Rough Draft: Two Week Itinerary for South Africa including the Garden Route

Rough Draft: Two Week Itinerary for South Africa including the Garden Route

May 2020

Rough Draft: Two Week Itinerary for South Africa including the Garden Route

Due to the COVID quarantine, I am creating rough draft, “off the shelf” travel itineraries for when travel resumes normal operations so we do not waste any time getting out and exploring!

Once we committed to canceling our Vietnam trip ahead of COVID, I certainly wondered what the rest of our travel year would hold. Since the weather in Vietnam would mean that this trip would need to be rescheduled for 2021, I wanted to have another  “big trip” for 2020 in case we could sneak it in. Planning a new trip certainly helped distract me from the sadness of missing Vietnam this year. *Update that South Africa restricted international travelers for the rest of 2020 so will have to hope for a 2021 visit*

One country that has been high on my list is South Africa and discovering it by creating this itinerary has only made more more excited to travel here. There is such a variety of activities that reminds me of our trip to New Zealand – there is culture, all sorts of outdoor activities, wine scene, amazing food, and of course, the animals.

First off,  South Africa is huge! There are so many iterations of a two week trip to South Africa that can be done – my focus was Cape Town and the Garden Route. I wanted to incorporate a safari that would not consume a lot of travel time to get there so while most South Africa trips suggest Kruger National Park, I opted for a smaller, private reserve along the Garden Route. Since I have not been able to test this itinerary out, it is my best stab at what we would be doing if we left tomorrow. Ideally, I would like to do this trip in August / September of this year so we will see how the international travel market shakes out. Even though it is “winter time” there, it does not get that cold like it does at home and its whale season!

The idea is to arrive in Cape Town, spend a few days there exploring including a day in wine country, then make the drive to Port Elizabeth over the next week and a half making various stops along the way. I also included where we expected to crash each day to help the drive as well as food spots that were recommended.

Day 0Travel / Arrival in Cape Town
Day 1Explore Cape Town:
– V&A Waterfront
– Bo-Kaap
– Woodstock
– Lion’s Head
Day 2Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
Day 3Drive Cape Peninsula Loop
– Muizenberg Beach
– Kalk Bay
– Boulder’s Beach
– Cape of Good Hope
– Chapman’s Peak
– Camps Bay
Day 4Drive to Stellenbosch wine region
– Kanonkop
– Tokara
– Jordan
– Glenelly
– De Waal
Day 5Drive to Hermanus
– Cliff Path
– Ferkloof Nature Reserve
– Whale Watching
Day 6Drive to Mossel Bay
– Pit stop in L’Agulhas
Gondwana Game Reserve (Safari)
Day 7Gondwana Game Reserve (Safari)
Day 8Drive to Wilderness
– Dolphin Point
– Map of Africa Viewpoint
– Wilderness Canoe
Day 9Drive to Knysa
– Featherbed Reserve
– East Head Viewpoint
Day 10Knysa Elephant Park
Robberg Hiking Trail
Drive Plettenberg Bay
Day 11Bird of Eden / Monkeyland / Jukani Wildlife Sanctuary
Bloukrans Bridge
Tsitsikamma/Storms River Mouth National Park
Day 12Storms River Kayak and Lilo
Drive to Port Elizabeth
SANCCOB Seabird Rehabilitation Centre
Day 13Raggy Charters Big 7
Addo
Day 14Flight from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town

Help me turn this rough draft itinerary into the perfect trip! For those that have visited this area before:

  • Is fitting Kruger National Park an essential part of the South Africa experience that should be reworked into this itinerary?
  • Have you experienced a private reserve for safari before?
  • There are three elephant sanctuaries on this route – Knysa Elephant Park, Elephant Sanctuary Plettenberg Bay, and Addo Elephant Park – which ones are reputable, safe for the animals, and worth the visit?

If you have been to South Africa, let me know what I missed and what your favorites are!

And in 2021, we had to blessing of turning parts of this rough draft into reality!

Check out all the blog posts of our time in South Africa here!

Don’t forget to check out all DESKRIB itineraries here!


Related Posts

Galapagos Islands: Overview

Galapagos Islands: Overview

June 2018 Galapagos Islands, Ecuador This bucket list location has been on my radar though I struggled to find vacation time to fit it in over the past few years (damn American vacation standards…). A co-worker, who travels all over the world, shared that her […]

Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine

Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine

July 2020 Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, Maine After four canceled trips, countless missed opportunities, and 17 weeks in quarantine, it was about time to break out and put one of the rough draft creations to use. Evaluating destinations was tricky – international travel […]



2 thoughts on “Rough Draft: Two Week Itinerary for South Africa including the Garden Route”

Leave a Reply


error: