Driving the Garden Route of South Africa is an amazing journey. Not only is the scenery gorgeous but the opportunities for action-packed activities are almost endless. Feed an African elephant, walk a cheetah, ride an ostrich, go whale watching, hike amazing Robberg Peninsula, and even go shark cage diving if you dare. South Africa is such a wild place to …
How to Visit the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa
The Cape of Good Hope is a popular excursion for visitors staying in Cape Town, South Africa. It is a beautiful spot, with unpredictable weather, baboons that will boldly try to raid your car, and adorable penguins playing in the ocean. If you are traveling to Cape Town, don’t miss this amazing place! What is the Cape of Good Hope? …
Elephants, Ostriches, and Cheetahs, Oh My! Animal Encounters on the Garden Route of South Africa
The Garden Route, a stretch of coastline along the southern coast of South Africa from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, is home to a huge number of game reserves and animal sanctuaries. These animal sanctuaries, similar to zoos, offer opportunities to get up close with their animals. Our animal encounters with the elephants, lemurs, ostriches, and cheetahs were some of the …
Hiking Robberg Peninsula in South Africa
The hike around Robberg Peninsula is rated as one of the top things to do in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. It is a 9 km hike around a peninsula jutting out into the Indian Ocean. On this hike we climbed up and down the rocky coastline, hiked past a colony of seals, and wandered on a second, smaller peninsula made …
Tranquility in the Southern Drakensberg Mountains
The Drakensberg Mountains, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, cut through the eastern portion of South Africa. The mountain range starts at Blyde River Canyon, located just west of Kruger National Park, and heads southward, through the smaller country of Swaziland, and ending near Lesotho. For four nights we stayed at the Umzimkulu River Lodge in Underberg, located in the southern …
Driving the Sani Pass into Lesotho
For some more adventure and a chance to visit another country, our family of four went for a drive over the Sani Pass into Lesotho. This mountain pass, not very well known by most in the US, is a big tourism draw for South Africa. The Sani Pass is a winding dirt road that takes drivers up and over the …
Awesome iSimangaliso Wetland Park in St. Lucia, South Africa
iSimangaliso Wetland Park, the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Africa, is located just north of St. Lucia, South Africa. We spent several days in St. Lucia, using one of these days to tour the park. This was a huge change in scenery from where we have been, as we were now staying on the east coast of South Africa, …
Why Kruger National Park Should be on Your List as a Budget Safari Destination
Kruger National Park, the largest national park in South Africa, and one of the largest parks in the world, is South Africa’s premiere safari destination. Spanning 200 km from north to south and 50 km from east to west, Kruger is home to the Big Five (elephant, rhinoceros, leopard, lion, and buffalo) as well as a multitude of other animals …
Cycling Soweto in Johannesburg, South Africa
The city of Johannesburg was our arrival point in South Africa. We had one day to spend here before traveling on to other places. Now we were a party of six, as Kathy and Valerie, our Moms, arrived in Johannesburg on the same day as us. They will be traveling with us for over two weeks as we tour Botswana, …