South Africa tourism tips



Durban beachfront on the warm east coast of South Africa



The big 5 animals of South Africa

Table Mountain Cape Town

I was asked some advice for a tourist to South Africa, so I thought I would write a blog post and extend it to a wider audience.

Most tourists imagine that they can drive around the country in 2-3 weeks and see it all. This would not be adviseable as South Africa is a big country. If you did want to see parts to the north, south, east and west, you would need to fly to some and drive between other parts as I will recommend. An itinerary also depends on how much time you have and your budget.

TIME OF YEAR

April is the best time of year to visit South Africa. This is because the weather is generally the best... the heat of summer is over and winter is not yet upon us. Peak season would be summer when the schools are on holiday, but I personally prefer it off-peak when the crowds have thinned out and it is not so hot. Durban is best all year as our winters are never less than 15c and no rain. Cape Town is worst in winter as it is cold, windy and rainy.. best for Cape Town would be October/November and March/April. Cape Town is on the Atlantic Ocean so swimming is generally out, whereas Durban is on the warm east coast so August to end of April is good with best swimming/beaches December to March.

AIRLINE ROUTES

Emirates fly to Durban, Cape Town and Johannesburg via Dubai, so best would be to fly in to one city and fly back out of another city, travelling between cities by car, train or bus. Most of the other airlines fly in to either Johannesburg or Cape Town, which means a stop in Durban and the east coast means additional flights or travel. I would even avoid Johannesburg completely and fly into Durban and then out of Cape Town home. My favourite Airline to Africa is SAA of course, but their routes are not the best and sometimes the prices are over the top. Check them out and compare.

WHAT TO SEE

Your routing may depend on what you want to see. The Kruger National Park a few hours drive from Johannesburg is probably the best but requires getting to Johannesburg and a few hours drive each way. I personally would avoid that as there are many excellent game parks around South Africa. If you have loads of time you could include the Kruger Park.

So suggestions could be... fly to Johannesburg, hire a car and drive to the Kruger Park. Stay 3 - 4 nights and drive back to Johannesburg to return the car. Fly to Durban and stay for 3 - 5 nights. Fly to Port Elizabeth (2/3rds of the way to Cape Town), hire a car and drive along the coastal Garden route to Cape Town stopping off en-route for 2- 3 nights. Spend 5 nights in Cape Town and fly home direct.

The Drakensberg Amphitheatre



Beach sculptures in Durban



Alternatively fly direct to Durban and stay 3- 4 nights. Drive up to the Hluhluwe Game reserve and stay 3 nights. Drive back to Durban and fly to Port Elizabeth following the same suggestion above ie cut out Jhb and the Kruger park.

As an extension to either route, you could drive to the Amphitheatre in the Drakensburg Mountains which are half-way between Durban and Johannesburg (2 1/2 hours drive), or you could drive from Jhb to Durban intead of flying. Another option is the train from Johannesburg to Durban which I believe is good.

Wine lovers would love Cape Town as the Stellenbosch, Paarl, Franshoek wine routes are within 40 mins drive of the city. I personally love Stellenbosch where my son goes to University at the moment, so I can visit him and drink loads of wine. There must be at least 200 wine farms in a few kilometres radius.

If you have a shorter or longer visit planned and want to come at an odd time of year or have any other queries, feel free to email me at durbanstadiumview@gmail.com and I will try and help out with my recommendations. Enjoy!

PE and EL

We spent a few days in Port Elizabeth while Llewellyn  was attending an Opthalmology and SpecSavers conference and on Saturday I drove down to East London, stopping in Grahamstown to fetch Hein's sister Shirley. I hired a weedeater and some tools and we spent the afternoon at the West Bank Cemetary fixing up Hein's and her mother's grave.

The rest of the time in PE was spent acquainting myself with the little city - very neat, tidy and litter free and on the Friday we enjoyed a superb beach party under the freeway bridge with an Arabian theme. Good trip!

Hong Kong 7s

We shared our Hong Kong experiences with Jaco who jets off there this weekend to take part in the Hong Kong 10s rugby tournament which takes place in conjunction with the Hong Kong 7s. Jaco was talent-scouted to join an International Invitation team for the 10-a-side tournament which runs alongside the famous 7s tournament. Players of the likes of Jonah Lomu will be playing in the 10s.

Good luck Jaco.. it's going to be an awesome trip and we hope you get some good international exposure and possibly a new contract for 2012.

Dave presents Seminars

It's been a tough few weeks presenting Seminars on the implementation of the Consumer Protection Act on the 1st April 2011. The Act requires contracts and documentation of suppliers of goods and services in South Africa to be compliant with the Act and I have been helping Agents in the property industry prepare for the imminent commencement of the Act.

Durban to Lebanon and Damascus

Co-incidentally the day after booking our tickets to Beirut and Damascus on direct Emirates flights from Durban -- woo hoo!!! no Johannesburg stop-over and wait-- this story appeared of a guy who hitch-hiked from Durban to Damascus. Our trip won't be so hectic, but am looking forward to see the world's oldest city - and ancient Mesopotamia with the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers of Babylon I learned about in history so many years ago.

Read more about Damascus here.

Dave's First Notarial Deed

Dave puts the seal on the first Notarial Deed he has executed as a Notary Public. It was a Notarial Deed of Encroachment - some buildings on one property encroached slightly into another and the Deed established a new title deed condition on both adjacent properties authorising the encroachment. This was a pre-requisite to regularise the buildings and obtain plans approval.

Once executed, Dave sends the Deed with the title deeds of the properties to the Deeds Office in Pietermaritzburg and the Notarial Deed gets registered and the new condition is endorsed on the properties' title deeds.

New house for Shawn

It's  great to see my friends moving to the next level. Congratulations to Shawn and Michael on the purchase of their first home in Westville. Large split-level house with loads of storage space to enable Shawn to operate his business from home. The house has a lovely outlook over the Paradise Valley hills.

Favourite monument in Rome

This is my favourite monument in Rome where Kate-Lynn has been for the last week. I think I liked it particularly as we had been at the incredible Colosseum and then after walking through the Roman ruins en route to the Vatican, we turned a conrner and this giant building suddenly came into view and was so impressive.

Russian in the house

It is not too often we have Russians in the guesthouse, but (middle) Lee's parents are from Latvia, a little country which used to form part of the USSR and is now independent.

Co-incidentally my daughter flew into Riga, the capital of Latvia last week en-route from Oslo to Rome. Lee, an industrial psychologist, now works in Johannesburg and is fluent in Russian.

The end of 27 years

It's our 27th birthday at Mc Naught and Co and 1st March we go forward into our 28th year.

Thanks to all for the tremendous support over the years. Here's staff Tracey-Lee and Val in the top pic - Val says she has been with us 18 years, but it seems forever ha ha. Also in the photos are friends Jaco and Gail from Re/Max.

Making Guesthouse improvements

The Guesthouse Lounge

Taking the plunge to change all room TVs to new flatscreens, Dave and Llewellyn have been making some improvements to the Guesthouse putting Top TV and individual TV decoders in some rooms and DSTV with hotel suite in others, DVD players and new shelving and tables.

Hard at Work

Not much happening on the home front.. mark is back in Stellenbosch, kate-Lynn is having an awesome time in Norway and has just got to Rome for a few days break before heading back to the snow and her next month in Trondheim.

At work, I have been running Seminars for Estate Agents, and today just released my new Seminar on the Consumer Protection Act as well as our Newsletter dealing with the Transfer Duty cuts announced in the Budget yesterday. Check out my company blog for more details.

A few days away in Cape Town

Was great to escape for a few days to Cape Town and catch up with friends in Tullbach, visit Ceres and join Mark for his 19th birthday in Stellenbosh.

Here's a few more pics.

Mark turns 19

My "little" boy turned 19 today and we were there to celebrate with his mates in Stellenbosch.

We had lunch with Mark on Sunday and visited his mate MB at his res nearby and also took the opportunty to register Mark to vote in his first election which happens in a few months.

On his birthday on Monday we did some shopping for a braai and his housemates shared a few beers with us while we cooked till late, then returned back to Cape Town to the guesthouse we were staying at. We also shopped for some shirts and socks for Mark.

Mark takes to the road...

So do you learn from your mistakes? let's hope so as this is a little costly... Mark's car in hospital in Somerset-West.

Bluff office party

It was the Bluff office party and an opportunity for staff to socialise and meet with some of our "old" friends and associates... it's been a while since we have had a party at the Bluff, preferring our new Toti offices for this purpose. But Bluff is our main office so it was great to see our local friends.

In the top photo are our staff complement Molly, Val, Bobby, Patrick, myself (Dave), Sharon, Mark and Tracey-Lee. We are joined (second photo) by Ronel and Llewellyn, and 3rd photo by Rob and his girls from Seeff. In the 4th photo Lorraine and Dee from Eagle Estates join Dave's Mom Molly who works part-time at the Bluff office since she retired from her full-time job there several years ago.

Mirror Mirror on the wall

It's taken an age to decide on an appropriate spot but we fnally decided and thought that Kate-Lynn really needed the full length mirror in her room - so I got off the Sunday slothing bed and have put up the mirror at last.

Sprucing up the office

No it's not me growing plants in my car. We have our Bluff office party on Wednesday and I'm sprucing up the Atrium.. scuse the pun. I love green plants as most of you know and the Atrium will look awesome again with some lush leaves amongst the rocks and stones.

Kids so far away



Mark and his mate Rob at King Shaka Airport

For the first time both of my kids are far away simultaneously - Mark back at Stellenbosh in his 2nd year Engineering (dropped him at the Airport today) and Kate-Lynn in 4th year teacher training but presently in Norway for a 3-month student exchange.

Go well my precious savages... missing you loads. Study well and will see you x Dad

This one's for Kate-Lynn

Kate-Lynn, this is yours. Mark was unpacking your Mc Naught bag to take it to Cape Town and there in the corner was this most disgusting unimaginable thing.. he took it out and I had to scrub the yukky black stuff off the bag... so, so much for complaining about the dirty cleanup after the Norwegian guy in your digs.. we had to contend with some of your muck.... aaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!

Deputy Mayor of Durban 1994/1995

My son Mark and his mates are at an age where they are growing stubble/beard tufts and looking at my weekend stubble they suggested I should grow a beard. None of them seemed to know that I grew one for 10 years and during my time as Deputy Mayor of Durban in 1994/5.

So I found one of my old photos for you, including the big glasses!! I think this photo was taken at my inaugural acceptance speech at the City Hall in 1994. This was before digital photography so I scanned  it and uploaded. I shaved it off when the little white patches started to spread wildly.

 

The Crazy Ones

A farewell dinner for Mark before he returns to study at Stellenbosch brought the CRAZY ones to the house.

They have almost grown up with us - Mark Bird (MB) - left and Dain - right, and in the top picture Brad joins the boys and I for a beer and dinner.

Kate-Lynn arrives

They've arrived safely in Tronheim, Norway and settled into their digs. Here is Kate-Lynn's story so far.

They're off to Norway

The shopping, the planning and the packing is over as Kate-Lynn and fellow college student Meg, chosen for a student exchange to Tronheim Queen Maud College of Education leave Durban for their epic adventure.

We're Berg climbing

A collage of our trip to the Berg. More photos here.