Cape Town and a Kruger safari

Table Mountain, Robben Island and the peninsula down to the Cape of Good Hope in Cape Town; then, in the north-east of the country, three days in the south of Kruger National Park, with two nights in the Skukuza and Lower Sabie camps, drives at gate opening and the late afternoon at Sunset Dam.

Day by day Open the itinerary in the app

Cape Town → Kruger · 8–9 days

The route on the map, in the itinerary’s order.

South AfricaCape Town
Days
5
When
Mar–Apr · Oct–Nov
Per person/day
Average 50–100 USDMid-range · per person/day
Cost scope
Per person per day: accommodation, meals, urban transport, visits and a small allowance for extras. Flights excluded; larger purchases vary. Editorial estimate, not a quote.
South AfricaKruger
Days
3–4
When
May–Sep
Per person/day
Average 1,730 ZARMid-range · per person/day
Cost scope
Per person per day: accommodation, meals, urban transport, visits and a small allowance for extras. Flights excluded; larger purchases vary. Editorial estimate, not a quote.

Who it is for

For a first trip to South Africa that wants the city between the mountain and two oceans and a safari in the country’s best-known park, self-drive or guided.

Not for anyone who wants to see the animals without early starts: in Kruger the gates open at 6:00 from April to September and at 5:30 from October to March, and anyone who arrives after closing is left outside.

The strategy

Cape Town comes first, with five days: the mountain and the centre; Robben Island and the 20th-century city; the whole peninsula by car; a day in Stellenbosch or Hermanus; and a free day for when the wind closes the cableway. Airlink flies from Cape Town to Skukuza airport, inside the park, and there are also flights to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (KMIA), about 50 km from Hazyview. Kruger gets three days, with two nights in the park, the first in Skukuza and the second in Lower Sabie. There are car hire desks at KMIA and in Skukuza; if you would rather not drive, join the open-vehicle guided drives that leave from the camps, which do not take children under 6. On the way out, KMIA has daily flights to Johannesburg, where you catch the flight home. No month is in the best season at both ends, and October comes closest: it is in Cape Town’s best window, and in Kruger it is a transition month, hot and with the first rains, which works for anyone who cannot go in the dry season, from May to September. The malaria risk in the park is higher from November to April.

What you will see

Table Mountain and the cable car, Cape Town. A 1,086 m plateau inside Table Mountain National Park.
Sunset Dam, Kruger. A small dam beside the paved road, 1 km from the Lower Sabie gate, with hippos, big crocodiles and many waterbirds, and a coming and going of other animals that arrive to drink.