My husband is there now, I tried to up load the video of the whole double rainbow but couldn’t. Rainbow over Atlantic Near Nordhoek area.
Start in Capetown, do waterfront, Clifton Beach then Camps bay and cable car to Table Mountain, you’ll see the twelve apostles , which is the mountain range you’ll drive down. Drive east and south to wine country, Fronshoek, Stellenboush/cheetah park, Champan’s Peak Boulders/Penguins, Cape Hope… - don’t miss this drive!
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We went to Capetown in late 1999 - early 2000. I always thought if I had to flee the US for some reason, I’d choose to live in Capetown. Not sure what it’s like these days.
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I think it would be tough. Lots of power outages and the government is struggling. The crime rate is bad, too.
Any advice here on Kruger or private lodges near Kruger? We are looking at a lodge in Sabi Sands or Timbavati + a couple nights in Kruger’s rest camps. If anyone has recommendations on specific camps/lodges, that would be very welcome!
Also, we are thinking of driving out to Franschhoek for a night or two and the wine tram. If we land in Cape Town around 5pm (local flight), would it be ok to drive down there that night? Sunset would be around 6, so we might be driving a bit in the dark. Unclear as to how the road is for this drive.
Thanks.
I’ve been to Simbambili Game Lodge in Sabi Sands twice. Can’t recommend it highly enough! We saw the Big 5. We also saw a den of wild dogs, which is rare. Sabi Sands supposedly has the highest concentration of leopards in the wild. The accommodations and food are out of this world. The rangers and trackers are excellent, too. It’s expensive but worth it. Just keep in mind that LARGE tips are expected. They give you a guide to go by. It’s just something to budget if you’re keeping track of money.
Kruger and the private preserves are kind of apples and oranges. You will probably see higher quantities of animals in Kruger, but you will get closer to animals on the private preserves since you can’t go off-road in Kruger. In the private preserves, you literally drive down dry stream beds. It’s such a blast. Well, until you have a flat in the middle of the bush, but that’s another story. I would go to a private preserve if I had to choose.
Most of the roads are better than I expected. The highways are really good in the southern part of the country (they are pretty bad up near Kruger). I can’t remember specifically how the roads were to Franschhoek. It looks like it’s about an hour drive, so I would probably go for it. Be careful driving on the left. Make sure to stay in the left lane on four-land roads, ha. It’s hard to remember which lane is the slow lane and people zip right along.
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Other than driving in the left - which is obviously a big difference - driving in South Africa was similar to the US - roads were mostly decent, highways were real highways, etc. That said, and my info is definitely dated, driving was very dangerous in SA especially at night. When I was there - more than 20 years ago, the motor vehicle fatality rate was double that of the US and we were warned that there were a lot of people drinking heavily and then driving. That said, we had no trouble personally driving and drove some main routes as well as some less-traveled areas. Think you’d be fine for that length drive at that time if the day.
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Oh, and don’t freak out if there are police checkpoints. Just show them your passport and anything they ask for and you’ll be fine. I didn’t know about them ahead of time and it was definitely weird at first.
OP here with somewhat of an update:
Flights are booked and we secured an airbnb in CBD. The building has a generator that mitigates the loadshedding rolling power outages.
I am going to stay/base in Cape Town after DD leaves.
I’ve been given a lead on a local tour guide who is also a wine connoisseur at $350/day. We’re not sure whether he would be best for a wine excursion or the Cape of Good Hope/Cape Point outing.
Found a couple of kayak/paddle with the penguins adventures that we will choose between.
Anyone have any experience with the Bazbus company?
They seem to offer day trips, but also have longer distance Hop-on/Hop-off options between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth via the Garden Route. I’ve heard the Garden Route is lovely.
From Port Elizabeth there’s an excursion to the Addo Elephant park.
Or instead of Bazbus, I can do an overnight at Inverdoorn Safari Lodge.
The planning is exhausting; the more I read, the more options arise.
I don’t know about that particular company, but I’m glad you got a tour guide. It really makes a big difference.
I know what you mean about the planning. Just take your best shot and don’t second guess yourself. I can almost guarantee you’ll want to go back at some point. 
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Yes, the options are overwhelming!
We prefer to do our own planning. Have done some research, more pending. Current plan is that we will spend the first few days in Cape Town. Will be renting a car to drive to Cape Point one day. Other days, we will visit Table Mountain, Signal Hill and all the other sights. Will head out to Kruger for a few days (couple of days in the park itself, couple of days in a private lodge) and then come back to Cape Town. Plan to spend at least one night, if not two, at Franschhoek and the wineries.
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What’s that?
That sounds perfect! My husband is South African and that sounds like what we do most trips. Enjoy!!! It’s an amazing experience.
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That sounds perfect, like what we usually do. I’ve never gotten to enjoy the vineyards, though, since my parents were teetotalers. 
I was in Kenya in 2002, and was riding in a car from Lake Naivasha to Nairobi. There was a checkpoint on the road where you probably had about 10 cops stopping everyone and doing “safety checks” on vehicles They would always find some problem, and levy a fine on the spot. Of course the cops would say it would be easier to pay the fine to the cops directly rather than deal with it later. You saw these checkpoints all the time, and I doubt much of that money made it into government coffers.
As we approached the checkpoint, the driver, who was a local, told me to hang my arm out the window. He said if they saw a white guy in the car, they’d leave us alone, which they did.
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CBD is Central Business District = City Center
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Assuming you are not implying that it went to pot…
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I update in that regard upon return 
An update on our trip. We had a wonderful, wonderful time in SA and would love to return some day soon!
Spent the first few days in Cape Town. It was miserable rainy weather - table mountain was a wash. We went up although we could only see a couple of feet in front of us :). The weather on top was frightful - reminded me of Mt Washington here in NH. We wandered around Camps Bay, Hout Bay, the V&A waterfront. Did a walking tour of Bo Kaap. The third day we had there was wonderful weather-wise - we drove down to Cape of Good Hope. On the way down, we saw the penguins at Boulders Beach and on the way back, we drove on Chapman’s Peak. Oh my - the views!!
We flew to Jo-Burg, rented a car and drove out to Kruger. Self drove in Kruger for two days - absolutely breathtaking. We saw so many many animals - all so close by. By the third day, we’d gotten used to seeing elephants, zebras and giraffes right next to us on the roads! Spent two nights at a private safari lodge - a bit disappointed with their game drives. Didn’t see as much animals, but got really really close to the lions and the elephants we saw. On our way back, we drove the panorama route - again, no words to describe the beautiful scenery/drive.
Back to Cape town and wine country for the last couple of days. Stellenbosch and Franschoek were just amazing - jaw dropping scenery. We enjoyed the wine and the relaxed pace there before heading back home.
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So glad you had a good time. Too bad about the weather in Cape Town - you’ll have to go back!
Here’s my update:
We spent 13 days in and around Cape Town the last 2 weeks of May. Our weather was mostly good - their winter, temps in the 50s and sometimes very windy.
The Hop-on Bus was terrific, for history and views. We did both routes, got off a couple of times.
We had a private tour guide for a day - who took us to Cheetah Outreach sanctuary, 2 of his favorite ‘wine farms’, and an in-home supper with authentic Cape Malay food.
We lucked out for the Robben Island tour, our 9am tour was the only one that day due to rough seas. So very impressive to have our guide be a former political prisoner there.
We saw all the sights: the Kirstenbosch gardens, Zeitz modern art museum, Waterfront area (lots of fun with a Rugby Championship game broadcast in the amphitheater!), Cape Point. And we saw the penguins via a kayak outing lead by a marine naturalist!
Using our condo as a base, we also did a couple of overnights - one to the wine country where we took the tram one day and Ubered to non-tram boutique places the next. The other was to the Inverdoorn game preserve. This was an all-inclusive - 3 meals (L, D, then B), overnight with 2 game drives. Out in the Karoo, we froze on those dusk and dawn game drives; but the place was lovely and likely more pleasant temperatures in their summer.
Capetonians are spoiled for choice for wonderful restaurants with excellent chefs. We took great advantage both in town and in the wine towns.
After my daughter left, I had 1.5 days. I did a walking tour of Bo-Kaap and visited the Atlas Spice store. I also very much enjoyed the Heart of Cape Town museum commemorating the first human heart transplant.
The local power grid needs updating, the load-shedding (= rolling blackouts) are a way of life. We experienced it during one meal out - the generator fed the kitchen, we had candles in the dining room.
Luckily, I had heard about this ahead of time and found our AirBNB condo which was in a building with a generator.
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