This was our first visit to South Africa and our itinerary was fairly ambitious and non-stop but to maximise our chances of seeing as much as possible it was the only way to do it. We were to start in Cape Town and follow the Garden Route before cutting up to the Drakensberg and onwards to the Kruger and fly out of Jo’berg. We covered 6281kms, seeing 419 species of birds and 65 species of mammal. So, some logistics, as I personally find it immensely helpful when reading trip reports to know how much things cost so when planning my own trip I have a ballpark figure to play with:
FLIGHTS:
We flew Etihad Airways (they were the cheapest we could find that would fly us in and out of different airports) at a cost of £561pp and found them to be pretty damn good. This was probably the longest flight I’ve done (I’ve always been in Asia when flying to Oz) at a total travelling time of 22hrs: London to Abu Dhabi about 7.5hrs, 3.5hrs in transit, then 7.5hrs down to Jo’berg, another hour refuelling and finally the last 2hrs to Cape Town. Phew!! Felt like crap when we arrived but as we landed at 0820 it was time to regroup for the day ahead! Birding through the ‘plane window on the runway at Jo’berg gave us Little Swift, Rock Martin, Greater Striped Swallow, Common Myna, Grey-headed Gull, Hamerkop and African Pied Wagtail.
CAR:
We booked a compact through CarHire3000 which basically uses Europcar as their ground agent. We paid £327 initially and £78 was taken off our credit card after we returned it to cover the one-way drop-off, extra driver and local taxes (this was still £30 cheaper than was stated originally so no complaints!) The price may seem a little high but this was the 0% excess/full-comp option which is useful as we scratched the crap out of it when dodging acacia bushes pushed into the roads by elephants! We also had a free upgrade to a Renault Sendero which was also a blessing as it had a much bigger boot and therefore we could get both our big rucksacks and day-bags in it and out of sight. Ah, it was so shiny when we picked it up! Petrol was 78p-83p per litre for unleaded, so 40p a litre cheaper than ‘good ole’ England and the attendants will fill it for you, clean your windows and check your oil/water levels too if you ask, all for a little tip – again, just like home...oh wait a minute...... Roads were generally in good condition, even the dirt ones and they drive on the ‘proper’ side of it too! Some big roadworks were happening on the N-11 which meant waiting up to 20mins if you were stopped. Also the toll roads are actually pretty pricey too, £5.80 for a section of the N-1 and lastly, please note that ‘the bestselling road atlas in SA’ is really, really crap but there really isn’t an alternative!
EATING & SLEEPING:
The £ bought us just over R10 so it was easy to gauge how much things were costing. On average, it cost us just over £20 each to stay most nights as we usually chose the cheapest options, backpackers where available (although I draw the line at dorms nowadays!!) but we had to book the Kruger accommodation in advance which was £308 for 6 nights in mid-range rondavels and safari tents. We booked the first couple of nights’ in Cape Town at the House on the Hill B&B (£42 for the room per night) and had to (oddly?) pre-pay the Sani Lodge Backpackers also ().. We ate out a few nights but as soon as we hit places that had self-catering choices we began to buy our own food and cook it up. Kruger has kitchens readily available, whether with you accommodation or communal ones. SuperSpar and Pick ‘n’ Pay were the supermarkets of choice and again, Kruger has plenty of food available in their main camps. We used the Lonely Planet for choosing the nights in between our booked accommodation but had to wing it a couple of nights, in Wakkerstroom and the night before we went into Kruger.
EXTRAS:
We bought a Wild Card before we left which is £160 as we’re foreigners, but it gives you free entry into the national parks and means you don’t have to pay the ‘conservation fee’ each day when in the Kruger. So, if you’re planning to visit a lot of parks it’s a must, if you’re only going to a couple then it’s probably not worth it.
If you plan to do the Sani Pass you must have a 4WD. It’s very expensive to hire one for the entirety of a normal trip for the sake of one day so we decided to hire a guide for the day. We found two companies running a full day’s birding up into the pass and settled on Stuart McLean with Birds & Beyond. Stuart is amazing and this was the best day of the trip for me. He can be contacted via www.birdsandbeyond.co.za or email him at info@birdsandbeyond.co.za. He charged us R500pp which was exactly half the price of the other company and picked us up at 0600 and dropped us back 10 bird-filled hours later. Remember your passport as you go into Lesotho!
As far as malaria goes, I saw 1 mosquito the whole trip so I started taking pills but never finished. I think they become more prevalent in the Kruger after the rains.
Info was garnered from various trip reports and some great advice was had from the guys here on BF - thanks Sal, Dave, Trevor, Martin & Allan! Also the site info at www.sabirding.co.za was very detailed and very useful.