Figuring out what number of days (or weeks) in South Africa might be crucial choice to make while you’re planning a visit to the nation. How lengthy you spend there straight impacts what number of locations you possibly can go, and the way deeply you possibly can discover every.
Certainly, it’s troublesome to hammer down a quantity, and even actually discover a place to begin. On one hand, South Africa is the simplest nation in sub-Saharan Africa to discover independently; you may spend only a week or two right here and canopy various floor.
However, South Africa appears downright large while you break it down into its areas, and get out of the Cape City and Johannesburg areas. Hopefully, this text will provide help to down the appropriate path, no matter that finally ends up being.
Widespread South Africa Journey Concepts
1 week in South Africa
With per week in South Africa, you’ve got to select. Some vacationers will arrive in Cape City and spend per week within the metropolis and surrounding space, be that within the wine nations of Franschoek and Stellenbosch, or alongside the plush Backyard Route. Others will fly to Johannesburg after which make a beeline for Kruger Nationwide Park or different close by sport lodges.
2 weeks in South Africa
In case your reply to what number of days in South Africa is “about 14,” you possibly can get pleasure from the most effective of each worlds: Cape City, the Cape Winelands and the Backyard Route; plus Johannesburg and Kruger. You might also have the ability to enterprise elsewhere, similar to persevering with onto the Wild Coast from the Backyard Route, or heading south from Johannesburg to the Drakensberg, Africa’s oldest mountain vary.
One month in South Africa
With a month in South Africa, you possibly can see many of the nation. I’d most likely suggest beginning in Cape City the place, after exploring town and wine nation, you possibly can slowly make your approach down the Backyard Path to Storms River. From right here, move by way of Port Elizabeth, the de-facto starting of the Wild Coast, heading all the way in which to Durban earlier than pivoting north by way of the Drakensberg to Jo’burg and Krugen.
6 weeks in South Africa
Six weeks is a very long time to spend in South Africa. With this period of time, chances are you’ll select to comply with the journey plan I’ve laid out for a month, however take extra time having fun with it. Alternatively, you possibly can add in secondary and tertiary locations. From the Backyard Route, for instance, you possibly can detour inland to Oudtshoorn and its quirky ostrich farms. Alternatively, spend a while “away with the faeries” in Hogsback, or enjoyable on the dune seashores of Chintsa.
Longer journeys to South Africa
If you happen to spend longer than six weeks in South Africa, you most likely have a selected purpose to be there. For instance, chances are you’ll hire an Airbnb in Cape City or Jo’burg and resolve to “stay” in South Africa for some time, or hire a safari automobile and discover the wilder components of the nation (and even close by Botswana and Namibia) by yourself. In my view, a visit of this size can be fairly lengthy for a standard “vacationer” go to to South Africa.
The Finest Time to Go to South Africa
South Africa’s seasons are the alternative of the Northern Hemisphere—their summer time is our winter. Certainly, I’d say that January and February are a few of my favourite months to go to South Africa. You’ll get pleasure from sizzling climate that’s excellent for the seashores of Cape City, whereas Johannesburg (and, extra importantly, close by Kruger Park) will likely be dry. This ensures that animals will collect round watering holes, making the “Large 5” simpler to identify.
With this being stated, there are benefits to visiting throughout different components of the yr, irrespective of what number of days in South Africa you find yourself spending. Coming within the spring months of October and November, for instance, permits you to get pleasure from flower blooms, together with Praetoria’s well-known Jacaranda. The South African winter will be downright chilly in locations, however the trade-off is that there will likely be just about no crowds.
Regardless of what number of days in South Africa you spend, this magical nation on the finish of the world will appeal and delight you. South Africa occurs to be the simplest African nation to discover independently, however that isn’t the one purpose you must come right here. Spend per week or two and discover Cape City and the Backyard Route, or concentrate on Johannesburg and close by Kruger Nationwide Park. Or keep longer and discovery secondary areas such because the Wild Coast and the Drakensberg Mountains.
Robert Schrader is a journey author and photographer who’s been roaming the world independently since 2005, writing for publications similar to “CNNGo” and “Shanghaiist” alongside the way in which. His weblog, Go away Your Each day Hell, supplies a mixture of journey recommendation, vacation spot guides and private essays overlaying the extra esoteric elements of life as a traveler.