South Africa trip report

[yorkshireRich]

Thankyou to all contributors who helped me plan my trip to South Africa. Currently in the galleries lounge in B gates for the flight back to Man. As I have time to kill, and as someone requested the other day, I thought I would write a trip report. It will probs be quite lengthy but I will try and keep it on the points theme.
I booked a few months ago with the 2-4-1 companion voucher from Dublin. The agent on the phone said there was no availability but I persevered and she said “oh I can do it a different way”, and then suddenly magic she was able to find the flights. After knowledgeable folk on here pointed me in the right direction, I ended up booking 140 000 avios and just over £900 from Dublin to JNB via LHR and then JNB to MAN via LHR.
As we had never been to Dublin and wanted to play it safe as it were, we booked the flight from Leeds to Dublin with a night in Dublin planned. On the morning of the flight Air Lingus cancelled our flight from Leeds to Dublin. After calling them the agent said it wasn’t possible to put me on a flight that day. I asked him to change the flight to MAN so we caught the train across (and now after posting this, will go through to the claiming process to get our train tickets refunded).
After arriving in Dublin and booking the radisson by the airport (need to chase the points as they have not tracked), we had the evening to explore in Dublin and used the airport bus to get to and from the city.
The day after, the flight from Dublin was extremely
Calm and had a nice prawn cocktail. We attempted to go into the premium lounge at T5 but due to the waiting time we just headed over to B gates. We had a nice over night flight to JNB and then as I recently signed upto the platinum Amex I used my priority pass to go into the Bidvest lounge whose showers put the ones at Heathrow to shame.
After using Airlink ((highly recommend), we landed in Skukuza, in the middle of the bush. It was probably the smallest airport, and runway I have been to. When we booked on Avis for the car we booked the category one and it said we would get a Renault qwid or something similar. At the airport, we were given keys to a Kia picanto, and to say we struggled to get all our luggage in the car was an understatement. I did query and say that as I am part of Avis president club (thanks to hfp community for the heads up), is there nothing they can do. I had noticed I was slow on the uptake because others before us had complained so after I was pretty much the last person in the airport, there was genuinely nothing but this tiny car. He informed me that if we go to Skukuza rest camp the day after, there would be a better car for us. We collected a Nissan x-trail the day after which was much more suitable for our drives in Kruger. After arriving at our rest camp in lower Sabie, we noticed bats in our room and other things. Apart from that, it was comfortable enough accommodation. Just driving around exploring in the search for animals was a fantastic experience. Our particular highlight was just driving and stoping abruptly to see lions resting in the road. After 2 nights took a fairly long drive to the Timbavati nature reserve. I’ll quickly add, we purchased the TomTom Go for £3.99 through the Apple Store, and we thought it was a great purchase. We stayed in a game lodge for 2 nights which again was a fantastic experience, with us having staff walk us to our room as the lodge has no fencing and elephants would just roam round the lodge. If I was pressed though, and had to decide between to self drive or a private lodge, I would say self drive just edges it.

After Kruger we headed to port Elizabeth and stayed at the Radisson there as we arrived just as it was getting dark. It was fairly unspectacular, but least our points got credited this time. I believe for both this radisson and the one in Dublin, we didn’t get upgraded. We didn’t particularly care because we were barely in the hotel. The morning after, we got an Uber (extremely cheap in South Africa) to the airport in Port Elizabeth where we collected our car. I didn’t want the same mistake and all luggage on show in the back seat, so I modified the booking and booked a category 2 car for this segment of the trip. we were upgraded to a category 3.
We visited Storms river mouth enroute to Knysna. One thing I will mention, I wish I’d looked at the purchasing the wild card, as I appeared to have spent quite a bit on entering various parks within SA. We stayed at protea by Marriott Knysna and purchased the meal package where we had credit to spend on a few of the very nice restaurants by the water front. I booked the lowest room category which was on the ground floor but was actually upgraded to a higher floor and a room with a view of the waterfront.
After 2 days of visiting Knysna and Plettenberg bay, we made our way to Swellendham, stopping at Mosel bay for some of the afternoon. After a recommendation on my original thread, I booked Schoone Oort Country house, where I did indeed get the car washed. It is a Mr and Mrs Smith hotel and I remember when I booked it, it gave me an option for breakfast but as there was a selection for 8% off, I clicked that and sacrificed the breakfast option. When I arrived however and asked if I could pay for breakfast, the owner said it was all Included. I wasn’t to argue, and it was a lovely 4 course breakfast. We had our evening meal there too where they took our bottle of bubbly off the bill, as we had booked through IHG.
We then ventured to Franschoek where the scenery was fantastic. I had booked through Amex travel as I had the £200 pound discount. We stayed at Le quartier Francais which I could not recommend highly enough. It did help that having booked the lowest room category, we had been upgraded to a garden suite. It was perfect. I only triggered the bonus in time, by booking a free cancellation hotel for next year on Expedia. Glad I did, because as it was part of fine hotel + resorts, we really felt looked after throughout our stay here. We were transported for our complimentary evening meal at Leeu estates. All probably alittle too posh for me but a nice experience nevertheless. The day after we went on the wine tram and I’d read the reviews beforehand but the wife insisted. We managed only 3 wineries and our favourite was Boschendal and our least favourite was Babylonstoren. I likened it to Asda cafe at one point.
After chilling by the pool and leaving the fantastic Le Quartier Francais and the fantastic Franschoek behind, we were heading to Cape Town. Before that we stopped off at camps bay, and had a walk on the beach and a general look around. We originally were going to stay in Camps Bay, but I think if truth be told, I think i made the right decision by choosing a hotel on the waterfront. We stayed at the Radisson blu by the waterfront, where it was our home for 4 nights. Staff were fantastic, and the bar staff got to know me on an evening whilst I waited for the wife to get ready, and watched the football. As I didn’t have much faith in Radisson loyalty programme, I wrote in the notes “I trust you to make our stay memorable and as a premium member (and a loyal customer) you will look at a room upgrade if this is available”. We were given a welcome drink also. We were in fact upgraded to a premium room with a corner balcony which had spectacular views of the waterfront. We don’t like staying in hotels too much, but the views at breakfast and on an evening were something we admired dearly.
For the days in Cape Town, we did the majority of the touristy things and visited boulders beach and Table Mountain. We chose a great day for Table mountain, as it was the only non cloudy day in Cape Town. We did skip robben Island. I ended up playing chess for a fair down by the waterfront where other people would watch. I left undefeated with 3 victories. The wife did say If we would go back again, we would probably stay more in the centre and venture to bars and restaurants there as we were quite waterfront centric.
Whilst sitting on the balcony and admiring the fantastic views, I looked at our accommodation in rose bank Johannesburg. I noticed I booked free cancellation and it was indeed cheaper, so I cancelled and re booked. I also noticed on the IHG booking site that the Voco Rosebank Johannesburg was showing breakfast at only 50 pence more expensive. As a diamond member (aren’t most HfP readers after the other week?), I thought I’d pay that and get complimentary drink instead. At check in the member of staff said I had not purchased breakfast and I could only have one drink as it’s only for me. I think that potentially is the rule, I haven’t actually checked. Anyway I showed him the confirmation but he said it was something to do with that I had not followed the terms and conditions and pre paid. I found that bizarre as the booking page gave me no option to pre pay, I just put in my card details. The result, I got a complimentary drink for me and the wife and the duty manager knocked on our door at 08:30 to ensure we were definitely going to go to breakfast. The bar and restaurant at this hotel is absolutely superb. I asked the bar man which beer is best and he literally poured all 3, and I think I got a full pints worth.
For our last day we did a full day tour of Johannesburg. It was interesting seeing soweto and extremely sombering (is that how you spell it?) visiting the Apartheid museum.

There you have it, we then got an Uber back to Johannesburg Or Tambo, flew back into the uk to a rather busy Heathrow connections.

Just to finalise, I want to say that without the HFP community and the fantastic contributions, there is no way on this earth I would have ever been to able to assemble together a trip like this. South Africa is a fantastic country and can’t wait to visit again one day.

[WaynedP]

Thanks for informative trip report, @yorkshirerich – great read with my morning tea.

So glad that you had an enjoyable holiday in South Africa.

It’s a great place with warm, welcoming people (who deserve so much better from their political leaders – don’t we all these days 🙄), great natural beauty and wonderful opportunities to encounter wildlife. Hope the load-shedding didn’t affect you too much.

I suspect that Kia Picanto is the Noddy car for minor local errands – entirely unsuitable for the bushveld so glad you ended up with a decent Nissan X-Trail.

I have been going through photo albums that my mother compiled and which finally arrived last month after my brother and I hastily packed up our deceased parents’ house near Durban in February this year and discovered photos of our very first family trip to KNP when I was seven and my brother aged four – a world away in a different time and place, yet with so much retained familiarity and unchanged features shared with our most recent visit in May this year.

Glad you got to experience both the raw, fend for yourself, self drive option as well as the more luxurious, everything taken care of for you Timbavati experience. Both are great in quite different ways, but like you, my bias remains with the self-drive simply for the raw freedom and independence it comes with.

Pre Covid, SANParks always ran a short but good Black Friday offer on the Wild Card, but I didn’t bother to look this year (after four essential trips to SA in the space of 12 months spanning 2021/22, we have no plans to return before 2024 at the earliest.

Without the Black Friday discount (maybe 40% if I recall correctly) I think we worked out that it pays for itself from seven days or more spend in one or other of the SA National Parks.

Glad also that you enjoyed Garden Route, Cape Town and the winelands.

Although I’ve lived in several parts of SA (and fallen in love with each distinct region for its own unique charms) I consider CT and the Western Cape my spiritual home in SA due to formative Uni years, first job & property ownership, marriage and children. It still holds a special place in my heart and I’m always delighted to hear when its magic touches other people in a similar way.

Sounds like you made an excellent start gathering together experiences and insights that will inform and shape your future adventures in sunny SA.

Thanks again for an excellent read!

[NorthernLass]

Sounds fabulous @yorkshirerich – I have yet to persuade my extremely risk-averse OH that SA would make a good holiday destination, although he would probably be tempted by the prospect of getting into a metal cage a few feet away from a great white shark, ironically!

I didn’t know it was possible to get into the B lounge en route back to MAN – that would be a very nice option for a long layover (which is more and more likely these days with the state of domestic flights).