This year, after looking at the calendar for annual travel planning, that destiny that we have been dreaming of for many years and that without knowing the reason very well, always ended up on the list of future trips came to our mind again.
On this occasion, before putting it back on our eternal list of traveling dreams, we value the time we had free and the days we had, almost without thinking, see that this time our eternal dream destination, fit perfectly.
We only needed a few minutes to find some information and find flights that fit the dates, to make that purchase with which all trips begin. We already had the flights and we could already say that ...
South Africa for free: Travel preparations
… let's go to South Africa for free!
Before beginning to explain the detailed route of the trip to South Africa in 24 days, we do want to highlight the importance of knowing that South Africa is a country that can be traveled perfectly for free, not being necessary to have any agency to travel the country. This is something that we want to highlight, since Africa and safaris are often associated with the need to go on a "organized trip".
Logically, there is also this option and it is equally valid, but as we said, we believe it is important to know all the options, in order to choose the one that best suits your way of traveling.
In the same way, it is necessary to know that it is possible to visit the Kruger National Park, in the northeast of South Africa, totally for free, being only necessary to have a rental car to do the safari on your own, logically respecting all the rules of the park .
In addition to this option, you can hire in the different game drives camps, with which to have that "extra" , doing some safari in the Kruger guided by park rangers.
Kruger for free
Being clear that you can travel to South Africa for free, it is time to assess which flight best suits your needs.
In our case, after several laps, we decided to enter Cape Town and leave for Johannesburg. This allows us to leave the Kruger for the end of the trip, as we believe it will be the icing on the cake and also, not having to go back to the starting city to return to Spain.
This combination, although sometimes it is usually a little more expensive than making a round trip flight to the same point, it is certainly worth it, since we believe it is the best option, especially if you have few days.
As we mentioned before, to enjoy South Africa for free, it is also necessary to have a rental car, since this way you can have total freedom of schedules and movements, something essential in a route of this type and more when we have limited days.
More practical information to prepare your trip to South Africa
- The best tips for traveling to South Africa
Another thing to note is the costs of the services that we will use throughout the trip, which are much cheaper than we initially imagined. As an example, we can tell you that the average price of accommodation throughout the entire trip is about 50 euros a night in a double room and in the Kruger, in the park camps, we will pay 70 euros a night on average, in bungalows with Private bathroom and a couple of nights overlooking the river, which are the most expensive.
If we take this into account, in addition to the car rental prices are quite tight, for example 300 euros for the entire route, with a mid-category tourism or 600 euros with a 4 × 4 in the second part of the trip, which It is the option that we have chosen, we believe that travel to South Africa for free It is also highly recommended, a much more affordable trip than you can imagine.
South Africa route for free. Travel preparations
As we mentioned the beginning, this South Africa for free You will start entering Cape Town, where we will stay for 4 nights at the Circa Luxury Apartment Hotel to discover this incredible city in which we do not plan to miss Table Mountain, Bo-Kap, the Malay district of the city or Robben Island, among many others , that we are sure, will be the perfect gateway for this South Africa for free.
Cape Town
In addition to discovering Cape Town for a couple of days, another day we will tour the Cape Peninsula, something we did not want to miss in any way, in which places like Camps Bay Beach, the 12 apostles, Chapman's Peak, stand out. Noordhoeck, Kometjie, Scarborough, the Cape of Good Hope, Boulders Beach, Simon's Town or Muizenberg Beach, famous for the image of the colorful beach huts.
Cape of Good Hope
Muizenberg Beach on the Cape Peninsula
On the sixth day of South Africa for free, we will begin the route itself, approaching Betty's Bay, where we will enjoy the Stony Point penguin colony and then arrive at Hermanus, where we will stay at Hermanus Backpackers & Budget Accommodation that will be our base to enjoy We believe it will be an unforgettable experience: see whales!
And more if we take into account that from what we have read and told us, at this time of the year, it is even possible to see them from the coast, allowing this, to be totally responsible with the animals.
Hermanus
On the seventh day of the trip we will start the Garden Route, one of the most beautiful routes in the world, passing through Cape Agulhas and the Natural Reserve of Hoop, where we will sleep at Malagas Hotel, for the next day continue with the route passing through Mossel Bay , Wilderness, The Heads, Big Tree and Plettenberg Bay, where we will stay at Mandalay Guest House.
Garden Route
The ninth day of South Africa for free We will continue on the Garden Route to tour Nature's Valley and make a brief stop in Tsitsikamma National Park, which we have read is a real wonder and how could it be otherwise, we do not want to get lost, although we can only enjoy it one day, staying at the Andelomi Forest Lodge.
On the tenth day of the trip we will pass through Jeffreys Bay and then go to the Port Elizabeth airport where we will return the rental car and take a flight to Durban in the afternoon, where we will pick up the new rental car, this time a 4 × 4, which we believe it is a better option for the Kruger and start the second stage of South Africa for free.
At this point we will stay on our way to Saint Lucia, at Hampshire Hotel, in Ballito.
Recommended travel cardsRemember that in order not to pay commissions and always have the current change we recommend you use the N26 card to pay and the Bnext and Revolut cards to get money at the ATMs. They are the ones we use, They are free and will save you a lot.
You can find more information in this article about the best cards to travel without commissions.
This first stage of South Africa for free, will take us through approximately 1000 kilometers, through some of the essential places to see in South Africa.
Arriving almost to the equator of South Africa for free, we will enter the Natural Reserve of St. Lucia, where we will sleep in Lake St Lucia Lodge, a very special place we have read, usually very special guests approach, hippos.
Nature Reserve of Saint Lucia
On the 12th day of the trip, we will embark on the road to the Kruger, passing before the beach of Santa Lucia and the Isimangaliso Natural Park, which we did not want to miss under any circumstances, and sleep near the border with Swaziland, in the Tamboti Ridge Bed and breakfast.
Isimangaliso
At this point and on the 13th of the trip, we will make a small change of country, entering Swaziland, where we will do a free safari in the Hlane National Park, staying at Hlane Ndlovu Camp, in a round hut and in a camp in the that from what we have read, the visit of wild animals throughout the day, is totally assured.
Hlane National Park
After this little introduction to Swaziland we will go to the one we believe, it is the icing on the cake of this South Africa for free, entering the famous and incredible Kruger national park, which we would dare to say, is one of the great reasons why we have decided to make this trip to South Africa.
Kruger for free
Although the stay in the Kruger National Park is usually about 3-4 days in general, in our case we have decided to extend this stage of the trip a little more, dedicating a total of 8 full days to the park, during which we will stay in different camps, to have the possibility of knowing most of the possible areas of the park and also staying in some of the best known camps.
Kruger for free
After much valuing it and having the opinion of Claudia from Solo Ida and Jairo, who were last year in South Africa, we decided in the end, to opt for the next day distribution, according to the areas in which we will be staying:
- Cocodrile Bridge (2 nights)
- Skukuza (1 night)
- Lower Sabie (2 nights)
- Satara (2 nights)
- Olifants (1 night)
Before continuing, keep in mind that the extension of the Kruger is 18989 km², with 350 kilometers from north to south and 60 kilometers from east to west. This implies that touring the park in its entirety is practically impossible, especially for those who travel with the days counted.
With this in mind, we have chosen to focus on the southern part of the park, which is where most animals are usually concentrated, especially at this time of year.
Kruger
Something very important, at the time of planning the South Africa for free, was to have the help of the website of the National Parks of South Africa, through which in addition to much information, you can book the accommodations within them.
In our case we reserve all the bungalows in which we will stay in the Kruger, of which we will detail all the data and information in several post that we have programmed to publish after the trip, when we have already had the experience and we can tell you everything first hand.
What we can anticipate is that it is convenient to book as early as possible, especially if your trip is in high season, as there are travelers who come to book a year in advance, something to take into account to plan the days that you will be in the Kruger and whether or not you have accommodation.
Wild Card in South Africa
Another important thing in the South Africa for freeIt has been to assess whether it was advisable to have the Wild Card or not.
This card gives you unlimited access to more than 80 national parks, reserves and resorts in South Africa for one year.
There are several types of cards, depending on the number of people or the parks you want to include, being the general one and the one we have chosen, the most recommended if you are going to do a similar route to ours, which includes many of the parks that are included
The price is R2450 per person, R3830 for the card for two people or R4585 the family card for two adults and maximum 5 children.
Taking into account that the rate of the Kruger is R331 per adult and day, you can see that it is totally advisable to get one of them.
Like the Kruger, we will make a more specific post on this subject once we have returned from the trip, with all the details.
South Africa for free
After our stay at the Kruger, the South Africa for free It will take us through the Panorama Route through Blyde Canyon, Three Rondavels, Lucky Potholes, Berlin Falls and Lisbon Falls for that night in Graskop, where we will stay in Havana Nights.
Panorama Route in South Africa
At this point we will approach the end of the trip, dedicating practically the whole day to travel the distance that separates us from Johannesburg, where we hope to arrive in the evening and where we will stay at The Capital 20 West, one of the most recommended hotels from the city.
The 24th will be the day we dedicate to Johannesburg, a city from which we have not read too much, since the topic of the unsafety unfortunately it has weighed like a slab in the planning of this day, so before giving an opinion, we prefer to live it and thus, to be able to explain later what our impressions have been.
For the moment we can say that we have in mind to approach Braamfontein and Soweto, in addition to making a visit to the Apartheid Museum, trying to make the most of the day, to know everything we can about the city.
Soweto
At the end of the day, we will start the way back home, returning the rental car and embarking on the flight that will take us to Spain, after a trip that we know, it will be unforgettable.
How to have internet in South Africa?If you want to have internet in South Africa a good option is to buy one Holafly SIM card, with which you will have internet from the moment you land, several GB of data, keeping your WhatsApp number and support service in Spanish.
You can buy your Holafly prepaid SIM card here with a 5% discount for being our reader.
This second and final stage of South Africa for free, will take us through approximately 1700 kilometers, through some of the essential places to see in South Africa, including a small raid in Swaziland and 8 days in the Kruger, which we hope will be one of the most incredible stages of the trip.
“Traveling is the only thing you pay for and makes you richer”
We cannot finish this post of the preparations of the South Africa for free without thanking Claudia and Jairo, for helping us with all the doubts we had about the destination and with their trip, to put South Africa on the horizon. To Rubén and Lucy de Algo to remember for giving us many details and a lot of recommendations that will surely come great and make us enjoy this maximum trip. And David from the blog My World in a suitcase, which with his itinerary allowed us to get an idea of the places we could not miss on the trip.
To all, thank you very much!
Day 1: Lloret de Mar - Barcelona Airport - Cape Town in South Africa
