up because we wanted to hike Lion’s Head the next day without our legs being in too much pain.

The gondola was a little expensive, but worth it because it was so quick! Once at the top, we spent about 2 hours walking around and taking pictures. The views are UNREAL! (sad it was an overcast morning, but still beautiful)

That night we went to the V&A Waterfront for dinner. There’s tons of delicious restaurants and shops along the Pier to keep you busy! The views aren’t bad either. We were there just before Christmas which made it extra pretty!

The next morning we headed straight to Lion’s Head! There’s a few parking spots at the head of the trail so get there early if you bring your car! Again, it was a super overcast morning – but this made the hike nice because we weren’t in the direct sun sweating our butts off!

Once we got to the top, it was EXTREMELY cloudy and we couldn’t see a thing. We decided to chill at the top for 2 hours hoping that it would clear up and IT DID! The views we got were INCREDIBLE.

After the hike we drove down to Camps Bay and Clifton Beach. (The view seen from the top of Lion’s Head). There’s tons of delicious restaurants and cute little vendors along the strip! It’s a great place to watch people surfing too 🙂

My favourite place was a little off the beaten track (fave place in ALL OF Cape Town)- if you keep walking up the hill to the right you find yourself on these huge rocks which give you the most beautiful view of the mountains and ocean at sunset!

The following day we had a little bit of time to kill before our flights that night, so we ventured off to a cute little suburb called ‘Table View’. It’s pretty touristy with it’s long beach and ocean side restaurants, but the view you get it spectacular!

And that was our trip!

This trip honestly topped every other trip I’ve done BY 20000000000000%. I’m definitely coming back to South Africa as there’s so much more to explore! This country really is a gem and I hope you all have a chance to visit in your lifetime! <3

xoxo steens