| South Africa Road Trip Breakdown: | |
|---|---|
| Total Nights: | 29 |
| Places Visited: | 26 |
| Kilometers Driven: | 7,127 (4,428 miles) |
| Mammals Identified: | 31 |
| Kilometers Hiked: | 139.07km (86.4 miles) |
| Meters Ascended on Foot: | 5,717m (18,757 ft) |
| Meat Pies Eaten: | 16 |
| Ham Sandwiches Eaten: | 12 |
| Combined Showers Taken: | 14 |
| States Visited: | 6 + 2 new countries (Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Kwazulu Natal, Free State, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape + Swaziland & Lesotho) |
| National Parks: | 4 |
| Other Parks and Nature Reserves: | 8 |
| Most Nights Spent in One Place: | 2 |
| Times Fast Food Eaten: | 1 (excluding gas station meat pies) |
| Meals Eaten at Restaurants | 6 |
| Nights Camping: | 15 |
| Nights in Dorms: | 2 |
| Nights in Huts, Rondavels, Inns: | 12 |
| Total Cost for 2 People: | R38,062 (USD$2,643 at current rate, though it was $3,076 at exchange rate in July) |
| Gas: | R5,341 ($370.90) |
| Accommodation: | R12,950 ($899.31) |
| Daily Spending Total incl. Activities: | R19,771.90 ($1030.68) |
| Average Per day: | R681.79 ($47.35 or $23.67 per person) |
| Average incl. Gas & Accommodation: | R1,312.51 ($91.15 or $45.47 per person per day) |
| Average incl. Gas & Accommodation excl. Booze: | R1,127.82 ($78.32 or $39.68 per person per day) |
| % of Daily Spending on Booze and Bars: | 27.8% |
| % of Total Spending on Booze and Bars: | 14.3% |
Spending Breakdown
NOTES:
– Due to our tent breaking and our plans changing, we increased our accommodation from R9,900 to 12,950. More than $200 USD!
– Our activities cost does not include our Wild Card, which is the South African National Parks Pass. If you live here, you can get one for about R900 and it will pay for itself for a couple in just a few parks. If you are just visiting however, the international rate is closer to R3,000 (more than $200). It should still pay for itself if you are focusing on visiting a lot of the parks, but definitely do the math on that as some park fees are pretty cheap.
– The largest “activity” cost was the 3-day hike which was R2,800 for both of us including breakfast, dinner, and accommodation in the villages. The rest was game drives, park fees, and boat trips.
– Camping food consisted mostly of chicken, borewors (a kind of sausage), and lots of veggie packets with carrots, sweet potato, squash, and peppers. Occassionally we had pork chops or beef. For breakfast we usually had egg, avocado, and toast, and when hiking we ate ham & cheese sandwiches, trail mix, and apples. On-the-road meals were usually meat pies.
– Alcohol costs are considerably lower than usual because booze is so damn cheap in South Africa. Hooray cheap yet delicious box wine!
Trip Highlights:
- Coffee Bay – the vibe, the backpackers, the coastline
- The day drive through iSimangaliso
- The nyala and warthogs that came into our campsites
- Seeing gigantic upclose crocodiles in Mlilwane
- Giraffes walking right up to the car in uMkhuze
- Camping at Hlane National Park next to the rhinos
- Everything about the Drakensberg
Trip Lowlights
- Our tent broke with more than a week of camping left, which increased our accommodation costs and changed our plans significantly
- My beloved hiking boots fell apart on the last day of the Wild Coast trail, so we had to spend a day in Durban at the mall
- After about 100km of hiking, my knee issues started to come back, meaning we couldn’t do the two-day trail in Golden Gate
- I struggled a lot on this trip. There were tears. See the “Parting Thoughts” section for more on that.
South Africa Road Trip Itinerary
Places we slept or camped at are marked with *
Stanley’s Campground – Kenton-on-Sea*
Great little dive bar, 100% would stay again!
The Big Pineapple, Bathurst
People made fun of me for wanting to go see this. It far surpassed my expectations. Yes, it is just a big pineapple.
Yellowwood Forest – Morgan Bay*
Coffee Shack – Coffee Bay*
Gorgeous, great backpackers. Loved it. The Hole-in-the-Wall hike was my favorite?? Second favorite? of the whole trip!
Amapondo Backpackers – Port St Johns*
We stayed only one night here as the starting point for the Wild Coast hike. Not much going on in PSJ, but it’s a chill backpackers.
Wild Coast Hike:
The Wild Coast Hike is a 5-day trek from Port St. John’s to Coffee Bay. It winds along the coast and in and out of the Xhosa villages that follow it. We had planned to do only the first three days to Hluleka, but we hiked so fast we got there in two. Felt a little like our guide was pushing us into the two days so he could get back sooner, as staying in Tsweleni seemed much nicer than Hluleke. If I did it again, I would definitely just chill in Tsweleni. Oh well, it was still incredible.
Sicambeni
Mqaleni*
Tsweleni
Hluleka*
Oribi Gorge Hutted Camp*
Since we got back a day early, we decided to add a stop at Oribi Gorge. Unfortunately, Hudson got sick from some suspicous sausage, so we spent most the day recovering at camp and didn’t really see the gorge at all.
Shapes of Africa – Umdloti*
This was our original stop between the hike and iSimangaliso. If I hadn’t have booked this, we would have kept on driving. It was a nice little backpackers though very close to King Shaka airport.
St. Lucia – iSimangaliso Wetlands*
One of my favorite days on the whole trip! Crocodiles, black rhinos, red dunes, gorgeous beaches…iSimangaliso is highly underrated.
Cape Vidal (rhymes with tidal)
A beach and campsite at the northern end of iSimangaliso. Gorgeous, but only a few campsites available and very remote from shops or town. Great place for a braai!
uMkhuze Game Reserve
My biggest regret: Something didn’t seem right as we approached uMkhuze. The road was barely a road. The gate to the park wasn’t even on google maps. When we got there, it looked like it hadn’t been managed in decades. We drove around for most the day not seeing anything except a few antelope and some very thick brush; more for birding than anything else. Later I realized that iMfolozi was a way better park with better views and game that was actually closer, we wouldn’t have wasted a night at Sodwana Bay, and we should have just gone there. I felt stupid and frustrated with myself. BUT we did get the super closer giraffeeees so that basically made up for the rest of the day seeing nothing. OH! And we saw a Zazu (a hornbill) and an African spoonbill. Awesome birding.
Sodwana Bay*
Sodwana Bay has some of the best SCUBA in South Africa. Of course, we didn’t have enough time so we basically came all the way out to camp sort of near a very pretty beach. Another camping fail forced by not wanting to waste prepaid reservations.
Shewula Mountain Camp, Swaziland*
This was a gorgeous camp with rondavels situated on top of a mountain. It was stunning, but the food was extremely overpriced and probably not worth the extra hour drive. Would definitely just stay at Hlane next time.
Hlane National Park, Swaziland*
Our favorite campsite of the whole trip! Rhinos walked right up to the watering hole, nyala walked right up to camp, I spotted more birds here than anywhere else, and we just loved it.
Sibebe Rock, Swaziland
Awesome hike, but got swindled a bit by the guide and the carwashers in the parking lot. NOTE: You don’t need to hire a guide. Just get your ticket and walk up.
Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary, Swaziland*
Another great campsite in a much more quiet and releaxed reserve. Great for mountain biking.
Drakensberg – Monk’s Cowl
We stayed one night at iKhayalamafu (a fancy-ish resort) and two nights camping at Inkosana Lodge. The hikes were pretty great, but the ‘Berg was in the midst of controlled burning. Fires everywhere! Inkosana wasn’t a great vibe, probably wouldn’t stay there again.
Cathedral Peak, Drakensberg
We did the Rainbow Gorge day hike here, which was supposed to be “one of the best day hikes in the Drakensberg.” And maybe it is during rainy season, but we never even figured out where rainbow gorge was as it’s supposed to be full of rainbows, but it was dry season and a drought so no rainbows happened. Minor hiking fail.
Amphitheatre Backpackers – Drakensberg*
An awesome backpackers that I would recommend to anyone. Our tent broke in the wind here, but luckily they had rooms we could move into no problem.
Royal Natal National Park
Home of the famous Amphitheatre, the Tugela Gorge hike was one of the best of the entire trip. The best? I don’t know, I think Hole-in-the-Wall wins, but only because the end of the gorge trail was closed off as the ladder was broken.
Golden Gate Highlands National Park*
Thought we were doing an easy day hike, but ended up ascending 800m through some gale force winds with a treacherous descent over 11km. Worth it in the end, but go prepared if you’re doing Wodehouse Peak trail. If someone tells you it’s 8km, they’re lying.
Clarens
We popped into this quaint little town to watch the world cup finale. Chill spot and a good base for exploring Drakensberg.
Semonkong Lodge – Semonkong, Lesotho*
We spent two nights in Lesotho before we learned our tiny little car couldn’t make the roads to the other place we had a reservation. Gave the one paid night to some French girls heading there, so at least it wasn’t a total waste. Also, Maletsuyane is a spectacular waterfall!
Some Shitty Inn – Bloemfontein*
Since we couldn’t make it to Mokala National Park before the gates closed at 5pm, we were forced to stay in Bloemfontein. Just another time a reservation sort of screwed us over. There is basically nothing in Bloemfontein. Except the worst pizza I have ever had in my life. They have that. How do you take the flavor out of pineapple????
Kimberly
THE BIG HOOOOOLE!!!! People made fun of me for wanting to see this too, and they were wrong again. It was awesome. Yes, it is just a big hole.
Mokala National Park
An OK park, nothing really special. Can be done in a day, but of course we had a reservation for two nights since we got stuck in Bloemfontein. Add it to the list of reservation fails!
Willowmore Historic Guest House – Willowmore
Trying to find a cute town to break up the drive back to Cape Town, we found Willowmore! Only it turns out it’s not that cute, it’s kind of shitty and ghetto and looks like it may have been charming a few decades ago. Just one last decision failure before heading back home to Cape Town!
Outeniqua Pass
Our last saving grace on the way home from Willowmore!
Parting Thoughts
On paper, this trip looked amazing. We saw four of the big five, we stayed in amazing camp grounds, we saw so many animals and birds and incredible landscapes, and we got a real taste for South Africa after living in Western Cape for so long. As anyone who lives here will tell you, Western Cape is a bubble.
When people have asked me how the trip went, I say how spectacular the whole thing was and they see my drool-worthy Instagrams as evidence. But the reality is that this trip was a struggle for me. I planned too much of it and was mired in regret about decision after decision. There were things we had to book far in advance, such as the multi-day hikes, and from there the other bookings just seemed to make sense. But as the trip progressed, I was confronted with reservation after reservation we would rather have changed. On top of that, the decisions I was making kept seeming to be the wrong ones. I picked the wrong park, the wrong hike, the wrong place to camp. Instead of feeling a sense of awe at the things we were seeing, I felt frustrated with myself for doing such a poor job of planning–that’s supposed to be the one thing I’m good at! Two weeks in, I broke down in tears as we drove away from uMkhuze. I was tired of making the wrong decision, of wasting hours driving, of realizing the better option when it was already too late. I cried because I felt stupid. I cried because I felt our month could have been so much better. I cried because it was all my fault. And we never escaped it. Up to the very last day of the trip, I was left with a sour taste in my mouth. Things like the tent breaking and my boots falling apart–I can brush those off no problem. We will figure it out, make it work, it’s a funny story. But these choices were personal failures of mine, and I couldn’t stop beating myself up for it. Maybe that sounds silly now, but I couldn’t escape the feeling that I had fucked everything up.
On top of my own frustration with myself, both Hudson and I struggled with safety issues as we drove through some of the poorest towns in South Africa. Were we safe? What if the car broke down? What if our window gets smashed? I found myself checking the locks and making sure I wasn’t holding up my $600 phone at stop lights. We were instructed never to drive at night because if you get a flat tire locals may come and strip your car for parts while you’re sitting in it. There were many times that cloud of fear hung in a heavy silence over the car. It darkened the mood as we both wished we could turn off those feelings and stop being so paranoid. We both worked hard to fight these perceptions, and we came a long way from the beginning of the trip. But it wasn’t always easy. I’d say developing that sense of security and comfort–realizing you’re not always in danger after everyone in Cape Town tells you how dangerous things are–was probably the most valuable thing I took away from the trip. We didn’t have to be afraid, and as long as we’re being smart, there isn’t anything to be done anyway. So why let fear ruin your trip?
So did I have a great trip? Yes and no. The spectacular pictures of the spectacular parts were every bit as wonderful as they seem. Those moments abounded. They were just speckled with deeper troughs between the peaks. We saw so many places, and while I would have changed a few things and done a few things differently, we saw some of the best parts of South Africa. Even if we did it wrong and didn’t always see the best parts of the best parts. Above all, we both came away with an appreciation for the real South Africa that we didn’t have before.
I guess the older you are and the longer you travel, every trip can’t be better than the last. Sometimes things are going to go wrong. Sometimes you’re not gonna do things right. And if we had had the flexibility in our schedule, we could have rolled with those mistakes a little easier–stayed an extra day to see the place we missed, or figured something else out. But as it was, we rolled with it the best we could, I cried a few times at my own stupidity, and we came home a little wiser than we were before.
Loved this post!
congrats for all your travels, your work, and pictures !!!!
al hussine recently posted…Hello world!
Brilliant post i m a huge fans of yours!