People often ask me what has been my favorite country in Africa. I usually flippantly reply Italy, because during our nine months of living abroad we ended up going to Italy for two weeks since we couldn’t go to Jordan because of the war .
But having spent almost a month in South Africa, I can now say that South Africa is my favorite African country.
Wildlife Safari viewing experiences are on a par with our experiences in Tanzania, Kenya and Botswana. In some ways better. In some ways, not as good.
Our time spent in Cape Town and on the garden route was beautiful. The climate, despite a couple days of some of the worst rain and windstorms they’ve had, was for the most part like California and couldn’t have been better. Most of South Africa’s infrastructure is on a par with the US. With some places being a little better than US and in some places being a little worse. It seems like every town in South Africa has a beautiful mountain directly behind it and endless running and hiking opportunities.
English is widely spoken throughout. Food is the best in Africa. There is a lively music scene that gets world class acts in Johannesburg and/or Capetown. It also had the best bird park we’ve ever seen (Birds of Eden). The Westin Cape Town had the best sauna we’ve ever been in.
One of the few low points for us in South Africa is that when we were at the entrance to Sitsikamma national Park, the person in front of us put his truck into reverse. I saw their reverse lights come on and I laid on the horn, but he just kept coming until he backed right into our rental car. We have very good primary rental car insurance through Amex.. But we’re waiting to hear how that will all work out. But the damage was very minor.
South Africa was also a great country for traveling for free in. Johannesburg had a good Hyatt and a great Holiday Inn (remember, Holiday Inns in foreign countries are an order of magnitude better than they are in the US. The Last Word Madikwe was an amazing safari lodge that was free with points. Capetown had an excellent Grand Hyatt and an outstanding Westin that were free with points. And Franschoek had a great iPrefer property (Last Word Franschoek) that was free with points.
Franschoek is there main wine growing region and Franschoek is a pretty town with with many wineries. One of the wineries that we toured is owned by Richard Branson. Franschoek also has a nice auto museum (granted they all pale after having been to the one in Maranello).
That only left the small towns (Plettenberg Bay, Simon’s Town, Knysna, Hermanus, Stormsrivier, Graaff-Reinet and Clarens). For these we either used Airbnbs, Booking.com or National Park lodging. Plettenberg Bay, Simon’s Town, Knysna, Hermanus, and Stormsrivier were all along the Garden Route. Knysan, Plattenberg Bay and Hermanus were especially beautiful and I would love to go back to them.
When we arrived in Hermanus, there was a triathlon going on. All the roads to our Airbnb (which turned out to be a hotel) were blocked. It would have been nice if our host had let us know this ahead of time. And, it would have been even nicer if they had let us know the day before as I would have liked to have signed up for the sprint distance. Training? Who needs stinking training!
After the Garden Route, we turned northeast and spent time in Graaff-Reinet and Clarens. Both of these towns had beautiful mountain trails that we hiked or ran on.
We finished with a final night in Johannesburg before flying on to Madagascar.