South Africa (Eastern, Durban & Cape Town), Swaziland & Lesotho 2017

Introduction:

Aim of this post:

• Provide tips and a general overview of Eastern South Africa & Cape Town, Swaziland & Lesotho with ideas I would have liked before visiting the country
• I will explain day by day which places I visited, how I liked them, how to reach them and so on giving tips and personnal comments
• After my first trip which made me fall in love with South Africa, I visited Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban too, so I will include brief information about these places as well

a)  Eastern South Africa, Swaziland & Lesotho (4th-15th February 2017); & Pretoria (August 2017) & Durban (July 2018)

b) Cape Town (9th-12th July 2017 & 7th November 2018)


a)  Eastern South Africa, Swaziland & Lesotho; & Pretoria; & Durban

Places visited: 

• Eastern South Africa: Johannesburg (4th), * Pretoria, Blyde River Canyon (5th), Kruger Park (6th,7th), Drakensberg (10th), * Durban
• Swaziland: Hlane Park (7th), Mbabane (8th), Malkerns (8th), Sandlane (9th)
• Lesotho: Malealea (11th), Roma (12th), Thaba Bosiu (12th), Tsehlanyane (13th), Mokhotlong (13th), Sani Pass (14th)
  
   

Distance: aprox. 4,000 km

General tips:

• Public transport is not well developed as of 2017, thus if you have not got long time during your trip I recommend renting a car (with Tempest I paid around $20 per day including insurance)
• Main roads are in good condition but other roads have potholes and can be challenging (I did not see a pothole and lost the hubcap of one of the tyres and I had to inflate the tyres frequently as they were often losing pressure)
• No need for 4x4 (unless you want it for a very particular spot)
• Cheap guesthouses range from $8-25 (120-400 Rand) but most of them are not advertised online
• South African currency is accepted in Swaziland and Lesotho, but not the other way around
• Most places accept card payment and there are plenty of ATM to withdraw money. However I did not see many currency exchange places
• I experienced NO danger at all during my stay but extremely friendly and curious people. Needless to say it is recommended to be sensitive, avoid going alone late at night in certain areas etc
• English is spoken by the largest part of the population in these countries together with their national languages 
• I will provide more particular tips during the explanation of the trip

Trip in detail

Johannesburg (4th February):

• I arrived early in the morning and I had rented a car at Johannesburg airport
• Johannesburg was not a priority so I took this day quite relaxed
• During the morning I visited Soweto (not with enough time as I intend to go back to Johannesburg soon), including the Orlando Towers which were a power station was for over 50 years and are currently used for advertising, bungee jumping and other sport activities
  
• Later on I visited the Apartheid museum, which explains the life of Nelson Mandela, extremely interesting (almost 30 years in prison, fighting against discrimination of any human race, President of South Africa at the end of the 20th century, etc). However, if you are short with time or have other priorities, there are plenty of documentaries in internet which explain it in detail as well
  
• This day I stayed with a couchsurfer and we went to a saturday market in Johannesburg where the  food was great, especially the famous South African meat, which is not only amazing but quite cheap
  
  
  
  
• In the afternoon we went with her brother for a cricket game between South Africa and Sri Lanka. Games are very long but are highly sociable and great to experience a national hobby
  
  
  
  
• South Africa won, the celebrations outside the stadium were stunning

* Pretoria (1st August 2017):

• Some months after my first trip to South Africa my job took me to Johannesburg and I visited Pretoria for a day
• I took train from Johannesburg to Pretoria 
• I would not consider Pretoria a priority in a trip to South Africa but still I enjoyed the visit
• These are the main places I visited 
• The Town Hall:
  
• Church square:
  
  
  
  
• Union Buildings:
  
  
  
  
• Freedom Park:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Blyde River Canyon (5th February):

• Next morning I woke up very early to start driving towards Blyde River Canyon (5-6 hours from Johannesburg)
  
• This area has different beautiful viewpoints, all of which can be visited by car
• This map I found in internet was very helpful:
  
   
• I started from the north visiting 3 Rondavel viewpoint, Lowveld view, Bourke's Luck Potholes, Berlin and Lisbon Falls, God's window and The Pinnacle
• Almost every viewpoint has a small fee between 10-50 Rand 
• Here you are some pics (3 Rondavel viewpoint, Bourke's Luck Potholes, Lisbon Falls and The Pinnacle):
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• That night I stayed at Hazyview Backpackers, one of the cheapest places during my trip, for only 120 Rand ($8), and quite convenient for visiting Kruger National Park next day (15 min. driving)
  

Kruger National Park (6-7th February):

• I woke up very early as early morning is the best time to see animals and the park opened at 5:30am, closing at 18:30 (timings differ slightly depending on the month) 
• Entrance was priced at 304 Rand ($20) as per February 2017
• As I intended to spend 2 days visiting the park, I decided to go by myself in my car with no guide with the idea of taking a guide for next day in case I could not see animals
• In Kruger Park you can find the big 5 (lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhino) apart from other beautiful animals (i.e. zebras, giraffes, monkeys, hyenas, turtles, eagles, plenty of birds, etc)
• Early morning I was lucky with 3 of the big 5; elephants and buffalos are very easy to find while lions are quite hard
  
  
  
  
  
  
• It was amazing to have a wild lion just 2 meters from my car
• Apart from those, there were plenty of other animals and views were extraordinary:
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The park is huge, around 200km north tom south and 80 km east to west so I spent around 10 hours driving around Kruger (speed is limited to 40 or 50 km/h depending on the road)
• There are several lodges to spend the night inside Kruger but quite expensive according to South African standards (it is said that you need to book in advance but when I asked on the same day there were rooms available and I could have stayed that night)
• I was happy with my visit and I left the park towards Swaziland. However, I liked Kruger that much that I went back next morning to try to see leopards and rhinos with no success

Swaziland (7-9th February):

• I crossed the border between South Africa and Swaziland around 1pm on the 7th. It took 5 minutes and they charge a fee of 50 Rand ($3)
• First stop was Hlane National Park (entrance is 50 Rand)yo, a much smaller park than Kruger where I finally got to observe rhinos:
  
  
  
  
• I spent the night in a beautiful town in Swaziland called Siteki (Ijuba guesthouse) and nearby I had the opportunity to play with 6 kids who were basically fighting with each other:
  
  

• Also I met other two guys, one who had applied to join Emirates as cabin crew (hope to see him in Dubai some day) and this guy, who dreamt of watching a Real Madrid game at Bernabeu some day. I could see a child in his eyes when he was talking to me about it
  

• 8th early morning I drove to Mbabane, capital of Swaziland and trekked to Sibebe rock, considered the 2nd largest monolith in theworld
• The trek is 5km each way and despite of my resiliance to go with a guide, a guy took me there for 60 Rand ($4)
  
  
  
  
   
• They are building an accomodation on the top which I am sure it will be a great success ina  few years
  
• Next stop was Swazi candles in Malkers (http://www.swazicandles.com/) where you can see the manufacturing workshop and buy souvenirs, which in my opinion are pretty expensive. I did not enjoy it much but tourists seem to like this place a lot
• In the afternoon I went to Mantenga cultural village (100 Rand) where you can listen an explanation of traditional Swazi lifestyle and observe traditional houses, dances and a cute waterfall. A bit expensive for Swazi standards and more touristic than traditional but not bad for a visit
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• That night changed my trip quite a lot. In the hostel I spent the night I met Martin, a guy who was traveling 6 months in Africa. It was his 5th time traveling for 6 moths after discovering South America, Central America, South East Asia and Central Asia, being only 24 years old 
• After offering him to join next day, we ended up spending next 5 days together and we had a lot of fun and lovely conversations
• Next day (9th) we drove towards Sandlane, where there are some bushmen paintings
• We took a wrong road in such a bad state that I was afraid I was going to break the car
• However, it was a great opportunity to take some kids from school to their village
  
  
• In the last deviation to the right before crossing Sandlane border with South Africa, we were able to see the San or Bushmen (indigenous people in Southern Africa) paintings, quite impossible to find without the help of a local guy who was there
  
  
  
  
• Our next stop was Drakensberg so we drove as close as possible during the afternoon on the 9th
  
• Near Phuthadijjhaba we spent the evening and night at a small family guesthouse and we had an amazing time with the kids of the family. I enjoyed a mango with the little ones and had a great happiness spending time with them, probably the best evening in the whole trip
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Drakensberg (10th February):

• We intended to do the trekking to Tugela Falls, the second tallest in the world, tallest in Africa 
• Around 5am we drove to Sentinel car park (a normal car is perfectly able to reach there, but the last kilometers are not in best condition). We left the car, paid 80 Rand ($5) per person and we started our trekking which was supposed to be 8km roundtrip (around 5 hours)
  
  
• The trekking was quite easy to follow and the views are amazing, clearly one of the best days in my trip
  
  
• After an initial zigzag (approximately 1 hour) you go around the mountains and reach a lovely ladder which is quite cool to climb
  
  
  
  
• On your way we came across some baboons and horses and once on the top, 45 minutes more walking lead to Tugela Falls
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We came back the same way and drove all the way to Maseru (4 hours) to start our tour around Lesotho
  

Lesotho (10-14th February)

• We crossed the border between South Africa and Lesotho by Ficksburg. It was matter of 5-10 minutes and we had to pay 30 Rand to cross with the car
• That day we spent the night at Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, but we did not see anything of much interest  
• The tour we did during these days included Malealea, Roma, Thaba Bosiu, Hlotse, Tsehlanyane, Mokhotlong and Sani Pass
  
• 11th in the morning we drove to Malealea and we joined a great horse trek organised by Malealea lodge (300 Rand per person for a group of 3 people)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• During the trek we visited some other Bushmen paintings (not as nice as the ones in Sandlane) and a nice waterfall where we were able to have a bath
  
  
  
  
  
• We felt like chilling for the rest of the day so we stayed at that lodge, a bit pricy and touristic but in a lovely location and very well organised 
• 12th morning we went to Roma, famous for a popular university in Lesotho, which was in a pretty nice condition compared to many poor parts of the country
• Even at the university there are campaings to raise awareness against HIV
  
• In Roma we also visited some dinosaur footprints with a local guide (30 Rand per person). However we were dissapointed with the poor explanations as the guy did not even remember which kind of dinosaur it was
  
• During the walk towards the footprint we could see some traditional locals
  
  
• Even Martin could try the local beer with some guys
  
• We stopped somewhere for some fish & chips and we later visited Thaba Bosiu
• As it was sunday, the cultural village was closed but we could trek to the peak, known as "mountain of the night", where King Moshoeshoe established his fortress after bringing together different clans in the 1800's to form the Basotho nation
• Nothing impressive at the peak but nice views of Lesotho
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• That night we stayed at Hlotse in a beautiful guesthouse
  
• 13th morning we visited Tsehlanyane national park
• Starting at Maliba mountain lodge, a luxurious accomodation inide the park, there are several treks that can be done
• We did a demanding one of around 13km during around 6-7 hours trek
• We got a bit lost but it was worth it again
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• That afternoon we drove all the way to Mokhotlong through a mountain road with very nice viewpoints
• On the 14th Martin and me were meant to separate our ways as we wanted to continue till Durban and discover the southern part of South Africa till Cape Town (I will do that one day) and I had to return to Johannesburg airport on the 15th
• However, we had our las adventure on the 14th. I decided Tata, the car, was going to cross Sani Pass to South Africa
• The road till Lesotho inmigration was fine, and that area looks like this:
  
  
  
  
• Right at that point, there are road signals saying only 4x4 allowed. We even received recommendations not to continue with our small car. However, the adventure looked too wonderful to be missed
  
• We started our way down to South Africa and the views were stunning
  
  
  
  
  
• The road became more and more difficult and I was silently scared of getting stuck
  
  
• Every car we came across seemed extremely shocked when they saw our car. However police did not say anything and we received our passports stamped with no issues at all
• After around 15km we reached our most difficult obstacle. Actually we had to stop for almost one hour till some proffesionals fixed the road
  
• As previous week I had been driving with the spare wheel but I needed to give the car with original tyres next day, it was a lovely moment to change the wheel. There is always a first time and I could not have asked for a better one 
  
• The adventure was finally a lovely success. However, I could have never ever been able to cross Sani Pass from South Africa to Lesotho, and I was only able to cross from Lestho to Africa because weather conditions were fine those day
• In Sani Pass lodge, Martin and me said bye after a good rest in the swimming pool. I wish you all the best!
• Last evening I stayed near Mandela Capture Site, which I visited early on the 15th. Nearby Mandela was arrested in 1962 in his way from Durban to Johannesburg. The Site, similarly as Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, gives a great explanation of Mandela's life and achievements. However, I did not spend much time here as the content was very similar to that in Johannesburg
  
• Last stop before flying home I bought meat to bring home, as meat is popular in South Africa. I had great steaks during my visit and the price is much lower as compared to home
• I consider this trip one of the best I have ever done, highly recommended. I have fallen in love with the bit of Africa I have seen and I am really looking forward to discovering much more places in this continent

* Durban (2nd July 2018): 

• After almost 2 years I had the opportunity of spending a day in Durban, where Indian influence is huge
• As most of South Africa, its coast is beautiful even if I did not go to the main Durban beach front. This photo was taken in Umhlanga
  
  
• Main activity my couple and me did in South Africa was shark cage diving with the company KZN, which was very proffesional and complied with what they promissed (as I will explain later, I tried this activity before near Cape Town but we did not see any single shark)
• The experience was beautiful and worth it, even if I regretted I did not try diving with no cage, which is also possible and looks great
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The activity included the photos and it cost around $80, not including transport though
• Besides, we had a lovely steak dinner in Umhlanga which was delicious
  

b) Cape Town

Places visited:

• Table Mountain, Boulders Beach Penguin Colony, Cape Point, Kommetjie, Gansbaai, Waterfront, Bo-kaap, Hout Bay (seals snorkeling) & Clifton Bay
  

Table Mountain:

• First day in Cape Town I decided to enjoy Table Mountain. There are several trekking options in this area, from just a few hours to a full day, even a cable car that reaches to the top for around €20 roundtrip
• I spent 7-8 hours as I started my walk from Observatory, where I had spent the first night at a couchsurfer house (thanks Nikolaas), going up from Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and leaving from Platteklipkloff till downtown
• Early in the morning I could see the back part of Table Mountain at sunrise
  
  
• Entrance at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens is 60 Rand (4€) and is a beautiful start to Table Mountain
  
  
  
  

• The whole path is amazing, one of the treks I have liked the most and good for almost any age
  
  
• Once in the top the views are magnificent. You can appreciate Lion´s Head, Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades, and several beaches
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Table Mountain is definitely 100% recommended

Roadtrip to Cape Point:

• Second day I rented a car for a roadtrip towards Cape Point
• First stop was Boulders Beach (70 Rand, €5), where there is a beautiful penguin colony
  
  
  
  
   
• Second stop was Cape Point (140 Rand, €10), where a historical lighthouse with several baboons nearby can be visited as well as Cape of Good Hope, the most South Western part of Africa
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
• During this visit you can visit and observe several wonderful beaches (in July it is winter in South Africa so for swimming it is better to visit from November to March) and if you are lucky you can see some austriches walking on the road
  
  
  
  
• Last stop for the day was Kommetjie, a small town near downtown with white sand beach
  
• We missed a few spots near downtown such as Chapman´s Peak or Champs Bay that I hope to visit some other day

Waterfront & Bo-kaap: 

• With my couple we had time to visit Cape Town Waterfront at night and have a nice but overrated dinner
  
• Before that I could enjoy the colourful area of Bo-kaap, formerly known as the Malay Quarter
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Gansbaai (shark diving):

• Last day I booked a shark diving experience in Gansbaai but I was unlucky
• There are several companies that organize this activity and offer pick up and drop off in Cape Town for approximately 400 Rand (€27). However I drove there as that evening I had to fly back

• We boarded a boat with a cage to dive with lot of excitement We stayed at the sea near Dyer Island Reserve, where we saw plenty of seaguls, and seals in Geyser Island
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• Nature is unpredictable and, even if I was unlucky not to watch sharks, the experience was nice and I try my luck some other time in the future
• On my way back to Cape Town airport, I drove through "Clarence drive", voted in 2016 as the most scenic drive in the world by some agency (http://www.kbrc.org.za/news/clarence-drive/)
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Hout Bay:

• In 2018 I had the opportunity to spend another day in Cape Town, and I headed to Hout Bay, from where you I booked a seals snorkeling experience by Duiker Island
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I used the company Animal Ocean Seal Snorkeling (900 Rand, approx $60-65). They provide  transport to Duiker island, equipment for snorkeling and simple snacks. I enjoyed the esperience
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• On the way back to city center I stopped by Clifton Bay, another lovely coastal area in Cape Town
  
  
• I know I have many places pending to visit in Cape Town but in only 4 days I fell in love with the city, its nature, beaches, sighseeing etc
• Hope this post helps someone :)