My Dream Vacation Itinerary: South Africa, Part 1

I am obsessed with travel planning. Even though I still haven’t managed to travel all that much yet (I need more time + money!). But I think I must have been a travel agent in a past life, because there’s not much that makes me happier than scouring the internet to find the most unique, most adventure-filled, awesome vacation locations and activities.

And the holy grail of all vacations on my list? South Africa! I love, love, love seeing and interacting with animals, and it’s been a dream of mine since I was a little kid to go cage diving with great white sharks, so naturally, South Africa is my “I can die happy once I go” dream vacation.

So when Hannah forwarded me this amazingly inexpensive vacation deal to SA (hello, $2,500 per person for 10 days!?!), I was SOOOO tempted (I believe my actual response to Hannah was "holy freakin' crap!"). Unfortunately, the deal is only valid for travel in March and April, and we’ve already got too much going on this spring, so we can’t take advantage of it.

But it got me thinking, maybe we can do my dream vacation for less these days. Last spring was the last time I’d priced out a trip to SA, and the cost of flights was just crazy. Over $4k per person just in airfare, bringing the total cost of the trip to well over $20k. But if there are deals out there these days that can bring the price of flights down, maybe I don’t have to sacrifice the other stuff I want to do?

So, to document the amazing, animal-viewing-maximizing trip I’ve planned for my husband and I, I decided I’d share my dream trip itinerary with you all. And since this is the product of hours and hours of research, reading other people’s trip reports and asking lots of questions on travel forums, maybe this will be useful to any of you if you decide to visit South Africa (just please take me with you if you do!).

I won't go into every detail I've gathered, because that would just be too much, so I'll share just a daily overview of the itinerary. The companies and hotels I'm linking to are the best, based on my research, and all prices I’m listing were from last spring, and calculated using Google’s currency converter from the South African Rand to US Dollars. I’m just going to hope prices haven’t changed much since then, other than airfare.

Itinerary Day 1

We would start our vacation in late October, and into early November. That's spring time in South Africa, but the water is still cold enough for there to be lots of great white sharks, and it's not too rainy then. On day 1 we fly all day to Cape Town (depending on your layovers, the flight time from California is between 26-29 hours at minimum).

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Cost: TBD for airfare, and I'll account for the cost of food and other misc expenses at the end

Itinerary Day 2

Arrive in Cape Town late in the afternoon, rent a car (this trip is a partial road trip!), check in at Auberge du Cap, which is located in Camp’s Bay, about 10 minutes from Cape Town’s city center, but with gorgeous views and a little safer of a location than in the heart of downtown).

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Cost: $967.53 for renting a car for 12 days (including taxes, fees and insurance) and $473.30 for 2 nights lodging at Auberge du Cap (includes breakfast)

Itinerary Day 3

Tour Robben Island, where many South Africans, including Nelson Mandela, were imprisoned for decades during the apartheid era.

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Take a cable car to the top of Table Mountain, hike around to see the amazing views and the wildlife.

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Explore the city of Cape Town.

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Cost: $52.60 for the Robben Island tour, $42 for Table Mountain

Itinerary Day 4

Check out of Auberge du Cap. Take a guided 2 hour hike into the local Baboon’s natural environment on the Cape Peninsula, to view them in their natural habitat and learn about their conservation.

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Drive to the other side of the cape and check out Simon’s Town and the penguins at Boulder Beach.

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Check into Boulders Beach Lodge, which is nothing fancy, but is right on Boulder Beach, and where penguins wander the courtyards of the hotel.

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Cost: $77.58 for Baboon hike, $402.32 for 2 nights lodging at Boulders Beach Lodge

Itinerary Day 5

Visit and go hiking around Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope (neither of which is the furthest southern point of Africa, although many believe them to be).

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Spend the afternoon hanging out at Boulders Beach watching the penguins.

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Cost: food and gas, which I’ll account for at the end of the itinerary

Itinerary Day 6

Drive to Gansbaai early in the morning and do a snorkel cage dive with great white sharks. Eeeeee! I can’t wait for this day, I’ve wanted to do this since I was in elementary school. I think it’s because my dad let me watch Jaws when I was about 4 years old, and to this day I still get excited when Shark Week is on the Discovery channel.

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After the shark dive, drive to Hermanus and spend the afternoon whale watching from the Windsor Hotel.

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Cost: $354.98 for the great white cage diving, $163 lodging for 1 night at the Windsor Hotel

Itinerary Day 7

Option 1 – Drive out in the early morning to Oudtshoorn via the Garden Route, stopping at viewpoints along the way.

Check in to Bufflesdrift, just outside Oudtshoorn (based on my research, the #9 superior tent next to hippo waterhole is the best air conditioned tent for animal viewing), and do a sunset Elephant Walk Safari.

{Source for All Buffelsdrift Pictures}

Option 2 – In case the weather on day 6 is too rough to do the shark cage dive, we could leave Hermanus later and do the shark dive this day instead, skipping the Elephant Walk.

Cost: (assuming option 1) $75 for the Elephant Walk, $433.86 for 1 night lodging at Bufflesdrift


To be continued tomorrow with part 2!